Video Game Journalist

Over the weekend I went to see Video Games in Concert at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. I was telling a friend of a friend about this and they said "Video game music? What, so like the Pac-Man theme?" I gave my friend the  why are you friends with this person  look. But it did raise an interesting point. As gamers we are exposed to so many beautiful art forms that are overlooked by so many people. Video games now are a masterclass collection of artwork, writing, acting, animation and music that so many people miss out on. Seeing a full orchestra, accompanied by a wonderful choir, in a beautiful venue, was so refreshing. Video game music is finally being given the reverence and respect it deserves. Walking into the venue I noticed something that really stood out. The audience was such a wide mixture of ages. I think I expected a load of people in their 20's with God of War t-shirts drinking red bulls. Those people were there, but also there were parents and grandparents...

PlayStation dropped a State of Play at 11pm (GMT) on May 30th and there was a nice mixture of things to get excited for. There were some games that stood out for me, and I will go over the five announcements I am most excited for and why.  Firewalk's Concord  (August 23rd 2024) The game is a 5v5 first person Online Shooter set on different planets in a futuristic/sci-fi world. It is kind of Overwatch meets Guardians of the Galaxy. It is about taking jobs to earn money as a 'freegunner' fighting on different planets. Each character has their own unique abilities and the game looks super fast paced with unique weapons. Also between games you will get short cutscenes of your team interacting in their downtime. The main reason I am excited for this is for the characters and the world. Although it does seem like a Guardians of the Galaxy clone, I feel like there was enough in the trailer to suggest it will have it's own identity. I love the idea of the banter during battles ...

The State of Play is Today! I wanted to put out my predictions, basically so that I can say 'I TOLD YOU SO' when they are all correct. Or so that I can subtly delete this blog post if I am wrong and deny it ever existed. Anyway, lets did into my predictions for State of Play for May 30th 2024. Astrobot Platformer Game I have an idea for this game, it is a third person platformer Mario 3D World Style, where each level is based around a different Playstation IP. For instance there is a God of War Level, a Spider-Man level, an Uncharted Level etc. Astrobot's Playroom was a love letter to Playstation and we all loved seeing little bots dressed as popular Playstation characters. Also it is about to be the 30th Anniversary of Playstation, so a great way to celebrate would be like Kingdom Hearts but with Playstation IP. Perhaps Astrobot also earns new abilities from each of these worlds. Lego Horizon There has been a lot of rumours that this will be shown at the State of Play and...

Lets turn up the heat and get spicy up in here! I have so many opinions that I know will be unpopular and I thought for a bit of fun, lets put them out into the world for all to see. Now these takes are just my opinion, I can normally appreciate the thing without enjoying it. For instance Lord of the Rings...I cannot stand. But I appreciate that they were well written books and movies, they just don't get my pickle a-tickling! Anyway let's dive right in! 1. Red Dead Redemption 1+2 are better than all of the GTA games I get frustrated when people describe Red Dead Redemption as 'boring'. Honestly I don't know where those people are coming from, and I get bored far quicker playing any of the GTA games. For the record, I enjoy GTA a lot and respect it as a franchise. In fact I recently did a ranking of them that you should check out. But ramming into cars and shooting people gets boring, and the side missions in GTA are either a dull mini game (like bowling or tennis) ...

Platforms: Switch, Xbox One, Windows, Linux, Xbox Series X/S, Mac This is a game about a grizzled, washed up, detective who is trying to solve a case to distract from his miserable and lonely life, also...he is a duck. 'Duck Detective: the secret salami' is a point and click mystery game by indie developer 'Happy Broccoli'. It is short, but engaging and provided a window into the life of hardened detective Eugene McQuacklin, a character I would love to see more of in the future! The first thing that struck me about this game was the music. It has a jazz score that seems like it is pulled straight out of a classic Noir film. It not only added to tone that the game was going for, but also created a cozy gaming vibe. The voice acting is also perfect. The voice of Eugene McQuacklin was one of my favourite parts of the game. The voice actor plays the role with such sincerity which really adds to the comedy. The dead pan and serious delivery is reminiscent of Lesley Nielsen i...

Last week selected industry people were allowed to preview the new Marvel online team based hero shooter 'Marvel Rivals' and the reactions seem to be really positive. Simply put, it is essentially an 'Overwatch' clone with Marvel characters and locations thrown in. Marvel Heroes will be a free-to-play game developed and published by NetEase Games and will release on Microsoft Windows and Mac the first quarter of 2025. What we know about the game so far is that it will have 19 different playable characters from the Marvel Universe at launch. The ones that have been confirmed are: Star Lord, Hela, Namor, Loki, Groot, Rocket Racoon, Luna Snow, Black Panther, Iron Man, Hulk, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Magneto, Mantis, Peni Parker, Storm, Magik, Scarlet Witch and The Punisher. The feedback from the people who have had hands on time with this game, say that the characters all feel really unique. Also 'Marvel Rivals' really focuses on the team-up aspect and this is wh...

  It was only a matter of time before Capcom decided it was time to remake Resident Evil I for this generation. I understood why they started the new remakes with Resident Evil II, as it had only been 4 years since they remastered the GameCube remaster of the original Resident Evil...Capcom love remastering! 2026 marks the 30th anniversary of the franchise, so they need to do something big. Following the popularity of the RE remake games, it would be an instant money maker for them to remake the game that started it all. There have been rumors flying around the internet (mainly Twitter, or 'X' and YouTube) but it is hard to know who we should listen to and who we should dismiss as nothing more than an educated guess. I will unpack some of these rumors and give my own opinion on what a Resident Evil remake could look like.  The main rumors of a remake being released in 2026 came from DanielRPK on his Patreon, and PRE_Alarabiya on Twitter (or 'X'...you know what, I'm ...

Platforms: PS4/5, Xbox Series S/X, Microsoft  When playing a specific section of Alan Wake II earlier this year I said to myself 'not enough horror games are set at an abandoned theme park.' Indie developer SFB games read my mind and said "don't worry dude, we got you!". Take the eerie sounds of Silent Hill, the resource management and puzzles of Resident Evil and the sprite design of the original final fantasy VII and you have yourself  'Crow Country'. Crow Country is a survival horror, PS1 looking, game that even includes tank controls and overly difficult aiming! It is exactly what I want from a survival horror and the game left me nostalgic and pining for more games like this. Now, don't worry there is an option to use modern controls, so don't let that put you off, I am just a crazy person and wanted to feel the frustration I felt all those years ago playing Resident Evil 1 for the first time! Exploring this game is an absolute treat! It is so...

If there is one console people love to dunk on, it is the Wii U. It has been described as a failure almost as big as the Virtual Boy. But I feel it is unfair. I still have a Wii U and I was a loyal Wii U gamer throughout it's entire life cycle. I was often bullied, mocked, ridiculed if you will, but I can stay silent no more! The Wii U was good dammit and here is why. The Games Some of my favourite games in certain Nintendo franchises came out for the Wii U. Super Mario 3D World is my favourite 3D Mario (yes, even more so than Odyssey). I think 3D world is beautiful, the multiplayer was so much fun and the level design is on point! I had hours of fun playing this game and Cat Mario...best power up to be introduced to a Mario game since the Tanuki suit. Now lets not forget that Mario Kart 8 was the Wii U, Super Smash Bros 4 (which essentially became Ultimate) was Wii U and a little game called Breath of the Wild was made for the Wii U. Now yes, I know you can play these all on Switc...

With the excitement of GTA VI coming next year, I thought I would give my ranking of the main GTA games from 3-5. I would include the first couple of games on the PS1 but honestly I think they have not aged great. If you do miss the top down GTA though, Chinatown wars on DS is a genuinely great game! I will now attempt now to make a list that I am sure will be controversial! This takes into account how the game play holds up today, and how iconic the game is. I will go from my least favourite, to my favourite.  5. GTA III There is no question that this revolutionised gaming. I remember first playing this on PS2 and my mind being blown that you can just go anywhere, and do anything. I honestly don't think there is a bad GTA game at all, this game is just the oldest and therefore has aged the worst. I recently played through it and actually was surprised at how much fun I was having. But I found the game very dark (a lot of the time I struggled to see), the shooting difficult, and th...

 Video games have been such a massive part of my life. When I think of the different eras of my life I always attach certain games to certain memories. This is a list of my favourite games of all time. Are they necessarily the best games ever made? No. But they are games that I have played through countless times and define my gaming journey. Making this list has been nearly impossible and depending on the day this could be a completely different list. These are just in order that they were released because there is no way I could ever rank them. I love them all equally! Pokemon Silver I think people's favourite Pokemon is usually the one that hit them at the right age. For me it was Pokemon Silver. I had played Red previously, but only because I had an older sibling and they had Pokemon Blue, so convinced me to get Red so that they could get all the Pokemon. But then a few years later I got my lime green Gameboy Colour and a copy of Pokemon Silver and I was old enough that Pokemon...