
Trevor Talley
Trevor used to tell people that he writes anything 'they' pay him for and everything else. But, what he really wants to do is sit on his porch all day with a beer, listening to Berliner techno while pounding culture into his brain through a computer screen and then writing about it. Trevor subjects the internet to his musical tastes as editor of The Deli Austin and his credits include PC Gamer, the infamous Busted! Magazine and over a dozen books on Minecraft and sports (not together, though he thinks it could be done).
Franchise Hockey Manager 4 Review
There's something just so fun and satisfying about being able to take the reins and make a team in your own image, getting realistic answers to those “what if” questions that you have sitting around the TV with your friends watching the real-world counterparts of these games. In that, FHM 4 definitely succeeds, and is better than its predecessors, and I feel confident in saying that OOTPD is creating the best, deepest and most responsive sports sims that have yet been created. That said, these games still have a lot of progress to make, particularly in presenting the actual matches and, a less-solvable but still-real issue, in being approachable and not exhausting.
Total War: WARHAMMER II Review
Total War: Warhammer 2 is one of the greatest real-time strategy games made to this date. And this is entirely because of the rock-solid and fully-earned reputation that Creative Assembly has built for itself over seventeen years and over fifteen Total War real-time strategy combat games. If you care about strategy, this isn't just a game, it is the game.
Tooth and Tail Review
Tooth and Tail, also known as the Angry Russian Mouse Arcade RTS Partygame, is an innovation in perhaps the most stagnant (and one of my personal favorite) genres in gaming. It's an RTS you can play on a console, and it rewrites the RTS rulebook to force fast, ferocious partygame-style matches that still play like a strategy game. And if that weren't enough, it's beautiful and has a killer story to boot. No detail is left unpolished in this one; definitively one of the most unique and successful experiments in gaming this year, and just a good time, period.
Blood Bowl 2 - Legendary Edition Review
Blood Bowl is a brilliant iteration of a quality, fully-realized tabletop title with tons of replayability. Expensive? Yes. Niche? For sure; some people will be like “WTF? Fantasy football, but like, fantasy fantasy?” Worth it for the fans? Hell yeah. This is the bloodiest, funniest damn sports game that has or likely will ever be made, and if you dig the IP, like strategy and have the cash, I say grab it like a mad chainsaw-wielding Goblin going for the spike-covered pigskin.
Total War: WARHAMMER - Norsca Review
Yet another in an already long line of excellent pieces of DLC for what has shaped up to be a living classic in the realm of PC games. If you like the game, you'll almost definitely like this, because who doesn't want to wear a bunch of skulls like you shop at some kind of Tiffany in hell and, maybe more importantly, who doesn't want to hang out with a bunch of dragons and war mammoths, slaughtering enemy after enemy with nary a thought of going home? Just me? Didn't think so.
Race for the Galaxy Review
In all, Race for the Galaxy is a good, if not brilliant, digital remake of a popular card game. It’s not buggy or confusing, it’s got all the cards and it does all the hard work of setup and tracking the game state for you, and the game itself is just like the original, which is considered a well-made and established head-to-head economic card game. Fans of the original card game, or card games in general: get this one.
Tokyo 42 Review
While Tokyo 42 could be deeper, and it has issues with being frustrating at times, this is the rare game that becomes less problematic the more you play it. It is for brutal combat what Katamari was for puzzle games: A new way of looking at things, quite literally, and one that chooses bright joyfulness as its medium and lives up to it through its play. For less than half of what a AAA game will run you, this title is absolutely worth the time and the money, and if you find it frustrating, I encourage you to give it another few hours. Just about anyone who does will be charmed by the supersaturated, gloriously isometric, high octane, quirkily funny cyberpunk blowout that is Tokyo 42.
Mirage: Arcane Warfare Review
Magic, deep combat and multiplayer arenas = good gaming. Mirage deserves to be that Cinderella story in multiplayer mode with unique aesthetics and hardcore combat. It’s pretty, it’s deep as any other FPS or multiplayer brawler out there, and it has clearly been designed by skilled people with love for complex games and the ability to make them fun.em actually fun.
Blitzkrieg 3 Early Access Review
There are very few negative aspects to Blitzkrieg 3, which brings unexpected, fresh ideas to one of hardcore gaming’s most recently underserved areas. Blitzkrieg 3 isan exemplary real time strategy title, and it benefits tremendously from its developer’s fourteen years of work on the series and in the genre. Whether you've been with the genre since Dune II, or whether your experience with real-time strategy is somewhere in the nil-to-MOBA range, Blitzkrieg 3 is absolutely worth your time. Get this game and go kill you some Nazis today.
Algotica - Iteration 1 Review
While Algotica isn’t likely to blow your mind with excitement from its gameplay, and it’s not going to make you a master programmer, it is an excellent first step into the world of coding done up inside an adorable, engaging and truly fun indie game package, even if it’s one that has some flaws in the writing and pacing. And while it’s a lighthearted and low-stress good time to play even if taken as just a game, for those of us who have always wanted an intro into the labyrinthine world of programming but who were too overwhelmed to dive in on our own, it’s almost a godsend.
WARTILE's Fresh Take on Tabletop War Isn't Ready Yet
If you're looking for a full $20 worth of gameplay purchases, I would have to tell you that WARTILE is simply not at that level yet. It's cool, it's fun and it is deadly short. I'd like to see where it is in 6 months or so (it's taken three years to get it to where it is already), but at the moment, all WARTILE can be considered is an interesting framework for a good game without the content necessary to actually be that game.
Bucket Detective Review
When a game isn't pretty, nor long, and when its puzzles are as simple as clunky controls make them painful, then it better be good in terms of story. Bucket Detective is not. And the frustration from the lack of a good narrative is made all so much more frustrating by the fact that there is potential here in pockets, including some good humor, silly art, and cute music.
Warhammer 40,000: Sanctus Reach Review
Warhammer 40,000: Sanctus Reach provides deep gameplay with a simple recipe: easy-to-learn combat rules and units… lots and lots of unique units. Despite minor bugs and a lack of flair – no cutscenes, little narrative, not much in the way of physics – Sanctus Reach is a solid entry in the Warhammer franchise, and an excellent turn-based tactical game to boot.
Fantasy Meets Capitalism Meets Board Game in Gremlins, Inc.
Gremlins is an engrossing and exciting title that will surprise you every round and, in fact, it might be one of the best digital board games yet. OPN recommends Gremlins all the way to the bank, where we will then play a card to steal all your money and ascend to gremlin godhood.
Overpower Early Access Review
Overpower has issues and at least a bit of work to be done still to be a stable, really great thing to play, but it is worth a go or five, and who knows what it will be in the future. I’m giving it the grade I am with the caveat that, with some tweaks, it could easily jump up another point. For now, if you’re into sword-swingin’ and arena-style murderin’, give this unique little project a try. We’re giving it the official OPNoobs staff Seal O’ Fun, and that’s somethin’ you can bet the car on.
Hitman GO: Definitive Edition Review
It may never get its due in the mainstream consciousness as a tremendously important title, but Hitman: GO The Definitive Edition deserves to be considered a classic, as it is perhaps the best thing to come from mobile gaming in the medium's history to date.