Stevivor's Reviews
Despite [a] handful of quibbles, I still find Forza Horizon 6 to be an utter joy. Drifting down lush mountainous woodlands to a stunningly radiant coastal fishing village while Rydeen plays is an absolutely singular experience.
Hyped as a combination of the horror of Alien and the paranoia of The Thing, Directive 8020 does neither well.
Scattered Hopes feels as if it is relishing getting to play unobtrusively in a side-pocket of its IP’s fiction.
Mixtape is grunge and punk, hopeful and foolish, ultra cool and super nerdy, confident and insecure in equal measure. Simply put, this is one you need to experience for yourself.
Invincible VS offers up a gory good time, though it does tend to feel repetitive fairly quickly.
On its own, Lord of Hatred isn’t worth your time. If you think of it as unlocking another year of Diablo 4 content though, and resolve to put the shambolic events of the expansion behind you, then it’s fine. It continues to build and improve upon the game’s core systems and, at the end of the day, it’s still a ton of fun to blow up hordes of demons.
Much like Road 96 though, the true joy of Tides of Tomorrow comes from its cast of recurring characters — survivors, pirates, and those of faith who make the world around them feel fully fleshed out. That’s enough to balance out some rather lacklustre stealth bits that get in the way of what’s next.
The trouble is, [amazing] moments are too few and far between for me, and I bet for many others too. My best piece of advice here is to take advantage of Living the Dream's publicly available demo; create a couple Miis, set them loose upon one another, and get the flavour of what's going on. From there, it'll be up to you if you want to go whole hog.
I was really impressed with what Capcom has achieved with an all-new title, building a unique and vibrant world, even on the barren surface of the moon.
Cadence, Fret, and the rest of her band are not only interesting in their backgrounds, but unique in the ways that they sound and play. And if the idea of puzzles on top of all this dissuade you, they shouldn’t — each of these pillars can be dialled up or down to present a challenge that you can set for yourself.
Infecting yourself is mandatory; Infection requires you to compromise yourself, using newfound abilities to grapple past crevices or subdue opponents. While it wouldn’t have been my first choice, I understand the design of the decision; it’s far less compelling as truly Trek stuff, but everything’s got to have a gimmick, eh?
Gaming has moved on since 2003, but Fatal Frame 2 Crimson Butterfly Remake seems to want to look and play true to its original. I can’t recommend this to most as a result, but you don’t have to take my word for it. Grab the demo here on Steam, here on Xbox, here on PlayStation, or here on Switch 2 and have a look for yourself. Save data carries over if you decide you want to continue with this $75 AUD game.
At the end of the day, Monster Hunter Stories 3 is a game that wants you to spend a LOT of time playing it – but it respects that time also.
Leon remains an important ingredient as the poster boy for the franchise, but the real key is partnering him with someone without his courage who’s still determined to survive. Resident Evil is no longer choosing between survival or action. With Requiem, it’s finally mastered survival-action horror.
This is perhaps the Star Trek game most faithful to its source material, as just like Star Trek: Voyager, it’s a flawed gem that I can heartily recommend experiencing, just not without caveats. Both its greatest strength and biggest weakness is that it really feels like the kind of PC game that could’ve come out during the later years of the show’s run.
There's something admittedly unique about Romeo is a Dead Man, but that quirkiness doesn't make up for its middle of the road design. In fact, it's not long before quirky is just there for the sake of quirkiness, not serving anything larger.
Mario Tennis Fever is also a letdown as one of the first Switch 2 exclusives. There’s little that feels truly current-gen, and some of the visuals are surprisingly basic and rough.
While the main story does feel a bit shorter compared to the other Kiwami games, the sheer volume of “stuff to do” in the world more than balances that out. By the time you’ve cleared the main story, bested the Coliseum, completed every bizarre sub-story, completed the photo rally, fought every beatdown target, unlocked every costume item AND forged a deep, emotional connection with every child in your care? You’ll wonder why Kiryu ever left the life behind.
Seeing the team this willing to flip the script on the traditional formula leaves me very excited for the future of the franchise; if other remakes (or the distant future release of Dragon Quest 12) can take lessons from Reimagined’s mechanics or art style, I’ll be a very happy gamer indeed.
While fun from moment to moment, Code Vein 2 has a cookie-cutter plot, matching dialogue, and combat that isn't polished to the level it needs to be.