Recent reviews by Manthony Higgs

A neat little game that shows just how difficult and harrowing being captain of a spaceship can be. Randomly generated sectors, a deep pool of events and a fair, yet strict dificulty ensures that you'll both die often and never run out of new things to see. Unlocking new ships is almost entirely luck based, but as with many other Rougelikes, that's half the fun. Pick it up if you can. Then get blown up. A lot.

Essentially Zelda meets Action games, Darksiders lacks the engaging open world of the former and the deep layerd combat of the latter. Dungeon design is top notch however, and the weapons all serve some purpose outside of the dungeon you get them in. Bosses are fun, and while shallow, combat manages to avoid being a snorefest. Snag it if it goes on sale.

One of the better games to come out in recent memory, Arkham City takes the already stellar combat of it's predecessor and adds in a new layer with quickfiring gadgets that can be seamlessly strung into combos. Navigating the large expanse of Arkham City is made beautifully simple with a revamped glide mechanic. Gone are Asylum's repetitive and predictible Titan bosses, being replaced by some of the most memorable and unique fights in any game I've ever played. The story is concise, focused, and compelling, making for a brisk adventure that never seems to hit a snag. Even after you beat the main story, you'll come back to to solve all the Riddler's challenges, snag his hundreds of trophies and finish the numerous, engaging sidequests. And just when you think you're done, there's a New Game+ and dozens of Challenge Maps to tackle. My only complaint is that the game forces the less than stellar Catwoman story on you. It isn't bad, but it's nowhere near as good as the Batman segments. Games like this don't come out very often So do yourself a favor and pick it up.

With tight controls, stylish, hand drawn visuals, and a buttery smooth difficulty curve that makes you learn, Rayman origins is an excellent choice for anyone looking for a platformer.

A goofy romp back in time to 1980's, Blood Dragon's Neon looks are something quite unlike anything else out there today. Full of snappy humour and classic action movie nods, all backed up by the same solid shooting mechanics behind Far Cry 3. Side missions get repetetive, and there isn't much to do after the balls-to-the-walls climax, but the journey there is well worth the price of admission.

Enemy Unknown had a lot to live up to, being the successor to one of the greatest turn based strategies of all time, and lives up to every single drop of hype. EU2012 trims off a lot of the confusing, redundant features of the older X-COMs without dumbing down the experience. No more squeezing every last time unit, you have two moves per unit per turn. While many games claim to be brutally challangeing these days, none can quite match XCOM's simple, honest challenge. Impulse decisions may help out short term, but might net you a game over by the next Council Report. Should have invested in a satellite instead of 12 new rookies who drop like flies! EU2012 doesn't gank you with wonky hitboxes, you hit or you miss. No middleground. The game's strict, unbending rules are a refreshing change of pace to our currently average wishy-washy COD-Shooter styled spectacle games.

Takes Strike Suit Zero's neato gameplay and sticks in in an arcadey survival mode, You have to balance your own fleet and upgrades between matches and try to keep up combos in the battles. Very replayable, and has Steam Trading Cards if you're into that.

A unique little Space shooter, somewhat like Rouge Squadron. Has a nice transformation gimmick, allowing for feats of total fleet destroying badassery. It's a tad short though, so try and catch it on sale. Has a DLC campaign too.

An excellent game, with simle-yet-deep combat and interesting team objectives. Duel mode is a blast too, and Free-For-All is deliciously chaotic. It can be very unforgiving though, so be prepared to die a lot.

Hotline Miami is a buggy, borderline broken game that will often fail to launch. When it DOES work, you will be treated to a fast paced, brutally unforgiving, almost puzzle like experience with an open ended, mysterious plot about the dark past of a hitman. Graphically intriguing, at first glance appearing to bea generic indie game pixel art, HM goes above and beyond with it's throwback presentation, so much so that it wouldn't feel out of place in a musty old bowling alley. Despite it's bugs, HM is wotrth every penny. It also has a very low impact on your computer, so practically anyone can play it.