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ReviewsRazer Ornata Mecha-Membrane Keyboard Review: Why Not Both?
Some prefer the reassuring clickety-clack of a noisy mechanical keyboard. Others crave the quiet spring of membrane keys. Razer’s Ornata keyboard combines the two into something called Mecha-Membrane, and it really is the best of both worlds. From the top-down view it looks like any black and green Razer keyboard, but it’s definitely a different…
By Mike Fahey Published November 11, 2016 -
ReviewsCall Of Duty: Infinite Warfare: The Kotaku Review
Another year, another trio of divergent games united under the banner of a single Call of Duty release. It’s this triple-pronged approach that allows Infinite Warfare to advance the series while simultaneously standing still. Call of Duty has come a long way since Infinity Ward launched the first game back in 2003. The first several…
By Mike Fahey Published November 7, 2016 -
Reviews
Hitman Season One: The Kotaku Review
It’s the middle of the day, and I’ve spent the last couple of hours trying to figure out how to kill this stupid cameraman. You’d think it would be easy, but I have to make it look like an accident and I can’t harm the newswoman he’s working with. Much harder than it sounds. I’m…
By Kirk Hamilton Published November 7, 2016 -
ReviewsHori Tactical Assault Commander Pro Review: A Very PC PlayStation Controller
Just because you’re playing a console game doesn’t mean you have to use a console controller. Hori’s Tactical Assault Commander (TAC) Pro brings streamlined PC controls to the PlayStation 4 and 3, just in time for first-person shooter season. It’s first-person-shooter season, a time when the age-old battle between gamepads and the keyboard/mouse combo flares…
By Mike Fahey Published November 4, 2016 -
ReviewsHouse Of The Dying Sun: The Kotaku Review
House of the Dying Sun rushes ahead with furious focus and great urgency, and it’s hard not to get caught up in its dark current. It sweeps aside the space-opera trappings of modern sci-fi in favor of something more resolute and grim: You’re the bad guy. There are the good guys. Go make an example…
By Kirk Hamilton Published November 3, 2016 -
ReviewsBoard Games
Game of Thrones: The Iron Throne: The Kotaku Review
The Iron Throne is what happens when you take pretty much every murderous stereotype about Game of Thrones, break them down then turn them into a board game where you lie to your friends before stabbing them in the guts. Based heavily on an older title called Cosmic Encounter, but here leveraging the immense popularity…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 31, 2016 -
Reviews
Titanfall 2: The Kotaku Review
When I finished Titanfall 2‘s campaign, my body felt numb. I left my apartment, walked to the street corner and bummed a cigarette. I needed to calm myself. I’d just been through an astounding experience. The original Titanfall was a game of overly high ambition. Fluid player movement led to frantic and gorgeous ground battles…
By Heather Alexandra Published October 31, 2016 -
Reviews
Civilization VI: The Kotaku Review
The trouble with reviewing a Civilization game is that they’re always good. From the 1991 original through to today, Civilization games have all shared the same core design ideas. 2K’s marketing will try and sell you on new stuff all they want, but the nuts and bolts of this game are the same as they’ve…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 26, 2016 -
ReviewsWorld Of Final Fantasy: The Kotaku Review
There are two Final Fantasy games out this fall. One is Final Fantasy XV, the latest step in the evolution of the series and a far cry from the turn-based dungeon crawlers of the past. The other is World of Final Fantasy, a candy-coated celebration of everything that came before. First announced shortly before or…
By Mike Fahey Published October 25, 2016 -
Reviews
Battlefield 1: The Kotaku Review
Matthew McConaughey once said that sometimes you need to go back to move forward. The team at DICE must have been very moved by that sentiment. Taking it to heart and pushing the Battlefield series nearly 100 years back into World War I for this year’s release of Battlefield 1 was a gamble. It has…
By Heather Alexandra Published October 21, 2016 -
ReviewsSkylanders: Imaginators: The Kotaku Review
After a bit of a stumble with last year’s Superchargers, Skylanders is back and ready to go toe-to-toe with Disney Infinity in the creativity side of the toys-to-life battle. Had the competition not folded, Imaginators would have given it a run for its money. Skylanders was always a better game than Disney Infinity. Disney spent…
By Mike Fahey Published October 16, 2016 -
Reviews
Gears of War 4: The Kotaku Review
Ten years ago, Gears of War helped define an age of blockbuster multiplayer games. Now, it’s the status quo. Gears of War 4 is more Gears of War. Luckily, Gears of War kicks ass. The newest game doesn’t offer many surprises, but it’s still enjoyable to play. Like the earlier games in the series, you…
By Patricia Hernandez Published October 13, 2016 -
ReviewsPlayStation VR: The Kotaku Review
Let’s cut to the chase: PlayStation VR should be better. At its best, Sony’s new virtual reality headset manages to conjure the astonishing, immersive wonder of modern virtual reality. Just as often it is frustratingly held back by outdated hardware that can’t quite do what’s being asked of it. This piece originally appeared 10/5/16. PlayStation…
By Kirk Hamilton Published October 13, 2016 -
ReviewsMafia III: The Kotaku Review
Mafia III takes hours to really get going. Sometimes it’s a predictable, janky slog. Once it finds its groove, though, it’s an open-world crime game unlike any other. It’s a bold depiction of a difficult time and place—a portrait of New Orleans in the late 1960s, racism and ugliness included. Early on in Mafia III,…
By Nathan Grayson Published October 12, 2016 -
ReviewsBatman Arkham VR: The Kotaku Review
The hero of Batman: Arkham VR is a little clumsy. His hands shake from time to time. He sometimes drops his Batarangs. He doesn’t drive his own Batmobile, and he spends a lot of time standing in place as other people move around him. This Batman is not the aspirational, acrobatic crusader game creators usually…
By Stephen Totilo Published October 5, 2016 -
Reviews
NBA 2K17 MyCareer: The Kotaku Review
NBA 2K16’s ambitious attempt last year to get Spike Lee to run its centrepiece MyCareer mode (basically a giant singleplayer sports RPG) was a bit of a disaster. This year, it’s back to the drawing board. Note: As we’ve done the last few years, this is only a review of 2K17’s MyCareer mode, not the…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 29, 2016 -
Reviews
Acer Predator G1 Gaming PC Review: Small But Mighty
Thanks to some incredibly clever engineering and an incredibly cramped Geforce GTX 1080, the Acer Predator G1 gaming PC packs an amazing amount of power into 16 liters of space, small enough to fit in its own custom suitcase. The baby of Acer’s black and red Predator gaming line doesn’t look like it should be…
By Mike Fahey Published September 29, 2016 -
ReviewsDestiny: Rise of Iron: The Kotaku Review
A brief history for those who are new to Kotaku and our on-again, off-again obsession with this game. Destiny is a first-person action game in which players fly around the solar system fighting with aliens, evil cyborgs, and occasionally each other. Collectively, our staff has played over 2,000 hours. I account for more than half…
By Kirk Hamilton Published September 28, 2016 -
ReviewsOversnatch: The Kotaku Review
Brazzers’ porn parody of Overwatch, titled Oversnatch, starts strong, but by the end it’s sweaty, spent, and sagging. Warning: this post is NSFW. Oversnatch begins promisingly, in an abandoned theater that almost doesn’t look like a porn studio. Widowmaker lurks, and Reaper skulks. Widowmaker (played by Aletta Ocean) is introduced with Overwatch-style text displaying her…
By Nathan Grayson Published September 28, 2016