Stefan L's Reviews
The world tends towards the dull and brown, shrouded in fog to help keep the frame rate high, and the floating barges don’t result in the kinds of running battles that you might expect, but rather see people crash into each other and then take pot shots. It’s an interesting attempt, but not the multiplayer shooter I was hoping for.
It’s fantastically silly, but as with many of these “simulator” games, it’s a concept that can wear thin after a while. It’s a well rounded game that’s definitely worth playing, and perfect for showing VR to people, but that’ll be the main reason why you load it up after having played it for an hour or two.
Awakening as a whole shows how good Black Ops 3 can look, and there's a few gorgeous locations spread across the multiplayer maps as well. Those obviously inject some welcome variety into the competitive playlists – well, once the handful of glitches have been ironed out – but for me and many others, Der Eisendrache is the standout addition.
Snowfall is another intriguing expansion from Colossal Order, which blends eyecatching new visuals which come alongside some clever new ideas and additions to how the game plays
The 2013 reboot was no slouch in the visuals department, especially when played on PC or current gen consoles, but Rise of the Tomb Raider takes this even further.
Though it's a little awkward at times, it's never truly annoying, and the many virtues of the PlayStation 4 and the DualShock 4 help to make the game feel more natural and fluid in action than on the Vita. The sequel looks like it's really really going to flesh out the ideas at play in the original, when it releases later this year, but until then, Gravity Rush Remastered is the best way to play or revisit one of the Vita's most distinctive games.
Story Mode continues to be an imaginative and inventive exploration of a Minecraft universe that younger fans in particular ought to enjoy.
If anything, what was already a pastiche of a rather traditional fantasy RPG has been taken down an even more classical route. It's a story of kings, princesses, castles and dragons, as the gates to Expandria quickly get forced open, and you head off to investigate reports of a large explosion behind the wall which had kept this area off limits so far.
Unfortunately, this episode doesn't hang together quite as well as the first
Road to Gehenna is perhaps not as deeply thought provoking as what I've experienced in the main game, but it's no less fascinating to visit a little commune of rejected thinkers, bringing with you the news that the world is coming to an end. And there's some excellently crafted puzzles, too.
The most important thing about Rocket League on Nintendo Switch is that it feels like Rocket League.
Quar’s a game that could very easily live outside of VR, and this is a game that can easily be played sat down, but it’s also a good example of how VR can give you a fresh perspective on a genre.
Cities: Skylines remains a fantastic city builder, and with After Dark it's getting even better, regardless of whether you buy the DLC or not. Just the gorgeous day-night cycle would have been a worthy addition, but Colossal Order have shown a degree of ingenuity in tying this to new gameplay mechanics, while also giving more options for players in how they want to run their city.
Minecraft might not have a story and lore of its own for Telltale to build upon, but that just means that a Telltale story can fit right in.
With an excellent trio of ports from Bluepoint and the fourth game on the way in March, there's never been a better time to play these games, whether a newcomer to the series or someone looking to relive some of the PlayStation 3's best games.
A few weeks after the console's release, you have to scroll a little way to reach the bottom of the Nintendo eShop's Recent Releases list to find Vroom! in the Night's Sky. Don't bother. It's complete bobbins.
If you've been waiting years for a good rugby union game, the wait will continue for some time yet. There is little to redeem the myriad of fundamental flaws and inadequacies that are apparent throughout.
Rugby 20 is like a Northern Hemisphere team's World Cup campaign. It's full of big ideas and good intentions, but a shock defeat here and an expected loss to the South's big boys there, and it soon comes off the rails. There's some fun to be had, but it's often at the expense of the game, not because of it.
Verdun’s goal is an admirable one, to capture the feel of warfare on the Western Front, on occasions it manages to do that and be fun. The rest of the time, it’s an unintuitive slog. It might be a better game on PC, but on PlayStation 4, it’s almost certainly not going to be this year’s most fun or engaging WWI shooter.
Despite being a standalone game, Trials of the Blood Dragon is at best a quirky aside to Trials Fusion. With so many truly ridiculous ideas in the story, they’ve given themselves free license to experiment and try new things, but so many of them simply don’t come off and aren’t that much fun. Let’s cross our fingers that RedLynx get back to what the series is so good at with their next game.