Neil Bolt's Reviews
PaRappa The Rapper Remastered is not quite the hero’s welcome PaRappa deserved. I wanted to believe, and there’s evidence here of why the game is fondly remembered, but this particular dog has had his day.
Yooka-Laylee shows there’s room for nostalgia-flavored 3D platforming in today’s market by reminding us of the joys of well-built, colorful worlds, and daft, fun characters. Unfortunately, the good work put in by Playtonic to modernise the stagnant genre is hamstrung by glaring technical issues that dull the vibrancy, and cloud over your enjoyment.
A return to form for Telltale and their most notable series. A few of the usual problems still exist, but the world-building and character development is very strong. Based on this two-part season opener, The Walking Dead: A New Frontier is shaping up to be an emotional, visceral ride.
Persona 5 may not pull up many trees in terms of innovation, but it refines and refreshes the things that make a great RPG work. The real star of the show however, is the world this RPG inhabits, and the people in it that you come to adore. Persona 5 is something to sink your entire self into, and end up feeling utterly despondent about when you finally have to leave its stylish embrace.
A little rough around the edges, but LEGO Worlds has huge potential with its extensive creativity and humour. If you can tolerate a wayward camera and occasionally fiddly controls, then there's a wealth of enjoyment to be mined from building, destroying, and collecting.
The setup for 2DARK holds intrigue, with a grim plot, and suitably creepy settings, but so much of how it actually plays out quickly diminishes the horror aspect of it. Respectable enough as a game, a failure as a horror.
A solid open world shooter with a tactical flavor that adds a bit of variety to otherwise repetitive objectives, Ghost Recon Wildlands is at its best when you join a squad of real people, and lay waste to the Santa Blanca cartel together. Just don't the go into it expecting engaging characters or plot.
From its smooth tunes, to its hypnotic shape matching,Chime Sharp is a lean, mean music puzzling machine.
Forma.8 isn’t the most original metroidvania-type in mechanical terms. It’s also a touch obtuse in its early hours, but the pulp sci-fi novel visuals, electronica soundtrack, and intriguingly drip-fed storytelling are reasons enough to warrant your attention.
Berserk and the Band of the Hawk is not only one of the best Musou titles to date, it’s the first license to truly fit the mould effortlessly.
Semispheres is a smart, relaxing, and challenging puzzler that brings fresh ideas to the genre.
MX Nitro needed something striking to get noticed, and it just doesn’t have that special spark. It remains a good motocross game, but one that consistently sits in the middle of the mud-sprayed pack.
A neat concept alone is not enough to save a poorly-designed, technical jumble of an adventure game. Divide flickers into life on occasion, but far too briefly, and nowhere near bright enough to keep it interesting.
A top-down survival horror that feels as fresh as it does familiar. Every failure is lined with a lesson made of silver, and the sense of impending doom is kept tantalisingly close to hand at all times. Subterrain is a fine example of using tired genre tropes effectively.
This remarriage of Dynasty Warriors and tactical strategy is a pleasant one, but it has the potential to be something even better with a bit more depth and variety.
A novel take on the first-person horror mould, Sylvio does, on occasion, bring some unsettling moments of paranormal investigation. Unfortunately Sylvio also brings dire, uninventive visuals, a dreary protagonist, and wholly unnecessary combat to nullify any promise it may have had.
Planet 2000 isn’t just an unexciting and unspectacular vehicular combat game, it’s a poorly-conceived one. It can be offensively bad on certain levels, mostly the ones that see this as a PS4 release in 2017, but for the most part, its biggest crime is that it’s just subpar and boring.
Gravity Rush 2 is a bigger, more varied sequel that still doesn’t feel like it takes the leap it could have. The gravity-shifting gimmick is still a big draw, as is the delightful art style, protagonist Kat, and the clever world design, but the there’s a nagging feeling it could have been even better. It’s still a very good game though, and it certainly offers up something a little different in terms of a console exclusive.
A return to form for Telltale and their most notable series. A few of the usual problems still exist, but the world-building and character development is very strong. Based on this two-part season opener, The Walking Dead: A New Frontier is shaping up to be an emotional, visceral ride.
Right in the death rattle of 2016, Stardew Valley comes along and sits itself down at the Game of the Year table. It's a remarkable game, warmly familiar, yet fresh as a daisy. In a year where indie games have stepped up to the plate and hit home runs-a-plenty, Stardew Valley is the one that knocks it out of the park and into a neighbouring city.