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Author Archives: Mark Seymour

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Crysis 3

Preview: Crysis 3

February 8, 2013 by Mark Seymour

It’s the de rigueur comment for any Crysis piece but gosh, Crysis 3 doesn’t half look good. Now we’ve covered the necessaries, onto more interpretative matters. The Crysis series has never slumped far down the quality chart, but the first game remains the franchise headshot; a shooter diametrically opposed to the empty-thrill, pop-up shooting galleries that have come to typify the genre. Crytek knows it. With the third game, the veteran developer is hoping to evoke the glories of the original […]

Categories: Preview • Tags: Crysis 3, Crytek, Preview

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Death Inc Village 2

Ambient Studios Interview Part 1: Death Inc.

February 4, 2013 by Mark Seymour

If I had free reign to establish my game dev studio anywhere on the planet, I’d either stick it on top of the Burj Khalifa or at the bottom of the Med, accessible only via submarine. Failing that, round the back of a warehouse named Bed World in Guildford would do. It’s precisely round the back of a warehouse named Bed World in Guildford that Ambient Studios is located. And it’s here that the small team – comprised partly of ex-Lionhead, Criterion […]

Categories: Interview • Tags: Ambient Studios, Daniel Leaver, Death Inc., Interview, Mike Green

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RG

Interview: Ron Gilbert

January 31, 2013 by Mark Seymour

2012 was a fine year for those of an adventurous disposition. The Double Fine Adventure ran rampant on Kickstarter in February before Telltale’s Walking Dead series cannonballed onto the scene exhibiting zero respect for the genre’s candy-assed reputation. Now, in 2013, a frosty January brings a new Ron Gilbert-authored adventure game. BeefJack caught up with the veteran developer to talk auteurism, contemporary adventure games and the decision to eschew dialogue trees this time out.  2012 was the year adventure games stole […]

Categories: Interview • Tags: Interview, Ron Gilbert, SEGA, The Cave

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Proteus 3

Review: Proteus

January 30, 2013 by Mark Seymour

Proteus is an exploration game of unprecedented purity, but for the sake of easy-going introductions you could also say it’s a game about looking at things that are beautiful and listening to things that sound nice. I won’t sit here and tell you its sunsets are the colour of a telegenic, 20-something actress after a long hike up a hill and half a can of 7Up, but know there’s genuine beauty to be found in Proteus and it pleases me […]

Categories: Review • Tags: David Kanaga, Ed Key, PC, Proteus, Review

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Screen shot 2013-01-18 at 16.20.09

Interview: Eerie Canal

January 28, 2013 by Mark Seymour

Ex-Harmonix and Irrational developers Steven Kimura and Bryn Bennett left their jobs developing AAA hits to work on Dreadline, an RTS/ARPG with an air of Diablo and Freedom Fighters about it. Naturally they’ve taken to Kickstarter to secure funding. I spoke to the pair about Kickstarter troubles, the decision to go indie and Bryn provides a compelling reason for why space marines are so damn fashionable. In 2011, a group of Harmonix, Irrational and Iron Lore Entertainment employees part ways with studios responsible […]

Categories: Features, Interview • Tags: Bryn Bennett, Dreadline, Eerie Canal, Interview, Steven Kimura

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Anarchy Reigns

Review: Anarchy Reigns

January 15, 2013 by Mark Seymour

Anarchy Reigns is the multiplayer follow-up to MadWorld in all but name and visual motif. It’s also the distinctive product of Platinum Games – a brawler that finds time for eccentric vehicle sections, emphatic boss fights and farcical character arcs. But the shift away from the single player capers of something like Bayonetta has had a marked impact on the way Anarchy Reigns feels when compared to the studio’s previous work, and whether you’ll appreciate that will depend largely on […]

Categories: Review • Tags: Anarchy Reigns, Platinum Games, PS3, Review, SEGA

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Halo 4

2012: The Offbeat Awards

December 29, 2012 by Mark Seymour

Hello and a merry end of 2012. It’s been a grand year for videogames and for those of us who choose to wile away our time playing them. I’ve already celebrated the year’s finest, so now it’s time to dig a little deeper into 2012′s catalogue of hits and misses. Here’s where we champion things like videogame dancing, videogame sex, boss machinations in videogames, bad videogame characters and great use of taxpayer money in videogames. Onward with haste.   Worst […]

Categories: Features • Tags: Day Z, Dishonored, Games of the Year, Halo 4, Hitman: Absolution, Hotline Miami, I Am Alive, Lollipop Chainsaw, Lone Survivor, Lucius, Mark of the NInja, Mass Effect 3, Ninja Gaiden 3, Nintendo Land, Offbeat, Resident Evil 6, Spec Ops: The Line, The Walking Dead

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2012 Header

The 12 Most Smashing Games of 2012

December 28, 2012 by Mark Seymour

2012 started with a bang and ended with a series of nuclear-grade kabooms. Fortunately for humanity they were only felt within the videogame sphere. Planet earth made it through 2012 just fine and so in celebration of our continued existence, here are my top games from a top year. 12. The Walking Dead  A great story or a great story by videogame standards? The latter, truthfully, but that didn’t detract from Telltale’s triumphant efforts to bring story to the forefront as it […]

Categories: Features • Tags: 2012, Catherine, Far Cry 3, Game of the Year, Hotline Miami, Journey, Max Payne 3, The Walking Dead, Videogames

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Dishonored GOTY

A Game of 2012: Dishonored

December 27, 2012 by Mark Seymour

Ahead of my usual GOTY nonsense I wrote a piece for BeefJack on why Dishonored was one of the better games of 2012.  Empowering is the word best used to describe Dishonored; an unflinching muddle of Thief and Half Life 2 in which the former’s stealthy hijinks spilled into the latter’s totalitarian-style world to magnificent effect. In a year that played host to more quality first-person games than any since 2008, Dishonored emerged king of them all. Dunwall was the […]

Categories: Features • Tags: Arkane Studios, Bethesda, Dishonored, Fucking good, Game of the Year, GOTY

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