Your friend Pedro simply wants you to kill people in the most stylish way you can. That's all he really wants from you and you must obey him. Thankfully, it's also really fun to do that. The game provides you with the tools to become a murder maestro orchestrating your own symphony of death while also having a tongue in its cheek and a banana with a face. If you love making art with bullets, this is the game for you even if it can sometimes be a little bruised in places.
Blood & Truth is the most fun I've had in years. Its revolutionary shooting mechanics turn you into a virtual action hero in every sense of the word as you go through a gritty, dark and violent London underground in search for answers and revenge, all in VR. The amazingly designed setpieces make sure that you're never bored through the game's 8 hour tight and compact story. The only sadness I felt while playing this game was when the credits rolled. This is the game that shows us that PSVR is to be taken seriously.
Everybody's Golf VR is a charming golf game capable of putting you directly on the grass. Everything feels and functions perfectly and once you learn the ropes, it can almost be a tool to teach you how to play real golf. Interactions with the female caddies are a little weird, but they're part of the game's charm and wonderful homey and relaxing atmosphere. If you're looking for a VR golf game, here you go. This is the one.
Days Gone, when it has moments of clarity, skirts the line of being brilliant. It could have been an instant classic if it weren't for the giant missteps that happened with regards to the story's pacing and some very strange decisions regarding Deacon as a character. With an expansive open-world worth exploring and well-crafted mechanics, Days Gone is an enjoyable ride, but expect to get some bugs in your face.
This strange unknown game that takes place in rural Sweden tries its best to be a great open-world survival game and it comes dangerously close to it. However, it falters in almost all of its aspects and ends up being a frustrating and mediocre experience. Glimpses of something great are to be had, but this game should have been in Early Access and iterated upon instead of giving us an incomplete romp through the cold north.
Let's get this straight, Far Cry New Dawn is a reskin of Far Cry 5. It never claimed to be anything different. But in the process of trying to create its own identity, it accidentally stumbled onto something great. The new characters, as well as old ones, make this an experience that is worth going through. The new mechanics and systems are equally as engaging with special mention given to the wonderfully realised Expeditions. The microtransaction heavy resource system and the fact that it is still the same Hope County does hinder it a bit, but it doesn't stop it from being fun. If you like Far Cry 5, this game is for sure up your alley.
Tales of Vesperia rightfully holds its reputation as one of the most surprising JRPG experiences out there. With a wonderful cast of colourfully fleshed out characters, this adventure is one that you won't soon forget and will be happy that you embarked on it. The start is still slow and the decision to use a new voice actor in new scenes is pretty jarring, but once you get over that and allow the game to spread its wings, you're off to paradise.
While going away from the franchise's roots may have been an interesting idea in some far off universe, we instead got a game devoid of any cohesion or structure that is also really badly designed to the point of frustration. Suda51's off-the-shelf humour couldn't save a story so full of holes that you can mistake it for Swiss cheese. Nothing in this world can make me recommend this game. With dull combat, terrible visuals and just lazy design, this is an instantly forgettable game that failed its legacy completely. A true tragedy.
The conclusion to The City That Never Sleeps still carries the sins of the previous entries, giving us recycled activities and a rushed story, but the overall experience is a genuinely fun final romp through New York City. Lots of areas could have been improved, but if you're looking for more Spidey action, that's exactly what you're going to get.
Beat Saber is, quite simply, the perfect VR game. Slashing blocks with lightsabers couldn't be more fun and it's accessible to everyone. It takes the concept of virtual reality and implements a hyper-focused gameplay experience to deliver an experience unlike anything you've ever seen before. While being relatively simple in its design, everything is just set dressing for the lightsaber flailing madness that you'll partake in. And you'll love every second of it.
Turf Wars is the awkward middle child of the City That Never Sleeps story DLC. It doesn't have the initial excitement of The Heist and is more or less just a set up for the final DLC, but it's still a load of fun considering we get to jump back into the world of Spider-Man.
Hitman 2 isn't a revolution, it's a refinement of what worked and an irresistible package of worthwhile and replayable content. Creativity and audacious planning is rewarded and options are given for any potential playstyle from the casual murderer to the gilded assassin. With even more content planned for the future and the plethora of challenges and modes to take part in, this is one game that satisfies all your assassination needs and more. Some slight performance problems and a throwaway story does hobble it a bit, but make no mistake, this is the definitive Hitman experience in one convenient and polished package.
"Triumph" is a word often lazily used by reviewers to describe games that receive high scores, but it's the only word I can come up with to describe Red Dead Redemption 2. A technical marvel, a narrative powerhouse and a game that will enter the halls of gaming history as a new high standard that many games would only dream to reach. Its slow and methodical nature may deter some, but if you can give the necessary patience, the reward is better than a train robbery going off without a hitch. You owe it to yourself to get this game.
If you've ever wanted to murder your neighbours when they exceed a comfortable decibel limit, then this is the perfect game for you. You'll find satisfaction in the game's many clever puzzles that deliver pure murderous fun and the almost contemplative nature as you avoid getting caught. Coupled with a great art style, this is a fun little romp that your secretly psychotic heart can indulge in.
While innovation wasn't a focus, the sheer value for money that you get with this game is more than enough to offset any doubts that this game isn't worth it.
Salt and Sanctuary wears its obvious inspiration on its sleeve. It takes the magic ingredients from the Souls franchise and makes something of its own on a 2D plane. All of its individual aspects gel well to create an ultra-hard side-scrolling adventure through the dark and dreary. The Switch port is well done and makes it the perfect way to die horribly wherever it is convenient.
Vroom Kaboom had a winning formula and its eclectic mixture of deck building, tower defence and vehicular mayhem sounded like something out of an adrenaline junky's dream journal. But the game falls short in almost every category and proves that if you want to be everything, you'll just end up being nothing.
Take a journey through the most hostile unknown environment on Earth inside a claustrophobic suit while you're also going mad from trauma. Narcosis pulls out all the stops in its pursuit to be the best underwater survival horror and for the most part, it succeeds in that lofty goal.
Survival horror is the perfect fit for virtual reality and The Persistence wants to set the benchmark for how it should be done properly. With full movement, immaculately detailed environments and the genuine feeling of horror, this is one of the best that the genre can offer in VR right now.
Lack of variety is this cute tower defence game's ultimate downfall. It builds a very solid foundation of what could have been an incredible game but falls very short in its objectives. You'll grow tired of it during your first few nights as you fight off cute monsters in your bedroom. It's still an endearing game despite its flaws and may be worth it on a sale sometime, but don't expect your pillows to explode from this.