Ryan Esler's Reviews
Alekhine's Gun feels like returning to a game that your friends thought was great on the PS2, but it was released in 2016 and on modern consoles.
Dungeon of the Endless is absolutely gorgeous to look at and even better to play. Combing tower defence and dungeon crawling is a stroke of genius. With various difficulties and modifiers available these dungeons truly are endless.
The Division isn't a bad game, it just lacks character. With little to no real customisation in the early game you often feel hard pushed to really invest in your character and by the time you reach the end game, there is nothing really left to do. It feels poorly thought out and the delivery of the story is really lacking and uninteresting.
A glorious return to form for Agent 47 and the Hitman series. Even the constant server issues can't stand in the way of just how rewarding the gameplay is and the multitudes of approaches to the mission.
République is an experience like no other, one that I struggle to retrospectively place on a mobile device because of its excellence in design and story it tells - its just that good. Even with a lot of frequent loading screens the experience is still more than worth the price of entry.
quantum Break takes an interesting concept but keeps it as simple as possible, ultimately failing to grip the player with its players or horribly long "TV episodes".
I am not sure if this is what Andrew W.K. had envisioned when he first sang Party Hard. Party Hard was a song about embracing the atmosphere and having fun at a party, but in a way this game has really embraced the song wholeheartedly in the most psychotic way possible.
Battleborn is an important milestone for Gearbox Software, it’s a new IP and their first attempt at a competitive online shooter from the ground up. And to that effect Gearbox Software have completely knocked it out the park. It's a game best played with friends as there is little to nothing on offer in terms of a singleplayer experience.
Homefront: The Revolution started with troubled development and has obviously suffered greatly with changing teams, developers, and ultimately publishers throughout it's lifetime, an issue encountered by a great many games over the past few years. In amongst a largely broken and unoptimised game I was still able to find some fun, albeit it shortlived.
I find it hard to justify Overwatch as a final product, it feels lacking and without friends I really struggled to embrace what it had to offer - even something as simple as returning to battle after a death felt like a bit of a slog at times. But with friends Overwatch instantly transforms in to a fun, but awkwardly paced shooter on consoles.
It's with a heavy heart that I have to say that this game is utter garbage of the hottest variety.
Dangerous Golf fails to capture the excitement of the Buronout series, in which it was marketed off the back of, but it will keep you entertained for a short time at the very least.
Ultimately, Mirror's Edge Catalyst falls short of all our hopes and dashes what little faith I had in the series, pun intended. There are some truly brilliant moments and Mirror's Edge Catalyst looks gorgeous and feels brilliant to navigate once you finally get all the gadgets and extended slides etc. but forcing you through the campaign to get any real modicum of enjoyment hurts the experience drastically.
Aheartfulofgames have created something special with Heart & Slash, it’s unrefined and could do with tweaking, but all of that can be forgiven if you are a fan of the genre.
It's not that Carmageddon is a bad game, in fact I am fairly sure that there was a brief moment that I actually enjoyed it(possible onset Stockholm syndrome), but there isn't a single point I could pick out as being good either. The fact that the biggest accomplishment of Carmageddon: Max Damage is that the developers have managed to make seeking out revenge on pedestrians and smashing other characters up in a fit of road rage incredibly dull.
When it comes to Batman, I have some unreasonably high expectations and I am highly aware of it. But I can’t shake the feeling that I am not the only one let down by what Telltale has provided. On one hand they have laid the groundwork for a truly interesting and perhaps more human story that we have seen in Batman games before, but at the same time the delivery of said story doesn’t quite match the potential.
Ultimately, you get what you put in to No Man’s Sky. It takes a load of dedication and searching to get the most out of the world and as more and more players continue through the galaxy it will be amazing to see what everyone finds. That being said if you aren’t one for picking an objective, like finding all a planets discoveries for a tidy lump sum, and need a narrative focus there is no real point to picking up No man’s Sky.
A fighting game that packs a punch and is worthy of the series’ name. Once you see past some questionable animations you’ll find countless hours of fun mixing and matching teams on and offline.
Valley is never going to be on anyone’s “Game of the Year” list, but it does have loads of potential. With a little more time in the oven and perhaps a bigger budget this could have been something special. Instead we are faced with a linear game that feels the need to offer value without committing to delivery.
Jotun gives an easily digestible and wonderfully paced journey that is let down by shallow combat. Playing the story itself it deeply satisfying and to see this world come to life is magnificent, I just wish there was more.