AusGamers's Reviews
And thus begins your <strike>journey</strike> saga.
After all, videogames serve to fulfil fantasy, right? So why not let players jump between stage rallies and supercars; between the garage and the showroom?.
A gem of a first-person shooter, an interactive rollercoaster, and one hell of a good time. So much so it’ll have you lining up to go again.
Elden Ring is among my favourite games ever. Those frame hitches, while significant, marred mere moments in my playtime with From's masterpiece. I played 95 hours of Elden Ring, and I could have played oh-so-much more. I will, probably. I railroaded myself with my weapon choice, but I found dozens of amazing looking spells that I'd love to try out. And I can't PVP at level 150, so I'll need to start a new character if I want to invade people. And there are two other endings that I didn't achieve — you aren't thrust immediately into NG+ in Elden Ring once you achieve an ending, but I don't think you can achieve other endings later. I already kind of know how to do them, I think. Well, I think I know, anyway. But I don't know what I don't know, so…
And when it comes to the more well-known and established strategy franchises, you could say that <b>Total War</b> has always been about those things.
As an action-adventure, an RPG, a narrative, and open-world sandbox, and a way to simply spend time exploring a breathtaking world – it falls short. Engaging at times, thrilling too, but also disjointed, clunky, and unfocused in ways we didn’t expect.
See, simple.
Where it excels is in presenting you with meaningful tactical choices each and every turn drawn from the way the four main character classes complement each other so well, how their special abilities function cleverly in tandem, and how the hand-crafted design of every combat arena always encourages you to do more than charge forward and attack.
Dying Light 2 Stay Human will divide fans, as the first game did. With that there’s no question, but for mine it is an incredibly rewarding game that has the best parkour ever seen or experienced in games, and the playground to match it. Plus the zombies. So many (awesome) zombies. On Hard I still found it a little on the easy side, but the length and depth of missions and the world more than made up for it. And if you let the game bite you, as I did, it’ll grab and transform you for more than the next little while.
And for every fireball or lightning zap there's something out of left-field, funny, and cool to sit alongside it.
As a Rainbow Six Siege spin-off it’s fun to see all of the gadgets and mechanics of that game make their way over into the co-op space. The gun-feel is also on point. The ease at which you can throw out a recon drone or line up a head-shot through a wall is endlessly satisfying. And with all of its tactical stealthiness, Extraction plays unlike anything else we’ve seen in the co-op space. Unfortunately, it’s not enough to give the experience a true identity it can call its own.
Supporting everything from mainstream entry-level hardware to the latest in GeForce and Radeon tech. Basically, you can make any of the above look like it did on PS4, PS4 Pro, or even go beyond what's possible on the PS5.
Meaning his God complex is very real, and very much in play throughout your journey.
It's also ambiguous, at least until the latter moments when the world's history is laid bare in a somewhat out of place but impressive nonetheless storybook sequence.
In the end though it’s hard to fault what 343 Industries has accomplished with Halo Infinite. It’s very much the spiritual successor it purports to be -- with forward thinking design and elements that flow in a way that reminds you of the timeless nature of the fluid, stylish combat of old. The lack of co-op is something you feel, but in terms of cinematic spectacle this is the Master Chief carrying the flag once more for Xbox. Albeit in that new-school form of being able to jump in and, well, play anywhere.
Which is to say, colourful and challenging writing exists within the confines of this archaic setting, so you might hear antiquated dialogue or come across situations that make you uncomfortable.
You can just sit back and watch them do all the work, listening to the gentle hum of pub chatter.
The launch has been something of a mess all around, from the removal of one of the Specialist’s abilities (an impossible-to-take-out shield) through to a gadget that caused server issues like rubber-banding. Both of these are back in the game, yet the shield can still fully absorb the imposing force of a tank shell. For a series that has always been about fostering a refined sandbox with clear objectives creating some truly spectacular moments, the tank shell sending the shielded player flying makes more sense (the physicality of Battlefield V would have allowed for such a trick). I could list a dozen more examples and ‘what if’ scenarios, but it ultimately circles back to one singular point. Battlefield 2042 is a heartbreaking disappointment.
Albeit wrapped up in a story about a black holes and mystical ancient nonsense stuff.
Packed to the brim with blockbuster action sequences and a couple of well-crafted stealth-directed missions, the campaign focuses on four specialists and their mission to track down Project Phoenix – a Nazi program that could potentially swing the pendulum back in the Axis' favour.