Posts By Mat Growcott

With another Pokemon game releasing to mixed reviews because of technical issues, it’s time for Nintendo to ask whether enough is enough for the Switch. I mean, the issues are either coming from Pokemon Team themselves – in which case there needs to be a discussion there – or from the now dated Nintendo flagship device. And I suspect it’s a bit of both. It’s not a good excuse to say you’re not really competing with ...

There are regularly jokes about people buying Call of Duty and playing nothing but Call of Duty until the next game is out. Honestly, it’s easy to see why. Because you CAN. The amount of content these games offer up is unreal. Now, being able to alter and tinker with dozens of guns, in dozens of game modes both online and offline might not appeal to everybody. It doesn’t always appeal to me. But for those that it works for…

In all the debates around Microsoft’s purchase of Activision, one has been the most frequent. How is PlayStation going to cope without Call of Duty? Should they have to? Is it fair? It’s been a while since we last looked at the Activision purchase. That’s mostly because a fat lot of nothing has happened. Decisions have been delayed, as you’d expect from a purchase of this size. A decision will still be made by the end of this financial ...

It’s fair to say that Overwatch 2 has been the dominant game for me since it released. When I’m not playing it, I’m thinking about it. When I am playing it, I’m wondering why I’m not playing better. It’s still a great game. If anything, it’s a perfect team shooter let down by minor details (and its major battle pass problems). Today we will go through a few more of the issues I’ve found through extensively ...

Call of Duty is out, and the talk of the day isn’t about its tight multiplayer or enjoyable campaign. Most conversation seems wrapped around the NEXT Call of Duty. This one isn’t getting a sequel, it’s getting a “premium expansion” – and just what is the difference? If instead of another Black Ops game we get Modern Warfare 2-2, only it’s a paid expansion and everything is done via update… does it actually make ...

One of the signs that gaming is growing up is when you have two games so totally different vying for people’s attention this November. God of War and Pentiment couldn’t be any more different – but expect a lot of chat about them going forward. That’s not to say they should be compared, although inevitably they will be. But with both games now gold, and almost ready to be played, there’s a good chance that Game of the Year talks…

This has been a bad week for VR. Confirmation, as if confirmation was needed, that it is not for the mainstream came in the announcement of the new PlayStation VR’s price. And that’s not to mention Meta’s problems. A few weeks ago I wrote about VR and it’s problem breaking through to larger crowds. How quickly that article was proven correct. PlayStation fans will be expected to pay $599.99 / €649.99 / £569.99 / ¥79,980 if they want to ...

Like all good addicts, I’m still knee-deep into my return to Overwatch 2. That’s giving me a long time to consider the battle pass, and just how much it takes out of the game. I’ve done the review. I’ve spent a decent amount of time with new – or newish – characters. It is, as it always way, a bloody good game. So why is the monetization so bloody bad? The battle pass takes a key part of the first…

Within days of me giving myself hope for a Metal Gear future, some more evidence has popped up that may or may not add to that foolish optimism. The developer rumoured to be working on a Metal Gear Solid 3 remake has teased something… right before deleting it again. The Metal Gear Solid 3 remake has been rumoured for several years, and is bizarrely often mentioned along a new set of remasters for 1, 2 and 3 as well. Virtuos…

In the annals of LittleBigPlanet, Sackboy: A Big Adventure is a sad footnote. Not because of the quality of the game, I hasten to add. But because it seems so often people forget it exists. Even Sony themselves, as the PC release has been a very quiet affair. A PS5 launch title, aimed primarily at families, it shouldn’t be a big surprise that it isn’t spoken about in the same breath as Horizon or God of War. But hopefully a…