Chris Scullion – Tired Old Hack

The 10 Best Games of 2023

Published on January 8, 2024January 8, 2024 by Chris ScullionLeave a comment

This article is available in both written and video format. The video shows the games in action in full 4K and 60 frames per second while I read the article as a voiceover, so if you watch the video you won’t need to read the written article that follows since it’s the same ‘script’. The video can be viewed here:

Another year has passed, and it’s fair to say it’s been one of the best in terms of game releases (even if it’s been one of the worst for the business itself). Not that I necessarily got much exposure to a lot of this year’s AAA releases, mind you: mainly because of various plate-spinning antics at the start of the year, and the small matter of the Game Boy Encyclopedia proving much more complicated than expected, yer man missed out on a lot of 2023‘s best games.

What this does mean, at least, is that my Best Games of 2023 list should be a little more unusual than the others you’ll have seen to date, because the number of AAA games featured is relatively low. Hopefully, then, my downfall will have its benefits here, as you might stumble upon something you may be less familiar with.

Because of a household illness which started on Boxing Day and is only just beginning to let up now, this video comes a little later than usual. However, now that I can string a sentence together without sounding like John Hurt playing the Elephant Man, I finally present my 10 favourite games of 2023.

As with every year’s list, there are a few caveats to bear in mind before we get started:

• This is in alphabetical order, not best to worst. I can’t be arsed deciding whether a game was my 7th or 8th favourite of the year. They’re all great: get them all.

• Before you even think about writing a comment saying this, I didn’t “forget” anything. As I’ve already explained, the reason my list looks very different from most of the others you’ve seen so far isn’t an attempt to be quirky or pretentious, it’s just because I reviewed very few of this year’s AAA games, and because this is my personal list I can only pick from what I’ve played. So no, I didn’t forget Tears of the Kingdom, Spider-Man 2, Alan Wake 2 or Baldur’s Gate 3: they’re just all on my backlog and I haven’t gotten round to playing them yet.

That said, let’s get cracking! Continue reading “The 10 Best Games of 2023” →

The fortnight in games: Xbox Series X and PS5 specs, Mario Lego

Published on March 24, 2020March 24, 2020 by Chris ScullionLeave a comment

It’s been a fortnight since my last Fortnight in Games article, so logic dictates that it’s time for another one.

In case you missed it last time, The Fortnight in Games is a bi-weekly rundown of the bigger and more interesting stories that have happened in the gaming world, with a healthy helping of shit jokes dolloped in for good measure.

As ever, each story below contains a link to the fantastic Video Games Chronicle (VGC), the spiritual successor to CVG and the best site for high quality, well-researched daily gaming news.

If any of the below stories tickles your fancy and you’d like more information, just follow their respective links and VGC will give you all the details. Continue reading “The fortnight in games: Xbox Series X and PS5 specs, Mario Lego” →

FREE – Yer man Scullion’s two movie review ebooks

Published on March 16, 2020 by Chris ScullionLeave a comment

I obviously love video games, but I also have a love for horror movies: especially weird, cheesy or just plain terrible ones.

Before I started Tired Old Hack, I had my own site dedicated to these movies, which went by the name of That Was A Bit Mental. It’s still around, it just hasn’t been updated for a wee while.

When writing about video games was my full-time job, TWABM was my hobby and my way of experimenting with my writing style: it was my way of relaxing, because I was able to write freely without worrying about the editorial control that comes with writing for a publication owned by a company.

When CVG was closed down and I went freelance, I set up Tired Old Hack, and it rapidly replaced TWABM as my outlet for writing in my own style. As such, Tired Old Hack is now the site I use to relax and experiment with my writing style, while TWABM lies there like one of the many zombies dotted among its pages.

During the height of my TWABM phase I wrote two ebooks, each offering special ‘extended versions’ of 100 reviews from the site, with extra jokes, little bits of trivia at the end and advice on where to get them on DVD. I’ve had these ebooks on Amazon’s Kindle Store for a while now and they’ve always brought in a few quid here and there.

With the coronavirus currently doing the rounds and more of us being confined to our homes as each day passes, I figured I’d try to help you pass the time by offering you both ebooks for free. That’s 200 reviews of weird movies, spread out over some 180,000 words.

They’re in PDF format and are just saved as basic text, so you can either read them right away by clicking the links below or save them and read them on any e-reader app or device that suits you.

Fill your boots!

That Was A Bit Mental vol 1 (PDF)

That Was A Bit Mental vol 2 (PDF)

The fortnight in games: E3 resignations, Kojima’s rant, sweat sensors

Published on March 8, 2020 by Chris ScullionLeave a comment

In today’s busy times, it’s sometimes difficult to keep on top of all the big gaming news.

Although there are a number of high quality websites out there reporting news on a daily basis, sometimes there just aren’t enough hours in the day to sift through hundreds of articles.

Yer man Scullion is here to help with The Fortnight in Games, a fortnightly (obviously) rundown of the bigger and more interesting stories of the past two weeks.

Every story below contains a link to the wonderful Video Games Chronicle (VGC), the spiritual successor to CVG and the very best place for high quality, well researched daily gaming news (and I’m not just saying that because I write the odd review for them).

If you want to know about any of the stories you see below, clink on their respective links to head to VGC and get significantly more detail. And fewer shit jokes, which is an extra bonus.

If you enjoy this article, let me know and spread the word. If it becomes popular enough I’ll happily do it every fortnight. Now let’s get cracking. Continue reading “The fortnight in games: E3 resignations, Kojima’s rant, sweat sensors” →

Capcom Home Arcade review

Published on January 7, 2020January 13, 2020 by Chris ScullionLeave a comment

We’re very much living in the age of the mini system, with practically every relevant company eagerly miniaturising its consoles and computers in the hope that lightning will strike again with the same intensity of the NES Mini.

These mini systems almost always come with full-sized controllers, which makes perfect sense: after all, it’s all well and good shrinking a Mega Drive down to a fifth of the size but the technology doesn’t exist yet to shrink our hands to the same degree.

What happens, though, when the original control method wasn’t that small to begin with? What if the system was, say, a dirty big arcade cabinet? Cue the Capcom Home Arcade, the ‘mini’ system that’s bigger than pretty much every full-sized one.

Containing an interesting selection of 16 Capcom arcade titles spanning from 1988 to 2001, the Capcom Home Arcade is huge in plenty of ways, from its dimensions to its price tag, to… okay, it’s huge in two ways.

Does it justify dropping £200 on the bastard though? Let’s find out. Continue reading “Capcom Home Arcade review” →

Allow me to reintroduce myself: Tired Old Hack returns to full speed

Published on December 24, 2019December 24, 2019 by Chris Scullion2 Comments

Friends, it’s been a while.

Earlier this year I found myself spinning a hell of a lot of plates. Not only was I dealing with the usual juggling act of my 9-to-5 job, my freelance work and my Tired Old Hack work, I was also still getting used to the ‘new father’ role: my daughter only turned a year old this past June.

In the second half of this year another fairly large plate was added to the mix in the shape of the SNES Encyclopedia, another 180,000 word epic that soaked up all my free time.

IMG_20191118_164245 — You can blame this one for the lack of regular content. The kid, not Shenmue III. I haven’t even had time to start that one yet

Eventually some of the plates had to stop spinning, for the sake of my own health. The first was my 9-to-5 job: I decided to take a financial hit and drop down to two days a week, so I could watch my daughter for the other three days.

Because the move to part-time meant freelance money was more important than ever, and because I was also contractually obliged to finish the SNES Encyclopedia in time, I had to temporarily stop another plate spinning: Tired Old Hack.

Since I started the SNES Encyclopedia in June, I’ve written just 14 articles on the site. They weren’t all full-fat articles, either: two of them were linking to YouTube videos I’d made, two were podcasts and two were Game Club articles, essentially inviting readers to play a game together.

That leaves eight ‘proper’ written articles in six months: this is nowhere near the level I wanted to hit, but there simply weren’t enough hours in the day, and the reality was that my paid commitments had to take priority.

Finally, however, my situation has changed: the SNES Encyclopedia has been written and sent off to the publisher, Serena’s a little older now and is a little easier to take care of, and I’ve set a routine in place that means when I start on my third book it’ll no longer take over my life like the SNES one did.

What this ultimately means is that I can finally do something I’ve been looking forward to doing for months: I’m picking up that plate, putting it back on the pole and spinning it again, with the aim of not stopping it this time.

Welcome to the return of Tired Old Hack. Continue reading “Allow me to reintroduce myself: Tired Old Hack returns to full speed” →

TOH Game Club 5 – Breath of Fire I & II

Published on December 10, 2019February 6, 2025 by Chris ScullionLeave a comment

We’ve had four Tired Old Hack Game Clubs now. The first two were a success, with oodles of players joining forces to play Zelda II and StarTropics together. Then we tried with Earthbound and Phantasy Star and the numbers dropped drastically.

The formula now seems clear: folk are happy to get involved if they don’t have to spend much money (which is understandable). So, with the Switch now in possession of a growing number of SNES games, let’s go with one of those. Or two of them, as it were. Continue reading “TOH Game Club 5 – Breath of Fire I & II” →

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Switch) review

Published on September 20, 2019September 20, 2019 by Chris Scullion2 Comments

Nintendo / Grezzo
Nintendo Switch

When it comes to the Legend of Zelda series, one game stands out in particular as something of a black horse: a game that defies the normal conventions of the series and introduces a bunch of new ideas.

That game, of course, is Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.

What’s that? You were expecting it to be Link’s Awakening? Nah mate, Zelda II. It’s proper side-scrolling and everything. Give it a go, it’s good.

Anyway, I’m digressing. You’re here to read about the Switch version of Link’s Awakening, so let me cut to the chase: it’s bloody good. Not without its issues, but bloody good nonetheless. Continue reading “The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Switch) review” →

Nintendo / Grezzo Nintendo Switch

Nintendo / Grezzo
Nintendo Switch