INSIDE | Review

Developer: Playdead

Publisher: Playdead

Reviewed on: PlayStation 4

Available on: PlayStation 4, Xbox One & PC

Released: June 29^th 2016

I want to begin this review by saying that because I've been looking forward to this game coming out for so long (basically since I first played LIMBO, which is Playdead's first game) I'm going to be slightly biased with my review in the way that I was bound to think it was good. Having said that, it could have easily swung both ways, because I love LIMBO so much, I was unsure as to whether INSIDE could live up to it and for that reason I was going to either end up feeling disappointed or loving it just as much (or more).

I would also like to say, while this review is spoiler free, it may contain minor spoilers about some environments and very vague themes brought up by the games story. So if you want to avoid any information about the game at all, stop reading now. Any major spoilers will not be mentioned in this review.

Brutal Doom: Hell on Earth | Review

Developer: Sergeant_Mark_IV

Publisher: Sergeant_Mark_IV

Reviewed on: PC

Available on: PC

Released: (v20b) January 1^st 2016

Being a big fan of the original Doom (you can read my review of the PlayStation port of Doom HERE), you would have expected me to have played some of the many mods that have been created by fans of the game, yet I haven't ever played one. For my first ever Doom mod I thought I would play perhaps the most famous of all Doom mods; Brutal Doom, a mod which changes the original Doom formula in many ways.

For those that don't know, a mod is a modification (often fan made) of a game or game engine that can add things like graphical or gameplay fixes/tweaks, or add entirely new content which can range from new weapons, new levels or in the case of some ambitious mods, they can pretty much be an entirely different game. Brutal Doom: Hell on Earth is an example of a ambitious mod which adds brand new levels, new interactive environments, better lighting, new weapons, modernised shooter controls (the ability to jump, crouch, look up and down, reload, a melee button, etc), voice acting, a new story, more blood and gore, new enemy animations and attacks and so much more. It's basically a brand new Doom game which uses the same graphics as Doom 1 and 2.

10 Games That Should Have HD/Eighth Generation Remasters | List

The end of the last generation of video games saw a trend in the creation of HD ports of sixth generation games. Now we're in the eighth generation this trend has moved on to porting seventh generation games to the newest console to keep them relevant. Whether this porting process is a good or a bad thing is down to personal preference. My opinion on the matter is that if you don't add anything in the porting process or if the game has aged well anyway then there's no point in creating a remaster.

Some ports have been great, there's been the Kingdom Hearts HD collections, The Legend of Zelda HD ports, the recent Resident Evil (Gamecube remake) port and the Oddworld HD ports (of Munch's Oddysee and Stranger's Wrath). All of these have either added new or modified content to the original game or have been introduced to platforms that the games previously weren't on, which I think is great as it introduces new players to the games and gives old players a reason to replay them.