Stevivor's Reviews
Up Multimedia delivers a quality point-and-click adventure with same-sex attracted characters and gay culture in a way that doesn’t alienate players of any sexuality, religion or creed. While its very nature clearly targets those in the LGBTI community, fans of point-and-click adventures will have a splendid time exploring Arcadia alongside Minogue and his motley crew.
Don Bradman Cricket 17 expands on its pioneering predecessor with the fundamentals of cricket translating to fun, challenging gameplay. Batting and bowling are similar, but better rounded, and the introduction of female cricketers has been given the utmost care. The career mode is much deeper, and the customisation options are off the chart — it’s a cricket game that gives you back what you put in.
Overall, “Calling All Units” is a neat expansion to add to The Crew, but unless you’ve got a sufficient in-game credits you’ll either need to buy crew points with actual money or grind through events to afford the vehicles you’ll need to complete the additional missions. Gameplay-wise the upgraded pursuits are fun to play and the delivery events are enjoyable too, although they do get repetitive. The new police vehicles look great and handle well too, and for those gamers who haven’t finished the base storyline yet, the expansion adds some additional flavour to the game.
A solid ending and the ability to get up close and personal with dinosaurs is Robinson’s saving grace, but it’s a bit of a slog to get to those bits. Robinson showed a great deal of promise, but ended up much like any other VR game in this launch window. You’ll be amazed by the sights until they become commonplace. Then, you’ll get frustrated by controls and ultimately, start to count down the minutes until you’re finished with it.
There’s a quote by Aristotle that says, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” I can’t think of a better description for this Bethesda table pack. Individually, these are three fantastic franchises, taken as a whole this is a fantastic pack of tables that should appeal to both pinball players as well as gamers who have never picked up a virtual pinball game.
Ultimately, Super Mario Maker is paired down on 3DS, but not to ridiculous levels. Editing is as easy on a 3DS touchscreen as a Wii U touchpad — though decidedly easier on a 3DS XL than a 3DS — and gameplay is largely the same. If you own a copy on Wii U, it’s probably better to stick with that. For most of us — who either don’t own a Wii U or who mothballed it a while ago — this entry’s a great little package to pick up for Christmas.
While some parts of its narrative had me emotionally invested in the relationship between boy and beast, constantly fighting against the game's broken mechanics left me unimpressed. My frustrations with Trico often ignoring my commands made interacting with the world more difficult and time-consuming than I wanted it to be. There are moments in The Last Guardian with potential, but ultimately, it's more flawed than the authentic experience I was hoping for.
All in all, 7th Drgaon III Code: VFD is a fun dungeon-crawling experience with enough bells and whistles to set it apart from the pack. The base-building gives you a fun reason to grind dragons beyond simply levelling up your party, and the reward loop of loot and levelling keeps you interested at just the right pace. Barring the absence of a quick-save option for short burst play on public transport, it’s a great way to while away time as needed, and tells a goofy fun story along the way. But dang, someone get a swear jar for Nodens HQ. That little demon rabbit needs to calm the heck down before Nintendo NOTICES.
At launch, Eagle Flight doesn’t offer enough for the near-full price it charges. Single player isn’t enough to justify a purchase and multiplayer isn’t populous enough to get regular matches. Eagle Flight gets the basics right, flight is great and combat can be full of excitement, the game just doesn’t build much on that strong foundation.
Dead Rising 4 is a lot of fun. The removal of the timer might not bode well with fans of the series, but it does allow a sense of freedom to move within the game at a player’s own accord. That all said, there just isn’t enough to keep you engaged apart from the main storyline; killing zombies with crazy theatrical weapons is fun, but after a while it just becomes too much of a grind.
Featuring systems that focus on community engagement and competition among friends, there are some clever new ideas that haven’t been seen in games before. Still, Steep falls short where it matters most, offering you more moments of anger than adrenaline. If you have plenty of patience then this might be the game for you, though most will end up pissed off rather than going off-piste.
While I may not think of this personally as a true Final Fantasy title, that doesn't make it any less of a good game. Despite all my above quibbles, I still haven't been able to put the controller down for any longer than it takes to visit the bathroom or refuel my needy human body. It's understandable why this was set as a side title to the franchise initially, given how much it plays with the formula, but fresh input is what is needed to keep this franchise alive. Final Fantasy XV welcomes new players with open arms, and challenges long-time fans to try something new. It's worth your time, and worth the wait.
For newcomers to the Assassin’s Creed franchise, this is the place to start — and with the Master Assassin, no less. For others, it’s probably one to miss, unless you really, really want to get back into the thick of things.
Frontier has done a wonderful job of maintaining the excitement, visual appeal and overall happiness of both a theme park and a theme park builder. If you're at all interested in the genre, then Planet Coaster is a game you should be picking up today.
There’s a huge focus on all the new features, but there is still a lot of nostalgia here. This is the 20th anniversary of Pokémon after all, and Pokémon Sun and Moon celebrates by boldly reinventing the wheel. This will go down as a huge success with returning players and it’s easier than ever for newcomers to enjoy after the success of Pokémon Go. Fans are in for a treat, and if you’re new don’t hesitate. There has never been a better time to play Pokémon.
Here I am, nearly the end of this review, and returning players are probably thinking this all sounds familiar: correct. Dishonored 2 doesn’t do much differently, but rather tweaks what came before it, while averting risk. Emily injects new abilities, alongside some different weapon upgrades. There are excellent new environments to go with a similar story that doesn’t really go anywhere; it’s almost a clone of Corvo’s original desire to clear his name of wrongdoings amidst a powerplay. It makes for a very good action-stealth adventure that genuinely encourages playing by your own rules. But whereas we praised Dishonored 1 for being one of the most unique triple-A games of last-generation, that inherently isn’t the case with its very good, but very safe, sequel.
Watch Dogs 2 is the game that the first one should have been and is a shining example of Ubisoft’s already proven ability to respond well to feedback. It offers true freedom and creativity to play the way you want, laugh out loud moments found in scripted events and self-made fun in a virtual city that needs to be seen to be believed. Starring characters that you’ll genuinely care about the more you get to know them you’ll have no trouble finding motivation to see this one through to the end. Put this one on your Christmas list.
Beyond the minigames there isn’t a lot here. You have a playroom to store unlocked toys and throw them around a bit should you wish. It offers about three minutes of entertainment. The overworld carnival is populated by freakish bearded women and young children with supernatural reflexes, dodging every projectile you launch their way. The carnival barker attempts to be amusing, mostly without success, and will soon be repeating himself to the point you curse that he too has supernatural reflexes.
The multiplayer isn’t deeply flawed, it’s just boringly safe. We’ve had this movement system for three years, and there are better implementations of it in and outside of the franchise. The maps aren’t particularly well designed and the RIG system isn’t all that dissimilar to Specialists from Black Ops III, but needlessly makes loadouts more complicated without improving them. Matchmaking is atrocious and desperately needs to be fixed. Early in my online career, as a lowly level 5, I was constantly matched with players well above my rank. It’s impossible to compete against well-drilled teams with considerably better weapons, and that happened on a consistent basis. Even worse is imbalanced teams. I’ve been in too many objective matches that begin as four against six. By the time the teams have been balanced, which takes way too long, the result is known.
At least the gameplay is fun. Finally.