Robert Zak

I'm a writer aspiring towards an as-yet not fully determined goal. For the time being, I enjoy writing about film, gaming and technology. Having previously worked as Editor of a Mobile Phone News website, I find it relieving to be writing at Explosion about things that I have a genuine child-like passion for. Despite that, expect to see cynicism towards JRPGs, harsh words for gimmicky Kinect and PS Move games, and ridiculing of the recent trend of games that somehow claim to transcend gaming and 'art' (I'm looking at you, Flower).
  • Far Cry 3

    Immersion appears to be a difficult thing to achieve in a first-person shooter for most developers. Either that, or developers just throw in the single-player...

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    Immersion appears to be a difficult thing to achieve in a first-person shooter for most developers. Either that, or developers just throw in the single-player as a side-thought to what is essentially a multiplayer-focused shooter. Ironic, given that the whole idea of this perspective is that you see the world directly through your character’s eyes....
    800
    800 points
  • Doom Classic Complete Collection

    They say that the classics never die, but this isn’t always the case. I couldn’t honestly say that the lifeless photo-faces in Goldeneye hold up...

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    They say that the classics never die, but this isn’t always the case. I couldn’t honestly say that the lifeless photo-faces in Goldeneye hold up quite like they did back in the N64’s heyday, or that Wolfenstein 3D isn’t just a bit too basic to appeal to my sense of senses which has been conditioned to demand...
    823
    823 points
  • Amnesia and Outlast: Survival horror is all well and scarier than ever

    It’s barely a month since Resident Evil 6 was released. In the gaming community, it was hoped (somewhat against hope) that the game would resurrect the one-time...

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    It’s barely a month since Resident Evil 6 was released. In the gaming community, it was hoped (somewhat against hope) that the game would resurrect the one-time iconic survival horror series. Purists of the games bemoaned that RE had lost its way after the third game, while many critics believed that the fourth outing struck the perfect cord between...
    861
    861 points
  • 5 Most Generous Game Developers and Publishers

    Most of us like to moan about how games developers are out there to bleed every penny out of our shallow pockets by peppering us...

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    Most of us like to moan about how games developers are out there to bleed every penny out of our shallow pockets by peppering us with overpriced arbitrary DLC, elitist subscription services to keep us paying for games we already paid good money for, or making us pay for ‘additional’ content that should’ve been in...
    837
    837 points
  • The Future of Kinect

    In a highly amusing video released yesterday on Kotaku, the various problems plaguing Microsoft’s current Kinect technology got neatly summed up in the Kinect tutorial...

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    In a highly amusing video released yesterday on Kotaku, the various problems plaguing Microsoft’s current Kinect technology got neatly summed up in the Kinect tutorial to the latest game in the Xbox’s ever-worsening RPG saga, Fable: The Journey.  Putting aside the fact that it’s a pretty shoddy game that’s a million miles from the charming fairy-tale RPG...
    811
    811 points
  • Booth babes; Get rid of ’em

    We all like booth babes at games expos, right? Or do we just say we like them because in this phallocratic society we’re living in that’s what...

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    We all like booth babes at games expos, right? Or do we just say we like them because in this phallocratic society we’re living in that’s what we should say. Of course, for many a sexually-deprived gamer booth babes will be as close as they can get to a beautiful woman in the flesh, but who really...
    817
    817 points
  • Counter-Strike: Global Operations

    Like many things that come from the beacon of innovation that is Valve software, Counter-Strike was revolutionary for its time. Aside from bringing intense squad-based gameplay to...

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    Like many things that come from the beacon of innovation that is Valve software, Counter-Strike was revolutionary for its time. Aside from bringing intense squad-based gameplay to the masses, the game also spawned international gaming tournaments where you could win  real money. Yes, Counter-Strike has left a huge impact crater on the world, and we owe a hell...
    824
    824 points
  • Top 3 Indie Games at Eurogamer Expo 2012

    Despite being an utterly awesome event that lets us European gamers get our paws on the games that people in other parts of the world...

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    Despite being an utterly awesome event that lets us European gamers get our paws on the games that people in other parts of the world got to sample months earlier, Eurogamer isn’t generally the place to discover wonderful new games that we haven’t heard of before. One area of the Expo that’s always a mine...
    831
    831 points
  • God of War Ascension Hands-On

    One of the big issues I had with God of War III is that it dehumanised the already-inhumane Kratos. In earlier games, there was some semblance of...

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    One of the big issues I had with God of War III is that it dehumanised the already-inhumane Kratos. In earlier games, there was some semblance of a motive behind his actions, abhorrent though they were. After the third game, I frankly just came away thinking he was a bit of a dick; worse still, I helped...
    820
    820 points
  • Prison Architect interview: We talk gangs, rehab, and reward/penalty systems in this deep prison-builder

    I didn’t know much about Prison Architect before going to Eurogamer. The game from Introversion software (the brains behind Darwinia and Uplink) looks charmingly simple,...

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    I didn’t know much about Prison Architect before going to Eurogamer. The game from Introversion software (the brains behind Darwinia and Uplink) looks charmingly simple, with its almost Theme Park-but-better style graphics. However, after the developer sessions with Mark Morris and Chris Delay revealing the game’s intricacy, I was utterly obsessed about find out more....
    895
    895 points
  • Hitman: Absolution Hands-on: we get our hands dirty with the Hitman

    The Hitman series has always had a special place in my heart. Right from the days of Hitman: Codename 47 back in 2000, I have been hooked...

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    The Hitman series has always had a special place in my heart. Right from the days of Hitman: Codename 47 back in 2000, I have been hooked on the series’ open-ended and improvisational approach to, well, murdering people. There were times when I would dip into the games just to go on a shooting rampage with my...
    858
    858 points
  • Far Cry 3 Hands-On: We plunge into Ubisoft’s crazy tropical paradise

    Ever since Crytek and Ubisoft went their separate ways after the wonderful open-world shooter that was Far Cry, gamers have been spoiled with two divergent,...

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    Ever since Crytek and Ubisoft went their separate ways after the wonderful open-world shooter that was Far Cry, gamers have been spoiled with two divergent, but accomplished first-person shooters. On the one hand we got Crysis, which took the Future Tech and aliens concepts from the original game, gave them a graphical glossing with the CryEngine, and...
    859
    859 points
  • Interview: Carmageddon Reincarnation coming to PS3 and Xbox 360

    One of the corners of Eurogamer that I was particularly intrigued with was the Carmageddon booth. I managed to pull aside Stainless Games’ Neil ‘Nobby’...

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    One of the corners of Eurogamer that I was particularly intrigued with was the Carmageddon booth. I managed to pull aside Stainless Games’ Neil ‘Nobby’ Barnden and Patrick Buckland for an interview. In what felt strangely fitting, I ended up interviewing them by some wheelie bins in some obscure corner of the Earl’s Court Exhibition...
    854
    854 points
  • Game-streaming on cable TV: The biggest threat to games consoles?

    It’s been clear for a good couple of years now that gaming – and computing as a whole – is moving towards the realm of...

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    It’s been clear for a good couple of years now that gaming – and computing as a whole – is moving towards the realm of clouds, digital downloads and online streaming. To an extent, these breakthroughs have been considered as something that could coexist peacefully with games consoles. Sony, for instance, recently purchased the game-streaming...
    856
    856 points
  • Why MMOs don’t work on consoles

    One of the areas in which PC gaming has always had the upper hand over its console counterparts is the MMO market. While there have...

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    One of the areas in which PC gaming has always had the upper hand over its console counterparts is the MMO market. While there have been a few moderately successful  console MMOs in the past, such as Final Fantasy for the PS2 and Xbox 360, for the most part they seem to be unsuccessful and...
    822
    822 points
  • Video-Games: A Haven for sexism, or pseudo-digi-sexism

    In some ways, it’s crazy to think that women were given the right to vote in most parts of the Western world a mere 90...

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    In some ways, it’s crazy to think that women were given the right to vote in most parts of the Western world a mere 90 or so years ago. The idea of people not being allowed to vote based on, well, just about anything is an almost laughable thought for most people of this generation....
    845
    845 points