It is simply not good enough. With Sports Interactive offering Football Manager Touch - the streamlined version of their game, for the same price, and without any explicit micro-transactions - any incentive to recommend Club Soccer Director PRO 2020 is severely curtailed.
While any content added to Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV is obviously welcomed, the Diplomacy and Strategy Expansion Pack sadly falls far short of what is to be expected, considering the significant cost of the additions. With just two headline gameplay features and no change to how the base game operates, this is very much a disappointing development. It would be great if Koei took stock at this point on just where the series is at in comparison with some heavy competition in this genre, and went all out to make the RTK franchise what it deserves to be.
The best word to describe this? Lacking.
In some ways, Siegecraft Commander works well for the VR medium; it introduces an apt and engaging control mechanism with the structure flinging. In addition, the control of the map and units and the touches of love in the UI all are positive things. The disappointing part is that the main gameplay on top of those things is just simply not anywhere near engaging or interesting enough to make for a great experience. Battles, whilst having a touch of strategic thought, more often than not descend into a boring slog of tower-defence mechanics. Similarly, the campaign is not interesting or lengthy enough to pull the rest of the game up to standard. It's not the cheapest VR strategy title on the market, either, and with multiplayer effectively dead, the chances of having a long-term relationship with Siegecraft Commander looks rather unlikely.
The fact that there are a number of quirks still to work out with this kind of title is not really a surprise. This is a new medium; the early adopters are jumping on a virtual reality journey that will take many years to realise its full potential. That said, developers have a responsibility to do everything they can to make the experience as smooth and rewarding as possible. Alice VR fails to do this, with a movement setup that does nothing to persuade the player to endure the discomfort. For the price, if being judged as a non-VR title, the content and quality is extremely lacking. It is only the natural immersion that VR brings that elevates the experience. There is a very pleasant looking world here, and the outside sections are the best bits, but that alone isn't enough - gameplay is still paramount.
Apex Legends is a live service experience, so there are reasons to be optimistic about the future of the title. The best advice at the moment to is to turn off cross-play and just compete against others with the same limitations. At its core, though, there is something really good here. Unfortunately, it's just hidden behind a wall of technical issues in terms of graphics, frame rate, resolution and overall stability. Panic Button is the king of Switch ports, though, and it feels like the developer deserves the chance to try and put this right. Fix the stability, adjust the graphics and work on cross-progression. If Panic Button can put things right, it will enhance its reputation to no end.
For a title that is both modestly priced and was also developed by just a small team, The Guise is a valiant attempt at making a Metroidvania-esque title in a gaming world packed with similar efforts. It is a visually striking world that is memorable, with an enjoyable but maybe not so complex fairytale story. While the abilities Ogden can collect do mix things up a bit when it comes to combat, the patterns of enemies make things just a little too simplistic, while at the same time frustrations around the fluidity of controlling Ogden increase that. There is some good fun to be had here, and the boss battles are a highlight among a story that is simple but enjoyable. However, it is possibly not a game likely to stick in the mind over other better executed attempts.
Detached is a tricky experience to make an individual conclusion on and the verdict given might not reflect what a lot of people may feel when they experience it themselves. As with so many VR titles, and as referenced above, the physical experience of the title reflects a lot of what shapes the opinion. Some people are better versed to cope with the demands that the movement and physics place on them. It is also fair to give props to Anshar Studios for taking a risk like this and not compromising on their vision. For some, that will give them a lot of goodwill. However, even accepting this debate, it still stands true that the experience of Detached is only ever compelling in a few all-too-fleeting moments, and the full potential is yet to be unlocked.
Virtual Rides 3 doesn't do anything majorly wrong, and it strikes the right tone in creating a realistic portrayal of a theme park or fairground. The issue is that sometimes a mere tone isn't enough and there has to be another few layers on top. The VR experience is on point generally, but the optimisation could use work, and there are a good few rough edges visually that could do with extra care. Additionally, there is not a great deal of content, with only the barebones existing; admittedly, though, genre enthusiasts possibly are not too concerned and appreciate the detail in ride operation. Ultimately, this is a perfectly reasonable budget title at a modest price, but doesn't reach beyond that.
The real trick of making a game work in this style is to ground it in some sense of normality. Where the Musou series excels, and indeed how it has survived for such a long time, is that for all the Japanese humour and charm, the core story is a simple one of warring kingdoms fighting battles. It is awesome when a story doesn't hold back on its vision and complexity and does not abandon its world. However, Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star gets lost in this vision at the expense of its Western audience. With that said, where it does succeed is in making a fun, if forgettable, action title that has plenty of content to work through, even if it does tend to get a little predictable and stale after the first few hours. There is definitely something to work on here for future titles, though, and it is great to see the Warriors style reimagined by another developer.
The Final Station is a short and ultimately unsatisfying, uncreative journey. It is a short trip, sitting at around four hours to completion, with no incentive for additional exploration or replays. It is priced a reasonably modest rate, to reflect this playtime and that is possibly what turns what may have been a sour experience into a forgettable one. The gunplay on show is fairly entertaining and the game looks interesting enough, but each of the stations do not present enough challenge or lore to make them rewarding or memorable.
Colonial Conquest is a fair attempt at making an approachable strategy game. It does tend to play mostly like a game of fast paced Risk, which, for certain types of people, will be a very fun experience indeed. What cannot be disputed is that it is possible to play very quick rounds, and this makes it an ideal title for when friends get round and are looking for some strategy action that does not require a dedication of many hours from some other titles. With that kind of mind-set, and especially the very reasonable price, it ticks all the boxes. However, the overriding impression is just one of too much simplicity, from diplomacy to the battle system, as well as the economy. It is no surprise a portable tablet version of the title is being considered, as it feels like a natural fit for those platforms, especially with the neat and tidy user interface. On PC, though, it lacks a compelling reason to keep playing beyond a few hours, especially as a single-player experience.
Ultimately Way of the Samurai 4 is a hard sell to anyone who is not already a fan of the series, and indeed even some fans may be put off by the radical shift in tone and humour.
Elite Dangerous: Odyssey is a fundamental shift in how this operates - literally. From space to the ground. Taking those first steps on a planet's surface after having landed there is simply awesome, and is decades in the making for fans of the Frontier franchise. The unfortunate reality however is that the performance is currently letting it down. Serious optimisation work is a necessity to iron out a multitude of issues - albeit it's probably not as bad as some are portraying in the immediate aftermath of release. While the new gameplay mechanics come with some variety for those bored of simple space combat, the shooting on the ground also needs a good deal of attention, with AI, and the general standard of combat, alongside the amount of different locations generated on planets, all in need of work. The thing is, this is a journey; a road map, and this is just the first staging post. Hopefully there's a lot more to come down the line.
VirtuaVerse isn't all bad. It is a solid 10-plus hour plot that is a clear homage to some of the best portrayals of this dystopian vision of a futuristic world. There are a few nice set pieces here and there, and from a graphical standpoint, the visuals pop on the screen and are incredibly memorable. Likewise, the musical score compliments them ideally. However, this is an adventure that never gets off the ground thanks to lacklustre main characters, forgettable dialogue, and a clichéd plot. Worse still, the puzzling point-and-click adventure aspects of gameplay detract from the above more often than they enhance.
For a first pack in the New Frontier Pass, Maya & Gran Columbia is not a bad start. It adds a bit more variety in the selection of factions to choose from, which is always ideal, and there are a few new units and mechanics to play with that will keep things a bit more fresh for any Civ VI fan. The real standout in the pack is obviously the Apocalypse difficulty mode, and it injects a reason to think, particularly in the endgame state, which can notoriously get bogged down. That said, as fun as it can be, it probably isn't the kind of game one would choose to experience with every play-through as it can certainly edge towards frustration at being crippled by the hazardous effects of climate change.
Ultimately, Naked Sun is a good first VR effort by a small team. There is definitely a lot of potential here and a base to build on for future titles. Where it slips is simply a lack of content and imagination on the narrative front, with a lot of stereotypes employed within the setting. However, the gameplay fundamentals here are solid, with a fine shooting system and some impressive graphics. A bit more scale in terms of expanding from simply a linear on rails with only 180 degrees of movement stops Naked Sun from really excelling over some of the competition which have done this genre a bit better.
From a pure mechanical point of view Lost on Mars is decent. It generally retains the fun of Far Cry 5 action in a different setting and story. The problem comes in the execution, with the previous originality and variety of missions and situations replaced by bland tower climbing and frustratingly repetitive boss fights. There is humour in Hurk and his tale and the AI 'ANNE' displays all the traits of a typically psychopathic computer system well. However, this humour only goes so far and can't assist in battling through the hours and hours of looped gameplay with weapon upgrades being the only meaningful reward for doing so. It is fair to say it hasn't been a vintage collection of expansion campaigns for Season Pass holders so far, with many arguably wanting more quality so far for Far Cry 5. Hopefully, the final one will make up for these disappointments.
Hours of Darkness is a solid DLC entry for an already great title. It certainly presents a diverse style of stealth oriented gameplay, alongside a different setting to the main story. Seeing the background context of a previously acknowledged Far Cry 5 NPC is also a neat bonus. However, there are issues with the lack of content and having just one main objective in a relatively straight and linear path means that the realistic timeframe of a play-through is going to be somewhere in the region of one to three hours depending on how incentivised the player is to complete side objectives and collect items.
Zombie Grenades Practice has something really pleasing about it.