Luke Lawrie's Reviews
Dark Souls III is not for everyone, but for those that do give it the time required that it takes to learn, they’ll hopefully walk away from the game satisfied like I did. Because what they’ll end up playing is one of the best games of this year.
Rockstar Games has created a living, breathing world that I am absolutely invested in.
Overall, Elden Ring is slightly held back by some lacking information in the UI, the uneven nature of the difficulty towards the endgame, and the inconsistent performance on the PC platform. Despite this, it’s an incredible experience and will be one of the best games you’ll play this year.
I’ve been reading Spider-Man comics since the early 2000s when J. Michael Straczynski sent fans into a frenzy during the One More Day story arc, where Peter Parker made a deal with Mephisto to rewrite his history. I flicked through the pages when Brian Michael Bendis did the unthinkable in Death of Spider-Man but then paved the way for Miles Morales to take the mantle. I was glued to Dan Slott’s epic 10-year run of The Amazing Spider-Man and enjoyed his controversial arc that saw him killing off Peter Parker, with Otto Octavius taking over as The Superior Spider-Man. This world has been a part of my reading influence for over 20 years. And I’m so glad to see a studio like Insomniac Games treat this property with a ton of respect while also putting their own spin on the characters and taking even an avid fan like myself on a wild, twist-driven ride. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is a spectacular adventure that will keep you on the edge as its riveting story unfolds.
Diablo III was a bit of a miss, but Blizzard has spent time refining and streamlining just about every aspect of the game. Along with a very fulfilling new Act, updated loot system, and the addition of Adventure mode, Blizzard continues to show that when it comes to delivering content to their games they are still one of the best. Reaper of Souls is fantastic and is a must have for Diablo fans.
When Dead By Daylight was first launched, it was a flawed but fun game that needed a bit more work to tighten things up. Since its release, Behaviour Interactive has spent the last few months doing just that; it’s in a really good place right now. It has a healthy, active community where the player base can also go and interact with the developers on a weekly basis. All in all, Dead By Daylight is an amazing survival horror experience and my favourite indie game so far this year; you’ll sure as hell see this one on my list of top 5 games of 2016.
Visual Concepts continues to set the benchmark for sports titles with NBA 2K17. My very few gripes with the game are small compared to hefty amount of content that is on offer, and for all the different things this game does right. It’s hard to pass up NBA 2K17 if you’re looking for an amazing video game; it’s even harder if you’re a basketball fan.
Sekrio: Shadows Die Twice continues FromSoftware’s dominance, showcasing that it’s on another level when it comes creating action games in fantastical worlds. You’re going to die, and you’re go die a lot. But these brilliant gameplay systems that come together to form experiences that we don’t see in other triple-A games is why people get excited for what Hidetaka Miyazaki is doing at FromSoftware.
Just Cause 3 is purely an entertaining game; it’s not trying to tell a complex story with plot twists and deep characters. It knows it’s ridiculously over the top and it has fun with that. If, in your video games, you like explosions and causing serious amounts of destruction, you’re not going to find a better game this year to do so.
Remedy continues to tell unique and extremely interesting stories, and in relation to how AWE concludes and what that means for the future of the Remedy Connected Universe, is just so damn exciting.
The fact that Watch Dogs has come out as second-best against the juggernaut that is the Grand Theft Auto franchise doesn’t mean it’s a bad game; it’s quite the opposite. It’s quite a great achievement for a brand new IP to come out and be as good as it is and to also try to do some new things on such a large scale. Its multiplayer is by far one of Watch Dogs‘ stand out components and this is where you’ll start to see some great videos floating around online from the community as they invade your game. Watch Dogs has dozens of hours of content and will certainly keep you entertained its world and what’s on offer.
While Battleborn is a fun game with a lot of depth, there are a few things in the game that are currently problematic and will hopefully be resolved soon.
If you enjoyed what Control had to offer then you should be fairly satisfied with this first expansion. The Foundation doesn’t really do a whole lot new, and it doesn’t seem to learn from its mistakes, especially considering it has one of the worst checkpoints for a boss encounter yet. But if you want to get even more lost in this enthralling world that Remedy has created, then it will be hard not to pass this one up. Just stay clear of all the cats.
Demon’s Souls gives players a look back at what kicked off FromSoftware’s dominance in being one of the most exciting developers to watch over this last decade. While you’ll get a lot of enjoyment from your time with this title, FromSoftware has definitely refined and improved on the design and mechanics in the more recent released Souls games. Without a doubt Bluepoint Games has delivered a brilliant remaster of a niche game that not a lot of people had the chance to play originally. Demon’s Souls is worth checking out on the PS5. But if you’re looking to see what makes FromSoftware so amazing at what they do, you’re going to find a better overall experience in one of their newer titles like Dark Souls III, Bloodborne, or Sekrio: Shadows Die Twice.
It’s disappointing that NBA 2K15 isn’t currently up to the standard we’re used to. As the modes have started to come back to life it has definitely smoothed out, but there is still a little way to go. Hopefully this is a lesson learned by Visual Concepts and next year’s launch doesn’t have so many headaches. The core game is amazing, but with so many of the modes relying heavily with online connectivity, which hasn’t worked, it’s just dragged the experience down a notch for me.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is a great addition to the series but it does feels more like a very big DLC game because it doesn’t bring in anything substantially new. Where it does pay off however is the humour in the writing and the story arc for the main antagonist – it is amazingly fleshed out to where you see this interesting character transition throughout the course of the game. But in the end there’s loads of content packed in and you’ll have a lot of fun smashing your way through the missions while we all wait for the next act in the Borderlands series to make an appearance.
Dead Rising 4 is a lot of fun. The removal of the timer might not bode well with fans of the series, but it does allow a sense of freedom to move within the game at a player’s own accord. That all said, there just isn’t enough to keep you engaged apart from the main storyline; killing zombies with crazy theatrical weapons is fun, but after a while it just becomes too much of a grind.
the basketball gameplay in NBA 2K19 is brilliant, and it has been for the last decade that I've been reviewing this series. But the way VC is used in the game needs to be re-evaluated, as it has become ridiculous and is blatantly pay-to-win. This greedy freemium model within an already fully priced game needs to disappear.
Despite some of the technical issues and difficulty scaling, The Surge 2 is a fun game that should satisfy those looking for a souls-like experience. The combat is rewarding, and the directional blocking system is definitely something I would love to see implemented into other action games.
My time with Assassin’s Creed Mirage was enjoyable, but it’s also difficult not to look at everything else that is completely absent that was introduced in Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla. Ultimately, Mirage feels like a game that is old with outdated mechanics, but that’s also what Ubisoft aimed for. It’s an interesting way to experience a title, almost like Mirage is a remake of another game that didn’t exist before. Instead, it’s channeling that trilogy of Assassin’s Creed titles that began in the early 2000s – and I think that’s exactly where it should stay. Mirage makes for a great goodbye nod to that era, but it’s not one I want them to continue pursuing if it’s going to be this toned down.