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Articles by Padraig RyanPadraig
REVIEW: Is the Stellar Blade x NieR Automata DLC worth the money?
Stellar Blade has released a new paid DLC, a collaboration with its inspiration Nier Automata, an addition which was almost fated to happen given Shift Up admitting their love of Nier Automata. Not to mention how Yoko Taro has openly stated he will do any collaboration as long as the collaborator pays him enough money. Today's top videos STORY CONTINUES BELOW But is the DLC good? Yes! Is it worth the money? Well... maybe.
REVIEW: Until Dawn remake feels like a downgrade from the original
The Until Dawn remake is a tough game to review, because in spirit it is just a graphically updated version of the classic horror game from 2012. That game was good, but attempting to ask full price for this game when the only thing it offers is the graphics overhaul.
Get Your Game On: Anger Foot
Anger Foot is exactly the sort of game that needs to be talked about more. It’s silly, it’s fun, and it’s very well made. If you were to be trapped in an elevator by a madman who wanted to explain whatever this game is, they’d most likely narrow it down to ‘Hotline Miami, but in first person’. Today's top videos STORY CONTINUES BELOW Levels are tightly designed mazes where each room requires you to deal with the threats efficiently and quickly.
REVIEW: Star Wars Outlaws is a great single-player storyline buried in a large open-world coat
A few years ago, a semi-open-world Star Wars adventure was teased, where you played as a bounty hunter. Titled Star Wars 1313, it looked a lot like Uncharted in space, with some explosive bombastic action. It got a lot of folks excited, until it was inevitably quietly cancelled like a lot of other games from the Lucasfilms team, but Star Wars Outlaws is set to rise from the ashes of 1313.
Geek Ireland's top picks from Gamescom 2024
Gamescom 2024 has kicked of this year's event with its iconic Opening Night Live, hosted by the one and only Geoff Keighley, and what an opening it was. With more than 40 games discussed, including some unexpected surprises, this was a jam-packed showcase. Today's top videos STORY CONTINUES BELOW Here are just some of the highlights of the night. Opening very strongly with a game that, according to Geoff ‘didn’t leak’, was a little teaser trailer for a new Borderlands game.
Get Your Game On: Conscript
Survival horror is currently in a strange place. Whether you’re looking for some mascot horrors filled with silly jumpscares to some over the top high octane action with Resident Evil, you really have a lot of choice. Hoping to get in on this action is Conscript, a survival horror game set during World War I, created by Catchweight Studio and published by Team17.
REVIEW: Flintlock The Siege of Dawn fails to carve a definitive niche for itself
Flintlock The Siege of Dawn is a soulslike hack and slash that tries to do a few things to make itself stand out in the genre, but fails to really carve out a definitive niche. There are good ideas here, but they’re marred by some technical and design failures that turn a promising new contender into a mediocre and, ultimately, forgettable experience.
First Impressions: Concord Beta
Concord made quite the impression when it was first revealed at the Playstation State of Play a few months ago, but not all for the right reasons. What started as interest at the cinematic trailer quickly turned to boredom and disappointment when it was revealed to be a 5v5 hero shooter. Today's top videos STORY CONTINUES BELOW Concord has now tried to silence those critics with a Beta, but its lack of spark and derivative nature has done little to change many minds.
REVIEW: Beyond Good And Evil 20th Anniversary Remaster
Beyond Good and Evil had gotten a remaster for its 20th anniversary and it has us thinking: have you ever gone online and seen a video about a classic old game or movie franchise remade with ‘modern’ graphics? Like that really eerie picture of a 4k upscaled Mario? They feel like they’ve been dredged right from the depths of the uncanny valley, and just look lazily upscaled and uninspired.
Auction House To Sell Two Of The Most Historical Comics For First Time
Excalibur Comics, hailed as the UK’s leading comic book auction house, is going to be offering two of the rarest and most important, historical comics for the first time ever in the country. The first comic going under the hammer is the iconic Superman #1, which is currently ranked #3 on Overstreet’s list of the Top 100 Golden Age comics aka the era known for the introduction of some of the most iconic heroes we know today, like Wonder Woman, Captain America and of course, Superman.
Get Your Game On: Fight Knight
Fight Knight is such an interesting game to talk about. It's a mixture between a first-person dungeon crawler and an arcade brawler where you solve basically every single problem with your fists. Every problem means every problem, by the way. Need to speak to an NPC? Punch ‘em. Flipping a switch? Punch. Some gangsta is dissing your fly girl? Punch. All of this punching is also wrapped up in a gorgeous little pixelly art style and presents itself perfectly.
REVIEW: Stellar Blade Is A Boring Story With Great Combat
Stellar Blade is an interesting case study – sometimes there are games that are carried by their expertly written characters or gripping narrative, and other times, a mediocre narrative or flat, vapid characters are saved by excellent gameplay. Stellar Blade is certainly part of the latter category, but if you only played the first few hours, you’d be forgiven for thinking the opposite. Today's top videos STORY CONTINUES BELOW Let’s start strong and talk gameplay.
PREVIEW: Among Ashes Has The Potential To Scare Your Socks Off
There’s something unnerving about playing a horror game like Among Ashes alone at night; every sound and movement is exacerbated in our heads to the point where we swear we heard something right behind us. Eventually, after sighing and chuckling, we return to the game, except in Among Ashes, we’re actually eaten by some sort of terrifying ghost girl.
New Marvel Rivals Game Will Be PC Only
Marvel Games has partnered with Netease to bring fans their latest video game, Marvel Rivals. Marvel Rivals is a 6v6 team-based shooter releasing on PC that promises free-to-play action starring iconic Marvel heroes from the Avengers to the X-Men and many more. Today's top videos STORY CONTINUES BELOW While we didn’t get a concrete release date, Netease did reveal that a Closed Alpha Test will begin in May.
REVIEW: Rise Of The Ronin Is A New Style Of Game For Team Ninja
Team Ninja, the studio behind the eagerly anticipated Rise of the Ronin, are very well known for tight, intricate level design and intense, skill intensive combat systems that can take a long time to master. That’s where they’re comfortable, where they know they thrive. In a bustling and competitive video game market, it’s almost unthinkable to move outside your comfort zone.
5 Things We Want To See In The Fallout TV Series
Fallout is an iconic franchise that’s been itching for an adaptation to film or TV for years, and now this April, we’re finally going to be able to watch the TV series adaptation. Naturally, fans will be judging it incredibly intensely for any little easter eggs or goodies in the background for the avid Fallout fan, but what are some of the things we’re hoping manifest themselves in the show?
The Most Anticipated Video Games In Q2 Of 2024
Have you been having fun with all of the video games released in the first quarter of 2024? Excited about Final Fantasy Rebirth? Hve you gotten into a rhythm for a good work-life-gaming balance? Too bad, because 2024 is not stopping for a second. Today's top videos STORY CONTINUES BELOW Let's take a look at some of the games to look out for coming your way in Q2.
We Need To Talk About The Borderlands Movie
Video game movies and TV adaptations have been having a bit of a Renaissance in recent years, with Borderlands being the latest to get the treatment. Series like The Last of Us have shown us that good video game adaptations are possible, and season 2 of Halo has illustrated that when a company listens to an audience, it’s possible to try at least to turn an initially underwhelming show into something better.
REVIEW: Skull And Bones Is A Tough Game To Recommend
Skull and Bones opens with a bombastic and daring chase on the high seas; waves crash and music swells as you try desperately to hunt down your target and save your smuggled goods. The tables turn as you are lured into an ambush, and your ship is decimated. Your crew, ship and weapons are lost to the cold, unfeeling noise of the sea and you awake barely clinging to life, adrift.
REVIEW: Prince Of Persia The Lost Crown Is Decent, But...
Prince of Persia The Lost Crown has the difficult and daunting task of kickstarting the 2024 game releases. After such an amazing 2023, it’s not exactly an enviable task to be the one to kick off the 2024 gaming calendar.
5 Upcoming Game-To-Screen Adapations We're Excited For
With the popularity of video game stories reaching an all-time high, the certainty that movies and TV series based on these properties would be made was evident. With the popularity of films based on games like the recent Super Mario Bros Movie and series such as The Last of Us and Twisted Metal, companies began a gold rush of acquiring the rights to create content from any IP they could get their hands on.
The 10 Best Video Games Of 2023
There have been some absolutely fantastic games released in 2023, so many in fact that narrowing it down to 10 of the best has been rather difficult. However, we have tried our best and here are our top 10 picks for the best games fo 2023. Today's top videos STORY CONTINUES BELOW Ranked, for your viewing pleasure, from the 10th best video game to the best best. What an awesome surprise this game was.
The 10 Worst Video Games Of 2023
While 2023 has been a monumental year for video game quality, more than a few duds have been released. These games disappointed us and gave us some of the worst value for money imaginable, a cardinal sin these days with everything costing more and more. Today's top videos STORY CONTINUES BELOW Here’s a glimpse into Geek Ireland's 10 worst video games released this year, numbered from worst to… well, most worst.
Our Top 5 Single-Player Games To Play This Christmas
2023 has been a year of excellent gaming experiences, particularly single-player games. Sometimes, especially with the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, you need to sit down and play a game by yourself and just get immersed in an entirely different world. Today's top videos STORY CONTINUES BELOW Here are 5 of the best single-player games to get immersed in this Christmas. Obviously ‘best worlds to get immersed in’ here doesn’t mean best for your health.
Get Your Game On: Our Top 5 RPGs To Play This Christmas
We’re coming to the end of one of the best years gaming has seen in quite some time. A cursory glance at the releases this year will show the sheer number of choices you’ve got when you’re finally sitting down over Christmas ready to game. Today's top videos STORY CONTINUES BELOW If you’re an RPG lover, here are 5 of the best RPGs of 2023 you should look out for this Christmas. Sea of Stars is an espresso shot of nostalgia straight into your veins.
REVIEW: Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Proves The First Game Wasn't A Fluke
Insomniac introduced us to their interpretation of the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man back in 2018, and they blew us away. The traversal, the combat, the story — all of it came together to create a superhero experience that we were all hungry for ever since Arkham City introduced us to an open-Gotham for Batman to glide around in. Now with the release of Spider-Man 2, Insomniac has proven that the first game was not just a fluke.
Sony Announce New PlayStation 5 Model
Sony has announced that we will be getting two new PlayStation models this holiday season, looking at a slimmer and more modular approach to the console with a larger 1TB harddrive. These models come in both physical and digital versions,with a special modular Blu-ray disc drive you can add into the digital version at a later date, should you wish to do so at an extra price.
Starfield Mod Hilariously Turns Soliders Into Stormtroopers
Just a few weeks out from the launch of Starfield and the PC modding community has already started cracking the game open and tinkering with the game's models to bring a galaxy far far away a little bit closer. This new mod, titled Galactic Civil War Conversion by modder kboykboy, is still in its infancy, but he has managed to replace all of the United Colonies security force armor with the iconic Stormtrooper outfits.
REVIEW: Baldur's Gate 3 Is One Of The Best Games Of The Decade
Baldur's Gate 3 has been in development for a long, long time. That’s not even counting the four years it spent in early access, constantly improving, adding features and characters, and deleting things that didn’t really gel well with the overall game.
REVIEW: Starfield Is An Epic Space Adventure... If You Make Your Own
Starfield is the quintessential Bethesda experience, brought forward into the next generation. This is both a good thing and a bad thing, depending on how you want to look at it. Every bit of jank you expect from a Bethesda game has been carried over, but also the charm and freedom you expect also exists. Truth be told, if you like any of the other Bethesda games, you’ll most likely love Starfield.
5 Classic Games That Deserve A Remake
With 2023 bringing us excellent remakes such as Resident Evil 4 and Dead Space, it's very easy to fall back into nostalgia and think about some of the games from our childhood that we’d love to see get the same treatment. Some games are just showing their age, others could do with a bit of a translation touch up. Here are 5 Geek Ireland picks for games that deserve a remake. Xenogears Xenogears is an old school JRPG on the PlayStation 1.
REVIEW: Enchanted Portals' Good Premise Doesn't Forgive Its Shortcomings
Imitation and homage are the sincerest forms of flattery. Sometimes something works really well for one studio, and another studio will see that and attempt to match the style, or gameplay, or premise, of said successful game. A good example of this is The Surge that was clearly inspired by the Dark Souls series. Sometimes all a game has is whatever it chose to use from its competitor, and that’s when you get Enchanted Portals.
Get Your Game On: Sea Of Stars
The year 2023 is full of massive blockbuster games that demand your attention. Everything from Armoured Core 6 to Assassin's Creed Mirage, thanks to many projects being pushed back due to the pandemic, this year is a stand out year for gaming in general. This is a double-edged sword though, as some seriously impressive indie games can slip through the cracks. One such game is the newly released turn-based RPG Sea of Stars.
REVIEW: How Does Firewall Ultra Live Up To The Hype?
Firewall Ultra is one of the games that many PSVR2 fans have been patiently waiting for, having been hyped up as a new standard for VR FPS games on the platform with its eye tracking capabilities and impressive graphical fidelity. Unfortunately, that seems to be where the majority of the development time has been spent, as there are some glaring issues surrounding this title.
The 5 Worst Games Of 2023 So Far
2023 has been a year of ups and downs for video games — from absolute instant classics to horrific, broken launches, we have certainly seen a lot of interesting titles drop in the first half of the year, but are there any titles that should’ve skipped their launch entirely? Here are 5 of the worst games 2023 has brought us, in no particular order (because they’re all quite abysmal).
The 5 Best Games Of 2023... So Far
2023 has been a really great year for games so far, with some heavy hitters already hitting the shelves, even in just the first half of the year. Everything from remakes of classic games to long anticipated RPGs, here are 5 of the best games we’ve seen this year so far. Dead Space Remake The Dead Space remake set the standard for ones we should see as a whole, including improved graphics, tighter gameplay and massive improvements made to the story itself and Isaac as a character.
Top 5 Games To Look Forward To In 2023
2023 has already had a few top tier games and we’re only halfway through the year, but what is the next half of the year looking like? Here are 5 games to look forward to once you’ve cleared your massive, shameful backlog. Yes, we know. We’re looking at you. Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon FromSoftware have set aside Elden Ring and Dark Souls for the time being, and have gone back to one of their other flagship franchises.
Check Out The Highlights From Summer Game Fest 2023
Summer Game Fest has come and gone for another year, and Geoff Keighley definitely delivered a show that focused on games. The two hour show had some great hits, some misses and some surprises. Let’s go through some of the highlights. The Good Gameplay is king at shows like this and there was plenty to look at this year.
One Of The Highest Earning YouTubers In Europe Is Irish
With more than 2 billion monthly active users, YouTube has become the go-to site that more than a quarter of the population chooses to watch. With that many eyeballs glued to your site and your content, it’s not too surprising that advertisers choose to shell out major cash for a chance at being shown to large audiences.
Get Your Game On: Wanted: Dead
Sometimes, a game comes along and it completely surpasses all expectations. Games like Elden Ring, Vampire Survivors, and Gaelic Games Football on the PlayStation 2 just creep into our lives and shows us that there is such a thing as true perfection. Wanted: Dead, is not one of those games, but y’know what? It’s alright. Wanted: Dead is a relic from the past, but released on modern consoles on Valentines day 2023.
REVIEW: Afterlife VR Feels Like A 'Gold-Rush Era' Game
In the initial VR gold rush, think back to Oculus Quest or even the PSVR 1, low budget horror games were commonplace. Virtual reality was still in its infancy and strapping a big set of screens to your face seemed like the perfect place to get some good scares in. However, as the VR space evolved, so did the games and experiences customers would come to expect for the investment they put in.
James Gunn Moving to DC After Marvel?
The enemy of my enemy? Warner Bros has confirmed that James Gunn is in talks to write, with a further possibility to direct, the next Suicide Squad film. The recently controversial director seems ready to bring a whole new take on the franchise with him. This is a fun bit of news for a number of reasons. The biggest elephant in the room is Gunn recently being fired from Marvel Studios. Meaning, he has jumped ship and crossed party lines, so to speak.
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