Game Debate
HomepageGame Debate's Reviews
In summation though, Dying Light is a gloriously violent take on a tired genre. It might cobble together bits and bobs from its peers, but it attempts enough new to make it genuinely unique proposition. There's absolutely stacks and stacks of stuff to here, and wonderfully little of it feels like filler. You and the zombies take centre stage, and Techland don't overcomplicate things. As a co-op sandbox to tool around it's fantastic fun, one of the few downsides being that it doesn't quite compare when wondering around on your lonesome. Ultimately it's everything you wanted to love about Dead Island with none of the baggage, with the parkour movement making it a unique thrill to leap around its world.
While this episode lays a good foundation to the upcoming adventures, it admittedly does little more than introduce the characters which will eventually help/hinder you when you need them most, but that's not to take away from what it achieves. If you love point and click games or narrative-driven games, Life is Strange is one title you will hate to miss out on. For the low entry price of $5 for the first of five episodes you can easily play it and make an informed decision on whether you would like to follow Max on her journey of self discovery. I know I will be.
Hopefully this is the start of something great and the Gamecube's Resident Evil 0 receives the same treatment next, and a remake/port of Resident Evil 2 and 3 would be great, so here's hoping.
Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell is an entertaining distraction for those starving for more Saints action, but there's nothing inherently new attempted here. Your mileage is going to vary, so if you were tired after Saints Row IV then you'd do well to stay clear, but open-world fans who love clearing up all that side content will find a fairly meaty package here for a bargain of a price. The problem with such an absurd title though is where Volition can take this next. Saints Row feels like a series that has begun to run out of ideas, and without a complete do-over it's really backed itself into a corner.
I have sort of enjoyed my time with Blackguards 2, although writing a review where all you really want to do is scream "IT'S THE SAME AS BLACKGUARDS!" has been a challenge. It really is a testament to the fine voice actors and tightly crafted combat above everything else, that even after two extremely similar games I'm still not staggeringly bored of it all. Slightly bored, perhaps, but not staggeringly.
As puzzlers come, The Talos Principle is certainly the cream of the crop and easily deserves any praise that can be laid at its doorstep. The puzzles can be tricky but are always intuitive, asking questions of you and driving you through the environment. Even the graphics, despite their seemingly conflicting styles, are good enough to draw you in. It's bizarre that the same team who brought us something like Serious Sam could deliver some so cerebral and philosophical, but the team has achieved here is the ultimate collection of logical conundrums.
With its camera manipulation and touch controls Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker feels like one of those rare titles that is uniquely designed with the Wii U in mind, a game that just wouldn't be possible to this level of quality on another platform. It's not a definitive reason to pick up a Wii U, but if you already own then this is one of the best showcases of its playful potential yet. Chock full of variety and stunning to look at, this would be a fantastic addition to any Nintendo fan's library.
Ultimately if you've played Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light then you know what to expect here. It's more of the same, which may prove overfamiliar to some, but if you're thirsting for more then it's a worthwhile budget purchase, while the promise of a season pass suggests a bunch more content to come. If you've never played it, and the thought of a fairly light-hearted action adventure with a dash of puzzling sounds like a fine way to spend your time then the Temple of Osiris is most worthwhile pickup. It's not the longest of games, and can be completed in 5 or 6 hours or so, but it can be a an absolute blast with friends when whiling away an afternoon.
There is a solid wargame here, as you'd expect from the Panzer guys at Slitherine. Warhammer fans will be able to lose themselves down the rabbit hole of unit loadouts and Armageddon pattern variants, tinkering with constructing the perfect battalion, and there's even a map editor bundled with the game (which I found to be a little more complex than it needed to be). At the moment, I can't help but feel that a full-price ticket is a little ambitious for a game that looks for the most part like it could be handled by a web browser, but once the price comes down a little it's a worthy gateway drug to the world of really crunchy wargames.
The crux that comes out of this review is that you are better off waiting for this game to be in sale rather than purchasing it right now, and even then those tired of zombies would be strongly advised to steer clear. Deep Silver has unfortunately overseen the Dead Island series take a serious dip in quality throughout 2014, but we remain hopeful that things will get back on the right track with Dead Island 2.
Of course, a great deal of impressive work went into the stylised visual of This War of Mine that might not have gone into something destined for a school computer or a museum plaque. Its pencil-shaded graphics touchingly evoke political cartoons and the dreary, dark colour palate of so much war art to sap life and hope from your course of events. Generally in games, the wonderful efforts put into visuals are to add to your enjoyment, but This War of Mine is instead making use of the medium of art to help put its message across - simultaneously establishing a valid place of its own within. This War of Mine blurs the boundaries of artistic and educational exhibition and in doing so demonstrates, significantly, how effortlessly the medium of videogames can lend itself to much more than entertainment, but if you're looking for fun, you've come to the wrong place. The message here is how fragile humanity can be when the comforts of modern society disappear and a question: Do 'good' and 'bad' choices exist, or just survival of the most ruthless? It's hard to score This War of Mine as a game, because you can't win it. You can survive with enough selfish tact. You can also be more community spirited at your own expense, but then if you die will the community fail without you around anyway? This is a poignant and reflective experience, thought through with meticulous depth. The gameplay is very simple, and that's probably deliberate too - the amount of thrill you get playing it will depend on what kind of beast you are.
All in all Grand Theft Auto V is a natural evolution of the series, and it does indeed make it seem difficult to comprehend where exactly they can take it next. There's certainly a few areas that could do with some polish, but fans of open-worlds will find one of the most accomplished games in years, and, despite hours and hours spent prodding around, I think there's some many secrets still for me to find. One thing's for sure and it's got my appetite whetted for the PC version, because once the modding community gets their hands on this it's going to be a joy to see.
The Crew's an okay racer, but when stacked up against its competitors it really falls short. Open-world fans would be far better off picking up the likes of Far Cry 4, while racing fans have been spoilt rotten in recent months with the likes of Forza Horizon 2, GRID Autosport, and DriveClub. A terminally dull storyline gets in the way of what is an epic-scale racing game, and its huge landmass can be a genuinely exciting experience driving across, it's just a shame it's spoiled by so many niggling problems.
Maniacal mansioners, Leisure suit lounge lizards and grog-swilling pirates will have a fine time. Teenagers will probably be hopelessly confused. But as a stand-alone adventure, with all the nostalgia stripped away, it's still pretty good.
I really like Farming Simulator 2015. It's not without fault and there are clearly areas for improvement, but it is great, involved fun and you will absolutely get your money's worth. And at the rate they're improving this series, Farming Simulator 2021 will be finest game known to farmkind.
As ever before, the two are absolutely worlds apart. It's not something we'd necessarily say is a must, but there's no real harm in owning both footballing giants. They both offer something unique to them that makes them a worthwhile experience, but if you're after true mastery then you're best off dedicating your time to just one. The choice boils down to a few key points, and if you can overlook the licensing issues and lacklustre presentation then PES 2015 delivers an awesome game of football that could swallow you up for months to come.
There's so much to go into in terms of Dragon Age: Inquisition's world, characters and content that ultimately boggles the mind. It's a wonderful experience that deserves to be experienced as freshly as possible, so we won't spoil too much of what it entails. It's a grand adventure in the truest sense, and a great comeback for the blockbuster RPG, delivering upwards of 50 hours of content for the main campaign alone, and it feels like we've barely managed to scratch the surface of everything there is to offer in this world. Fans of BioWare and RPGs in general can do no wrong with this, one of the most outstanding games this year.
Ultimately Far Cry 4 is a vast and glorified expansion pack to Far Cry 3. If you liked what the previous title offered or have yet to experience it at all, then this is definitely worth a go. That growing Ubisoft problem of over-familiarity rears its ugly head once again, but as it stands the Far Cry series hasn't yet been thoroughly stamped into the ground by yearly iterations. Yet. At its best Far Cry 4 is a ridiculously entertaining prospect, and sometimes you'll be sat there just thinking to yourself, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is gaming", but the story aspect does let the side down a little, failing to draw on the open-world nature that makes the game such a success in the first place.
It's rare to pick up a game now and actually learn from the experience. All too often we're gunning down hundreds of people in the name of some cause or another, but seldom are we asked to actually think about what we are doing, why we are doing it, and where we are. In Never Alone I felt like I'd been given a real grasp of Iñupiat culture and enough of a peek behind the curtain to understand a certain way of life. For that reason Never Alone is a wholly worthwhile tale, a chance to learn something new, but the occasionally frustrating gameplay jars slightly with the usually ethereal and dreamlike experience.
The 'Unity' multiplayer aspect doesn't really change things dramatically, it's an entertaining distraction at best, but delve beneath the surface and it's still a bunch of missions revolving around tailing people, eavesdropping, pickpocketing and assassinating. As it stands Assassin's Creed Unity feels like a title that could have done with a little more time in the oven. It doesn't have the je ne sais quoi of a next-gen realise, but it's an engrossing if all-too-familiar ride.