games(TM)'s Reviews
Made out of paper it might be, but Tearaway is anything but flat. This is Media Molecule showing it can make a game as well as it can make a set of creation tools, and it only makes you more excited about what’s to come from them in future.
It’s too wordy for its own good, and the clash of styles is sometimes jarring and somewhat nonsensical, but this blend of two classics maintains enough quality from each to be well worth investigating. a thoroughly enjoyable and engaging crossover.
A reliable, friendly and sumptuous romp through another beautifully built Nintendo world, and yet another great reason to own a 3DS. It’s the machine that keeps on giving.
Bravely Default takes care to observe the oeuvres of modern console-based RPGs, too, including elements of game design that have held other handheld titles back in the past.
None of Mario Golf World Tour's changes are revolutionary – ten years away has brought surprisingly few new ideas – but the core gameplay is as fun and attractive as ever, so if you're looking for a golf game for the 3DS this will do just fine.
As a pack-in for the console, this would have been far easier to forgive, but at full price and with no proper multiplayer, it's a tough sell. Rare's game looks stunning and is enjoyably tame, but lacks in true winner's grit and star quality. Maybe next season.
A few launch hiccups aside, the issues that are and will continue to dog Elder Scrolls Online are entirely down to perception. If your hope for a sixth Elder Scrolls was always for a sequel set across a hitherto unexplored region of Tamriel; a game in which you could be the focus and aspire to be the sole hero, developing exclusive and ancient powers along the way, then Elder Scrolls Online was never going to cut it. Likewise if you're the kind of veteran MMO gamer who has to hit the level cap as quickly as possible to forever grind raids to attain the best gear, TESO's slower pace and exhaustive content may well feel tiresome and laboured.
So if you're feeling particularly flush and have some yearning to play another block puzzler, Dr. Luigi does a fine job of sitting somewhere in the middle of this well-worn genre. Hardly a glowing endorsement, and a pretty sad way to end Luigi's very own year. Let's hope 2014 is the year of Link, or Samus, or even someone new. Otherwise 2015 might be the year of no more Wii U.
It's easy to see a new franchise in Ryse; one that could potentially rival God Of War if it maintains the momentum of the latter half of the campaign. However, the gameplay is so rote and uninspired that it merely hints at a more robust and rewarding experience that it fails to deliver. Ultimately, it makes for a few hours of passing entertainment, but it's certainly not one for the history books.
So while Age Of Wonders III doesn't really offer much that you can't get elsewhere from the 4X genre, it feels fresh and distinctive enough – it has been over a decade since the last Age Of Wonders, after all – that strategy fans will have something to get their teeth into all the same. Hopefully next time won't be quite so far away, and a little more consideration for the city management screen wouldn't go amiss.
World Of Warplanes is a neat addition to Wargaming's repertoire, but it all just feels a little too shallow to really make waves.
The first narrative addition to the BioShock Infinite delivers everything it promised – it's an affectionately crafted homage to the first game, retroactively building on the grim story and Ayn Rand-ian themes, galvanising them with a fresh perspective whilst simultaneously tying Rapture more wholly into the Columbian narrative. It's intelligent, indulgent and nostalgic in equal measure, left dangling on a transfixing narrative hook. It's everything we love about BioShock, condensed.
And talking of superior versions, once again the PC reins supreme. The stuttering and freezing issues that have always plagued the console versions are entirely absent from the Steam game, and the game looks gorgeous at a crisp 1080p – its expressive faces and soft colours doing wonders to mask a presumably modest budget. What more can be said? The benchmark narrative game of the last generation has come back just as strong and just as skilfully as before. You should already be playing it.
It's a small package but there's a wealth of value to be found in the creative gameplay that'll spur you through many hours of gaming.
If this is to be Irrational's last hurrah then it's a mixed but compelling swansong for a company that often took bold, divisive design and narrative avenues. It might not hit the highs of some of its best work, but it's a fitting testament to the studio's unbridled creativity and theatrical magnificence.
Titanfall is not the most strategically demanding multiplayer game out there, nor is it the most complex. It's certainly not revolutionary, as some might have you believe, given that many of its ideas have been cribbed from other games and genres. What it is, though, is a consistently exciting, accessible and expertly crafted shooter that repeatedly generates highlight reel moments that make you want to keep coming back. Forget about whether it's an Xbox One system seller, if it can beat Call of Duty, or any similar chatter. All you need to know is that Titanfall is damn good fun.
There's plenty of depth to the mechanics here for those that want to sink their teeth into a new fighting system, and there are some informed nods back to the franchise's roots, but if you were intending to buy an Xbox One on the promise of playing this until you could afford another launch game, chances are you'll get bored of it by the end of launch week.
The inclusion of a touted hard mode and time trials that can automatically upload footage of your attempts online suggest that Nintendo has that traditional hardcore audience in its sights. While that's encouraging for players who fit that category, many others will be deterred. Those willing to put time into this game will be rewarded, but given that difficulty and the lack of Wii U consoles out there, how many people will?
This is only Act 1, of course, as an agonising cliffhanger reminds us, and as such this can only be regarded as a very promising start. Whether or not the concluding part offers the increased breadth and complexity many will be clamouring for as the credits roll is unclear. But it's hard to see anyone reaching the middle point of Vella and Shay's story and not wanting to stay tuned to see where they end up.
In many respects, Jazzpunk's systems are unremarkable. Its puzzles are rudimentary, its interactions mostly basic and its tasks are often wilfully mundane. At times, it attempts jokes that miss their target, sometimes by a distance. And yet such is its fearless, relentless commitment to amusing you and surprising you that you'll know something better – or perhaps just something weirder – is just around the corner. Anarchic, baffling, sometimes downright silly, and often inspired, Jazzpunk works tirelessly to make you laugh and gasp. The frequency with which you'll do both is a testament to a bold new talent, and Necrophone Games deserves all the plaudits that will be thrown its way in the coming weeks.