About Matthew Smail

The guys at Team 17 don’t know me, but I know them. Or at least, I know of them. You see, when I cast my mind back to almost 20 years ago, I remember picking up an unassuming looking PlayStation game called Worms. It was pretty unusual to have internet access back then, and when I cautiously traded in two or three of my used games for Team 17’s first multiplatform release, I had no idea just how amazing a game it would prove to be. Read More

Magic: The Gathering has returned to Xbox for the sixth consecutive year in Magic Duels: Origins, but this time around, it’s free to play. Or is it?

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Elite: Dangerous is the second game to benefit from Microsoft’s Game Preview programme that we’ve been able to get our hands on, following up on the promising solo-survival adventure The Long Dark. Read More

My, oh my, what a roller coaster Telltale’s Game of Thrones series is turning out to be. The story of House Forrester is in itself incredibly tumultuous, but beyond that, the wild swings in tempo and quality from one episode to the next are equally jarring.

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With the solo-survival genre becoming increasingly popular, Microsoft has taken the brave step of championing The Long Dark as one of the first two titles to feature in its Game Preview Program alongside Elite: Dangerous. Read More

It should be obvious from the screenshots that Quantum Rush is a game created in the style of legendary PlayStation racer Wipeout 2097, albeit with the benefit of a full 15 years of hardware advancement. The question, then, is, can Quantum Rush live up to the expectations that come from emulating such an iconic game? Read More

I’m the first person to admit that I’m a poor choice to review a Devil May Cry game. Especially one like Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition Read More

Game of Thrones Episode 4: Sons of Winter was developed and published on Xbox One and Xbox 360 by Telltale Games. It was released May 26, 2015 for $4.99. A copy was provided by Telltale for review purposes.

After the disappointment of Episode 3, I’m incredibly relieved to say that the latest episode of Telltale Games’ Game of Thrones series is something of a return to form, and is arguably the best episode in the series so far. There is more action in this episode than the previous three combined, and most of the featured character storylines progress in more interesting ways as they break free of the TV series’ major characters and plotlines.

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Toro was developed and published by Recotechnology on Xbox One. It was released on May 15, 2015 for $19.99. A copy was provided by Recotechnology for review purposes.

Being a video games reviewer has never been more challenging: a single wrong word written in haste may be instantly shared thousands of time across the vast and uncontrolled expanse of the world wide web, often leaving reputations and lives shattered once the dust settles. I might be dramatizing things a little here, but with reviewers being lambasted left, right and centre for their opinions on games like GTA V, The Witcher 3 and so on, I wanted to approach Toro‘s rather sensitive subject matter (bullfighting for those not in the know) with a suitable amount of caution. I needn’t have bothered; Toro is so relentlessly bad that it would be impossible to review it in a positive light even if I was a huge bullfighting fan (which I am most certainly not.)

Although Toro is undoubtedly a game about taunting, jabbing and ultimately killing identical bulls in a multitude of nearly identical locations, I would be overselling it quite considerably if I were to state that Toro simulates or even vaguely represents what happens in an actual bullfight with any level of panache. Each “fight” is split into three timed sections in which the player is expected to hold down the left trigger and press the right bumper (to call the bull) repeatedly, then time one of up to four moves — without being dashed to the floor like some sort of bloodless human-shaped lump who seems to have long since experienced rigor mortis — until the timer runs out. At the end of the first stage, players are expected to press a few buttons in sequence in order to stick flags in the bull, and at the end of the third stage, do the same thing, followed by stabbing the bull just behind its head using a crosshair that the game seems to auto aim at exactly the right spot every time.

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Badland was developed and published by Frogmind on Xbox One. It was released on May 29, 2015 for $9.99. A copy was provided by Frogmind for review purposes.

Badland is one of the most popular mobile phone games ever, so I guess it’s no surprise to see it finally making the long-awaited transition to home consoles. Developer Frogmind have certainly talked a good game and are promising that this Game of the Year Edition features a huge raft of new and upgraded content, including over 100 levels, plus a load of multiplayer features.

For those (like me) who are pretty new to Badland, the game is a side-scrolling, physics-derived puzzle-platformer that features a chasing camera (think the original Mario Bros.) to ensures a frenetic pace. The sumptuous, hand-drawn graphics mask challenging and varied gameplay that is dished out in bite-sized levels. There is an element of trial and error in most games like this, but Badland does well to ease the pain with its generous checkpoint system.

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