Matt Gardner's Reviews
The Elder Scrolls Online is a brave attempt at combining two seemingly polar opposites, but it ultimately fails to build a continuously compelling world, compromising too much on either side. It's an MMO that can't hold a candle to likes of Guild Wars 2 and The Secret World, and an Elder Scrolls game that can't hope to be as deep and rich in content and solo experience as Morrowind and Skyrim. The allure of an online Tamriel is strong, and when the game's disparate parts align, it really is a bit special, but those moments are too few and far between to recommend for a game with this much of an inflated price point.
Bound By Flame wears its inspirations on its sleeve, and its chest, and its legs, borrowing cues from pretty much every ARPG around. Its an earnest attempt by Spiders, as are most of their games, but the elements here feel slapdash and dishevelled. At best, Bound By Flame might offer a spot of B-movie-esque filler while you wait for Dragon Age and The Witcher III. At worst, it's a clunky, hot mess of a game with an over-inflated price and little to offer of any distinction.
Always Sometimes Monsters is a fascinating, utterly engrossing morality play, delivered as a Game Maker adventure that constantly asks questions of the player. There have been games that deal with difficult decisions before, but perhaps none so deftly as this. Always Sometimes Monsters is a marvel.
Wolfenstein: The New Order is big, dumb, fun no matter how much MachineGames might have tried to force it to be otherwise. The alternative history explored here is fascinating, if a little under-explored, but it's the boom and the blast that'll keep FPS fans coming back. A respectably lengthy game with modern looks but buckets of old-school spirit, The New Order is a silly, inconsistent, overblown treat. But give it a couple of weeks.
I wanted to love this game so very much, and the ideas behind it are innovative and interesting and far too good to deserve a mediocre showing such as this. But sadly that's exactly what Murdered: Soul Suspect is to be honest. Pretty mediocre.
Entwined has a running time of an hour, yet barely sustains interest for that long. There's a good idea at the core of this wannabe indie darling and the "apart" stages can be fairly engrossing the first time around, but unfortunately the substance is just as minimalist as the style. Worth checking out in a sale or on PS Plus, but probably one to skip at £6.49.
Boasting two wonderfully-realised new faction, each with their own distinct strengths and weaknesses, The Western Front Armies is a cracking digital proposition for newcomers and veterans alike. But if you're not bothered about the new content and just want to sample COH2, be aware that hard copies for the base game run cheaper than this.
An incredibly deep and engaging RPG, Larian have delivered one of the finest RPGs of the last decade in a paean to player choice and freedom, all presented with the knowing smile and cheeky wink we've come to expect from them. Divinity: Original Sin might prove a little overwhelming for some, but old-school RPG fans will absolutely adore this.
Unrest is a game both fascinating and frustrating in equal measure. Its foundations as a communication-focussed, character-driven RPG with a unique setting and multiple perspectives on a situation of civil unrest are incredibly interesting, but ultimately the game can't quite bring it all together and the end result is something of a rushed piece with unrealised potential. Refreshing, certainly, but sadly flawed.
Gods Will Be Watching is an interesting experiment -- a game that puts a fresh new spin on PnC conventions and delivers are pretty unique experience. But its lack of narrative impact, its ultimately empty moral decisions, dependence on trial and error, and tendencies towards deliberate frustration rather than challenging fun make it something of a flawed curiosity piece rather than anything else.
For a game that bears the name of a remarkable writer, Wayward Manor ultimately proves rather unremarkable thanks to clunky mechanics, repetitive puzzles, and a story that seems a little too thin.
Take no note of the name, it's not an RPG, it's a fairly mindless brawler, and a mediocre one at that.
MIND: Path to Thalamus is an engaging game for the most part, rife with thought-provoking themes and motifs, beautiful settings, and plenty of allegorical symbolism to aid its emotionally-charged narrative. It's just a shame that instead of entrusting the game's narrative to those elements, Coronado opts to spell things out with overwrought exposition and questionable monologues that ultimately serve to remove the game's emotional impact. It's a striking, ambitious game, and one that's certainly not lacking in vision, but unfortunately its one major flaw is a big one.
Should you by it? Well, to be brutally honest, it's a game that would be perfect as a PlayStation Plus curio, and I'm pretty sure that we'll see it there at some point down the line. I found it to be odd and empty with moments of fleeting magic at first. But the more I stopped analysing it and let myself simply play, the more I began to delight in the little sprites, their little animations, the detail to the worlds, the beautiful music that perfectly compliments the fluidity of movement by the long-mover (I still prefer rainbow worm).
This is the Metro experience how it was meant to be. With 2033 brought up to parity with its successor in terms of visual aspects and a smoother stealth experience, 2033 and Last Light come together to form a glorious whole that's more atmospheric than ever, giving a second chance to one of the most striking and original shooters out there. Essential stuff, especially on console, for fans and newcomers alike.
Infamous First Light packs a whole bunch of content in at a decent price, and fleshes out Second Son's most interesting character in fine fashion, with a sibling story that tugs at the heartstrings thanks to another great performance from Bailey. It's an extension, perhaps, more than an expansion -- more of the same sort of thing, but with a slightly different flavour -- but given how much fun Second Son was, that's no bad thing.
Hyrule Warriors doesn't pretend to be anything that it isn't. It does exactly what it says on the tin, producing what is probably the best Warriors game to date, and doing so by taking many of the best aspects of The Legend of Zelda and successfully incorporating them into the classic 1-vs-1000 gameplay. The fan service is astonishing, the level of detail very welcome indeed, and the action can be truly satisfying, with the various bosses going a long way to making the repetitive action seem quite refreshing at times. A triumphant mash-up indeed.
Pro Rugby Manager 2015 is an utter disgrace, a broken shambles, bereft of depth or quality, worth neither your time nor your money. It's frankly insulting that niche audiences continue to be exploited in this manner, and 505 Games should be utterly ashamed of themselves.
A cracking adventure game, possibly the best Sherlock Holmes game that Frogwares have given us thus far, Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments goes a long way to making players feel like we are are Holmes rather than simply playing a game about him. There are little niggles here and there, but frankly if you enjoy your detective mystery games, it would be criminal to overlook one of the best we've had in ages.
I'd never have pegged the folks behind Bulletstorm to craft something like The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, but I'm very glad that they did. It has a few niggling issues, but ultimately this is a brilliantly subtle, imaginative and thoughtful game.