Neil Bolt's Reviews
An endless runner that at least dares to try some different ideas, Corridor Z still unfortunately remains very much stuck in the mud of its two overplayed tropes found in its chosen genre and theme. It is, however, still a fairly serviceable runner that’ll whittle away a few minutes a day for a short time.
There will come a day where The Park is available on PS4 for peanuts, and that day is when I'd fully recommend trying its fresh, but flawed, brand of horror out. Until then, the price of admission is too high for the brevity of the ride. Especially for one that has more than a few nuts and bolts missing from it.
World of Tomorrow is the best slice of Hitman for a decade. Sapienza holds so many deliciously dark secrets within its Mediterranean walls, and it’s worth exploring every single one of them.
On the one hand, Alienation is a joyous, punchy co-op romp of a twin-stick shooter, with every on-screen detail a veritable celebration of beautiful chaos. On the other, it's a step backwards in terms of what Housemarque could do. What is undeniable though, is that Alienation is a rather good time.
As overwhelmingly terrifying as it can be to learn, Invisible Inc just so happens to be a ridiculously compelling experience. The congregation of turn-based strategy, stealth and roguelike seems like an odd grouping, but my word, it works so very, very well.
A strong start for A Crowd of Monsters' Noir adventure. Stylish, dripping in atmosphere, and compelling enough to keep you on the hook for the next episode. It has its faults, not all of which may turn out to be a problem when the series is finished, but for now they are outshone by the things this first episode does right.
Koi comes close to being a remarkable indie title. The audiovisual design work is incredibly cohesive, and despite the gameplay simplicity, it does enough to keep your attention for its short play time. Koi’s issues lie with the weak delivery of its environmental message that unfortunately highlights the shortcomings found in such a simple game.
Few titles this generation will match the purity of Dark Souls III as a game. This is as brutal, exhilarating, and compelling as the series has ever been, but it is also laden with the heavy burden of expectation that its heritage brings. Significant, yet minor improvements are made to the established formula, and nostalgia is warmly embraced a little too often, yet this still doesn't prevent Dark Souls III from being a fine game.
Season One of Minecraft Story Mode ends on an all-time high with a highly amusing, and more importantly, fun standalone family adventure. The only drawbacks now are all related to Telltale’s own creaking game engine.
An admirable, if problematic, port of a fine strategy game, XCOM Enemy Unknown Plus gives the PS Vita a welcome, posthumous, shot in the arm.
Automatron has a short-lived story that’s enjoyable without ever really kicking into gear, but luckily, the robot-building and other new additions to the Commonwealth save this first batch of Fallout 4 DLC from being a disappointment.
With its eloquent mix of dystopia, stealth puzzling and point n' click adventuring, Republique is a gem of a game, soured only by some easily-avoided technical problems and a slightly uneven storytelling issue late on.
Sheltered depicts the grim, unpleasant side of the post-apocalypse to great effect for its limited resources. That doesn’t stop the game from getting frustratingly repetitive though as there’s simply not enough variety in the game’s opening hours.
As far as feature-complete packages go, Mortal Kombat XL is among the best examples of a plentiful bounty of playing options. It's not the greatest, nor the deepest, fighting game around, but it is gleefully gory fun for long stretches.
This first episode strikes a fine balance between accessibility and pleasing long term fans to make this the finest slice of Hitman since Blood Money. Some technical issues do sadly mar an otherwise superb start to Agent 47's latest.
Technical issues aside, Broforce is a delightfully chaotic love letter to the brightly-colored excesses of 80's action movie carnage and coin op shooters.
Gunscape could be a good game creator with a healthy lifespan, but a high price point, unoriginal concepts, and muddled ideals are just the tip of the iceberg that looks like it will sink the game's lofty ambitions.
In Too Deep suffers greatly from an over familiarity with both post-apocalyptic worlds and Telltale's own formula. If not for Michonne herself, this would be a truly disastrous start to the latest entry in this partnership.
The Escapists: The Walking Dead valiantly tries to subvert the established formula of the original version of The Escapists, but ends up a slightly confused love letter to Robert Kirkman's post-apocalyptic comic book series instead. There's still plenty to enjoy for Walking Dead fans, if not necessarily much for those that liked The Escapists.
When Street Fighter V is at its best, it's untouchable. A fantastic fighter with layer upon layer of depth. At its worst, it feels hollow and cheap. A work in progress that hasn't quite managed to complete the parts that are there.