Gaming is my main hobby these days. For the most part, I’m a retro gamer – I’m very much not a fan of DLC-laden games and the release now, patch later attitude that has crept over from the PC scene. I like being able to pick up a game, knowing that what I’m holding is the full game.
As you may be able to see from the photograph to the right, I’m a game collector. My main areas of focus are the Sega Game Gear (because I had it when I was a kid and it’s great fun) and the Sony PlayStation 2 (because it’s arguably the most successful console ever released, even beating the Atari 2600).
GameHammer
I don’t just collect consoles, I also enjoy retro computers; with a particular fondness for the Amstrad CPC, the ZX Spectrum and the Commodore Amiga. I use these consoles and computers to produce retro game reviews as part of my GameHammer series.
I have a list of games I intend to review for GameHammer but I’m always happy to hear from viewers who want to suggest a good or bad game to take a look at. If you have a game you loved (or hated – there’s nothing wrong with tearing into a bad game) from the past, do let me know and if I can get hold of a copy, I’ll happily review it.
GameHammer started out as a simple show where I would play a game and comment on it as I played but it has now turned into far more than that. The current episodes are more like a short film where the focus is a review of the game but it’s done in a far more stylised way; often taking themes from the game and running with them to make something far more entertaining to watch than a simple let’s play.
GameHammer One Shot
The point of the GameHammer One Shot spin-off series was to give a quick first impression of a game that would otherwise not get a review. These tend to be far more simple games than those that would become part of a review on the main GameHammer show.
These videos originally kept the style of the first few GameHammer videos, where it’s a simple play-and-comment video but now I’m trying to bring some more interesting editing to the videos, to make them visually more appealing.
GameHammer Extra
Sometimes a video won’t fit into either the GameHammer or GameHammer One Shot formats. Maybe it’s a top ten, maybe it’s a game room tour, or maybe it’s something else. As long as it’s game related, it will be a GameHammer Extra video.
There’s no set theme for these videos, they are written, produced and edited in whatever way is best for the video in question. I try to keep them as fast-paced and visually interesting as I can; so each one ends up looking and feeling different.
Favourite Games
I’ve played a lot of games over the years, on a lot of systems but these are the best I’ve played on each system. Sometimes it was a very difficult choice to choose a top game but I’ve put a lot of thought into which was the one that I would come back to time and time again and those are the ones I’ve put onto this list (although I have added some runners-up in brackets on a few systems because it was a really close call).
- ZX Spectrum: Manic Miner
- Amstrad CPC: Magicland Dizzy (runner-up: Uridium)
- Commodore 64: Uridium
- Nintendo Game Boy: Tetris (runner-up: Super Mario Land)
- Sega Game Gear: Columns (runners-up: Out Run, Slider)
- Sega Mega Drive: Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (runner-up: Gods)
- Super Nintendo: Super Mario World
- Sony PlayStation: Tekken 3 (runner-up: Silent Hill)
- Sony PlayStation 2: Out Run 2006 (runners-up: Guitar Hero II, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas)
- Microsoft Xbox: Project Gotham Racing 2
- Microsoft Xbox 360: Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (runners-up: Halo: Reach, Batman: Arkham City)
- PC: Civilization (runners-up: Railroad Tycoon II, Elite: Dangerous)
- Arcade: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (runners-up: Final Fight, Metal Slug 3)