Posts By Mat Growcott

Is the merger between Microsoft and Activision dead? The short answer might just be yes, but things are never that simple. There’s always been one major threat to this purchase, which has been going on nearly 18 months now. That was the UK’s CMA finding a reason to block it. Well, the CMA found a reason to block it. The CMA cannot really be challenged. At best Microsoft might get them to look at it again, and the same conclusion…

It seems we’ve been really quiet about the upcoming Redfall here at GamesReviews and we’re not alone. It doesn’t seem like it’s getting the hype of other big games. There’s a lot of reasons that might be. Starfield was the next big Bethesda release, until it wasn’t. And now Redfall seems to be being compared to that, in terms of its “place” within the Xbox release schedule. That’s a lot of pressure to put ...

It’s not always about the amount of risk and biggest reward. Sometimes you just want to enjoy it without the massive cost. Thankfully, there are countless low minimum deposit games to enjoy throughout the internet. Unlike traditional casinos where you’re locked into the costs of wherever you happen to be, playing online allows you to pick and choose your gambling destinations. That means you can always get the right price – no matter what you ...

Microsoft are having a busy year so far, but the ghost of all those long-announced but distant games still massively linger. Perfect Dark, State of Decay 3 and, yes, Fable. Well, good news for those who are waiting for information on the latter. Fable has hit its ‘flighting’ phase. Considering rumours not that long ago that there was barely any game, the fact that tests are going ahead is good news. A LinkedIn update revealed the news, as shared ...

The discussion on DLC is always a bit biased, and it’s been the same for the announcement of Elvish-language DLC for the upcoming Lord of the Rings: Gollum game. I think it’s pretty cool. Elves in the game speak a bit of their own language, Sindarin. Well, purchasing this DLC adds more of it to the game, which is due at the end of May. It’s optional, included in the special edition and beats a random costume or digital art…

There are a million poker games on the internet. What makes one stand out over the other? It’s all about vibe. Let’s take a look at Prominence Poker. It’s a poker game. You play poker. You do poker-related things. And yet by giving it an adult look, and letting you create your own characters, it makes it stand out in a market of green table tops and little else. It has an edge that has obviously worked for its fans…

Perhaps it was inevitable. Maybe it’s down to personal choice. Whatever the reason, the result is the same. I have stopped playing Overwatch 2. And there’s not much that could bring me back. It’s not unusual to burn out on a game, especially one you’ve played for hundreds of hours. And across the two iterations of this franchise, I have put in a lot of time. And it’s still, fundamentally, a fantastic experience. Once a game ...

Ghostwire: Tokyo became almost more noteworthy for where it was than what it was. The last PlayStation exclusive from Xbox following the Bethesda deal, it seems to have came and went. That is a real shame. Now, a year on, Xbox can finally release Ghostwire: Tokyo on their own platforms, including Game Pass. Is it worth the leap in? A mix of Ubisoft’s blend of exploration with a heavy dose of Japanese culture, Ghostwire: Tokyo is a horror game that…

If there was an icon of the early noughties, Jet Set Radio seems to be a contender. It had the music, the feel, the unique look and gameplay. SEGA had a winning formula. And then they just stopped. Until now. The original game was popular enough, and the sequel on Xbox seems to have a decent following as well. But, like Shenmue, it just kind of dropped off the planet. Which is a shame, because unique colourful games were sorely…

Solitaire is one of the easiest games to play, and it’s endlessly fun. But sometimes you want a little bit of variety in yor single-player card games. Luckily, there are a huge amount of varieties when it comes to the humble Solitaire. And, like the original, they tend to be very, very easy to learn. Some of them might look a bit strange, others might look weirdly familiar. But all of them are worth you taking a look at either…

April Fools is almost entirely terrible. That is until the geniuses in Sonic’s marketing department get involved. Every year it’s the same old thing. Brand A delivers a terrible take on one of their products. We all laugh and clap like the audience at the filming of an episode of Big Bang Theory and then we forget it ever existed. Ir’s “Frankie and Bennies by drone” and “It’s Babybel but square”. It’s not a ...

The biggest going concern for the Microsoft/Activision merger was the UK’s regulatory body shutting it down. The CMA is all-powerful and didn’t seem overly keen on the deal going through. Some analysts put it finishing at as low as 15%. But that all changed yesterday. In a massively rare move, the CMA revised its provisional findings and decided that the console market wasn’t at threat from the merger. In layman’s terms, Microsoft could ...

There’s only one thing you can say for certain about the current mobile phone gaming market: the stores are pretty locked in. It’s Google Play or it’s Apple’s App Store. Microsoft’s plans for a third alternative is going to have an uphill struggle. This has slowly been coming out over the course of the company’s purchase of Activision. One of the big reasons for the purchase – on top of Call of Duty and hundreds of ...

Starfield will be coming out on September 6. That is a little bit disappointing. Not because there aren’t other great Xbox games on the horizon, I should hasten to add. There are. Between Game Pass and Xbox’s first-party releases, I can barely keep up as it is, without adding a giant Bethesda-sized RPG into the mix as well. And not because I have any issue with a delay in principal. Get Starfield where it needs to be before you hit…

Resident Evil 4 got a very sudden demo this morning – and that means we had a very sudden download to get going. It was well worth it. Resident Evil 4 put this franchise on the map. The PS1 games sold relatively well. 4 outsold them all and, to this day, nearly all of them put together. It was super successful. That was in part due to the films. And so while the remakes of 1 and 2 had a…