Reviews

A Face Only A Hardcore Avengers Movie Fan Could Love

When I was young, I would have my parents buy me multiple copies of trooper-style action figures in order to amass a cartoon-accurate army. As an adult collector, I think I’ll just stick with the one $239 Chitauri Foot Soldier from Hot Toys. The Chitauri. A race of aliens created to take the place of…

​Hohokum: The Kotaku Review

Hohokum is almost definitely the strangest video game I’ve ever played in my life. I swear I can hear the new game giggle at my attempt to describe it or pin it down. I’m going to try, because you should know what you’re getting into. And, yes, Hohokum is very much a thing you should…

Nvidia Shield Tablet: The Kotaku Review

Last year’s Nvidia Shield portable was the most powerful Android gaming system on the market at the time. The Nvidia Shield Tablet is the most powerful Android gaming system on the market, but it’s also something its predecessor was not — useful. The original Nvidia Shield, rebranded the Shield Portable in the wake of the…

Road Not Taken: The Kotaku Review

Yes, it’s named after the Robert Frost poem. No, it’s not clear why. The lovely new game from development studio Spry Fox is full of mysteries, most of them with gameplay consequences. It’s basically a game about a person who lives in a village, makes friends and then heads out into the wilderness year after…

Metrico: The Kotaku Review

Metrico is a frustrating game. That’s mostly meant as a compliment. This is a puzzle game, after all. You’re supposed to pull your hair and swear once in a while. Every puzzle game walks a fine line between the good kind of frustration and the bad kind, however. And when Metrico wavers into the bad…

The Last of Us: The Kotaku Review

On the street where you live, there’s a house built out of zombie clichés. The porch looks like an abandoned quarantine zone, and the walls are covered with hastily scrawled graffiti. The roof is crafted from the finest wrecked national monuments, and the floors appear to be made of actual zombies. And yet: Two people…

Lay’s 2014 ‘Do Us A Flavor’ Potato Chips: The Snacktaku Review

Earlier this week Frito-Lay announced the four finalists in its annual ‘Do Us A Flavor’ fan-made potato chip flavor contest — Kettle Cooked Wasabi Ginger, Cheddar Bacon Mac & Cheese, Wavy Mango Salsa and Cappuccino. Which one wins my mouth? It’s year two of the ‘Do Us A Flavor’ competition, in which consumers around the…

Razer BlackWidow Ultimate Stealth: The Kotaku Review

It’s getting harder and harder to believe there was once a time I made fun of Razer products. They used to be the worst. The most prominent example of everything wrong with PC peripherals. Silly designs, ridiculous and garish colour schemes, ungh. So many bad memories. The last few years though have seen the company…

Yakuza 4: The Very Late Kotaku Review

In 2011, I started to review Yakuza 4 for this very website. Countless hours later, but with the game unfinished, my PS3 died, taking my save game with it. So I never ended up reviewing it. Today, I make amends for this. Last week, I found my copy tucked away on my collection shelf and,…

Video Games: The Movie: The Kotaku Review

Most Kotaku readers probably won’t need to watch Video Games: The Movie. They’ll already know—and likely love—the mythology being presented in the new Kickstarted documentary. The real question, then, is if the film has the ability to ignite that love in people who aren’t video game enthusiasts. Sadly, it doesn’t. It’s a documentary made on…

Wii U Review Update: 20 Months Later

If you don’t have a Wii U, it’s time to get one. This is our Kotaku review update for the Wii U, the gaming console with a screen in its controller that we’ve been telling you since November 2012 is not yet a must-have. It finally is. It is because the Wii U finally has…

Roccat Ryos MK Pro: The Kotaku Review

Last year, I reviewed a Roccat keyboard and it wasn’t the greatest. Let’s see if this year things get any better. I’m taking a look at the Ryos MK Pro, which doesn’t appear to be brand new, but is still the company’s “flagship” gaming keyboard. After a couple of days of constant use, for both…

​PlayStation Vita Review Update: Two And A Half Years Later

The PlayStation Vita has come a long way in the last two and a half years. Sony’s handheld console has navigated a winding and sometimes uncertain route, often deviating from whatever we thought its original course would be. And yet somehow, these many months later, it has landed in a pretty good place. When Sony…

Shovel Knight: The Kotaku Review

Shovel Knight is a video game about a knight who carries a shovel. It’s an NES game released 25 years too late. It’s the type of platformer that a whole lot of people have been craving for a very long time. There is no way to talk about Shovel Knight without talking about the games…

Valiant Hearts: The Kotaku Review

Valiant Hearts is a wonderful story trapped inside a video game. An epic tale set against a (mostly) realistic take on the First World War, Valiant Hearts tells the story of a number of very nice people caught up in the events of one of humanity’s most pointless and bloody struggles. The way it fleshes…

Kotaku UK‘s review of Grid Autosport: “A fast but ultimately frustrating racing game that improves on its predecessor in some areas, at the cost of ostracizing anyone but the most devoted of driving game fans.”

Soccer: The Kotaku Review

Soccer is a twenty-two-player competitive ball game (CBG). Soccer has been in development for two thousand years. Soccer has been an Olympic event since 1900. Soccer is such an old game that it has a “highest governing body”. That governing body is FIFA—the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, which, as you can see, is both…

Tomodachi Life: The Kotaku Review

How do I describe Tomodachi Life? I’ll start with the name. “Tomodachi” (友達) is the Japanese word for “Friend,” so the title of Nintendo’s new 3DS sim game translates literally to “friend life.” That’s a bumbling phrase. But it helps illustrate why I’ve had such a hard time explaining the game’s appeal to friends and…

Aliens: Colonial Marines Was This Disappointing

Funny Aliens: Colonial Marines review at Steam: I’ve had my heart broken several times in my life. Once, on Christmas Day 1989, I eagerly ran downstairs and gasped at the sight of what was clearly a crudely but lovingly wrapped skateboard. A skateboard that I had wanted ever since I had seen Marty McFly cruise…

Panzer Corps: The Kotaku Review

Panzer Corps is not a new game. It’s been out since 2011, and is a faithful remake (in all but name) of a game first released twenty years ago. None of which matters. In 2014, it’s still one of the best strategy games you can get on the PC. Despite being a huge Panzer General…