Expansive's Reviews
Rise of the Golden Idol is a smart sequel that doesn’t massively reinvent what the brilliant Case of the Golden Idol did but adds some smart new additions, updates the visual style and UI, and makes its storytelling more cohesive with a well paced difficulty curve. While the UI can get a bit cluttered and disruptive with questionable controller navigation and the game can get bogged down in semantics and its mechanics, it’s one of the most enjoyable, entertaining narrative experiences I’ve had in some time and a series you absolutely must make the time to check out!
Broken Sword – Shadow of the Templars Reforged is one of the best examples of a remaster done right. It is faithful with stunning visuals and content that’s aged like fine wine, but also updated wonderfully for 2024 and the next twenty years to come. With some further additions to the UI to make it more friendly and appropriate on consoles, this would have made our PS5 experience better. But perhaps this is one you should be playing as intended anyway, mouse in hand, on PC.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is a very successful debut outing for the titular princess. The game does still suffer the frame rate issues of Link’s Awakening and at times, felt as if the story became too centered around Link so that it became less about the character we play, but the ideas, mechanics, feel, look and style of the game are an absolute treat. Alongside Another Code, it’s my favourite Nintendo release of 2024 so far and gives an exciting glimpse into what Nintendo may be cooking for 2025 and beyond.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 has been worth the very long wait and is an incredible worthwhile sequel that betters the original in just about every conceivable way. From the visuals, to the story, gameplay and additional modes on top, it not only continues a story that was set out a decade ago, but it carves a way for a much brighter, more elaborate future for the franchise. Full of epic moments, it’s a game you and your friends will love fully and completely.
Star Wars Outlaws is one of the most bold Star Wars games I’ve seen in years. It’s not perfect, and definitely punishes the player who doesn’t take the time to learn its systems. It also buries a lot of the open world content deeper into the game, meaning you really have to invest time to get the most out of it. And with the strong focus on stealth and combat, there’s a degree of patience required. But once you really get into a rhythm and get into the mindset of the game, there’s a lot of fun, enjoyment and excitement to be had here that offers something really different to the Jedi-led games we’ve been playing over the years. Especially when trying to balance the factions and their requirements.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate is a mostly successful Hades-like that’s a blast to play and really gels well together across all of its key components. It’s a little easier-going, the loading screens are a bit of a slog and the overall balance and storytelling isn’t as compelling or as tight, but Turtles is a fantastic IP to mesh with the genre, and this is about as close (and as enjoyable) as Hades as I’ve seen any other game in recent memory. Totally bodacious!
Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition is a wonderful celebration of an amazing gaming era. The weekly World Championships are fun to enter, there’s lots of pin options and medals to unlock and there’s a decent playerbase already to test your skills against. One wonders if Nintendo are looking to make this into a larger franchise as I’d love to try a SNES and even N64 Edition because while this was a blast for me, NES games definitely aren’t for everyone in 2024.
Beyond Good & Evil – 20th Anniversary Edition is a mostly brilliant celebration of a cult hit. The visuals really help the world continue to stand out in 2024, the new additions add more to the world, including a new quest that hopefully links to the future of the series and an all new speedrun mode is the perfect way for veterans to test themselves all over again. The implementation of Ubisoft Connect does present some issues and some mechanics feel a bit dated in 2024, but for the price and quality, we cannot recomend playing this classic game enough.
Tekken 8 is one of the most satisfying fighters I’ve ever had the privilege of playing. It opens new doors for players who’ve previously been intimidated by the genre or have never been able to play them before, it has a fantastic fight feel to the combat where everyone has a fighting chance, there’s a huge variety of modes that have lastability and continue to be enjoyable and without doubt, it’s one of the most visually impressive games on the market today. Whether you’re new to Tekken, fighters in general or you’ve been with this series since the start, this is 2024’s first must-have title, one you can’t afford to miss
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy is an absolute delight, chock-full of optional extras that fans will revel in, and a narrative journey that takes fun and fascinating twists and turns. Delivered with an unmatched tone and energy, an impressive, evolving art style that enables players to see how the franchise evolves in real time, and some smart mechanics that have been well adapted from handheld systems, this collection is a must for first timers, new fans or old school fans with its variety and consistent quality.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is exactly how a licensed game should be made, really respecting the culture, identity, and style of the world James Cameron has built, finding ways to really gameify the experience and make it enjoyable, all while adding something to the universe that even connects to its future. Navigation is quite cumbersome in general, and you’ll start feeling like some missions are a bit too filler’y as you progress, but this is a must for fans of the series. In fact, it’s one of Ubisoft’s better open world offerings in recent years.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 just can’t quite seem to get its balance right. On the surface, it really celebrates Nick culture, giving life, style and substance to each of its fighters, helping them stand out and feel like a true version of themselves through their abilities and supers. There’s intriguing ideas in here, including a rogue-like story mode and some stunning stages that really bring the universe to life, but the difficulty curve is unnecessarily hard, the campaign wears out its welcome quite quickly, and the game is full of performance problems and stop/start UI that pulls you out of the experience way too easily.
Trolls: Remix Rescue fails at almost every hurdle. The awful camera and brutal bugs make it borderline unplayable at times, but equally it’s underwhelming and generally boring as you traverse its unfinished looking environments and repetitive, simplistic gameplay. Even its rhythm based action, local co-op and soundtrack can’t really save this one from being a washout, whether you love Trolls or not.
The Talos Principle 2 is a stunningly presented sequel, with glorious visuals, breathtaking soundtrack, and a semi-open world environment you’ll want to explore every inch of. Its puzzles gradually, smartly evolve with the game and its ideas stay interesting and fresh, but it’s the compelling conversations and thought-provoking dialogue that you’ll stay for, presenting intriguing scenarios and heart-wrenching moments. Some issues around performance and end-game puzzles aside, this is an important release for the genre, a successful sequel in every sense, and a must play whether you’re a fan of the genre or not.
Dreamworks All Star Kart Racing is the best alternative racer in the genre for a long time. There’s a great roster to choose from, kart variety and garage customisation lets you tweak your vehicle how you see fit, and it all looks really well presented and polished. Track variety is a little bit limited and repetitive with only one or two memorable standouts, multiplayer modes could be a bit more varied and the voice acting grates after a while, but this is a really promising start for, what we hope will be, an ongoing franchise with more games to come.
Robocop: Rogue City is one of this year’s biggest and best surprises. It’s not always perfect and things are scaled back a bit too much in some cases, but the witty quips, all-out gun fights, variety in mechanics and objectives, and surprising human element of the story, once again acted by the brilliant Peter Weller, really wins you over again and again. This game actually makes you feel like Robocop in the best possible way by showing great respect to both player and license, resulting in not only the best Robocop game since the original but a brilliant throwback to the golden era of FPS.
Ghostrunner 2 follows on very closely from the first, adding in some enemies, abilities and mechanics, but very much maintaining the essence that made it a cult hit in the first place. Its brutal and often unfair difficulty mean its really not going to be for everyone and the performance and bugs could present a real tipping point for those who are just about managing to keep pace. But for fans of the first, those who love dynamic action sequences and are ok with a little bit of tough love, you’re going to fall head over heels for this one.
Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol 1 comes complete with the same world class, incredible games but sadly doesn’t feel like a worthy collection of this world-class franchise. The presentation causes unnecessary confusion and the preservation is surprisingly lacking across all the featured titles. There’s some great optional extras in here, such as screenplays for all games, a compilation for the franchise and a fan-dream of being able to play the different MGS 1 territorial variations along with playing some games on respective platforms for the first time. But nothing has moved on for MGS 2 and 3 since the HD Collection and without Twin Snakes or any major, noticeable tweaks to MGS1, there feels like a lack of desire to really maximise the potential of today’s platforms. This should have been a huge moment, bringing the original trilogy together like this, but you can’t help thinking this could and should have been more.
Lords of the Fallen is a fairly solid, enjoyable Souls-like that really finds the mood and atmosphere that was prevalent in early From titles. The use of Umbral offers some really clever mechanical ideas that keep things fresh, the dynamism to create combos also opens up a range of possibilities, and you’ve got a nice range of environments and bosses that provide a worthy challenge. There are some frustrations with combat though, between balance and abundance of enemies, as well as some technical hiccups and issues around the multiplayer component, but all told, this gets more right than it does wrong.
Sonic Superstars is slick, smooth and the best Sonic game in a long, long time. It captures the spirit of the original series, modernises it in a way that will connect with today’s audience, and finally sets up an exciting pathway for the future of a franchise that has struggled to stay relevant. Not all concepts are the finished article, its ideas do run a bit dry late on and there is some stop/start gameplay here that can get a bit frustrating, but the creativity, energy, vibrancy, and thrill-seeking that permeates throughout will ensure this is one adventure you won’t soon forget and one you’ll want to replay again and again.