Competition for Cleared Hot

One of the obvious risks of announcing a game years before it’s ready for release, is your screenshots and vids could end up inspiring rival projects. Although Cleared Hot’s relatively high profile and lengthy gestation may not be the sole reason the Desert Strike-alike sector is now buzzing like the airspace over a freshly deposited summer cowpat, it’s difficult to believe it’s a complete coincidence.

Read MoreCompetition for Cleared Hot
Bigger, better, browner: Door Kickers 2 is almost the perfect sequel

I don’t reach for the ‘m’ word – masterpiece – very often, but describing this top-down turnless tactics game without recourse to it would be perverse. Those fifty-one months of Early Access tinkering have paid off big time. If it wasn’t for the potentially divisive theme, the lack of saving, and some minor realism failings, I’d say KillHouse had produced that rare thing, a critic-proof game.

Read MoreBigger, better, browner: Door Kickers 2 is almost the perfect sequel
More molehills, please

Simulatia and Grognardia can be awfully dour places. In realistic military and vehicular fare, frivolous details tend to be rare. While the lack of the whimsical and the extraneous arguably isn’t surprising given the development demands elsewhere, I love encountering stuff like Door Kickers 2’s gratuitous gas hobs and aerofly RC’s mischievous molehills in my digital playthings.

Read MoreMore molehills, please