Stevivor's Reviews
Witch Queen is thankfully a beacon of hope. Destiny was long mocked for the narrative and mission design it provided, and this new expansion absolutely knocks it out of the park with the best campaign in the Destiny series. If you’re a lapsed veteran I sincerely hope you come back and experience the joy of the campaign. Its challenging difficulty and brilliant — actual — in-game storytelling are worth the price of admission alone.
Overall, Elden Ring is slightly held back by some lacking information in the UI, the uneven nature of the difficulty towards the endgame, and the inconsistent performance on the PC platform. Despite this, it’s an incredible experience and will be one of the best games you’ll play this year.
[Horizon Forbidden West] is a game of contrasts. A game about robot dinosaurs where you spend far too much time fighting robot meerkats and boars instead for some reason. One with brilliant voice acting that you begin to hate because some characters won't shut up. Where the side quests are great, but they're so simple as to feel pointless.
If you’ve been hanging out since the PS2 era to just have some fun with a rugby union game, you might just find it in Rugby 22.
OlliOlli World has something for everyone, be it hardcore skaters, platformer enthusiasts or those simply looking for a chilled out time.
Dying Light 2 faces two big issues at present: technical glitches that can be fixed with a patch, and design choices that will be harder to deal with.
The bundled games are undeniably great, their enhancements solid — but nonetheless, these are old titles pulled off the shelf and given a fresh coat of varnish, and at an additional cost to those who’ve already purchased them at that. Timed for the onset of a whole bunch of new and engrossing titles in February 2022, take a second and reflect before you drop cash on this one. There’s plenty to play right now.
Extraction is an above average experience. The gunplay is top notch – expected when it’s pulled directly from Siege – and overall is fun, if a bit shallow. While I can’t speak to its long term lifespan, it’s easy to recommend jumping in and giving it a whirl.
It's strange to see games that become worse after launch, but this is undeniably true for Halo Infinite. Because I trusted that couch co-op, a staple of the Halo experience, would be added in a post-launch patch, I gave the title the benefit of the doubt. I also expected multiplayer seasons to be plentiful, regular and full of engaging cosmetics, maps and modes. None of these things has happened.
What we have here is a very similar, yet different, version of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl in high definition on Switch, but it’s not definitively the best version to play today, as was the case with FireRed/LeafGreen, HeartGold/SoulSilver and Alpha Sapphire/Omega Ruby when they launched. While it’s not a stunningly brilliant or shining remake, it is a very faithful one that plays it safe and is a welcome return to Sinnoh for those with fond memories of visiting on the DS — but I’m more excited to see what’s new in the region with Pokémon Legends Arceus.
It’s not that I’m mad, I am just disappointed. These three PS2 games remain iconic, and I have enjoyed returning to Liberty City, Vice City and San Andreas, but as a remaster, Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition is lacking the care and respect such highly regarded games deserve. It doesn’t have the quality we have come to expect from remasters recently. Yet, such is their quality, the underlying games, which deserved better, still hold up as a product of their time. They are worth returning to if the PS2 GTA Trilogy holds a special place in your heart, so long as you can temper expectations and accept the good, the bad and the downright ugly from a ‘that’ll do’ remaster. If not, you’re better off persevering them with those rose-tinted memories.
Despite all my problems with Infinite, it’s a game made by a single developer (for the most part) that was amazing looking enough that Xbox wanted to tie it to its then next-gen, now current-gen console. While Infinite isn’t available on Xbox Series yet, it will be, and on PC has some amazing visuals that are worthy of your attention.
In a world where developers are getting used to working from home and games are being pushed back due to the global pandemic, EA decided that Battlefield 2042 was ready for this year. It’s not. More time is needed to fix a lot of the problems, but even then that might not be enough to save it from being one of the most lacklustre Battlefield titles yet.
The whole business model leaves a bad taste in my mouth and otherwise tarnishes a near-perfect, joyful experience. It also makes it that much harder to recommend — I’m loving it right this second, but that won’t be the case in a couple months.
Overall, this is a Forza Horizon game in every sense of the word, and shows off the best of what Horizon can be. It’s fun, only structured if you want it to be, and seems to exist purely to make sure you have a good time.
These little niggles aside, a stellar soundtrack from Jeff van Dyck helps to create a sense of calm and zen (that I can only maintain myself for one or two levels at time) as you continue to play voyeur and peek into the lives of the silent protagonist and their loved ones. The anxiety of moving prevents Unpacking from being something I would get stress relief from, but I nonetheless find myself returning again and again to continue its story.
Mario Party Superstars succeeds with a fresh coat of paint and just the right amount of quality-of-life improvements to keep it familiar yet far more accessible than dusting off your Nintendo 64. You just can’t beat Mario partying like it’s 1999 (and 2000 and 2001).
While I went into Guardians with a good feeling I’d enjoy it, I was surprised by just how much fun I ended up having.
The strategic polish of two decades is on display in Age of Empires 4, both in the history of this series and the pedigree of the developer. Relic has wrapped an interesting if slightly flawed single player experience around what is a superb strategy game.
This simple change to the formula equates to a tremendous evolution, one that weaves a storyline in with its teachings rather than simply having you plod along from point to point hitting the A button. Danny Wallace returns as the Assassin Shaun Hastings, and while he doesn’t provide voice-over for every single point on the map, his occasional inclusion is always most welcome. Ubisoft includes imagery from museums as well as its own concept art and research together with images straight out of Shutterstock to create what’s undeniably a unique experience. It’s not perfect by any stretch — accessing the map caused my PC to chug and there’s a bunch of pop-in and flickering when it comes to NPCs. That said, the issues were fairly minor and didn’t detract from the overall experience too much.