Rishi Alwani's Reviews
In spite of its low visual fidelity and creaky performance, Mafia 3 is a competent game. It may not have the scope and scale of its contemporaries, but it bests them where it counts, with solid gameplay mechanics and a fantastic story. Well worth a purchase if you're hankering for a film noir-inspired romp in 1960s America.
If you were worried that the series might have lost its way with Epic Games no longer developing it, rest easy. Gears of War 4 is the ultimate package of gory, visceral gameplay, and fantastic production values. This is quite definitely one of the best, if not the very best, games in the series.
While there’s fun to be had in FIFA 17, it’s nowhere close to what it should be. Some fundamental changes to the moment to moment gameplay are detrimental to the overall experience and The Journey mode falls flat. Rather, it’s padded in all the wrong places. FIFA 17 isn’t the best effort from EA but it isn’t the worst either. There is a better football game this year, and it isn’t from EA.
If you have a PS4 or Xbox One, BioShock: The Collection is the best way to experience the series if you never played them before. For existing fans on consoles, it’s a convenient compendium for a series that’s begging for a new entry.
Nonetheless, persist and you'll bear witness to a sound narrative pay-off, a rarity in the world of gaming these days. Recore's story isn't particularly original, but it's paced well enough to keep you playing, and in our case, power through its more glaring problems. As it stands, Recore is a flawed, albeit fun, game that could have benefitted by a longer development cycle. You could do worse, you could do better, and for now with Recore the overall experience is rather middling.
Clocking in at around 25 hours, Mankind Divided is a fantastic entry in a franchise that's finally coming into its stride. If Human Revolution was the foundation for Adam Jensen's adventures, Mankind Divided builds upon it in meaningful ways. From a narrative standpoint, it's The Empire Strikes Back of cyberpunk video games - mandatory for fans and newcomers alike.
As it stands, if you were expecting The Division: Underground to do to the game what The Taken King did for Destiny, you're in for a massive disappointment. With no meaningful additions to its lore, it's a slog that tries to play up the game's great combat but does very little to make the proceedings feel perceptively different. Unless you have a ton of friends still playing it, you're better of avoiding the first expansion to The Division.
As it stands, Batman: The Telltale Series is off to a strong start, promising a contemporary retelling of a pop-culture icon while shedding light on his life outside the cowl. Wether it lives up to its promise remains to be seen, with all too familiar technical concerns marring an otherwise solid experience.
With over a 100 courses across four locations, Dangerous Golf is a bombastic romp well worth its asking price. It might not have the feature set of bigger releases or their sense of scale but laying waste to a Hall of Mirrors in a French mansion never gets old.
At [a low price], Carmageddon: Max Damage is one of the cheaper console games on the market, but that alone doesn't warrant a recommendation. The poor presentation, long load times, and clunky driving don't do it any favours either. This is one game you can safely avoid.
Thanks to its fantastic storytelling VA-11 Hall-A is a highly engaging experience wrapped in retro aesthetics. Some may argue that its simplified gameplay being subservient to storytelling does little to make it a game in the modern, mainstream sense. However, it succeeds in presenting a slice of life in a dystopian future and drives home the point that not every video game has to have you as its central character. They can just be as fun with you serving its heroes copious amounts of alcohol.
So if you're looking for your fix of Star Wars, Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens might keep you occupied. Unless you've played any game in the Lego series prior to this. Recommended for die-hard Star Wars fans and newcomers to Lego games only.
Mirror's Edge Catalyst isn't a perfect return of the 2008 cult classic and that's okay. If you're looking for a free-running romp through a city ruled by shady corporations backed up by slick controls and navigation, you can't go wrong. As long as your expectations are in check in terms of its open-world what with many a game sporting one, you'll be fine.
If you're a fan of RPGs and can stomach the repetitive nature of its environments, Odin Sphere Leifthrasir is well worth the price of entry. With so many remasters available on current generation consoles, it's a throwback to a time when game developers took risks making quirky, offbeat titles, something that seems to be missing in the console space these days.
Existing grievances aside, Hitman: Episode 3 - Marrakesh sets a rather high bar with what to expect next from developer IO Interactive. The consistent level design and wealth of options from previous entries is ramped up exponentially here with a welcome sense of scale. Although we'll have to wait to see how the entire series pans out, its current direction is promising and there's no greater proof than Agent 47's Moroccan adventure.
There's a great balance between depth and accessibility as well as the right amount of reliance on skill, and moments of magic that make Overwatch well worth playing. Combined with Blizzard's penchant for supporting games for longer than usual periods of time, make it one you should definitely check out.
Although Homefront: The Revolution's core mechanics rotten, you'd think that its rich lore could be used to flesh out the game world. But this isn't the case either. Most of its missions are similar, forcing you to reclaim enemy strongholds, and standout moments are few and far between. There's nothing memorable about Philadelphia and the characters are forgettable at best.
Sony is quickly making the PS4 the de facto place for mid-tier gems with the likes of Alienation, Firewatch, Helldivers, and Transistor available on the PlayStation Store. Shadow of the Beast simply doesn't pass muster. A little more time spent tweaking its controls and technical issues may have resulted in a better game but as it stands, it's one you can safely avoid.
Bethesda had the right idea in mind when it brought back Wolfenstein, and reviving Doom back after a prolonged spell in development hell is just as welcome. The game offers more than enough for fans to sink their teeth into, while it injects some purely-optional new ideas to keep in-step with modern games. All in all, Doom is a big, bloody gore-filled romp that is well worth experiencing.
Whether you're an old fan who played through the first game or simply someone who has heard of it over the years, Valkyria Chronicles Remastered is worth checking out. There's a fantastic narrative, smart gameplay elements, and fresh presentation that make it worth checking out despite the lack of extra features over and above the game and its DLC.