The Global Game Jam

There have been a lot of things attributed to game development, but normality probably isn’t one of them. In fact, it’s been scientifically proven that the concepts of “regular” and “game developer” are mutually exclusive, and even addressing someone as “a normal game developer” brings the entire universe that much closer to a divide-by-zero implosion.
Of [...]

Feature Review: Mass Effect 2

I’m not an avid Bioware fan, but I must admit, I was waiting with bated breath among the Bioware fanatics for the release of Mass Effect 2 – the sequel to one of the most critically acclaimed RPGs of 2008 with exciting shooting elements and in-depth character interaction.

Mass Effect 2, like its predecessor, is a [...]

Fair warning: the dev’s guide

Sometimes a game relies on the element of surprise to keep players on their toes and generate tense or action-filled moments. Horror titles do this a lot — sometimes a monster will leap out of the closet, or your in-game avatar will be shocked to find that dinner is actually a bowl of cabbage soup [...]

Feature Review: Darksiders

I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way, but I love it when a fledgling games studio offers up their first big work for gamers to enjoy. I always hope to see the beginning of another big player’s career in the industry. Recently, we had the opportunity to enjoy that kind of [...]

Retro review: Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain

Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain is the first in the well-known Legacy of Kain Saga, initially released on the PlayStation in 1996 and ported to the PC in 1997. It has recently been abandoned on PC. If you’re active on the Playstation Network, it can be found there too.
Blood Omen tells the tale of a [...]

NAG February 2010 issue

It’s the sand issue! We’ve flown to the far ends of the Earth to uncover the secrets behind Spec Ops: The Line, dug deep into the forgotten sands of Prince of Persia, and exploded the hidden truths of Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Our reviews section is filled to bursting with the sexy Bayonetta, the sneaky [...]

Intel’s budget fighter: Clarkdale

We’ve had time to get to grips with the amazing performance of Intel’s Core i5 series: the latest addition to what Intel calls the “high mainstream” segment. Unfortunately, the new chips have been priced just out of reach, and a lot of potential buyers have turned to AMD and their value-centric Athlon II range. While [...]

Review: Tales of Monkey Island Ep. 5

After many months of item-hunting, pox-spreading and monkey-bothering, the brilliant Tales of Monkey Island series finally comes to a close with Episode 5, Rise of the Pirate God (ROTPG). Be warned, if you haven’t played the previous episodes the following will contain spoilers. So do yourself a large favour — go play them and then [...]

Feature Review: Bayonetta

I didn’t want to admit it, I really didn’t. As a loyal follower and advocate of the Devil May Cry series, I didn’t want to think that another extreme action game could come close to Devil May Cry’s sheer style and purity, let alone surpass it. But after thoroughly testing every aspect of Bayonetta, I [...]

Make your games meaningful

People who know me well enough are usually aware of my obsession with a Rogue-like game called Crawl. It’s said to be one of the most fiendishly difficult offerings from an already fiendishly difficult genre (victory is a mixed bag of “holy crap, I’ve finally won!” and “holy crap, what have I just wasted years [...]

Super Borderlands double DLC review

If you’re hankering for some new things to shoot and money to make in Borderlands, then you might want to hop online and download the two latest expansion packs.
The Zombie Island of Dr Ned
Developer: Gearbox Software
For those of you who have cleared every mission in Borderlands and still found yourself wanting more, this if for [...]

A smattering of the IGF: 2010

The annual Independent Games Festival has featured on these pages before, lauded as one of the biggest events on the average indie developer’s calendar. From a pool of more than 300 entrants, a new batch of indie game finalists for the 2010 event has already been selected, dusted off, and presented to us while we [...]

Feature Review: Dark Void

If I could narrow my videogame concept wish list down to only a handful of ideas that I’ve always hoped would be turned into a videogame, one of the remaining items would be a game which allows us to engage in frantic ground-based combat and swooping, barrel-rolling air combat, with seamless transitions in between. Some [...]

Retro review: Sanitarium

A man with a secret drives himself off the road in a storm, and wakes up in a grotty Gothic asylum. It’s also on fire, because it just wouldn’t be a proper grotty Gothic asylum if it wasn’t on fire. And just to keep things interesting in a Grand Guignol-does-soap opera sort of way, this [...]