#just push start

[aledmorgan]

Review of Smash 'n' Survive up on Just Push Start

Perhaps the first legitimately bad game I've been given to review is Smash 'n' Survive. The game is a vehicular combat type thing where you ram your car into other cars until one of them explodes in an eruption of pixelated hilarity...and that's if the physics engine doesn't have its sordid way with you first.   In fact the most fun I had with the game was coming up with my own story to replace the trite gang warfare thing it waves at you during every campaign mission loading screen. 'You killed self' the game tells you when you drive too hard into a flimsy fence that apparently wasn't as destructible as that stack of scaffolding. Yes Smash 'n' Survive, 'I killed self.' Well done.  

Anyway, head on over to the full review here.

[aledmorgan]

Five Games to Check Out This Halloween

This article went live on Halloween for Just Push Start. It's a standard list that simply recommends some games to try out around the Halloween period. I don't have a massive amount of experience with horror games, so I went with five games that might not be seen as conventionally 'horror', but nevertheless fit the mood of the holiday. So there we go, have a look at it on Just Push Start. 

[aledmorgan]

Mercury HG Review on Just Push Start

The first game that I had ever reviewed for a site. Hopefully this will review will be the first in a long, long line. Anyway, Mercury HG is a cheap title available on Live Arcade where you tilt the board to drop a blob of mercury into a goal. A neat little puzzler with an attractive price. Have a look at the full review here! 

[aledmorgan]

Straddling the New Year - A Look at 2011 and 2012

I wrote a piece quickly summing up some of the industry trends we've seen in the last  year, and what we might see in 2012. While I'm by no means an industry expert (a mere casual observer at this point in time) I don't think it's that hard to spot some of the current industry trends. I also go over a handful of the games I'm looking forward to in 2012, and why. 

[aledmorgan]

Gotham City Imposters Closed Beta Impressions

Don't you love it when closed betas are so easy to get into? I grabbed a code from eurogamer and spent a few hours with Gotham City Imposters recently. So far it seems like a pretty solid multiplayer-only XBLA title. Control doesn't feel quite right yet, but it's serviceable and quirky.  More in-depth impressions are, as ever, on Just Push Start 

[aledmorgan]

Joe Danger: Special Edition Review up on JPS

Joe Danger: Special Edition (whose suffix seems fairly popular right now...) is kind of like Trials HD with more emphasis on collectibles, platforming and level exploration. Does that kind of blend work? Pretty much, yeah. I had a blast with Joe Danger at any rate. Find out exactly why and how and all those other particulars in my full review on JPS.

[aledmorgan]

Who Wants to be a Millionaire: Special Edition Review

I was supposed to getting a fairly big, boxed release this week but unfortunately that fell through, so I got Who Wants To Be A Millionaire: Special Edition. It's the Live Arcade adaptation of the popular quiz show that features a kindly primary school teacher instead of Chris Tarrant. 

I'm still trying to wrap my head around just how you go about reviewing an adaptation, and I guess the same can be said for remakes. Does it being a wholly faithful adaptation qualify it for full marks, or does the adapted content need to work as an interactive game? I err towards the latter on this point. Anyway, check out exactly how I manage to get over 1,000 words out of this title over on Just Push Start. 

[aledmorgan]

A Look Back at The Legend of Zelda

The Legend of Zelda celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, and in celebration of the imminent landing of Skyward Sword I wrote this retrospective. It's a look back at the 3D games which gives some background information on the games, my own personal experiences with them, and a little bit on what The Legend of Zelda means...at least for me. Enjoy!