Geek Culture Reviews

I am the top-down law!  I’ll be honest when I first saw the trailer for The Precinct, I was instantly hooked. A GTA-style city, 80’s cop drama vibes? Open-world lawbreaking? It looked like someone threw L.A. Noire, Hotline Miami, and Driver into a blender and poured out a crime-fighting cocktail. Naturally, I had to head to its streets to deliver my own version of justice that’ll  hopefully make Judge Dredd blush.  After spending a good chunk of time with the games crime-ridden streets, responding to calls, writing parking tickets, and bring fear to the lawless, I’ve got a lot of thoughts. So, if you’re wondering whether this gritty throwback is worth clocking in for then come with me as we find out.  One thing The Precinct nails right off the bat is its atmosphere. The game drops you into a stylised city that feels like it’s stuck somewhere between the late ‘80s and early ‘90s - if you think of RoboCop’s Detroit you’ll be on the right track. It’s a lawless frontier ...

Two Blades, One Beautifully Brutal Journey Through Feudal Japan… Assassin’s Creed: Shadow s delivers the long-awaited leap into feudal Japan with style, power, and purpose. By introducing two protagonists—each with distinct abilities and perspectives—Ubisoft has managed to reinvigorate the stealth-action loop that has defined the series since 2007. It’s a beautiful and brutal open-world adventure, even if some old problems still linger in the shadows. Since Odyssey , Ubisoft have allowed us our pick of a duel protagonist. Odyssey featured our pick of either Kassandra or Alexios, while Valhalla gave us our pick of a male or female Eivor. With Shadows , Ubisoft mixes this up with the decision to introduce dual protagonists with gameplay periodically switching between the two. Naoe, the shinobi assassin, is a master of the shadows (pun intended). She’s agile, silent, and terrifyingly efficient. Her missions are classic Assassin’s Creed fare—slip past guards unseen, scale impossibly tall...

Taming the frontier one railroad at a time… Railroads Online is a sandbox simulation tycoon game that puts you into the role of building a railroad network during the golden age of steam locomotives. Developed by solo developer, Stefan Kelnberger , Railroads Online sees you developing the untamed wilderness one track at a time.  As an avid fan of the more modern Train Simulator title, Railroads Online initially intrigued me. Becoming a titan of the steam industry isn’t a genre that’s covered by the hustle and bustle of commuter travel, and after recently playing Death Stranding I wanted a more casual experience of simply hauling freight from A to B. While Railroads Online does this, it has the added layer of allowing you to build the track and make your connections along the way. However, while you’re given the tools to build and shape this world how you see fit, it’s not very easy for those of us looking for something casual. So while my initial excitement was very high, actua...

Even Angels suffer with déjà vu …  The Holy Gosh Darn is one of those rare games that utilises its comedy elements to great effect. The laugh-out-loud comedy mixes well with its time-travel gameplay loop to create a game that’ll entertain you from start to finish. With The Holy Gosh Darn , developer Perfectly Paranormal continues their journey that started with Manual Samuel and Helheim Hassle - yet refines it in every way.  Religion is at the heart of The Holy Gosh Darn as we’re thrown into the role of the angel Cassiel of Celerity. Our introduction to Cassiel shows that this isn’t a game that’s going to take religion seriously as we see the wayward Angel playing a game of “guess the dog”. It turns out that the old saying “every dog goes to heaven” is true and heaven is overrun with deceased pooches. As such Cassiel and her fellow Angel Pureil have turned the mundane crossing of the pooch into a game - a game that’s taken place across thousands of years!  After a fe...

With the fantastic Dead Space remake making its way onto PlayStation Plus this month, I take a look back at my review of the game that was originally published to Rapid Reviews UK…  Welcome Back To The USG Ishimura Back in 2008 and survival horror fans were treated to a new kid on the block. With Capcom still reigning supreme with Resident Evil 4, EA decided to challenge the genre dominance with something different – Dead Space. Taking place within the confines of a spaceship, Dead Space reimagined the genre away from planet Earth and into the far reaches of Space. While Dead Space – as a video game – would spawn two more sequels, it’s been in a dormant slumber since 2013. With Dead Space 3 ending on a monumental cliffhanger, eager fans have never gotten an end to Isaac Clark’s (and John Carver’s) story. And so, for the last 10 years, Dead Space 4 was a rumor that never quite went away. Jump to 2023, and EA (along with Motive Studio) have decided to re-awaken the nightmare with the...