VG247's Reviews
Lords of the Fallen is a game of uneven quality. At its best, it offers level design, bosses, and combat that’s generally up there among the best Souls-likes. At its – more often – worst, it leans hard on quantity over quality, and a fundamental misunderstanding of what makes those games challenging. My issues with its balance and difficulty can improve with patches, and my misgivings about its design pitfalls are the sort of thing that sequels improve on all the time. It’s left me wanting to play Lords of the Fallen 2.
This is an excellent sequel, and an exciting foundation for what I’m sure will be a bright, addition-packed future.
Within the understood parameters of what 2D Mario can be, this has to be the single best entry since Super Mario World - and is the perfect first game to launch a new era of Mario games with his new-found elevation to movie star status.
Spider-Man 2 is exceptional. In your hands, it’s the best a superhero game has ever felt. On your eyes, it’s a pure tour de force of what the PlayStation 5 can do. On your heart, it’s heavy, enticing, exciting. The open world is a tonic, the characters are a riot, the villains are unbelievable in the best way. Suspend your disbelief in a neat little web above your head, dive in with your mask pulled tight over your face, and prepare yourself for the daftest, most earnest action game of 2023. It’s a 20-or-so hour hoot you’re not going to be able to put down until the post-credits scene has rolled.
In its core mission, Sonic Superstars is successful. It recreates the foundation of 2D Sonic – some of the finest platformers ever made – well. Unfortunately, the new elements layered atop that are rather hit-or-miss. I personally don’t think this is anywhere near as good as Mania. But it’s good. In fact, it’s good enough that I expect fan debate about which game is superior to be fairly heated – which is a sure-fire sign that Sega is on the right track.
Mirage represents the past, present, and future of everything Assassin’s Creed stands for – and you can feel it in the game’s bones.
EAFC 24 might go about achieving its goals in a slightly different way to the FIFA series, but it lands at the same end result. The same tempting sticker book collect-a-thon and absorbing gameplay carousel makes EAFC 24 a virtual footballing platform that demands your attention and is difficult to put down. Emulating the signature moves of your sporting heroes with box-office Playstyles is a highlight, but there will always be questions about whether the mechanic can stand up to the test of millions of players probing for overpowered exploits.
There’s some enjoyment to be found in Lies of P. Its action is competent, but lacks the polish and stir of its contemporaries. Its atmosphere can be engrossing, but it’s a hodgepodge of themes and aesthetics you’ve seen before that never rises above the familiar. I was never impressed by it, and I never stopped questioning the point of the entire endeavour throughout my time with it.
Mortal Kombat 1 sets the stage for a new era of MK that you can't help but get pumped up for. NetherRealm, like the characters in its ultraviolent universe, is staring right into the face of a brave new world and locking eyes with the future.
Starfield’s grandiose scope sets the scene for a few under-developed ideas in an otherwise thoughtful, muddy take on the sci-fi genre.
Armored Core 6 is the essence of a soft reboot. It has the unenviable task of drawing newcomers to a niche, sometimes overly challenging series without changing too much of what made fans like it to begin with. The result is a mixed experience that, while it has some shining moments of brilliance, feels a bit loose and never plays to its strengths.
If you buy Immortals of Aveum, know that there is a good time here waiting for you. However, I deem it likely that it'll be on sale rather soon. If you're starving for some magic in your FPS pick it up, but even with some mystical flair and an admirable attempt at bringing mystic arts to a very gun-heavy genre, Immortals of Aveum ultimately fails to reach the heights of your Bulletstorms or Wolfenstiens.
That mood is one that brings together both established and new ideas to create a Pikmin that is, I think, absolutely the most well-rounded title in the series. It takes a series that for its second and third entries I appreciated but didn’t love - and brings back that adoration. It’s a revitalizing sequel - though also exactly the sort of entry that’ll be difficult to follow.
Exoprimal will be a rollercoaster of surprises for the majority of players. Making your way through the fifty-or-so matches it takes to hit credits, experiencing all the spectacle on display in this curveball of a game, is in my opinion worth the cost of admission for Game Pass users, and perhaps at a discount for all others. It'll remain a presence on my PS5 home screen, for now at least.
All in all, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective pairs distinct gameplay with a strong story and characters you will surely become affectionate towards. I can’t recommend it enough, and if you do play it, make sure to stick around until the end. Working your way through to the conclusion and discovering the fate of each beloved character is well worth it. If you give Ghost Trick a chance, I expect that, like me, you’ll be hoping Capcom will deliver a new instalment in Sissel’s story someday.
But it’s not that simple. It never is. In FF16, Clive, Cid, and the others ultimately derive their power from the same mysterious origins as the crystals themselves. To complete their objective, they need the very thing they seek to destroy. And so too does FF16 need that history, those traditions, leveraging some even as it drives a dagger through others. That is the duality of the game. A dichotomy at the heart of its structure, its triumphs, and its failures alike. It’s a fascinating piece of work, a wholly imperfect but nevertheless enthralling experience.
Layers of Fear (2023) starts out strong with the story of The Artist, and loses itself amidst its own ambition during the story of The Actor. Bloober Team’s once meaningful exploration of a character’s descent into madness quickly becomes redundant amidst a sea of film references and blurred storytelling. Layers of Fear is certainly a cohesive remake that brings the original games together, and there’s no denying that it looks great, but its second act feels incredibly lost when contrasted against such a strong start. Layers of Fear (2023) is one major case of whiplash, that’s for sure, but it does showcase Bloober Team's potential to do good if it can nail down the focal points of the stories it tells.
It’s a must-have. And it might just be the most compelling overall fighting game package of all time.
It's a damn good entry to the series as a whole, and will give the vast majority of its players a bloody good time.
Nightdive Studios may have taken seven years, but it's finally managed to do the impossible and thread the unlikely line between reboot and remake.