Dominic Leighton's Reviews
Just Shapes & Beats is the best EDM compilation album you can play, and assuming the music floats your ear-shaped boat, it's an absolute treat. Challenging, engrossing and exhibiting a purity we so often forget, this is a genre mash-up where everybody wins.
A dark and twisted fantasy RPG which uses elements of survival games to great effect, Smoke & Sacrifice is a beautiful piece of indie software. Tonally and physically challenging, the artistry on display sets it apart from its peers, creating a foreboding world that's well worth being drawn into.
Yoku's Island Express is a beauteous, aurally delightful treat that riffs off the Metroidvania template and pinball tables in a smart and playful manner. It's somewhat tempered by the dual frustrations of the pinball mechanic's need for constant precision and a lacklustre fast-travel system that leaves you having to cover the same ground over and over, ultimately taking what could have been an amazing game, and making it a good one.
If you're looking for a compelling and atmospheric take on the zombie genre that's more Walking Dead than Left 4 Dead, State of Decay 2 is an imperfect but enjoyable sequel to the superior original. The gameplay loop of scavenging, crafting and killing can begin to wear thin, but the human element is capable of pulling you back in. Tackling the world with others in tow may decimate the game's carefully constructed atmosphere, but those multiplayer shenanigans will probably be wild enough to distract from the host of technical issues that simply refuse to die.
Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition takes a great game and makes it greater, though it's fair to say that for anyone outside of Legend of Zelda or Warriors series fans it will undoubtedly feel less special.
A variable frame rate is an out and out killer for any racing game, and despite Trailblazers' clear potential it's impossible to see past that. The overall concept, of merging F-Zero and Splatoon, is a fantastic idea, but perhaps it needed a bit longer in development in order for it to be fully realised.
Project Nimbus: Code Mirai is a frantic mech shooter that ticks all the right boxes, but is ultimately let down by a lack of variety. The combat never fails to set your pulse racing, and I'd love to see more from the team and the series, since, for a short while at least, this is the best mech combat we've seen in years.
The tactics and tactility of a good tennis game remain amongst the purest of gaming experiences, but AO International Tennis is not a good tennis game. Overly complicated and bereft of any emotional resonance, the positive elements, including the detailed character creator, will likely be as swiftly forgotten as the game itself will.
Taken on its own it's a feat of cardboard engineering tethered to a technically impressive, but ultimately shallow game.
Humour is a tough aspect for games to get right, but Super Daryl Deluxe nails its dry, surrealist American-indie tone. Despite the inherent repetition of the RPGvania match-up, the writing, graphical style, and imagination that Dan & Gary Games have packed in here mark it out as a wonderfully weird indie gem.
With the game's release on Windows and the final additions to the game on console in the Royal Edition, it now feels that Square Enix have put the final brushstrokes to their masterpiece. As Final Fantasy XV comes to the end of its long adventure, it's fitting that it do so in such style, letting people savour the artistic vision behind the game in such glorious detail.
For fans of the anime, Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet is a great use of the license that brings some welcome changes to the series. There are still the recurring issues of pacing and a number of technical flaws that diminish the rest of the game's achievements, but this hopefully sets a new benchmark for the franchise going forward.
Unwanted and unasked for, Secret of Mana does the bare minimum you'd expect from a remake, and when you consider the original's beloved status, the fact that it's been given such a lacklustre treatment is stupefying.
There's clearly been plenty of love and attention given to the remastering of Age of Empires Definitive Edition, even if some of the less enjoyable elements of the original have also made it through the process unscathed. Twenty years later it still remains a hugely enjoyable RTS, and particularly thanks to its iconic soundtrack remains a joy to play, with hours disappearing as the eras pass you by.
For any Final Fantasy fan, Dissidia NT has plenty to offer, with an array of the series' best loved characters, and plenty of chaotic combat to pit them in. Unfortunately the lack of definition to those encounters, messy UI, convoluted single player progression, and a barebones selection of modes saps a good chunk of the fun away.
Monster Hunter: World is the evolution the series has been waiting for. The giant creatures have never looked better, while the beautiful open world areas and the way Scoutflies assist your exploration have brought a newfound dynamism to every hunt. It remains brutally difficult and the unprepared may still be chewed up and spat back out, but this time it'll categorically be your own fault rather than the game's. Whether on your own, or in a group, now is the time to join the hunt.
Brawlout is fundamentally a great take on the Smash Bros. format, and they've nailed the weight of the characters, movement, and the pure fun that getting four players together for some combative carnage can bring. Unfortunately the limited roster and the unrewarding grind of the in-game store can temper that somewhat, but as a starting point for a new indie fighting franchise there's a lot here to like.
Tiny Metal is a great attempt at reviving the Advance Wars style of approachable military strategy for modern audiences, but while it certainly looks and behaves the part, the poorly balanced campaign and uninspired narrative only serve to emphasise just how special those classic games were.
It's Quiz Time has all the basics of a good quiz game, and can be plenty of fun with a group of friends. However, the host is unlikeable, rude and annoying, and you'll be doing everything you can to give her as little screen time as possible, while the accuracy and difficulty of some of the questions can rob some rounds of their enjoyment.
Planet of the Apes: Last Frontier is an exciting narrative adventure that fans of the recent film trilogy will love. Its biggest drawback is perhaps how little interaction you actually have with it and that some of your choices make no difference to the game's direction, but as a fantastic-looking, branching story in a loved world, there's nothing else quite like it.