PC Reviews

If you've never played a third person RPG such as Diablo or Sacred, then perhaps Holy Avatar vs Maidens of the Dead is the game you ought to pick up. It's simple enough to grasp within a few minutes, but complicated enough to provide hours of fun. Don’t go in expecting a serious story with gripping plot changes. Instead, be ready to observe a very intelligent parody of what a traditional RPG really is.

The Wolf Among Us’ third episode, A Crooked Mile, represents a turning point for Telltale’s unique, fairy-tale based game series. Following the slowly paced second episode, Smoke and Mirrors, which acted as a filler entry more than anything, A Crooked Mile is much more tumultuous. Telltale was able to ensconce the series with the first two episodes, and has afforded itself the ability to offer up more engaging and exciting material that pushes the series forward dramatically.

Goat Simulator is wacky, which is distinctly different to funny. Sure, it provides a certain amount of amusement, like only a goat strapped to a rocket can, but the amount of laughs you'll be having are minimal. Mostly you'll just ask yourself why you bought a game called Goat Simulator in the first place, probably while you complain about glitches and disfigured farm animals.

Bioshock Infinite was fairly unique in that it was entirely self-contained with room for discussion, but with plenty of opportunity for DLC. The idea of multiple universes isn't a new one, and it always opens itself up to certain issues, but it did mean that Booker and Elizabeth could end up appearing almost anywhere. So, of course, they ended up back in the underwater city of Rapture. It was an easy way of impressing fans, but it's questionable whether that managed to pay off.

When we last left Clementine, she'd either decided to save Nick, the young, slightly arrogant man who'd caused trouble all episode, or Pete, who had been bitten by a zombie. This probably best highlights the illusion of choice in The Walking Dead, as your decision didn't at all matter. Other than a few altered scenes, the exact same things happen, at the exact same time. Knowing this, A House Divided feels way too linear, and without the plot needed to push it forward.

The elusive career path of “Playing video games for a living” has tantalized an entire generation of gamers. The obvious route of beta testing is a grueling chore that pits players against buggy code for endless hours each week, and the path of a game journalist is only for those whose love of games is surpassed by their love of freeze-dried noodles. Yet there is a handful of exceptional players who gain wealth, fame and glory from their gaming skills alone.

There have been a lot of South Park games over the last two decades and they've all be leading up to The Stick of Truth. Never before has there been a game that so accurately captures the show, both in construction, visuals and attitude. It's been a long time since we were fighting killer turkeys with snowballs, or answering questions with Chef, but those of us who've been burned before definitely need to take a second look.

Artsy-smartsy games like Bioshock and Spec Ops: The Line have ruined video games. Nowadays players can't just sit back and enjoy a game. Now they're expected to look for symbolism and all that other tweedy intellectual stuff. LocoCycle is a game about a talking motorcycle that blows stuff up - or it might be an insightful deconstruction of the linear nature of video game narratives. The fine line between stupid and clever gets finer and finerer every year.

SEGA's House of the Dead is a gaming institution, not because it's especially good (although it does what it does very well), but because its purposefully shaky action and dialogue makes it stick in the mind. Being chased by a sumo-sized monster? You can't possibly enter the door marked "No Entry." It's silly and harmless, and Typing of the Dead takes that idea and makes it even more outlandish.

Old-timey PC gamers might recall a game from the 80's called Shufflepuck Cafe, a science-fiction air-hockey sim with overt influences from Star Wars. The new PC game Shufflepuck Cantina Deluxe takes the same concept and allows modern gamers to experience the exotic thrills of Air Hockey... IN SPAAAAAACE!