Brendan Caldwell

Rock Paper Shotgun

Brendan Caldwell·Nov 6, 2016

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Infinite Warfare’s story mode is an expensive-looking spectacle without a single idea of its own, mechanically or narratively. Even Ethan the robot’s attempts to salvage the Marine vs Navy vs Army banter by playing off some well-worn robot tropes can’t save the story or dialogue from being hogwash. Even the rare glimpse of interesting ‘burning asteroid’ level design can’t redeem the rest of the grey corridors and flaming city streets. As for how good it looks (and it does look very good) that is no saving grace.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Brendan Caldwell·Oct 20, 2016

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It is safely good. Even with the addition of Operations mode and the behemoths and the return to a more instinctively dramatic setting, it still feels like Battlefield.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Brendan Caldwell·Oct 5, 2016

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Fractured Space finally warped out of the early access nebulae this month. Read our review of the interstellar MOBA.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Brendan Caldwell·Sep 27, 2016

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I did step away from the brink of criminality. So few games are capable of putting humans together like this in a den of villainy and letting them become slowly corrupted or instantaneously redeemed. Hackmud does this and does it very well. It is like the early internet it so perfectly mimics: a world of confusion, paranoia and possibility.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Brendan Caldwell·Sep 7, 2016

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If you're the kind of person who wishes it still was the eighties and likes the idea of revisiting a button-mashing romp, warts and all, you'll find a lot to like about this one. But even so, you might find it wearing thin after a while. After all, even the Age of Nostalgia must come to an end.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Brendan Caldwell·Aug 31, 2016

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There is something here for fans of the genre (if it is a genre). The world is big and each faction has a hefty handful of quests that you’ll need to work to deserve. There’s also instant co-op, which means tougher missions, like taking out a well-guarded fort, can be approached with mates. Likewise, the broad strokes of fantasy – the undead, magic artifacts, sea monsters – might be enough to intrigue you deeper into this world of pirates and tradesmen.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Brendan Caldwell·Jun 20, 2016

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All in all, I found it difficult to get into Crea in the same way I did for its forefathers. It would be easy for me to say that part of that is down to fatigue with the genre – I have been through it all before, after all. But that is not the main problem I have with this latecomer. The fact is, it just does everything less well.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Brendan Caldwell·May 23, 2016

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This is what you have waiting for you: a ridiculous and pointless horror story, and a slow death. It’s wonderful.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Brendan Caldwell·Apr 6, 2016

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Overall, Ashes isn’t bad, it’s just very plain. Gorgeous, but plain. There’s nothing here that hasn’t been done before and done better.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Brendan Caldwell·Mar 15, 2016

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At level 26, I'm enjoying The Division. At level 30, I'm worried it'll get repetitive.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Brendan Caldwell·Nov 10, 2015

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[T]he state of your ship is what keeps you going. You fight more to earn more to buy more. In this way it is a very transparent game. But also a repetitive one, and overall, a mixed bag. I know a game is not capturing me when, as a reviewer, I keep checking my "hours played" stat on Steam to see if I can fairly say: "OK, that's enough". Still, I recognise there are always those who want more space sauce, who won't mind fighting on a 2D plane, and who will be much more possessed by upgrading their own "Wobblenaut".

Rock Paper Shotgun

Brendan Caldwell·Oct 22, 2015

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else Heart.Break() helps you to see programming for the magic it is. It may have made me feel I had neglected an entire realm of the world. But it also showed me that it's never too late to learn.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Brendan Caldwell·Oct 6, 2015

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[T]hose who haven't got it by now may be quite happy to continue ignoring it. I think this would be an enormous shame. If this is you, I want to tell you that it is a game worth playing.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Brendan Caldwell·May 13, 2015

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In Kerbal Space Program, we have a perfect game of experimentation. Checking to see what goes wrong and correcting your next trial accordingly. When struggling with my first launches and landings, and the tricky controls, I was close to believing it was a game of impossible luck. But it is so far from that as to make the initial belief laughable. Instead, it is about accruing and applying small units of knowledge, one on top of the other.