Escape Dead Island (2014) - Horror Video Game Review (Playstation 3)

With Dead Island 2 going onto Xbox Game Pass a few months back I thought it was about time I got myself up to date with the Dead Island series. At the start of this month I finished up my playthrough of Dead Island: Riptide, the stand alone expansion to the first game, and earlier today (at time of typing) I brute forced my way through the third game in the series, Escape Dead Island. I had always thought this game was a prequel to the others, but it turns out the majority of the plot takes place some months after the events of the first two games. Not that any of this really matters however, as it is accepted almost everywhere that what happens here is non-canonical.

After a prologue mission set two days before the zombie outbreak on Banoi (where Dead Island was set), the action moves forward six months later. Wannabe journalist Cliff Calo (voiced by Joseph May - Blair Witch video game, Horizon Zero Dawn video game) has convinced his two friends, Linda (Jules de Jongh - Dead Nation video game) and Devan (Ako Mitchell - Dead Island 2 video game) to help him investigate what really happened on Banoi, with official reports stating the island is off-limits due to a terrible tropical storm. Rather than try and get to that island, the three have used a boat that Cliff stole from his broadcasting executive father to travel to the nearby Narapela island, which Cliff believes will contain information explaining what has happened on that other island. After their boat sinks, they have no option but to head inland, but are surprised to find the place seemingly deserted. Upon discovering a mass grave they encounter dead bodies returning to life, and in the chaos Linda is bitten by a zombie. With Devan looking after Linda, Cliff heads deeper into the island to look for help, and along the way he meets Xian Mei (one of the protagonists of the first two games) who tells the man that inside a secret Geopharm lab there may be a cure for the zombie virus that Linda is now infected with.

Rather than a realistic open world first person adventure game heavily reliant on battling the undead, Escape Dead Island is instead a third person cel-shaded somewhat linear adventure where stealth is encouraged as much as all out combat. I had to dig out my old Playstation 3 to play this, and I was swiftly reminded how terrible the analogue sticks were on the controller for that. While you get access to both a pistol and a shotgun, I found the analogue so twitchy that I preferred where possible to just engage in melee combat. For the first third of the game things were very difficult, Cliff seems only to be able to take one or two hits before dropping down dead, and the weapons seemed very weak. You have irritating acid spitting enemies who sometimes are able to spit acid straight through solid walls, and you often find yourself being swarmed by enemies and reduced to nothing in a heartbeat. I did like that all zombies can be stealth killed in a single hit should you sneak up behind them, even the super zombies like acid spitters, clawed and screaming undead can be dispatched that way. Frustratingly, the same can be done for you, with the most basic zombie being able to grab onto you from behind. This initiates a quick time event that nine times out of ten I wasn't able to complete before I died.

It is relatively generous with check points, but it had the annoying old school way of having check points just before unskippable cutscenes. There was one fifteen second long cutscene in one of the more combat heavy areas near games end that I must have had to watch some fifty to sixty times, often my actual playtime being a few seconds in length before dying, extremely frustrating!

The cel-shaded look grew on me, though there was lots of clipping and bad draw distance. The more cartoon like look didn't reduce the bloodshed, with zombies often losing limbs and heads quite easily. I thought the story had the potential to be really interesting. Playing as Cliff you are given an unreliable perspective on what is really happening. As the game progresses events get more and more surreal, from conversing with dead people over the radio, to huge shipping containers dropping from the sky, being teleported to different places and having several of the ten chapters turning out to be dream sequences. While I pieced together what likely really occurred, this wasn't a satisfying story, with it left up to you to work things out rather than really explain all the weirdness.

I wanted to like Escape Dead Island, but the clunky controls often left me shouting with anger, there shouldn't be a second or two delay when switching weapons, and the reload animation was far too long for guns. The last quarter of the game devolves into a series of combat arenas, and with combat being the least fun part of the game this caused a real fall in quality. The story got in the way here, with even the game's antagonist creature being battled within a dream sequence rather than in 'reality'. By the time the end credits rolled I was glad to see the back of it to be honest. There are some good parts here, I enjoyed the slight Metroidvania way that Cliff gets access to different items that allows him to explore hidden areas (such as a gas mask to get through poison filled rooms and a grappling hook to reach out of the way areas), and the graphics did grow on me. Still, with Escape Dead Island apparently being non-canon anyway, I am very convinced I will never play this game again in my lifetime.

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Dead Island: Riptide - Definitive Edition (2016) - Zombie Horror Video Game Review (Xbox One)

You have to feel sorry for the Dead Island series of first person survival horror zombie video games. The release of Dying Light in 2015 really took the wind out of its sails, an extremely similar game but looking better, controlling better, and having a better story to it. Dead Island will always hold a special place in my heart though, when I first re-discovered the person who would become my best friend, she was raving about a Dead Island novel, completely unaware it had been based on a game.
With Dead Island 2 recently heading to Xbox Game Pass I figured it was about time I caught up with the story of the previous games I had yet to play. Dead Island: Riptide was a confusing entry when it first came out. While it seemed to be a sequel to the first game, the lack of a number '2' led to many people (myself included) unsure if this was a new game or a definitive version of the first game. Speaking with a friend about this recently, he summed it up perfectly, describing it as a stand-alone expansion. I also felt at the time that I wasn't sure if I wanted to return to the world of the game so soon after having completed the first, especially as this really did look like it was more of the same. Spoilers for Dead Island to follow.

I do love it when a sequel picks up immediately after the end of the first, and that is very much what happens here. Having left the zombie infested island of Banoi in a helicopter, the four survivors (Xian Mei, Logan, Purna and Sam.B) find their chopper running out of fuel, spying a military vessel they decide to land on it. Their relief is short lived when they find themselves being imprisoned below deck once it is known they are immune so that experiments can be performed on them. Knocked unconscious while resisting, they awaken some time later to find the ship overrun with the undead. Out of control, the ship has crashed into the nearby island of Palanai where the survivors discover to their dismay that the zombie virus has also ravaged this place. Forming an uneasy alliance with Colonel Hardy (the person who was in charge of the ship), the group make it their aim to travel to a military base in the nearby city of Henderson, where it is hoped they will finally find sanctuary.

It may be a new island this sequel takes place on, but it is very much business as usual. Unlike the first game that was split into a variety of areas, this time there are two main ones, the flooded jungle and the city of Henderson. It took me around fifteen hours to complete this, with about two thirds of the game being in the jungle, with the city both smaller in size and with less missions to it, though very well designed. My initial thoughts were very negative. Despite playing the Xbox One 'Definitive Edition' the game still looked very ugly. Even worse were sound issues that led to characters constantly speaking over each other in cutscenes, and music that would get stuck and keep repeating the same few bars over and over again. I played the game as Xian Mei as I did previously, but it doesn't really matter what character you pick as you only really get proper story in the cutscenes. 

The focus is mainly on melee weapons that you can get blueprints to upgrade at work benches to do all manner of status effects, such as poison, fire, and electricity. There is a big skill tree that soon has you much stronger, being split into three segments, the rage metre part (once a bar is filled up you basically become invincible for a limited time), the attack part, and the healing part. Fighting zombies is a load of fun, you lop off limbs and heads constantly. There were 'boss' style undead as well, but when it is so easy to run past these rather than fight them, their inclusion felt a bit pointless. The big new thing for Riptide is the defence missions, where you and A.I survivors must survive against waves of zombies attacking wherever your current base happens to be. To help you can set up electrified fences and gun turrets, but this is all very slight and unexciting. At least, despite being a bunch of these they were all easy to complete.

The meat of the game has you completing a variety of quests and side quests in order to make your way to Henderson and find safety. The side quests take you to optional areas, but the quests themselves were unexciting and felt like far more could have been done with them. The core story was fine, but unexciting, your mission to safety had already been done better in Dead Island, so it felt like things were just repeating here. There was nothing that occurs here that felt remotely original or compelling, I didn't care about any of the characters, and it leads up to a final boss fight that didn't feel like a great way to end the game. Dead Island: Riptide hasn't aged too poorly, it does look dated, but gameplay wise it is perfectly fine. This only really exists for people who loved the first game and wanted more. The setting felt familiar but not as fun to traverse, with less interesting looking areas, the story was a low effort repeat, and the revelations about the source of the virus were very generic. Least it is out of the way now, so will move onto apparently terrible prequel, Escape Dead Island, which I am going to have to dig out my Playstation 3 to play.

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Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge: Special Edition (2010) - Comedy Horror Video Game Review

With Return to Monkey Island having been released this month, and with it following on from the events of the second original game, I knew I just had to play through the first two. With The Secret of Monkey Island I chose to play using the dreadful new artwork, mainly so that I could hear the new music mixes and spoken dialogue. Loading up the sequel, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, there was actually the option from the start to enjoy the original game as it was, but with the dialogue also spoken. I fully expected that would be the way I chose to play, that is, until I saw how expressive and surprisingly good the updated graphics were this time around. Spoilers for the first game to follow.

The game begins with my new favourite phrase 'in medias re', basically the story begins halfway through. Haplass pirate Guybrush Threepwood is dangling over a huge pit, a treasure chest in one hand, his other holding the rope that is preventing him from falling to his doom. Threepwood's former love interest, Elaine Marley appears, and it is while asking how he came to be in this situation that the story skips back to the start of the game. Threepwood had arrived on Scabb Island as part of his search for a legendary treasure known as Big Whoop. He discovers while there, that the treasure was discovered on a mysterious island, and that the people who found it split their map of the place into four pieces so that no one else would ever discover it. Unfortunately, Threepwood also encounters Largo LeGrande, a pint-sized bully who used to be LeChuck's right hand man. This inadvertently results in him providing LeGrande with the final ingredients needed to resurrect LeChuck's body as a zombie.
With LeChuck back to life and wanting Guybrush dead, the young pirate realises that the power that Big Whoop is said to provide may be enough for him to escape LeChuck's clutches forever...

I enjoyed replaying The Secret of Monkey Island, yet it also made me realise that that first game, while good, didn't have as much of an impression as its sequel. Everything this time around is so much better. There are more wacky characters to interact with, the story is a lot more involved, the wonderful pixel graphics are more detailed, and this features some of the very best video game music that was ever created, something I still believe today. While you can play the game using the original point and click interface (of commands and items being kept in the bottom third of the screen), the updated controls thankfully don't follow the cumbersome controls of the first re-make. Instead, there is a much better feeling control scheme, more like what The Curse of Monkey Island did. My memory of how to do the first game was a bit fuzzy, I imagined it would be the same for LeChuck's Revenge, turns out it wasn't. Outside of one moment (where I briefly forgot to get the cook out the kitchen you had to rattle some bins), I remembered all the puzzles and solutions, and this is a game where it doesn't mind you doing things out of step. Even if it makes no sense for where you are in the story, you are able to collect items before you are aware (within the story) that you require them.

The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition (2009) - Comedy Horror Video Game Review (XBox 360)

With the amazing announcement that a new entry in the pirate themed comedy horror adventure series Monkey Island was being made (released on 17th September), I just had to replay the others in anticipation. This new game is only taking the first and second games as canon, ignoring the events of the third, fourth and episodic games (though apparently keeping some story beats and characters as canonical). The Secret of Monkey Island is a classic 'point and click' game that first came out in 1990. Back in 2009 it enjoyed a re-release and re-make, a game that let you swap at will between the beautiful pixel graphics of the original, and the ugly, uncompleted in feel look of the remake.

Guybrush Threepwood has arrived on the Caribbean island of Meleé with one goal in mind, to become a pirate. The pirate elders there give him three tasks to complete in order to become one. While exploring the island he comes to learn of a fearsome pirate named LcChuck, who was so infatuated with Meleé island's governor, Elaine Marley, that he returned from the dead as a ghost pirate to continue trying to win her heart. After Elaine is kidnapped by LeChuck and taken back to his base on the mysterious Monkey Island, Guybrush decides he must recruit a crew, find a boat, and go and attempt a rescue mission.

Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge is one of my favourite video games of all time. The Secret of Monkey Island is nowhere near as good a game, yet it is a pleasure to play through, despite being far simpler. I played these games back before the internet had become a mainstream thing, and so when I became stuck in the games I was really stuck. I would spend entire evenings playing these, trying to figure out on my own how to proceed. Because of this I have a deep affection for the series, the original game giving me large does of nostalgia. After about a fifteen year break I still mostly breezed through this. There were times when I was jumping ahead of myself, trying to solve puzzles that I wasn't yet actually able to do with where I was in the story. The game is split into chapters, each with a clearly defined goals. From completing the three tasks to become a pirate, to sailing to Monkey Island and hunting down LeChuck. 

Gears of War 3 (2011) - Sci-fi Horror Video Game Review (XBox 360)

Continuing my run through the Gears of War series I have now finished Gears of War 3 which ended the original trilogy. Having never played it before I was hoping for a great finish to the trilogy. While it was indeed fun and ties up the story it wasn't quite as good as the more darker Gears of War 2. There will be spoilers for the previous games here.

This takes place around two years since the last human stronghold, Jacinto City was purposely destroyed in order to both flood the Locust's underground main base of operations (the Locust being an invading army of monsters from below the ground) and drown the Lambent (Locust soldiers who had been infected with the explosive 'Imulsion', the infection has them mutated by the substance). Since that time things have not been going well for the human survivors. The COG army is a shadow of its former self since its leader, Chairman Prescott abandoned his forces, and it turns out trying to drown the Lambent was a terrible idea as now huge tentacled monsters roam the seas of Sera, becoming a bigger threat than even the Locust were. When COG soldier Marcus Fenix (voiced by John DiMaggio) learns from a returning Prescott that his father Adam is not only still alive, but that he has also developed a weapon to destroy both the Lambent and Locust for good he sets off on a globe spanning adventure to find him. Along the way he is joined by a variety of COG soldiers, the main ones being his best friend Dom (Carlos Ferro), Anya (Nan McNamara), Sam (Claudia Black) and Jace (Michael B. Jordan - Black Panther, Creed).

Being a much bigger game both in a design point of view and a story way meant it did lose some of the tightness of design it had previously. There are the variety of set-pieces I have come to expect from this series, the whole first excellent chapter takes place aboard a sinking warship for instance. Then there are moments that really stand out due to both environmental details and the introduction of new enemies. There is one level that takes place in a bombed out city, the streets are full of ash figures of the previous inhabitants frozen in the position they were in when the city was destroyed, including women and children this was unsettling. Another memorable change up came with a visit to a beachside town that seemed deserted. That is until the introduction of human Lambent enemies who are essentially the rage induced running zombies from 28 Days Later. This whole set of levels felt like a zombie survival game so was a cool diversion. Driving sections are back but not as fun this time around, especially a dull as dishwater first person perspective submarine level that felt like it went on forever.
At points levels really do feel like levels, each medium sized section broken up by the same animation of Marcus and his team opening doors up. This felt no more apparent than the levels set in the desert, weirdly sectioned off behind metal doors built into the rocks. Previously the games had been designed for two player co-op, here that number was extended to four. The larger arenas in this context sounds sensible, and I didn't really mind hanging around with more characters, I just wish they had been the right ones.

Gears of War 2 (2008) - Sci-fi Horror Video Game Review (X-Box 360)

Having loved the first Gears of War video game I eagerly snapped up Gears of War 2 as soon as it was released back in 2008, and hated every second of it. I played through the game just the once and shelved it. I had no desire to ever return and over the years my memory of that experience faded so much that the only two bits of the game I could recall were being frustrated while trapped inside a giant worm, and the death of a key character. Memory is such a weird beast, playing through the game again not only did I have an absolutely fantastic time, but nothing felt familiar, it was like I was playing it for the first time. Gears of War was a great game, Gears of War 2 is a stunning game.

This sequel picks up six months after the events of the first. The lightmass bomb detonated at the climax of that one had been hoped to destroy the Locust's main stronghold (the Locust being an invading army of monsters from within the planet the game takes place in). Rather than finish off their enemy, the Locust assault only got delayed, they return seemingly more numerous and stronger than ever before. They are focussing their ire on the city of Jacinto, one of the last remaining strongholds of the COG army. In order to combat this threat, the COG decide to bring the fight to the Locust, sending in an army to their main network of tunnels. The hope is to locate the Locust Queen, and with her death bring an end to the never ending war.

What a game this was, though initially at the outset I had a brief feeling my jaded memories would hold up. The game starts in a much larger scale than the first game. While you are in a squad of usually four characters you are battling alongside others and so the story felt less focused on singular characters than previously. It isn't too long when it starts to feel much more insular, the game always feels at its best when you are isolated from outside help. As with the first game Marcus Fenix (voiced by John DiMaggio) is the character you control, and like the first game he spends much of his time with his war buddy Dom (Carlos Ferro). The first game had Dom briefly mention he was looking for his missing wife, Maria, here that goal is brought to the forefront. Dom never had much personality to him before, this time he is constantly shown frustrated and desperately missing his Maria. This focus even includes several dream sequences that he has. It was a bit odd this transformation in his character, but by keeping it on Dom and not on Marcus the game gets away with this sentimental aspect. Along the way a variety of others join your squad, the best being again the amusing double act of Baird (Fred Tatasciore) and Cole (Lester Speight). Their inclusion was a joy, mainly as a lot of the game has them off doing other things, so the few times you get to spend time with them were highlights.

Gears of War: Judgement (2013) - Sci-fi Video Game Review (XBox 360)

At some point last year I decided I was going to play through all the military sci-fi action game Gears of War. I believe there are five mainline games as well as spin-off Gears of War: Judgement which serves as a prequel, taking place before the rest of the games (some strategy games to but I have no interest in those). Due to that I started with Judgement and was disappointed to see this really did feel like a spin-off. The story is very low stakes even if I did like the way it was told. The game takes a far more arcade like approach to its gameplay leading to an often bland experience that favours enemy encounters over any kind of variation.

Gears of War takes place on a planet that is in the middle of an apocalyptic war. During an event known as 'Emergence Day' an army of monsters named The Locust unexpectedly poured forth from within the planet. The first Gears of War game took place fourteen years after this event but Judgement occurs much sooner to that. You play as the four members of Kilo squad with each chapter having you playing as different member. Kilo squad is made up of the wise cracking engineer Baird, former 'Thrashball' player Cole, the gruff former UIR soldier Paduk, and fresh cadet, Sofia. In the present the group are on trial due to the unauthorised use of a rare lightmass missile. The game's six chapters then take place as flashbacks, with each squad member in turn recounting how they came to disobey orders and fire the missile.

I hate the way this game was designed, it was by far the most off putting aspect of Judgement. Where before you would have large levels that featured a lot of set pieces and variation here instead you get short snappy missions that range from around five to ten minutes in length. This makes the game feel like the sort of one you would get on a handheld console, one designed for brief spurts of play. I hated the flow of the game constantly getting interrupted with the score screen, and I hated the option to have additional challenges. At the start of each mission you get the option to change some of the mechanics, it is dressed up in game as the character you are currently controlling disputing the official testimony during their court case. I found more often than not it just made things more frustrating, while adding little to nothing to the dull story. It doesn't help that the locations you travel to are bland and lifeless. During the course of the game you go to a military academy, a scientist's mansion, an old town, a naval base and various other places. For the console the game is running on these all look nice enough but they follow a very similar pattern in how they play out with minimal effort to make them stand out much from each other, aside from one that had you wearing a small mech suit.

Alan Wake's American Nightmare (2012) - Horror Video Game Review (X-Box 360)

With how good Alan Wake is it was criminal that it never received a sequel, especially considering the game ended on a bit of a cliff-hanger. Thankfully it was never abandoned in total, the second expansion for Control is a crossover, and back in 2012 a downloadable quasi-sequel/spin-off for Alan Wake was released on the X-Box 360, titled Alan Wake's American Nightmare. At the time of release I brought it, but it is only now some eight years later that I have gotten around to playing it, all in preparation for the newly released crossover. As a warning there will be spoilers for the end of Alan Wake and its expansions.

The original game ended with the titular author trapped in an alternate nightmare realm dubbed the 'Dark Place'. The expansions had him battle for control of his fractured mind, and culminated in him achieving this, with the promise that he was going to find a way to write his way out of there. American Nightmare picks up two years later, and in a way Wake has been successful. He once wrote for a Twilight Zone style show called Night Springs, and using the backbone of an episode he had written (about a doppelganger) he has found a way that he is able to leave the Dark Place for brief periods of time, but only at points in reality where other worldly events are happening. An evil version of Wake named Mr. Scratch has invaded the real world, determined to ruin Alan's reputation and kill those he holds dear, and so Alan has followed him. He hopes to be able to defeat Mr. Scratch and maybe even find a way to return to the real world forever, but his evil alter-ego realising this has trapped him in a time-loop, forcing him to relive the same night over and over again.

This came out at a time when downloadable games were recognised as micro-experiences rather than fully fledged games. As such there is plenty here that is limited, but the time-loop mechanic gives a way for that to work in the games favour. American Nightmare is split into three different areas, all taking place over one night. The whole game takes place in the deserts of Arizona, with the first area, a dusty motel, being the biggest of the three. The second area is an observatory, with the final area being a drive-in theatre. In each area you have a specific set of objectives to complete to trigger world altering events. The motel section for instance has you setting up events to make a space satellite crash to Earth (to the tune of a Kasabian track) in order to destroy an oil derrick from which enemies are spawning. Each area also contains manuscript pages, these not only provide plenty of backstory for what exactly is going on, and how Wake came to be in the real world, but they also act as a type of currency to open weapon caches in each area. Each area also has its own radio show transmission. These transmissions provide information on what other characters have been up to over the past two years. Best of all are the TVs which contain a live action broadcast from Mr. Scratch taunting Alan. Being a time-loop game you visit these areas multiple times, each time giving different rewards.

Without Escape (2018) - Horror Video Game Review (PC)

Without Escape was originally released on the X-Box 360's Indie section back in 2012, and so this new version is actually a remake of that one. This marks the first proper 'room escape' game I have really played, unless you count The Room trilogy on iOS. This is inspired by puzzle games of the 90's such as Myst, due to it being a homage it is quite simple, simple enough that even my PC was able to run the game perfectly.

This game sees you as a man staying at his parents house while they are away on holiday. Late one night he gets woken up by a strange noise in the house and he decides to investigate, fearing burglars. What he finds is much more bizarre, the house is slightly different to how he remembers it, and he discovers he is unable to leave. Soon he finds himself in an alternate Hell type dimension that occupies the same space as the home and by solving a series of puzzles he must find a way to escape the predicament he finds himself in.

So this is made up of a series of rooms that feature static backdrops and  plenty of text descriptions. You travel from room to room by clicking on doors and stairways and it all takes place in a fixed perspective. You use the mouse to control this and do so mostly my clicking on items of interest. As you progress you collect different items, such as a lighter to help you see in the dark, and keys to open the various locked rooms and cupboards dotted around the property. This is not a large game, the house itself is just a house, not a mansion, the only thing keeping the game long is its puzzles.

Dead Space 3: Awakened (2013) - Horror Video Game DLC Review (Playstation 3)

The whole reason I decided to finally tackle Dead Space 3 after so many years was due to a friend going on about how good the DLC was for it. Awakened contains within it the true ending of the Dead Space franchise, I guess originally it was meant to lead the way to a fourth installment. While I enjoyed my time with this playable epilogue I was a bit disappointed to find out how short it was, and how it was happy to recycle locations from the main game. There will be spoilers for Dead Space 3, unavoidable when talking about this.

Isaac Clarke and John Carver somehow survived the events that resulted in the ice planet Tau Volantis seemingly falling apart. The two find themselves on a race to find a spaceship to escape from the surface, but with the Unitologist army having the same idea transport is becoming scarce. To make matters worse destroying the necromoon didn't end the necromorph threat, as before it passed it was able to make contact with other necromoons all over the universe that now have their sights set on Earth...

It was only once I started this DLC that I realised the insanity elements of Dead Space 1 and 2 had been nowhere to be found in Dead Space 3. Awakened more than makes up for this though as from start to finish it is full to bursting with Isaac hallucinating. I loved how this started with the threat of the monsters seemingly over, it led to a great moment when the two characters realise the nightmare is not yet over. I was reminded of Alan Wake's DLC in that all the areas you go to are taken from the main game, but with some amendments to them. The ice planet section seemed partly to have some new areas, but once you get into space you head straight to a ship that you explored already in one of the optional missions of the main game. It was nicely populated with a crazed cult though, another part of the original game I had forgotten about.

A lot of the enemies you face here appear as hallucinations that are still very much a threat but has you wondering just what is real and what is fake. It brought to mind the fantastic first mission of on-rails shooter Dead Space: Extraction where you discover at the end of the level that you had been killing defenceless humans and not monsters as they had appeared. These enemies include baby necromorphs last seen in Dead Space 2, so that was a nice bonus. Here you get a series of boss battles against the leader of an even more radical splinter group of the Unitologists that appeared once the necromoon died. He appears time and time again to hound you, as well as appears in flashbacks detailing the sadism that tore the surviving soldiers apart. You also get to fight Carver which was nice (as I think his character sucks), again in a battle that takes place as a hallucination. To be fair I liked Carver a lot more here, or rather the game actually treated him as an actual character rather than a bland second player placeholder. There was some great dialogue, my favourite being (paraphrasing) "Isaac when people hear voices in their head they are going crazy. You are going f*cking crazy, now go get that machine part so we can get out of here before it's too late".

Awakened only lasts for around 90 minutes, I had hoped for two or three hours at least so wasn't impressed with that. However while it is mainly business as usual you do get to do some stuff that felt different, such as fighting enemies in the midst of a huge blizzard, and an impressive looking finale that had you powering up a huge reactor that was spewing out deadly radiation everywhere. While the main game ended on a cliffhanger here there is even more of one, setting up events for a game that will never come, instead it acts as a bleak finish to a dark and moody series that would be original if it were not nearly identical to the Mass Effect Reaper storyline (literally nearly identical!).

I did like playing this DLC, however the short length and the recycled areas means that I can't rate it too highly. I liked that your upgrades and weapons carried over from the main game, though this did mean it was very easy to do. Thank the gods though that this DLC is a huge improvement over Dead Space 2: Severed, as that was absolute tosh.

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Dead Space 3 (2013) - Horror Video Game Review (Playstation 3)

For a while I was deeply into the Dead Space series of games, the first in the series back in 2008 was a fantastic survival horror that was a master class in design and suspense. When Dead Space 2 dropped in 2011 we got another fantastic entry in the series, even if the later half was a disappointing devolution into high action, something the game had not been particularly well known for. With the DLC chapter Severed we got our first taste of what an all action Dead Space may feel like, so when a demo was released for Dead Space 3 in 2012 and it was very action orientated, coupled with poor early reviews I 'severed' my ties with the series. I thought now it was finally time to return and try out the final entry to see if it really was as bad as was made out.

Engineer Isaac Clarke has been hiding out in an apartment on a city on the moon since the events of Dead Space 2. He just wants to be left alone and is a broken man, so is none too happy when Captain Robert Norton and Sergeant John Carver of EarthGov arrive to request his help. It turns out a group of scientists led by Ellie (Isaac's ex girlfriend) have gone missing while exploring the possible location of the original marker (too complicated to go into, basically 'markers' are devices that turns people into monsters). They want Isaac to go with them on a rescue mission as he has prior knowledge of how to destroy the things, however they are interrupted by the outbreak of war. A Unitologist (a marker worshipping religious group) army led by Jacob Danik have attacked EarthGov and activated a nearby marker unleashing hell onto the city, all in an attempt to kill Isaac who is seen as an enemy of the religion. Isaac and his group escape and head to the planet Tau Volantis where Ellie's signal was last heard...

The story is deep in that if you haven't experienced the previous entries you will be extremely lost, hell, I've played those games loads of times and I was still mightily confused at points. Usually time makes games worse than they were due to the ageing process, however here I think is a rare example of a game that has actually improved, if only due to some of the more irritating design choices getting removed. Dead Space 3 was very much a product of its time. It came out when people making video games started to become convinced no one wanted to play survival horror anymore, they believed everyone wanted games that were high in action and fast paced. Due to this the weird decision to include human enemies was made with a poor facade of cover based shooting slotted in, obviously trying to appeal to the Gears of War crowd. That was the first nail in the coffin for me not buying this game when it was first released. The human enemies though only appear in around 15% of the game and controversially I kind of like them due to the dialogue they add, and the three way fights you can get into when you, the soldiers, and necromorphs all meet at the same time.

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls - Ultimate Evil Edition (2014) - Horror Video Game Review (PS4)

When dark fantasy RPG Diablo first came out in 1996 I ended up with a demo of it. The game took place in one huge procedurally generated dungeon under the town of Tristram, it saw you hack and slashing your way to the bottom where the demon Diablo awaited. Up until getting Diablo III: Reaper of Souls - Ultimate Evil Edition that small demo was all I had played of the series. As such I went into this fully expecting barely any story, and just the one dungeon, much in the way Torchlight was. I was pleased to discover not only quite a big plot, but also that you travel to many, many different places.

The game takes place in a fantasy world where there are three layers of existence; Hell, Sanctuary (Earth) and Heaven. After choosing your character you arrive in the small town of Tristram to investigate reports of a fallen star that has caused the dead to rise from their graves. From this humble beginning you uncover a plot by the arch demons of Hell to once again try and conquer Sanctuary.

Resident Evil (2002) - Zombie Horror Video Game Review (PS4)

I was surprised myself to see that I had never reviewed the 2002 remake of Resident Evil (unfortunately a review of that one exists, albeit one written badly in this blog's infancy back in 2008). When the remake got released on current gen consoles recently I just knew it was time to revisit this lost game. In a twist on the norm I decided to live stream a single sitting play-through which I did yesterday, split into seven parts those videos shall be included after the review.

So set in 1998 the Raccoon City Police Department's Special Tactics and Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S) send their Bravo team to investigate bizarre reports of murders on the outskirts of the city. After they fail to report in Alpha team headed by Albert Wesker, and including Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield and Barry Burton are sent out. Soon after arriving in the forest outside of town the group are attacked by a pack of rabid dogs, in the panic their helicopter pilot Brad flies off leaving them stranded. With the dogs hot on their heals the survivors of this attack flee to a mansion they spot in the distance, a place they think will be safe...

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (2011) - Fantasy Video Game Review (X-Box 360)

Once I had finished The Witcher I moved straight on to the sequel; The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings and for me the difference was awe inspiring. I had played through the first game with an isometric overhead view so to suddenly be in third person was as much a leap to me as Super Mario Brothers was to Super Mario 64. There will be The Witcher spoilers as a warning.

The game starts with Witcher Geralt in a prison, suspected of assassinating King Foltest (who you saved from assassination in the ending of the first game). From your cell you recount the events that led up to the Kings death, it turns out it was an evil Witcher who had done the deed. With this prologue done you set out with Commander Vernon Roche and the sorceress Triss (your love interest) to find out the actual person responsible for the regicide, not only to bring him to justice, but to clear your name.

Dragon Age: Inquisition (2014) - Fantasy Videogame Review (PS4)

I'm never too sure about reviewing fantasy games but with the previous entries in the Dragon Age series reviewed on this site and with the main antagonist being a demonic being this felt like it belonged.

After the events of Dragon Age II there has been all out war between the mages and their previous protectors; the templars. To try and get a peace agreement a summit is arranged at the temple of Sacred Ashes between the leaders of the Chantry and the two warring groups. During this summit there is a terrible explosion that kills all but one person; the character you play as. A huge rip in the veil that separates the world of the living from the world of the dead has been torn asunder above the ruined temple, and all over the land smaller rips have appeared from which demons of the fade flood through. Initially seen as being responsible for this chaos your character manages to prove their innocence, and with the gift to somehow be able to close the rifts due to a magical anchor fused to their arm they are made the figure head of the Inquisition; a force above the law that intends to find out a way to close the giant rift in the sky, to find out who was responsible for creating it, and to find a way to stop them...

The Adventures of Shuggy (2011) - Horror Themed Video Game Review (X-Box Live Arcade)

The Adventures of Shuggy is not a horror game, one look at the cutesy graphics will be enough to tell you that. However it is indeed a horror themed game and the inclusion of zombies clinched the deal on me reviewing it. This is a mostly single screen puzzle platformer, to do each of the 100 levels you have to collect all of the green gems contained within them.

Shuggy is a vampire bat who inherits a spooky old mansion. Upon arriving at the house he discovers it is full of evil ghosts and creatures and so before he can move in proper he must travel around to all corners of the place to evict them.

Call of Duty: Black Ops III - Overview of the zombie segments (Playstation 4)

In November the latest game in the Call of Duty franchise was released, on it's own that doesn't deserve a mention on the blog but of course it features the excellent Zombies mode that Treyarch always include in their games. On top of this mode though there are a couple of other cool extras that make this instalment the most horror packed one yet.

In Zombies up to four players must survive wave based rounds of zombies attacking, each round the zombies get stronger, faster, and more plentiful. Dotted around the map are new items you can buy (using points gained from killing the undead) as well as power ups from vending machines, and new areas to open up. New to Black Ops III are 'Gobblegum' machines that give you a limited time perk such as having your knife do five times as much damage or being able to quickly reload.

Prototype 2 (2012) - Horror Video Game Review (X-Box 360)

Back in 2010 I played through Prototype which is an open world horror game set in New York after zombie apocalypse erupts. In that game you played as hoodie wearing Alex Mercer who has gained monstrous powers that lets him absorb humans letting him see their memories, as well as turning his body into a deadly weapon. I did enjoy it but felt it got far too hard and frustrating. Maybe Prototype 2 will learn from the mistakes...

Prototype 2 takes place three years after the conclusion of the first game, you play as U.S Marine James Heller who returns from a tour in Iraq to discover his wife and daughter have been killed after a second zombie outbreak in New York. Figuring Alex Mercer is to blame the solider tracks him down but is easily defeated by the super being, yet rather than kill Heller, Mercer instead infects him, turning him into a mutant like him. Mercer then tells him that he wasn't the one who started this new outbreak, it is instead an evil organisation called Blackwatch who are using the chaos as a way to test out new strains of a mutant virus. Full of anger Heller sets out to destroy all those to blame for his loss.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare - Exo Zombies Map 4 'Descent' (2015) - Video Game Map Impressions (Playstation 4)

With Call of Duty: Black Ops III coming out in only a matter of hours now I thought it was about time I put down my impressions of Descent; the fourth and final Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Exo Zombies map. This last map is included in the Reckoning map pack and I reckon I have not really got value for money as this is yet another map pack I own purely so I can play Exo Zombies.

At the conclusion of Carrier the four strong team of Captain Lennox (Bruce Campbell), Lilith (Rose McGowan), Kahn (Bill Paxton), and Decker (Jon Bernthal) encounter the now zombified Oz (John Malkovich) and after briefly fighting him they leave the doomed carrier in an escape pod. They arrive at an underwater Atlas base known as 'The Trident Retreat', but after dispatching the surface guards they find out Oz has already seized control of the base which is now swarming with zombies...

The Walking Dead: Season Two (2013-14) - Zombie Horror Video Game Review (X-Box 360)

I really loved season one of Telltales The Walking Dead adventure game, it made you care about the characters, especially the relationship between Lee and his ward Clementine. That game ended relatively optimistically and so I never felt a sequel was needed. Finally after putting it off for a year I played through season two, but should this new chapter in Clementine's life have been left untold?

It is nearly two years since Clementine's journey with Lee and after a series of misadventures she finds herself with a new group of survivors. Their plan is to head north as there is rumour of a settlement named Wellington which is walker (zombie) free. However she soon finds this group are being hunted by a ruthless man named Carver and his cronies for reasons unknown and soon she gets caught up in events.