Sammy Barker's Reviews
You can't polish a turd, and Resident Evil 6 is proof. This remaster may look the part at points, but its limp collection of lacklustre campaigns will leave you feeling dead inside. A low price point means that co-op enthusiasts may get some mileage out of the solid Mercenaries mode, but make no mistake, this is still a quivering corpse of a game. Avoid like a C-Virus plague.
TrackMania: Turbo's a gaudy game that demands you excel in short bursts. A truly compelling online component and a meaty single player campaign is offset by some shaky handling that, in the case of one car in particular, is far too fiddly to be fun – but those that like a challenge will still enjoy attempting to tame the title's increasingly outlandish maps. With a clumsy but empowering track editor there's certainly no danger of this racer running out of gas – it just depends how long you're willing to keep up with the quest to be the best.
Kholat may be daunting to approach at first with its massive scale, but its eerie setting is worth exploring for its intentionally perplexing narrative and unsettling visual and aural atmosphere. The simplistic gameplay may turn some off with how tedious exploration can become with few scares and long stretches of nothing, but if you choose to remain steadfast on this trail, the sights, sounds, and story may very well be worth your effort.
The forecast was never exactly great for Heavy Rain on the PS4. This remains a ground-breaking game, and it's still possible to appreciate the areas where it innovated, but time has not been kind to the title's damp performances and dismal writing. If you're eager to go back to the release that gave life to the current spate of narrative-driven games, then this new-gen port does an admirable job of sprucing up the visuals. But while we don't want to hang this important outing out to dry, you should certainly beware of the inclement weather within.
Blockbuster brands like Hitman seldom make the transition to mobile successfully, but Hitman Go: Definitive Edition is a well-presented puzzler that we can get behind. Despite being respectful of the source material, its slide puzzle spin on the series is strongly executed – even if it can feel a teensy bit too rigid at times. This port's perhaps a little pricey, but with plenty of content and cross-buy on the cards, we'd recommend moving in and pulling the trigger if you've got the appetite for a little assassination.
Thoughtful, clever, and articulately composed, Gone Home is the sweet sort of story that games typically tend to shun. Katie's homecoming is emotionally charged, cleverly plotted, and impressively authentic. And while it may not quench the thirst of those anxious for action, it tells a tale that practically everyone will be able to identify with – as long as you give it the chance.
Layers of Fear isn't shy about its influences, but if you were impressed by the P.T. demo, then how do you fancy five or so hours more? This is a tidily presented, tantalisingly tense trip through a fractured psyche – it's dark, desperate, and depraved. Bloober Team hasn't concocted the most original slice of horror in history, but it has pulled its inspirations together shrewdly – and the results are both repulsive and rousing.
Firewatch has the embers of a great narrative-driven game, but it fails to ever ignite into a furnace. Unforgivable performance issues detract from the otherwise outstanding art direction, but it's the abrupt story and unconvincing characters that really douse the hype here. Campo Santo's inaugural outing starts incredibly strongly, but your alarm bells will be ringing long before it burns out without ever really sparking into life.
Milestone has clearly spent an age under the bonnet, and Sébastien Loeb Rally Evo has a content quota that's befitting of all of that attention. Unfortunately, the Italian outfit's indecision with regards to the racer's handling model means that it's not always at its best when out on the track. If you can look past this shortcoming, however, then you'll find a real celebration of the sport here – and the man who helped put it on the map for a whole generation.
Gravity Rush Remastered will have you purring at the potential that its sequel looks set to fulfil, but it's a fine release in its own right. The mission variety's not quite there and the plot's paper-thin, but the traversal's some of the finest that you'll find on consoles full-stop, and the audio-visual achievements are outstanding across the board. It's an excellent first attempt, then, so irrespective of the laws of gravity, the only direction for this promising property is up.
Hardware: Rivals is slow and safe – it's a far-cry from the high-octane vehicle eviscerator that we'd anticipated. Its slightest of similarities to Rocket League may have hurt it, but even if Psyonix's excellent on-wheels outing didn't exist, this would still be a pretty darn tedious title. It's a shame because it's not hard to imagine a faster iteration of the exact same game being ten times more satisfying, but ultimately Hardware's only real rival is its squandered potential.
After the dreadful Dead Kings, Ubisoft has proven that it can make decent DLC with Assassin's Creed Syndicate's Jack the Ripper add-on pack. The new fear system is a novel addition here, while the whole campaign has a compelling, creepy vibe. The story missions are strong, and we appreciate the developer's decision to lead with an aging Evie Frye. If the expansion's titular serial killer famously came from hell, then this content is very much heaven sent.
Beyond: Two Souls is strange game that isn't quite sure what it wants to be. There are moments where the title pushes boundaries and attempts things that most developers wouldn't even care to try, but the plotting is uneven and the more touching sequences are undone by prolonged periods of outright idiocy. Ellen Page is excellent throughout and the presentation is staggering on the PS4 – it's just best to know what you're getting into before venturing headfirst into the Infraworld.
Bloodborne: The Old Hunters is much more of the same from what is already an outstanding game. The new environments and boss encounters add hours to the main experience, but it's the deluge of additional equipment that will keep veterans most occupied. If you've been yearning for a reason to return to Yharnam, then this DLC practically demands your Blood Echoes. Just remember that the life of hunter is defined by death – and you're going to die a lot.
Need for Speed's got many of the parts required of a great racer, but it's lacking a mechanic to assemble them and apply a lick of paint. The cutscenes, as obnoxious as they may be, are the real stars here, which may just be an indictment of the game as a whole. Sure, the handling's good, but the events are insipid – and the visuals may sparkle, but Ventura Bay is as vanilla as open worlds come. For as pumped-up as its excitable cast of characters are, this reboot quite simply lacks energy. Now, has anybody got any Monster?
Much like the Victorian city that it's based upon, you have to dig into Assassin's Creed Syndicate in order to identify its problems. The core gameplay loop is solid and it's built upon a sound structure, but familiarity and filler lessen the appeal of this open world outing. Vastly improved performance and all around impressive presentation mean that London's most definitely not burning – but there may be a little panic in the offices at Ubisoft.
A surprisingly solid racing game, WRC 5's biggest undoing is its evident lack of budget. Kylotonn Games has put its priorities in the right place, delivering a slick handling model that captures the spontaneous nature of the sport well, but the presentation is fairly poor across the board – and the frame rate issues really detract from the responsiveness of the driving. Still, this is a strong base to work from, and we can only hope that the positive reception results in the studio receiving a bigger budget for the release's inevitable sequel.
Bedlam: The Game is not all that fun to play, but that doesn't mean that it's an outright disgrace. Rubbing shoulders with its cruddy combat and occasionally criminal controls is a release with a strong sense of humour and some razor-sharp writing. It's just a shame that this escapade fails to ever elevate itself beyond the properties that its parodying, serving up a sloppy first-person shooter that should have been so much more.
While there are small elements of all three bundled titles that have failed to stand the test of time, this is still a stellar trilogy, with stories and set-pieces that generally tend to better most modern games. Of course, existing fans will already know what wonders await them – but newcomers should brace themselves for 30 or so hours of solid gold.
Flame Over is never going to set the world on fire, but it's a deceptively enjoyable roguelike with a wholly original spin. It's a shame that the transition to the PS4 hasn't delivered a better learning curve, but this is still the same good game from the Vita – only it looks much better now. Take a bit of time to learn its systems, and this will grow on you like an out-of-control inferno. Just remember to have a bit of patience, or you will get burned.