This is a show about videogames, the people who play them and the people who make them. Each episode, a guest talks about the games that have shaped their life in one way or another. Games that have inspired them, games that have forged connections & games that have soothed wounds. Checkpoints!

My guest on today's episode is Brendan Keogh, a Brisbane-based critic, journalist, and academic. He's written a book about Spec Ops - The Line, tons of amazing articles for places like Edge, Polygon, The New Statesman, Ars Technica and as of this year has started making some games for fun.

Brendan Keogh wrote a thesis about Grand Theft Auto 4 and a book about Spec Ops - The Line so you know the type of episode this is going to be. There are two fine beards either end of a Skype call and they will be stroked. Also bonus cameo from Brendan's dog.

PLUS - how he wore out a controller playing Geometry Wars 2, why he loves the weight of GTA 4, the evergreen pleasures of Doom, why Binary Domain is an overloooked classic, why Alien Isolation works so well and, in a term I'm definitely going to steal, why Far Cry 2 is his chicken soup game.

"Let's go to bowling!"

PATREON - patreon.com/checkpoints

iTunes HERE - SUBSCRIBE / RATE / REVIEW

Games discussed: Grand Theft Auto 4, Spec Ops The Line, Catacombs of Solaris, Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Alien Isolation, Call of Duty, Minecraft, Far Cry 2, Zelda BOTW, Nuclear Throne, Tiny Tower, Geometry Wars 2, Final Fantasy 7, Just Cause 2, Flightmare, Time Crisis, Doom, Kong, Striker