VideoGamer.com Plays, 23rd January, 2016

Tom Orry, Editor – Football Manager 2016, PC

Another season full of the same old problems. All my best players want to leave because they (quite rightly) feel they could earn more money and play for Premier League clubs. My transfer budget is so small the game just laughs when I even attempt to sign anyone, and because the club had been run so badly I get a measly 10 per cent of money from all players sold. It’s madness!

To be fair, I’m not helping matters. I noticed I’ve got three players who can’t actually play for me because they haven’t got a work permit. I’m not sure how I managed to do this, but I’m trying to get them out on loan to other European clubs in order to give them a shot of being granted one. To make things worse, one of them is the best 19-year-old I’ve seen in a long time. He’s proper world class material, and he’s currently pissing about on his iPad all day or something.

Steve Burns, Deputy Editor – Resident Evil 0, PS4

Listen, there’s no easy way of saying this, but the game I’ve probably played the most over the last week or so is Resident Evil Zero. I know, I know. By now you should have read my review, where I lay down the awe-inspiring insight that a game which wasn’t all that when it came out still isn’t all that.

Anyway, I’ve had little time for games because I’ve been writing about hair, specifically David Lynch’s hair, which is magnificent and beautiful and perhaps the only thing still good in this tarnished world. Oh, and I also wrote about lore and Dark Souls and developers explaining everything, which they should probably stop doing.

Alice Bell, Junior Staff Writer – That Dragon, Cancer, PC

That Dragon, Cancer has made a lot of people and reviewers sad since it came out. I did not get sad because I haven’t been able to find a wizard that can give me a heart yet. Although I am aware that it is a Sad Thing (I’m not sure there are any circumstances in which the sentence “12 month old infant develops terminal illness” would be associated with happiness) but it is a Sad Thing which happened to someone else and therefore doesn’t make me sad. Thoughts like this are what often lead me to wonder if I might not be the teeniest bit psychopathic.

It is, however, a very interesting game to play, especially in its presentation of the Sad Thing, and most especially in its honest discussion of religious belief and how that was tested, but was always part of the family’s coping process. I did a review of it and everything.

Anyway I won’t be here next week because I’m moving house, so could someone please keep an eye on Dave’s sugar intake, and make sure he doesn’t buy every copy of Terraria Amazon has available? Thank you.

Dave Scammell, News Editor – Rainbow Six Siege, PS4

Now look, I need your advice. Do I or don’t I buy the Season Pass? It’s ridiculous, really, the idea of paying £25 for something that could technically be unlocked for free just by playing the game. But look at how much time and effort I’m going to have to sink in to unlock each new character if I don’t. 200 hours minimum to grab all eight, and that’s without taking into account the in-game currency I’ll be tempted to spend on new equipment in between, too.

It’s an odd one because, if there wasn’t the option to unlock them for free, I would have no hesitation in buying the Season Pass. It isn’t the most attractive line-up of DLC I’ve ever seen, but for a game that I haven’t been able to put down since launch, I just know I’m going to want those characters as they release, and that I’m going to feel reluctant spending 25,000 (yes, thousand) Renown on each and every time.

But this seems to be the direction some AAA games are going in, doesn’t it? Offering ‘free’ DLC in exchange for serious hours of playtime, with a Season Pass there to act as an accelerator to fans who want the content immediately. I’d never have considered purchasing a booster pack in games gone by, but perhaps this is a better way to go about it? What do you think? Have I gone mad? Should I ‘just play the game’? Let me know in the comments.