gaming
theartsdesk |

We are bowled over! 

We knew that theartsdesk.com had plenty of supporters out there – we’ve always had a loyal readership of arts lovers and professionals alike – but the response to our appeal to help us relaunch and reboot has been something else.

Jon Turney |

For a couple of decades, the free video game America’s Army was a powerful recruitment aid for the US military. More than a shoot-em-up, players might find themselves dressing virtual wounds, struggling to co-ordinate tactics with their squad, and facing other supposedly realistic aspects of active service. The realism, of course, had one strict limit. If you died, you could reset the game and play again.

Steve O'Rourke
Rage 2 is a wacky Dayglo-infused post-apocalyptic world filled with various different factions who, for one reason or another, want you dead. Think…
Steve O'Rourke
Based on the 2006 book of the same name, and set in the same universe as the 2013 film adaptation, World War Z follows groups of survivors of a…
Steve O'Rourke
The LEGO Movie 2 Videogame is based on events that take place in The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part film that came out in February. The story begins…

Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take a subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?

Steve O'Rourke
A rocky start for a new franchise that offers potential and problems in equal measure
Steve O'Rourke
Nearly a decade has passed since the last incarnation but little has changed in this stagnant shooter
Steve O'Rourke
The veteran series returns for another ambitious tour of duty
Steve O'Rourke
When home runs go horribly wrong
Steve O'Rourke
An ambitious Wild West odyssey that matches epic scale with benchmark skill
Steve O'Rourke
Solo rations have been relegated from this benchmark war series
Steve O'Rourke
It looks and plays great, but what’s new?
Alfred Quantrill
A comprehensive look at gaming present and future has surprisingly broad appeal
Steve O'Rourke
Swinging in the city with the arachnid avenger
Steve O'Rourke
High tech meets high calibre in this year’s list of gaming’s brightest sparks
Steve O'Rourke
A comprehensive management sim where you feed the exhibits, the punters and your bank balance
theartsdesk
In association with The Hospital Club's h.Club100 Awards, we're looking for the best cultural writers, bloggers and vloggers
Steve O'Rourke
A big budget interactive story where your decisions can flip the script
theartsdesk
Enter our competition to win a spectacular weekend at England's finest arts festival
Steve O'Rourke
Father-son adventure is a slick and gorgeous spectacle
Steve O'Rourke
God, guns and the great outdoors
Steve O'Rourke
Bring out your wild side in this strange survivalist simulation
Steve O'Rourke
Why bob and weave when you can ground and pound?
Steve O'Rourke
Quality nearly matches quantity
Steve O'Rourke
The force is less strong with this one
Steve O'Rourke
Little blocks, big heroes, loads of fun
Steve O'Rourke
The veteran franchise returns for another bout of epic war games
theartsdesk
News from The Hospital Club's annual awards for the creative industries, plus theartsdesk's Young Reviewer of the Year
Steve O'Rourke
Slicker and slower, the latest version of the football bestseller takes its time to shine

the future of arts journalism

You can stop theartsdesk.com closing! 

We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d

And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.

latest in today

We are bowled over! We knew that theartsdesk.com had plenty of supporters out there – we’ve always had a loyal readership of arts…
There was so much to be thankful for throughout the three days I spent at the Aldeburgh Festival this year. First, of course, to have…
Fifty years since Benjamin Britten died, and his operas are still in repertory: half a dozen of them at least. It’s a tribute to his…
One sometimes finds oneself wondering whether Harlan Coben is an author or a set of AI procedures designed to manufacture plots of…
Calcutta plays an important supporting role in Satyajit Ray’s The Big City (Mahanagar), though we only catch glimpses of it until the film’…
Language is a weapon in the RSC’s vigorous adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac ­– we feel viscerally that wordplay is just one letter away…
VINYL OF THE MONTHEd O’Brien Blue Morpho (Transgressive) Image The last thing…
Terrorists are monsters. Or so we are told – pure evil. Well, it makes a good story. Even if it isn’t completely true. Actually, most…
Judging from her second album, young country singer Willow Avalon has kissed her fair share of frogs. She doesn’t let them off the hook.…
Modesty is the last refuge of fantasy franchises once too big to fail. Much like The Mandalorian and Grogu and Captain America: Brave New…

Most read

Fifty years since Benjamin Britten died, and his operas are still in repertory: half a dozen of them at least. It’s a tribute to his…
When Lahti’s Sibelius Hall finally shone and coruscated into life in 2000, the 100,000 citizens of this modest Finnish town, not to mention…
VINYL OF THE MONTHEd O’Brien Blue Morpho (Transgressive) Image The last thing…
Jews may or may not have built the pyramids, but we know for certain that they built Hollywood. The names of the men who founded MGM, 20th…
The lakeside beach that is the only scene of action in Alain Guiraudie’s Stranger by the Lake is a concentrated crucible of desires. The…
Aptly scheduled for our Great British Heatwave, writer Catherine Shepherd’s eight-part drama whisks us away to a remote Greek island, where…
Some years after Chronicles (2004) a book that broke moulds and delighted with its originality, and as with albums that often came with…
Reviewed this month with the windows open, in weather hot enough to warp records, this month theartsdesk on Vinyl casts two ears over 34…
The Old Man and the Land depicts a worn-out sheep farmer going about his dreary business as the seasons pass, darkly and dankly. He does it…
He wouldn't teach English, Toby Jones says. But drama? "Maybe," he pauses, "drama in the widest possible sense of the word, because it is…