Jay Ball's Reviews
Onimusha 2 has a lot to be proud of. It was well received by critics and gamers alike in the same year that Grand Theft Auto Vice City and Metroid Prime were released. While I’ve no doubt that there will be a lot of fans out there that will defend its remastering, it does little more than highlight how far games have come for me — and highlight why I shouldn’t play the old ones.
I don’t enjoy this style of Doom compared to that of the previous two games -- it's just not the Doom I've grown to love. That said, The Dark Ages is in no way a bad game. Fans of classic Doom will really enjoy similarities in its larger areas, the high volume of slower projectiles to dodge, and the constant need to push forward.
The amount of dedication and passion that’s gone into Astro Bot is obvious in every pixel of every texture; there’s not a single bug, glitch, or texture issue to be seen. Its controls are easy to understand and incredibly tight, with Astro moving exactly how you need him to. In the 15 hours I’ve spent so far in finishing its campaign and going back to replay levels to pick up missing Bots, I’ve not encountered a single moment of frustration. It’s beautifully designed both in its self-contained levels and those dedicated to much-loved, Sony-exclusive franchises.
Senua’s Saga Hellblade 2 is a video game only on its surface. Scratch that away and you’ll see that it’s a deep, thought-provoking, interactive experience proving games are an art form that demands skill and talent. Ninja Theory should be very proud.
Currently, I’m roughly 9-10 hours in to Suicide Squad and I feel pretty confident I’ve seen all that it has to offer by way of gameplay. To be honest, I don’t really want to spend any more time with it. That not how this works, of course — I’ve not yet spent enough time to properly score this fairly and accurately because we received our review code three days after the refund window closed on the die-hard DC fans that forked out ridiculous sums for early access, and only 13 hours before its general release. Do what you will with that information.
Prince of Persia The Lost Crown graciously blends the best components of previous iterations -- the original game included -- into what is easily the best Metroidvania game we’ve seen in recent years.
For the sheer size of it, the beauty of the hundreds of different landscapes you can explore and the always engaging missions, Starfield is a massive technical achievement.
Horizon Call of the Mountain is absolutely beautiful and features some fun moments, but it bears repeating that it in no way feels like an $80 AUD game; it barely feels like a $60 AUD game and should have been included with the PSVR2 without an additional cost. It’s without a doubt a fantastic way to show off what the PSVR2 can do (eye tracking aside as it’s only used in menus and dialogue sequences). When your friends come over to check out your new toy they’ll come to see Horizon Call of the Mountain, but they’ll stay for Gran Turismo 7. While this offers fans a literally alternate perspective into a universe that many really love (myself included) and is a fantastic as a tool to show off the PSVR2, it lacks depth as an actual game. Challenge and balance are overloaded with tedious climbing sequences and not enough of the fun stuff.
This new version of Dead Space is one of the few remakes that has managed to slot in that little window of time where it’s not been too soon or too long since the release of the original. It brings with it nostalgia, and almost enough change to make it feel fresh and familiar at the same time. For some this will be good news, for others not so much. For me, having loved every minute of only a single play through back in 2008 I was elated by the fact that I had pretty much forgotten almost all of the details in the game.
Splatoon 3 adds nothing of significance to the series, which is quite disappointing considering that it, as a whole, was bursting with originality when it first launched.
This is the kind of game a cheap uncle buys a kid for Christmas out of the bargain bin giving little thought beyond, “little Timmy likes cars so I’ll buy him this thing.” Sadly, it will only keep kids entertained for as long as it takes them to realise the odds are stacked against them. While some real passion has gone into the transition of some much-loved toys into digital form, the challenge of Hot Wheels Unleashed is just too great for its target audience. Without significant fixes, it will do little more than frustrate all who pick it up.
While VR definitely makes things better by making the the world feel a little more real, the enemies feel a little larger and adding in the ability to free aim your weapons — all without being too gimmicky — it’s not enough to warrant a purchase of new VR gear if you don’t already have it.
The most important thing that everyone needs to know about Cyberpunk 2077 is that while it’s imperfect, it is without a doubt a superb game.
The Zelda devout have already decided to to buy this game and I hope they love it. Everyone else might want to spend some time with the demo first.
As a recreation it highlights how good the original games were for their time. Challenging, original, addictive and damn fun to play.
I can’t emphasise how much fun Doom Eternal is to play and that’s what really counts.
Despite changes to the formula, New Dawn is still very much Far Cry at its core.
Due to its niche nature, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown won’t be for everyone. You’d really need to love this style of game to get the full benefit of it. That being said, it’s a well crafted addition to the genre and may very well make some some new fans of aviation titles that were otherwise not interested
Combat against all the bosses is both challenging and rewarding. There's great variation between all enemies in their look, how they fight and how you need to behave with each
Mega Man 11 is as challenging, fun and frustrating as every other game in the series in literally every single aspect.