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Gal*Gun 2 will once again grab the headlines for all the wrong reasons, but what those will fail to tell you is that the underlying experience isn't worth any sort of price to begin with. Once the perverse novelty wears off, you're left with a bare-bones shooter that sorely needs to come off the rails it is tied to if it wants to create any excitement.
There's little to get here that you can't get from a mobile game, except you wouldn't sit in front of a 55-inch screen to play something like Temple Run. Assault Gunners HD Edition doesn't benefit from being on PS4 at all; if anything, it's worse off. With little to no depth or nuance, Assault Gunners HD Edition is a mindless action game that offers very little in return for your dedicated time in front of the TV.
Beast Quest feels unfinished. Its graphical presentation is put to shame by many PS3 titles, and we're absolutely baffled how the experience doesn't even manage to run at a consistent framerate on the PS4 Pro. But even if these two aspects were up to snuff, the gameplay and plot are still below average. Beast Quest has very little to offer to even the most die-hard fans of the book series, and everyone else is advised to steer well clear.
Fear Effect Sedna represented an opportunity to bring a well-remembered series – albeit not always for the right reasons – back to life. As is the case with many games arriving via Kickstarter, though, the ambition of the project fails to translate into the final product.
Past Cure is a bad game. It's bad bad. But it's also the best kind of bad game, in that it's not for a lack of effort or that the team were bereft of ideas that the finished product doesn't come together. If anything, the game is too ambitious, with too many ideas, and it inevitably crumbles under the weight of numerous poorly implemented gameplay styles and a total lack of a cohesive identity. It's a bit like when your mum tries making Baked Alaska for the first time – sure, the end result is a sloppy mess, but you've got to applaud the audacity to try it in the first place.
Tokyo Tattoo Girls is a simple strategy game which can be fun in small doses but is sadly not interesting enough to keep you playing for long. The story is poor, the characters are strange (and not in a good way), and the gameplay is lacking. The artwork and tattoos look gorgeous, so it's a pity they weren't in a better game.
Oure is a masterclass in how not to follow up on the success of Abzu and Journey. A seemingly interesting set-up quickly disappears, repetitive and frustrating gameplay dampens the experience further, and the abysmal controls make every second spent playing a depressing chore.
Fans of the main Touhou games may find this an amusing diversion but there is very little of worth to recommend this to anyone else. Ultimately, unless battling stunted characters with clunky 3D models in sparse arenas is your idea of a good time, Touhou Kobuto V: Burst Battle is a deeply unnecessary title to invest in.
Fall of Light: Darkest Edition is far too basic and frustrating for us to consider any sort of recommendation. Thanks to a woeful control scheme that prioritises input lag and unresponsiveness, every one of its mediocre mechanics suffer to the point where Fall of Light feels more like work than fun.
Observer is rough. Some neat narrative beats and a beautifully presented cyberpunk world paired with an exceptional performance from Rutger Hauer end up being the only redeeming qualities present in this title. This is a game that, despite being short, feels overlong, due in part to some tedious and obnoxious gameplay segments, and some of the least subtle “horror” we've encountered in recent memory. Throw in a bevy of technical problems and a third act that is complete nonsense, and Observer is, at best, a bit of a mess. To call this game a letdown would be an understatement.
Need for Speed Payback is a real-world example of microtransactions gone wrong. As an open world racer, the game's inoffensively average – but when paired with its bafflingly bad progression system, it's frankly an embarrassment. It's scary to think that publishers are quite literally sabotaging their own games in pursuit of a bonus buck or two these days.
MXGP 3, made in 2017, is almost imperceptibly different from the first entry in the series, released in 2014. Sure there a few differences, but at its deepest, this is a game that has a truckload of issues when it comes to the actual feeling of riding a dirt bike. Add to that a feature list that is seemingly identical to MXGP 2, now with very poorly implemented dynamic weather, and you get very little bang for your buck. Milestone needs to take a step back and reassess where this series is going, because right now the only place it's going is backwards.
Valkyria Revolution is like a bizarre, alternate reality version of Valkyria Chronicles in which everything that the original got right has somehow been twisted into something awful. The devolution of interesting and quasi-relatable characters into eye-roll inducing stereotypes is upsetting, and the technical shortcomings of the game are disappointing. But it's the combat of Revolution that suffers most in comparison to Chronicles, and indeed, in comparison to practically anything else in the genre. Where Valkyria Chronicles was a constantly rewarding strategy game, Revolution is an action RPG so utterly devoid of any potential to challenge or delight that the only strategy you'll require is working out the quickest bus route back to the shop to get your refund.
On a system bursting with great horror games, you can safely side-step Dying: Reborn. While we appreciate the attempt, the production values just aren't in place to create the tension that's intended here, and even though there are a couple of decent puzzles on display, there's not enough meat on this murder mystery's bones to make it worth the price of admission.
VR Ping Pong's a steeply priced simulation that mostly misses the mark. The presentation is rudimentary and the gameplay is awkward and unrefined. The developer may argue that we're just bad at table tennis, but we have no problem in real-life, so clearly there's something awry here. Factor in technical glitches and this is difficult to recommend.
2Dark tries to do too many things at once. Its stealth mechanics, while occasionally satisfying, are frustrating and pedestrian. Similarly, its attempts at horror, while presented well, are undermined by bad writing and repetitive gameplay. A lack of clear signposting and a terrible UI do nothing to help this maddening experience.
Knee Deep makes a decent attempt at telling a dark, mysterious tale, but underneath lies a bland game with little interaction. The cast of characters aren't particularly likeable and the story they tell makes some bizarre missteps. Perhaps the murder mystery fans among you could get a small kick out of this, but we'd say that most of you can safely ignore this title, knee deep in problems as it is.
While Spheroids is relatively fun in its early stages and does the basics well, it ruins itself by adding in too much complexity too quickly without thought. The levels are formulaic, frustrating, and suffer from quite a few glitches and bugs, while the story is almost non-existent, the cutscenes awkward, and the ending abrupt.
Crystal Rift is far from an enjoyable experience, with cumbersome controls, lacklustre visuals, and poor enemy AI. The entire experience gets very tiresome very quickly, and with the ever increasing expectations for great quality games, this just doesn't cut it. This rift would be better left unexplored, unless you think you'd enjoy its torturously repetitive depths.
We wish we had more positive things to say about Maize, but unfortunately, it just doesn't have much going for it. The story and writing are atrocious, the characters are forgettable, and the puzzles themselves are too easy. The game is honestly quite boring, despite its bizarre premise, and the attempts at humour are ham-fisted at best and excruciating at worst. If you're after something different, Maize is certainly that, but be warned that it may leave a bad taste in your mouth.