XIII Reboot

Seeing as remakes of older games are the craze today amongst developers (and fair play to Naughty Dog, The Last of Us Remastered was ace), why not go for the smaller titles? Plenty of underrated games out there that would look fantastic on PS4. Take XIII for example, that cel shaded FPS that many missed on PlayStation 2, and I have a feeling a remake would look fantastic on PS4.
Its all very well going for mega successful games like GTAV, they'll be money spinners afterall but why not take a gamble on lesser known videogames? A lot of people will skip the GTAV reboot simply because the PS3 version is still fresh in our minds. I know I won't be rushing out to grab a copy (especially in a month where brand new games are being released). But XIII? Now that could really pull in the punters. Sure I don't want the PS4 to be a console that simply polishes older videogames but my guess is that XIII is perfect remake fodder.

And if it happens? You read it here first.

Thieving Magpie

Thiefl by Square Enix has certainly stolen its shadowy tricks into my heart. I never once imagined that a FPS stealth'em up would ever grab my attention. In fact I dismissed it as (stupidly) just anther game  as one of those average titles we usually get thrown at in preparation for the real big hitters.
Lucky then that a generous sized demo was released on the PS Store, and I wisely downloaded it to see if Thief had the skills to nick my heart (okay no more bad puns) and pleased  was I. Last time I got this excited over a game demo was Spiderman on the PS1. I couldn't wait to get my mitts on the full game, so naturally when it was released, I was like a child  possessed  , grabbing it in Game. And the result? F**king epic! (Apologies for the F bomb but its the only way I can sum up the game in case of doubters).
I'm not going to go over the story here, you can read that on a hundred other websites, this blog simply exists to either praise  a game, or kill it dead if its a pile of shyte. Can't comment on how it looks on PS3 but on PlayStation 4 it looks absolutely lush. I can imagine some giving it a kicking because Thief can be quite challenging at times but stick with it and great things await.
The main character, Garrett, reminds me of an 18th century Batman. Gadgets? Garrett has them in spades.

Mario, get Yer Guns

What are the odds I will go off subject in this post? Still, I will try.  After reading yet another article calling yet another videogame a "burglary sim", I had to put pen to blog.  Why? Because its lazy journalism, sloppy and winds me up. Hell, the same could be thrown at television but for some peculiar reason we don't do that.
I don't watch television but from the clips I've seen on the interwebz and things I hear on forums, nothings changed from when I did used to watch it. Scheming, plots, adultery, revenge, murder, and bloodshed. Its all there, played out by glamorous women and guys with chiselled physiques. Gotta look your best when you're knee deep in sin right?
And so it goes that videogames have followed that same path. Those age restrictions on the box aren't there to make the case look pretty, videogames have matured and its illegal for soft parents to give in ("for ten minutes peace") and buy wee Jimmy a shooter with a bloody big red 18 stamped on the box. Is that ten minutes peace really worth a hefty fine? Dont think it doesn't happen because it does (more often than you'd care to think).
So we have a burglary sim now do we? What about Grand Theft Auto? Armed robbery sim? Dishonored? A murder sim?
These are games fer Crissakes, but the way some journalists describe them make them sound like guides on how to raise hell for real. One of my current favourite videogames is Thief, a game where, yep you guessed it, you skulk around an 18th century London inspired city, pilfering gold watches and clubbing hapless city guards over the noggin. But I don't play the game to train as a cat burglar, anymore than a fan of 24 watches the show in hope of becoming a CIA agent (or whatever the heck Kiefer Sutherland is meant to be).
And what frustrates me more is that I read this on a gaming website not the Daily Mail  (where one expects such petty sniping). Honestly, videogames have become a massive business in these last few years and deal with mature subjects. Can't we be at least as responsible when writing about them?

Sleeping Dogs New Threads

Amongst the glut of videogame remakes that seems to grow every day ( and wont stop until the gaming goose is stripped clean), you can find some good ones,. Admittedly the price tag looks like Dick Turpin rides again, but if you happen to be a fan of the original, then taking a punt on the reboot makes the price sting a little less.
I was a huge fan of Sleeping Dogs on PS3 so when the 'Definitive Edition' was released a few days ago on PlayStation 4, I was on it like a fat kid on pizza.
£40 is too much, even when you get extras like the 2 DLC stories thrown in, with some very bizarre outfits for Wei to take on the lawbreakers of Hong Kong,band I can see many gamers not bothering because of it which will be a shame because Sleeping Dogs is great game. Wei is a cross between Dirty Harry and Bruce Lee so its sad to see that once again The PS4 needed a third action game after the ace The Last of Us Remastered which was pure brilliance and proof of what creative people with similar ideas can come out with if they're on the same page.
Not played Sleeping Dogs on PS3 yet? Then do yourself a favour and go get it especially I you're a fan of over the top 80s action movies. And don't forget, Wei has more than karate kicks to the throat to defeat thugs, when you gather enough experience points you can unlock special moves either for your cop list or Triad list, which oddly do more harm to enemies than firearms because following the PS3 version, the goons in Sleeping Dogs are like bullet sponges and are able to take a fair amount of rounds before getting dead.
Unfortunately the game seems destined to stay below the top shelf either though lack of promotion (PS3), or having a hefty price have for the PS4 and its such a shame for a game packed with some very cool stuff.  Another downer is that looks wise it doesn't look that much different to the PlayStation 3 version. Outfits and vehicles look better but the city itself looks and 'feels' the same as the original.
All in all Sleeping Dogs Definitive Version is a tidy game  all wrapped up in a decent enough story, but depressingly that forty squids price tag is going to scupper its chances of winning any new fans. A £20 offering would have done them a lot more favours. Like its doing for the Oddworld remake, New n' Tasty.  Throwing in a few extra 'cop jobs' isn't going to be enough to entice the fence sitters.
Speaking personally, I think this game is going to rock better than the forthcoming GTAV on PS4.