Neil Bolt's Reviews
Supermassive Games rounds off its first season of The Dark Pictures Anthology with its strongest entry yet in the shape of The Devil In Me. It's a bit undercooked on the technical side, and it takes a while to get moving properly, but when you get to the meat of the game, it's up there with Supermassive's most confident work.
If you've finished Dying Light 2 and mastered its parkour and combat, then Bloody Ties makes for a greatest of strength for your abilities. The story doesn't add all that much, but this DLC distills Dying Light 2's combat and traversal to its purest form.
Obsidian has a fantastic history of ambitious RPG titles, but none feel as confident and refined as Pentiment. This is a game that truly understands the intoxicating nature of choice in video games, and rewards you with cynical torment befitting the world it portrays.
Sonic Frontiers begs, steals, and borrows to create a better 3D Sonic title than we've seen in quite some time. There's absolutely still room to grow, but this is a largely positive step forward for the franchise outside its 2D roots.
Despite high production values, Modern Warfare II is a tad underwhelming. A pretty yet predictable campaign, decent multiplayer that is unsure about how it's supposed to play, and the sweet taste of Spec Ops mean this is an uneven, but enjoyable enough package. What's clear is Call of Duty really, really needs a proper break to reset.
A short, sharp cooperative puzzler with a fun time-spanning twist. The Past Within sees Rusty Lake go all out to make the purest kind of cooperative experience possible, and ends up doing a fine job.
Saturnalia is a striking homage to Giallo films and makes effective use of Italian folklore to power its horror. It's often better in the ideas than it is in practice, but those are some damn good ideas.
Signalis is a brooding, atmospheric slice of survival horror that unfurls its dread in a slow, tantalizing manner. Its bleak retrotech world is a fine backdrop for the disturbing mysteries that must be uncovered in the frozen wastes of an ice planet.
Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed brings family-friendly fun to the asymmetrical multiplayer horror space, and provides warm nostalgia for Ghostbusters fans.
A Plague Tale Innocence set the beautifully grim tone, and A Plague Tale Requiem goes beyond it and tells a captivating tale of hope and misery that builds on the original's promise in almost every way. It may struggle to match its ambition in places, but Requiem is nothing short of a remarkable achievement.
One of sports gaming's longest partnerships ends with a shrug of the shoulders. FIFA 23, positively and negatively, doesn't feel like the end of an era. That's mostly because it's hard to see EA revolutionizing the underlying formula after the FIFA license has departed. All in all, FIFA 23 is a solid football spectacle with the same old woes.
Sam & Max make a largely triumphant return, with a reminder of just how special and stupid a series it can be. Save the World benefits the most from the overhaul, but Beyond Time and Space remains the peak of this former Telltale Games series.
Sam & Max make a largely triumphant return, with a reminder of just how special and stupid a series it can be. Save the World benefits the most from the overhaul, but Beyond Time and Space remains the peak of this former Telltale Games series.
While it brings some of the regressive issues of the era it was born in, Pac-Man World: Re-Pac is a solid remake of a fondly-remembered platformer.
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? is smarter than the average quiz show game, even if it doesn't exactly stretch itself too far. The concept that made the television show a success translates fairly well to the console party game space. Just make sure you check your ego at the door.
We Are OFK is not only a dazzling game about music, but a captivating story about the struggle found in juggling creative ambitions with the complexities of everyday life.
Technical issues and an overbearingly bland story sour Way of the Hunter's finer points. Its maps are filled with enchanting scenery, and pumped full of serene atmosphere. The hunting options are surprisingly flexible for newcomers and pros alike. Overall, it's a decent hunting sim if you can push past its messy start.
GigaBash is not be a spectacular brawler, it still does a fantastic job of capturing the feel of a bygone era of monster movie whilst also playing out as a fun multiplayer title. It faces a tough battle in an oversaturated modern market where online is concerned, but as a local multiplayer title, it could easily maintain a healthy shelf life.
Not only does Two Point Studios manage to successfully build upon everything Two Point Hospital did right, with Two Point Campus it's added a whole new level of learning and given its flavour of sim game a more intimate aspect to management that's endearingly reminiscent of The Sims.
Starship Troopers: Terran Command is a pretty standard RTS game that manages to evoke the feel of Starship Troopers magnificently.