Andrew Todd's Reviews
Hitman’s second episode adds another sprawling environment in which to enjoy doing bad murders, and sports gameplay options that demonstrate the game's mechanics are on the right track. But although Hitman will likely become a solid addition to its parent series eventually, it’s hard to recommend it at this stage.
Beautiful, innovative, and empty, it’s an amazing achievement but a boring game, all breadth and no depth.
It's a triumph of writing, atmosphere, and dialogue design, let down by a story that builds up such an ungainly weight of entertaining strangeness that it can't quite stick its landing.
You might not relate to everything the Greens have to say, but you won't forget it.
EA/Coldwood's charming adventure comes apart in the gameplay.
By cobbling together cliches, Dontnod have somehow created an earnest supernatural teen drama with clunky-ass dialogue but a real sense of love behind it. I actually like the weird distance between the game and reality, likely also due to the writers' disconnect from their subject material. The cliches are played with such heart that I can't get mad. After hitting the episode's Magnolia-esque ending, I'm genuinely excited to see where the story goes from here.
The latest Telltale tale is funny, ambitious and better than the games upon which it's based.
Metal Gear Solid V is riddled with flaws - the story makes no sense and is paced woefully inconsistently, the menu systems could be a lot more intuitive, and as previously mentioned, its treatment of women could stand to improve (sigh). But damn it, the core stealth mechanics and sense of progression are so strong, it's compulsive playing.
About as exciting as watching the tide come in.
Despite its charm, Sierra's episodic reboot isn't winning any tournaments.
If you think walking slowly around an empty village sounds like a load of bollocks, this probably isn't the game for you. It's more of an immersive narrative than an action-packed piece of entertainment, and if the PS4 wasn't already struggling with frame rates in this version, I'd say it's ideal for virtual reality.
A unique infusion of roguelike mechanics into a surprisingly directed game, it's still got everything it had going for it back in 2012. Even that gamebreaking glitch.
Between its graphics, its storytelling, and its character-driven gameplay, Until Dawn represents many of the things that truly excite me about this generation of gaming.
If you liked XCOM: Enemy Unknown, you'll be right at home in XCOM 2. Frankly, Firaxis doesn't seem interested in bringing non-fans along for the ride - the lack of console support and the in-the-deep-end story and gameplay confirm that.
Blizzard has brought all its experience to bear on the design of Overwatch, and the finer details make it a joy to play.
When a dude in power armour stabs you dead for the sixth time, it doesn't invoke feelings of despair - or any feelings at all.
No amount of extra quality assurance testing would fix the basic issues at the heart of ReCore.
The core activity is a repetitive fetch quest, and narratively it has no satisfying conclusion or even any build-up. It's easy to get lost in Adrift's space environment, but in the end, Adrift is just as lost as you are.
Darkest Dungeon ain’t for everyone. It’s complex, difficult, and appeals to a specific niche of horror fandom.
Blow didn’t just meet expectations; he avoided them entirely, delivering a game that hides deceptive depth in its colourful environment.