Seriously? Knack 2? How are you a thing?
When Sony announced the game towards the end of 2016 the internet and its dog was a little confused to say the least. The original game was the whipping boy of the PS4’s launch lineup with repetitive, overly tough gameplay and lengthy checkpoints whetting the knives of critics and players alike. Continue reading The existence of Knack 2 is a brilliant and ridiculous thing
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a little bit late. Nintendo originally planned to have a brand new Zelda title on the Wii U not long after launch. Instead, the game eventually launched this week on both the new Nintendo Switch and the now discontinued console, the Wii U.
Nintendo Switch pre-orders sold out a few weeks ago in the US and launch stock has been all but impossible to get a hold of. With no indication of how much stock was allocated in the first place, it’s hard to gauge just how popular the new console is. By contrast, stock still seems available at a fair few online stores here in the UK. Continue reading Should you buy a Nintendo Switch just for Zelda?
Truth be told, I’ve never really taken the time to watch much e-sports coverage online. Sure I’ve watched the occasional Street Fighter tournament final, but I’ve never tuned into the latest League of Legends fixture, or checked in on the Call of Duty tournaments.
However, when flicking through the BT Sports channels (in the UK) a few days ago I happened across some coverage of a regional match for the FIFA 17 Ultimate Team Championships in Paris. I was surprised to see dedicated coverage on a popular UK TV channel and settled down to watch the rest of the programme involving a two-leg match between two pro players. Continue reading FIFA 17 e-sports TV coverage has a long way to go
Back in 2010 I had to review the original Demon’s Souls on PS3. We did not get along. While I appreciated it trying to stand out from the crowd with its bastard hard difficulty and measured approach, it wasn’t for me. There’s a fun to challenge ratio I find acceptable in games and the unresponsive combat and miserly checkpoints just didn’t sit personally.
By the time Dark Souls appeared, I was relieved to see another member of staff take it on instead. And that was the last I saw of the series until From Software released Bloodborne in the PS4. Our Souls-friendly staffer was yet to grab Sony’s new machine, so I found myself handling the beta and review. Then something strange happened, I started to like it. Continue reading A Bloodborne convert plays Dark Souls III
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
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
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
We’ve said for years how we actively encourage game delays rather than play broken or unpolished products. There’s too much of an emphasis on releasing glitch-ridden games with the attitude of patching it up at a later date. I mean, Arkham Knight on PC still isn’t back in the shops!
But that’s not the reason I’m glad to see Hitman delayed into 2016. Square Enix were going to try something new this December by releasing Hitman at full price on digital stores as an incomplete product. Essentially, an episodic or segmented release, where Io Interactive would continue to develop later chapters throughout 2016 with them becoming available as free downloads when they were ready. It’s not exactly a Kickstarter model, but it’s pretty damn close. ‘Give us money and we’ll finish this game at some point.’ Continue reading Hitman’s delay averts a potential disaster
With the recent announcement of Hardware: Rivals getting a reboot on PS4, we take a look at Sony’s extensive back-catalogue of franchises and IPs to see what we’d most like to see make a comeback on the PS4 or PS Vita. Continue reading Top 10: Most wanted Sony exclusive reboots
Sony’s press conference at the Tokyo Game Show was packed with information and reveals this morning. We set our alarm clocks and watched the whole thing and were presented with some encouraging reveals. So, what did we learn from the show and what sort of future has it shown for the PS4 and PS Vita in Japan and beyond? Continue reading Sony’s Tokyo Game Show presser dissected – A bright future?
Mad Max can be a seriously tough open world game and you’ll need our new survival tips guide if you want to stay alive long enough to help Max create the car of his dreams with the Magnum Opus. With such a huge game world to explore, you’ll want to maximise (ha!) your play time to take the grind out of the wasteland. It could be the difference between becoming the Road Warrior and road kill. Continue reading Mad Max – 10 essential survival tips
Season Passes have become the scourge of games in recent years. We’re not opposed to additional content for games, far from it. But when the cost of a Season Pass matches that of a full game, our alarm bells start to ring. What’s worse, so many of these passes offer a paltry amount of content that simply doesn’t justify the price.
Consider that Season Passes often stick to their high price long after the main game can be bought for a fraction of the original cost a few months after release and the farce becomes even more laughable. Continue reading Are Fallout 4 and Witcher III a turning point for Season Passes?
Films based on video games. For so long a great idea that’s produced relentlessly poor results. For every Silent Hill or Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children there’s an overwhelming deluge of ruined licenses like The Legend of Chun-Li, Dead or Alive, Prince of Persia or that steaming s**t pile that is Uwe Boll’s embarrassment of a CV.
There will undeniably be more, but there are some promising titles on the horizon. We’ve been through the lists and selected five of the confirmed titles that best represent an opportunity for a change in the quality of movies based on video game franchises. Four of them are deep into production and one of them really should be by now. So, in order of scheduled release… Continue reading Top 5 crucial upcoming movies based on video games
Destiny was fantastic fun for the opening couple of months, but the seriously repetitive content soon became an issue. Bungie’s hype fizzled out to reveal a selection of empty play areas of uninspired fetch quests. Then came the expansions via a Season Pass that cost as much as buying the original game again, albeit with a tiny amount of tangible new content or environments.
Combine this with a levelling system that seemed exceptionally miserly with rewards that forced players into choosing weapons and armour based on how it would affect their Light level rather than the statistical benefits offered elsewhere, and Destiny became a gruelling grind with no sense of purpose. Bungie tried to reinvent the wheel without conceding to the value of a curve. Continue reading Destiny’s upcoming changes could make it great again
Here at NoSleepGamer, we take each remaster as it comes and examine it on its own merits in terms of value and the perceived desire for it to exist in the first place. The latest title to apparently get the HD/Remaster treatment will be 2006’s PS2 title, Final Fantasy XII. Is this more cash-grabbing and recycling of old games, or an essential chance to catch up with one of the PS2’s last hailed gems? Let’s take a look. Continue reading Is a Final Fantasy XII remaster necessary?
We’re getting a new Hitman game on December 8th. Usually, this would be cause for celebration. But instead, we’re very concerned about what is could mean for gamers and the way video games are released. If you hadn’t heard, Hitman will only release digitally this year, at the full price of $60/£40. However, it won’t be a finished product, not even close.
IO Interactive said: “What we release on December 8th is not the full game. It’s a sizable chunk of it. Throughout 2016 we’ll release more locations and missions until the story arc is done and finished. All of that content is included in the $60 price.” Continue reading Hitman’s segmented release is anti-gamer
Store exclusives are never a good deal for gamers as it allows retailers to charge what they want if they’ve managed to snag something gamers are likely to want. Usually, we’re talking a bit of DLC, that inevitably makes it way onto digital stores later on and is often not worth the extra money anyway.
But what about physical hardware? If reports are to be believed, the upcoming Xbox One Elite controller is now a GAME exclusive in the UK and currently available to preorder at the top-end price of £129.99. Continue reading Xbox One Elite controller doomed to high prices as a GAME exclusive?
We’re half way through the year and about to enter the usual summer draught before the manic Christmas season. But if you have a PS4, there has already been loads of great games. But what’s been the best? It’s a seriously tough call, but we’ve put our heads together to come up with the Top Ten best games of the year so far on PS4. The list includes a healthy mix of exclusives, multi-plats, indies and big-hitters. Put simply, you can’t complain about the draught if any of these are missing from your collection. Continue reading The Top 10 best PS4 games of 2015 so far
So, I’ve just spent my first night tearing around Gotham in the Batmobile. Rocksteady have taken their time recreating one of the most iconic cars of all time and the pressure was certainly on to do it justice as their trilogy of Batman games draws to a close with Arkham Knight. My review is coming later this week, but in many ways, the main question we’re asking is, how’s the Batmobile? How does it handle? Is it an empowering blast and buckets of fun? Or do the tank-like transformations betray Batman’s Legacy? I’ll tell you.
From the first time you unleash the Batmobile on the streets of Gotham, there’s a volatile burst of aggression that makes it almost intimidating to handle. Steering can be very sensitive, resulting in much more fish-tailing than I’d care to admit. It got to the point where I was getting quite annoyed actually. Continue reading Batman: Arkham Knight’s Batmobile – Brilliant fun or a legacy betrayed?
The No Sleep Gamer 