Neil Bolt's Reviews
The already marvelous Civilization VI makes the jump to PS4 almost entirely intact, and with the addition of two meaty expansions, this is an essential title for console strategy fans. It's a little overwhelming for newcomers, but it treats the player with respect and rewards a curious mind with an utterly absorbing experience.
Despite some small grievances with it, I still believe Luigi's Mansion 3 is one of the best Nintendo Switch exclusives to date. It's full of fun, humor, joyous discoveries, and clever design. It's atmospherically spooky in patches, and doesn't quite feel as creepy as the original did, but there's a commitment to throwing up all sorts of crazy takes on ghosts that is so very Nintendo.
It’s a game that keeps on giving as you can miss so much depending on your choices, and in that sense, it’s very much got a classic game feel to it. It’s a mixture of eras poured into a satirical sci-fi romp and it’s such a joy to experience. The Outer Worlds may not be exactly what I thought it would be, but I’m so glad it turned out to be what it is.
SUPERHOT is one of the most interesting gaming fusions of the decade, and it’s been pulled off spectacularly. It leaves you wanting more, which is exactly what it should do. On Switch, its bite-sized action set-piece puzzles have found their most natural home.
Trine 4 isn’t a reinvention then, rather a return to that which made the series work in the first place. That alone was absolutely necessary after the misstep of the previous entry. There are times I wished there was a teensy bit more ambition with combat and platforming, but the meat of Trine 4 is the puzzles, and that is some pretty succulent meat.
If you’ve played Sniper Elite 3 before, there’s not a whole lot new to this latest version beyond the motion controls and portability, but in fairness, that’s as significant an update you can get without changing the game’s base structure. There’s no doubt we’ll be getting more of this series on Switch in the future, and hopefully, that will include the next Zombie Army spinoff. For now, having another round of Nazi skull-exploding sniper shots playing out in slow motion X-Ray form shows it never gets old, no matter what the format.
Tropico 6 is the city-builder series as satirical and silly as it's always been, but with a few new bells and whistles that improve the solid winning formula. It's a sideways step in many ways, but it's still a pretty confident one from the series' new developer.
Mostly, Code Vein is underwhelming. It’s highly stylish, and has some really good enemy design and gameplay options, but more could have been done with the pitch of ‘Anime Vampire Action RPG’. This effort sadly falls short of its potential and somehow makes a gore-soaked game about vampires a bit boring.
These are still pretty minor grievances because all The Surge 2 really needed to do to be an improvement was to be a bit more interesting, and it's definitely that. Refined combat, an intriguing and varied place to explore, and just more variety, in general, are huge contributors to The Surge 2's success as a hardcore action RPG and as a sequel. It's not ripping up any rulebooks or striking out with all that much fresh ambition, but it is a supremely confident followup to a bang average game.
NHL 20 balances out the fun with the competitive better than any previous entry. It has some excellent modes in Ones and Threes, a staggering amount of content, and a solid set of mechanics. It does feel like multiplayer has received the lion's share of the attention, but there's still something enjoyable for all sorts of hockey fans.
Knights and Bikes captures the heart of childhood imagination. It's a largely carefree experience with limited mechanical substance, but that's part of the reason it works. It's a great family-friendly co-op game and balances its silly sense of humour and childlike joy with some of the melancholic reality of growing up.
Arkham Knight has some flaws, but they generally pale in comparison to the wondrous spectacle Rocksteady serves us up. A fine end to the Arkham trilogy.
Sure, Man of Medan has a few rough edges, but it’s a confident first step in a new series of games. It keeps the core of what made people love Until Dawn and breathes fresh life into it by adding more depth to the branching narrative system, and including an excellent multiplayer side. A little more polish and a bit more bite to the game’s finale would be nice, but this is still a hugely entertaining slice of interactive horror that brings the thrilling uncertainty of other people’s decisions to the murder party.
Control consistently delivers the bizarre without trying too hard to be bizarre. It’s a weird, wonderful, and generally fantastic game that’s hampered by an unfortunate technical handicap.
Even with the restrictions Illfonic has had to endure regarding the license, it has still made great use of it. The core game may be a tad clunky at times, and not much of a looker, but the love for Friday the 13th can be felt from the title screen onwards.
A heavily uneven story, with generally fine performances, and a perfectly serviceable set of mechanics to go with some pretty damn fine visuals. Beyond is often meandering and lunk-headed, but it has moments of magic that make it an enjoyable enough way to spend a few hours if you can persevere through its failings.
It will infuriate, it will make you laugh unintentionally, and cringe to the center of the Earth at times, but Heavy Rain is still very much worth investigating for its bold, and often striking, weirdness.
Quantic Dream has delivered its most consistently focused game to date with Detroit Become Human. It does suffer for some ham-fisted allegory and a couple of instances of appallingly mawkish dialogue, but that never overwhelms the overall enjoyment you get from its entertaining branching narrative. The story is not the most subtle, nor nuanced, take on discrimination, slavery, and machine self-awareness you'll find, but it is often surprisingly poignant and touching when Cage and his team nail the blend of video game and cinematic experience.
Frogwares has created an interesting and absorbing world of horror, and it’s deliciously rich in story and world-building. The sanity system works well, throwing some horrific visions at you, and capturing a feeling of nightmarish helplessness. Yes, it comes with some signature flaws too, but The Sinking City is a fine horror game and an engrossing detective RPG.
Home Sweet Home is a molten jumble of horror game ideas, poured into a cracked gameplay mold, but its imperfections can’t hide its true horror qualities.