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OlliOlli is the very definition of a love it or hate it game, and I apparently came down on the wrong side of that equation. I fully acknowledge that OlliOlli is not my kind of game and there are plenty of gamers and reviewers who already love it, but unfortunately for them and Roll7 I exist too and my opinion is just as important. And my opinion is that OlliOlli is getting deleted off my hard drive the second I finish this sentence. Try it, you may very well like or even love it, but don't come crying to me if you don't. I told you so.
Unless torturing your reflexive skills and muscle memory is a turn-on then Infinity Runner may be better left on the Steam shelf until it re-emerges onto a portable device. Either that or just run into a field of hungry cows and run like you've never run before - that's a real first-person endless runner experience.
Light has great ideas but fails to use them in any meaningful way or make any lasting impression - it's like the setup to a great game that never comes. Shame.
It means that for all Whispering Willows' atmosphere it can't deliver what it sets out to achieve. I don't often say games need to be longer but here, the experience needs more locations, more detail and more time to fill out its fiction to be able to tackle the themes it wants to tell.
It's a shame that Infamy devolves into such juvenile practices as there are some nice flourishes on display – for instance, the hand-drawn aesthetic lends a quaint, homely feel to adventuring that feels refreshing in light of the grandeur that western RPGs typically strive for – yet it's impossible to root for a game that makes such a critical misstep.
It is sad to think that with the Fables comics ending, the game presumably not being the runaway critical and commercial hit The Walking Dead was and Telltale having so much on their plate right now that The Wolf Among Us could be the last we see of Bigby Wolf. The season may have had down moments but it was never bad and certainly the story was never less than gripping - often the worst moments was just when there wasn't enough of it. Overall I'd give the season around an 8.5, but this last episode was an utterly superb way to finish it off.
While in my opinion it has a few flaws that hold it back from true all-time-classic status Divinity: Original Sin is an excellent, beautifully designed and engaging RPG that absolutely never gets boring.
With a driving model that feels unique MotoGP 14 is the (almost) lone two-wheeler in a sea of car games and it does its sport proud. If what you care about is high-speed, precision driving and the tension of catastrophe lying in wait, then MotoGP 14 could just be your favourite new racing game.
It makes progression through the long and winding career mode a touch tedious despite the excellent racing experience the game crafts. The more you play it the more it feels like a patched version of previous entries and less like a new iteration of the series. It doesn't mean you should avoid Autosport if you're looking for a return to form from Codemasters and the Grid name. Far from it. But it's a warning that the stripped down nature of this entry has taken away a bit too much to feel a complete experience even though the actual racing is the best I've played in years.
This, finally, feels like a game which knows how to play to its strengths and minimise its weaknesses. Anyone who enjoys a good tactical shooter, especially those with an affinity for the long-range kill, would do well to check it out.
There's not many video games that treat war with the respect its participants deserve. Metal Gear is too preachy and ham-fisted while Call of Duty & Medal of Honour are bombastic dude-fests disinterested in reality. Valiant Hearts, by using the war as a backdrop and avoiding too much direct conflict, pays tribute to the 16 million that perished in The Great War 100 years ago and does it with humour, pathos and melancholy.
If you're yet to try out Company of Heroes, which is one of the best multiplayer RTS experiences currently available, this is a great opportunity to do so. Just bear in mind that aside from skirmishes you won't get any singleplayer options.
Xenonauts is a faithful modernization of a classic. It retains the features that made X-COM such a tense and memorable game, with base invasions and a gigantic open-ended campaign of depth and freedom. If Firaxis' revamped take on the series felt a little too directed and linear for you, then Xenonauts is likely to delight. By removing the fat and giving us a non-headache inducing UI, the games strengths are allowed to shine through and they remained undimmed by the passage of time.
Wildstar may not do anything especially new, but it does things well, a distinction that means it has truly earned itself the lazy moniker of 'WoW in space'.
"When you need it there yesterday," reads Buck Mann's catchphrase in reference to his delivery ethos. As far as Space Run: Fast and Safe Delivery as a game is concerned, part of me wonders if yesterday is really where this adventure belongs.
You can't help but think that you're being falsely limited by a lack of hotkeys and limited visual scope (no radar, for example) whilst the AI is able to see and think about everything at once. At its budget release price tag it might still be worth picking up for gamers who like the concept, but I can't see myself spending a whole lot more time with it.
A vast galaxy, a varied tech-tree, and a million and one decisions to make or automate. Distant Worlds: Universe is perhaps the finest 4x Space game in a generation, certainly since Galactic Civilizations 2. It's a challenging and complex game packed with features that allows you to choose just how you want to play it, while accommodating a wide variety of play-styles and strategies.
The first half was so frustrating I almost cried, and the second half was actually pretty entertaining. Oh, and the whole game was 3 hours long. And you can't use either mouse or arrow keys on the main menu for some reason. In short, fix these problems Over The Moon and maybe the second episode of The Fall will be all fun and not just the last hour.
Overall, Murdered: Soul Suspect is an enjoyable but simplistic mystery adventure which, although it features a well-detailed game world and well-written plot, is far too short for its own good. It's a game which I'd recommend to fans of this genre, but only at sale price.
Unfortunately, the last quarter of A Story About My Uncle does become a little too repetitive, and slightly overly obscure grapple set pieces require blind luck more often than skill. That said, this is still a great adventure - one which will return you to childhood fantasy, and one which will far from get your goat.