Chris McMullen
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Writing For
GameSpew
The EscapistLatest Reviews
Why, for example, does the pool look like the Incredible Hulk has relieved himself in it? What’s the mysterious prize at the heart of the hedge maze, and why are people literally dying to get it? Was that guard was really still alive when their “friend” left them? As Inspector,...
RetroMania Wrestling isn’t the most technically accomplished wrestling game out there, but it is a joyous arcade brawler that gets more entertaining the more people you can rope in to a match. Like the game that inspired it, it’s not going to occupy you for hours in a single sitting...
The one letdown has to do with Colossus Down’s two-player mode. Rope in another player and you can dial up the fun by fighting alongside them, you as MechaNika, them as The Great Bleeding Pig (don’t ask). But if you’re playing on Switch, even though you only use one analogue...
Disjunction doesn’t lean into cyberpunk quite as heavily as games like Cyberpunk 2077 or The Red Strings Club, but there’s enough sneaking and slaughter to keep you engrossed until the bitter end. It also warrants another playthrough where you force yourself to use stealth, meaning you’ll easily be getting your...
The more you push on into other lands, the more you realise that’s all there is to the game: gathering resources and running errands. There’s no diplomacy, no conflict, no real momentum to Airborne Kingdom, little to shake things up. The same could be said of Sim City or Cities:...
Overall, ALTDEUS: Beyond Chronos’ writing is excellent, with rounded characters who dodge most of the usual anime tropes. It may not have delivered the mech-piloting mayhem I was expecting, but it’s a smart visual novel, with enough interactivity, plot twists and emotional gut-punches to keep you engaged. Throw in multiple...
Visage
Still, with these minor annoyances aside, Visage goes far beyond cheap jump scares and will chill you to the bone if you give it half a chance. It might never completely shed its inspiration, but it spins it in enough clever (and unsettling) ways to keep you hooked. If you’re...
Ultimately, The Walking Dead: Onslaught feels like a VR version of The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct, 2013’s mediocre first person shooter, also a Daryl-centric experience. There’s fun to be had if you experience it in small bites, but it’s so grind-heavy, repetitive and limited in scope that even if you’re...
Peril on Gorgon is an entertainingly substantial chunk of The Outer Worlds content, with a handful of side-quests that will keep you poking around the planet until you’ve seen every inch. It may not push the envelope, but it’s good, clean, corporation-crushing fun. And it’s made me eager to see...
Another neat feature is the game’s creation mode, allowing you to create your own levels, and play through other players’ creations. As with any user-created content though, the levels I dived into were a real mixed bag; I stumbled into several which seemed to exist only to increase players’ experience....
It’s the only time she displays any degree of autonomy and you could argue it’s in her own interest to stop herself getting gunned down. But aside from taking the choice away from the player, it can result in more deaths. On several occasions, I moved over to a pillar...
Nevertheless, taking down my first boss was a real rush, even though I’d had to go through seven times just to accumulate the buffs I needed to win. And using your gunslingers to take out another gun-wielding enemy is fun, particularly if they’re one turn away from blasting your head...
