Miscellaneous Reviews

Vermintide

Casual Goblin

Trapped in a sprawling town overrun by skaven, the mad-science obsessed, pestilence spreading, ninja rat-men of the Warhammer franchise, you and your companions must strive to thwart the invaders and not end up as lunch. Good: This is an action-packed game that doesn’t pull punches – stop paying attention and you’ll find yourself being choked, stabbed or caught in a hail of bullets, all the while trying to fend off the horde of crazed rat-men swarming from the sewers, rooftops and side streets. The setting and general tone of the game is great as well, capturing the grim aesthetic of … Continue reading Vermintide

Miscellaneous Reviews

Dungeon Defenders

Casual Goblin

When a group of aspiring heroes unwittingly unleash a monstrous horde, they’ll have to use might, magic and crafty engineering to stem the tide. Good: This is a fun little tower defence game with a personal combat aspect. It uses a cartoon style that doesn’t take itself too seriously, doesn’t take a huge amount of time to play a match and has a surprising amount of options in terms of character builds and playstyles. One of the neat things about this game is the customisable nature of characters – gear adds to your stats, improves your summoned towers or even … Continue reading Dungeon Defenders

Miscellaneous Reviews

Killing Floor 2

Casual Goblin

The ZED outbreak has spread, the dead don’t stay dead, get paid dosh to … go spray some lead? You get the general idea. The sequel to Killing Floor provides a fast-paced action shooter requiring tactics, situational awareness and a steady trigger-finger. Good: So, the first thing I’d like to talk about is the general sound design of the game – it’s really, really good. The groans, moans, growls and belches of the ZEDs give you clear audio clues that you can recognise and respond to, and the wet crunch of a decapitating shot is oddly satisfying. The music during … Continue reading Killing Floor 2

Miscellaneous Reviews

Killing Floor

Casual Goblin

Want to run around blowing up the undead for cash and prizes? Want to weld doors shut behind your teammates to ‘help’ them? Want to do it dressed as a cybernetic chicken? Killing Floor might be the game for you. Good: On the face of it, this is a simple (but polished) horde shooter. Zombies (ZEDs) spawn as a wave, you kill them (gaining a cash bounty as you do) and visit an equipment trader between rounds. Difficulty escalates with each wave, with more much more dangerous ZEDs appearing as time goes on, followed by a boss when you reach … Continue reading Killing Floor

Miscellaneous Reviews

BioShock

Casual Goblin

When your plane goes down above the Atlantic Ocean, you take refuge in a mysterious lighthouse leading into the submerged city of Rapture – but is everything what it seems? Good: This is one of the most atmospheric games I’ve ever played, and has some stunning set-pieces. Old-time music drifts through the radio as you work your way through the damaged hallways of Rapture, an underwater city founded on Objectivism – the pursuit of self interest above all things. The faded glamour of the setting contrasts stunningly with the degenerate splicers, the maddened and genetically modified populace who seek only … Continue reading BioShock

Miscellaneous Reviews

Unreal Tournament (Game Of The Year)

Casual Goblin

Join Liandri Mining Corporation for some light, family-friendly entertainment… well, that might be miss-selling it. Unreal Tournament revolves around gladiatorial contests organised by Liandri Corporation as a way to reduce tensions amongst deep space miners – so expect extreme, crowd-pleasing violence in a variety of situations and locations. Good: An extremely well designed first person shooter, with effective bots, a huge variety of maps and mission types, an excellent soundtrack and the ability to change large aspects of any game via mutator mods. There is also the titular Unreal Tournament to fight your way through, earning trophies and eventually facing … Continue reading Unreal Tournament (Game Of The Year)

Miscellaneous Reviews

Worms: Armageddon

Casual Goblin

A classic game blending turn based combat with tactics and aiming skill. Control a customisation team of worms against the computer or a friend as you battle for supremacy with some of the strangest weapons known to worm-kind. Good: This is a quick and endearing game with a surprising amount of skill – you’ll have to juggle the terrain, tactics available weapons, wind direction and the physics engine to succeed. Worms can be knocked flying by attacks, grenades fly in a ballistic arc then scatter from the terrain they land on, and ending up in the water drowns a worm … Continue reading Worms: Armageddon

Miscellaneous Reviews

Blood Bowl: Chaos Edition

Casual Goblin

Set in an alternate version of the Warhammer setting, Blood Bowl, a brutal version of American Football, has replaced all tradition methods of combat. Manage your resources and outplay your opponents on your way to the big league – or slip the ref an incentive to ignore the chainsaw you’re smuggling onto the pitch. Good: I’m not much of an American football fan, but this really entertained me. The rules are not too hard to grasp, and you can do a lot of interesting plays based on the skills and abilities of your team – e.g. lobbing a goblin down … Continue reading Blood Bowl: Chaos Edition

Miscellaneous Reviews

7 Days To Die

Casual Goblin

Post apocalyptic settings seem to breed zombies, and 7 Days To Die is no exception. Played solo or with friends, you are a hapless survivor battling the elements, starvation, infection and the undead with whatever you can craft or scrounge. Good: There is an innate difficulty curve to this game but the big selling point is the ‘heat’ system and the blood moon hordes that spawn on the titular seventh day. Covering the heat system first, any and all non-sneaky actions generate ‘heat’ as does the presence of active machinery or gore. Heat decays over time, but generating too much … Continue reading 7 Days To Die

Miscellaneous Reviews

Goat Simulator

Casual Goblin

Ah, the goat, noblest of animals. Goat simulator lets you experience time as one of these paragons, as you rampage around town, headbutting, licking and generally causing mayhem! Good: Goat simulator is a simple physics engine game, but it really excels at cathartic stress relief. Launching oneself or others into the air, headbutting offending furniture or trashing a building site are oddly entertaining, and it’s easy to lose half an hour without realising it. In terms of actual game-play, you run around one of a selection of maps, exploring and collecting, headbutting people and objects or dragging them with your … Continue reading Goat Simulator