Surgeon Simulator 2013 Review

What do you get when you put several British game designers together in a room with only forty-eight hours to create a new and interesting video game? Apparently, you get Surgeon Simulator. The small team at Bossa Studios put out their own “interesting” take on Heart surgery at the last Global Game Jam and since that time it has acquired somewhat of a cult following.

Originally released as a free-to-play browser-based game after its short, forty-eight hour gestation period, it has now been given the go-ahead by Steam Greenlight for release on said gaming platform, complete with the snazzy new Surgeon Simulator 2013 title.

See the full review of this really strange title by clicking here.

 

Retro Corner: Star Trek 25th Anniversary

The recent re-boot of the Star Trek film franchise by J.J. Abrams has opened up a whole new world of possibilities for the crew of the Starship Enterprise. To say that the original cast of William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, et al had already had their time in the sun – and perhaps even outstayed their welcome a little as they got older – is certainly no over-statement. And by the time that the crew of The Next Generation took over the movie series, they were already past their prime too.

Things needed shaking up, and the man behind innovative television series LOST has somehow managed to re-imagine the iconic crew and bring them to a new audience – but at the same time without aggravating and alienating all of the enthusiastic long-term fans. So it is little surprise that this year both a sequel to the re-launched film, and an accompanying video game, will be released shortly. In this new game from Namco Bandai Games and Digital Extremes, players will get to control both Captain Kirk and Mr Spock in co-operative action.

In the meantime, take a look back at Star Trek 25th Anniversary by clicking here.

 

Retro Corner: Film to Game Adaptations

So, a news story has broke that your favourite film is to be made into a video game. For most gamers this would some alarm bells rather than rejoicing and dancing in the street.

With the recent critical-flop that was Aliens: Colonial Marines, anticipation had been building for years that finally we were going to get the classic video game in the Aliens universe, that the source material deserves. But somehow – through a combination of many factors – the game didn’t live up to its billing and it will be remembered as just another failed movie adaptation.

Many are rushed out in time to coincide with the theatrical release of the film, meaning that not enough time and care has gone into the title. Others may come years after the film was popular, trying to leech off the success of a well-loved property, yet somehow manage to miss the point of the film entirely.

See the worst offenders by clicking here.

Retro Corner: Dynamite Cop

When Die Hard 4.0 was released in cinemas back in 2007, most movie fans would have been forgiven for thinking that would be the end of the saga for Bruce Willis and his John McClane character. What more could he do? This latest movie had passed the torch in a way from the bombastic physical action films of old to a more modern, technological thriller – complete with a new young protagonist. However, just as his enemies have learned in all of the previous films, you just can’t keep John McClane down, and Bruce Willis is returning to the role this February in the fifth film in the series, A Good Day to Die Hard.

Now, there have been a few licensed games based on the Die Hard saga, and as you would expect, there have certainly been some mixed results, but perhaps the most interesting Die Hard-related games are the two Dynamite Deka titles from SEGA. The first game was released as Dynamite Deka in the Arcades in Japan in 1996, before getting a SEGA Saturn home console version. It was a Final Fight style arcade beat-em-up, that featured several police officers infiltrating a skyscraper in order to save the daughter of the President from terrorists.

For the full article, click here.

The Cave Review

When Maniac Mansion was released in 1987 it was a revolutionary title in the Adventure Gaming genre, and in video gaming in general. Adventure games were just beginning to ride a wave of popularity that would see the genre become the most successful in PC gaming in the late eighties and early nineties. The game, created by Ron Gilbert, would solidify this golden age, and set down many benchmarks for almost every graphic adventure that came after. Gilbert also created the mega-hit, iconic Monkey Island series, but after several runaway successes at Lucasarts Games he left the company in 1993 and, despite working as a consultant on several titles, never created his own adventure game again.

That is, until now. Partnering with Double Fine Games – run by another Lucasarts graduate, Tim Schafer – he has returned to the genre in which he made his name after a wait of approximately twenty years. But of course, things don’t stay the same in video games for long, so the adventure / puzzle genre has changed dramatically. But then The Cave isn’t your average adventure game, and those involved in its development aren’t your average game designers.

Read the full review here.

 

Retro Corner: Cancelled – The Top Games You Won’t Play in 2013

Over the years, we have become accustomed to seeing a plethora of newly-announced video games at E3 each year, each accompanied by some hyperbole or perhaps a teaser trailer.This helps build anticipation and gauge fan interest long before the title actually hits retail shelves and we can get our hands on it. But as you look forward to the big releases due in 2013, spare a thought for those games that never saw the light of day.

A huge number of titles every year will be announced, but just won’t end up reaching completion. Some will stall soon after, through a lack of funding or the inability to secure a publisher. Others however will enter full production, only to be cancelled at a later point; sometimes for a near-unknown reason. Then there are even the unfortunate few who reach Gold status, are weeks away from release, and they still get canned.

These are the sort of decisions that haunt gamers for life. The interesting concepts, exciting storylines and intriguing trailers that fans get a glimpse of make them want the game desperately, so imagine the disappointment that comes when that title never gets finished. There have, of course, been thousands of such cases – and many, many high profile ones that stand out in the memory – click here to read on for five of the most painful!!

 

A New Beginning: Final Cut Review

It isn’t very often that we see a game that is focused on a strong social or ethical issue. Games are so often seen as throwaway and juvenile, but we have seen, over the last few years, that there has been at least somewhat of a shift, with video gaming being taken more seriously as a story-telling medium. Story has always been important, and often very successful, in the adventure game genre. Thought of as the thinking gamers genre, the games have long been able to tackle more serious and adult themes, A New Beginning is no different and that is what really makes it stand out above its contemporaries.

Click here for the full review.

The Book of Unwritten Tales: The Critter Chronicles Review

The Book of Unwritten Tales may well have been stuck in development for a long, protracted length of time – due to a slow and mammoth task of localisation from German – but when it finally received an English-language version, the game was hugely impressive. A deep, complex story split between four heroes, detailed graphics that were full of character and a brilliant rousing musical score, with impressive voice acting. Not to mention a sense of humour that was legitimately funny.

So it comes as no surprise that a sequel was soon under way, and just over a year later, The Book of Unwritten Tales: The Critter Chronicles has emerged – actually a prequel to the first game – still following two of the protagonists we met before, namely the adventurer Nate and his strange, furry sidekick Critter.

Read the full review by clicking here.

 

Retro Corner: Christmas Special Two

Last Christmas the Retro Corner tried something a little different from usual. Instead of selecting just one title from the past to focus our attention on, we took you on a journey through some of our favourite seasonal video games.

So now that the nights are drawing in, the temperatures are dropping and Santa Claus is checking his list twice, the Retro Corner is once again feeling very Christmassy. As was the case last year, not all of the games are specifically Christmas based, but they will be festive or wintery in one way or another. We still also want to hear your own list of Christmas titles. What games do you hold close to your heart at this time of year?

See my selection by clicking here.

 

Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two Review

Video Game Designer Warren Spector helped change the face of flight simulators with the Wing Commander games in the nineties. Then he changed the way that we play first person shooters with Deus Ex in the noughties. Now, he has set it upon himself to update and change our views on a Walt Disney game, challenging our preconceptions and trying to open up the world of Mickey Mouse and his friends to gamers of all ages.

This began two years ago with Epic Mickey, but that game was only ever released on the Wii, and suffered from the being lost in a sea of children’s titles and casual games. It also struggled with an awkward camera and fiddly controls at the same time, but that hasn’t stopped Spector and his Junction Point Studios from working on a multi-platform sequel that looks to address some of these issues and hopefully find a larger audience for their title.

Click here for the full review.