There is nothing brand new to look forward to in the title, but Afterlife VR effectively takes a blender to a number of horror tropes and settings, delivering a sufficiently worthwhile experience.
While the AI will soon find you too much to handle, even at higher difficulties, the online component is where the specials really shine. The strategy of choosing when to slot your attacks in becomes paramount. It’s easy to lose the rhythm of the song if you get too cocky. As long as the game can nurture and maintain a player base there should be ample reason to keep coming back to God of Rock time and time again.
The script itself doesn't strike a good balance either, often transitioning from subjects such as a rumination on class inequality directly into a slapstick comedy sketch before interjecting a news bulletin about an impending natural disaster. It's, to put it mildly, a mess. And this happens over and over throughout the 4-5 hours required to complete the game. While pitch-black comedy can work, the writing in Mile 0 is awkward enough that it feels accidental rather than deliberately irreverent. What you're left with is a fun rhythm game surrounded by a plethora of questionable writing decisions.
The Light Brigade is one of the shining stars of PSVR2's launch. A game that doesn't feel the need to reinvent the wheel, developer Funktronic Labs instead decided to focus on making the best rogue-lite that PSVR has yet seen rather than get crazy with new systems. With unique, varied classes and brilliant gunplay, the title does a great job of ensuring that we want to keep returning to its chilling, bleakly beautiful environments again and again.
As a result, the game subscribes to the “easy to play but difficult to master” cliché, and offers enough replay value thanks to its varied track list that it's worth sticking with over many sessions.
You just have to hope the game cooperates to let you finish! We had multiple hard crashes, one of which corrupted our save, wiping away nearly an hour of puzzling. Still, we're going to assume the developer will issue a patch promptly, and as long as it does, this is PSVR2 at its most relaxed.
Not that the title should be a hard sell to begin with! With its colourful environments and masterful level design, there’s very little to poke holes at here. The gunplay functions brilliantly on its own, as does the rhythm gameplay. So, when these two disparate elements harmoniously converge, the product ends up supremely easy to recommend.
Quite the opposite is Area X, the level made for PSVR, which was reason enough to buy Sony's headset all on its own. Despite how incredible an impression that area left last time, it's that much better now. Between the resolution bump, the HDR, the upgrade from Unreal Engine 4 to 5, and the improved tracking, the newly refreshed Area X is every bit the must-play it was seven years ago. If you're on the fence about dishing out for the relatively slight upgrade fee, rest assured, it's worth it.
Throwing in the heart-melting cuteness of ASL fluent Quill, a career-best soundtrack from Jason Graves, and an emotionally resonant story, Polyarc’s upgrade exists to remind you why Moss was one of PSVR’s must plays.
What you walk away with is a unique and wonderful rhythm title that’s been improved in nearly every way.
Ragnarock is a rough-around-the-edges rhythm game that's super fun to begin with, but the appeal may start to wane after a handful of sessions.
What you’re left with is a solid VR showcase game, but the good-not-great music, and the hit detection issues ultimately hold it back from being anything more.
Ultimately, what you're left with is the definitive version of the game, even with the changes being relatively slight. It was one of the best games on PSVR back in the day, and the same can be said for its port on PSVR2.
The core loop is a simple one, but it’s not as instantly addictive as many of the other games from Atari's prime. While it’s satisfying to pull off a huge combo, and requires a surprising degree of strategy, by the time you’ve played through the core 50 levels of the game, you won’t be as anxious to dive back in as you might hope.
While the voice acting is a little below par, the writing is superb, crafting meaningful, emotional moments seemingly at will, while walking a delicate tonal line between sadness and catharsis. What you're left with is a fascinating, emotionally powerful experience not soon to leave you.
On PS4, the release took the approach of being good at a great deal of things and spectacular at none, and this remains true. Each positive is balanced out by a negative. The primary antagonist is phenomenal, but she is underutilised. The game is stunning to behold, but frame hitches are common – especially on the 4K option. The combat is exhilarating, but the jumping and sliding puzzles leave a lot to be desired. The end result is an experience that is decent at just about everything, and easy to recommend. But as good as Fallen Order may be, if you look backwards in time, it’s not difficult to find superior Star Wars experiences.
In fact, the only area where it lets itself down is the UI. Games that use a cursor on console are starting on the back foot to begin with, but navigating what you can interact with is a particular nuisance in Norco. The cursor is fond of resetting, so you have to drag it all the way across the screen often, it's very easy to accidentally repeat dialogue choices, and sometimes it takes a few tries to hover over something before the interaction prompt actually shows up. Apart from this, the game offers a rich, fulfilling experience that you should try to experience as soon as you possibly can.
All of these unique ideas being presented with updated graphics, performance, and music provide one of the best brick-breaking experiences we've ever had. Between a surprising amount of content and the willingness to try new things and be creative, if you like brick-breakers, this is not one to miss.
It's staggering how little has been done with NHL 23 to differentiate it from last year's edition. Bugs that should have long ago been quashed remain, Be A Pro continues to be littered with spelling errors and conversations that make no sense, retirement and championship banners in arenas are as far behind as half a decade, and the list goes on. Despite all that, women being integrated into HUT and desperation plays are welcome improvements, as is the overhaul of rink atmosphere. Ultimately, while NHL 23 isn't a step backward per se, the move forward is so small, so minuscule, that it may as well not have moved at all.
This malleable gameplay is the crown jewel on what would otherwise have been an average exploration-adventure title. The presentation is excellent, and the colour palette is vibrant and exciting, but the moments where you have to figure out how to build something are the moments sure to stick with you.