My complaints are fairly minor, especially when compared to the vast amount of fun I had with Warhammer: Total War 2.
FIFA 18 is yet another strong addition to the long-running series. With another powerful season of The Journey, some vastly improved skill games, and the return of fan favourite Ultimate Team, FIFA 18 is a welcome step forwards in the saga of the Beautiful Game.
Distrust is a knowing nod to The Thing and plays homage to survival horror games in the same motion. It's far from perfect, but there is something there that makes it enjoyable.
There's a very fun, albeit rather simple, racing game here. The decent variety in game modes keeps you from getting bored, though variation between the characters' stats would have been welcome. Some of the challenges in the Hall of Fame are actually quite difficult, so there's content to move towards regardless of your skill with racing games. That said, this isn't really a title for diehard fans of very realistic driving games, for obvious reasons.
Which is a real shame because I bet the multiplayer experience would have been a lot of fun, because the game itself is. It's not necessarily groundbreaking in any regard but figuring out the knack to controlling Newbie at high speeds is really rewarding. Some of the challenges lie on the 'childish' side of easy, but not every game needs to be Dark Souls, right?
Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 is a long way from being the best game in its genre. The shooting is satisfying, but that’s really about it. Almost everything else in the game, from the story to the AI to the loading times, leaves a lot to be desired.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild revitalises and redefines not just the Zelda series itself, or Nintendo games in general, but the entire action-adventure genre. It's the most astonishing curtain call for the Wii U, a console that arguably doesn't deserve to go out on such a high note. Stunningly beautiful, lovingly crafted and meticulously detailed, Breath of the Wild raises the bar for similar games so ridiculously high, the competition will need to hitch a ride on a dragon and soar for the heavens if they ever want to get close.
The art style is cartoonish and loveable, and the music for each stage really helps to set the tone and help you concentrate. Top it all off with the fact that Vertical Drop Heroes HD is made by ONE MAN, an enormously talented dude named Nerdook (he also created Reverse Crawl, which you should probably check out), then you owe it to yourself to have a look.
An altogether gripping tale of corruption and deceit, with a thoughtful twist and a historied setting. Knee Deep’s characters are likeable enough, from the enigmatic head of The Church of Us, to the disgraced professor who did time for getting high, and sleeping, with a student he thought was 18. While there's a fair view tropes and clichés, the writing and acting is generally of a high enough standard for me to let it slide. If it wasn't so slow to play, it'd be a damn near flawless example of how to sell a game based purely on story and dialogue.
Music and art help set a strong atmosphere are very important for platformers, to help them stand out from the crowd, and I feel that's one area where Hunter's Legacy shines.
Oceanhorn is fairly cliché, but it works. It's a tried and tested formula for great adventure games, and that's exactly what Oceanhorn is. While maybe not quite an 'instant classic', it certainly fills a Zelda-shaped void in the non-Nintendo market.
Mother Russia Bleeds is a good game. Not a great game, but it's a fun enough throw back to a genre that once was king. While it's better in co-op, I had a decent amount of fun playing solo, too.
The Turing Test forces you to consider what makes humanity, by questioning morality and the idea of 'the few vs the many' through conversations with Tom. The parts of Tom and Ava are written and voiced fantastically, and that's a saving grace in a puzzle game where the puzzles are, at times, too easy. The story twists and turns as you head deeper and deeper into Europa, and the strategically spaced-out post it notes, emails, and voice recordings from the ground crew feed you a tale that I don't want to say too much about, but it's a damn fine one. I gasped and dropped my controller after the final scene. And I don't remember the last time I did that.