Brodie Gibbons's Reviews
A picture might be worth a thousand words, but stepping inside a picture is worth so much more. In what is the best game of the last decade, Viewfinder places theatricality, in the form of its mystifying world and its inventive systems, at the forefront of the experience.
AEW: Fight Forever's focus is clear right out of the gate. It sacrifices things it can't deliver due to budget to serve up a wrestling video game that is so shamelessly rooted in Iwashita's genetic code with No Mercy. Despite its shortcomings, Fight Forever feels as time-honoured and classic as Hulk Hogan's trunks.
After three decades, System Shock still serves up a sci-fi banquet complete with one of the greatest antagonists and features that revolutionised a genre. Classic games are left open to classic stumbling blocks, however, as some of the design shows considerable depreciation.
Planet of Lana is a profoundly moving title that couples its clever, companion-driven puzzle-solving with an irresistibly gorgeous presentation to create what is, so far, the year's prettiest, heartrending indie.
AFL 23 is inconsistent in its attempts to emulate the most complicated sport on the planet. It jags six points by delivering arguably the best gameplay we've had, but doesn't make the distance in serving up a complete, robust package.
Through its picturesque presentation, Ravenlok definitely captures the reverie and spirit we'd expect from a coming-of-age fantasy. Sadly, the game's one-note combat doesn't offer a challenge worthy of its world, while the cliched story devalues its charming cast of misfit critters.
Redfall is a gold dust-rare miss for what has been a very consistent deliverer of quality video games. If you are able to look beyond the game's several questionable design choices, Redfall can serve up just a small bite of mindless fun beneath the island's black hole sun.
Mike Bithell's writing, as it often is, remains on point as his team establishes new colours within an already riveting sci-fi world, not by replicating what came before-as appropriate as that may have been thematically-but by taking the franchise in a bold direction. It's a shame this thrilling plot against the archives is derezzed, and perhaps doomed to obsoletion, by a string of confoundingly dull puzzles.
Terra Nil is a deftly executed environmental strategy game that flips the script and delivers something unique and quite unlike the city-builders you grew up with. It might be a peaceful experience, but its mission statement is gravely earnest.
To use fishing terms, Dredge isn't one you'd kiss and throw back. It's the definition of a trophy catch. Its series of elegantly simple systems interplay nicely, blending seamlessly with an eerily stunning eldritch style and a moreish checklist of sea life to catch.
Figment 2: Creed Valley feels like Bastion met Psychonauts. It's an adorable action game set within the four walls of a troubled mind, delivering a colourful albeit shallow journey to enlightenment.
The story plays out like a Jerry Bruckheimer-produced popcorn atrocity, the upgrade shop might as well be Travelex given how many currencies it juggles, and the performance is less than optimal. Atomic Heart is an exercise in excess. It has some clear strengths, like its first in class art direction and gunplay, however these are far outweighed by the game's faults.
That’s not to say Returnal doesn’t have a lot to offer players in addition to its addictive ‘one more run’ loop. There’s a rich catalogue of history to fill out for Atropos which tells a fascinating story in its own right, and there’s a daily challenge good for both fun and in-game credits.
EA Motive could have taken a path of least resistance in delivering a Dead Space remake, though I'm thankful for everything they've poured into what is a tremendous reimagining of one of gaming's truly iconic horror games. It's gorier than ever, the story is made whole, encompassing lore elements once merely pieced together by its fan base, and feels like a genuinely fresh twist on the original.
Marvel Midnight Suns is, by and large, an unfulfilling superhero title that is only as endurable as it is courtesy of how great Firaxis are at what they do. There's a lot of heroes and just as many hollow hellos between them that makes me wish all of the story's character drama was checked at the door for more of what Midnight Suns does well.
Although its subject matter might confound and could be too heady for the general audience, Pentiment is a role playing game that has been considered and laboured over to the nth degree. It's a great reminder that some creatives just get it done, budget be damned. By God's will, Pentiment is making a late charge for Game of the Year.
It feels like cheating to call Somerville a debut indie title when its creator's individual pedigree is so strong, but it's a tremendous spiritual successor to both Limbo and Inside. It takes an ordinary setting, quickly removes all normalcy, and takes the player on a fleeting sci-fi thrill ride that makes use of every second of your attention that it has.
As a sequel to the Modern Warfare reboot, Modern Warfare 2 feels like both a celebration of the series' original trilogy as well as "the team" at its core. The party is spoiled somewhat by inconsistent pacing, technical issues, and incongruous mechanics, shoehorned in from what will ultimately be the game's multiplayer suite. Through it all, the referential nods to Call of Duty of old stitched the experience together for me.
New Tales from the Borderlands, as a spiritual successor to Telltale's series, is a cavalcade of peaks and valleys. It expands on the franchise's complex lore with a terrifically produced five-episode stint that will, for most, be a one-and-done experience that sadly fails to iterate on or improve the tired formula these types of games all rode into the ground.
When it comes to pure fan service, there won't be many better this year than Return to Monkey Island. It feels like the true sequel to LeChuck's Revenge and it feels as though its clever, self-referential wit is a product of Gilbert's return. As sad and nostalgic as parts of Guybrush's newest tale can be, I had a wonderful time revisiting familiar people and places in yet another golden-age adventure.