Browsing: pick

We’ve thrown about some rumors over the last two years surrounding the possibly of a upcoming Command and Conquer game. The signals were in place suggesting that EA would extend the series and this was recently confirmed thanks to an announcement by the company. It seems fair to say that fans of this long series haven’t enjoyed what EA has offered since it took over from Westwood Studios. Red Alert 3 was a decent game, later destroyed online by EA’s decision to pull the servers, meaning online play wasn’t possible unless you used a community created alternative. Certainly a bad…

Strategy is the genre of choice for the thinking gamer. Far from blasting demons on your last scrap of health, if you’re a strategy gamer you relish the thought of executing a carefully-planned gambit and watching as all the pieces fall expertly into place. No matter what your chosen flavour of strategy might be, there’s plenty to tempt you over the coming months. We’ve gathered together 10 of the most promising strategy games coming in 2019. Wargroove (Q1 2019) Combining a beautiful pixel aesthetic with deep, compelling strategy mechanics, Wargroove will be a familiar sight to anyone who’s a fan…

Fun fact: the first real-time strategy (RTS) game is argued by many to be 1989’s Herzog Zwei, and it’s a console game. Anyone who says that RTS games belong entirely on PC can and should be swayed by this fact, because Herzog Zwei is the progenitor of what we know as real-time strategy today. Since then, seminal titles like Warcraft, Starcraft and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War have further refined the formula, and today the genre is hale and hearty. With RTS games doing a roaring trade and showing no signs of slowing any time soon, we thought now was…

There was a time when video games were considered exclusively a male pastime. Most marketing campaigns for games in the ‘80s, ‘90s and 2000s were clearly aimed at men and boys; their aggressive language, fast-paced editing and confrontational nature suggested a focus on masculinity. Nowadays, thankfully, the gaming landscape is a bit more equal, and we have games which are suitable not only for both sexes, but for people of all persuasions and tastes. That said, there’s still a lot of work to be done. Girls are still massively underrepresented in the video game sphere; though the groundwork is being…

Did you know it’s been 9 years since the advent of Codemasters’ F1 series? That’s right – this series has been chugging along since way back in 2009, when British company Sumo Digital created F1 2009 for the Wii and PSP, of all platforms. Fastforward to 2018, and the F1 series has gone from strength to strength, with solid entries every year since 2009. Ask any Formula One fan, though, and they’ll say the core gameplay of the franchise was in need of a minor shake-up. A survey conducted by Codemasters found that players were dropping out of the game…

In this world of constant streaming and marathon gaming sessions, gamers’ eyes are taking more of a battering than they ever have. Even if you don’t normally need glasses, you might not be aware of the potential damage staring at your monitor could be doing. Simply put, that lengthy Overwatch or League of Legends session could be doing both temporary and permanent damage to your retinas. The culprit here is blue light. Computer monitors, TVs and other displays produce mainly blue light, which is a contributing factor to eye strain and could, with overexposure, potentially lead to permanent retina damage…

After a sacrilegious hiatus of thirteen years, the TimeSplitters franchise could be set to make a long-awaited and warm-welcomed return. Koch Media, a THQ Nordic-owned company, announced they had acquired the rights to the infamous arcade shooter franchise just a few days ago. The TimeSplitters franchise, originally created by Free Radical Design (later known as Crytek UK Ltd and then Deep Silver Dambuster), is widely revered as one of the most influential console games of the early noughties, throwing together a quirky and cartoonish art style, pop culture references, crazy weaponry and chaotic multiplayer to create all-round fun, fondly remembered…

Pokémon Quest is Nintendo and The Pokémon Company’s latest spin-off release within the infamous creature-catching franchise. It’s also their latest endeavour into the ever-popular mobile game platform, with a mobile release supposedly planned for late June. Nintendo is no stranger to the mobile game market, having already released Fire Emblem Heroes, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and Super Mario Run, with FE Heroes being one I still play almost daily. Now Pokémon Quest is set to join the ranks and I have to say I’m enjoying it so far. Having played it almost every day since its initial Switch release on…

1. The Last of Us Part II After the emotional rollercoaster that was the first instalment of The Last of Us, the highly anticipated second part of the story seems to follow Ellie on a revenge-a-thon through the post-apocalyptic, shroom-ridden United States. We’re not sure yet who she’s avenging but with those graphics and those freaky mushroom people, it could be a dropped ice cream sandwich and I’d still be on the edge of my seat. You already know what to expect here from Naughty Dog; a killer narrative, gruelling choices, and rich characters. We can’t wait to lose ourselves…

Nostalgia is a funny thing, isn’t it? We love revisiting our past, reliving the experiences that made us who we are and that we still regard with fondness many years later. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in our media; I’d wager you, like me, have games you should rightly be ashamed of loving but will defend to the hilt anyway (Castlevania 2: Simon’s Quest, step right this way). This, of course, is where the remaster comes in. Remastering games is a wonderful way of preserving the nostalgic feeling our favourite games give us, while papering over some of the…