There are some great ideas in Perception, but the execution is somewhat lacking. Wandering around a haunted house with no vision should be a tense, methodical, creepy experience, but this game has a sprint button. You are given a lot of help to navigate and solve puzzles because if you did not have your sight and were trapped in a mansion with moving walls and keys to find you would be utterly helpless. This means the whole premise to the game quickly becomes pointless, which is a real shame.
Nex Machina is the pinnacle of all things Housemarque, with concepts and ideas that have been refined over many games in their purest form. That's both its strength and its weakness, as there is nothing you haven't seen before in one of their previous games. If you are a fan of the Finnish developer's game, this is still an essential purchase, but if you're a newcomer, this is the best place to join the party.
Good games make headlines and bad games will also generate column inches, the one thing you don't want you game to be is average, but sadly that is what Demon's Crystals is. It plays perfectly well and is free from problems and bugs, but it's totally forgettable without a speck of originality. At just £3.99, it's a good price for a few hours entertainment if you have some friends on the couch to play with.
Little Nightmares is something of a minor classic. Gorgeously gross and surprisingly inventive, it creates a genuine feeling of terror and tension. It's a bit odd to say a game that involves skipping over corpses is enjoyable, but it is, just don't blame Tarsier if you have nightmares.
I really enjoyed Statik. It's not particularly big, but it is very clever, and has clearly had a lot of thought and love poured in to it. VR is an integral part of the game rather than being a showy gimmick, making this a fine addition to the PlayStation VR library.
What you get out of Everything will depend entirely on you. You may get bored within minutes just as easily as you could spend hours wandering around alien continents as a slice of pizza. I'm not sure it can be described as fun in a traditional sense, and it sometimes feels like you are being forced to sit through through a complex lecture mixed with a dash of group therapy, but other times it can be utterly hilarious as you make baby tractors by dancing.
FlatOut 4 is a single minded beast where destroying your opponents is just as important as good driving. There are very few games of this type on this generation of console and whilst it's not up to the standards of Motorstorm or Blur, it's still a lot of silly fun.
Whilst fifteen minutes may seem an incredibly short time for a game to last these days, most arcade shoot ’em ups are short and barely last half an hour. There’s nothing really new or exciting in Ghost Blade HD, but it’s a solid entry to a genre that is almost non-existent on current consoles.
The Martian VR Experience Is Utter Pants
The sad thing about Weeping Doll is that the concept could have generated some excellen VR games. Taking tales from across Asia and adapting them in to spooky VR experiences, a virtual reality version of Ringu, for example, would be brilliant. However, the execution for Weeping Doll is poor, from the laughable dialogue to the puzzles which can be solved in a matter of seconds. When rated next to the brilliant Here They Lie for PlayStation VR, Weeping Doll just doesn’t come up to scratch.
It’s a shame we weren’t able to review the game prior to launch, because Here They Lie is by far the best game I have played on the system. It’s definitely not for everyone and the weirdness may put a lot of people off, but I loved every moment and couldn’t wait to see what the game was going to throw at me next. Screaming creatures, cities on fire, underground stations that warp and shudder like an intestine, and a humanoid pig giving an antelope a high-five as they tag team a CRT television. What’s not to love?
Tumble VR builds on the successful formula found in the original PlayStation Move title, with virtual reality greatly adding to the experience. It may not be the loudest or prettiest VR title, nor the game that blows your socks off with explosion-laden trailers and exciting moments, but it is one of the most natural and immersive game I have played in VR so far. Tumble VR and its simple block stacking seem like the least exciting of all the PSVR launch titles, yet it’s turned out to be one of the best. Recommended.
Despite my initial impressions, I really enjoyed The Bunker. I’m never going to play it again, but for the couple of hours it lasted it held my attention and expertly racked up the tension. It is certainly not for everyone, but it entertained me for it’s duration and you can’t really ask much more than that. Grab your significant other and some popcorn and The Bunker will make a great evenings viewing.
It’s a good first effort from the tiny three-person team based in Southampton, and you can clearly see a lot of love and effort has gone into the game. If you have some spare cash and some young children to entertain then you could do a lot worse. It’s a game with bears in it, it shows a poo when you are in last place, and I’m in a good mood, so Strangely Named Studio’s first game gets an encouraging…
The one saving grace is that Ghostbusters is dull rather than boring. Played in short bursts, a level or two at a time, it’s still rather fun, even more so when you have some friends in tow. Parents with young children who fancy a break from endless LEGO titles may also consider a look at Ghostsbusters, but for everyone else, I recommended you hunt down the far superior Ghostbusters: The Video Game from 2009.
Quite how anyone thought this game was ready for release is beyond me. It’s more like a proof-of-concept demo, and for the many people looking for a nostalgic return to classic football games, a massive disappointment.
I've never been very good at games that have you mastering combos and chasing high scores, so I'm quite surprised just how much I enjoyed chaining together attacks in Shadow of the Beast. The game, whilst quite short, just begs to be played over and over as you chase scores and unlock secrets, and the inclusion of live feeds which pop up and tell you when one of your friends has beaten your score is a clever way to keep you playing. Storytelling annoyances aside, it's a solid and polished game with just the right amount of nostalgia for us oldies.
Having recently reviewed Layers of Fear, a game which also dealt with the themes of mental illness and horror, I was expecting a lot more from The Park. Walking around a fun fair for an hour with a shouty, sweary woman who is only interested in herself is about as much fun as it sounds. I suggest you save your money for a ticket to a real fun fair and hope you get stuck on a rollercoaster for an hour. That would be much more thrilling than The Park.
I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a game as much as Ratchet & Clank.
Layers of Fear sits somewhere between the pejoratively classified 'walking simulators' and a full game experience, as for the most part you are simply wandering around and solving the odd puzzle. Despite the clichés and obvious jump scares, I rather enjoyed my time exploring the mansion and I'm looking forward to having another play through to see what I missed the first time round. If you enjoyed the Silent Hills teaser P.T. and want more of the same, then Layers of Fear is well worth a look.