If you're returning to Dark Souls II, you'll either come away pleased that you're on the same page as the designers, or annoyed by the seemingly perfunctory remix of enemy and item placement. On the other hand, brand new players may find Scholar of the First Sin to be an ideal, more guided tour of the world of Drangleic.
Bladestorm: Nightmare is a game that suffers from its fundamentals. The act of moving your troops around the battlefield, and engaging in combat, is too far removed from the player's input – leading to frustration rather than gratification. Adding dragons to the mix doesn't shake up the formula, and highlights that not all games can act as frameworks for other concepts.
Bloodborne lends heavily from its forebears, but transforms the combat into a fast-paced dance of death. It rewards aggression rather than hanging back and waiting for opportunities to present themselves. While some technical, design, and pacing issues mar parts of the experience, Bloodborne is the freshest playing entry in a genre that has very narrow gameplay constraints.
Zombie Army Trilogy feels exactly like what you think it is – a collection of DLC packages. With a bare-bones frame propping it up, the game is an emaciated experience with an overly ambitious price tag attempting to tie it all together.
The PS4 version of Akiba's Trip: Undead and Undressed does carry some extra features (like Twitch chat integration, and modifiable visual filters), but none of it alters the core – a funny idea embedded in mediocre combat. Endearing character interactions allow you to overlook some of the mechanical elements, but the rampant sexualisation drags the whole thing down.
If the best time you can have with Dying Light is through avoiding the main content, maybe that says a lot about how you shouldn't be structuring an open world game.
Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris is an enjoyable action-puzzler. It effortlessly presents combat and puzzle encounters to the player, without inundating or starving them of one or the other. Just make sure you bring some friends along for the ride.
This sharper Grand Theft Auto V doesn't carry any additional moniker – perhaps signifying the developer's confidence in believing that all versions of their game are the best. That simply isn't true here. These newer versions help realise Los Santos in a way that wasn't possible before, and reaffirms Rockstar's skill in producing authentic worlds, with a character all their own.
MXGP has a solid, interesting control scheme that is rewarding when you figure out its quirks. The lack of meaningful content, however, in addition to its graphical presentation, severely limits any impetus to continue playing it.
The culmination of changes in Advanced Warfare make it the freshest playing entry in the series, and the largest departure from its norm.
The game is an anachronism, proving that transposing ideas from the past (without thinking critically about how they should be represented in the present) doesn't always work.
The PC port of Dead Rising 3 manages to bring the core experience over well. The combat is still visceral, insane, and funny. The sheer quantity on offer here is impressive, but don't come to this version if you're looking for something new. Also, make sure to bring a controller.
The Swapper is a beautiful, haunting thing. It's rare for a game to leave you feeling emotionally numb, but also satisfied by the journey. All of The Swapper's parts operate in concert, creating a masterful puzzle platformer that deserves to be remembered.
Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty is currently retailing on PSN for $33.95 (NZ) and is a 4.5GB download.
The driving in GRID Autosport is fantastic, and certainly more in-line with Codemaster's (and the fan's) vision of what their series should be. While the singleplayer A.I. detracts from the overall experience, and the lack of personality is disappointing, these are all just minor issues that orbit a game with a solid foundation.
BattleBlock Theater is a charming platformer. It comes loaded with a sense of style and humour that only developer The Behemoth possess. An incredibly funny narrator, adorable creature design, and cut-scenes that look like paper-doll puppetry all amount to a stylistically cohesive game that has tight platforming to boot (albeit with a few mechanical hiccups).
Daylight's claim to fame is its reported replay value; that no scare will ever be the same twice. While it is technically true that the level geometry does change from playthrough-to-playthrough, the scares certainly see some overlap, and the writing isn't worth a return visit. There are no nascent ideas in Daylight – just the desperate, flailing attempts to throw every horror cliché at the wall.
Cutesy and colourful, Life Goes On takes a core concept from most games, flips it, and embeds it in an environment with reciprocating elements. The result is an engaging puzzle platformer that delights more than it frustrates. The ending credits sequence is also one of the most charming things I've seen this year.