Go West.
So Batman: Arkham City is out to waves of rapturous reviews. Christian awarded it 9/10 last week and its Metacritic averages are currently in the mid-90s, singling it out as the best reviewed Batman game ever.
Martyn Carroll
Contributor
Martyn has been writing about video games since 1997. He launched Retro Gamer magazine in 2004 and has been typecast as a lover of rubbish old games ever since. His specialist subject is actually the Crabs novel of Guy N. Smith.
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Rock blockin' beats.
Retrospective: Star Wars Episode I Racer
Pod damn!
Retrospective: The Cult of Desert Bus
Coach party.
Retrospective: Treasure Island Dizzy
I am the Eggman.
Retrospective: Text Adventures
Interactive Friction.
I admit it. I used to type swear words into text adventure games.
A miner miracle.
Asking a Miner Willy fan to choose between Manic Miner and its sequel, Jet Set Willy, is like asking a parent to pick their favourite child. The games, programmed by 8-bit whiz kid Matthew Smith, are both brilliant platformers that have captivated gamers ever since they debuted on the ZX Spectrum in the early eighties.
Retrospective: The Good Old Days
Games for the hard of spending.
Bit of a twist for this week's retrospective. Rather than focusing on a single title, we've allowed former Retro Gamer editor Martyn Carroll to get all misty-eyed as he recalls a particular era in gaming history. If phrases like Knight Tyme and Kikstart 2 mean anything at all to you, polish those rose-tinted glasses and read on.
The bastard union of rock 'n' roll and gaming.
Rock stars just can't help themselves. Having conquered the music charts, the next step is to widen their appeal (and their bloated heads) further by gatecrashing other media, such as TV, films, and yes, videogames.
Take control and evolve yourself.
If you were one of the thousands who heeded Kristan's wise words and bought a copy of BioShock on release, rocketing the game to the top of the all-format charts in the process, then you've probably already experienced the wonders of Rapture and are currently playing through again on a higher difficulty. If so then this guide to every Plasmids and Gene Tonic in the game - where to find them and what they do - was written with your good self in mind. If not, be warned - there be big spoilers ahead.
Smash and grab.
With Devil Kings Capcom has committed daylight robbery. Having happily plagiarised its own back catalogue over the years, releasing tweaks pretending to be updates masquerading as sequels, the Japanese giant has stomped shamelessly into the Koei camp and plundered its popular Dynasty Warriors series. This is much more than Resident Evil ripping off Alone in the Dark. If a jury was shown both Devil Kings and one of the Dynasty Warriors games running side by side it would be very difficult to tell the two apart. Both cast you as a warrior general, dropped onto an ancient battlefield awash with hundreds of enemy soldiers. Both require you to lay said soldiers low with a big stick or similar pointy implement. You even get to ride around on a horse, as warrior generals like to do. Beyond brawling, the games feature a selection of customisable characters, all with their own back-stories, and there are some basic battle options to tinker with. In short, they look the same and pretty much play the same. It’s an open and shut case.