Nexus Hub's Reviews
A serious lack of polish and some unnecessary padding keeps it from being great, and it’s still got nothing on the criminally underrated and oft-forgotten Warhammer 40k: Space Marine – the pinnacle of action games set in that universe.
Bandai Namco have yet to really miss the mark when it comes to their trademark anime games, but Scarlet Nexus isn't exactly a massive step forward. Instead, it's a serviceable - if at times great - sidestep that brings little else to the table beyond gloriously flashy gameplay and smoking style.
Ultimately Mario Golf: Super Rush is a solid game but one that suffers from some missteps. The game’s ridiculous dashing between shots in speed golf levels isn’t as enjoyable as it should be. While battle golf is an absolute blast, the fairly straightforward and simple adventure mode might bore some gamers who lack the patience to get through challenges to progress.
Marvel’s Avengers suffers from an identity crisis. It tries to do too many things at once and that leaves you with an experience that's torn between two points. It has a single-player campaign that does a fantastic job of harnessing the Marvel universe into an exciting and action-packed set of events.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning still plays much the way it did in 2012 – ambitious in scope but lacking in depth. You may not be compelled to see it through to the end, but you’ll enjoy most of the time spent with it.
MotoGP 20 fortunately goes back to the drawing board and doubles down on delivering more content and player agency. However, taken as a package, this latest installment is sure to please veterans of the franchise.
They Are Billions on console is still a great survival RTS, but is let down by poor controls and variable performance. Despite those issues, I’d recommend it to RTS fans craving new content (it's not as though we get many RTS games on console), but take note it still requires some work.
I certainly enjoyed my time with Sea of Solitude. Kay’s journey through the abandoned city had the right tone, and the amazing visuals of the world changing around you seamlessly as her and the other denizens’ emotions fluctuate throughout, was always something to behold.
Void Bastards is great fun in short bursts but is, unfortunately, let down by the limited scope of its environments, with no unique ships or even distinct "boss" encounters.
Rage 2 is a great twitch-shooter, an okay driving game, and a boring open-world game. The story doesn’t serve the game in a manner that makes it compelling, or lift it above your generic shooter, and that is a pity as the idea behind this world could be interesting and engaging.
World of Warriors exceeded my expectations but I would’ve liked to see some more originality in the artwork and the in-game narrative was superficial, but it really is a fun little combat adventure title.
TT Isle of Man: Ride on the Edge is a game that ignores almost everything in the pursuit to recreate the TT, but just how well this was done makes it a very rewarding bike racer experience.
Legrand Legacy is a strange proposition: it’s a love letter to JRPGs, produced by a small indie team with AAA ambitions but a small budget, capable of providing over two dozen hours of classic gameplay brought down by some rough edges and bland writing, all priced at what you’d expect for a AA game.
SingStar Celebration makes use of the new PlayLink app with a bunch of new songs.
With fantastic visuals, a sweeping score and fun game mechanics, Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom delivers a decent JRPG experience. Sometimes the story struggles and the animations look a bit wonky, but a great combat system and a fun Kingdom Builder make up for this.
Overall WWE 2K18 is a fine example of a good wrestling game. It looks amazing, but just lacks enough improvements overall to really stand out among the current crop of 2K’s beyond those good looks, unfortunately leaving it short of being quite like no one.
Ark is an incredibly fun game to play through and explore. As with the best survival games in the genre, it has that “just one more time” aspect going for it.
The Escapists 2 is a fun puzzle game with a unique premise, and while the game could use a more detailed tutorial system, once you invest the time to learn the different systems you will be rewarded with a fun mental workout.
If you’re new to the platformer genre then this may be a good place to start, and if you’re looking for something akin to Super Meat Boy there will be something to be had here for you as well. Super Rude Bear Resurrection is a largely solid game, but at times it appears the developers tried too hard to usurp the Meat Boy throne and lost out on an opportunity to create something more unique and fulfilling in the process.
At the end of it all, Dawn of War 3 feels like a hybrid of the first two games in the series but between the wrong mix of mechanics and the lack of real graphical progress between iterations it hasn’t managed to live up to the standards set by the previous games.