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Author: Jon Armer

Watch_Dogs – The Verdict

Watch_Dogs – The Verdict

Spider-tank, Spider-tank, does whatever a spider-tank does…

I’ve somehow managed to open this piece without even mentioning dogs or the watching thereof; welcome to a brave new world people! Find out what I think about Watch_Dogs after the cut.

The Reticule (Not at) E3 Roundup – Batman, Sims and Abzu

The Reticule (Not at) E3 Roundup – Batman, Sims and Abzu

I’ve always found E3 to be a peculiar beast and I still question it’s relevance given the internet’s always on, always now capabilities, but I guess you’ve got to give the PR guys ‘n’ gals a day out occasionally. That said, there were a few titles that immediately piqued my interest. Check them out after the break.

The Last Tinker: City of Colours- The Verdict

The Last Tinker: City of Colours- The Verdict

I’ve been playing a lot of The Last Tinker: City of Colours. As is often the case when you don’t get to play a title pre-release you can see a lot of other reviews pop-up and if you’re not careful they can colour your impression of a game. Almost without exception the reviews have been positive, great even in some cases. Is this the first exception….read on for my Verdict.

War of the Vikings – The Verdict

War of the Vikings – The Verdict

We look at each other across the bloody and disorientating mess that the battlefield has devolved into.

He casually raises his shield and then bows. I bow in return. There is a brief almost serene pause (punctuated slightly by a wounded-man running between us) and then we charge.

Who’d have thought it with all the looting and pillaging; Vikings are sticklers for etiquette, at least this is the case in War of the Vikings.

Dragons and Titans: The Verdict

Dragons and Titans: The Verdict

I’ve been playing the new MOBA ‘Dragons and Titans‘ by PlanOfAttack, and here’s what I think.

It’s not as good as DOTA.

Now that’s out the way we can look at the title in more detail. You play a dragon rider of sorts who’s tasked with protecting a village from various types of attack.

Thief – The Verdict

Thief – The Verdict

Ok, you may want a cup of tea before you start reading this one; it’s going to be long, but I think this title deserves an in-depth analysis.

Thief is… well I don’t know exactly. I know what it thinks it is; a stealth game about thievery and intrigue, but I’m not entirely convinced. It’s most certainly not a bad game, but it is one that struggles with its own (self inflicted) problems that do their damnedest to spoil the experience.

Dark Souls 2: Hands-on Preview

Dark Souls 2: Hands-on Preview

I spent a good portion of the morning battling my way through hordes of unyielding, malevolent beings hell-bent on my destruction. Once I’d got through London though I arrived at BandaiNamcoUK’s office near Hammersmith for a 3 hour hands-on with an almost finished PS3 copy of Dark Souls 2.

I’ve got what I call a love-hate relationship with the first Dark Souls. I love the environment and the feel of the game, though I at times found the game to be far too unforgiving and wilfully obtuse. That said, it still wormed it’s way into my affection so I was quite excited at my chance for some hands-on time with the sequel.

Kings Road: Beta Impressions

Kings Road: Beta Impressions

I have a confession, I wasn’t expecting much when I first logged into Kings Road. It didn’t exactly get off to a great start; i’m a grumpy old(ish) gamer and I hate having to install peripheral pieces of software to get things working. Granted, in this instance it was only a different browser: Firefox to my preferred Chrome, but still, I moped and everything. The reason though is immediately apparent when the game starts; the other browsers would probably have…

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Day’s of Z

Day’s of Z

OK so I caved. I gave in to the hype, the stories, the videos and the general ‘feel’ of the experience surrounding it, and I bought into an Alpha: I bought Day-Z. This is also smashing one of my golden rules; never ever, ever, pre-order anything and if you think about it, an alpha purchase is pre-ordering a pre-order. You’re not even buying a complete game…. just a promise of one. What the hell was I thinking?

Is gaming the new Mainstream?

Is gaming the new Mainstream?

Gaming needs to become more mainstream; this is something I’ve been hearing a lot recently, often around the release of a new big AAA game and even more often, with reference to violence.

I’m going to put the question of whether games can, do, or are even able to insight either thoughts or acts of physical violence aside for another time,  today I’m more interested in whether games are, or should be mainstream. This subject though, as with most things worthy of discussion, is invariably multifaceted and not as simple as you would think.