Tiny Trax is a brilliant brilliant concept and FuturLab need to be commended on crafting such a wonderful Virtual World with tracks that are literally out of this world. The VR itself is comfortable, and you never seem to get tired eyes and definitely no motion sickness. Technically on that front it's top notch. It's just a shame that the gameplay itself falls short of its potential.
Baja Edge of Control is a game that no one remembers, has a HD remaster title yet doesn't look much better than the original, is old fashioned, brutish, has no finesse with no lavish budget – But you know what? It's fun and what it does do, it does it well. It's the sort of game that I will happily turn on, complete a cup in the career which will take 20 minutes and turn it off again, just like I do with Mario Kart. And then I'll do the same the next day. And the next. That's the beauty of this game. You can invest as much time in it as you like. Spend hours fine tuning, or just a few minutes here and there having a quick race. No matter which way you play you will get the same result of an enjoyable racer.
Despite all the innovation and good looks, the core gameplay is too restrictive and dull and you feel that Ultra Ultra had run out of ideas and made certain sections just too long just to pad the game out. There is potential here, it's just been poorly executed, but I do look forward to what Ultra Ultra do next.
It’s a pity the story and acting is so weak and for me, I wish they had kept the pixel graphics from the previous version. If you have some spare minutes between games or outings or work, then Aces of the Luftwaffe is a good enough game to choose to fill those gaps.
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 American Dream is a game that could be seen as quite divisive when you consider the current climate. It’s definitely a weird thing that does its best at poking fun at America and it’s gun culture. However going forward this is certainly not going to provide any answers for the gun debate, no matter how satirical it may be.
There is a lot of fun to be had in The Crew 2 though and hopefully if Ubisoft’s post-game updates are as plentiful as their other games this sequel can blossom into something wonderful.
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.
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.
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.
Null Drifter is a simple, fun, but ultimately shallow shooter, which is fine if you want a quick blast.
Gamers who like a cruel, twisted challenge to keep them awake at night whispering just one more jump over and over again will find a decent game and one almighty almost insurmountable challenge here.
Descenders is a game that once you get to grips with can be a lot of fun, unfortunately, it probably has one too many flaws for it to be considered great.
Going Under is a fun if short lived game. A nice bright roguelike that just fails to have that one more go feel to it.
A raft of classic characters and cel shaded visuals aren’t enough to save G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout from mediocrity.
Iron Crypticle can be fun, I enjoyed it in short burst sessions and there's definitely that "just one more go" factor and for high score junkies this will appeal to you. It's not a terrible game, there are just better examples out there.
This is really a game for those high score junkies. It's old-school in both looks and design and for a quick time waster works perfectly. If you're looking for something deeper, then this is not the game for you.
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.
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?