Stevivor's Reviews
Because of the extremely limited time to play, I’ve spent practically all available time within story mode. It’s a mixed bag.
For the sheer size of it, the beauty of the hundreds of different landscapes you can explore and the always engaging missions, Starfield is a massive technical achievement.
The AC series is one that rewards your ability to adapt and persevere in equal measure. To overcome it’s challenges you have to learn its systems and soldier on in the face of inevitable defeat. Series veterans will dine well, and if you’re signing up as a newcomer then do yourself a favour – don’t expect Armored Core 6 to be something it’s not. Try enjoying it for what it is instead.
This is Doom, mixed with Destiny, mixed with Control… and the result is pretty magical.
So far, Texas Chain Saw Massacre seems tilted towards the family; while Leatherface is a bit slower than his kin, he can destroy shortcuts and help to funnel victims towards his faster, equally as lethal brethren. Despite tools meant to break pursuits and lines of sight, a victim is toast if they’re up against two family members at a time. Things like bone scraps are meant to shift things back into a victims favour, but extremely laggy connections — and ultra frustrating disconnects citing extreme ping — mean that a lot of attacks (on either side) whiff when you’re confident they’ll connect.
Atlas Fallen‘s core is solid — though combat still needs some work — but it seems a bit sparse.
Stray Gods is truly a mixed bag, full of strong actors, average singers, clever storytelling and weak songs. There are points of brilliance mixed with cringe-worthy presentations, making this one hard to recommend because of its inconsistencies. If you’re itching to play regardless, I’d strongly suggest those players pick it up on either PC or Switch because of the one-two punch of visual and interface issues. I can certainly vouch for the issues plaguing the Xbox version, and I’d wager the PlayStation version would be similar.
Just when you think you’ve done everything, Pikmin 4 is waiting to hand over another fun task for you to spend the next few hours enjoying, on the universe’s most crashed-on planet.
AEW Fight Forever isn’t exactly a stupid idea from bad creative, it’s just a product scoped so small that asking a AAA new release price tag for it feels criminal. Matches are fun and entertaining, for a while at least, but absolutely every facet of the thing feels hugely undercooked. WWE 2K has been sorely in need of some real competition for years just as WWE itself has, but unfortunately AEW just haven’t pulled it off here as well as they did on television.
Diablo 4 is the triumph an embattled Blizzard needs to steady its ship, and it’s a hell of a lot of fun.
With a flashy and visually spectacular art style, excellent music and a healthy dose of self-deprecating humour, Street Fighter 6 should be on the radar of anybody looking to take a swing at a titan of the genre at its best.
Dramatic Labs has created something special with Resurgence, populating the Star Trek universe in very much the same way that Picard Season 3 has just done; there are also a few other parallels in there that I’ll leave for the player to discover. The resulting work has left me envigorated and enthusiastic that the developer can revisit the crew of the Resolute sooner rather than later, continuing to explore the final frontier.
Given that this is a full-price, premium game aimed at children, one that is designed to encourage children to buy real-world LEGO bricks, locking content behind season passes and micro-transactions feels gross. It’s not on the level of NBA 2K, but it’s still pretty bad. It’s a black mark against an otherwise excellent game.
The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom is one of the most creative, satisfying and rewarding games I’ve ever played, all within a familiar and greatly expanded Hyrule.
Redfall is a truly exciting experience. It's great solo, has the potential to be great with friends -- especially if someone has a save so I can access that last 17 Gamerscore I need, thanks. It’ll be perfect for anyone who's loved an Arkane game -- sci-fi, fantasy or otherwise -- in the past.
Star Wars Jedi Survivor does what every sequel should do. It’s improved and iterated, adding new gameplay features and fixing issues as compared to its previous release.
Re-Boot Camp is a loving recreation of a pair of games that fans of the series have been wanting to return to for years. It’s extremely good at what it does, and with added features like multiplayer and a map creator, you can even go head-to-head with friends in a streamlined battle of wits. Make sure you’re ready for the battlefield before diving in – because this battlefield is ready for you
There’s little motivation to slog through extremely same-y missions and side quests. It’s this general feeling that permeates throughout Dead Island 2; what’s on offer isn’t broken or flagrantly bad (with the exception of the checkpointing system), but it is tired, antiquated and bland.
There’s a lot of fun to be had within Identity, from a delightful narrative, engaging characters and brain-teasing puzzles. It’s a small, yet refined package that’s sure to delight those into mysteries. Quite obviously, a bit of knowledge about the Tron universe will help players — and certainly add to understanding of lore — but isn’t necessarily required.
Nevertheless, the small problem that surrounds this title is that it plays quite a lot like Chapter One and — though better — still has that general feel of Sinking City. It also will serve to frustrate many because of the way it doesn’t attempt to hold your hand as you play. If you don’t mind that duopoly of deja vu — nor a bit of trial and error — then jump right in.