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Our Week in Games – Week 147

Our Week in Games – Week 147

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We’ve had an unofficial summer break here at Reticule Towers, and we hope you’ve all had a pleasant few weeks of peace and quiet. Did we say quiet? Well, while we may have been quiet, the industry has been in turmoil with appalling reports of a toxic culture at Activision Blizzard, which ultimately lead to a staff walkout. This all emerged when the State of California filed a lawsuit against the Call of Duty and World of Warcraft creators, with the lawsuit alleging pervasive discrimination and harassment of women. Eurogamer have a good lowdown on the latest events with Activision Blizzard here.

We witnessed similar damning revelations spill out of Ubi Soft last year, but the truth is that this problem is industry-wide – it is deeply embedded in the very culture of gaming, both within those that produce our games and those that engage with them. A toxic culture, and one that has to be brought to an immediate end so that something better – an equitable, fair, decent, and empathetic culture – can emerge.

Enough is enough. Gaming needs to be better – and it needs to be better right now.

And it starts with us, too.

Here at The Reticule we embrace equality and diversity. We’re incredibly proud of our writing team, but we’re super conscious that, ultimately, we’re a team of white dudes, and that’s not a reflection of the gaming culture we want to see. We are committed to diversifying the voices that you see and read on our website. We are now actively recruiting such voices. If you want to get in touch about working with us, drop us a note on Discord or get in touch with our Editor Ross at ross@thereticule.com

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Our Week in Games – Week 146

Our Week in Games – Week 146

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Apparently, the football’s coming home this week.

I know a lot about football. Admittedly, the bulk of this knowledge comes from a cover-disk demo for Sensible Soccer which I obtained in 1992. For example, did you know that once the ball has been kicked, the player still has several seconds in which to decide if he wants the ball to curve in one direction or another? Also, if a goal is scored in the final minute of the game, the match-timer breaks and the game never actually ends, condemning the players to play on and on until the final days of humanity or the console is switched off, whichever comes first. Still, at least the crowd will get their money’s worth.

So fingers crossed. I hope the players aren’t doomed to an eternal match without end, endlessly scoring goal after goal without purpose, begging for the final release of death and their nightmarish existence on the pitch to come to a final relief.

But what have we been playing this week? …

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DOOM 64 – A Retrospective

DOOM 64 – A Retrospective

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“The planetary policy was clear. An absolute quarantine was guaranteed by apocalyptic levels of radiation. The empty dark corridors stand motionless, abandoned. The installations sealed.”

Doom 64 took me by surprise. Growing up I never owned a Nintendo 64 (I was a PlayStation kid), so for years I operated under the belief that no such conversion of id’s classic first-person shooter had made its way onto Nintendo’s console. By the time I learned of its existence, my interest was best described as “indifferent”. I just casually assumed it was Doom all over again, not caring to dig any deeper into Midway Games’ title.

What a putz.

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Our Week in Games – Week 145

Our Week in Games – Week 145

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We might be a day late with the 145th edition of Our Week in Games, but the delay was perfectly timed as news about Sony’s plans for the cross-gen update for Ghost of Tsushima’s broke. While Eurogamer have all the details, it is frankly shocking that if you buy the Director’s Cut edition of Ghost of Tsushima on the PlayStation 4 and then want to upgrade to the PlayStation 5 version, you’ll have to fork out £9 for the privilege.

If you hit the break, you’ll find out about how Chris has been experiencing and exploring the wonders of Xbox Game Pass, and how it compares with Sony’s offerings. The latest palaver around Tsushima shows that Sony are out of touch with much more than just how PlayStation Plus compares with Microsoft’s offering.

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Our Week in Games – Week 144

Our Week in Games – Week 144

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The week after E3, and all is quiet in the land of video games. Well, things have obviously been happening but beyond Microsoft unveiling Windows 11, it’s been pretty quiet. We can expect things to pick up again in the next few weeks as EA hold some events, with rumours of Dead Space making a return.

While the industry might have been taking a break in general, the Steam Summer Sale has kicked off leading to bonkers price reductions, and bulging backlogs. It’s always a fun time of year. so let us know in the comments what you’ve picked up.

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Our Week in Games – Week 143

Our Week in Games – Week 143

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While people are picking over the still-twitching carcass of E3, one major story flew, haphazardly out of the gore (I have no idea where I’m going with this metaphor); the Xbox Exclusivity of Bethesda’s hotly anticipated Starfield is generated some controversy. While we still know little about the game aside from a prerendered cinematic and the usual PR ‘Gumf’ about ‘freedom’ and ‘choice’, the news that Playstation owners will not be able to get hold of it, predictably, hasn’t gone down well.  While platform exclusives have always been a thing, this somehow seems different and even as a PC player who’s confident that whatever happens in the console wars I’ll eventually get to play any exclusive, I feel bad for the PlayStation owners.

It also raises tantalising questions about the platform-availability of the next Elder Scrolls game….

Stalker 2, the sequel to what I think are some of the most underrated games of all time has received it’s first major trailer and it looks stunning. Details are sparse, but the recommendation for a Geforce 2070 (or equivalent) have certainly grabbed my attention. It’s not hard to see why this is required either as the game looks incredible in the trailer. It may be time to retire my trustworthy 1070 as this is not a game I think anyone should be missing out on. Luckily GPU’s are really easy to get hold of at the moment…..

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Our Week in Games – Week 142

Our Week in Games – Week 142

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E3 is lumbering out of view like an asthmatic brontosaurus who’s late for his first job interview following a particularly dry season. While many people are starting to question the relevance of such events certainly in a post(we hope) pandemic world, it’s hard to argue against it’s impact.

This year we’ve been sideswiped by news of an Avatar game (Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora), pulled-into a dark alley by Rainbow 6 Siege: Quarantine Extraction, a title that seems to be pulling the series in a direction that it may not be best suited to, and then, frankly, given the wrong directions by a Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle sequel Sparks of Hope. 

Three titles that I wasn’t expecting- and at a time when a bit of gaming fatigue was setting in, it’s welcome news. Expect more updates to follow in the coming day(s) as we digest the revelations and we update you on anything that particularly caught our fancy.

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Retrospective – Soul Reaver 2 (2001)

Retrospective – Soul Reaver 2 (2001)

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“But suppose your throw a coin enough times – suppose one day it lands on its edge.”

The opening to Soul Reaver is seared into my memory. No matter how many times I watch the introductory cutscene, the booming synth pulls me right back into the Gothic tableau of the Legacy of Kain universe, as if I were discovering it anew. With slick narrative efficiency, it sets in motion a tale of vengeance that spills out across time, daring its protagonists to challenge the apparent indomitability of fate.

And dare they do.

Yeah, I adore Soul Reaver.

So. Soul Reaver 2, then. A challenging game to write about, frankly.

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Our Week in Games – Week 141

Our Week in Games – Week 141

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Once upon a time, The Reticule was a PC only site, that was until 2011 when the site was relaunched as a multiplatform site. The relaunch saw the original content archived, but some WordPress magic now sees that original content here on the main site.

We hope you enjoy reading our history, for now though hit the break for a review of Our Week in Games.

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