Ashley Bates's Reviews
Fight of Gods was never going to be a contender with the likes of Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat, and it shows in the ropey albeit enjoyable gameplay. However, releasing the game without key modes and features makes Fight of Gods hard to recommend.
Though not the perfect JRPG experience, Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition still manages to stand shoulder to shoulder with modern offerings. A worthy purchase for new fans and veterans alike.
There's the nucleus of a great mech punch 'em up here, but Override: Mech City Brawl needs some more time in R&D before it can get there.
Crap gameplay, worse story and a terrible gimmick, The Quiet Man just barely manages to be ironically enjoyable, but you should probably leave well enough alone.
A must have for any beat ‘em up fan, Speed Brawl's unique take on the classic genre is well worth checking out.
Gripes with Tira notwithstanding, Soulcalibur VI exists in its own special pantheon when it comes to current generation 3D fighters. Even if you're not usually a SC fan, consider this your jumping on point.
Fingers crossed that Rebellion can continue this run of form with the next few content drops.
What Forza Horizon 4 might lack in terms of an overarching structure, it gains in amazing gameplay and a sheer amount of content.
Though it feels less developed than the more recent Yakuza offerings, Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise still provides plenty of head exploding bang for your buck.
Though the glitches are still present, along with the Bible puzzles, Episode 4 of The Council focuses more on what works: narrative twists and tense conversations between the characters where everything is at stake.
Although Brawlout's mechanics and gameplay are decent, and great for any party, the lack of modes hampers the game's replayability, making it harder to recommend.
Though it's value is diminished significantly to anyone looking to play the game solo, Strange Brigade stands head and shoulders above the pack as an incredible, action packed co-op adventure.
Even though the battle royale genre continues to add new competitors, H1Z1 should stand out amongst the pack, not just because it's one of the concepts founding fathers. Hell, it got me, noted battle royale curmudgeon and all round miserable bastard, to enjoy my time with the game. That's worthy of some merit.
After being soured by the last episode, Episode 3 of The Council, Ripples, does a decent job at getting us excited for the game again. Colour us cautiously optimistic for the rest of the series.
Though the core gameplay is as rock solid as Tower of Guns, MOTHERGUNSHIP's weapon crafting is a victim of lost potential. Still, we're hopeful that Terrible Posture Games can turn it around with future updates.
We'd like to focus on how deep and intricate the game is, or how much fun it can be learning different characters, but the way Blazblue: Cross Tag Battle handles its DLC and roster can't be ignored. Take 2 points away if you hate DLC, more if, like me, you hate the fact Enkidu from Under Night isn't included.
There's a lot of a fun to be had with Omega Strike, as its gameplay, graphics and soundtrack are certainly great. Unfortunately, it suffers from plenty of poor design issues that hamper the game's real potential.
Shape of the World bills itself as a way to unwind and escape the stress and pressures of real life by immersing yourself in a beautiful world, and in that regard, it succeeds.
Onrush is a lot of things. It's brash, bold, experimental, but most importantly, really good fun to play. Its success will be determined by how well the team based concept catches on with gamers at large, but we've got high hopes for it.
Though the games themselves far outshine the packaging that binds them, Street Fighter: 30th Anniversary Collection is a fine celebration of one of the fighting game genre stalwarts. Plus, it's the only way to play Third Strike on current consoles, which makes it invaluable.