Neil Bolt's Reviews
Hitman 3 closes out the World of Assassination Trilogy with developer IO Interactive in confident mood. Lessons learned from the past five or six years have worked their way into this splendid epitaph for a series that looked dead and buried more than once along the way. As with its predecessor's, there are some lows to go with the highs, but those highs? They are truly something special and make the future of IO Interactive an exciting prospect.
The landscape of the beat 'em up genre may have altered in the ten years since Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game first released, but it's return is wholly welcome. A wonderful compliment to the graphic novel series, and a stylish throwback to the delightfully gaudy brawlers that boomed and bloomed loudly in 90s arcades. Add friends for maximum impact.
While Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 doesn't quite fix the original game's difficulty spikes, and rarely steps outside its comfort zone, it does make enough improvements to its formula to make it a successful sequel. It may not be the fresh and inventive breakout puzzle hit its predecessor was, but it's still undoubtedly a cracking blend of two fantastic puzzle games.
With Immortals: Fenyx Rising, Ubisoft has created a refreshingly compact throwback open-world adventure that can be forgiven for its aggressive repurposing of other games best bits because it shapes them to fits its own style. The exploration is brisk and eventful, the puzzles are varied, with the right level of challenge and simplicity, and the approach to storytelling ultimately pays off. The DualSense features are a bit hit and miss, and it's not exactly the best advert for the power of PS5, but much like the game it cribs from, Immortals' qualities outshine any need for major technical showcases.
Even after 16 years, there's nothing quite as absurdly wonderful as Katamari Damacy, and this remastered Reroll edition brings it to a whole new audience. Chock full of fun and silliness, blessed with a hypnotically soothing gameplay loop, and a soundtrack so joyously daffy it leaves you beaming ear-to-ear, Katamari Damacy deserves a successful PS4 Reroll.
Watch Dogs: Legion is a far more palatable experience on PS5 thanks to its vastly-improved load times and splendid visual upgrades. The only real technical gripes are that there's little in the way of DualSense implementation, and the framerate, while steady, hasn't been upped. Its base problems of open-world fatigue and messy storytelling are still problems that can't be so easily fixed and still remain a significant barrier to enjoyment. It'll give you a dazzling trip to London, but you wouldn't want to stay there.
Planet Coaster rides the line between warm and friendly accessibility and in-depth theme park management surprisingly well, even if it does occasionally wobble nervously with the switch to console controls. It's a largely serene experience with an utterly engrossing roller coaster creation tool that just makes the overall package that much better.
At a glance, Amnesia: Rebirth could be taken for just about any other horror game of its ilk. That’s understandable given the last decade of influence Frictional has had on the genre. What Frictional does so well, what it’s always done well, is adapt. Bubbling under the surface of Rebirth are so many slight tweaks, changes, and improvements to a tired, but winning, formula that raises it above the copycats and potential usurpers. This is a game grown from regret and from mistakes as much as it is from success, and while Rebirth works as a title on so many levels, its best use is in how Frictional has reincarnated a seminal horror game as something relatively familiar on the surface, but quite different under the skin of it.
A solid turn-based strategy wrapped up in a grimly intriguing slice of wartime history, WARSAW is quite capable of having its intended emotional impact land on target. The biggest roadblock that faces is in the balance between being a video game, and being a powerful bit of storytelling about a real-life tragedy.
I’m probably being a bit more down on it than it deserves, because this is a good zombie-smashing VR game, but it’s just good enough that the grievances I have with it feel magnified somewhat. I want it to be that little bit better than it is, but I’ll not deny that it may be easier for some to overlook these relatively minor faults.
A dry, unchallenging game that needed a proper remake far more than an underwhelming remaster. While it is refreshing to have a game like Praetorians on PS4, it'd be a bit more refreshing if it was a good one.
A poor console port, a massively underwhelming remaster of a classic RTS game, and a game that really shows its age. Commandos 2 is a disappointment on multiple levels. What could have been a great opportunity to introduce modern audiences to a classic instead desecrates the memory of it.
There are plenty of stories out there that lead you by the hand and captivate you by simply watching what the characters do, but so few are like Paradise Killer, where everybody could be either your confidant and friend, or a stone-cold murderer with dark and sinister plans, perhaps even both at once. The only way you can possibly be sure is to slip on your sunglasses, turn on your sentient notepad, and get ready to do that delicious detective work.
Captain Tsubasa has genuine depth behind its arcade flair, but the initial presentation leaves a lot to be desired thanks to a dull, aggravating, and sluggish introduction to its characters and systems.
Maybe the weirdest thing about Metamorphosis is that it takes an old, respected story, and turns it into a dark mirror of the video game adaptation of Pixar's A Bug’s Life. Somehow, despite its issues, that works.
The negatives are not enough to really affect how I ended up feeling about Wasteland 3. It’s a far superior game to its predecessor, and I really liked that too despite its many issues. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in exploring, fighting, tinkering, and more in this world. It’s not afraid to let you figure things out for yourself and do things your way, but it isn’t impenetrable for newcomers either. Throw in a co-op mode that doesn’t overly dilute what makes playing solo so enjoyable, but actually enhances the experience, and you have a highly engrossing dose of silly, violent RPG goodness.
For all its faults, it’s hard to argue against the intent and ambition of What Happened. It doesn’t always get things right, but it clearly has good intentions to deliver an engaging and heartfelt depiction of mental health issues and a nauseatingly effective drug trip. It’s to the credit of the developers that it succeeds on the latter at least, and shows potential in the former.
While it may not be the most exotic horror establishment out there, I could think of worse places to visit than the Sker Hotel right now.
Carrion did what very few horror games have done for me this year: it exceeded my expectations. It ends up being far more than the sum of its fleshy parts thanks to a solid commitment to its sadistic vision of slimy violence.
It's still the same old crude, ridiculous, and daft Saints Row The Third as it ever was, complete with many of its original mechanical shortcomings, but the remaster does a wonderful job of making it look better than ever.