Adam Riley's Reviews
An interesting idea that is lots of fun given the right crowd, but despite its best efforts to make for intriguing level design, the more bells and whistles added to the kitchen layout, the more room there is for frustration to creep in. Overcooked! Special Edition is the best value version so far, with DLC already included, and those that enjoyed it before will enjoy it again. However, just be warned that solo players should steer clear, and those wanting multiplayer fun need to make sure those in tow are not inept at juggling numerous tasks under tense conditions or else the entire group will just quickly start to hate the game and each other…
Old Man's Journey is such a gorgeous looking title, complete with a beautiful soundtrack. Those aspects are then draped over a moderately engaging puzzle idea, and comes with a story that aims to be touching, but will leave many feeling either apathetic to the theme, or actually frustrated by the progression of the old man's life and foolish choices. It also ends extremely quickly with nothing to come back to after. It will pass and fade away quicker than it should, but deserves to receive an expanded sequel (or prequel, perhaps?).
Thimbleweed Park had so much going for it, and still delivers in many ways, with a delightful retro appearance, some really impressive puzzles throughout, and great voice acting. However, it also drags itself down with filler content, extra characters that do not really serve much purpose, a rather average story that tries to be a bit too clever for its own good, forced humour that more often than not misses the mark, and that old verb gameplay mechanic that should have been left in its grave. Give it a go, but head in with realistic expectations rather than expecting the classic some were banking on.
Whilst not on the same shaky ground as Final Fantasy XV by any means, despite Tales of Berseria bringing with it a great story, wonderful animation scenes, a sublime soundtrack and voice cast, it lets the side down with its dull environments, lack of engaging puzzles and quests, overly-wordy interactions that go off on pointless tangents, as well as a battle system that is quite hit and miss, resigning many gamers to mere button-bashing to get through most of the adventure. Bandai Namco has managed to deliver yet another solid Tales entry, but not one that will be remembered anywhere near as fondly as past classics, unfortunately.
Burly Men at Sea is a very quaint and surprisingly enjoyable twist on the point-and-click genre, with lovely visuals, an impressive-and-quirky soundtrack, and more replayability than first thought. However, saying that, the whole experience can be breezed through in an hour or two, and it lacks enough real meat to be it a truly satisfying dish, especially given this is the highest priced version on the market right now. In the end, it is undoubtedly a pleasant experience, but one that will be forgotten quite quickly upon completion, unless extremely motivated to spend more money on the digital or physical storybooks offered post-game via a web-link. It is definitely worth trying, but just be mindful of the price and check your expectations before diving in.
The Secret Monster Society - Chapter 1: Monsters, Fires and Forbidden Forests is a great precursor to the fully-fledged point-and-click adventure, filled with a pleasing selection of puzzle styles, some wonderful visual presentation, and great voice acting along the way. What it lacks in terms of overall length and taxing puzzles, it makes up for in the aesthetic stakes, with some really loveable characters introduced, leaving a strong desire for Chapter 2 to arrive quickly.
Bear With Me: Episode 1 is a very intriguing concept wrapped up in a wonderfully dark world, with great narrative throughout and loveable characters. This first episode sets the stage for an adventure that is sure to get better as times goes by, but currently one that is held back by the bear's slightly off voice acting, and a few puzzles that are not solved in the most logical of ways, instead forcing certain triggers to occur before progress is made - a trap many games of this ilk fall into, sadly. So far this is enjoyable, but it has unfulfilled potential for the time being that hopefully forthcoming episodes will fulfil.
Paper Mario: Color Splash is a complete joy aesthetically, looking and sounding fantastic, complemented by some very amusing script work. At its core, though, whilst attempting to mix things up as much as it can in order to keep the action fresh, its battle system grows tiresome very quickly, dragging the enjoyment factor down several notches. When tied in with its unnecessary - and awkward - reliance on the GamePad, it makes for somewhat of a rollercoaster ride, with fun elements followed by lots of frustrating experiences during the battling sections. Nintendo and Intelligent Systems should pick one route and stick with it: either go for straight-up platform action or make it the true RPG successor to the original Paper Mario and The Thousand Year Door that fans keep asking for. This current mish-mash of styles just drags down the series' reputation. For now, stick with the Mario & Luigi titles…
Whilst not a travesty in the platform stakes, unfortunately Yoshi's New Island is rather bland and nowhere near the quality of Yoshi's Island on the SNES, and probably not even as interesting as the oft-criticised Yoshi's Island DS. Arzest - made up of ex-Artoon staff - seems to have taken the DS title, removed the difficulty and tacked on some rather average extras to create what is nothing more than a 'decent platform title' rather than a worthy successor to the old classic. All eyes are now on Good Feel to see how Yarn Yoshi turns out…
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.
Minecraft: Story Mode - The Complete Adventure, thankfully, has enough engaging story content to keep gamers satisfied, some fantastic production values on the voice acting front, and heaps of content packed in thanks to all eight episodes being included. Hopes are high for Season Two to improve upon the shortcomings here.
As much as there is to love in Star Fox Zero, sadly the awkward controls of various vehicles, and the horrendous forced second viewpoint and gyroscope targeting of regular Arwing and Landmaster stages almost ruin the entire experience. There are tremendous highs when the core Star Fox controls kick back in, but moments of frustration are present that simply wouldn't have been if feedback from early hands-on reports had been taken on-board.
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.
After the success of the first episode of The Adventures of Bertram Fiddle, it is great to see that Episode 2: A Bleaker Predicklement does not let the side down, delivering more of the same point-and-click adventuring goodness, complete with sufficient doses of comic relief and some smart puzzling antics. With any luck, a third entry is currently in the works!
Without Escape is the perfect dish for those hungry for classic 1990s puzzle adventures like Zork, Myst, et al.
Syberia 2 is an all-round success, improving upon the port of the original adventure in many ways. The core story may take a different slant to the previous one, and some puzzles may not live up to the high bar set in the first outing, but this is still a highly enjoyable journey throughout, with everything perfectly adapted for the Nintendo Switch setup, looking great in docked mode, but working even better when played in portable form using the touch screen. Kate Walker's third escapade cannot come to Switch soon enough!
Tequila Works has just about squeezed this beautiful game from other home consoles into the smaller form of Nintendo's Switch. Despite the chronic performance issues that are found throughout in this iteration, it all just about holds together well enough, and, thankfully, the core adventure shines through so brightly that gamers preferring to sample this on-the-go, whilst they are not getting the smoothest version, will be satisfied enough with the sacrifices made to make Rime work in the first place.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 tries its hardest to match the grandest of grand RPGs out there on the market, attempting to become Nintendo's own Final Fantasy. In doing so, though, whilst still wonderfully vast in its scale, and gripping in how things play out for the most part, it has lost its way slightly, becoming bogged down by an overly complex pre-battle system, marred by fights that mostly feel too hands-off/automated, and some terrible character visuals and voice work. There is indeed a lot to love about this, yet so much that makes you yearn for something more.
Last Day of June is a great example of how to turn a short tale into an engaging interactive experience, one that importantly does not overstay its welcome. There may be one or two frustrations along the way but, all-in-all, it tugs at the heart strings in the right places on the story front, and also engages the brain on the gameplay side of things enough to make everything feel extremely satisfying once it reaches its conclusion.
Some will be disappointed that there is no story progression, or revelations of any sort, with this first DLC release for Little Nightmares, but even the way The Depths is selected from the in-game menu screen implies "prequel" or "side-story" and that is exactly what this is. If the tense run-and-jump sections of the base game were appealing, and the thought of a few more jump scares sounds right up your street, then dropping a few quid for another hour's worth of intense action is certainly well worth it.