Stevivor's Reviews
Risk: Urban Assault is a decent game wrapped in a terrible package disrespectful of the player and their time. It throws pointless animations, cutscenes and bloat into a board game that is already well known for being a soul sucking grind. If this was just a board game I’d begrudgingly recommend it to people who really like Risk but as a video game I find it hard to recommend to anybody.
Actually, one last go — “Worms must die”. Worms W.M.D. is available from tomorrow.
Amidst the hype and the vitriolic criticism from keyboard warriors around the world feeling like they’re owed something better, it’s easy to forget that this game — possibly the largest ever made and certainly the most anticipated of the year — was developed by a team of just 15 people (at its biggest). Its visuals are basic, there’s no narrative to speak of and it’s infested with game crashing bugs in its current state (patch coming very soon, we’re told). Its primary focus on resource gathering is repetitive, but discovering a huge deposit of something rare and valuable breaks the repetition to keep you motivated to continue exploring. All things considered, No Man’s Sky is the first game in years to actually justify the use of the word “ambitious”. That’s why I like it.
At the end of the day, current-gen console Battleship feels like a weird fit. While it’s great to have the new Clash at Sea mode to spice things up, it just feels awkward on console. Playing against a human opponent will require either PlayStation Plus or Xbox Live Gold, unless you play local multiplayer – and how or why is that a thing? The entire point of Battleship is that you are face to face with your opponent and cannot see their ship layout. Relying on good sportsmanship not to peek is an unnecessary complication. In all honesty, I think this game makes more sense on a portable device or mobile phone, both for convenience and the basic logic of the game itself. Even at around $20 AUD, it doesn’t seem worth the expense for a new mode alone.
As the icon on the Playstation Store proudly proclaims, Bound is Playstation VR-compatible -– I’m not lucky enough to have a PSVR kit to test this out (it’s not released yet!), but it will definitely be worth a look when the headsets start arriving later this year. This is the kind of game that will work best in a virtual reality framework – bright, colourful and removed from any sense of realism. Playing in 2D is by no means a disadvantage, and I encourage anyone with a preference for ‘artsy’ games to give this a shot. It’s not without its issues, but Bound presents traditional platforming mechanics with an artistic flair that really sets it apart.
Between the rich visuals, orchestral soundtrack and chill playing experience, you'll find something to like.
Fallout 4 was an epic game, very much deserving of the 10/10 rating we bequeathed upon it, but its DLC offerings are another story altogether. If you have the game’s “Season Pass”, you might as well grab a couple extra new Achievements or Trophies. If you’ve been buying DLC piecemeal, leave it alone – unless, of course, you’re very much into crafting.
Overall, I Am Setsuna is the good kind of nostalgic. It utilises the best elements of the past to its benefit, rather than to excuse an otherwise lacklustre game. And yet, while playing to the nostalgia it also makes sure to do something different to set it apart. The more sombre tone of the story means you’re not going to be adding a chivalrous frog knight to your party here, but the package you get it doesn’t suffer as a result. Clocking in a bit shorter than the average Square Enix RPG, I Am Setsuna is a great game to play between the big releases ahead.
Sadly Carmageddon: Max Damage was seemingly built just for those that want to re-live the original game, including literally all of its flaws. Had the target audience been expanded to those that like playing games that are fun, it could have been a huge hit.
That’s really it — you draw Disney characters. As such, this will work for die-hard adult Disney fans, but is best suited for children with long car rides in their future. It’ll be engaging and involving childhood heroes, making it hard to fail.
My 3DS gets a ridiculous amount of attention (mostly because of Pokémon) so it’s fair to say I’m familiar with it. I’ve upgraded a bunch of times over the years and I’m current sporting a new 3DS XL. I’ve always wanted something to test out the nub… thing so I was keen to give it a go with Monster Hunter. It was a disaster. It doesn’t reflect poorly on the game itself as it’s completely a hardware problem, but I would suggest a Circle Pad Pro instead, or just avoiding the nub altogether. The controls are tricky enough as it is and take a bit of getting used to without the headache of using the damn thing. There also is another control system for people without either that works almost as well as the Circle Pad Pro. You’re spoilt for choice.
Prison Architect is an excellent sandbox, a throwback to the days of Bullfrog's Theme series that forces you to balance an eye for aesthetics with pure functionality. Those who don't need to be led by the hand to explore the deep systems at play will find an excellent simulation to lose themselves in, with online sharing options providing a huge selection of prisons to explore, tear down and rebuild. If you can stomach the morality of prisons for profit you will enjoy Prison Architect.
Give this one a miss unless you’re a huge fan of getting really angry at video games.
7 Days to Die is awful. I’d imagine this is how the PC release initially played back in 2013 as part of Steam Early Access; I’m utterly confused as to why there’s no polish at all on this new console release. There’s no excuse for such a flimsy mess, and I’m quite surprised Telltale Games would permit its name to be associated with such tripe. Avoid the game at all costs.
All things considered, “Underground” is a true evolution of the MMO, provided those who had a passing interest in it can be bothered jumping back in.
The Chris and Jake campaign should have been less of a testosterone fest, instead playing more like Leon’s campaign instead. Or, better yet, Resident Evil 5‘s “Lost in Nightmares” DLC. Sherry and Jake’s campaign has a nice balance between tension and action that should have been fleshed out to a far greater degree. The problem that Resident Evil 6 has is that it’s three — or four — games squashed into one, desperately suffering from an identity crisis. With such an emphasis on choice and variation, it does nothing well. We get suspense with Leon, a thriller with Jake and action with Chris, but by the time you get into the groove of each campaign, it’s over. Capcom has tried to do a far too much with just one title, and the franchise moves backward as a result.
Resident Evil 5 was released to the market in 2009 with a lot to live up to; RE4 took the “survival horror” genre the series was so famous for and introduced so many different gameplay mechanics that it was thought of as an “action horror” title instead. The series was flipped on its head; old fans either loved it or hated it, but a new group of gamers found the series for the first time and fell in love. In 2016, this game still holds its own, a refinement of the franchise rather than the train-wreck, ‘everything including the kitchen sink’ mentality that befell Resident Evil 6.
Honestly, I’m disappointed that The Technomancer couldn’t deliver. I want to like it so much! The seeds of an excellent game are there, but they just haven’t been tended to a level that really needs to be played. Hopefully Spiders will patch the game to improve some of the difficulty wall issues and this will become a more enjoyable experience, but I don’t think it’s a must-play for now. Overall it feels like an atmospheric step forward for the developer, but a mechanical trip backwards. Until that gets sorted, the red planet can wait.
With 30 levels, too few of them being actual trials and too many being stupid platforming, Trials of the Blood Dragon seems nothing more than an attempt at showing off what a few developers could do after getting drunk and watching 80 action movies and Saturday morning cartoons. The disappointing thing is this could have been so much better by simplifying the concept and making it a DLC map pack for Trials Fusion. Die-hard Trials fans will play this once, but probably never again; that said, they might enjoy it. Die-hard Blood Dragon fans will be unimpressed.
If you still enjoy the campaign aspects of Total War then you will find Warhammer simply brilliant, the Warhammer license makes this the most interesting Total War game in years. If the promise of the most exciting battles isn’t enough to stir your loins then this is just a game of more research trees, resource grinding and shoddy diplomacy, the same you have played for the last decade.