Posts By Mat Growcott

In nine and a half weeks, the next generation begins. First the Xbox Series consoles will be on shelves, followed swiftly by the PlayStation 5. Nine and a half short weeks, and most of the stuff we know about these devices has still come via dodgy Twitter profiles and 4chan posts. It’d be easy to blame coronavirus or some dripfeed method of teasing, but it’s simpler than that: video game marketing is broken – and those dodgy Twitter profiles ...

You may have seen it in insider leaks, from the booklets in controllers or even on leaflets for Gamepass, but Microsoft have finally decided to announce the Xbox Series S. The worst kept secret in gaming is also shaping up to be the best value entry into the next generation. At just $299/£250 you get a console that will play all next-generation games with a target of 1080p. Since the advert boasts 100 games on Gamepass, I think it’s safe…

Who knew that a TV series following gangsters with Brummy accents could have such selling power? Birmingham has become the unlikely setting of Peaky Blinders, one of TV’s most popular British shows, giving our second city a focus outside the meat market and that funny shaped shopping centre. It only makes sense that a game was going to follow, and Mastermind has come along to fill that gap. What you end up with is a title that suits its source…

Final Fantasy 7, Metal Gear Solid, The Last of Us – there’s no doubt that gamers love a title uses politics well. But message boards are filled with cries of “I don’t want my games to be political.” Where is this disconnect coming from, and how can developers get around it? The answer is in better writing. Some gamers are bigots. There are people who just won’t play a game with a black protagonist, or that has a trans or…

It wasn’t that long ago that adventure games meant solving obscure puzzles and impossible save states. The genre has changed immeasurably over the last 30 years, but that doesn’t mean the key ingredients aren’t still there. With the release of Tell Me Why, we’re looking back at the biggest titles, and at why we still love adventure all these years later. Tell Me Why takes the genre to new heights, building a realistic world with ...

Once upon a time there were two mischievous little goblins. They worked tirelessly to help the beautiful princess keep her hideaway in the woods liveable and together they were hard-up but happy. Everything felt almost like a fairy tale… until it got very real. Tell Me Why is the story of what happens after once upon a time, and of the dangers of romanticizing the past. People will talk a lot about Tell Me Why’s transgender main character, Tyler, ...

What do you get when you take Harvest Moon, take out all the RPG elements, add some really simple puzzles and then charge £17 for it? Well, you get Harvest Moon: Mad Dash, and you might well wish you hadn’t. Here is a game that’s almost entirely the opposite of what Harvest Moon is all about, but with the name splashed all over it and the familiar sprites front and centre. It’ll almost make growing vegetables seem a chore, if…

It’s Sunday afternoon in the summer. You’ve just eaten a big meal and you’re settling down to an hour in front of the TV. Battletoads. You blow the cartridge and put it in. Maybe, just maybe, this’ll be the time you make it past the second level. But probably not, because frankly you suck at this game. Sound familiar? We’ve all been there. If it wasn’t Battletoads, it might have been Mario, Punch Out, Ninja Gaiden or any ...

Once upon a time, games were made to work as well as possible, and any janky physics or annoying glitches were the result of mistakes or oversights by developers. Today, as with Brunch Club, janky physics and annoying glitches are the game. Apparently it’s fun. We’ve seen it time and time again. Goat Simulator and Surgeon Simulator put their awfulness front and centre. The only reason to buy into it is the memes. Brunch Club isn’t that bad, ...

This week’s deep dive into the Xbox Series X has proven what a lot of us already know: this console is going to be a beast. Edging out the PS5 in terms of raw power and with the potential of things like machine learning on top, this could well be the greatest generation for Xbox fans. But don’t take my word for it, it’s Microsoft that has to prove themselves. But that’s where all this falls down, because thus far…