Tom Killalea's Reviews
Mad Max may wind up a victim of its busy release window, but it doesn't deserve to. It's a bombastic blast of thrilling vehicular combat and open-world destruction, only slightly marred by uninspired on-foot combat and limited ambitions when it comes to scope. It may not be the most refined open-world title out there, but it never gets too pretentious and crucially thriving in the wasteland is simply great fun.
LEGO Jurassic World is stuffed full of lightly humorous charm, and contains a wealth of content. Whether you stay long enough in the park to experience it all, however, will depend on if you can overlook its often dull puzzle gameplay and frustrating lack of polish. Nevertheless, thrashing about as dinosaurs and recreating classic Jurassic Park scenes can put a smile on any face.
Teslagrad is a unique game, cleverly telling a thought-provoking story without any dialogue or verbal narrative, supported by beautiful aesthetics. If the game had been trusted to tell its tale, supported by the clever electromagnetic puzzles, then it would have been a truly excellent game. Unfortunately, the frustrating platforming sections and incongruously punishing boss battles slightly mar the experience and hold Teslagrad back from true greatness.
Bladestorm: Nightmare offers a fun romp across expansive battlefields, with solid if unspectacular combat and character progression mechanics. The Hundred Years' War campaign doesn't know how seriously to take itself, but the excellent, over-the-top Nightmare campaign more than makes up for this. Recommended if you're in the market for something quirky and haven't experienced the original game.
Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires provides you with the tools to create your own epic tale of love, betrayal and war, but it won't spoon feed it to you; your imagination must do some of the work to flesh out the experience. The change of pace from the frantic combat offered by the strategic elements of Empire Mode helps keeps things fresh, but if you aren't able to invest interest in the characters and the kingdoms, or can't stomach the cathartic but repetitive combat, Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires may not win you over. For everyone else, Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires is quite possibly the best Dynasty Warriors game to date, on the verge of greatness.
Harold is a unique game stuffed full of personality, with gorgeous visual and audio presentation belying its unforgiving difficulty and fiddly, overwhelming mechanics. If only Moon Spider had allowed the difficulty to be toned down or, even better, sought to release Harold on touch-screen compatible hardware. It is still a deeply humorous experience, however, and certainly recommended if you're up for a challenging racer/platformer.