George Foster's Reviews
Sony's latest first-party title is fantastic fun, but needs balancing and more content.
Earthblood's satisfying combat can't quite make up for its constant repetition, boring characters and short run-time.
Ubisoft's latest open-world is one of their most colourful, imaginative and plain fun in quite some time.
Hitman 3 may not introduce much to the established Hitman formula, but it messes with that formula in unique and confident ways with varied and interesting locations that make this the best of the Hitman trilogy.
Visage isn't going to be for every horror fan. It's slower pace, difficult puzzles and lack of direction are going to make many struggle, but that's also kind of the point. For every moment where I didn't know what to do and felt like I was on a wild goose chase, there was another moment of gratification for finally figuring it out. Throughout all of those moments, I was scared and that's indicative that even if I didn't, Visage knows what it's doing.
Although Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory might not be the story-focused experience many expect from the series, it arguably does something much more special. Not only does it set up the next chapter nicely, but it celebrates everything that came before it with some fantastic rhythm gameplay and abundant content that makes it feel like a loving send-off to the past 18 years of the franchise.
As I came away from Ghostrunner and started writing about it, I realized that I genuinely wished there was more game to play. That's not a comment on the game's length, which is very well paced, filled with bonus collectibles and perfect for speedrunners, but more a comment on how much potential there is here. Give me more levels, more platforming gauntlets, more cybernetic abilities to use, just give me more Ghostrunner.
It's frustrating to not be able to talk about the bits of Rebirth that I liked the most due to a fear of spoiling things, but just know that there's a lot to uncover that makes the bits that I liked less worth going through. Although the pacing and second half of the game let things down a bit, an awesome story and a campaign full of tension make Amnesia: Rebirth worth playing through for both the horror fans and the horror fearful.
Hades' godly mix of strong narrative and addictive roguelike mechanics makes it an absolute must-have, and one of 2020's best.
For someone who isn’t a fan of the original Disgaea games, I was surprised at just how much I enjoyed my time with Prinny 1•2: Exploded and Reloaded. It’s not the best remaster I’ve seen and the challenge can be overly frustrating at times, but there’s still a lot of fun to be had in its simple-to-learn, hard-to-master mechanics and charming characters.
As a Crash Bandicoot fan, Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time is everything I've dreamed of since the original trilogy ended all those years ago. It's a jam-packed, brutal platformer that expands on what makes Crash great with some really cool twists and turns. The challenge may get a little too much sometimes, but it is more than worth fighting through and proof that Crash Bandicoot is king of the platformers.
Spellbreak's magic systems and fun take on the battle royale genre show that with some more time and development it's going to be something really impressive. Whether or not it has the staying power is up to time and how much its community sticks with it but already there's a lot of potential brewing here.
Earth's mightiest heroes... eventually.
Even with some of its mechanical and story-telling shortcomings Rise of New Champions is a fun time that shows why this is a beloved series. There's a lot of joy to be had in following Tsubasa's story and creating your own and the flashy football action has some shining moments. With some more tuning and gameplay focus, there's a really bright future for Nankatsu's football star.
Mortal Shell doesn’t just replicate what other games in the genre have done before. Instead, it takes that formula, sharpens it and adds enough to make it a completely different feeling, but equally satisfying blade. Fallgrim is a world I’d be happy to struggle through again.
The biggest sin that Crossroads commits is being boring; a sad take for a franchise that is definitively not. Whether you like the series or not, you can't argue that the films are almost always bombastic and entertaining, whereas here it's just really uninteresting and flat, doing both the Fast and Furious franchise and driving games both a disservice. There are some bad licensed games out there that I could still recommend to the hardcore fans out of love for the series but Fast and Furious Crossroads is so bad that only the absolute die-hard fans will get any enjoyment out of this one. And even then, you may want to strongly reconsider this stain on an otherwise loved franchise.
If Fall Guys can keep up its current momentum with a steady stream of skins and minigames, I see no reason why it can't be one of the top contenders in the battle royale genre. It's got the charm, the fun gameplay, and the multiplayer communituy focus that's as fun to watch as it is to play, and these beans don't seem to be slowing down anytime soon.
The truth of Hellpoint is that even with all the jank and annoyance, it’s working with a well-known and beloved formula in an interesting setting, with enough tweaks to feel like its own thing.
Destroy All Humans' impact on you is definitely going to depend on how much you played the original release. As a fan of the original, I was sat gleefully destroying all the humans and basking in the improvements, but I could also see people who haven't played the 2005 release not quite "getting" it. For those in the same boat as me, it's exactly what it needs to be: a faithful improvement on the original game, and an indication that Crypto has plenty of life in him yet. Hopefully it can pave the way for an all new adventure someday soon.
When Disintegration’s satisfying first-person shooter gameplay clicks with the intuitive real-time-strategy elements, there’s nothing else quite like it. For RTS fans, there’s enough strategy to get you through, and for newcomers to the genre, the FPS focus makes this the perfect introduction.