Ryan Esler
- Halo 3
- Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3
- Hearthstone
Ryan Esler's Reviews
Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate adds to an already massive roster and doubles down on what makes the series so special. It does, however, suffer some framerate issues on splitscreen, but it's a worthwhile addition to any Musuo fan's colelction
Destiny struggles to justify the promised 10 years of gameplay and fails to deliver a story worthy of losing yourself in. While guns feel and look great, the experience feels hollow. It won't be enough to appease the players looking for the heyday of Bungie's Halo 3 online experience and it offers nowhere near enough content to persuade MMO fans to abandon their current heavy hitters.
Shadow of Mordor provides Lord of the Rings and high fantasy fans with an interesting take on the Assassin's Creed formula. A visually stunning experience paced well and complimented by the Nemesis system.
The Evil Within takes the survival horror genre back to its roots and executes it in an extremely cinematic fashion with great atmosphere. Slightly jarring bugs and frustrating camera angles can be totally overlooked as you bask in Mikami's excellence.
Deck13 Interactive have created their own unique take on the action RPG genre in an intricate and, at times, labyrinthine world. Even with a few bugs and camera issues there is a lot to love in Lords of the Fallen.
Sunset Overdrive is an energetic, hilarious, and colourful entry in Microsoft's ever growing collection of exclusives.
Master Chief returns to Xbox with an amazing soundtrack and enough tweaks to rekindle any Halo fan's love of the series. While the ports of Halo 3 and 4 suffer ever so slightly, Halo 2 makes up for those dips in performance tenfold.
Far Cry 4 takes what made Far Cry 3 so special and expands on a winning formula. With lots to do in both singleplayer and cooperatively you'll find Ubisoft's latest entry to the series a worthwhile investment.
A love letter to both Batman and the DC Universe that builds upon the expectations of the LEGO games while adding enough to justify returning to yet another installment in the series.
Lucid Games have literally added new depths to a frantic and ever so satisfying series with Geometry Wars 3. You'll fall in love with the speed of the wonderfully fluorescent design and fall in to a vortex of bettering your scores long in to the future with this one.
Donotnod venture into episodic territory with Life is Strange for it and produce one of the year's most promising titles in doing so.
A very buggy attempt at recreating Dead Island with a very overwrought approach in distancing itself from the obvious inspiration. Without a massive patch, Dying Light can't really explain why it should stand out from the crowd.
Evolve is a content light asymmetrical multiplayer game that asks far too much from its players, often requiring an organised group to get the full experience. Without any singleplayer content, it is a hard sell to anyone individual.
Although Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires follows in the tradition of a core game followed by its Empires equivalent, the combat feels stale and despite its massive cast there is very little do with it.
DmC Definitive Edition lives up to its name and corrects many of the wrongs that were present in the original. With faster gameplay and a load of replay value you, it's hard to argue that it isn't Capcom's best port in recent memory.
Ori and the Blind Forest is a must have for Xbox One users. Ori manages to cptivate players with gorgeous environment design and a heart wrenching story.
A combat and team focused Musuo game that is tragically let down by buggy AI, poor optimisation, and dodgy framerates.
From Software turn expectations of a "soulslike" on their head with this fast paced and visceral approach to combat and Lovecraftian horror. Bloodborne isn't just a game you can justify buying, it's the type of game you justifies buying the console too.
One of the most ambitious and diverse fighters to deliver on everything it promises. Mortal Kombat X takes series staples, combines them with a stellar story, and gives you enough variations on fighters to give infinite depth. People will talk fondly of MK X for decades to come.
Batman: Arkham Knight fails to live up to the expectations of its predecessors and focuses on the Batmobile far too much. With the addition of even more moves in combat, it loses touch with what made Arkham Asylum feel so punctual.