Downpour’s recognition of and homage to its more successful predecessors align it comfortably in the spirit of the franchise, reusing familiar sound assets from as far back as the original title and the serving up of a multitude of endings dictated by a player’s in-game behaviour as well as their more obvious “moral choices” – essentially, press X to not be evil. A return to the ability to customise both combat and puzzle difficulties bodes well from the outset, although none of the puzzles come close to Silent Hill 3’s bookstore puzzle in hard mode which requires a working knowledge of Shakespearian verse to complete.... -
review: Silent Hill Downpour and a new CLR Blog Post
Downpour’s recognition of and homage to its more successful predecessors align it comfortably in the spirit of the franchise, reusing familiar sound assets from as far back as...
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review: binary domain for california literary review
Binary Domain brings to the playing field everything that is expected of a modern day title: stunning graphics, a gripping narrative and some monumental set pieces. However,...
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Review: Dead Space 2
Dead Space 2 had a Hell of a lot to live up to. Despite meagre sales, the original Dead Space was one of the best games of 2008, with its macabre gameplay and ‘no one can hear...
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Review: Eternal Sonata
Like all games of its kind, Eternal Sonata treads a very narrow margin of error. Its grand finale moved me to tears. It would probably move many others to vomit. Eternal Sonata...
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on an assassin
The phrase “late to the party” springs to mind whenever I boot up my xbox360 these days and spend the evening guiding the assassin Altair over the rooftops of Damascus. When...
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Downpour’s recognition of and homage to its more successful predecessors align it comfortably in the spirit of the franchise, reusing familiar sound assets from as far back as the original title and the serving up of a multitude of endings dictated by a player’s in-game behaviour as well as their more obvious “moral choices” – essentially, press X to not be evil. A return to the ability to customise both combat and puzzle difficulties bodes well from the outset, although none of the puzzles come close to Silent Hill 3’s bookstore puzzle in hard mode which requires a working knowledge of Shakespearian verse to complete....
review: Silent Hill Downpour and a new CLR Blog Post
Downpour’s recognition of and homage to its more successful predecessors align it comfortably in the spirit of the franchise, reusing familiar sound assets from as far back as the original title and the serving up of a multitude of endings dictated by a player’s in-game behaviour as well as their more obvious “moral choices” – essentially, press X to not be evil. A return to the ability to customise both combat and puzzle difficulties bodes well from the outset, although none of the puzzles come close to Silent Hill 3’s bookstore puzzle in hard mode which requires a working knowledge of Shakespearian verse to complete....
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Binary Domain brings to the playing field everything that is expected of a modern day title: stunning graphics, a gripping narrative and some monumental set pieces. However, while Sega was busy polishing the dialogue and reading up on their ethical imperatives, they forgot one key element: that they were making a game.
Read my full review at California Literary...
review: binary domain for california literary review
Binary Domain brings to the playing field everything that is expected of a modern day title: stunning graphics, a gripping narrative and some monumental set pieces. However, while Sega was busy polishing the dialogue and reading up on their ethical imperatives, they forgot one key element: that they were making a game.
Read my full review at California Literary...
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Dead Space 2 had a Hell of a lot to live up to. Despite meagre sales, the original Dead Space was one of the best games of 2008, with its macabre gameplay and ‘no one can hear you scream’ philosophy. Drawing on the sci fi horror greats in all ways imaginable, the first Dead Space game was a landmark in modern horror. Isolated in a chaotic new mythos, the player stepped into the shoes of Isaac Clarke to escape the doomed husk of the USG Ishimura, which had become overrun with a Necromorph blight following the Ishimura’s recovery of the obligatory mysterious artifact, the Marker. And what comfortable, and yet silent, shoes those...
Review: Dead Space 2
Dead Space 2 had a Hell of a lot to live up to. Despite meagre sales, the original Dead Space was one of the best games of 2008, with its macabre gameplay and ‘no one can hear you scream’ philosophy. Drawing on the sci fi horror greats in all ways imaginable, the first Dead Space game was a landmark in modern horror. Isolated in a chaotic new mythos, the player stepped into the shoes of Isaac Clarke to escape the doomed husk of the USG Ishimura, which had become overrun with a Necromorph blight following the Ishimura’s recovery of the obligatory mysterious artifact, the Marker. And what comfortable, and yet silent, shoes those...
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Like all games of its kind, Eternal Sonata treads a very narrow margin of error. Its grand finale moved me to tears. It would probably move many others to vomit.
Eternal Sonata is a combination turn-based real-time action JRPG, based on the dying dreams of legendary classical composer Frederic François Chopin. It’s not your average panda. Of course, some extreme liberties are taken with the concept, as I’m fairly certain that Frederic Chopin probably didn’t dream about hanging around for a prolonged length of time with an underage girl, or about battering a variety of sheep, fish and dragons to death with a conductor’s...
Review: Eternal Sonata
Like all games of its kind, Eternal Sonata treads a very narrow margin of error. Its grand finale moved me to tears. It would probably move many others to vomit.
Eternal Sonata is a combination turn-based real-time action JRPG, based on the dying dreams of legendary classical composer Frederic François Chopin. It’s not your average panda. Of course, some extreme liberties are taken with the concept, as I’m fairly certain that Frederic Chopin probably didn’t dream about hanging around for a prolonged length of time with an underage girl, or about battering a variety of sheep, fish and dragons to death with a conductor’s...
0
The phrase “late to the party” springs to mind whenever I boot up my xbox360 these days and spend the evening guiding the assassin Altair over the rooftops of Damascus. When Assassin’s Creed was the newest kid on the block I encountered it both in console and PC form, and both iterations failed to impress me. The PC port controls were crippling even on my unusually spidery fingers, and the xbox360 version was sampled while sitting in a gaming chair which stole the show by miles. For several years, then, Assassin’s Creed passed beneath my notice, and only in the last month did I finally come back around and find it in a 3 for 2...
on an assassin
The phrase “late to the party” springs to mind whenever I boot up my xbox360 these days and spend the evening guiding the assassin Altair over the rooftops of Damascus. When Assassin’s Creed was the newest kid on the block I encountered it both in console and PC form, and both iterations failed to impress me. The PC port controls were crippling even on my unusually spidery fingers, and the xbox360 version was sampled while sitting in a gaming chair which stole the show by miles. For several years, then, Assassin’s Creed passed beneath my notice, and only in the last month did I finally come back around and find it in a 3 for 2...
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Pinning down a title like Enslaved is hard. It’s a good game. I would go so far as to say that it’s an amazing game. With big names like Alex Garland pitching in on the script and Andy Serkis co-directing the cutscenes, I wouldn’t really expect anything less. It’s a behemoth of a title, with only a few nagging flaws scratching at its flanks. It’s a ten hour escort mission and by no accounts should that ever have worked, but it does. It’s a platformer that proves even more rigorous than Tomb Raider, it’s a third person duck and cover shooter that outshines the dull palette of Gears of War by a mile. It’s visually...
review: enslaved, odyssey to the west
Pinning down a title like Enslaved is hard. It’s a good game. I would go so far as to say that it’s an amazing game. With big names like Alex Garland pitching in on the script and Andy Serkis co-directing the cutscenes, I wouldn’t really expect anything less. It’s a behemoth of a title, with only a few nagging flaws scratching at its flanks. It’s a ten hour escort mission and by no accounts should that ever have worked, but it does. It’s a platformer that proves even more rigorous than Tomb Raider, it’s a third person duck and cover shooter that outshines the dull palette of Gears of War by a mile. It’s visually...
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Fable III picks up many years after Fable II left off: the Hero of the previous game has shuffled off this mortal coil and left their eldest son, Logan, in charge of Albion. Logan is proving to be an incredibly ruthless ruler, executing dissidents left and right while wrapping an iron fist around Albion’s industrial heart. It is up to the player, the child of the Hero who at last demonstrates your own Heroic prowess, to stir a rebellion and launch a revolution against your hate mongering older brother. Traveling the world of Albion, all the while headhunted by your own flesh and blood, you are called upon to perform good deeds and make...
review: fable iii
Fable III picks up many years after Fable II left off: the Hero of the previous game has shuffled off this mortal coil and left their eldest son, Logan, in charge of Albion. Logan is proving to be an incredibly ruthless ruler, executing dissidents left and right while wrapping an iron fist around Albion’s industrial heart. It is up to the player, the child of the Hero who at last demonstrates your own Heroic prowess, to stir a rebellion and launch a revolution against your hate mongering older brother. Traveling the world of Albion, all the while headhunted by your own flesh and blood, you are called upon to perform good deeds and make... About us
Laura Buttrick is a Computer Games Production student at the University of Lincoln. This website is a place for her musings on the game industry and its offerings.Bookmark Us
