Game review: Shadow of the Beast Remake

 

Remember when a game’s graphics stole your breath away?  When the visuals were so piercingly beautiful that they pushed the very limits of contemporary technology, and sold said game, along with the machine that played it, in droves? 

The original Shadow of the Beast did just that on the Commodore Amiga computer in 1989.  Published by the legendary Psygnosis, the title took gaming graphics to the next level and left audiences positively salivating.  While it wasn’t exactly what we would call a “killer app” for the Amiga, it did underscore just how powerful the machine was, and really put the machine on the map.  Beast did have a downside, in that its frustratingly difficult gameplay couldn’t match its striking visuals.  30 years later, enter little known game developer Heavy Spectrum Entertainment Labs, who have taken it upon themselves to remake this storied title exclusively for the Playstation 4 console.

Game review: Tormentum: Dark Sorrow

Ye olde “point and click” adventures were hugely popular throughout the nineties, appearing mostly on computer platforms such as DOS, Windows and the Commodore Amiga.  Their key ingredients were beautiful yet mostly static 2d art, witty dialogue and puzzles that ranged from the logical to the fiendishly perplexing.  If you can’t remember the genre, think venerable Lucasfilm/LucasArts classics such as Full Throttle, Sam and Max Hit the Road and of course The Secret of Monkey Island.

Tormentum: Dark Sorrow, developed by little-known OhNoo Studio, is a modern-day homage to such legendary titles with a surrealist twist.  The game comes packaged with stunning artwork that was inspired by famous gothic illustrator Zdzislaw Beksinski.  It is as much a pictorial tour de force as it is a point and click adventure, serving as an impressive portfolio for the game’s character and background illustrator, Piotr Ruszkowski.

Game review: Dark Souls Remastered

Last year I fell in love with Soulsborne lookalikes The Surge and Lords of the Fallen.  Given my newfound attraction to the genre, I thought it was prudent of me to go back to where it all began.  I embarked on a journey through a game that quakes the spirits of even the most hardened of players, striking fear into their hearts for its reputedly fearsome difficulty.  The game I was playing was Dark Souls Remastered, an enhanced version of the game that was originally released in 2011.

Double-barrelled game review: The Surge and Lords of the Fallen

Here I go again with the review equivalent of a two for one deal at your local burger joint.  This week I’ll be conducting a side-by-side comparison of The Surge and Lords of the Fallen.  This twin critique is made possible by the fact that both games were made by Deck 13, and feature similar gameplay mechanics.  In fact, you could say The Surge is the spiritual successor to Lords of the Fallen, despite taking place in a completely different setting (think how Starcraft was the psuedo-sequel to Warcraft).  So let’s see how the two stack up.

Book Update

This week I received an email from a literary agent I had recently queried.  This was in the course of seeking representation for my novel, Fate of Eternal Dark.

In order to sum up my see-sawing emotions whilst reading the agent’s response, allow me to use none other than Commander William T. Riker.

It read:

“Dear Mr Muscat,

Thank you for your recent submission.  We enjoyed reviewing your work.”

Game Review: Heretic

First thing’s first: Heretic is a Doom-clone, an early nineties term for a game that mimicked id Software’s revolutionary first-person shooter, Doom.  In the grand scheme of things, Heretic just might be the Doom-iest Doom clone ever made, so close does it resemble its source material.  It’s both a blessing and a curse for the title, which I will explain in this review.