Coming in late? Be sure to check out my spoiler-free reviews of Episode 1 and Episode 2.
I expected the dramatic conclusion to Episode 2 to be the catalyst that would drive the series’ pace forward with a much needed boost. More so with questions about the events at Arcadia Bay’s school and the strange events around town being no closer to getting answered.
The first part of Episode 3 starts with Max and Chloe breaking into the school Principal’s office. To get through the locked door, you have to sneak through the school at night to find a few items. It feels a bit by the numbers really, with only bonus photo maintaining my interest. Continue reading Life is Strange Episode 3 – Chaos Theory Review→
As expo season hurtles towards us once again, Sony’s PS4 has a comfortable lead over Microsoft’s Xbox One. But Microsoft’s console has a premium Christmas lineup of mass appeal console-exclusive titles including Halo 5, Forza 6, Gears of War Remastered (probably) and Rise of the Tomb Raider. Expect them to market Call of Duty: Black Ops III so heavily as to make it look like an exclusive too.
Microsoft will splash the cash on an intense marketing barrage on our TV, laptop and tablet screens over the all important Xmas holiday season with this selection of familiar brands. As things stand, Sony’s Christmas lineup so far is certainly lacking titles to resonate with masses. But this could all change by the time Sony leaves the stage at E3 2015. Continue reading Pressure mounts on Sony for this year’s E3→
What is Rocket League? Put simply, it’s football/soccer with large remote controlled cars, and it’s kinda brilliant.
I’ve been getting stuck into the new beta and Rocket League is already shaping up to be an essential PS4 multiplayer title. There will be local multiplayer options in the final game, but this beta has focussed on the online matches and is already showing huge potential. Continue reading Rocket League Preview | PS4’s hottest new exclusive?→
With Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate finally officially revealed after months of speculation and leaks, it’s good to see what this year’s entry in Ubisoft’s series is shaping up like. Can it repair the damage done by last year’s Unity though? Take a look at what we think were the most important elements to take away from today’s official reveal. Continue reading Why Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate already looks better than Unity→
Earlier this week, DriveClub’s new director Paul Rustchynsky responded to comments about the PS Plus Edition of the game to give readers some much wanted details about the upcoming racing game. When asked how the full-priced retail edition and the PS Plus version would differ he said: “The difference is that you only have 10 cars and you can only race in one country (which gives you access to 5 tracks with 11 distinct variants).”
It wasn’t long before disgruntled gamers started to question the rather thin nature of the release, especially seeing as earlier interviews with Sony and Evolution implied that the PS Plus Edition would appear, by most standards, to have content akin to that of a full-sized game and the full-priced version was going to be more of an extras-packed version, something more like the special editions we see ahead of other releases. Continue reading Is Sony Slapping PS Plus Members in the Face with DriveClub?→
NetherRealm Studios come to their tenth canon Mortal Kombat release after the rather excellent Injustice: Gods Among Us. Working on the superhero title seems to have strengthened their resolve to come up with one of the best games we’ve seen in the long-running, face pummelling series.
The Story mode is a good place to start for any rusty brawler fans. You’ll control a set character for four fights before being put in the shoes of a new combatant. By the end of the story you’ll have played as most of the 24 strong cast and you should have an idea of which characters you’d like to develop your skills with and those you never want to see again. Continue reading Mortal Kombat X (Review) – Gore galore→
White Night blends classic themes that sound fantastic on paper. It’s essentially a survival horror/adventure title hybrid, inked with a gorgeous Sin City-esque graphic novel style, toned with a classic 1930s detective noir vibe. I already want a film version.
We begin the tale with a car accident, which sees our protagonist hobbling towards a nearby mansion for help. And boy do I mean hobble. I’ve never endured such a slow opening 30 minutes in my life. I plodded up to the gates when the camera eventually let me see them, then up to the porch, then around the graveyard until I found the key, and then around the house for ages until I found the first save point, a couch. Thankfully, when our hero awoke, his injuries were healed and I was treated to a run button too. Continue reading White Night (Review) – A noire in the dark→
Just watched the Just Cause 3 gameplay trailer? Excited? We’re pretty sure you are. As if the trailer wasn’t enough, we’ve dug out some extra details -including a few surprises- that will make the wait until ‘Holiday 2015’ seem even further away. So here are the Top 7 reasons to be excited about Just Cause 3.Continue reading 7 reasons to be excited about Just Cause 3→
Hunter’s gather! Bloodborne is now even better thanks to today’s 1.03 patch. Despite it being all sunny outside, I was tasked with stapling the curtains shut and checking out the new patch’s performance. A surprisingly large 2.75GB download later and I was able to do just that. What I found not only improved the game, but made failure that little bit easier to bear.
The new loading times are indeed much improved, with most now twice as fast. Before the patch, I’d typically expect a wait of around 40 seconds after death or nipping back to the Hunter’s Dream for fast travel or to spend some Blood Echoes. Today, respawning after death was a brisk 17 seconds and multiple trips back and forth from the hub world were also about 17 seconds. The only time it was any longer was when choosing to fast-travel to a location far away from my last one. Continue reading Bloodborne’s new loading screens are a godsend→
Don’t take that title as a slur on Rocksteady’s excellent work on the Arkham series of Batman games, or as an ill-judged prediction that Arkham Knight is going to be anything other than brilliant. Far from it. Batman: Arkham Knight could be the crowning achievement of the trilogy, the realisation of years of hard work and the culmination of efforts and ideas that were finally allowed to exist as gaming hardware caught up to Rocksteady’s lofty ambitions.
So why so keen to see them let the Dark Knight go after June 23rd (well, after the inevitable expansion packs at least)? Rocksteady have proved themselves to be an excellent studio and it would be cruel to tie them to making one franchise over and over again. Let’s see them and Batman go out on a high, before ideas become stale and before the studio becomes fatigued trying to come up with fresh ideas in order to better their own impossibly high bench marks. They’ve been working on Arkham games nonstop since 2007! Continue reading Why Rocksteady quitting Batman after Arkham Knight is the right choice→
Looking for cheap PS4 hard drive deals is incredibly daunting. I’ve just spent hours browsing through loads of different sites and whittling through scores of drives to ensure these are the best prices and that the drives are compatible with a PS4 console. If you feel like browsing yourself, or double checking any deals below, here are some important specs you’ll want to ensure a hard drive has. If it’s not listed, try to contact the seller or don’t bother.Continue reading Cheap PS4 Hard Drive Upgrade Guide→
The roguelike genre has been spreading through the videogame genres over recent years in everything from RPGs to platformers, but now we have one for the FPS genre too. And it’s an absolute delight for anyone that remembers shooters before aiming down the sights was a thing.
The graphics-style may appear dated, but for the most part the controls are incredibly smooth and the twitch-handling is a fond throwback to older shooters; the responsive controls are fantastically fluid as you strafe enemies or nip between the hail of slow but thick storms of enemy fire. It has to be said though, there’s some awful slowdown in the larger rooms when they try to pack in too many enemies at once. It’s not a regular thing though. Continue reading Tower of Guns (Review) – Run n’ Gun Fun→
As much as we’re enjoying Bloodborne here at Dealspwn, there comes a time when we need a break. From Software’s game is extremely punishing as you know and it’s good sometimes to step back and play something else for a while to chill out and remember that not every game makes your blood boil or punishes slight slipups by snatching away all your progress from the last hour. So here’s a list of therapeutic games to play when the red mist builds up too much and you fear for your DualShock 4’s safety.Continue reading These 5 fun games will cure your Bloodborne rage→
Weeks after my first night in Yharnam, it’s time for a verdict on my adventures in Bloodborne. Well, a number for the experience so far at least. Fresh tales about From Software’s new title are appearing online every day. This is a game that nobody can really claim to have mastered yet. Secrets are still being unearthed, much of the lore has yet to be agreed and rumours whisper through the net about everything from werewolf modes to hidden boss fights.
One thing’s for sure though, Sony has done very well for themselves by nailing Bloodborne down as a PS4 exclusive. As enjoyable as Infamous, DriveClub (eventually) and Killzone were, they never rode such a continuous wave of hype after release. Bloodborne’s appeal won’t be a surprise to fans of From Software’s Demon’s Souls or the Dark Souls series, but what is surprising, is that it’s pulling in people who aren’t fans of the Souls games. People like me. Continue reading Bloodborne (Review) – Hunt. Die. Learn. Grow.→
Bikers get a seriously rough deal for video gaming thrills. The late 80s and 90s teased us all into getting bikes when we grew up with classics like Road Rash and Super Hang On and then the genre just up and died. Sure there have been Moto GP titles and a smattering of MX titles, but the genre’s glory days have long gone. And booting people on Vespas into oncoming traffic is generally frowned upon in real life.
The last decent pair of wheels seen on PlayStation was the free bikes DLC in Burnout: Paradise. With Road Rash seemingly presumably dead in a desert ditch somewhere, we’ve had to look elsewhere for two-wheeled fun. Milestone (of recent WRC and Moto GP fame) are taking another swing at the sim-side of the genre, something akin to Riding Spirits. We’re not quite ready to call this the Gran Turismo of bikes either though. Continue reading Ride (Review) – More than a fair weather rider→
Playing Bloodborne pisses me off. A lot. It makes me want a cigarette despite giving them up over a decade ago. So why has it pulled me in more than any game has in a long time and I’m still playing it every chance I get?
Bloodborne feels like strange new territory to me. Sure I played the original Demon’s Souls and while appreciating what it was trying to do, I just never jelled with it, so I never bothered with Dark Souls either. So what the hell is going on here? Let’s see why on earth I’m doing this to myself. Continue reading Bloodborne makes my blood boil. So why do I play it?→
Visceral games had a daunting task on their hands when they were given the reigns for the latest Battlefield game. But rather than attempt another military shooter, they’ve come up with a fresh angle for the series’ single player campaign and the online multiplayer by infusing a cops and robbers vibe.
We’ll start with the campaign, as it’s always nice to get a feel for the guns before hopping online. That said, DICE’s last two campaigns in Battlefield 3 and 4 have been terrible, you’d barely know that the same team were behind the excellent Battlefield: Bad Company games. Visceral know their way around a campaign though, having developed the excellent Dead Space series. Continue reading Battlefield: Hardline (Review) – Campaign brings home the bacon→
Seven weeks is far too long to wait between episodes. Episode 1 was a fantastic opener, but the initial six-week wait between episodes became seven after a small delay. Considering Capcom recently released four episodes in four weeks for their episodic Resident Evil: Revelations 2, it would seem to make much more sense to follow their model by finishing development of a game and then releasing it, rather than frantically trying to meet deadlines every six weeks.
More to the point, with story-heavy content like this, it can be difficult to remember just what the hell is going on. The major events stuck in my head easily enough, but some of the interactions with smaller characters were much harder to recall. That said, checking Max’s diary and her character bios was a big help, and for the most part, I felt like I was up to speed enough without needing to replay the first episode. Naturally, if you’re holding off until every episode is out, you’re not going to have a problem. Continue reading Life is Strange Episode 2 – Out of Time Review→
As far as Dark Souls goes, you’ll struggle to find anyone at Dealspwn that dislikes it more. But here I am, working my way through Bloodborne. From Software’s latest title is essentially a spiritual successor to the incredibly tough Souls series.
But screw it, I almost enjoyed the Alpha and Beta versions I played in recent months. So perhaps the tides were turning and I was going to start warming to the infamous brand of hardcore gaming that has built up such a large following since the early days of Demon’s Souls. Incidentally, that game was the last one I played. Continue reading Brendan’s Bloodborne Hangover – A Dark Souls virgin’s first night in Yharnam→
Gaming reviews, previews and features by Brendan Griffiths
The No Sleep Gamer 