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I Like Smashing Things With A Hammer
Sometimes hitting things with a hammer is just so cathartic. Where Is My Hammer is a nice little game made as part of the Indies VS Pewdiepie game-jam happening over at Game Jolt. It’s available as a free download and is perfect if you’ve had a bad day. Wish to tweet words at me? I…
By Leo Wichtowski Published November 26, 2014 -
The Pinball RPG I Always Wanted
Rollers of the Realm is a pinball/RPG hybrid. It’s also the type of pinball game I’ve wanted for a long time. Some of you may remember the old NES title Pinball Quest, a game that mixed RPG elements with pinball. It held a lot of promise, but 8-bit physics could just never do pinball justice.…
By Leo Wichtowski Published November 20, 2014 -
The ‘Not A Game’ Argument Is A Sad Way To Look At Games
Saying a game isn’t actually a “game” has become the quick and easy way to deride games we don’t like or understand. It’s easy to boil down the key concepts of a game and make them sound bad. Terms like “walking simulator” have become the norm, used as a point of ridicule. It’s an incredibly…
By Leo Wichtowski Published November 14, 2014 -
You Can’t Plead For Your Life In Alien: Isolation, Even At 60fps
No matter how hard you try, pleading with the Xenomorph in Alien: Isolation just doesn’t work. The alien (much like a cat) just does what it wants, despite what you tell it to do. But the androids? They should really know better. It was a long time coming but I finally got a chance to…
By Leo Wichtowski Published November 6, 2014 -
Witness My Futile Attempt At Upholding The Law In A Cop Simulator
Look, I’m not a cop. I’d have to tell you if I were a cop, but I’m totally not a cop. Garry Copman, on the other hand, is a fully-fledged police officer. His duties include giving out tickets for minor infractions of the law—small things like broken tail-lights, expired licenses and vehicles illegally parked in…
By Leo Wichtowski Published October 28, 2014 -
Counter-Strike Nexon: Zombies Is Like A Half-Broken Mod
Seeing Counter-Strike Nexon: Zombies on Steam, I knew from the title alone I had to try this free-to-play version of Counter-Strike. After all, it has a confusing title…and, zombies! In the past, the company Nexon have made free-to-play versions of Counter-Strike for countries such as Japan and South Korea. This is the first time they’ve…
By Leo Wichtowski Published October 22, 2014 -
In The Future, Paid Promotions Are Scary
The recent Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor promotional scandal got me thinking: What would the future of YouTube be if this was allowed to continue? What’s the line between promotion and critique? It’s not fair to push YouTubers—or anyone, really—into advertising a game under the guise of a critical review. You can see more about why…
By Leo Wichtowski Published October 15, 2014 -
Controlling Two Different Characters Proves Difficult
We all loved Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. The controls took some getting used to, but that was part of its undeniable charm. Shadow Puppeteer controls similarly, but what starts off as a serene puzzle game soon turns into a brain aneurysm. When you aren’t being chased by in-game shadows the game feels manageable.…
By Leo Wichtowski Published October 9, 2014 -
The Struggle To Solve A Video Game Murder
An unsolved video game murder is just a terrible thing. Using everything I’ve ever learnt from years of watching CSI, I took on Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments. There was no way Sherlock Holmes, a fictional man of the past could conceivably outsmart me. But would I be able to outsmart crime itself? Sherlock Holmes:…
By Leo Wichtowski Published October 3, 2014 -
You’ll Probably Suck At Roundabout And That’s Okay
Roundabout is a game that contains roundabouts but isn’t actually about roundabouts — no, a more accurate title would be: Help! I’m A Limousine And I Can’t Stop Spinning Ok, that isn’t a particularly catchy title (I’ve never been good at titles). But I took a break from being horribly ill to play this game…
By Leo Wichtowski Published September 26, 2014 -
John Madden Is A Maniac
John Madden is a professional american-football-man, broadcastist and screen scribbler, he’s also a complete maniac. You see, John doesn’t just love a good game of football, no. He Loves Smashing Through Stuff John is at his happiest while smashing through chalkboards. A lesser man would die from his injuries – but no, not John, he…
By Leo Wichtowski Published July 22, 2014 -
New Sports Game Is Wonderfully Stupid
The PES and FIFA games may be capable simulations of men running around a field kicking things. But there’s a new, more ridiculous football (soccer) simulation in town. Goofball Goals. Football, soccer, whatever you want to call it, is a sport that people seem to enjoy. It’s made all the more enjoyable when you have…
By Leo Wichtowski Published February 28, 2014 -
First They Were Banished. Now They’re Dying, Thanks To Me.
In Banished all the townsfolk have been thrown out of their nice, comfy homes. It’s up to you to help build them some place new and ensure they survive. I took to Banished to see if I could begin anew and create the ultimate safe haven: Leotopia. Banished is a city-building game with no combat.…
By Leo Wichtowski Published February 21, 2014 -
A Full-Fledged Horror Game Made By One Guy
The Cursed Forest is a free horror game made in the CryEngine. I decided to take a look, surely the forest couldn’t be that cursed? I was wrong, the forest is pretty cursed. The game has a slow methodical pace, although with time the tension builds until things get quite scary. If there’s some advice…
By Leo Wichtowski Published February 19, 2014 -
Tests Are Even Worse When Dolphins Won’t Let You Cheat Off Of Them
In school I hated exams, tests, pop quizzes, they were all horrible and will forever haunt my dreams. But I’ve never had a dream quite like this Classroom Aquatic is a stealth trivia game…with dolphins. Knowing the answers may be handy but why bother when you could just peak over your dolphin friend’s shoulder and…
By Leo Wichtowski Published February 11, 2014 -
Basically Team Fortress 2 With Extra Gore And Better Guns
When I first glanced at Loadout I mistakenly thought it was a Team Fortress 2 clone. (I’m sorry for judging you by your looks.) It’s similar in that they’re both team based arena shooters, but there’s a key difference: you get to make your own guns. You can be creative with them, too. There’s no…
By Leo Wichtowski Published February 7, 2014 -
Driving Incredibly Small Cars Is Oddly Addictive
One thing that surprised me with Little Racers STREET — well with myself really, was my unabated need to upgrade my tiny car. It’s the most basic of concepts – drive car, win money, upgrade car, win more money. It’s a testament to our inner greed, and to Little Racers STREET‘s addictive nature. It harkens…
By Leo Wichtowski Published January 31, 2014 -
If This Passes As A Werewolf Simulator, I Don’t Want Any Part Of It
It sounded so promising, a game where you get to be a werewolf. How could anyone pass up a chance like that? So I took to the wonky, not quite cell-shaded world of Guise of the Wolf with enthusiasm, but being a werewolf just isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. The beginning of the…
By Leo Wichtowski Published January 28, 2014 -
There Really Is Nothing More Beautiful Than Cars Crashing In Slow-Mo
Here’s a video game fact for you: crashing into virtual cars never gets old; from Destruction Derby on PlayStation to Burnout I’ve always loved smashing into cars. Next Car Game may not even have an actual title yet, but damn is smashing up cars into a pulp a beautiful experience. Which is made ever so…
By Leo Wichtowski Published January 24, 2014 -
New Half-Life 2 Mod Is So Spooky I Can’t Even Aim Anymore
Estranged: Act I, a free mod for Half-Life 2, recently made its way to Steam. I turned out the lights and plugged in my headphones to try and answer the question: Could this tense atmospheric mod spook me? Horror films rarely scare me. Although I can get engrossed in a film, they’ve always been too…
By Leo Wichtowski Published January 20, 2014
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