Ryan Esler's Reviews
The Witch Queen offers Destiny 2's best campaign to date, an exciting new weapon archetype in the Glaive, and takes its first steps in revitalizing the Light Subclasses in line with Beyond Light's Stasis Subclass with Void 3.0. It also adds the enticing prospect of weapon crafting, which is unfortunately hampered by extremely grind-y requirements to truly experience the most weapon crafting has to offer as well as a raid that could be the most convoluted yet.
If you were ever curious about Destiny 2, Shadowkeep is the perfect entry point. If you are a reneged player that struggled with content doubts, there’s no better time to come back. And if you are neither of the aforementioned, you probably should be. Shadowkeep is everything every player wanted from Destiny 2, and in true Bungie fashion, it was delivered with a bang – which presumably emanated from the servers as they exploded on launch night.
Even as a relatively distant fan of Dragon ball, I was totally invested in Dragon Ball FighterZ. Dangerously so. Hours dropped off the clock as I perfected my team.
I was so desperate for Hello Neighbor to end that I regularly sought out ways to try and bypass the intended game. There could be something buried deep down, but the general execution of this steal-horror blend holds it back drastically. Even the quaint colourful world is hampered by the general sluggish feel and poor controls.
It was clear that Star Wars Battlefront II had some issues prior to release, but I’d never have guessed that they were this big. It’s a bitter disappointment to see a game with such promise turn to the dark side.
Need for Speed Payback is a travesty of a game. Between 9 minute cycles of waiting at a vendor refreshing so I could buy better parts for my car, flying about a map populated with enough meaningless activities acting as filler, and the atrocious ending, it’s hard to pick out a point where I could say genuinely say the experience was fun.
As it’s own story, it works well and does really showcase a great range of emotions in a developing and presumably pivotal relationship. But none of it matters. We know how it ends. With one episode to go, a series that prides itself on the ability to manipulate time is somehow running out.
It’s a shame really, because under a whole load of mess, there’s a game just waiting to be refined and perfected. Shadow of War did in fact right some wrongs, but it lumped them in with some odd choices that really prevent you from investing in a system that they have peacocked left and right.
It seems to be a common theme in Echo that the truly interesting parts fade, slowly losing their selves to the repeated barrage of ideas at the forefront.
Since release I have been on Destiny 2 every night, be it to complete a few quick challenges or play the strikes until the light of our world faded so that my Guardian would earn that little bit more in his. It’s a wonderful experience and I get to share it with friends who share the same feeling of revitalised hope. Destiny 2 is far from perfect, but I am happy to consider myself at home alongside those blemishes on such a polished product.
Without any connection issues, Absolver sings as one of the most promising indie titles this year. There is so much to do and the variety of different attacks on display is astounding; it might take some time to unlock them by fighting others, but it is time well invested. It might only have 3 basic Styles, but you can make the complex and pay homage to some of your favourite martial artists with a variety of form defining attacks, like massive flying knees, low sweeps, or spinning backfists.
Life is Strange: Before the Storm Episode 1 fails to live up to the promise of the original. While providing a great soundtrack, updated visuals, and better animations it struggles to realise just what made Life is Strange special.
As much as I wanted to love Warriors All-Stars, I couldn’t. There was something missing, even though the graphics were marvellously polished. With a massive lack of variety and a rather taxing effort required to fully appreciate the story in its entirety, I ultimately felt that it wasn’t worth the effort, which is a horrible thing to say about a once beloved franchise. Deep down I wanted Warriors All-Stars to be a game-changer, but it wound up as a game changer.
In the end, Hellblade is a game that wants to have its cake and eat but forgets that it’s a game first and foremost. At times I found myself extremely bored with the repetitive nature of the game’s design. Open or vaguely circular arenas always painfully signposted another combat section and the visual puzzles, no matter how interesting at first, felt overplayed.
Tekken 7 is a massive milestone for the series in terms of gameplay, but a poor story and lack of offline modes might work against it.
Injustice 2 sinks its claws in deep and the story makes sure that you don’t want to go anywhere, even if you did try and pry them out.
The Surge, although an enjoyable experience, really fails to capitalise on the world it is set in. It's a step in the right direction for Deck13, but it's a baby step.
As a standalone title, I found Dreamfall Chapters very hard to get into but those who do get absorbed are in for a treat. The story and delivery are fantastic and there is a lot to take in within the worlds, even if these worlds are let down by a few visual faux pas and dull puzzles.
uyo Puyo Tetris is clearly a targeted game. If you don’t like Tetris/Puyo Puyo, there’s little to no reason to pick it up. But, for those that do love Tetris, it’s a delight and more than makes up for the lack of a good Tetris game on modern consoles.
Toukiden 2 could have been a gateway drug. It could have stolen away countless hours from my other vices. Yet the fact that my progress online with friends had no impact on the offline components and their general structure meant that I was often lonely in running around the massive sprawling map of Toukiden 2. There are some really interesting elements buried deep between the long walks and repetitive monsters, but I feel that I was never invested enough to stay a little longer and find out just what they were.