Adam Riley's Reviews
For all the niggling little flaws faced throughout, Heaven's Hope still retains more than enough oomph to keep the adventure from grinding to a complete halt. Sadly, it is lacking the promised humour, yet the smart puzzles, and variety included, make for an intriguing journey, albeit a frustrating one at times as the order things must be completed can be too restrictive.
Without a doubt, Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam Bros. is just as solid an RPG adventure as its predecessors, avoiding the pit that Partners in Time fell into with its multi-character approach. Paper Mario slots into this new romp perfectly well, although there are times where the 'Paper' world is not exploited as much as fans may have wanted. Nevertheless, the laughs are still there, as are the innovative 'Bros.' moves for battles, more than making up for the incessant mandatory 'Toad Hunt' mini-games included. This may not be Mario & Luigi at its best, but it still rises high above the recent Paper Mario entries and will keep fans of the series entertained until the end of the impressively lengthy adventure.
Dreamfall Chapters Book Four: Revelations continues where Book Three: Realms left off, keeping the action flowing quickly to prevent boredom creeping in, and upping the ante in the puzzle stakes. Locations change regularly, the mix of conundrum types is more varied than before, and the dialogue feels fresher than it ever did, with witty banter causing raucous laugh-out-loud moments, adjusting the tone appropriately to avoid the seriousness of some of the subject matter from becoming too sombre in the long run. There is talk of the 'Balance' throughout the game's story… Well, Red Thread Games has certainly achieved the perfect balance with this fourth book.
Dreamfall Chapters Book Three: Realms manages to blow the previous two chapters completely out of the water, upping the ante in the story stakes, building more of a connection between players and the characters within, whilst also introducing some highly engaging new puzzles across both new and familiar settings, fixing any of the niggling issues found in Book One: Reborn and Book Two: Rebels. This is what fans were waiting for - and it can only get better from this point onwards.
Dreamfall Chapters Book One: Reborn was a revelation, tickling every nostalgic bone in the body, as well as introducing gripping new story elements and a thoroughly well thought-out decision making system. Book Two: Rebels starts off strong, but peters out somewhat due to too much backtracking and tiresome fetch quests. With enough likeable characters, intrigue regarding the overarching tale, and the lure of seeing how decisions already made will continue to affect future proceedings, however, this latest Dreamfall Chapters edition is well worth grinding through before diving into Book Three: Realms for more juicy revelations.
Even after such a long wait, and with a hazy memory of the past titles, Dreamfall Chapters Book One: Reborn proves to be a major success, working just as well, in fact, as a standalone product thanks to the Story Recap option filling some blanks for newcomers and the writing being clever enough to not leave fresh faces bewildered. Smooth controls, stunning visuals, and fantastic audio direction all make for a special adventure, albeit one with one or two fetch-quests too many included. Conversation threads may prove too wordy for some, yet others that are eager to get lost in the lore, and learn more about the world they are stepping into, will be exhilarated. This is definitely not for those wanting to rush through to the end; taking the time to savour the overall excellence of the package is ideal - feel the love that has been poured into it, and get ready for Book Two: Rebels.
République Episode 4: God's Acre may not quite hits the highest of highs set in Episode 2: Metamorphosis, but it does attempt to freshen up the core concept, as well as bring in some more puzzle elements, as well as heap on plenty of extra layers for those already engrossed in the story. Ditching the multiple guards approach for one where there is just a solitary big monster with lots of surrounding noise hazards was a risky move, but it has been pulled off very well indeed.
The Perils of Man has a great premise and the story will help to keep veteran point-and-click adventurers patient enough to see it out to the end, but with too much aimless wandering around, an overreliance on collecting everything, mixing stuff together and hoping for the best, and a very clunky inventory/item combination system, most others will get frustrated early on and give in. This is definitely a case of 'great concept, not so great execution.'
Coming to terms with the concept of Typoman is surprisingly easy, but managing to switch the brain from simple platform mode, and all the instincts that go with the sometimes twitch-like gameplay, to conundrum solving in a split second, is tougher than it may sound. Brainseed Factory has pieced together a fantastically atmospheric ride, filled to the brim with engaging word-jumble brainteasers and supremely tight run-and-jump mechanics. Once that old grey matter kicks into gear, planning solutions ahead of time, so as to be able to focus more on the extremely accurate leaps and bounds required, will become second nature. There may well be the odd head-scratching moment, but the satisfaction of making eventual progress is pure elation. Similarly, whilst there are only three short chapters included in all, the numerous retries necessary during some of the more dastardly sections lengthens the adventure, and that sense of deep-seated pleasure when overcoming particular obstacles is remarkably gratifying. Enthralling, from start to finish.
For all its drawbacks in terms of relying on the gamer to actually put in the effort to enjoy the experience, Super Mario Maker is a fresh approach to the old 'RPG Maker' mould, taking the key elements that any 'build-a-game' title requires and then making sure that there are sufficient in-built goodies to give those less inclined to while away the hours making new content a sense of value for money. Additionally, the online element for stage sharing, as well as potential for new extras to be unlocked via DLC, ensure that Nintendo's anniversary project will certainly not be resigned to a fate of 'dust collector' or 'drinks coaster' anytime soon.
Thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish, Technobabylon is a breath of fresh air in the world of point-and-click adventures. Perhaps a little too rough around the edges for some in terms of visuals, looking past this reveals a truly splendid core product filled to the brim with an emotive soundtrack, stellar voice work, a gripping and sometimes even disturbing storyline, as well as - imperatively - extremely smart puzzle construction.
Beautiful in its aesthetics, smart in its user-interface, yet ultimately lacking in almost every other key area, Broken Age: Act 2 is mightily disappointing on its own. Since it comes as a free update to those that already laid money down for Act 1, thankfully no money will feel like it has been wasted. Anyone picking up the full package on a non-PC format, though, might feel a touch more down and bitter, since the second half is not a patch on the first part and the cost outlay will be fresher in their minds.
Dead Synchronicity tries to stand out from the crowd with its aesthetic style and succeeds in almost every area, despite starting off somewhat slow, confusing, and even a slight bit frustrating. With a stellar voice cast to drive home the weight of the macabre story at hand, a delightfully dark setting, and a slew of impressive puzzles further into the journey, any initial concerns over navigation confusion and a shorter than expected length given the price-tag are overcome, resulting in what is actually a superbly fresh take on the genre that deserves the attention of any traditional point-and-click adventure fan.
It is not all disastrous, and hope remains that the second and third episodes up the ante to smooth over the cracks of Issue 1. Tune in next time, folks, for the exhilarating review of Issue 2 - Patriot Frames to find out what happens!
This year's edition of the Just Dance series lifts the game beyond its former releases thanks to its focus on treating players to various extras the more they play and integrating the online component so smoothly into the regular play. There will always be a tendency to jiggle the Wii Remote randomly in the hope of getting a good score, but that is the player's fault, not that of the game. Just Dance 2015 on Wii U is as close to perfection in the genre as possible, also allowing for extra points to be accrued by singing along via the GamePad's microphone for good measure.
Starting off weak and getting not only worse, but extremely tiresome due to repetitive gameplay and some horrendously awkward controls, Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark smacks of a cheap attempt to cash-in on the new movie release, not even properly linking to the feature film for those awaiting its release or tying various story threads together from the previous movie and game releases. The mess of a story definitely extends to being a mess of a game. It is simply cynical and bound to leave a bad taste in even the greatest of fans' mouths, this is undeserving of the Transformers name.
The culmination of this special coming together of the Ace Attorney series from Capcom and Level-5's Professor Layton world is a magical one indeed. Fusing together the fundamental elements of both titles for Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney works seamlessly and the combination of characters working as partners in each other's usual settings is truly joyous to behold. What is more, having Shu Takumi back on-board is definitely telling as some sublime new courtroom techniques are introduced that most definitely need to remain for future Ace Attorney titles, whilst Akihiro Hino's traditional Professor Layton game engine is as smooth as ever. Hopefully this is the first of many crossovers between Messrs. Wright and Layton.
Treasure-like in its level of sheer ingenuity, Dakko Dakko's Scram Kitty and his Buddy on Rails is the sort of addictive shooter that is a must-own for Wii U owners and belies its initially brief appearance in the length stakes. Not exactly short to start with - thanks to the difficulty stakes - it is the draw of coming back to better times in the Challenge mode or uncovering every hidden kitty on each stage that brings considerable added value to what is already a bargain at just £8.99 / €9.99.
Kirby is back with a bang! Whilst many adored Kirby's Epic Yarn, the team at Cubed3 actually preferred the more traditional Kirby's Adventure Wii and Kirby Triple Deluxe follows in that game's footsteps. Although the quirky Kirby Mass Attack was indeed sublime, going back to the core of the Kirby series is much welcomed. This is everything that Yoshi's New Island should have been - inventive stages, tight platform action, cleverly hidden secrets that are worth finding, and a general high level of polish throughout.
Choosing to ease off on the weird and wacky antics of previous outings, Mario Golf: World Tour is a resounding success, harking back to the original pure fun of the Nintendo 64 outing, whilst still keeping the 'out there' elements for fans of the GameCube edition, just having them in the background now instead. Whilst lacking in any real innovation, and sadly missing a much desired return of the RPG mode, this almost back-to-basics golfing title is one that Nintendo 3DS owners should seriously consider looking into. Overall, it is easy and intuitive for newcomers, with elements of added depth for veterans.