Dylan Blight's Reviews
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is the revitalization of a franchise that has long been buried in the sand of uninteresting ideas.
I had a fantastic time with Detective Pikachu Returns, with more than a couple of jokes and moments having me laugh or smile at the screen. I would often wish I had been playing it with someone else in the room with me as I wanted to point out silly little jokes, comments from Pikachu or odd things the other Pokemon in the game were doing. It's got some issues, but I never once wanted to stop playing it. Now excuse me while I make a coffee!
The cast of characters here is super-likable and is the most I've enjoyed a High School cast in a video game since Life is Strange: Beyond the Storm. KO_OP may have taken a long time to get Goodbye Volcano High out the door, but it's been more than worth the wait for this final product, which is one of my favourite games of the year.
There's not much here aside from wholesome vibes and messaging, but the game never overstays its welcome, knowing it's a short and sweet experience from the outset and delivering a lovely Amazon Rainforest visit.
As the credits rolled for Venba, I began thinking about how this would be someone's favourite game of 2023 and maybe one of their favourites of all time.
Families can get more out of this as an entry-level Metroidvania. Still, even as much as the game succeeded in charming me at times with the core characters, it's hard to recommend this to anyone over the many other Nintendo Switch exclusive 2D platformers.
Although Speed Crew can initially seem confusing, once you click, you'll be yelling, "Pass the 3/4 torque wrench!" l
Aliens: Dark Descent is an excellent Aliens game, and I hope it's patched quickly to address the issues some players like myself are running into so I can wholeheartedly recommend it to fans. Because what's here is some of the tensest Aliens action I've played in a game, with a surprisingly exciting narrative to pull it all together.
Lego 2K Drive has thrown many popular arcade racer ideas together and asked, what works? For the Lego fan, this is going to scratch a specific itch. I don't think we need to see a "Scotty Smash" to fix this build, but to fulfil the desires of Lego racers, young and old; some tweaks will be needed in a sequel.
Combat feels more lively from the get-go, with Cal already able to use plenty of force abilities and feeling like a Jedi; the narrative is much more exciting thanks to a clear focus in the opposite direction of the upcoming events of the films, and instead into the secret untapped potential at the feet of all Star Wars storytelling.
Dead Island 2 knows exactly what it wants to be, and it goes for the jugular with extreme melee combat and dismembering slow-motion finishing moves.
If you enjoyed your time with Horizon Forbidden West, you'll want to play Burning Shores. It's the next chapter in the Horizon story, a stepping stone towards the next game while also giving you an excuse to fly, dive, and glide around this beautiful world once again.
I enjoy this world, and returning for one more adventure was a short but worthwhile adventure. However, if I play another game with any of these characters next, it better be post-Road 96.
There's little to dislike about Quill and Moss outside of how short it is, especially now that the technical complaints are cleared up. This is a beautiful entry into a VR series that'll hopefully have more than just one sequel, and Quill is a wonderful character who deserves more players to get to know her.
For fans of the Bayonetta franchise, there's a lot to love here, even if it's not the type of game you're used to playing. But it's the newcomers and fresh faces to the world of Cereza/Bayonetta, witches, demons and magical powers that Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon is primed to impress the most.
There's not much to Zombieland: Headshot Fever Reloaded, but there's more than enough content here to fulfil fans of lightgun-inspired shooters.
As a certified #cutie game, it's hard to vote against playing Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe when it will make anyone with a heart smile.
There is an extended on-rails boat scene you can put non-gamers into to experience the headset, but as far as pushing the medium forward and being a showcase for the future of virtual reality, Horizon Call of the Mountain is just a pretty game with the core of a last-generation VR game.
A quick shortlist for one of my favourite games so far in 2023, Wild Hearts is a thrilling action RPG that's bound to scratch an itch for Monster Hunter fans while providing something alternative for fans of the genre.
And no matter how good it looks, it doesn't make up for the bland characters, the annoying world design with a useless map I didn't mention, the immature and ridiculous script, the odd sexism and the sense that you're playing something you'll likely regret.