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Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice delivers a genuinely gripping and haunting adventure that’ll keep you hooked in thanks to its engaging narrative, stunning visuals, and clever puzzle-solving. It manages to offer an experience that’s both thoughtful and action-packed, which ensures that it stands out as a remarkable and unforgettable release. The only downside came with the combat, which could feel a little underwhelming and repetitive as you progress through the game. Still, it was never outright bad and some of the boss encounters could be impressive, so it’s never a struggle to play through each battle as you work towards the game’s finale. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is just a fantastic game and one that proves that Ninja Theory truly are masters of their craft. It’s great to see that it’s finally available on the Xbox One too, so now there’s no excuse for gamers to miss out on what is truly noteworthy game.
Being a fan of Bomberman, I knew I was going to enjoy Bombslinger – I didn’t anticipate loving it as much as I did, though. It’s charmingly addictive, a whole lot of fun, and it adds a clever little twist on an already great concept. My only issue came with just how unforgiving it could be, with the permadeath aspect proving quite treacherous when learning the ins and outs of everything. You get over it though, and whilst dying doesn’t stop being frustrating, you always know it’s down to your own mistakes. I’d easily recommend Bombslinger to Switch owners, regardless of whether they’re a fan of Bomberman or not. It’s a novel little experience and one that’s easy to spend a ton of hours having fun with.
Time Carnage delivers a decent shooting experience, but it brings nothing new or exciting to the wave-based shooting genre. It follows the same old formulaic approach of waiting for enemies in one spot, shooting them down, and repeating the process over multiple levels – it’s hardly exciting stuff and with more fleshed out shooters available on the PlayStation VR headset right now, there are simply better games to spend to your time with. The team at Wales Interactive are due some credit for trying to add an interesting premise to the action, but it doesn’t translate to a great game. Sure, there’s fun to be had and gamers who enjoy a wave-based shooter will love Time Carnage, but those who want a more varied shooting experience that does something a bit more unique will be better off looking elsewhere.
Extinction is an underwhelming experience that, despite having a great concept, simply feels far too repetitive in design. Add to that a range of minor frustrations, and you’ll find that your time with the game won’t always be an enjoyable one. There’s no doubting that it does have its moments where it shines, with some of the initial encounters against the Ravenii proving to be exciting and action-packed affairs. One you’ve seen it once though, doing the same thing over and over again across the same old environments hardly makes for a thrilling gameplay experience.
The Witch and the Hundred Knight 2 isn’t the most exciting of action-RPGs you’re going to play, but it at least offers competency in all aspects of its gameplay. You won’t do anything out of the ordinary or that you wouldn’t have done before, but you also won’t be bored when you’re ploughing through the many dungeons. Fans of the first game or RPG fanatics will probably have some fun with it, but unfortunately there are too many better action-RPGs available right now to consider The Witch and the Hundred Knight 2 a must own title.
Island Time VR has some neat ideas on show and can be a lot of fun to play, but unfortunately you’ll see everything that it has to offer in around an hour. After that, you’re simply repeating the same tasks over and over again as you look to survive that little bit longer… there’s really not much to it. This wouldn’t typically be a problem but when you consider that it’s £16.99, you’re not really getting a lot of bang for your buck – especially when there are meatier PlayStation VR titles available right now for a much lower price. It has a lot of charm though and if you saw it on sale for a more reasonable price I’d definitely recommend picking it up, if only to see the many ways you can die or just to experience how fun and creative island life can be. Right now though, there’s simply not enough on offer to make Island Time VR an essential PlayStation VR purchase.
Far Cry 5 never re-invents the wheel throughout its lengthy open-world adventure, but it doesn’t need to. Fans know what to expect from the game, and that’s a thoroughly entertaining action-packed escapade that sends you through stunning environments as you partake in countless chaotic missions. It’s full to the brim with character and never stops being satisfying to play, whilst the freedom offered allows you to approach the game in your own way. I had an absolute blast with Far Cry 5 and, even after finishing the campaign, still have plenty more to see thanks to the infinite possibilities offered by the Far Cry Arcade. Its only real flaw is that it could be a bit easy at times, though at least it didn’t come at the expense of the fun you’ll have overall. Ubisoft have delivered a truly great game in Far Cry 5 and have left me genuinely excited to see where the series goes next.
Whilst The Adventure Pals does little to revolutionise the platforming genre, there’s no denying that its solid game design and charming world come together nicely to make for a delightful little experience. It hooked me in from start to end and, despite not being designed to necessarily cater for co-operative play, smashing through the game with a friend was a lot of fun. If you’re a fan of your quirky little platformers that aren’t afraid to embrace a silly sense of humour, you’ll have a lot of fun with The Adventure Pals.
It’s difficult to talk about Minit too much, because spoiling the puzzles or locations you visit would be a disservice to the game. It’s so finely crafted and full of charm that each and every thing you encounter is best seen for the first time when playing yourself – spoiling it by reading a ton of reviews or watching videos on YouTube would just take away from the pleasure of actually playing the game. Just know that Minit is masterfully crafted and an absolute joy to play. It keeps things simple throughout, but still manages challenge, charm, and even surprise the player with its grand little adventure. With such a low price point too, you’d be a fool to miss out on it.
Penny-Punching Princess continues NIS America’s trend of offering unconventional RPGs that blend together a quirky setup with unique gameplay mechanics, but it really does make for a good time. It has its fair share of flaws, with the repetitive drag of forced-grinding proving to be the most severe, but I can’t deny that I had a ton of fun with the game – each frustration is outweighed by the satisfaction of the entertaining brawling with your gold-hungry ‘allies’ by your side. It’s far from perfect, but anyone who enjoys an RPG that genuinely does something a little different will want to give Penny-Punching Princess a try.
Whilst the potential is there for ARK Park to be a remarkable virtual reality experience, it instead falters thanks to a poor control scheme, blurry visuals, and underwhelming gameplay mechanics. I can’t help but to feel that if the developers focused more on fleshing out the exploration mechanics they could’ve had something special, but instead gamers are simply given a small selection of areas that grow old fast and some incredibly lacking shooting mechanics that offer nothing fresh outside of the dinosaur foes. It’s disappointing. Add to that the high price and it becomes increasing difficult to recommend giving ARK Park a purchase. It isn’t the worst game you’re going to play on the PlayStation VR and it does have its moments where it can shine, but it’s difficult to describe it as anything other than very disappointing.
Following the success of the first game and the sheer hype that’s built ever since the initial reveal, my expectations were exceedingly high going into Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom. Thankfully, it’s managed to absolutely smash them, with the game’s perfect amalgamation of clever gameplay mechanics and it’s charming story coming together to make for what is one of the most entertaining RPGs I’ve ever played. You could be building your own little Kingdom, taking part in strategic showdowns between armies, battling an onslaught of colourful monsters in the wild, or simply taking in the beautiful sights of the finely crafted world – whatever you’re doing, you’ll be having a blast and will simply be left in awe of how perfectly everything manages to come together. Bravo to Level-5 and Bandai Namco. With Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom, they’ve embraced everything about the RPG genre that’s made it so loved by gamers worldwide and managed to take it to the absolute pinnacle. Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom is simply an unmissable game.
The Long Reach offers an enjoyable and intriguing horror adventure, with its puzzling and narrative both standing out as high points throughout. There are some genuinely clever puzzles on show that force you to think outside the box, whilst the world design itself is incredibly atmospheric and certainly unnerving as you explore each dark corridor. There are a few issues with the game though, with some puzzles feeling overly obtuse and the over-dependence on exploration to solve them feeling a little boring. There are a few little gameplay bugs too, though they’re more of an irritant rather than game-breaking issues. The pros outweigh the cons though, and those flaws don’t stop The Long Reach being an enjoyable adventure that fans of horror and point-and-click style adventures will definitely want to check it out.
Octahedron is a unique platformer that really does something different in the genre. The dependence on creating your own platforms and facing a whole variety of different hazards leaves the game feeling varied throughout, whilst the psychedelic visuals and slick 60fps framerate remain a treat on the eyes too – even if they can become a little repetitive over time. Best of all though is that the game is just a hell of a lot of fun to play. Its clever ideas are accessible and easy to pull off throughout, and whilst there are a fair few difficulty spikes that can be frustrating, they don’t stop Octahedron from being enjoyable from the start to the end.
You’re not going to get the accurate footballing experience that you might’ve been hoping for with VRFC, but it does embrace the fundamentals of the ‘beautiful game’ in a way that makes for a social, chaotic, and incredibly fun virtual reality experience. Sure, the controls are a bit fiddly and there’s a big dependence on an active online community, but every minute I spent with the game has been incredibly enjoyable – and maybe even a bit sweaty… In all, VRFC is a great addition to PlayStation VR’s multiplayer catalogue and a title that footballing fans will definitely want to check out.
The American Dream takes the traditional shooting mechanics of a virtual reality title and does something completely different with them, offering an experience that blends together a humorous narrative with a wide range inventive little scenarios. From the outside it'd be easy to see it as just another shooter, but it's so much more than that – it's a hell of a lot of fun too, and a surprisingly meaty experience. It does have some issues here and there, with the game forcing me to restart a few chapters during my initial playthrough, whilst the overall message behind it all might not necessarily be for everyone. If you enjoy dark humour with a satirical twist, creative shooting mechanics and a personality-filled world though, you won't want to miss out on The American Dream.
I was pleasantly surprised with Rangi – not only did it offer a fairly in-depth virtual reality puzzling experience that lasted a few hours, but it was charming and fun throughout too. It properly embraces the African culture that it's so clearly inspired by thanks to the vivid visuals and impressive soundtrack, and it really makes for an enjoyable experience from start to end. It's not the most intricate or most complex of titles that you'll play on your PlayStation VR headset, but with it's low price and fun gameplay it's easy to recommend giving Rangi a purchase.
At the start of this review I questioned whether UFC 3 was the best entry in the series so far, and without a shadow of a doubt I can say the answer is yes. Not only does the game feel more authentic than ever with its improved visuals and striking, but it also features a career mode that’s genuinely exciting and a whole host of brand new features that improve the game ten-fold. It still has its flaws here and there, with the ground and grappling game a little underwhelming and some aspects of the Ultimate Team mode a little uninspired (for me anyway), but this really is the best MMA game that EA have ever released and one that embraces the excitement of the sport both in and out of the octagon. Whether you’re a casual fan, a hardcore mixed martial arts enthusiast, or even if you just love Conor McGregor – you won’t regret giving UFC 3 a purchase.
There really is a lot to like about Ambition of the Slimes, but the harsh difficulty and over dependence on grinding prevent it from standing out as a little tactical-RPG gem. There were too many times during the game where I felt like I came to a complete halt because of some brutal level, whilst the time spent replaying previous levels to improve myself felt like it could’ve been spent doing something a bit better. Still, there’s no denying Ambition of the Slimes has a lot of charm and there’s certainly fun to be had. It’s not the sort of game you can sit and put hours upon hours into in one go, but if you pick it up every now and then you’ll have a good time working out the best way to conquer each level. Add to that the low £4.99 price point and I’m sure that tactical-RPG fans will enjoy this quirky little title.
Playing Lost Sphear was like re-visiting the classic RPGs of yesteryear that hooked me in with their enjoyable combat mechanics, impressive world design, and incredibly evil (though somewhat predictable) villains. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and whilst I’ll certainly admit that it had a few flaws, I was completely absorbed by it throughout the entirety of my twenty hour-plus adventure. Believe me, if you’re an RPG fan you need to buy it. It acts as the perfect reminder that RPGs don’t need to have super fancy visuals, overly intricate combat mechanics, or a convoluted plotline to grip players in – they’ve just got to have heart, and that’s something Lost Sphear has in abundance. Here’s to the next fascinating adventure that Tokyo RPG Factory send us on…