Posts By Mat Growcott

In an age where you can play anywhere with Xbox, it’s a little unfair that only a portion of users have to pay for Xbox Live Gold. “Because it makes money” is not a good justification for a service or product. “It makes money because it is good value” or “because it provides something unique and entertaining” is fine. “Because we shut out part of our service if you don’t pay” is not. And I know Xbox ...

Destruction AllStars was going to be a full-priced PS5 launch title. Thank God they changed their mind. That’s not to say that it’s a bad game, because it’s not. But in the world of Rocket League, Overwatch, Apex and Call of Duty, this is at every disadvantage. Showcased alongside the likes of Spider-Man: Miles Morales, slapping that “ONLY ON PLAYSTATION” sticker on it meant expectations were sky-high and, without being ...

Destruction AllStars is here, and it’s free with PlayStation Plus. That means there’s an awful lot of people already getting to grips with the controls, game modes and characters. But that’s not a problem, because for the most part it’s not how long you’ve played, but how you play that can get you to the top of the leaderboard. Follow these useful tips, and you’ll be getting first, second or third in every single ...

Doom is probably one of the most influential titles of all time. Why? You had to be there. id created something that changed the course of video game history. It’d be a lie to say there was nothing else like it at the time, although it wouldn’t be too big an exaggeration. Wolfenstein – again from id – had come out the year before. But there was something that just clicked with Doom. It probably helped that it was eventually…

For a company most famous for its speedy mascot, Sega has been pretty backward about coming forward. Let’s face it, the glory days of Sega are far, far behind them. Gone are the genre-leading Dreamcast and Megadrive days. Instead, we’re left with a company not really pushing to its limit. Revivals of old IP – even the brilliant Sonic Mania and Streets of Rage 4 – are experiments outside of the main teams that develop these games. ...

Re:verse – finally! It’s the third-person action shooter starring characters from the Resident Evil franchise – you know, the one we’ve all been asking for? Okay, it’s the weird multiplayer addition nobody ever even hinted at wanting, but get through the initial shock and maybe, just maybe, it won’t be as bad as all that. See, there’s one simple issue: hype. If this was some rubbish little tie-in that was just an extra ...

Hitman 3 gives back what you put into it, and man is it nice to play a game like that again. You can put zero effort into it, taking the path of least resistance and treating it like the action game it clearly isn’t. You’ll ‘finish’ it in about three hours, huff a bit and then move onto something that holds your hand a little more. Or you can see it for what it is: an assassination sandbox filled with…

There’s no doubt about it that competitive gaming is becoming bigger than many of us ever expected. The image of dusty school halls filled with overweight middle-aged men lugging CRT monitors about is now officially a thing of the past. Playing video games to a professional level is now cool and, hell, even women are getting involved. Take that, every 90s sit-com. The writing is on the wall. This is the future – whether we like it or not. Outlive…

No licensed music, characters that look nothing like their film counterparts and stories that only slightly resemble the source material – tie-in games used to be things of beauty. Alas, those days have gone. Development is harder than ever, taking years and years. Throwing together Hogwarts in six months is no longer an option. It’s more than a little depressing. There’s an entire generation of children who’ll never buy the worst video ...

Loot boxes are just the latest solution to the “problem” of increasing profits within the gaming industry, but really they’re no solution at all. On paper, they’re perfect. Monetise optional extras which can be earned through hard work or, for a small number of whales, be purchased. Fair enough, right? But it’s pretty clear that in recent years, developers are pushing this system to the limit. Overwatch is the perfect example, ...