The Need for Speed series has struggled to find an identity for years, despite takes by numerous developers. Between the forgotten titles, we’ve had the Fast and the Furious-inspired Underground, the cops vs racers of Hot Pursuit (twice), the straight-faced track racer Shift and the open-world attempt by Criterion in Most Wanted.
This latest game has had an extra year of development, breaking the habit of releasing a NFS game every year. The subtitles are gone, 2015’s game is simply Need for Speed. Although, given the nature of the game, EA must have been pretty tempted to call it Need for Speed: Underground 3. Continue reading Need for Speed Review – Burnt out→
Here’s a duo of new trailers for Rise of the Tomb Raider. The launch trailer doesn’t have much new material as far as locations go, but there are some fresh character scenes with Lara’s friend, Hannah, and the no-good leader of Trinity. If you’re after some new footage, you’ll be better off checking out the second part of the Woman Vs Wild series, where we see Lara engaging enemies with different combat styles. Oddly enough, there seems to be a lot of Stealth kill XP awarded for using explosives. Hmmm. Not that we can’t wait for the release in just 10 days time!
Usually, I’d laugh at the awfulness of this game’s name, but then Detroit: Become Human came along to distract my ire. Anyway, here’s your first proper look at The Technomancer in action. The sort-of sequel to the sort-of dull Mars: War Logs is certainly looking like an improvement. Today’s trailer documents the different fighting stances available to the player, along with the deep skill trees behind them. If we’ll be able to switch between these stances on the fly, the combat could turn the series around.
There was a time when Japanese RPGs were big news on consoles with regular updates from the likes of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. There have been slim pickings over the last few years though. Instead, we’ve seen RPG elements creep into more action-orientated games. 2015 has been no different, with the great (Witcher III) and poor (Mad Max) alike bumping their games past the 40 hour mark with skill trees and lengthy upgrade systems.
But what about something unmistakably ‘Japanese’? With the Final Fantasy series going online with XIV or still being miles off (XV), it’s once again up to Bandai Namco and the Tales series to bring fans a slice of old-school goodness. Continue reading Tales of Zestiria Review – Needs more ‘Zest’→
If you’re reading this, the chances are that you’re in the market for a new tablet but don’t want to pay through the nose for the latest poser-friendly iPad. We don’t blame you. The price of Apple’s tablets has got way out of hand, with the costs of extra memory being particularly shocking.
You’re off to a good start looking at an Asus tablet. This is after all the company behind the first truly great budget tablet, the 2012 Google Nexus 7, aka the benchmark. But today the competition is pretty damn strong in this area, with even Tesco releasing an impressive tablet in the form of the Hudl 2. So, let’s see how the ZenPad 8.0 Z380C measures up. Continue reading Asus ZenPad 8.0 Z380C Tablet Review – Another Asus Ace?→
A new series of Rise of the Tomb Raider videos entitled Woman Vs Wild are set to give us new looks at the game in the build up to launch next month. Today’s episode looks at ‘harsh environments’.
This shows us the wildlife Lara will face. And by face, I mean nail to the endangered species list with an arrow or possibly shotgun. There’s a brief mention of the story too and a look at the new expanded hub environments. Enjoy the trailer after the break and I’ve dug out the cheapest current preorder offer too. Continue reading Rise of the Tomb Raider – Harsh Environments trailer→
Life is Strange’s five part episodic series began life back in January and the last episode was released nearly three months ago. It’s safe to say the release schedule has been a mess. Even the originally-planned six-week gap between episodes should have been flagged as a narrative momentum killer.
Such is life when reviewing and playing episodic content these days. If you’re smart though, you’ll have stayed away until today. Now the final episode is out, you’re free to play through the whole story at your own pace. And to get right to it: you really should. Continue reading Life is Strange Episode 5: Polarized Review – The illusion of choice?→
You may already know something about Bedlam as it’s based on a book by Christopher Brookmyre. Packed with pop culture references it featured a chap waking up in an old Doom-style shooter he used to play in his youth. The book followed him as he made his way through multiple familiar game worlds and different gaming genres.
The game follows a similar premise, but puts you in the shoes of a different character for some reason. This gives the writers an excuse to come up with additional dialogue, which often falls a little flat if I’m honest and may even cause a few eyes to roll. What we’re really after though is an experience of playing through some classic genres akin to the experience in the book. Continue reading Bedlam: The Game Review – You’d be mad to come here→
Rallying used to be king of the racers in gaming, but just like real rallying, it’s seen its audience dwindle to a fraction of the glory days. A fact not helped by Codemasters bastardising their own franchise by unleashing Ken Block’s show-ponying over actual racing.
The second wave of WRC titles (Sony had a WRC series on PS2) performed admirably last-gen though, despite always being in the shade of Dirt 2. Milestone were a bit cheeky though, recycling some tracks in their annual release and stripping down the career mode to its bare bones. Continue reading WRC 5 Review – A dirty old clunker→
No trilogy rocked more socks off PS3 gamers than Naughty Dog’s all conquering adventures. But have they stood the test of time and who is this remastered collection even for?
To be honest, it’s an easy recommendation for any gamer. First and foremost has to be the new Sony converts. If you didn’t have a PS3 last-gen, or simply missed out on the series (you can’t play everything) and now have a PS4, this is an essential purchase. Continue reading Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection Review – Still jaw-dropping→
In a recent interview with MCV, CD Projekt Red visual effects artist Jose Texeira said: “Cyberpunk is far bigger than anything else that CD Projekt Red has done before. Far, far bigger.”
The first thought that may pop into the head of any Witcher III: Wild Hunt player is probably going to be ‘how?’ Closely followed by anyone that had to review it with a cry of ‘WHY?!’ Witcher III is geographically massive. Made up of multiple maps that expand for miles, often requiring a boat to travel to until you unlock fast travel checkpoints. I’ve still not seen all locations in the game and I’ve put close to fifty hours in since release. And CDPR are expanding upon it again with the Hearts of Stone DLC later this month. Continue reading Cyberpunk 2077 may well be ‘bigger’ than Witcher 3, but not in the way you think→
Crikey, talk about a ‘reveal’ trailer. Laura was unofficial unveiled as a brand new Street Fighter V character a few days ago, but today we can bring you her actual gameplay footage. One look at her in action and we’re certainly thinking she’ll be replacing Blanka on the day one roster. While her style is a bit faster than the green man-beast, her use of electric shock moves and a Blanka-esque roll move incorporated into her V-Trigger finisher makes us think Capcom have fallen for their own Brazilian bombshell over him. Not that he couldn’t appear as an unlockable character post-launch. Continue reading Street Fighter V Laura trailer and new beta dates→
Far Cry: Primal wants to shake things up. For once, we’re seeing an established IP trying something far removed from why it became a success in the first place. The change to a Stone Age setting could be just what the series needs while it takes a break from modern times and guns. In fact, taking the guns away from Far Cry could allow the series’ strengths to shine.
Even the way the game was revealed is new for the series. Gone are the E3 demos or year-long waits (or longer). Instead, after a rather dull live stream of a cave painting (which we ignored until it became something to actually talk about), Ubisoft just went ahead announced the game and showed it in action via a new trailer yesterday. The biggest surprise though, was that it will be coming in February next year, just four months from now. Continue reading Why you won’t miss guns in Far Cry Primal→
Gamers of all ages have been enjoying Traveller’s Tales’ Lego games for years now, but now they can finally play with real Lego bricks as a part of the game. With the runaway success of the toys-to-life trendsetter, Skylanders, it’s a mystery why it’s taken this long for the Lego games to jump into the genre.
Rather than focus on one IP, this new series is a mashup of multiple franchises and movie licenses. In the box, you’ll find dinky NFC-chipped Lego minifigs for Batman, Gandalf and WyldStyle. Together they must take on evil forces across dimensions to save the day by beating up goons, smashing up environments and holding the Circle button to rebuild odd yet useful tools. So far, so Lego, right? Continue reading Lego Dimensions Review – Brilliant but blocked→
Want to know what all the fuss is about with the upcoming Elite Xbox One controller? Well, this latest trailer documents the deep customisation options to be found inside this premium-priced pad.
In addition to button remapping, extra control paddles and swappable d-pads and analogues, you’ll be able to adjust the sensitivity settings. Of particular interest is being able to get the triggers to ‘fire’ sooner in FPS titles, meaning you can get your shot off without having to fully depress the trigger. With all sorts of different setups being needed for different genres, you’ll be able to store tonnes of them and be able to switch between two on the fly via a new button. Take a look at the video below and see if the Xbox One Elite controller is that little bit more tempting. Continue reading Elite Xbox One controller customisation trailer→
Originally intended to be a PS4 launch title, it’s fair to say we may have forgotten about this one. The single-player ambitions have been scrapped in favour of an online multiplayer-only FPS title, that still looks like it could be fun.
Primal Carnage: Extinction puts the dinosaurs against the humans in online arenas. There’s a trailer for you after the break, which in all honesty makes the game look like the dinos are going to struggle against the humans’ firepower. Look out for the game on PSN from October 20th. Continue reading Primal Carnage: Extinction coming to PS4 this month→
Zangief is now officially coming to Street Fighter V and even has a new trailer. That’s not much of a surprise, but the leaked images of a new character certainly are. While yet to be officially announced via a trailer, expect to see Laura in action very soon if these leaked images are anything to go by.
Coming from Famitsu (via Event Hubs) the new leaked screens show the new fighter giving Ryu a beat of a beating. If rumours are to be believed. Laura is a Brazilian fighter and harnesses electrical abilities similar to Blanka. Does this mean the green man beast has been replaced in Street Fighter V?
It’s that time of year where developers and publishers push themselves to breaking point in order to meet the all-important Christmas shopping release window. Frankly, it’s a pattern that crippled many of last year’s biggest games.
We’d love to think that lessons have been learned, but with another dementedly-packed season lying just ahead, it’s not hard to predict that some of the year’s biggest remaining games are going to have some serious issues at launch. They’re all games we can’t wait to play, but we’d certainly advise waiting for the reviews, or maybe holding out until those unchecked issues have been fixed post-launch. Games are expensive, so preorder wisely.Continue reading Expect trouble at launch for these remaining 2015 games→
The No Sleep Gamer 