Stevivor's Reviews
Make no mistake, F1 2016 is pretty, but in some areas and not others.
Federation Force isn’t bad — especially when you factor in Blast Ball — but it’s not going to fill the hunger felt by most franchise fans. It doesn’t work as a single-player offering, and those who want to play with friends will need to exert ridiculous levels of willpower and patience to get games in. If you’re willing to give it a go with mates, synch things up ahead of time for the least amount of stress.
NHL 16 saved the franchise from utter ruin, but NHL 17 shows you just what developers who love hockey can do when given ample time to work on a product. This year’s result is polished and bursting at the seams with care and love. With more modes than you can shake a stick at and niggling bugs of the past destroyed — I couldn’t find a single glitch over a marathon play session while preparing for this review — this is the best version of NHL to date. Grab a copy, some beers and a friend and show each other what you can do.
Yet despite its issues, I'm still playing ReCore. Its narrative, while no great work of prose, is intriguing enough to draw me through. Combat is varied enough to keep me coming back — even when I'm forced to replay the same encounter on occasion due to gang-up attacks. The ability to craft upgrades and collect loot throughout the world scratches that Metroid-style itch that Nintendo itself refuses to do anything about. Hopefully loading dramas will be addressed via-post launch optimisation patches, but for now it's solid enough to draw me through a little while longer.
A cooperative, massively multiplayer Animal Crossing meets Minecraft meets Tower Defence sounds like a great idea, but The Tomorrow Children doesn't do enough in any of these directions to be a worthwhile purchase in its current state.
In all seriousness, you’re better off skipping the Triple Pack and getting Dead Rising 3 instead — and for the same price. Or, just saving your cash for Dead Rising 4 and (hopefully, a less assholish) West.
At its core, God Eater 2 has the capacity to be an engaging game. The combat is deep enough that you could have fun trying out all the different weapon and character combos over the course of its story missions, as well as the extra content added as part of the Rage Burst edition. If you’re a fan of this grind-heavy style of RPG, it’s a good holdover until one of the AAA series release a new title. Just be forewarned that you’re going to be wading through a lot of cliché nonsense in the game’s vestigial storyline to get there. If you can handle that, more power to you… But this reviewer will be moving on to newer, better-dressed things.
There is one section of the game however that felt completely overwhelming. At a certain point you’ll temporarily lose access to most of the arsenal you’ve become reliant on, making every battle a chore. There are a bunch of boss fights you have to loose to progress any further followed by a fight that you have to win that fells just like the unwinnable battles. If When you lose you’ll have to traverse the entire dungeon again until you either luck out and the boss is just an idiot or you grind for a few hours to increase your chances, I did both. Even after grinding it’s an uphill battle and the whole thing feels like it’s full of cheap deaths. If you have the patience to make it through this nightmare of a section you’re rewarded with normal gameplay and a general happiness inside.
Even then, this is an extremely solid bundle worth your hard earned. Grab it. Relieve some great gaming moments of the past and be thankful that your nostalgic memories aren’t tainted with expectations that can’t be lived up to today. Bioshock‘s still got it — even if you can’t use current-gen OS to actually capture any of it all at present.
I reckon I could play this forever, ay.
World of Warcraft: Legion goes a long way towards fixing the issues plaguing the series. While it doesn’t quite squash them all, it’s leaps and bounds ahead of the last two expansion packs in terms of content and all round fun. Even now I can’t wait until I can next dive back in to Azeroth and continue my journey through the Broken Isles.
FIFA 17 is the biggest stride forward for football this generation. I can’t say it’s reclaimed the crown from PES, and for the players who have made the switch, you’ll still find the controls a little too erratic. But with vastly improved A.I. and more attacking options to complement the defensive backbone, this is the strongest FIFA this generation where it counts. The Journey is in its infancy, but makes a quality debut in what is the best FIFA for single-player fans in recent history, alongside a deeper Career Mode. With a more attacking mindset in-play, it’s specular running on Frostbite — if anything, we have to wonder why EA waited so long to make the switch. After three years and four instalments, FIFA 17 is the stride forward we’ve been waiting for this generation; thank you, Frostbite.
It’s a good thing that Virginia is such a neatly-packed experience, because I definitely needed to run through it twice to get a firmer grip on the story being told. Clocking in at about two hours, it’s a good idea to run through once for the story, and a second time to explore more deeply into the minutiae and context clues that help fill in the gaps, once you have an idea of the overarching plot – and if you want to fill out your trophy list, to boot. Having a (relatively) firm grasp of the story, I’d be curious to learn more about the real-world FBI case it draws inspiration from. If you’ve been itching for another ‘thinker’ game, Virginia might just be right up your alley.
Features like Twitch integration with vote-based modifiers are sure to keep Clustertruck active in the streaming community for a good while, and I look forward to seeing even more insanely difficult user-created content as time goes on. I’m definitely not going to be the one to complete it, but I’d love to watch someone try.
XCOM 2 is not more XCOM, but better XCOM. It will make you feel like the original may not have been the great game you thought it was, and for me that is all I can ask of a sequel. XCOM fans will not be disappointed, nor will any gamer with an affinity for strategy and tactical games who somehow missed Enemy Unknown. A brilliant game.
All up, The Coalition’s multiplayer offerings make up for an inconsistent campaign in Gears of War 4. Even then, and as much as I hate to admit it, what’s been presented has me eager for more – even though I would have preferred some resolution in this title, thank you very much. Gears fans will love it and newcomers should find enough to get them geared up – pun intended – for more.
Visual Concepts continues to set the benchmark for sports titles with NBA 2K17. My very few gripes with the game are small compared to hefty amount of content that is on offer, and for all the different things this game does right. It’s hard to pass up NBA 2K17 if you’re looking for an amazing video game; it’s even harder if you’re a basketball fan.
If you already own Rise on Xbox One or PC, there's no reason to buy it again. The new content is absolute crap and neither the additional skins, nor the included DLC warrant buying this game again. That being said, the core game remains excellent in almost every way; if you're solely a PS4 owner, now is your time to experience the next chapter in Lara's epic tail.
While it isn't perfect, A Realm Reborn is an important first step towards Final Fantasy meaning "day-one purchase" once again.
This is the best use of PlayStation VR that I’ve seen currently available. The other, Star Trek: Bridge Crew, won’t be available for a bit. Their common denominator is an easy one – who wouldn’t want to be an actual part of a lifelong love? Batman: Arkham VR is a must-have for any Bat-fan with a PS VR system.