FingerGuns
HomepageFingerGuns's Reviews
Crimson Keep has very few redeeming qualities. The reflective light effects on the monsters look great, the procedural generation means that each new run is different and the music is pleasant enough. That’s about it. Roguelike purists that can dedicate enough time and effort to overcome this game’s hefty challenge might get a kick out of dying repeatedly here – but in a genre that’s becoming ever more accommodating and innovative, the luck dependent progress, sluggish combat and deeply punitive nature of the game feels archaic compared to its modern day peers.
It’s a very solid and responsive racer, reminiscent of its earlier iterations that kept the racing tight and less over-the-top lunacy. It’s got its hooks back in to me, pushing me to keep getting those top times and not bogging us down with eight minute long spectacle tracks. That being said, it’s hard to ignore the incessant use of microtransactions and what it brings with it, the in your face constant reminders about loot crates and such. It taints the experience that it’s saving grace is really in the gameplay, that all the bumf just spoils it somewhat.
When you’re powering through mansions like Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, blasting your way through bad guys and smashing up the place all for the greater good, RICO really comes into its own. It’s by far the most fun we’ve had playing an online co-op game this year. It isn’t even close.
If you’re really into your XCOM’s and Space Hulk, but find the steep curve of the former and the seriousness of the latter too much, then this is a welcome change. It brings the brightness and colour back to mass-murdering aliens, alongside the wacky, irreverant humour and self-deprecation that the British are so delightful wonderful at.
That’s the crux of The LEGO Movie 2 Videogame. It is little more than a curated version of LEGO Worlds with the procedural generation removed and quests strung together to form a semi-coherent path through the loose beats of the movie plot. While this does divorce itself from the formula that TT Games have used for 14 years, delivering on the change that many have called for for years, it’s sorely lacking in the kind of whimsical charm, comedy, quest variety and purposeful design that the series has become famous for.
Unfortunately, while the past 4 instalments in the Far Cry series have all been excellent, New Dawn is not. The post-apocalyptic paint job and garish yet joyful weaponry do nothing to hide the fact that you’re doing exactly the same thing once again – except this time it’s pink and are facing off against even less interesting villains. The best moments of Far Cry New Dawn are when it’s referencing what happened in Far Cry 5 and for a pseudo-sequel, this shouldn’t be the case.
Anthem is not worth the money they’re asking. It just isn’t. It might be someday, the ‘quality of life’ has to be improved significantly because once you’re in the game, you can see what BioWare want Anthem to be, you know where it’s heading and the story ending leaves it open enough to ensure that it’ll continue in the same way that Destiny just keeps on going. It’s not dreadful, there just needs to be a serious overhaul of the navigation, the bloody menus and the ‘looter shooter’ aspect which at this present moment is ensuring you’re getting very little back for your momentous efforts.
But, get past those gripes and there is a competent, strongly put together first-person sneaker in there. Realised in some of the most beautiful locations to date, alongside a constant in game narrative with a ragtag team that is as adaptive to the change as you are, there is depth to Exodus.
Ape Out is persistently challenging, completely bonkers and deliriously entertaining.
The Kings Bird is perhaps one of those games suited to gamers who love speedruns, where twitch platforming comes second nature and has the patience to really stick with the game. I enjoyed the first few levels, but the shortcomings of the controls and the haphazard nature of if they work or not kind of distracted me from what is an interesting and challenging game to play. Perhaps I need to just get better and these types of games, but having played games for 27 odd years I like to think I have the skills necessary to at least get to grips with the most challenging of games. As it stands The Kings Bird is hard to recommend to the casual gamer, but speedrunners will probably get the most out of this if they can get to grips with the somewhat broken mechanics.
So this is game that had some lofty ideas of what it could have been and delivered a broken slodge of a simulator, devoid of anything that can be considered worthy of its utterly disgraceful price-tag. It’s clear the developers did what they could with a seemingly small budget and little time but this just isn’t good enough.
While the core of ChromaGun hasn’t changed since 2017, with ChromaGun VR it’s a vastly more enjoyable and immersive experience, almost as if this was its natural home. While there’s still some frustrations around puzzleS being able to become unsolvable with a simple misfire, potentially throwing away 10 minutes of progress, other frustrations have been cast aside thanks to the VR control methods. As far as I’m concerned, ChromaGun VR is the definitive way to experience this game.
Bridging the gap between the visual novel and the anime series, Steins;Gate Elite is a sublime refresh of the beloved game.
A real test for your thumbs and your patients, HackyZack comes to PS4 to kick your balls around.
A harmonious marriage between narrative and mechanics, Wandersong is an astonishing creation on PS4.
Some mild frustrations and pacing aside, Pikuniku is disarmingly agreeable, revelling in the random while telling a surreal and well-structured story. Both my kids (they’re the reason this review is so far after release, hogging the Switch to play this) and I have had a tonne of fun with this game, inspiring bemused, furrowed brows and face splitting smiles a plenty.
It’s a shame, as we complain we never get anything new to play. But something as too abstract as this chaotic affair doesn’t hit any specific mark to make it fun. I’d recommend if you want to try something a bit out there, or perhaps enjoy your interactive history lessons.
Monster Energy Supercross – The Official Videogame 2 gives you everything you would want from an official Motorcross game, whether you will get the most out of it though really depends if you are a mad fan of the sport. Along with the gameplay shortcomings mentioned earlier, the rawk soundtrack is terrible and gets way too repetitive way too soon. The visuals aren’t great either, but then I guess how pretty do you need muddy stadiums to be?
Downwell finally made it to Switch and it’s found the best place to play. The Switch has done it again.
Deeper than you may have been expecting, New Star Manager ticks the 'football management sim' boxes.