I got started with Koei Tecmo’s Musou (Warriors) series later than many of the other long-term fans. Samurai Warriors 3 on the Wii was my first title, and after putting hundreds of hours into that game, I went looking for other Warriors titles. My first Dynasty Warriors title was 6, so I missed those early PlayStation 2 titles. Being able…
Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve offers 30-odd missions of explosive aerial acrobatics that you won’t soon forget about. Bandai Namco has, over so many years and titles now, achieved something really rare for this particular genre: action that doesn’t feel like it’s condescending towards the players with overly simplistic…
Miyamoto Musashi is a great protagonist for a video game like Onimusha:…
Today, Free Style announced it would launch its multiplayer tag game OBAKEIDORO…
My favourite film of all time is The Crow. I have seen the film so many times that I can recite it from heart. “It can’t rain all the time…. I thought I’d use your front door… And I say I’m dead, and I move.” It’s a classic. One of…
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I find the concept of the succubus to be fascinating. As a symbol of the sheer terror with which Christianity views sexuality, the succubus is surprisingly important in terms of understanding the religion. Meanwhile, the contrast between desirability and danger inherent within the creature makes it evergreen content for both…
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Polish off those game of the year trophies, because God of War: Ragnarök is almost certainly going to win a bunch of them. Whether it deserves them, though, is another matter entirely. People are going to love it because this is a massive, visually stunning, and viscerally entertaining game. However,…
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It feels almost ironic that Bayonetta, one of the most grandiose action properties in gaming (if not the series that takes the crown), would somehow end up being exclusive to the Nintendo Switch. This is a series where the action, creatures, humour, narratives and setpieces are so fundamentally big on…
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Mad Head Games has been around since 2011, and it has been a wild ride that led to its acquisition by Saber Interactive and, through that, becoming a part of Embracer Group in 2020. Now the team is gearing up for its first big game under its new owners, and…
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Here’s a free tip for developers and publishers: “Souls” means something in video gaming now. We may or may not like it, but people see that combination of letters and think something very specific. Soulstice is not actually one of these games (blessedly, given that this year has already been…
Read MoreAlmost a decade ago, Sony published The Last Of Us on PlayStation 3. The sheer hyperbole that the game got was, in retrospect, silly. Empire even went as far as to say that the very cinematic game was comparable to Citizen Kane. Of course, since then, Sony alone has published…
Read MoreOne of the challenges I have with Koei Tecmo’s Warriors franchise is determining the pecking order of the various games within the series. If you asked me to rank the Final Fantasy series, for example, there’s a clear upper echelon (Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy VIII), but…
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Lollipop Chainsaw is one of the best games ever made. A collaboration between Goichi Suda, James Gunn (yes, the Suicide Squad and Guardians of the Galaxy director), and producer, Yoshimi Yasuda, the game is a subversive grindhouse brawler about a cheerleader taking on an army of zombies, and it is…
Read MoreWe all know wuxia, right? The beautifully elegant form of Chinese martial art cinema (and other forms) that have dance-like, gravity-defying choreographed fights? Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and all the rest of them? That’s what Code: To Jin Yong is looking to capture and… well I hate to nosedive into…
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