Richard Wakeling

Every news article I've written for GameSpot can be found here.

Planet of Lana begins in the quaint fishing village its titular protagonist calls home. As you chase after your older sister, stumbling at times--which elicits laughter from big sis--you're afforded time to get to grips with the game's 2D platforming, jumping and climbing over the wooden docks, platforms, and rooftops that make up this small but dense town. After passing through a bustling market where people are selling strawberries and freshly-caught fish, you sneak past a chef chopping up ...

The Boltgun is perhaps Warhammer 40,000's most iconic weapon, yet it took until now for a video game to really nail its pulverizing impact. The Space Marine's Bolter (as it's commonly known) is not the machine gun equivalent it's often portrayed as in other games. This powerful firearm is essentially a rapid-fire rocket launcher, capable of penetrating almost any armor and then blowing up the Imperium's enemies from the inside out. Developer Auroch Digital clearly understood the assignment wi...

EA Sports PGA Tour is unlike any other golf game I've played. It still features familiar elements from the series' past--back when Tiger Woods was front and center--such as slow-motion heartbeat moments and climactic power shots. But after an eight-year hiatus from the world of golf simulation, EA has returned to the fairway with a more demanding recreation of the sport that's as much about feel as it is mastering the game's robust mechanics. With 30 courses covering all four majors--includin...

By exploring the Negro Leagues and some of its most notable players, MLB The Show 23 shines a spotlight on an important part of baseball and American history.
Jackie Robinson is many things: a hall of fame baseball player; a Rookie of the Year, MVP, and World Series winner; and, most notably, the first Black man to break baseball's color line and compete in the Major Leagues. The legendary number 42 made his Brooklyn Dodgers debut in 1947 and lit up the diamond with his electric playstyle, al...

The legendary Shawn Michaels retired from pro wrestling in 1998 after suffering a career-ending back injury at the Royal Rumble. No one expected him to lace up his boots and step back into the ring again, yet the Heartbreak Kid made a triumphant return in 2002, eventually going on to cement his legacy with unforgettable matches against the likes of Triple H, The Undertaker, and Ric Flair. The quality of the second half of Michaels' career ensured that his surprise comeback would be remembered...

The first boss fight in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is right up there with the toughest first bosses in video game history. This opening battle pits you against Zhang Liang of the Yellow Turbans, as you clash in a kinetic two-phase fight to the death. It's an intense skill check that challenges your prowess of Wo Long's mechanics almost immediately. In many ways, it feels like a rite of passage for the rest of the game and a bold statement of intent from developer Team Ninja. I initially loved ho...

Wild Hearts latches onto the familiar gameplay loop of Monster Hunter and infuses it with a fast-paced crafting system that lets you build your way to victory.

You only need to glance at Wild Hearts for a moment to see the similarities it shares with Capcom's Monster Hunter series. Both games are about exploring large, open areas--either alone or with other players--to find and defeat giant monsters, then harvesting and using their parts to craft better weapons and armor. Developer Omega Forc...

Hi-Fi Rush is an excellent break from the norm for the horror buffs at Tango Gameworks, meshing the energetic combat of a character-action brawler with the toe-tapping beats of a stylish rhythm game.
The very first boss fight in Hi-Fi Rush pits you against a giant robot that wants to crush and eat you. In order to defeat this mechanical titan, you need to wail on it with a guitar that's cobbled together from scrap metal, timing each of your attacks to the up-tempo beat of Nine Inch Nails' "1,000,000." Developer Tango Gameworks is obviously known for its whimsy, but it was previously confine...

The Dead Space remake may not feel entirely necessary, but it improves upon the original with some smart new additions to almost every aspect of its design.
14 years is a long time in the video games industry, yet it still doesn't feel like quite long enough for EA’s Dead Space. The original 2008 game is a modern classic that holds up exceedingly well by today's standards. There's very little that feels dated about its design, and the strategic dismemberment that forms the basis of its combat...

"Baldur is blessed with invulnerability to all threats, physical or magical," Mimir explains to Kratos and his son Atreus in 2018's God of War. Yet as soon as Sindri, the dwarven blacksmith, gave a bundle of mistletoe arrows to the young god, I knew Baldur's fate was sealed.
I'm not an expert on Norse mythology, but the fables of Odin, Thor, the giants, a...

Need for Speed Unbound delights with a vibrant new art style and some exciting arcade racing, but familiar issues are as frustrating as an inopportune oil slick
The first thing that jumps out when starting Need for Speed Unbound is its vibrant art style. At a time when most other racing games are striving for photorealism, EA's latest distinguishes itself from the rest of the grid by adopting a stylized mix between reality and comic books. While its cars land on the side of realism, the chara...

Evil West's kinetic combat thrills as you dismember vampires by the bucket load, but it's dragged down by level design that's both formulaic and repetitive.
Evil West asks a simple question: What if cowboys fought vampires? It's the kind of off-the-wall thinking that gets a Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford movie greenlit, and developer Flying Wild Hog certainly gets a lot of mileage out of its whimsical concept. Set in an alternate version of 1890s America, Evil West is the Wild West at its wil...

Sonic Frontiers marks a bold new direction for the series, meshing traditional Sonic action with an open-ended approach to progression and exploration across its semi-open world.
From the moment it was first revealed, it was clear that Sonic Frontiers is quite unlike any of its predecessors. Sonic's 3D adventures have been more miss than hit throughout the blue hedgehog's 31-year existence. For every Sonic Generations, there's been a Sonic Boom or Sonic '06 leaving behind a bitter taste and f...

New additions to The Mercenaries make the Winters' Expansion for Resident Evil Village worthwhile, but Shadows of Rose is a fleeting slice of forgettable story DLC.
The Winters' Expansion includes Shadows of Rose, the first piece of story DLC for Resident Evil Village, which picks up 16 years after that game concluded and introduces Ethan Winters' teenage daughter, Rose, as a playable character. Rose has unique powers at her disposal that make her feel distinct from the many other protagonist...