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Poochy and Yoshi's Wooly World is an incredibly fun and solid game as most Nintendo titles are. I love these types of games as they provide a genuine wind-down and don't require a huge amount of mental investment as most open-world games do these days. In my opinion, the levels felt a little less uninspired compared to Kirby's Epic Yarn, but that was due to the fact that Kirby can inhale and take on his enemies attacks which added for an extra gameplay element. Poochy and Yoshi's Wooly World is great for gamers of all ages and there's enough content here to keep you going for a long while.
While it's easy to sit back and write Nioh off as another Dark Souls clone, it's something very different. Yes, it's slightly less challenging to get into, but it's a result of some incredibly synergistic systems that work so well together to improve and smooth the player experience. Nioh is still a difficult game, mind you, but it's an experience that consistently rewards players for performing well.
Digimon World: Next Order excels with a fairly easy combat system and simple gameplay mechanics, but I was let down by the repetitiveness of the world and environments, as well as some pretty unresponsive controls (mostly in dialogue sitations). The nostalgia factor and the excitement of evolving my digital partners was what kept me playing, but the drawn-out travel methods and consistent grinding in training didn't impress me too much. Digimon World: Next Order is a bit of a mixed bag – die hard fans will likely love it, but newcomers may be turned away by some of the gameplay mechanics and extreme grinding.
All in all, I wasn't expecting Tales of Berseria to be as good of a game as it was. Sure there were some minor gripes with the voice acting and dialogue, as well as the extended overworld travel which slows down enjoyment, but most games have flaws in one way or another. With fun flowing combat and a pretty badass anti-hero lead in Violet, Tales of Berseria is a game you shouldn't let slip by – unless of course you are already swamped with other titles in the meantime.
I consider myself a pretty big fan of those Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. It was everything to me when I was a kid and it does sadden my inner child to have played this game. It'll appeal to some that are new to the franchise who may want to tune out and just wallop on endless, nameless clay men for a few hours but, as a long-time fan, I found only disappointment with rare sprinklings of flair.
Resident Evil 7: biohazard manages to successfully consolidate the exploratory, slower paced, tension filled gameplay of the early games with the modernised visuals and technology of today. A new first person viewpoint will prove controversial with more seasoned veterans but such a change allows Resident Evil 7 to feel fresher than ever before. Make no mistakes, Resident Evil 7 is a victorious progression for the franchise which successfully melds new with old. The weight and harshness that technology like Playstation VR brings to the scares and tension is especially welcome.
All in all, KH2.8 is worth the experience for any Kingdom Hearts fan and I look forward to piecing more of the story together and enjoying more of the series' back catalogue with the other two remixes set to release early this year.
Early on in the game's story, Kiryu's friend Nishiki proclaims that a Yakuza is only as good as his image. It's a shallow but understandable perspective given the context but it's a sentiment that Yakuza 0 thankfully does not echo. It's a game that not only has impeccable style but also a wealth of substance. When it all comes down to it, what I really enjoyed about Yakuza 0 was its inherent ability to constantly surprise me even after putting over forty hours into it. Every time I thought I had a handle on the game's limitations (whether it be story or gameplay wise), it would somehow subvert my expectations by constantly one-upping itself. Ultimately, Yakuza 0 is a relentless journey into the unforgiving underbelly of Japan that is as rewarding as it is robust.
Gravity Rush has a compelling narrative and gameplay reminiscent of some of Sony's best titles of years past, and some very intuitive character controls. Gravity Rush 2 is a return to form that I don't think I've seen in games in a long time. It has heart and soul, and is genuinely fun to play. Gravity Rush 2 is not for the fainthearted gamer; the controls and gameplay will frustrate many people, but in the end the payoff is worth it.
Ty The Tasmanian Tiger, now finally on the PC, is definitely one to play if you missed it more than a decade ago. It holds up well as a 3D platformer, even if it remains somewhat polygonal, not only thanks to its clever levels design and assortment of specially powered boomerangs, but also to its unique, Australian charm.
Don Bradman Cricket 17 is a solid improvement on Don Bradman Cricket 14 and whilst there isn't any ground-breaking improvements or dramatic gameplay changes in the sequel, there is enough to keep users satisfied through the Summer and beyond. While there are a few bugs and still a few crashes, the expanded career mode makes this a must buy for any cricket fan. This is the best cricket experience yet.
In execution, there are a few little things that could have made this game go from good to amazing, and I can't help but feel a little disappointed in that sense. What I'm not disappointed about is wing-suiting, cruising down the gorgeous mountain side online with real people and the incredible sense of scope that Steep offers. All of the things that Steep does right will definitely keep me coming back for more.
I was sucked into this world from start to finish, falling absolutely in love with these characters that had very little dialogue or backstory, and this world that I knew almost nothing about. It really showed me that in this day and age, a game can have almost no combat, have clunky controls but still be a genuine piece of art that speaks to the heart.
Often in an attempt to appeal to everyone, you can appeal to no one. However, in the case of Final Fantasy XV, we have a rare exception. It sits comfortably somewhere between a traditional Final Fantasy experience and the Western action-RPGs currently setting new standards. A slightly muddled tone, narrative shortcomings, and a little too restrictive open-world are faults largely forgivable due to the game’s robust combat system. The benefit of ten years of development is evident in the fine tuning of the combat mechanics over the apparent attempts to keep up with the current open-world action-RPG trend. To quote Aristotle, “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”.
I'm not sure if straight to video, shallow Christmas film was what the Capcom Vancouver were aiming for here, but it's what we've got.
After spending some solid time with Eagle Flight it's so, so hard to put into words just how I feel about it. The game itself, as an entire package, is an admirable effort. Eagle Flight obviously started out as a tech demo of sorts but the developers have done a great job of expanding it into a full (albeit, lower priced) experience. Eagle Flight does have its fair share of issues – namely whether it's truly worth the price of entry and whether it'll have longevity.
Planet Coaster isn't perfect yet, but what's there is just incredibly fun. There's a lot of learning to do along the way, but with all of the customization and freedom, Frontier Developments has delivered one of the best possible successors to the Rollercoaster Tycoon franchise.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of nice things to say about The Martin VR Experience. Virtual reality has the potential to be a major entertainment and media platform. For that reason, I want to encourage major filmmakers and storytellers to experiment with the platform sooner rather than later but c’mon, let’s hold ourselves to higher standards than this.
Regardless of what you think about the quality or effort put into this remaster, the underlying games that inhabit Ezio Collection are still very solid games, with a lot of great content to plough through for a reasonable asking price. It's just a little bit of a shame that these don't have the wow factor that improved models or even 60fps might have brought. Still, an improvement is an improvement, if only slight.
Pokemon Sun and Moon have taken the Pokemon games above and beyond to a whole new level. The roster of Pokemon present is perhaps the most diverse and unique I've ever seen, with designs, abilities and typing we could never have imagined they'd create. GameFreak has tweaked and altered things for the better, and have perhaps created the most immersive and interactive Pokemon game yet.