LEGO Horizon Adventures is a new installment in the series of block games that is well worth seeing. The Sony masterpiece has been adapted and shortened for children and impresses at first glance with an impressively detailed game world with razor-sharp textures. We can look forward to great lighting effects, vivid environments and a convincing atmosphere that definitely captures the Horizon flair. The battles, sneaking elements and climbing sections are also really fun, but have of course been greatly simplified to appeal to younger players. The implementation of the giant robot dinosaurs is also convincing all round, as is the design of the familiar locations. However, these are a little too linear for our taste, even if we welcome the fact that there is no open world. The overall variety in the gameplay is also typical of LEGO, but the latest spin-off once again shines with its humor and the local and online co-op features. All in all, LEGO Horizon Adventures is a successful block game - graphically even one of the best. However, you shouldn't expect any great innovations or real challenges and the fact that the world is so beautiful, but the areas are very limited, unfortunately leaves the potential for more unused.
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Metro Awakening brings the Metro universe to virtual reality. The game impresses with an excellently realized end-time atmosphere in the Moscow subway, which is in no way inferior to the main series. The story, the characters and, above all, the typical VR mechanics such as climbing, opening doors and turning valves also impressed us throughout, as did the truly outstanding implementation of the shooting system. If you ignore the somewhat poorly detailed creatures, the sometimes somewhat awkward motion controls (e.g. when loading the lamp) or the repeatedly wildly placed subtitles, you definitely get a high-quality VR experience in twelve chapters, which is a worthy representative of the main series.
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With Dragon Age: The Veilguard, what we no longer thought possible after Anthem has actually happened: the good old BioWare RPG is back. Veilguard offers us classic trademarks of the studio such as atmospheric locations, strong characters, an elaborately staged story and numerous decisions that shape our relationship with other characters and thus also our character. Graphically, the role-playing game definitely takes some getting used to and is far from a modern photorealistic representation, but the sometimes more or less limited areas shine with atmosphere, attention to detail and a strong mission focus. In terms of sound, on the other hand, The Veilguard plays in the very top league and offers us not only flawless synchronization but also a great orchestral soundtrack at film score level. The very action-oriented combat system, which we really enjoyed, will probably not appeal to everyone, however, as it has already developed strongly in the direction of an action-adventure game, and elements such as rope-sliding, slithering and climbing interludes soften the classic role-playing game framework noticeably. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing is ultimately up to each player to decide. In any case, we really enjoyed Dragon Age: The Veilguard and once again proved the truth of the proverb “The dead live longer”. With this in mind: Welcome back, BioWare!
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With NHL 25, EA Sports delivers a really solid ice hockey game this year, which has made noticeable progress in some important areas. It's not just the much better structured franchise career, which is now also more interactive thanks to the player conversations. The visual presentation has also improved by more than just one percentage point and is finally closing the gap on other sports simulations from EA, such as EA Sports FC or Madden NFL. There are also noticeable improvements on the ice, which are due to the new ICE-Q AI system and ensure that the games simply feel more dynamic and human, as the CPU players position themselves better or move more realistically thanks to new animations. We also liked the rival system with its special presentation, as well as the optimized display of replays. Apart from the franchise, however, little to nothing has happened in the other game modes, meaning that the game is largely the same as last year. Unfortunately, nothing has changed in the sequences in Be-a-Pro mode, some of which still have no sound. Nonetheless, NHL 25 is a very good sports game overall, which scores particularly well in the core element, namely the performance on the ice.
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The Silent Hill 2 remake does an excellent job of bringing the old-school horror of the original into the modern age without copying it. The mood created in the gloomy and deserted town, which becomes more and more blatant and intense as the game progresses, pushed me to my limits time and again as I played, without a succession of intrusive shock moments. Instead, the game thrives on its atmosphere, which is uncomfortable at all times and then becomes really threatening later on. Added to this are sparse lighting conditions, an exceptionally good soundtrack with surreal and consistently unpleasant soundscapes and an overall really good graphical presentation that presents the horror in the best possible light. With its successful mix of well-balanced puzzles, attentive exploration of the environment and powerful close and solidly implemented ranged combat, the new edition of Silent Hill 2 entertained me throughout and wrapped the classic horror gameplay a la Resident Evil in an appealing modern guise. Textures that sometimes load quite late when examining objects, a somewhat jerky performance here and there or the visible blurring at the edges, especially with the hair, which occurs during movement, nevertheless scratch the façade a little. The selection of enemies is also not overwhelming and somewhat monotonous, especially in the long run. Overall, however, the Silent Hill 2 remake manages to retain the splendor of the original and open a door for new generations into the anything but inviting Silent Hill, which every horror fan should have seen.
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Gear Club Unlimited 2 - Porsche Edition is a solid racing game for Nintendos Switch. Is convinces with its optional motion control and also with the variety of courses and cars. It has some graphical deficits and the story is not the most innovative one I've ever seen, but all in all, the game is really fun to play.
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The Campus DLC makes it possible to create a little university-town in the middle of your city. We choose between three different campus types and decide, which profession our students can archieve. Every campus type has its own buildings for studying and entertainment and even its own architecture. With Cities Skylines Campus we are able to relive our own university times and enjoy an authentic campus atmosphere.
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efootball PES 2020 comes with a great new-designed league-mode, where you lead your team through the season. It feels a lot better than in the years before, because you can take a deeper look on the daily work as a coach. There are many cutscenes or interviews and dialogues, that make the mode more realistic than ever before. PES 2020 is also convincing in the stadiums, where the great gameplay on the football-ground comes along with an intense atmosphere.
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All in all, Control is a real good third-person-shooter with fast combats, supernatural powers and an intense atmosphere. It feels oldschool in a good kind of way and reminds me of the early Resident-Evil-Series. Even if the gameplay is convincing, the technical presentation has some real problems, like a buggy map, a poor german synchronisation and a bad performance on Xbox One.
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Wolfenstein Youngblood is the perfect game for everybody, who ever wanted to play a Wolfenstein spin-off with a friend. The coop-features are truly convincing as well as the typical Wolfenstein gameplay and humor. As Wolfenstein Youngblood is not a full price title, we have to accept a less complex story and noticeable rare cutscenes.
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Tour de France 2019 for game consoles convinces with realistic routes, orignal races like the Tour de France, Paris-Nice or the World Championships and an authentic feeling and handling while controlling the riders through the courses. Fans of the series can discover a new classic course and new challenges. Again, we have to be happy with a few original-courses and only one big, three-week-race.
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PixARK realises a lot of things in a good way, some even better than ARK: Survival Evolved. Even, if the basic gameplay is nearly the same, the characters in PixARK are far more likable, atmosphere and soundtrack are more intense and the pixel-optic creates surprisingly detailed dinosaurs. Furthermore, PixARK deliveres some quests, that open the monotonous gameplay-routine at least a little bit.
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The Elder Scrolls Elsweyr comes with an solid story about dragons and the cat-like Khajiit. It also convinces with its intense atmosphere and a diversified setting with forests, hills and hidden temples. The new necromancer-class completes the expansion, that should make every ESO-fan very happy.
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If you liked „London Heist“, a part of the „VR-Worlds“-collection, you will love „Blood and Truth“. You feel like being part of a classic action-movie with all typical cliches. The shooting-parts are as convincing as the graphical presentation and the impressive soundtrack. The game would be even better, if you would be able to move around more freely, but all in all, it's definitely one of the best PSVR-games so far.
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As a fan of postapocalyptic scenarios I was really looking forward to the release of Rage 2. Even if the fulminant intro, the fast paced Doom-like battles and the handling of the vehicles convinced me completely, the dull and monotonous open-world prevent the shooter from fullfilling its potential.
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Even if Days Gone does not quite reach the class of Spider-Man or other exclusive Sony-titles such as Uncharted or God of War, the game is a solid zombie-horrorgame with an intense atmosphere an interesting gameplay aspects. We discover the open world on our motorbike, take part in fast pace hand-to-hand combats and enjoy some solid crafting and stealth features.
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