Game Debate
HomepageGame Debate's Reviews
I do hope that Paradox create more of these DLCs with the focus on minor nations, with interesting new National Focus trees. I like the addition of the autonomy mechanic and the new sprites and leaders. But that's only part of what HOI4 needs. If the next DLC brings more resilient AI, better balanced anti-air and a focus on fixing a few of my peeves with the warscore system, I'll be getting it for that rather than for any deep dives into the soul of a minor nation
The Little Acre has a pretty solid backbone. The setting, storyline and portrayal of events using the hand-drawn graphics and dialogues pretty quickly captures the gamer's attention. However the only thing that keeps this game from stardom is the lack of depth in most aspects. I am willing to say that most people would be able to neglect the difficulty factor if the campaign was long enough, it's not the case here however. So in short, we are looking at the embryo of a fine adventure game, cut tragically short.
The biggest down side - if you can call it that - to Natural Disasters is just how obvious it all is. Helicopters and shelters, weather stations for early warning, loss of life, rebuilding efforts, and so on. The whole idea of demolishing huge areas of your city with various crises. It's all been done before, and while it most certainly belongs in a game like Cities Skylines, I wasn't really surprised with the novelty of any of it. Does that mean it isn't fun? Heck no! Of course it is. Either playing with random disasters as part of the challenge, or manually bringing about the End of Days on your city like a vengeful god are brilliant ways to spend your time. Because, deep down, I suppose there's something in all of us that loves to just watch the world burn.
That’s when it works and everything just clicks. At that moment it’s a fantastic extreme sports game. But I can’t wholeheartedly recommend it because it’s got an unusually high number of flaws that are glaringly obvious. I could easily overcome them, others may find them to difficult to forgive. Basically nothing in Steep is ever quite perfect, but what’s here can potentially be a real joy and the potential for a sequel, with these issues ironed out, is absolutely mouthwatering. See you on the slopes.
Tyranny weighs in at significantly fewer hours than Pillars. But a lot of this is replayable in ways that are interesting and thought-provoking. The potential to do some seriously messed-up stuff abounds, and so does the option to play in a subversive and morally-ambiguous way as well. There are few fights that seem 'just for the hell of it', which might drive down the overall number of hours. But you know what? We only have so many hours of gaming time. Wouldn't you rather spend it ruling the world in a fun and interesting way?
Dishonored 2 is a sequel in what may very well be the best possible sense of the word. It retains pretty much everything that made the original special and intensifies it.
Titanfall 2 is the complete shooter package in a way that Titanfall wasn’t back in 2014. The fantastic campaign now complements the comprehensive multiplayer package. Factor in the free post launch support and it’s difficult to argue that Titanfall 2 is the unsung hero of the holiday rush.
Silence is a breathtakingly beautiful game. There are so many moments where I just stopped and stared at what was going on around me. You can tell that some people have poured a lot of themselves into this title and through that it's definitely a unique experience. I cared about the characters, I was excited to find out more of the world, at times just to see what they’d drawn, I was surprised with the variation of gameplay that kept coming up and the story line really struck a chord with me, the ending especially. This game is one that is going to stick with me for quite a while.
There are plenty of places where the success of the previous titles could have lent the financial security necessary for this version to feel some polish, but there's none. And the price! If this was a $4.99 Excalibur title, I suppose I could forgive them, and just shrug it off. But it's a full-price title! Every moment I was chained to this game was misery, and I wouldn't play it again if they paid me the money instead of the other way around.
All of that is say that Mantis Burn Racing isn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination. It’s just that with the dozens of others games vying for my attention, I really never felt like I wanted to boot it up. There isn’t that pull to keep you coming back for more. Which is a real shame because there’s some great racing lurking within here and it’s probably the best looking game of its type out there. It just lacks that certain something which makes games of this ilk compelling to play. When you’re actual races are a little bit dull, perhaps it’s time to go back to the drawing board.
And a special mention for the ending. Or should I say what ending? I gained access to a previously locked room with a number of photos on the wall and found no way to progress. Wandered about the house for 20 more minutes looking for something I may have missed. Running out of luck I hopped on YouTube and watch a Let’s Play to see what I was missing. They did the exact same thing, running about the house looking for the next piece of the puzzle. Unfortunately for me they had a little more sense though, eventually realising the room with the photos was in fact the credits. A totally bizarre ending though it has to be said. I was in PSVR as well so there wasn’t even a trophy pop to show me I’d finished. Not knowing it was the end kind of tells you all you need to know about Weeping Doll's story.
Civ is a game that almost defies a straightforward 1-10 scoring system. It's a way of life. A serious undertaking which can't be quantified with a simple number. Suffice to say, this is a feature-rich and immersive iteration where attention to detail in design is apparent from the first turn and systems you didn't even realise could be significantly improved have been infused with a spark of genius. True, the AI is a woeful mess and it's lacking a few tooltips but there is none of the hollowness that Civ V had on release. Could this be a worthy successor to the majesty and awe of Civilization IV? Well, ask me again when I top the 300 hour mark. But at the moment, all signs point very clearly to yes.
At the end of the day, the infinite replayability of procedurally-generated maps and adventures is limited by the encounters available, and you'll have seen them all in a couple of playthroughs. Still, in that time it's a pretty good laugh, and The Curious Expedition bestows a real sense of adventure and exploration.
The King and The Warlord offers just the right amount of content to keep owners of the game interested. If you're still playing Total Warhammer then you're likely quite a fan and have probably already gobbled this up, but if you are waiting for something to pull you back in, then Skarsnik, his Squigs, his goblin only army, his new starting location, his funny one-liners and his objective of sitting on the Karrak throne might present enough of a new challenge to warrant getting back into the game.
Battlefield 1 is a fantastic game, but not necessarily a fantastic Battlefield game. The boots on the ground multiplayer is second to none, but the vehicular action which was always the focus of Battlefield has moved to the wayside, replaced by run and gun action and a surplus of snipers picking people off. That said, like Star Wars Battlefront it’s an absolute feast for the eyes, and half the fun is the visual spectacle of seeing just what insanity can unfold when 64 players are given hundreds of ludicrously dangerous toys to play with. Backed up by the most solid campaign in Battlefield history, Battlefield 1 gets a wavering thumbs up from me.
All in all this package escalates Rise of the Tomb Raider from a strong game to an excellent one. There were a few reservations as to how much gameplay you were getting for your money with the original, but this right here answers that with aplomb. There’s heaps to on top of the standard campaign and for the most part it’s of a good quality. The original faults remain, namely that Rise of the Tomb Raider lacks the original thinking of the reboot, but what is here is slick, polished fun. If you haven’t picked up Rise of the Tomb Raider yet then is without doubt the package to go for, but if you do already own it on a different platform then I’d recommend waiting for a sale to pick up the extras.
So it's a little game, but with a big heart. There is some serious love of Norse mythology - prepare for an armload of nidvellirs, ratatosks and mjolnirs. To relive that feeling in the pit of your stomach when either you and the end-of-level boss will be killed by the next stroke. Ultimately, there's nothing in Jotun that would have even been hailed as original if you'd seen it in Mickey Mouse: Castle of Illusion, but fun is timeless.
For the masochists in our midst there are time attack runs if you want to perfect your time in each of game’s eight or so chapters, but I do genuinely believe that’s a big ask of anyone. Manual Samuel is perfect Twitch streaming fodder then, but there isn’t enough quality or variation there to make me want to see it through to the end, despite developer Perfectly Paranormal’s best efforts to mix things up. Sadly, the execution isn’t as strong as the idea is on paper. It’s sad to see because there’s a lot of potentially good ideas tucked away here and some fantastic artwork, so I’m keen to see what the devs can crack out next.
All in all Dragon Quest Builders is an absolutely spectacular surprise. For me, it's a far superior experience to Minecraft. It’s topped off by having an end goal. Credits that roll and bosses that need defeating give the entire experience genuine purpose. I’ve had next to no interest in the sandbox building genre up to this point, however there’s enough structure here to compel me to push onwards. And onwards. And onwards. Someone save me.
As you can probably tell, trying to conjure up faults with FIFA 17 is a remarkably hard task. There really isn't anything I outright dislike about the game, and I know it's going to keep me busy for 100+ hours over the next year. It's both bitesize fun and yet capable of consuming entire weekends. The length and breadth of the modes EA Sports has got in here is now staggering. There's always something to do or a different way to play a match, and it's all backed up by unpredictable moments that come tantalizingly close to nailing the feel of the real game.