Steve Wright's Reviews
If I’m being honest, Twin Mirror is DONTNOD‘s most experimental work in a long time, though it also pales in comparison to previous outings. That’s not to say it isn’t good, it’s not just great. With such a high bar to hit, coming off truly impactful games, Twin Mirror just doesn’t quite manage to hit the same calibre (The Adventures of Captain Spirit FTW). I’m also disappointed that — based on previews and promos — I believed it had a Twin Peaks vibe didn’t follow through to the full release, but I’ll largely take responsibility for that one. Those who enjoy DONTNOD‘s work will certainly enjoy this, but those getting into the genre for the first time should consider this game’s predecessors before it.
Though it liberally borrows from Breath of the Wild, Immortals Fenyx Rising is fresh and fun, offering up an exciting new IP I hope to see more of. That said, its endgame pacing issues certainly don’t do it any favours, nor does the timing of its release.
The same feeling of repetition is present throughout Devil May Cry 5's story, basically becoming background noise as you move from encounter to encounter.
Spider-Man Miles Morales is a tight little package that provides a thrilling Spider-Man experience, trimmed of nonessential fat and full of emotion and excitement.
While still creating horror games with fairly visible flaws, Little Hope is a vast improvement of Man of Medan. With another — and perhaps the last — in The Dark Pictures anthology seemingly teased by the mysterious Curator in this one, I’m rather excited to see what Supermassive learns for next time around.
Griz said how amazing Tetris Effect can be in VR, but I’m happy enough just playing with the sights and sounds emanating from my TV. If Xbox isn’t your bag, you’ll be pleased to know that Connected will eventually be coming to your platform — and that includes your VR platform — of choice soon, and for free at that. Everybody wins.
After a couple different track designs and laps, we’d had our fun with the tech, but I’d imagine children wouldn’t tire (pun intended) of Mario Kart Live Home Circuit‘s novelty quite as quickly. It’s largely targeted for that demographic, we’d say, a creative and novel way to spend time in whatever level of lockdown you’re currently engaged in.
There’s no denying NHL 21 is a tight little package — in fact, it’s been years in the making (click that and thank me later) — but that’s because EA Vancouver is doing everything it can to refine a polished hockey game year-on-year. NHL 20 introduced or improved most of the items that feature inside this, so unless you’re super into single-player modes like Be a Pro, you could get away with buying it instead of this. If you’re into multiplayer, well, you have to upgrade; I don’t need to convince you. I’m ultimately rather pleased with NHL 21, but still have to throw some shade at EA for choosing not to support this on next-gen consoles in any way. Boo.
Simply put, It’s About Time manages to capture the feeling of old school, challenging Crash games of old while adding a modern spin to increase enjoyability for those of us who don’t enjoy bashing our heads against a brick wall when difficulty skyrockets. It’s full of quirkiness, humour, and is a worthy sequel in comparison to Naughty Dog’s previous outings. Kudos to Toys for Bob.
Super Mario 3D All-Stars is a decent bundle of games, though Super Mario 64 has aged poorly with clumsy controls, muddy visuals and no real effort by Nintendo to remaster or re-energise the game for the umpteenth platform you’ve just bought it on. Again. Super Mario Sunshine is a vast improvement upon that (and it should be, published five years later), though Super Mario Galaxy is truly the pick of the bunch, a game as great now as it was back then. Rosalina for life.