Colm Ahern's Reviews
Few worlds are as well-realised as the one Rockstar has created for Red Dead Redemption 2. Thanks to some wonderful scripting and stellar performances, the characters you randomly meet in the wild are captured as well as the ones you spend most of your days around camp. How do you follow Red Dead Redemption? You make Red Dead Redemption 2.
A pleasant story about two best friends who refuse to be separated by a great evil, My Memory of Us is brought down by some awkward controls, but remains impossibly nice throughout.
FIFA 19 is the finest playing game in the series. The Journey may be after running its course, but the fluid representation of football, the added element of Dynamic Tactics, and the madness of the updated Kick Off mode are all wonderful.
The challenge of Transference's puzzles tapers off, and there's little subtlety when it comes to certain themes, but great use of some grim audio make this a decent little horror game.
While some of the antiquated trappings of open world games from years gone-by are present, Spider-Man manages to remain a delight through great acting performances, a compelling story, terrific combat, and joyous swinging.
While its impact isn't as great as the original, Guacamelee 2 is a reminder of how good combat and traversal can feel when married together as they are in this 2D platformer-cum-brawler.
While We Happy Few's story contains some genuinely wonderful twists and turns once it gets going, it's dragged down by frustrating survival systems, shoddy combat, and an empty world.
While this Switch re-release doesn't add as much as some may hope, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is still a delight.
Detroit: Become Human wants to move you. It wants to elicit an emotional response through its story. The thing is, it really doesn't. The flowchart is a nice inclusion and adds some variance, but when the narrative is as cringey and ham-fisted as it is you won't want to play through it multiple times.
In its quieter moments Hope County is a picturesque backdrop to terrific Prepper Stash puzzles, and an over-the-top fantasy playground when the volume is turned up. Taking on Eden's Gate is compelling, horrific, and an awful lot of fun.
Fighting and exploring is more free than ever, and the story, while wanting in certain areas, introduces a few great characters. Some activities and side missions lack a punch, but how many games do you get to wear a giant orange on your head?
The challenging platforming and touching narrative of Celeste shape a surprise hit.
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus jumps from breakneck bloodshed, to humour involving your endearing crew, with aplomb; a masterfully done sequel.
It's extraordinary, really, that after all this time a new Mario game can feel as fresh as any that preceded it. Cappy is a revelation, exploring Kingdoms is bliss, and Super Mario Odyssey is a masterpiece.
The longer South Park: The Fractured But Whole went on, the less I laughed. Exploring the mountain town, however, is a delight, and the battles are a marked improvement on the original's combat.
There's definitely a point where it all becomes a bit too much, but Cuphead will best most games in how it looks and sounds, and defeating that boss that you once deemed unbeatable is glorious.
FIFA 18 is the best FIFA game in years. There are some obvious flaws — some of which are more frustrating than others — but as a complete package, the series is making progress, once again.
A lot has gone into changing how the game is played in PES 2018. The more measured approach is wonderful, as is Real Touch+. That's why the parts that need an upgrade stick out more than they have in years.
Tokyo Dark is an enjoyable supernatural mystery that holds your attention up until the end, which makes the disappointing execution of the SPIN system a real shame.
While Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle may have been the crossover that no one wanted, it's materialised as a really good one with some interesting systems, despite its smattering of shortcomings. It shouldn't work, but it does.