Jake 
Remakes, remasters, reboots, re-releases – they go by many names, but thrusting an old game back onto physical and digital shelves is proving both common and lucrative these days. Sony have arguably been the most enthusiastic purveyors of that sort of thing this generation, the PlayStation 4 release schedule at times has looked like the …
Can a game be too well designed? After playing Rime, I reckon so. It was about half way through that I realised that I didn’t need to think. I stopped worrying about where to go, because I realised that Rime is precision engineered to guide the player in the right direction. It’s really, really impressive. …
Be anything. Pushing the definition of what we call a game. Narration by a dead philosopher. Playing itself if you let it. Everything about Everything is positively ripe for analysis, aching for discussion, gagging for scrutiny. But I don’t want to. Since playing Everything, I’ve found myself thinking about whether I found it deep, whether …
In 1999, MX Nitro would have been published by Midway. It’s that sort of game. A bit brash, a bit dumb, but plenty of fun with it. Think Hydro Thunder. But in futuristic 2017, it’s from Miniclip, purveyors of web and mobile games, and Saber Interactive, who have worked on everything from Halo to casino …
Piracy is rife on Android. Piracy is bad. But free is good. And you can have free Android apps without piracy. At a price. (Figuratively.) Here are two ways. Amazon Underground Amazon Underground launched in 2015, replacing Amazon’s daily free app offering. It’s an intriguing beast, offering apps for free that would cost you good …
There’s no getting away from it: virtual reality is a bit of a faff. To get over that, a game needs to be both good and novel – to offer something VR-specific to make it worth the effort. Surprisingly, as a Google Daydream VR exclusive, EarthShape doesn’t. And frustratingly, EarthShape is good. At heart, it’s …
A new Micro Machines game was announced earlier this month. To many, Micro Machines means only one thing: local multiplayer. This new ‘un supports it, sure, but with those futuristic wireless controllers we have these days. It wasn’t like that back in the ’90s. Back in the ’90s they had to be clever, and they …
Don’t feel self-conscious enough sat flailing around with a VR headset on? Untethered wants you to talk to it too. It’s quite a barrier to entry – as for that matter is the price, and the fact that it’s a Google Daydream exclusive. But it’s worth getting over the ludicrousness of talking to your phone …
What’s VR for? It’s still early days for this latest generation of screen-strapped-to-your-head technology, and it’s yet to find a completely convincing purpose. Virtual reality could yet go the way of 3D TV, but for £69, Daydream isn’t an unreasonable punt to take. Now to be clear, the Daydream is Google’s VR platform. Daydream View …
Few companies have enough obsessed fans or intrigued observers to get a new social network up to critical mass on day one. But only Nintendo could get away with launching an odd little social network where everything happens by proxy. That proxy is a Mii, familiar to millions thanks to the success of the Wii. …
Games Asylum is 15 years old this weekend, which means we can finally watch Die Hard. Yippee ki-yay indeed, melon farmers. Much has changed since 2001, so to wish ourselves a very bloody happy birthday, here are eight things that didn’t exist 15 years ago when we started this nonsense. 1. Motion control The first …
I came to Firewatch almost completely cold. (No heat-based pun intended, or indeed incoming.) I think that added to my enjoyment, and this contains quite vague spoilers. So I don’t want to discourage you from read it, but… just saying. It’s certainly not a spoiler to say that Firewatch involves making decisions. It’s one of …
What better use of the current generation than to tart up past hits? Probably several, but don’t tell this week’s new releases. Gears of War gets an Ultimate Edition (Xbox One), while for Dishonored it’s a Definitive Edition (Xbox One, PS4). Critics are pretty stoked with the former, but thin on the ground on the …
For what looks at first glance like a simple word game with cute bears, Alphabear is surprisingly complex. They had me at cute bears though, especially as they’re reminiscent of the chaps from Triple Town – which is because the game is from the same chaps, Spry Fox. And it’s a free download, so what’s …
“An incredibly elaborate Lemon Jelly video with inflections of The Mighty Boosh.” I thought that was a suitably clever opinion about Hohokum, around which I could build a review. But it turns out that’s not really an opinion, so much as background information. The graphic style – clean lines, bold colours, slightly wonky characters – …