At first glance, the physics-based puzzle game Donut County (PlayStation 4, iOS, PC) seems like it’s devoid of any challenge. But while it may not be as difficult as Dark Souls or Super Meat Boy, there is some thought needed if you want to beat this rather clever game.
In anticipation of their open world racing game Forza Horizon 4 being released October 2nd on Xbox One and PC, the good people of Microsoft and Playground Games held an event last week at The Microsoft Lounge in Culver City, California where they gave journalists a chance to play the opening of the game. After doing so, I spent a few moments with Creative Director Ralph Fulton to discuss some of the things I noticed during my drive.
Having learned survival skills in 2013’s Tomb Raider, and honed them in 2015’s Rise Of The Tomb Raider, Lara Croft is putting them to the test in Shadow Of The Tomb Raider (Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC), the final game in this prequel trilogy. But while this third-person action-packed adventure is as effortlessly fun as the other two, this isn’t just the same game in a new outfit.
It’s funny how all the talk of licensed games always being terrible goes right out the window when the thing being licensed is a comic book. Take the interactive adventures of our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. While he’s had some terrible games, people mostly remember such good ones as Spider-Man: Web Of Shadows, Ultimate Spider-Man, and, of course, Spider-Man 2. Thankfully, it is the latter category that that we find Spider-Man (PlayStation 4, PS4 Collector’s Edition), the wall-crawler’s newest adventure, and first from the good people of Insomniac Games.
Like other people who’ve made co-op games, the good people at Rebellion have said that their third-person shooter Strange Brigade (Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC) was designed to be played with friends, but can still be fun for those who don’t play well with others. As one of those latter folk, I decided to put their words, and their game, to the test.
Here’s my review of Strange Brigade as a single-player game.
While Taylor Swift’s influence may be far-reaching and pervasive, in my new interview with science fiction writer Matt Forbeck, he explains that his new sci-fi space opera Halo: Bad Blood (paperback, Kindle, audiobook) — the latest novel in the Halo video game saga — is absolutely, positively not influenced by Ms. Swift or her song, “Bad Blood.” Well, maybe a little.
When I was fifteen, and playing arcade games at the local community center, I couldn’t have told you where India was on a map if you gave me a hint. So you can probably imagine how envious I am of Mridul Bansal and Mridul Pancholi, two fifteen-year-olds from India who, under the name Vague Pixels, have just released their first video game, Alter Army, which you can get for PC and Mac on Steam here.
When I was thirteen, circa 1981, I spent many afternoons at the community center near my house, dropping quarter after quarter into the now classic arcade shooter Tempest. So it is with great sadness that I must tell you that the latest updated remake, Tempest 4000 (Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC), failed to grab me in any way.
Science fiction has a long history of covertly (and not so covertly) tackling sensitive subjects of a social and political nature. Issues of race and racism, for instance, have been explored in everything from the original Star Trek and the movie District 9 to such novels as Octavia Butler’s Kindred and Rivers Solomon’s An Unkindness Of Ghosts. And now it’s the driving force behind thethird-person cyberpunk video game Detroit: Become Human (PlayStation 4), the newest interactive movie from Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls developer Quantic Dream. It’s just too bad the game isn’t as fun as it is thoughtful.