Next Gen Base
HomepageNext Gen Base's Reviews
Hands down, this game is absolutely brilliant! I had lost all hope in re-kindling my love for this type of game and can wholeheartedly say that The Magic Circle is a true testament to the story-driven puzzle game genre. There are only two things that stopped me from giving this game a well-earned 10/10. The first being the length of game only lasting approximately 4-5 hours depending on whether you plough through or not like I did the first time around and the second was the lack of the sprint function. There is a hell of a lot more to this game than meets the eye and for me to go into any more detail; it would honestly ruin the fun. The story is gripping and makes you think differently about the game development world and all of those games that are stuck in development hell that we just want to see released.
Uncharted 4 is an exceptional game. Naughty Dog have knocked it out of the park in pretty much every area, and this truly does feel like the sequel they've wanted to make for years. They have taken elements from the previous Uncharted games as well as The Last Of Us, honed and refined them, and created quite possibly the best action game I've ever played. A tight story with superb pacing, incredible set pieces and simply unbelievable visuals, Uncharted 4 should be mandatory if you own a PS4.
A game that had the potential to not only evoke memories of a classic franchise, but also stand alone on its own two feet, Shadow of the Beast stumbles and doesn't quite live up to the potential it clearly has. There are some lovely looking areas and when the combat sticks, it's enjoyable. The problem is that there are more moments of pure frustration than delight, including control issues and that unfathomable decision to force you to unlock native language subtitles. If you're after a blast of nostalgia and nothing else, however, the original 1989 title is included in the game as an unlockable, but this remake doesn't really add much to the legacy of the franchise.
Overwatch is Blizzard Entertainment's newest addition to their rather eclectic game library; a class based, multiplayer, first-person shooter – which seemed strange to me at first because Blizzard has pumped out more games of the role-playing variety than you'll find in my late-night internet search history. The game was announced at Blizzcon towards the end of November 2014 and Blizzard held two x 36 hour closed beta weekend sessions for fans prior to the games release. The latter of the sessions amassed over 9.7 million users… and seriously, 9.7 million users cannot be wrong, can they?
Lumo takes all of your rose-tinted memories of the isometric adventure genre and manages to faithfully re-create them – whilst making the much-needed changes that make going back to those old games so painful. True, some gamers won’t appreciate the soft touch, but Noyce caters for them too if they want more of a challenge.
Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter feels like a let-down. Crimes & Punishments was far from perfect, but it felt like clear progress – this latest effort feels like treading water at best.
Mirror's Edge Catalyst still feels like a lot of fun to play through, as the parkour system remains a really successful mechanic for navigating the game world. Dice have made a lot of changes that both hurt and harm the series, but at least you couldn't say that this is a lazy re-working of an eight-year old game.
I seem to be saying this more and more these days but I honestly can’t tell whether I am just terrible at games now that I am getting on a bit or whether playing games on nightmare mode is probably a bad idea… never-the-less, taking all of the above into consideration and the fact that I didn’t encounter any game breaking bugs – Deadlight: Director’s Cut is pretty damn awesome. It’s got everything that a zombie survival game needs and tonne more spoiler related hidden gems to offer. Deadlight’s story has a couple of cliché moments and was a little short for me, but the game is absolutely stunning and controls beautifully!
This game is so much more than just a rage simulator; it’s an extremely fast paced, action packed, hardcore indie sidescroller that has ninjas, robots and a dastardly Doctor Robotnik-esque villain called Captain Greatbeard. Told through the use of dark humor and some beautiful crafted cut scenes, the story unfolds and Greatbeard has kidnapped you and trapped your beloved forest friends (and as I am writing this, it’s just hit me…) inside his robot drones. How “whack-job” mental is that? It’s your job to prove to Greatbeard that your particular set of ninja skills make you deadlier than Liam Neeson and faster than a combination of The Flash and Usain Bolt by traversing through each of the levels killing his robot minions within 10 seconds.
Playdead have taken everything that Limbo offered, and expanded it exponentially with Inside. Crafting a sublime 2D platformer with another unique art style, they take so many unexpected turns with the game that they may as well ship it with a sat nav. A game that starts you off as a boy in the wood will immediately draw comparisons to their 2010 debut, but the connective threads between Limbo and Inside are slowly pulled apart as the latter goes on and begins its descent into something all the more disturbing. A fantastic example of polishing a game until it’s done, Inside may only be around 4 hours long but it’s been well worth the 6 year wait.
I am absolutely staggered that Telltale have put their name to this game, as releasing this under the guise of it being a finished product is disgusting. I don’t follow too much in terms of the Steam Greenlight/Early Access scene, and genuinely didn’t know that this was an unfinished product. It’s being released at a ‘budget’ price of £30, with “DLC Packs” included. Here’s a tip, guys. If you want to hock DLC for a game, make sure it’s finished before you let it dribble out onto consoles. There was a point where every man and his dog was making a PC game trying to capture some of the DayZ market, and this feels like a rushed hangover of that time. In time, this could change. However, 7 Days to Die is being released and marketed as a completed game on consoles, and we are reviewing it as such. It is a buggy, glitch-ridden mess of a game, which looks like an A-Level project and has less atmosphere than the moon. The fact that it’s being released and pushed in this state is, quite simply, unforgivable.
Seriously, can somebody check on me because one of two things has happened – Either I’ve gone insane and these are just the ramblings of a mad man or I’ve finally found a game that lets me release all of that stored up violent, face rolling, nerdy man-rage from all of the rage-inducing games I’ve been playing recently. Thankfully it’s the latter of the two and the irony of it all is that I’ve have found solace in a game called Okhlos, a rogue-like indie “angry mob” strategy game. Okhlos is set in mythological ancient Greece, a land ruled by the all-powerful, take no crap, Gods of Olympus! One vile act of carnage leads to another and the gods do not seem to care for the well-being of the citizens of Greece...
If you can look passed the rage this game generates, it’s actually quite a lot of fun at times. I had a very different experience to most of the people playing this game with a gamepad because I feel that some of the mechanics (like sprinting) work against your favor. You have to sprint at the press of a button and it’s not an automatic occurrence. Even then, (and somewhat realistically) it takes Eyas time to get from 0 to 60 if you know what I mean. The game has a long way to go to be perfect in my eyes, but if I had to one or two faults they would be the aforementioned sprint issue and the fact that the story itself lacks a require oomph to push you forward and want to see if Eyas actually makes it home not. With all that being said, the game is not bad at all. The unique gameplay/gravity mechanics make the game interesting and as I said before – it’s hard, so you just want to keep playing until you beat that annoying level and gain the satisfaction of doing so.
ABZU, to put it bluntly, is a bit special. A stunning example of game design, allowing you to dictate your own pace through an ocean that gets more complex in both design and feel as you descend, with some moments that, in my opinion, surpass some of Journey's standout points. A beautifully simple game in terms of mechanics, ABZU's strength lies in its world and the emotional resonance it has with its player. If you suffer from anxiety or depression, this game should be made available on the NHS. It is, quite simply, wonderful.
Whilst this may be a time killer whilst you wait for the next big RPG, this won't be an RPG you'll remember fondly.
Nine times out of ten, I’ll play games that aren’t story driven with my headphones in and listening to whatever music I am in the mood for that day; however it’s impossible to do this whilst playing Inversus. The upbeat, electronica-esque style music by Lyvo weirdly enough helped me concentrate on playing the game and you’d expect it to get a bit repetitive after a while but it doesn’t, so that’s a plus. I guess whilst taking all of the above into consideration and my own personal learning curve I wish to revisit my earlier comment and reinforce how good this game really is. It’s simple – the more and more you play it, the better and better you get. The shots that you fire off take an insane amount of accuracy and timing, and that just makes the game a bigger challenge than it already is. Its hard to pick faults at a game like this but if I had a tiny bit of constructive criticism it would be more maps for Arcade mode to rival the amount for Versus. If you’re anything at all like me then you’ll find yourself silently or violently swearing to the high heavens, throwing your controller about and mentally back-flipping when you beat your personal best. Inversus is an addictive work of pure genius and well worth an 8/10
Assetto Corsa is definitely a solid driving simulation. Although it is let down by the lack of content, this is definitely one of the most realistic simulators around. I tend to prefer a little more fun, and if not, would like a bit more help in terms of tutorials on offer which I mentioned above. I think if you had a decent steering wheel, that is where Assetto Corsa could become one hell of an experience. If they do plan on doing a second one down the line, a more complete and meaningful Career Mode would definitely mean a higher score from me. Assetto Corsa is more frustrating than anything, and one that is only for the very hardcore driving fans out there.
After thirty or so hours, I am still no where near finished with Mankind Divided. I have spent so long completing side missions and basically just breaking into peoples homes, lockers, garages, vehicles, pants… just to hack their computers to read their emails. I have met some very interesting characters, culled a religious fanatic, raged against man, accidentally stunned naturals for calling me a "clank", accidentally stunned police officers for calling me "clank", accidentally gassed myself to death before I found the respirator augment, accidentally gassed naturals to death for calling me a… well you get the picture. I am having difficulties picking faults with this game, but if I had one tiny criticism it would be the aforementioned lack of urgency to rush into the campaign, but I suppose that's not really even a fault in itself. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is quite possibly the best in the series so far and most certainty fills those boots I mentioned earlier.
Hue is a very fun platformer puzzle game that draws you in, especially with its simple melody playing throughout. The graphic style is very simple but engaging enough to keep you entertained and there are several interactions which I also found amusing. However I have found very little replay value which is a shame. There are collectibles as I mentioned for the completionists but the game offers nothing new on a second playthrough. This being said, Hue is a wonderful little title that I will remember due to its simplistic style and incredible attention to detail.
Overall, RunGunJumpGun plays the role of the franticly enjoyable 2D scroller well. Narrative is non-existing ultimately, but weirdly cool in that Hotline Miami kind of way, where blithering randomness manages to feel like expertly deployed story-telling. The parts where the game excels is in the way it forces you to multi-task forward thinking and twitch reaction and if you make it through a passage there’s a huge feeling of reward for your pain-staking perseverance. It won’t be everyone’s bag, but you won’t want to let its simplicity beat you – human nature dictates that.