☆ Review: The Darkside Detective "Welcome to the dark side… bring your kids!" ☆ #GameDev #IndieGame

The Darkside Detective is a 2D point and click adventure video game from developers Spooky Doorway (a very apt name for the Halloween season) that follows the adventures of Twin Lakes’ finest supernatural police squad, Francis McQueen and his sidekick Dooley.

It is a charming, snappy and surprisingly funny selection of episodes (the game comes with all six episodes included) that I heartily recommend for all the family.

The game consists of six ‘micro-adventures’ (the developers’ own words) that make up case files for the protagonist, Francis McQueen.

☆ 10 Scary Video Games To Play This halloween ☆ #Retrogaming

"The creepiest video games are the ones that create an atmosphere of foreboding and here are 10 of the best out there for you to play this Halloween"

☆ The Gardens Between Trailer ☆ #PS4

"Sony just announced at Paris Games Week that The Gardens Between, the adventure puzzle game by The Voxel Agents, is coming to PlayStation 4 in Q3 2018. 

It will launch simultaneously on Windows and Mac"

☆ "The Night Football Fun Came Home To Playstation" ☆ #Retrogaming

Back in the time before FIFA ruled the soccer video games landscape PES was the game of choice.

The fun that the game brought me is incomparable to the sterile relationship I have with the current crop of FIFA reproductions we get handed every year.

I have said it before and it's most definitely true, the fun of football games has been drained out of the genre and replaced with a desire from developers to create a realistic as possible product.

The problem with this is that realism brings boring to the table. The fact is that 80% of real football matches are actually tactical boredom. 

Just look at the recent Liverpool vs Man Utd match to see how an overhyped product generally fails to deliver on the media frenzy from Sky and various media sources.

Now, why the heck would you want to spend your time playing a football game that makes it as hard to score in a game as it is in real life?

It's just not fun, is it?

☆ Would YOU Back A Mean Machines Kickstarter Campaign? ☆ @JazRignall #Retrogaming

Who Here Would Love To See A NEW One Off Special Issue Of Mean Machines Magazine?

Well ever since the special edition of Super Play 48 came out with Retro Gamer Magazine I have dreamed of a Mean Machines equivalent.

Julian "Jaz" Rignall has commented on Twitter that he would be interested in doing it if only he could step round the EMAP Copyright stuff.

So just for fun I have mocked up a Mean Machines Kickstarter....

Would YOU Back It?

☆ Review: Fantasy Strike "Are You Ready For The 'Yomi Counter'?" ☆ #GameDev

Fantasy Strike - PC

I like to think that it doesn’t matter whether I’m good at fighting video games or not, as long as I have fun; right? 

Some of the people I play against in Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat make that really hard to buy into though, and then there is my wife, who still beats me at Tekken. 

I love playing the genre though, trying new systems, figuring out styles, learning how different fighters work, but have never mastered the finer techniques. 

The first time my college roommate attempted to explain dash cancelling to me I honestly thought my brain was going to implode. 

I have gotten way better over the years, even if I still lose a lot and have to take pride in my own style and flashy alternate costumes, but along has come a game that I think many more will appreciate. 

☆ Review: Riskers "a game that fades into the shadows of its influences" ☆ #GameDev #IndieGame

Riskers - PC

I really wanted to like Riskers, all of the ingredients were here for a great game, but sadly it spreads itself too thin to be memorable.

The story that drives Riskers is that you play a garbage collector who finds a briefcase filled with cash, merely days later when you arrive home, you find your brother killed and head off to chase down the assailants.

☆ New Gaming Ghoulishness To Be Released For The NES! - "Time To Creep It Real!" ☆ #Retrogaming #NES

Those cool cats at Mega Cat Studios just listed some awesome new NES video games for sale!

 

These include, a  one of a kind collectors edition Creepy Brawlers, Creepin It Reel & Justice Duel.

 

You just gotta check out this NES awesomeness and get yourself in the Halloween mood with some retrogaming ghoulishness!

☆ Did You Know That Nick Frost Plays A Character In "Augmented Empire" ? ☆ #GameDev

Coatsink’s cyberpunk RPG Augmented Empire launched in July, exclusive to Samsung Gear VR and now Coatsink have released a mini-documentary featuring the cast which includes the legendary Nick Frost!


Take a peek at it now and let us know what you think...

"Stay Frosty!"
 

☆ Review: West of Loathing "A game that will ‘stick’ with me for a long time" ☆ #IndieGame #GameDev

West Of Loathing - PC

I’m not going to sugar-coat it, West of Loathing is my single-player game of the year.

I have never played any of Asymmetric Publications’ previous games but I will absolutely be front of the queue for their next release. 

West of Loathing is a joyous, hilarious and occasionally touching gem of a game that conjured up feelings that I haven’t had whilst playing a game since The Secret of Monkey Island.

☆ First Look: Sociable Soccer "Sensible Soccer's Grandchild" ☆ #GameDev #EarlyAccess

Sensible Soccer has a long and illustrious history and sits in the hearts of 90's gamers like no other football video game from that period ever did.

Lots of games tried and failed to replicate the perfect blend of fun and depth that was baked into Sensible Soccer's DNA.

In 2017 Jon Hare and co. are back with a next generation of the Sensible Soccer lineage that is looking to reinvoke memories of those heated and frantic 2 player matches that you had with your brothers, mates and family. 

Sociable Soccer is everybody's favourite second team right now and we're all rooting for the legendary midfield maestro as he comes back for one last go at lifting the cup.

Can Sociable recreate the glory days of the golden generation or will it fade like Kick Off Revival did?

Let's Kick Off with a Rabona Kick and find out, shall we?

☆ Ten Minute Taster - Maize - PS4 - "Corn! Yom Yom!" ☆

 

"3 Corns Are Running Away From YOU in a Field........What Should YOU Do Next?"

☆ Ten minute Taster - The Solus Project - PS4 ☆

 

"How to survive at least ten minutes after crash landing on an Alien Planet......

Lesson 1: 'Creating Fire'

☆ The History Of Games Freezer "One Man & His Freezer" ☆

Have you ever wondered how Games Freezer came to be what it is today?

I didn't think so, but here's a video anyhow....

☆ Review: Offensive Combat: Redux "Redux, Reuse, Recycle..." ☆

I have recently played through Offensive Combat: Redux, an online First Person Shooter video game with multiple game modes like Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Capture the Flag.

There are also single player modes where you can explore the maps, a shooting range to test your weapons, and an Annihilator mode where you basically play against bots that run around the map.

☆ Review: A Robot Named FIGHT! "Down with the new flesh!" ☆ #GameDev #IndieGame

Procedurally generated video games can be a real mixed bag.

Sometimes they can really work well (Nongunz) and sometimes the design can falter, the balance not quite right and the punishment outweighs the rewards too much for 
the game to be truly enjoyable (Tangledeep).

A Robot Named Fight is definitely in the earlier camp.

A 16-bit style Super Metroid-esque romp through a futuristic flesh-filled labyrinth that changes each play-through.

⚽️ Was ISS Deluxe The Most Influential Soccer Game? ⚽️ #Retrogaming #SNES #PES

When I think back through all the football (soccer) video games that I have played over the years, and there’s a lot, I’m trying to think back to the game that really changed the landscape of football games and paved the way for the likes of FIFA and PES.

Naturally, people tend to think back to the first FIFA game on the SEGA Mega Drive or maybe they look at Kick-Off or maybe Sensible Soccer. 

Those games were awesome and I loved playing those games as they were fun and intuitive.

For me though the game that truly paved the way for the future of football games had to be International Superstar Soccer Pro Deluxe. This game swept me away when I saw it.

☆ The Copyright Madness Of "The Revenge Of Shinobi" ☆

Back in 1989 SEGA released the awesome SEGA Megadrive video game entitled Revenge Of Shinobi and it rocked!

Do you remember playing this awesome retro game from back in the day?

Do you remember that SEGA were treading on some mega shaky ground at the time with the use of not just one character outside of the SEGA world but 4 characters that were definitely not theirs to use!?

☆ Sometimes The First Video Game In A Series Remains The Best ☆ #Retrogaming

Have you ever played a video game that is so pure and perfect that any further iteration of that game would only ruin it?

Well I’m guessing that you have all played the game that I’m thinking of and you may disagree with my thoughts but in my opinion the first in the long running series is still by far and away the best in the series.

The series has had around 13 games released since the first game was released in August 1991 and that ’91 version is still the best.

☆ First Look: See you on the Other Side "Into Darkness" ☆ #GameDev

See You on the Other Side is a game that is currently a work in progress by Danish studio Tunnel Vision Games, Pang Man was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the game in action at EGX REZZED 2017 and Tunnel Vision were kind enough to send us a test build to peruse.

☆ Stranger Things The Game "8 Bit Awesomeness!" ☆ #Retrogaming

A while back there was a short YouTube video that showed a mock up of a 8bit style Stranger Things video game and the whole world went 

“oooh that looks awesome! Stranger Things would make a great video game!”

We ran an article just after that video came out which looked at TV shows that would make great games and of course Stranger Things popped up.

Now fast forward to October 2017 and there is a Stranger Things mobile game!

☆ Review: SpaceBOUND "Why Ever Leave the Planet?" ☆

Oh no, there is blood everywhere! They’re both dead again…and…I really don’t care.

The trailer exclaimed it perfectly: prepare to die a lot, and I have to give them points for honest advertising. 

☆ Phantom Trigger - The Ten Minute Taster ☆

"Stan has a stroke and ends up in some crazy neon tinged slasher alternate reality, this is my kinda game, come join me!"

☆ A Visual Treat For All Video Gamers ☆

Any trip to EGX is a special event for video gamers and this years EGX was no exception.

It actually felt bigger and better this year which sounds cliche but it felt exactly that way this year with all the BIG BOYS being there and the venue just feeling that much more filled out with awesomeness.

Naturally I took a lot of pics in between playing a lot of games.

In my previous EGX article I told you all about the 5 games from EGX that you're not playing right now and now i'm going to shower you with some cool pictures from the UK Video Games Event Of The Year!

☆ "Today In Gaming" - 11th October 1994 - 2013 ☆ #Retrogaming

This is today in gaming where we look back at the games that came out "Today In Gaming" 

11th October 1994 - 2013

☆SwapQuest - Ten Minute Taster ☆ #GameDev

"Flee the purple headed horde as you create a path 
for your dashing hero in this cool puzzler RPG"

☆ Sociable Soccer "Arcade Football is back in town!" October 12th ☆ @Sociable_Soccer

Calling ALL SENSIBLE SOCCER FANS!

It's nearly time for Jon Hare to re-claim the arcade football crown as Sociable Soccer HITS EARLY ACCESS ON STEAM on October 12th 2017!

☆ Retro Review: Gradius III - Super Nintendo "a million bullets flying at you from all directions" ☆ #Retrogaming

GRADIUS III - SNES

The Intro:
There’s a point in every video game console’s life cycle when a game comes along that truly showcases the power of the hardware. 

These games push the graphical and processing capabilities of the hardware to the max, setting benchmarks for others to follow.

☆ Community Inc - Ten Minute Taster ☆ #GameDev

"Let's build a community of lovely 'Lings' who work hard and fast for 30 days and then.................SELL SELL SELL!"

☆ Review: The Kindred "I'm A Voxel Girl, In A Voxel World!" ☆

The Kindred video game will to most look like a Minecraft clone and it might sound like a creepy sect to some!

I'd say it's Minecraft inspired but not a clone, maybe a different flavour of Minecraft, a more chilled out version.

Also, some will say that it's a bit buggy right now and they'd be right BUT this is an early access game made by a very small team of devs. Each week the game is getting better and bugs are being ironed out.

Now we've set the scene, what is it actually all about gameplay wise?

☆ Review: Crest "Ever wanted to play God?" ☆

It seems like the god game is a dying breed.

Granted, we’ve never had very many of them, and the genre is apparently too tainted by Peter Molyneux’s grubby paws to stand a chance today.

Well, there’s a new kid on the block to rival the likes of Godus, and it offers a more focussed experience than our bald-bonced friend’s “you can do anything!” approach. 

Its name is Crest, and it’s currently being developed in the slow cooker that is Early Access. 

Here’s hoping it doesn’t end up half-baked.

(N.B.: this reviewer has never played a traditional god game before. Whoops.)

☆ EGX 2017 ROAD TRIP - "To Birmingham & BEYOND!" ☆ #EGX2017

"Take a look as I hit the road in search of EGX 2017, Super Mario Odyssey and a 100mph whistlestop tour of the show floor!"

☆ Super Play Magazine The Greatest Video Games Mag Of All Time ☆ #Retrogaming

I remember the ritual vividly...

As I was having to wait for a whole month for the next issue of Super Play there was a time when I would buy every available video game magazine to try and get my video game fix until the real deal came back in a months time. 

When that next issue of Super Play did drop into the local WH SMITH then I would pounce on it fresh out of the delivery truck. 

☆ Today In Gaming - 4th October 19XX ☆ #Retrogaming

Today in gaming will bring you some cool video gaming facts from years gone by from your favourite video games franchises over the years.

Let's start by heading back to 1991...

☆ BEAR WITH ME EPISODE 3 - "A trilogy you should definitely bear with" ☆

The first two chapters of Bear With Me were strong adventure games with tightly scripted, comedic dialogue and a fun approach to its game world. 

The latest and final trip back to Paper City is a great end to a trilogy that has kept its eye on the ball from the start, with the quality in each instalment keeping to its self-set high standard.

☆ Review: Starpoint Gemini Warlords "I need your clothes, your boots…and your sublight drive" ☆

When I first received this game to review I was hesitant as the last space-themed game I’d played in any depth was G-Police (awesome game) back on the PS1. 

I’m not a fan of anything set in space beyond horror films and so I felt that I clearly wasn’t up to speed on the genre. 

After watching some trailers of SPGW (Starpoint Gemini Warlords) I have to admit that the premise really intrigued me, it seemed to not only have the trading and space battles but also a solid story and I do love a good story, be it set in space or Tonteg! 

And so I prepared myself for life in space as I booted this baby up….and loved it.

☆ Voodoo Vince Remastered "Welcome to the Big Easy!" ☆

Voodoo Vince is a refreshing throwback to the 3D platform genre with enemy bashing, puzzle solving excitement that is reminiscent of Spyro or Rayman. Playing as Vince, a small burlap voodoo doll, you traverse the levels through New Orleans searching for Madame Charmaine who is basically your owner.

☆ The Ten Minute Taster - Ruiner - PS4 ☆

"Watch as Ruiner ruins me......"

Tough as nails Hotline Miami inspired Cyber Punk madness...

☆ Britt's Bridwater Bender At Time Warp Arcade ☆ #Arcade #Retrogaming

Over the weekend of 15th September, I was away at a stag weekend, it was set at that most typical stag destination, the market town of  Bridgwater in Somerset. There was obviously a lot of smoking, boozing and curry-eating but there was also a large amount of button-bashing and joystick-waggling.