Graham Banas
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Writing For
Push SquareLatest Reviews
Considering the real-life tragedy surrounding the development of Afterlove EP, it would have been easy to forgive developer Pikselnesia for not moving forward with work on the title. To its credit, it's powered forward and delivered a poignant, prescient experience worth your time.
One of the earliest articles this author ever wrote for Push Square was about Computer Artworks’ terrifying 2002 horror shooter, The Thing. A decade later, Nightdive Studios has worked its magic on a remaster, breathing new life into this rough-around-the-edges gem.
When highly regarded games see a remaster, the quality tends to fluctuate between two extremes. You have the disastrous launches akin to Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - Definitive Edition, or you get the lovingly crafted, impressive remasters like we saw with Quake and Quake 2. Aspyr has been working its way through the back catalog of classic Star Wars titles from the IP’s gaming golden age, and the Star Wars Battlefront Classic Collection is the latest of such releases. And unfortunately, this re-release is more GTA than Quake.
Years before becoming a household name thanks to a hilarious, impassioned speech at The Game Awards, Josef Fares — alongside Starbreeze — was already releasing quality games. His first venture, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, is an emotional excursion that sees two brothers set out on a dire journey. Now, Avantgarden Games has taken up the task of remaking the 10-year-old game. But has it held up? In a contemporary setting, does Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake still offer the same level of emotional weight and mechanical mastery that the original did all those years ago? Well, the answer to that is: sometimes.
When developing a game, having lofty ambitions in mind for your project can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, if everything involved works in concert to execute on a well-defined creative vision, the results can be magical. However, if any of what you strive to accomplish misses the mark, each failure shines that much brighter, drawing attention to itself. Developer Piccolo's After Us falls somewhere in between these two extremes, nailing some things, but dropping the ball on others.
As of December 1st, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege is five years old. Yes, you read that right. But how to celebrate such an incredible milestone for one of the only true Games as a Service success stories? Well, how about a shiny new version of the game that offers an array of improvements? Sure, there are still plenty of issues, but if you’re torn between the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 versions, then the next-gen edition is unequivocally the superior options.
Giant Squid Studios’ debut title ABZÛ was a stunning debut for the studio founded by former thatgamecompany art director Matt Nava. Given how great that debut title was, surpassing it was never going to be an easy task. However, the team – with the help of one of the best publishers in the business, Annapurna – has not only pulled it off, but has done so with flying colours.
Ion Fury, from developer Voidpoint, has quite the interesting story. Running on a modified version of the Build Engine -- most famously used for Duke Nukem 3D -- Ion Fury is the first commercial release made with Build in 21 years. So it's with some degree of trepidation that we wade into a shooter running on 20-year-old tech. But is there any reason to actually be concerned? The best way to summarise is with a paradoxical comment: No, but also yes.
Once in a while, you stumble upon a game that absolutely blows you away. Maybe the graphics set a new industry standard, maybe it’s really funny, or maybe it’s evocative of a mood you didn’t know you wanted in a game until it hit you. This is where dev Cardboard Computer comes in, with its fascinating journey more than seven years in the making. For those unaware, Kentucky Route Zero began as a Kickstarter back in 2011, with the first of five planned episodes dropping in early 2013. As the series progressed, the gap between episodes would get increasingly larger as development grew more elaborate, but the small team’s efforts would pay off splendidly. Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition is unlike anything you’ve ever played before.
You'd be forgiven for not knowing this is actually the second time VA-11 HALL-A has graced a PlayStation platform. It released to relatively little fanfare on the PS Vita – and only the PS Vita – but now, at long last, it's found a new home on the PlayStation 4. Venezuelan developer Sukeban Games’ marvelous visual novel is here, and it’s here to stay.