Preview: Batman: Arkham Knight (Multi-Platform)

If there's one thing that Batman is really good at, it's making twisted enemies everywhere he goes. Besides Arkham Knight, a lethal Batman doppelganger created for the game, there's the usual Rogues Gallery of villains including the Riddler (in a more active role this time around), Penguin, Two-Face, Harley Quinn, and Scarecrow, who appears to be the mastermind behind the terrible things that happen in Batman: Arkham Knight.

Review: Dying Light (PS4)

Normally we only have one reviewer assigned to each title, but Dying Light presented an interesting opportunity.  With two review codes and two reviewers – one who likes zombie themed TV shows and games and another indifferent to them – you get two unique viewpoints on Dying Light.

Story/Gameplay Mechanics
Dying Light is Techland’s latest foray into the Zombie genre, after the release of Dead Island (2011) and Dead Island Riptide (2013). This is their first entry making use of next gen hardware, but has the transition been kind to them?

Review: Batman: Arkham Origins (360)

Batman: Arkham Origins is a prequel, which focuses on the early years of Bruce Wayne being Batman and provides an initial point of contact with his future arch-nemesis Joker.

The story is centralized around a Christmas plot by Black Mask to kill Batman by offering a bounty of $50 million. Needless to say, the assassins start coming out of the woodwork: Deathstroke, Deadshot, Bane, Killer Croc, Firefly, Shiva, Copperhead, and Electrocutioner all make appearances to try and stop the Dark Knight. Your job is to remind everyone that you're the G**DAMMNED BATMAN!

Review: Batman: Arkham Origins (PC)

You know what? Batman: Arkham Origins is pretty darn good.

Sure, there are some traversal slogs through the city and the fact Batman starts with a bunch of weaponry that only trickles out slowly in the previous two titles, my brain inhales Batman the same way gamers sometimes do lines of Dorito® dust: in great quantities and with zero regard for the moral authority that would rather see a society devoid of orange moustaches.

Review: LEGO Legends of Chima - Laval's Journey (3DS)

I'm pretty sure I've made this observation with another LEGO game or maybe I read it in someone else's review, but the never-slowing flow of LEGO games can only be explained by the existence of a LEGO Algorithm that developers are using to change a few variables, spin and dial, drop in some different textures and ka-ching! A new LEGO game!

Maybe such a theory is cynical at best and "just being a jerk" at worst, but I have no other explanation for the way it feels like Science was somehow employed in being able to produce a spate of games that so successfully reuses the same tried and tested formula.

Review: Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition (PC)

Mortal Kombat's 2011 reboot was warmly received so it's great to see it here, finally on PC, looking better than ever.

Because I was taking video of the game for a clip on The Armchair Empire's YouTube Channel, I know the game runs at a smooth 60-frames per second and the detail is phenomenal. Besides looking great, the small touches like head movement and where characters direct their attention during the course of fight and the little things going on in the background make it a game I could simply spend time watching rather than playing. Sadly, there's no option to just pit computer-controlled characters against one-another to just watch.

Review: Scribblenauts Unlimited (Wii U)

 

Scribblenauts, as a game, confused me right out of the G-A-T-E.

“Scribble” might lead a one to believe that the player spends time drawing solutions rather than spelling words to make them materialize in the world to solve whatever problem presents itself. Robot short circuiting? O-I-L. Tree needs to be cut down to “save” a cat? C-H-A-I-N-S-A-W.

Review: Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition (Wii U)

Even though Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition on Wii U covers up Catwoman’s cleavage with a kind of all-over-body chastity suit and some of the Wii U controller features take a little practice, it’s still the solid game it was when it released in 2011.

Review: LEGO Lord of the Rings (360)

 

After playing hours and hours of Traveller's Tales' licensed LEGO games (directly and indirectly, i.e. watching), there's a definite boundary being built between kid friendly/accessible and pre-teen/less accessible. LEGO Lord of the Rings lands on the "difficult" end of the spectrum as evidenced by the fact my kids were initially excited by the game but after about a week returned to the favoured LEGO Batman 2 where they felt like they could mess around more. Plus, the popular consensus was that they'd rather be the Flash than Frodo.

Preview: Injustice: Gods Among Us (360, PS3, Wii U)

 

The intellectual property of Marvel Comics has seen strong representation in the fighting game arena for many years, particularly with the Marvel vs. Capcom series. It has only been in relatively recent years that rival DC Comics has explored the genre.

Departing from the generally well-received Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe -- a weird pairing if ever there was one -- developer NetherRealm Studios shakes free of Mortal Kombat and has grabbed onto DC Comic characters Batman, Superman, Harley Quinn, Wonder Woman, Solomon Grundy, Deathstroke, Green Arrow and more, in an otherworldly slog fest "where the line between good and evil has been blurred."

Review: LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (360)

Nearly every LEGO game released builds on previous LEGO titles and righting wrongs and adding bricks where necessary to create an even better experience than the one before it. On the surface, that's exactly what happened with LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes.

Review: The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition (360)

Getting weak in the knees thinking about a video game character is 100% ridiculous and a sure sign that the person experiencing such feelings is an emotionally unstable weirdo, who you'd more likely see lining up at City Hall for a marriage license to wed their body pillow than reaching for a bar of soap and having a damn shower

Well, that's what I used to believe.