While Thymesia is certainly lacking in some key departments, the solid control, satisfying combat, moody atmosphere, and compelling challenge are still well worth crowing about.
Though slightly wanting when compared with its Souls contemporaries, Steelrising still offers up challenging combat, inventive enemies, and an attractive and atmospheric take on 18th-century Paris at a time of great upheaval.
Solid and definitely have an audience. There could be some hard-to-ignore faults, but the experience is fun.
Solid and definitely have an audience. There could be some hard-to-ignore faults, but the experience is fun.
Assassin’s Creed celebrates its 15-year anniversary with a presentable tale of stealth & stab, set against the backdrop of a beautifully realized Baghdad. Unfortunately, in returning to its roots, Mirage casts an unwelcome spotlight on the series’ dated mechanics, signaling a need for evolution. For the franchise faithful, however, Assassin’s Creed Mirage remains a fine adventure offered at an agreeable price.
Lords of the Fallen is a solid, if conventional Soulslike, offering imposing adventure while never quite breaking new ground. Though a litany of performance woes currently hinders the experience, expansive realms, gloomy lore, and a bloody, heavy-handed challenge await the more sadistic corners of the game-playing audience.
From a gameplay perspective, Gangs of Sherwood breaks little in the way of new ground. But thanks to the talent of its developer, an eye for creative world design, and the classic, swashbuckling spirit of yesteryear, this plucky bout of melee mayhem pushes past its limitations to deliver a great-looking and enjoyable scrapper for you and your band of merry men.
Slightly above average or simply inoffensive. Fans of the genre should enjoy them a bit, but a fair few will be left unfulfilled.
While die-hard Phantom Thieves will enjoy stepping into the Metaverse once again - as slick, stylish, and cool as it ever was - Persona 5 Tactica lacks variety, momentum, and challenge. Its key issue lies in a fatal lack of mechanical balance, resulting in an endearing but unsatisfying strategy experience.
Sand Land replicates both the unmistakable style and iconic character of Akira Toriyama’s work with color, authenticity, and passion. As an open-world adventure game, however, it is both conventional in gameplay and repetitive in design, resulting in a good-looking, great-sounding but overly simplistic adventure that nails the charm and aesthetic, but not the excitement and dynamism. A stylish but average escapede that never really gets out of first gear.
Mortal Kombat 1 envisions an exciting future with fluid combat, a fantastic story mode, and superb visuals - but receding features, underbaked mechanics, and a dated online experience keep it in the past.
It's tough to be down on Gang Beasts. At heart, it's just very silly entertainment for you and your pals, like the multiplayer games of yesteryear. It's kind of bad, broken even, and it's certainly not going to become a mainstay of anyone's regular gaming catalogue. But it certainly guarantees some laughs with your pals. Isn't that what gaming was designed to do?
Writing that such a good looking, clearly heartfelt project isn't an awesome game frankly sucks. Literally just glimpsing these screenshots fills me with wonder once again. But I have to shake off those starry-eyes and remind myself of the fatigue and apathy I felt just halfway into Eshe's journey toward salvation or damnation.
Very few games make me smile while playing. I always find gaming pretty intense, even when having fun. But boy, do I grin like a dang fool when playing the Shantae series. I love the colours, the characters, the world, the adventures and the music. Simply put, the Shantae games make me happy, whisking me away briefly from the blues of the world, like many good video games should.Last year's Shantae: Half-Genie Hero was a popular release, despite its streamlined design, audience-dividing aesthetic changes and incredibly low difficulty. Sometimes, people love a game's world, and just enjoy being part of it. Today, you can return to the Half Genie Hero world, but this time in the role of the genie-girl's notorious arch-enemy; Risky Boots, Queen of the Seven Seas!
The Pact is a fair episode, with some familiar faces and a couple of great scenes. But due to its odd plotting, overbooked roster, and distracting technical flaws, it didn't suck me in like the previous chapter did. Still, outside of the horrible lock-up issues, it was an acceptable way to while away two hours. I'm intrigued to see where the story goes next.
Metropolis: Lux Obscura is another entry in the crowded Match 3 market, albeit one with a decadent coating of sleaze and brutality. Fans of the genre will have a fun time while it lasts, but anyone disinterested in such games will find nothing new here. Though it certainly isn't without its merits, namely in its great art, branching pathways and low price, Metropolis suffers due to its unoriginality and short lifespan, which may be enough for some to give this otherwise interesting release the hard goodbye.
Now a young woman, wise and self-sufficient beyond her years, Clementine has reached the end of her story where, alongside AJ - a young boy she rescued during previous seasons - she will finally face her fate.
I remain invested in The Walking Dead as it nears its conclusion, now just two months away. Though the move to Skybound hasn't improved the technical reliability of the Telltale Games experience, the artists, writers, and voice actors continue to present a story that remains suspenseful, delivering some great individual moments, even if it sometimes pads the run-time to reach them. Beyond that, it's just nice to see you again, Clem.
Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise is a passionate retelling of one of history's most violent, bare-bones, and overwhelmingly macho tales. In that capacity, it does a great job. But it's not quite the masterpiece it could have been, let down by repetition, unlock grinds, and a lack of polish in narrative and mechanics. Regardless, with bucket-loads of adventure on offer, and a cathartic dose of the old ultra-violence, Lost Paradise is a fine weekend-filler, and a proud reflection of its legendary source material.
Arachnaphobe warning!Other than video games, my main passion is women dressed in suits, with drawn on pencil-thin moustaches movies. Whilst I haven't kept a complete tally of how many films I've watched, I know it's thousands upon thousands, with a personal best a couple of years back of about 200 in one year. I've seen a lot of the greats and most of the classics. But more importantly, I've seen plenty of the worst movies ever made.I don't mean some crappy horror sequel from 2006. I mean truly atrocious films of no redeeming quality. Shit like The Starfighters, Zombie-a-Go-Go and Americathon. I've also seen awful films that, somehow, remain wildly entertaining; R.O.T.O.R, Voyage of the Rock Aliens, Animal Protector and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.So many times, the question is asked "What is gaming's Citizen Kane?" Aside from this being one of the very worst questions ever to leave anyone's lips, we're also yet to find a true and fitting answer. But forget the artsy classics. What I want to know is when does anybody ever ask "What is gaming's Death Wish 3?" Well, if they ever do, you look 'em dead in the eye and you tell them it's Earth Defense Force 5, baby.