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Interface to Face: Why Full Controller Support Matters

“A Steam sale!” you gasp. Or perhaps you just opened your email to discover that one of the items on your Wishlist is currently on special. Maybe you heard about a new Humble Bundle, one that contains a few gems that you have yet to play. In any of these situations, the standard emotion is, of course, joy. However that excitement can be quickly tempered by the absence of three important words: “full controller support”.

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‘Dark Souls II: Crown of the Ivory King’ caps off with a cold and cruel close

It’s time to check your backs for the Darksign because with the release of Crown of the Ivory King, From Software has essentially closed the book on Dark Souls II. This final episode in the Lost Crowns DLC takes place amid the snowy vistas of a frozen kingdom, and levies some of the heaviest challenges yet.

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‘Alan Wake’ caps a waking nightmare with transcendant surrealism

The idea of psychological horror is one that has resonated strongly with audiences for as long as horror has been a genre. First introduced by the narrative titans, HP Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe, the notion of psychological horror carried with it a feeling that was intensely unsettling: the idea that we may have more to fear from within than without.

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‘Lurking’ turns sound into the enemy

Lurking may not seem like much, what with your screen showing you a whole lot of nothing most of the time, but this short detour into darkness packs a powerful punch. Developed by four students at the Digipen Institute of Technology over the course of two semesters, Lurking is a first-person survival thriller game where sound provides sight, and danger.

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‘Shovel Knight’ digs into the past to reveal the future

Prepare to dig your way to victory with Shovel Knight, the game that combines retro aesthetics with modern world building, and leaves you coming back for seconds.

In this side-scrolling platformer, you play as the titular character Shovel Knight, who has lost his beloved companion, Shield Knight, in the Tower of Fate. Before he can save Shield Knight however, Shovel Knight must defeat The Order of No Quarter. Only then can Shovel Knight face his greatest enemy, the evil Enchantress.

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‘Braid’ delivers a crushing tale of loss and introspection

Have you ever made a mistake that you wished you could undo? Well that’s a silly question–of course you have. It would seem an obvious statement that we all have our regrets about this life. Whether it be in relation to friends, family or career, each of us carries a skeleton or two around with us as a reminder of the missteps which we have been party to. Moreover, though, for so many people, their central regret is tied into the memory of a lost or faded love.

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‘Only If’ is a peculiar experiment with mixed results

Indie games are a mixed bag, sometimes they’re great, sometimes they’re terrible, and sometimes…sometimes you wonder what the heck you’ve just played. Only if falls into the last category. Described by the developers as a game designed with the millennial in mind, Only if seeks to challenge the way we interact with games.

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‘Dark Souls II: Crown of the Old Iron King’ paints an ash wonderland of tumultuous despair

It’s pretty well known by now that the mantra of the Souls series is “Prepare to die.” Yet, one finds one’s self continuously shocked at the near-trolling levels of effort that From puts into killing the player via tactics of shock, awe, and fear. It would seem that the most appropriate citation is that of the opening cutscene of Things Betwixt, where the three former Firekeepers just laugh at you before you even begin your journey…almost as if they know what kind of horrific traumas are to come.

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‘Final Fantasy VII’ and a titanic step forward for RPGs

Anyone old enough to remember gaming in the 90s would, of course, remember the huge splash that Final Fantasy VII made when it first arrived back in the autumn of 1997. Preceded by a mountain of hype, a massive advertising campaign, and a price tag that signified it as the most expensive game ever produced, FFVII had a heady and hefty weight on its shoulders before it even stepped out of the gate.

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Xbox One: Game Over for Game Over

Microsoft recently held a closed-door meeting called Xbox 101 (Xbox One-0-1, if you will) where they demonstrated the computing power of the Xbox One, which they claim exceeds the computational power of more than ten Xbox 360 consoles. However, the hardware inside Microsoft’s new black box is not solely responsible for this. Its ability to …

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The Top 10 Disappointing Video Games of This Generation (#5-1)

[Click here to see part 1] *** #5. Aliens: Colonial Marines Developer: Gearbox Software / Nerve Software / TimeGate Studios Release Date: February 12, 2013 Platform(s): PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 The Alien movie franchise has inspired many video games over the years, but nothing to really write home about. In spite of that however, …

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