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Firewatch is truly something special. It tells a beautifully crafted, character-driven, engaging story with impeccable pacing. It’s deeply reflective and thought provoking, not only in the context of its characters and their situations, but in a broader context of player interaction with video games.
If you want an insanely hard tactical combat sci-fi game, you got it. Good luck. If you’re able to stick with it, I think the systems and story are more than enough that you’ll enjoy XCOM 2 a great deal.
Amplitude has the potential to be a great game, but the lack of innovation of the formula and the rather lackluster tracklist keep the game from ever being more than simply ‘okay’. For its retail price there’s a decent amount of content, but there is simply no incentive to invest a lot of time into it in a single session. Perhaps if Harmonix ever decides to expand upon the experience with DLC or a potential sequel Amplitude could be what it aspires to be, but until then the game could be classified as a nice callback for the fans.
After all is said and done, it sounds like I’m being extremely rough on Resident Evil Zero but it’s still a pretty competent classic Resident Evil game.
Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris is a pretty worthy follow up to Guardian of Light. It takes the things that made the original game so good, like great puzzles and well thought out attempts to add replayability, and brings them into a new setting and story fully intact.
there is something here for anyone who found themselves ensnared by the Hunter's Dream.
Its not breaking any new ground here but its struck a chord with me at the right time, allowing me to experiment, explore and destroy at my leisure with a kooky cast of characters at my side, in my own time without ever feeling overwhelming.
The Crew: Wild Run is a great example of a great idea that simply doesn’t fare better than ‘OK’ in its execution.
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate is technically stable and visually appealing, but even though it learns lessons from the mistakes of its predecessor, it still manages to make older problems return and creates a gameplay experience that really doesn’t do much to take a hold of the player, which is a shame considering many of its gameplay elements showcase much promise. Ubisoft Quebec has managed to create a decent game, but the gameplay simply never manages to live up to the potential of its setting, which is a shame.
Transformers: Devastation is a very solid installment in the franchise that lends itself to excellent fan-service and strong core gameplay, though its technical and design-based drawbacks do hold its basis back from achieving greatness, rather than hovering in between the upper echelon of decent to good. Combined with the fact that the game does seem a little light on content, Transformers: Devastation remains a solid title, but not one that should be bought at the price its being offered at.
Calling FIFA 16 a bad game would be an unfair remark, as the game is incredibly fun and well-made, but it’s simply very safe in nature, which will be very noticeable for returning players, where the game offers a slightly less exciting rendition compared to last year’s stellar release. None the less, FIFA 16 is still a very solid title, albeit a bit Messi (horrible pun intended.)
Super Mario Maker isn’t something I necessarily thought that I’d want to play but after spending some serious time with it I’m happy to say I’m almost in love with it.
The Forza franchise is a prime example of a franchise that not only builds upon its strengths, but also learns and adapts from it weaknesses. Whilst Motorsport 5 served as a stepping stone onto current generation hardware, Forza Motorsport 6 excels and takes what the franchise has learned to form a racing game that is not only full of content, but also challenging and incredibly addicting. Building upon the foundations laid before it and applying a fresh new layer of features and visual effects, Forza Motorsport 6 might be a serious contender for 2015’s racing game of the year, if not the prime contender.
The Coalition has done great work in bringing Gears of War to a new generation, though it’s not always without its problems. Changes in general are welcome and well-executed, though some unkempt issues of the original and some compression artifacts do arise here and there. Some technical issues aside, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition is an excellent ode to the original which along with backwards compatibility for the sequels will make for an excellent opportunity for new players to introduce themselves to the franchise, along with returning players who want to re-live this classic Xbox 360 title.
On a surface level, it looks like it ticks all the boxes for this new-wave of exploration games – that are rapidly gaining popularity with developers and gamers alike – but at a deeper conceptual and technical level is falls far short of it sources of reference.
From beginning to end, most players will breeze through The Vanishing of Ethan Carter in roughly four or so hours.
The Swapper is a fantastic puzzle game that combines a fantastically realised, isolated atmosphere with a minimalist and yet intriguing narrative. Its combination of subtle horror elements and puzzles gameplay make it a game that can be played by anyone of any predisposition, whether they like scarier games or not.
But the only thing that stops Rare Replay from being a truly great game is the awkward transitions between the Xbox 360 titles and the rest of the package
Rory McIlroy’s PGA Tour would’ve been a much easier sell on platforms that didn’t already have a game or two in the genre available, but there really isn’t a lot that should make it appeal to players who want a long-lasting experience. Despite its improvements and additions it just takes too much away from its arsenal to stand on its own in strong posture.
Arkham Knight’s price of admission to the season pass may be steep, but is A Matter of Family a good opener and a sign for its run? Not really. Suffering from a lack of narrative depth and actual noteworthy additions to the gameplay A Matter of Family really does feel like filler material, despite the excellent design of its areas which would seem to be suited for a much better run that it’s been given to work with. Next month’s Season of Infamy may be the turning point regarding many’s expectations for Arkham Knight’s season pass, but the glimpse we’ve gotten isn’t anything to be excited about.