...a solid addition to an already well established franchise.
Forza Motorsport 6 is a truly fantastic racing simulator
As a franchise, it seems to have lost its way.
Sadly for all concerned, especially those that had pre-ordered and had been counting down the days, Rory McIlroy PGA Tour is a huge disappointment on multiple levels and if there was a viable alternative then it wouldn't do anywhere the numbers it likely will do in the first few weeks of launch. Please EA, go back to the drawing board and invest.
Batman: Arkham Knight is a very good game, held back from greatness by some odd design decisions.
Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China is sadly a bit of a let down. Gorgeous to look at, fiddly to control and a tad dull to experience, this is yet another AC iteration that falls flat. A bold idea, poorly executed.
There isn't anything particularly bad about Battlefield Hardline, it's solid enough, but one cannot help but lean towards those initial detractors who were very vocal in the run up to launch. Despite a clearly big effort and no doubt a ton of money, we are still without a decent Battlefield campaign and what we are left with is a Battlefield off shoot with no long term life in it.So there we have it, a Battlefield game with weak single player and solid if underwhelming multiplayer - absolutely no one saw this coming.
Co-op is always a hoot and Zombie Army Trilogy proves that your game doesn't have to be a massive triple AAA, technically breathtaking piece of pseudo art to be a success. Sure it is rough around the edges, although less than it used to be on the PC and of course the gameplay along with the environments will get a little tiring after a while, but Rebellion seem to get this and have priced accordingly. For at most, £24.99 (UK RRP), you are getting Nazi zombies, slow mo sniping, bone-breaking impact close ups, robust four-player co-op, some Horde modes and to top it all off you get to shoot Hitler in the nads. No masterpiece then, but perfect Friday night entertainment.
The key problem with the expansion is that Saints Row has now become impossible to one up, even by its makers, due in no small part to the fact that it went off the scale bonkers in the main Saints Row IV adventure. Mix this in with the fact that the port is poor, bordering on shoddy, and you are left with a game that looks last gen, plays last gen and offers very little in the way of new content.
Unlike some of the better previous titles like LEGO Batman 2 and LEGO Marvel, LEGO Batman 3 feels more claustrophobic, smaller in scale and lacks that open feel that the aforementioned titles gave us. There is a lot of content for your money, albeit nothing new and the little ones won't be disappointed but it just isn't as good as previous efforts. A handful of poor design decisions, the odd ropey celebrity cameo and a smattering of technical issues along with a small dose of LEGO game fatigue all add up to a slightly underwhelming experience. Good, but don't expect evolution.
It looks fantastic - the gun play, whilst different from your standard Call of Duty fare, is solid, the open world is huge, bursting with life and activities to undertake plus they've finally realised what makes Far Cry so great - freedom to blow stuff up as you please. Technically fantastic, a joy to play for the most part and an awful lot of game for your money.
On sheer value for money alone The Master Chief Collection is a fantastic proposition, add in that it contains some of the highest regarded Xbox titles of all time, touched up, enhanced and fit for a whole new generation of players, it's quite simply a must buy.
Yes there is high cost to entry and an even higher one should you wish to experience everything on the disc but once you are on board what you will find is a very well crafted, fun, good looking experience which strikes the perfect balance between young, old, experienced and casual gamers alike. Arguably the best entry in a franchise which shows no signs of withering.
Sunset Overdrive is solid if underwhelming romp in parts which admirably sets out to poke fun at itself, along with the genre, and inject some joy into proceedings. At times it does, too often it doesn't and it ultimately comes off as a mix of Jak and Daxter along with Tony Hawk minus a lot of the tight gameplay that made those successful. It's really not a system seller, making the Sunset console an oddity but it is a solid open world franchise template which will hopefully improve if we see a sequel in time. Decent but not quite as much fun as it should be.
Forza Horizon 2 is simply a joy to play - combining the gorgeous graphics, authentic but forgiving car handling, a wealth of single player content along with some fantastic social features. The the Xbox One does appear to have its first killer app.
Disney Infinity 2.0 is lacking in content, even after you have paid out in excess of ~120 for all the available playsets, and sadly what content there is is bland, repetitive and generally uninspiring. The toy box is the package's saving grace, offering a Minecraft like experience chock full of your Disney favourites. Kids will nag their parents to buy it and the figures themselves are really well made collectibles, it's just a shame that if dad grabs the pad for some split screen co-op he's going to be highly annoyed at the value for money the package represents. Fun, but far too brief and as a result very expensive.
Unpolished to the point of seeming unfinished in places, The Golf Club isn't a rival to the EA Sports Tiger Woods franchise but is more of a throwback to the hardcore, simulation days of Links. It will likely find a home with a specific group of players and the course creator will also likely add a ton of replay value for that group. The masses however may be put off by the lack of polish, the lack of progression mechanics and the tricky controls.
Valiant Hearts: The Great War is a graphically superb puzzler, tackling historical events that are not perhaps known to everyone and doing it in a lighthearted, yet respectful manner. Gameplay wise it's not going to challenge but the story, the characters and the emotional response that the combined product will evoke in players is easily enough to justify the asking price.
Gripes aside though, the story, LA Noire - like investigations and general tone of the game pull it through. It's interesting, ominous at times and has a really solid atmosphere throughout. Not a masterpiece and sadly quite flawed in places but ultimately at a time where game releases are few and far between, you could do a lot worse than play through Murdered: Soul Suspect.
It's arguably not fair to criticise a Lego game for being a Lego game but having seen three on the Xbox One (or PS4) since its launch, it is becoming more and more difficult to hold back the feeling of repetition. Lego The Hobbit is better than The Lego Movie Videogame but that's not a massive accomplishment and sadly neither are as good as Lego Marvel.