Why attending conventions is important

Last weekend saw the Birmingham NEC play host to EGX 2018, an annual gaming event showing off indie games, big triple A titles, and everything in between.

We were there, hitting the show floor and taking a look around, taking in the new stuff and getting some hands-on time with upcoming games (some of which may have been a little confusing for some of us).

Now, going to conventions might not be for everyone – if they’re overwhelming for you or if you just can’t face going then that’s absolutely fine. This article isn’t here to push you out of your comfort zone or to ask you to go to something that might make you feel bad.

But if you’ve been on the fence about going to a convention or gaming event, then we’re talking to you. Here’s the reasons why I reckon going to conventions like EGX, Rezzed, Gamescom, and others is so important.

You feel connected with other gamers

Gaming can be a bit solitary sometimes. And for some of that, it’s absolutely fine. For me for example I tend to play games by myself, single player only, and only rarely do I hop online.

Even so, even if you do play games online all the time, it’s not the same. Voices through a headset aren’t quite the same as meeting people in real life, and conventions and gaming events fill that gap. You get to go along alone or with friends and maybe meet up with some of those disembodied voices. Even if not, you get to meet people in the same position as you, people who are there to play the games.

#EveryonesaGamer? You see it for real

We’ve been running an initiative recently called #EveryonesaGamer. We’ve been trying to show off that people from every walk of life, are of every gender, and are in fact everyone.

Well you go to a convention or a gaming event and you see this happen right in front of you. OK, yes, there are a lot of white dudes with beards, but there’s also people of every shape and size, every gender, every colour, able bodied or no – gamers are every kind of person.

It’s honestly heart warming to take a walk around and see that the people around you don’t necessarily look like you. Gaming has bridged those gaps, it’s the power of the video game.

Of course don’t forget the games

Well the events wouldn’t happen without video games, and there’s always a hecktonne of them at these events. Sometimes you have to queue up (something we British people excel at) but there’ll always be space for you. Especially in the indie areas at these events, you can usually just trot up and get hands-on almost immediately.

That accessibility and ability to play things before they’re out is intoxicating, and that leads us to…

Everyone’s there for one reason

There’s unfortunately a lot of negativity around games.

Look at our Newsroom or at the comments under almost any post we make on Facebook. There’s just an overwhelming amount of negativity about individual games, inclusivity in games, publishers, developers, everything.

It’s tiring and deeply deeply sad. That’s why it’s wonderful when you go to a convention or a gaming event and realise that everyone is there because they love games.

No-one’s paid for travel, tickets, accommodation, to rag on games. Everyone’s there because they’re there to celebrate what they love.

It genuinely recharges the batteries so when you go back home and look online and see the tidal wave of negativity, you can remember it’s just a vocal minority. The real gamers are out there loving games, not insulting each other or the things they love.

You get to meet your heroes!

Honestly this is just so I can tell you all I met Julian Gollop, creator of X-Com. The original X-Com, the one that I played on a demo disc back in 1994, the one that I still bust out every so often.

That’s something you can’t put a price on, and maybe your hero won’t be at the event you go to, but maybe they will.

Have you ever been to a gaming event? Tell us your stories in the comments below.

Questions I have about Kingdom Hearts III

This weekend saw the annual EGX convention, a yearly celebration of everything video game, held in sunny Birmingham in the middle of England.

As part of it, we got to sit down for a few minutes with the upcoming Kingdom Hearts III, the long anticipated next part in the legendary Kingdom Hearts series from Square Enix.

The section I played was an introduction to the Toy Story segment, and mainly featured a series of battles in Woody’s world.

After playing I realised that I have a few questions about Kingdom Hearts, both the series and the game itself. Now, before you all start commenting; I have never played a Kingdom Hearts game before.

Now we’ve got that out of the way it’s on to the questions. Be warned, Kingdom Hearts fans, I am clueless.

What’s a Xehanort?

What’s the Organization?

Why does Donald Duck keep screaming ‘ORDER’?

What is the Order?

Who’s the silver haired dude and is he different to the other silver haired dude?

Why does T-Rex think Sora is called something else?

Where have all the humans and other toys gone?

Why are we in Toy Story?

Why are we in Disney stuff anyway?

How did we turn into toys?

Why can I turn into a giant castle that destroys enemies?

What are those enemies?

Why do they look like fat insects?

What exactly *is* a keyblade?

Why do I have a load of them?

Why can I summon teacups that I can ride around in?

How come some toys can talk and some can’t?

How did we get to the Toy Story land?

Why does Buzz Lightyear’s laser work as a real laser now?

Why is the silver haired bad person shouting about hearts?

What do hearts have to do with anything?

Is the kingdom a real kingdom?

If you’re in the worlds that Disney has created, does that mean the films carry on when I’m not watching them?

I think that’s all the ones I have, please send your answers on a self addressed postcard so I can try and figure out just what the hell is going on in Kingdom Hearts III.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey PC Editions Overview

It’s almost time to bust out the sandals and sharpen your spears, because Assassin’s Creed Odyssey looms large on the horizon. It’s bringing refined RPG systems, revamped combat and returning naval battles along with it – plenty to be excited about.

But which of the games many editions is right for you? Let’s go through each option and detail what’s included.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Standard Edition

As you’d expect, this cheapest version includes the base game only.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Digital Deluxe Edition

With this one you’ll get the base game plus a digital deluxe content pack which includes unique weapons, armours, naval customisation options, and temporary boosts to your character.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Gold Edition

Working up through the editions, here’s what the Gold gets you.

  • The main game
  • Digital Gold Edition: Play up to 3-days early starting October 2nd
  • The Season Pass

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Digital Ultimate Edition

Fancy going Digital Ultimate? This is what you’ll get.

  • The main game
  • Play up to 3-days early starting October 2nd
  • The Deluxe digital pack
  • The Season Pass

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Spartan Edition

Still not satiated? Crikey. Best go for the Spartan Edition and its digital and physical luxuries then.

  • The main game
  • The Season Pass
  • The Deluxe digital pack
  • The Blind King additional mission
  • The Spartan Leap figurine (height 39cm) by Ubicollectibles
  • The Assassin’s Creed® Odyssey Steelbook™
  • An exclusive lithograph
  • The world map
  • The 64 page Artbook
  • The selected game soundtrack
  • The Premium collector’s box

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Pantheon Edition

  • The main game
  • The Season Pass
  • The Deluxe digital pack
  • The Blind King additional mission
  • The Nemesis Diorama (height 39cm, 65cm) by Ubicollectibles
  • The Assassin’s Creed® Odyssey Steelbook™
  • An exclusive lithograph
  • The world map
  • The 64 page Artbook
  • The selected game soundtrack
  • The Premium collector’s box

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey vs. Origins – what’s new?

Once again it’s time to travel thousands of years into the past and stab people to death while wearing sandals – but despite surface-level similarities between Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and its 2017 predecessor, Origins, a lot more has changed within the franchise blueprint than first meets the eye.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Setting

The ancient world makes a return this year, but we’re heading slightly further north and a few hundred years earlier. Greece in 431 BCE, to be exact.

Set during a fictionalised secret civil war between Athens and Sparta, it’s a time of great political upheaval, just begging for an ultra-powerful mercenary to sort the whole sorry mess out single-handedly. Where would one find such a character, though?…

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey characters

In this game you’re able to choose between a male and female protagonist, Alexios or Kassandra. In either case you’re an ultra-powerful mercenary – what luck! – and you’ll become increasingly involved in the civil war’s twists and turns as the game progresses. These events occur 400 years before those of Origins on the AC timeline, so it’s unlikely you’ll find any reference to the previous game this time – at least not in the historical setting.

Meanwhile back(?) in the present day, Layla Hassan makes a return in her role as Animus outlaw, uncovering a grim conspiracy and travelling through time to uncover the truth of the Peloponnesian war that’s been kept out of history books for centuries. Perhaps there’ll be more opportunity for the story to bridge the two games in these present day sequences, although how frequently they feature isn’t known.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey romance options

For the first time in the series, player-driven romances with NPCs feature in Odyssey. Regardless of whether the player picks Alexios or Kassandra as their protagonist, both male and female romanceable RPGs will feature. Just don’t go breaking their hearts.

Combat

Origins’ savvy repositioning of the combat model from action game button-bashing to an RPG-like hitbox mechanic went down a storm with players, and a similar system returns here with new bells and whistles.

Alexios and Kassandra are able to unleash special attacks by filling up their meter during combat and hitting the special button at the opportune moment. In true RPG style, a greater variety of specials is unlocked as the character levels up, including the “This is Sparta!” kick, as it shall forever be known.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey naval combat and exploration

Players were able to take to the water in various vessels in Origins, but it wasn’t the kind of full-blown naval affair Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag offered. This time the archipelago or Greek islands provides a perfect venue for larger ships, proper naval combat – dare we suggest – ancient Greek sea shanties? While the latter might be speculation, there’s definitely a return to controlling large sea vessels and ship-on-ship combat in this game.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey world map

Let’s face it, Origins wasn’t lacking for size. The enormous world map housed geographical treasures that took tens of hours to be uncovered in between all the quests and collectible-hunting, but somehow it’s been dwarfed by Odyssey’s map. At 135 km squared, it’s 60% larger than its predecessor’s, and although some of it is Mediterranean sea, there’s a huge amount of environmental variation between its many islands. Expect ancient metropoli, lush greenery, olive and wine groves, volcanoes, mountains, fishing villages, farms, ancient monuments and much more.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Setting and map

For over a decade, Assassin’s Creed has been taking players to historical locations realised with depth and accuracy rarely seen in the medium. After ancient Egypt got the Animus treatment in 2017, it’s ancient Greece’s turn with Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. But what can we expect from the setting, and how will it affect your journey? Let’s examine what we know so far.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Setting

Historically, the game begins in 431 BCE, which puts it four hundred years before the events of Assassin’s Creed Origins on the series timeline. Of course, time’s never an easy thing to discuss in this franchise because there’s a present-day narrative running parallel with the exploits of your historical avatars. Layla Hassan, the modern day protagonist from Origins, returns in her role for this game too, so expect a direct continuation of that plot thread despite the 400-year discrepancy in historical settings.

There’s a civil war afoot back in Ancient Greece, albeit the fictional Peloponnesian war in which Athens and Sparta are vying for overall control of the archipelago. As mercenary Alexios/Kassandra, you’re caught in the middle and quickly forced to choose a side. Your actions have a tangible bearing on the conflict, and the political borders, so choose wisely. Within the game narrative, this is a secret war, the details of which have been kept from broader society for hundreds of years – expect this to be a major point at which historical and present-day narratives intertwine.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Map

In-keeping with series tradition, an enormous world map plays venue to the events of Odyssey. To give you some idea of the sheer scale, here’s a list of the regions:

  • Makedonia
  • Malis
  • Phokis
  • Lokris
  • Boeotia
  • Megaris
  • Attica
  • Korinthia
  • Achaia
  • Elis
  • Arkadia
  • Argolis
  • Messenia
  • Lakonia
  • Kythera Island
  • Thera
  • Messara
  • Pephka
  • Anaphi
  • Nisyros
  • Kos
  • Melos
  • Hydrea
  • Paros
  • Naxos
  • Mykonos
  • Delos
  • Seriphos
  • Keos
  • Samos
  • Andros
  • Chios
  • Lesbos
  • Lemnos
  • Skyros
  • Euboea
  • Kefalonia

Phew. That’s going to take some time to explore – hope you brought your comfy sandals. The world map covers an enormous 130km², making it 62% bigger than the already massive Origins map, which in itself lay largely unexplored even after the player completed the main questline – such was the scale of its optional exploration and diversions.

Up in Northern Greece, you’ll find olive groves, mountains, deciduous trees and sparsely populated settlements. The salt flats of Lokris and the fledgling settlement of Makedonia are waiting to be discovered by the player.

Meanwhile, Kefalonia brings the azure seas and cloudless skies, along with beautiful beaches and the peaks of Mount Ainos. Peloponnese and the Attica Peninsula provide a stark contrast to both these regions, each one densely populated and bearing the marks of deep-rooted urban civilization – statues, monuments, markets, roads and plenty of political intrigue.

For still more environmental variation, the forest islands and arid islands are as they sound – dense flora and fauna on one, where the locals exist on an economy based on wine production, and brutal volcanic rocks, lava veins and sulfur lakes on the other. The town of Messara, situated here, was once the capital of the Greek Islands, and still enjoys a reasonably large population for the area.

5 reasons to try out Ghost Recon Wildlands this weekend

Ghost Recon Wildlands is free to play this weekend. You can log into Uplay right now and get shooting until the 23rd of September, that’s a whole four days of game you can get for the big price of nothing.

But why should you check it out? Here’s 5 reasons you should spend this weekend in fake-Bolivia.

It’s had a year and a half of updates

Maybe you weren’t too enthused by the idea of the game when it came out, or maybe you heard some bad things. Ghost Recon Wildlands has had over a year of updates, refining and tuning the game. Ubisoft haven’t stopped with the updates, and you get to try out how different the game has become over the last couple of years. It’s a better, leaner beast than it was at launch. In fact, this weekend you’ll get to try out the latest update, Operations & Maintenance which adds a huge amount of quality of life changes. What’s changed? Check the patch notes out.

It’s got a huge world

One thing that hasn’t changed is that Bolivia is a massive sandbox for you to explore, get into scrapes, and adventure in. It’s got a range of biomes from mountains to jungle, and everything in between. Basically it’d be a great vacation spot if you weren’t continually shooting up cartel members or driving you friends off cliffs. Speaking of friends…

…that you can explore with your friends

The big draw for Ghost Recon Wildlands is that it’s a co-op sandbox for you and your friends to explore together. Or at least, try to explore and then explode when you drive into oncoming traffic, or get into a shoot out with local cartel thugs and watch as your mate runs out trying to solo the entire lot.

It’s got so many vehicles

Traversal’s a big part of any open world game, and Ghost Recon Wildlands provides a huge array of vehicles for you to get across Bolivia and into the next firefight. Tanks, APCs, cars, and helicopters all await but there’s one that’s our favourite; the humble dirt bike. Scrambling up and down desert hills is what this game is made for.

It’s free

Well duh. This is the reason why it’s definitely worth checking out this weekend, it’s free until the 23rd. You don’t have to pay a single thing right now to play Ghost Recon Wildlands, and if you decide you do like it you can get it for up to 64% off right now on our site. But again, you don’t have to!

Our Top 5 Pirate Games

It’s International Talk Like A Pirate Day, so we’re looking at the top pirate games of all time. Pirates really do work in games They do whatever they like; they’re rowdy, they steal from everyone, and they’re misunderstood anti-heroes (sometimes). Brilliant video game character territory.

In no particular order, here are the top 5 pirate games, why? Because they ARRR.

Sid Meier’s Pirates!

Known for his series of Civilization games, Sid Meiers also ventured into the stars with Alpha Centuri, and into the Seven Seas with Pirates! Rather than building and evolving a pirate civilization – which, to be fair, would be amazing – you are a pirate captain with one ship and one crew. You can be a fighty pirate, a trade-y pirate, or go full legitimate buccaneer. This really does give you the freedom to pirate in how you see fit, and just like pirates in real life you’ll probably find all that legitimate and rule-following way too much hassle. Just borrow stuff without permission, sell it and buy bigger cannons, repeat!

Skies of Arcadia

Anyone who’s been on the Green Man Gaming forum for more than 5 seconds knows that this is one of my favourite games of all time. A JRPG from SEGA originally on the Dreamcast, Skies put you in the piratey boots of Vyse, a Blue Rogue pirate. Two things you should know about this game: One, you’re a Chaotic Good pirate, so you and your crew are pretty nice guys, and two, the ships are AIRSHIPS. The skies are the ocean complete with floating islands and discoverable lands, ports and adventure. Probably one of the best stories in a game I’ve played and certainly some of the best turn-based combat, as well as great ship combat. And yet no remaster…

Curse of Monkey Island

You can’t say ‘pirate’ without everyone’s favourite lovable, permanently down-on-his-luck, mighty pirate, Guybrush Threepwood. Out of the four titles from the series, two have been remastered and look gorgeous with new art and new voice acting, but the third one is my personal favourite. Curse of Monkey Island is a point-and-click game where Guybrush must ‘Use’, ‘Speak’, and ‘Examine’ his way to defeat the evil zombie pirate LeChuck. I replayed this recently as an adult and about 40% of the jokes now make sense, it’s so great. Some say its the swan song of the golden point-and-click days, I can’t recommend it enough especially for people who don’t like action games.

Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag

If you want the AAA modern pirating experience, you can’t do much better than Assassin’s Creed’s fourth entry, Black Flag. Taking the series to the Caribbean, this was the first game in the long-standing series that put an equal, if not more, emphasis on the non-stabby part of the character and story. Your pirating exploits are just as integral to the game as you assault forts, hunt whales, fit more pistols on your body and hang out with a who’s who of famous pirates on Nassau. And it’s not all larks and no substance. The expansion Freedom Cry has you play as your African first mate Adéwalé as you combat slavery in the Caribbean, which can really expose you to the inhumanity and atrocities surrounding slavery during that period.

Sea of Thieves

Something all the above games are missing is the thrill of being a privateering cad on the open waves, but with your mates! Sea of Thieves let’s you and your most bearded friends gang together on a ship, and pirate about in an open world sandbox. Take on bounties, missions, find treasure and, of course, compete with other crews. Will you find the buried treasure and bring it back, or will another posse of freebooters ambush you in the bay and try to take you unawares and unprepared? It’s fairly new so new content is being added all the time, such as new islands, ship types, skeleton crews and giant sharks. I assume the giant shark is mates with the giant squid/kraken.

That’s our top 5 piratey games for pirates. Good thing too because I was running out of words for pirates. Whilst talking like a pirate today, really get in the mood and play some of these too, you won’t be walking the plank of disappointment.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey – What we know so far

Only a year after taking gamers to a beautifully realised ancient Egypt, Assassin’s Creed returns. And it’s keeping its sandals on.

Odyssey takes place during the year 431 BCE in ancient Greece where a fictional civil war between Athens and Sparta rages. With revamped combat, the return of naval battles, and many key new features, it’s sure to be one of 2018’s standout releases. Here’s what to expect.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey release date

The game’s available from October 5th across all regions. That’s slightly earlier in the year than Origins released – October 27th 2017.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey system requirements

Here’s what Ubisoft recommends for running the game:

Minimum Requirements

  • OS: Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (64-bit versions only)
  • Processor: AMD FX 6300 @ 3.8 GHz, Ryzen 3 – 1200, Intel Core i5 2400 @ 3.1 GHz
  • Video: AMD Radeon R9 285 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 (2GB VRAM with Shader Model 5.0)
  • Memory: 8GB RAM
  • Resolution: 720p
  • Targeted framerate: 30 FPS
  • Video Preset: Low
  • Storage: 46GB available hard drive space
  • DirectX: DirectX June 2010 Redistributable
  • Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card with latest drivers

Recommended Specifications

  • OS: Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (64-bit versions only)
  • Processor: AMD FX-8350 @ 4.0 GHz, Ryzen 5 – 1400, Intel Core i7-3770 @ 3.5 GHz
  • Video: AMD Radeon R9 290 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 (4GB VRAM or more with Shader Model 5.0) or better
  • Memory: 8GB RAM
  • Resolution: 1080p
  • Targeted framerate: 30 FPS
  • Video Preset: High
  • Storage: 46GB available hard drive space
  • DirectX: DirectX June 2010 Redistributable
  • Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card with latest drivers

Recommended 4K Configuration

  • OS: Windows 10 (64-bit versions only)
  • Processor: AMD Ryzen 1700X @ 3.8 GHz, Intel Core i7 7700 @ 4.2 GHz
  • Video: AMD Vega 64, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (8GB VRAM with Shader Model 5.0)
  • Memory: 16GB RAM
  • Resolution: 4K
  • Targeted framerate: 30 FPS
  • Video Preset: High
  • Storage: 46GB available hard drive space
  • DirectX: DirectX June 2010 Redistributable
  • Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card with latest drivers

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey setting

It’s off to ancient Greece for the first time in the series in Odyssey, where a huge archipelago world map awaits and where political borders are subject to your actions and decisions. With so many islands to navigate between, aquatic vessels take on greater prominence here than we’ve seen in the series since Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, while on land you’ll be exploring the rugged mountains of northern Greece, lush greenery on Kefalonia Island, the urban sprawl of Peloponnese, and the harsh volcanic climes of the arid islands, to name a few.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey story

As either Alexios or Kassandra, the player is a mercenary who finds themself embroiled amidst civil war – and, this being a videogame, given a huge amount of agency over how that war plays out. Also in-keeping with the series’ tradition, there’s a modern-day narrative to which Leyla Hassan of AC Origins returns.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey combat

Building on Origins’ hitbox-based, RPG-like combat system, the fighting in Odyssey bestows four melee ability slots, and four slots for the bow, on the player. Charging up these abilities in combat lets you unleash special moves – like the iconic kick from Zack Snyder’s 300 – in battle. And for their part, battles now come in both large and small-scale varieties. Well, there is a war on, after all.

Video Games Day – The most iconic game from each decade

Video games are brilliant.

They’re not only brilliant, but they’re quite old now. We’ve had video games for probably longer than you’d expect, stretching back into the mists of time (well, a few decades).

We decided, to celebrate video games and their history, to take a look back and pick out one iconic game from each decade which we feel sum up the period.

Tennis for Two – 1958

One of the very first video games, Tennis for Two simulates a simple game of tennis and was designed to be played on analogue computers.

The way it works is that you’re playing the game as if you’re seeing it sid eon, and each player uses a rotating control to determine the angle of shots.

Maybe not the first video game, and maybe not the most influential, but it was the first designed solely for entertainment and thus led the way into video games becoming the utter juggernaut they are today.

Spacewar! – 1962

A space combat dogfighting game, Spacewar! (the ! is important) is probably one of the most influential video games ever made. Released for the PDP-1 in 1962, it was ported to other systems and was one of the first commercially available video games made.

Featuring two spaceships locked in a dogfight while trapped in the gravity well of a star, this multiplayer game features Newtonian physics, limited fuel, and limited torpedoes. Meaning that you get the core of gameplay loop, you have to juggle your constant motion relative to your enemy and the star and your limited resources at all times.

You can see the lineage going from this to games such as Asteroids, Star Control, and many more.

Pong – 1972

You know Pong, everyone knows Pong.

If you don’t know Pong, it was one of the first arcade games, leading the way for video games to become a social experience. It was eventually ported to pretty much every system ever made, but originally it was a wooden cabinet with housed this monochrome tennis-em-up.

As with the previous games on this list, it was multiplayer only game and has been described as a ‘social lubricant’. With its simple controls and easy to understand method of play, it helped introduce the world to gaming.

The Legend of Zelda – 1986

it was the 80s where video games began to dream bigger. Famously inspired by Miyamoto’s walks in the Kyoto countryside as a child, The Legend of Zelda aimed to give the player a whole world to explore with childlike wonder and danger at every corner.

The Legend of Zelda didn’t just start off the Zelda series, but it also helped expand the cRPG, adventure game, action adventure, and open world genres. We’re not saying it invented these genres, but many games of those genres that you play even today have DNA that goes right back to that small child Link heading out into the big world, alone except for a sword.

Doom – 1993

No that’s right, not Wolfenstein 3D. Doom didn’t just revolutionise the FPS genre in terms of speed, variation of enemies and weapons, level design, and demon blasting.

It’s a game that’s got a long reach, with almost every FPS since owing at least some small debt to Doom. Not only that, it cemented Id as The Place Where Good FPS Games Get Made, with Doom II, the Quake series, and much more coming out of the legendary studio.

Not only is the game still worth playing today, it’s easily moddable and new levels can be added as simply as adding a .WAD.

Halo – 2001

Halo summed up the 2000s, not just because it’s a damn fine shooter (it is) but because it proved you could have a shooter that works on console. It’s undoubtable that playing with mouse and keyboard is better for speed of aiming and accuracy, but what if you just want to play on a sofa?

Halo proved that it’s possible, and it introduced the wider world to Bungie and the Xbox, both of which helped define and change the gaming landscape for over a decade since.

Hard to believe that originally Halo was a Mac exclusive that was a third person shooter. You’ve come a long way, baby.

Dark Souls – 2011

We’ve still got two years of the 2010s left but it’s safe to say that Dark Souls is the defining game of this decade. Almost every game now is either compared to it, or features elements directly inspired by it. The simple idea of having a persistent playthrough where death isn’t the end of your journey has been a staple of the last few years in the gaming world and one that doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon.

Not only does the game excel mechanically with its precise combat, but the world itself is something that many games have taken cues from. A vast interconnected world that hints at larger stories just underneath the surface is a heady mix, and one that Dark Souls delivers in spades.

That’s the games we’ve decided to call out as the most iconic of the last few decades. Agree or disagree? Let us know in the comments below.

Why Shadow of the Tomb Raider Is Shaping Up To Be The Perfect Trilogy Finale

Due for release in just a few days, Shadow of the Tomb Raider puts a capper on the second rebooted trilogy of one of gaming’s most enduring icons. With development duties largely handed over to the experienced and practiced hands at Eidos Montreal, Shadow of the Tomb Raider is looking to be in safe hands. All the same, while Lara’s latest might seem to be a conservatively created effort on the surface, much lurks under its familiar veneer to ensure its place as the best entry in the series to date.

Predicated on the fact that this trilogy was a prelude to the escapades of the more experienced Lara Croft that we all knew and loved beforehand, Shadow of the Tomb Raider sees the adventurous aristocrat on the cusp of fulfilling her destiny and taking part in what is arguably the darkest chapter in her tomb raiding career.

Picking up the narrative thread of the previous two games in the trilogy, Shadow of the Tomb Raider continues Lara’s struggle against Illuminati style organisation Trinity. Except now, relentlessly driven by the need to finally vanquish her enemy there seems to be no length to which she might go, lending the proceedings and her character a sense of reckless desperation that was never quite there before.

Gameplay-wise, Shadow of the Tomb Raider also brings a number of notable changes and improvements to its immediate predecessor, Rise of the Tomb Raider, too. The first and most obvious of these is in how stealth has been retooled. Now more varied than merely just creeping up on a lad and putting holes in him with the shiny implement of the moment, Lara can now fully conceal herself in the undergrowth, and better yet, stand upright and shrink behind overgrown vines and other plant growth to kill and hide her foes with alarming efficiency.

Swimming too has seen a welcome evolution also. Making Lara’s nautical pastime in the previous game seem little more than a spirited paddle, Shadow of the Tomb Raider has our intrepid heroine plunging deep into briny deeps and discovering long forgotten caves and hidden crevices. It’s a welcome return to form that fans of the earlier, more aquatic inclined entries in the series will surely appreciate.

Perhaps best of all, Shadow of the Tomb Raider finally remembers what brought the series to the dance – raiding tombs, and then proceeds to accentuate it with aplomb. Lifted far above the mildly distracting romps of the previous two efforts in the trilogy, the challenge tombs in this latest entry are robust tests of skill that deftly combine dextrous challenge and tricky puzzles (actual puzzles!), that tax the grey matter far more strongly than before. In short, the tomb raiding has officially been put back into Tomb Raider.

As it is, Tomb Raider fans should be rightfully anticipating Ms Croft’s next romp as Shadow of the Tomb Raider surely looks to be best in the current trilogy, and among the very best the over two decade long series has seen to date.

Every Dragon Quest game on PC ranked from worst to best

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age is out now, and people are loving it. Don’t believe us? Here’s 5 reasons why it’s the series’ best.

There’s been a tonne of Dragon Quest games, spinoffs, tie-ins and all sorts. The series itself goes back to 1986 when Dragon Quest (Dragon Warrior in North America) was released on the NES.

It was a hit, and spawned a series that’s lasted 32 years. There’s also been a huge amount of spinoffs, like the Dragon Quest Heroes series which recently made their way to PC.

But we’re not here to talk about spinoffs, we’re here to answer the question ‘out of all the Dragon Quest main series games released on PC, which one’s best and which one’s worst?’

Well fear not, we have the answer. We’ve scoured our mainframes, done the Google, looked in our brains, and asked for expert analysis of every main series Dragon Quest game released on PC, and we’ve finally got the definitive list of how good they are.

So sit back, pour yourself a drink, get comfy, and strap yourself in. This is gonna be a list.

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age is the only main Dragon Quest game released on PC so far, so by definition it’s the best Dragon Quest main series game released on PC (and the worst but let’s not focus on that).

It’s an absolute beast of a game, clocking in with a huge amount of hours, and each of those hours will be spent in one of the most visually stunning places. It’s a real fairytale world out there, with our beloved slimes back to be given a damn good thrashing and much more.

If you even have a passing interest in jRPGs, then you need to check out Dragon Quest XI. It’s getting great reviews and the word on the internet-street is that those reviews are exactly right.

So that’s the list, every Dragon Quest main series game released on PC ranked for your pleasure. Do you disagree with our ranking? Let us know in the comments below.