Streets of Rage 4 is not here to redefine the genre. It’s here to give fans something they have waited over 2 decades for and it doesn’t disappoint.
Null Drifter is a simple, fun, but ultimately shallow shooter, which is fine if you want a quick blast.
There are some amazing examples of the genre out there, Ikaruga, Sine Mora and going further back, the wonderful Axelay on Super Nintendo. These are what I’d call the Prince William and Kate of the shooter world. Loved and held in high esteem. Sisters Royale I’m afraid is the Prince Andrew, dull and too busy hiding in Pizza Hut to be of any use to anyone.
Everything is here and had the potential to be proper Terminator cannon being a ‘prequel’ to both films. Instead, we’re left with a game that if it was a colour would be grey. Just there, nothing special, nothing stand out, just part of the colour spectrum, and easily forgotten over brighter colours. (How’s that for an analogy?) however it has its moments and if you can find it for a few quid then it’s probably worth picking up otherwise it’s the perfect game for Xbox Game Pass or PlayStation Now.
You can tell that Bungie are trying their best to refine the base foundations of Destiny and that must be applauded considering how well the game has played for the past 5 years. If you are well buried in the franchise then you’ll no doubt lap this up, if you’re new to the series or looking for something that will finally shake up the stale gameplay, you’ll be left wanting. Shadowkeep is a small stone in a big pond, I’m still waiting for that boulder to make a real splash.
Clearly this type of game is targeted at a certain type of gamer, it’s definitely not for the main stream, perhaps a VR mode would have helped that, a strange omission to be fair but don’t be put off giving Bus Simulator a go if you fancy something completely different to what you’re used to.
Ninja Saviours: Return of the Warriors may be out to save the world from brain washed humans, but they may just save a dying genre of games that I miss something chronic.
Solo should have been two separate games really, one a standard cutesy platformer that you can throw on PSN and let people who enjoy puzzle platformers if that’s their bag and the other should have been a more meaningful journey where you do find out stuff about your past or present love or even if you’re suffering heartbreak. Being asked a question about sex and having such a personal question add nothing to the game is a bit of a bitter pill to swallow.
Although everything looks great and some of the weapons are a bit of fun, plus there are some good ideas sporadically dotted through the game, destroying Nazi’s in a bloody great big mech should be the best fun ever - but it’s simply not.
The whole package is just as near damn perfect as you could possibly ask for. This has gone straight on the list of my Game of the Year Contenders.
Observation is a game that is dripping with potential, and starts brilliantly, but the further you go through the game the more your desire to keep playing drains, a bit like a leaky space suit with oxygen depleting issues. It is worth a play through to soak up the brilliant atmosphere and gasp at the visuals. But only the most hardened walking-sim gamer will find much game in this.
World War Z has plenty of rough edges and for love of god it really REALLY needs an evade button, but it’s a small price to pay for such a video game event.
Outward is billed as a survival RPG and that it is. The survival elements do make it an interesting adventure to an extent but sometimes it goes overboard and frustrates. The fighting is awful, the spells are too confusing and convoluted and as mentioned it’s really hard to give a crap about your character. Massive kudos to Nine Dots for embarking on a game of this magnitude and there is some great ideas here to make it stand out from the glut of other fantasy RPGs.
Wizards is an entertaining game when it works with plenty to keep you occupied. I just wish you didn’t have to fight with the controls so much then this would be up there with the best.
The Kings Bird is perhaps one of those games suited to gamers who love speedruns, where twitch platforming comes second nature and has the patience to really stick with the game. I enjoyed the first few levels, but the shortcomings of the controls and the haphazard nature of if they work or not kind of distracted me from what is an interesting and challenging game to play. Perhaps I need to just get better and these types of games, but having played games for 27 odd years I like to think I have the skills necessary to at least get to grips with the most challenging of games. As it stands The Kings Bird is hard to recommend to the casual gamer, but speedrunners will probably get the most out of this if they can get to grips with the somewhat broken mechanics.
Monster Energy Supercross – The Official Videogame 2 gives you everything you would want from an official Motorcross game, whether you will get the most out of it though really depends if you are a mad fan of the sport. Along with the gameplay shortcomings mentioned earlier, the rawk soundtrack is terrible and gets way too repetitive way too soon. The visuals aren’t great either, but then I guess how pretty do you need muddy stadiums to be?
Vane is game that has much potential, It has the feel of The Last Guardian to it and that in itself is a reason to want to like this game. The incredible visual style and the haunting 80s synths soundtrack adds buckets of atmosphere. It’s just a shame that the game is so obtuse for its own good.
All in all Pang Adventures is a great remake of a classic. If I had one concern, it would be that the game can feel quite samey after a while, but for pick up and play fun-times it’s damn good fun and did leave me with hunger Pangs to play more….see what I did there?
The shameful thing is that had Gungrave just been re-released with a lick of paint for the PS4 I probably would have bought it and enjoyed it as I like these types of games. And you can tell even while craning your neck to see the bad dude behind you, there is some good old-fashioned shooting/slashing gameplay to be had if it wasn’t in VR. But alas in VR it is and you’re left with a game that will either make you feel ill or give you cramp before you get past the first couple of levels. Which is a shame when you know that if this game was more traditional, it would be much better for it.
Beat Saber is as good as you imagine it to be no doubt there and has joined the ever-growing list of must-play games on PSVR.