A MOST AGREEABLE PASTIME
Video Games, Victorian Style
Tag: Video Games
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It’s been just over a year since my inaugural review on A Most Agreeable Pastime, in which I heaped praise upon the doorstep of Assassin’s Creed II. It seems fitting then that this week’s review is of its sequel, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, which I’ve just finished playing and very much enjoyed. Look out for a…
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True to form, I’ve arrived at this particular gaming party long after the other guests have left. Five years after it was first released, and four (count ’em!) sequels down the line, I’ve finally, FINALLY, got round to playing a Professor Layton game. And it was … well … all right. If, like me until…
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Transformers: War for Cybertron was a decent, if not derivative shooter that lived and died by its licence. And that’s okay, really. The Transformers licence is a good one with a lot of potential and a hell of a lot of good lore from which to lift interesting and novel game mechanics from. Being…
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I am a big fan of Star Wars and despite all of the killing and talk of the ‘dark side’ I still find the original trilogy a bit of tongue-in-cheek fun that can be taken as seriously, or not seriously as you like. I am a few years too young to remember the original films…
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In high school I had a crush on a girl named Alicia. I thought she was pretty awesome, at the time, and as a result about 70 per cent of my teenage energy and efforts went toward trying, in vain, to impress her. But my efforts weren’t necessary embarrassing insomuch as they were misguided. There was no…
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This generation particularly has been plagued by the frequent drawing of comparisons between film as a medium, and video games as a medium trying to replicate film. This isn’t a problem in and of itself – for example literature and film are often compared as a way to tease out the differences in the devices…
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My good friend Tom was visiting London at the weekend, and after we’d finished looking round the excellent but nausea-inducing Brains exhibition at the Wellcome Trust, Tom piped up with an absolutely capital idea: “Why don’t we go to the arcade? I haven’t been for years!” Nice one Tom! So off we trooped to Namco…
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In 2011, IGN gave Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective the award for Best Game No One Played, which gives you an idea of the game’s commercial success (or lack of it). Despite positive reviews, the Nintendo DS game quickly dropped out of the Japanese charts just weeks after its release in June 2010, and Capcom cited…
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Pokémon SoulSilver has been driving me to madness. I’ve just failed in my fourth attempt to beat Lance, the Champion of the Johto region, and I’m now officially giving up. After 45 hours of playing time (I know, 45 hours, I could have built a small boat in that time), I realised I’m still only…
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I just finished Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and I’m sad. I’m sad because it was brilliant and now it’s over, and, to cap it all off, this is the last game in the Metroid Prime series. Sure, I’ll probably enjoy Metroid: Other M when I eventually get round to playing it, but will it reach…
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So, has GAME learned anything since its recent brush with annihilation? For various reasons I happened to be in Ilford on Saturday, and whilst looking round the soul-sapping Exchange Shopping Centre I noticed that the Ilford GAME had managed to survive the cull of 277 GAME stores last month. Curious to see what lessons had…
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I finished Duke Nukem Forever, but there isn’t a lot I can say about it that hasn’t already been said. There were a lot of missteps, some misguided design decisions, and a general unpolished feel to the whole experience. This has all been said ad-nauseum across the internet, so I’m not going to bother. What…
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Sometimes silliness is okay. If the relatively universal praise for Asura’s Wrath and its over the top action and anime influenced storyline is anything to go by, people are at the point where a bit of fun is really okay. And if anyone knows how to do silly it’s the japanese. Unfortunately they also know how to…
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I have a general fondness for the guys over at Codemasters. What they do, they do well, particularly in the racing space. The Dirt series and the Colin McRae series before that are some of my favourite racing games of the past 10 years, and are games that I will happily pour countless hours into to make sure I…
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I got thoroughly into the second Phoenix Wright game this weekend, to the point where I was so gripped by the final case that I ended up staying up ’til 2am (on a SCHOOL NIGHT!) to see the blinking thing right through to the end. The game just has this way of drawing you in…
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One of the most painful memories of my youth was staring in concern as my Spectrum’s tape player wheezed and clattered along while I crossed my fingers and hoped against hope that this time -THIS time – Rambo would load. Come on Mr. Spectrum, please, do it for me! It’s the third time I’ve tried…
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So, looks like GAME are in deep do-dos. Just a few days ago, GAME Group made the dramatic announcement that it’s up for sale, and their share price plunged to 0.83p (it was 296.75p in May 2008). I knew that GAME was in trouble, but it was shocking to read just how dire their financial…
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Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars is easily my favourite game on the 3DS so far, and without doubt the best of the 3DS launch games. Rather than being a first person shooter in the vein of its console cousins, Ghost Recon on the 3DS takes the form of a turn-based tactical shooter, and is all the…
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Back in January I got all excited at the thought of playing a version of Star Fox 64 in real 3D, and I have to say I haven’t been disappointed. Out of all of the 3DS games I’ve played so far, the 3D in Star Fox is by far the most impressive: giant starships fly…
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Let me take you back to the dim and distant past of January 2010. I’m in deepest darkest Dunstable, visiting my dear friend Curly (or Rich as he’s now known in respectable society) for his annual birthday bash. It’s rather late, and we have repaired to his luxury chalet for some refreshment and nibbles. Messrs…
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My lovely girlfriend bought me a shiny new Nintendo 3DS for Christmas and has hardly regretted it at all, despite the fact that I now tend to ignore her in favour of Princess Zelda whenever we’re on a train journey. Poor girl. Anyway, it’s been exactly a month since I unwrapped Nintendo’s latest little wonder,…
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Yes, I know I said I wouldn’t be buying any more games until I’ve finished all of the titles lying around on The Mantelpiece, but I have an excuse, honest! Last week I went up to Yorkshire to visit my nan, so faced with a 5-hour trip each way, I thought I’d better charge up…
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As you can probably tell by the fact I’m writing a blog about video games, I’m rather partial to them. It’s a love affair that goes right back to the days of the Sinclair Spectrum (if you’re wondering kids, it’s like an Xbox 360 that refuses to load any games), and if anything I’ve got…
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“People, if you want to play this game and really enjoy it, expect your eyes to burn a little on Sundays, or when you’re driving by places of worship.” That’s the warning given by John DiMaggio, the voice behind Bender from Futurama and co-commentator on MadWorld (along with Greg Proops from Whose Line is it…
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Hurrah! Another game has been knocked from The Mantelpiece! They’re falling thick and fast… I’ve worked out that if I can manage to finish one game a week, I might be able to get to the end of my LIST OF SHAME in about six months. Not bad. Although seeing as there are some pretty…
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I think the title of this post pretty much sums it all up. If you’ve played Shadow of the Colossus, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, what the hell are you playing at? BUY THIS GAME NOW. (Or even better, get the shiny new HD remake for the PS3.) While you’re…
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I bought this game YEARS ago. Seriously, I think it was in about 2008, or maybe even 2007, which means it’s taken me nearly four years to get round to finishing it. Yowch. The trouble is, I just don’t have the time to spend on playing games that I used to – whereas at university…
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When I finally got around to ditching my old ‘dumb’ phone and upgrading to a considerably smarter iPhone 4, I approached the App Store with all the excitement and fervour of a kid in a sweet shop. So many games! And so cheap! I immediately purchased Angry Birds (if only in an attempt to beat…
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[penned by Sir Gaulian] I am not an avid reader but Bret Easton Ellis is one of my favourite authors. His writing is unique, interesting and often confronting in a way that books, let alone television or film, often aren’t. He gets me reading when its the last thing I feel like doing when I…
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Sir Gaulian’s recent article on ‘crowd combat’ games immediately made me think of Chaos Legion, a long-forgotten PS2 game from Capcom and the first gaming gem to be uncovered in The Cellar. Chaos Legion isn’t a perfect game by any means, but it is a lot of fun, and it’ll be right up your street…
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Despite the huge amount of progress that has been made in terms of women’s rights over the last century, they still get a bum deal in contemporary media. A quick look at the 2011 list of the top 40 highest paid stars in Hollywood reveals that only six are women, illustrating an inequality that’s so…
A MOST AGREEABLE PASTIME 