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Ori and the Blind Forest had the potential to be a game that appealed to all gamers, casual and hardcore alike. Unfortunately, the difficulty spikes (and the aforementioned bugs) keep this one solely in the realm of core gamers and speed runners. While it's still a good game, it seems silly to limit its audience unnecessarily. Perhaps Moon Studios will hit perfection in its sophomore outing.
Painted with a mostly authentic blend of 8- and 16-bit with a few modern touches here and there, Axiom Verge is the perfect game for those who can't get enough of the genre.
Judged as a stand-alone budget title, Forza Horizon 2 Presents Fast & Furious is surprisingly robust and worth playing. As a piece of Forza Horizon 2 DLC, it's a harder call. If you download the game before April 10 (while it is available for free), it's a no-brainer. Don't hesitate; just get it and enjoy. Once the price bumps back up to $10, the decision comes down to your ownership of Forza Horizon 2 and the "Furious 7" Car Pack. If you already own the car pack, buying this is going to feel like double-dipping on the content.
Etrian Mystery Dungeon is a solid game that conveys the strengths of both franchises involved. It has the tactical and brutal combat and exploration of Shiren the Wanderer and the character-building and style of Etrian Odyssey. Only a few things, like awkward AI design, hold back the game. The problems are annoying but can be reasonably worked past, especially once you understand the game mechanics. If you're a fan of both franchises, you'll find a lot to like here, and it's a great starting point for fans of one to get into the other. It doesn't break new ground for either franchise, but it's a simple, fun and addictive synthesis of both.
In the end, ScreamRide proves to be fun in short doses. The four modes are quite entertaining if you love some chaos with your fun, though Engineering has some nasty difficulty spikes toward the end. The game is light on original content, but the leaderboard and many extra quests help give it legs, and the user-made creations give it some longevity. The presentation may be a little underwhelming, but few will mind since it provides such a distinct experience on the console. Gamers who are looking for something just a little different should check out ScreamRide.
Bladestorm: Nightmare is a game with a limited audience. RTS fans will find it too simplistic, and Warriors fans will find the pace to be too slow. It doesn't hit the correct buttons to competently fill either role. The Nightmare-exclusive additions are almost all positive and well-implemented, but they're a thin coat of paint on an increasingly dated product. The game lacks any punch, and it has too many problems for its strengths to shine through. If you're desperate for a RTS on consoles or were a fan of the original, then give this a shot, but most fans will get more enjoyment out of playing as Joan of Arc in Warriors Orochi 3.
Game of Thrones: Episode 3 -The Sword in the Darkness puts the series in a good spot. Asher has a decent amount of action, and his straightforward story is a nice contrast to everyone else's tales. Mira's situation is as tense as ever, and it doesn't look like the game will let up anytime soon. Gared's tale has gotten traction and gone from boring to exciting in one fell swoop. Rodrik's part in the episode still feels like it's spinning its wheels, but if you played things out a certain way, the events at the end signal the beginning of a spark . As long as the pacing of episode releases is right, there's enough here to keep players invested while the TV show rolls on.
Bloodborne is easily an early contender for game of the year, and it's the best PS4 exclusive to date. It captures the immensely strong design of Dark Souls and mixes it with high-intensity combat. The new setting and mechanics keep the title feeling fresh even while it retains many familiar aspects from the Souls games. Some minor problems, such as an occasionally poor frame rate, lightly tarnish the experience. Bloodborne is a must-have for any gamer who isn't afraid to die. The intense, fast-paced gameplay and grim world combine to create an experience that's both familiar and distinctive. It's time to die all over again.
In the end, Grey Goo is an interesting attempt at a simple but effective RTS game. Aside from the Goo, which is fun to play once you get used to its nuances, the other units are familiar enough that genre fans can immediately jump in without much complication. Genre beginners will appreciate the simplicity that eases them into the game while everyone will appreciate the presentation. The net code could use more tweaking, and the small pool of maps is a disappointment, but if that can grow alongside the community, then RTS fans will have a solid game to add to their libraries.
In the end, Battlefield: Hardline is its own worst enemy. There are some great ideas here, but they aren't fully realized, and the game suffers for it. It's not a bad game, but it's also not an exceptional game. Battlefield: Hardline does an excellent job of being downright average. You probably don't want to pay full price for it, but it's one to keep on your radar when a good sale pops up.
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD is a hard game to judge. As a PSP title, it's impressive and contains a bunch of content that clearly pushed the tiny system to its limits. However, released four years later as a full-priced $60 console title, it's lacking. It's still a solid game, but it demands that you remember its roots and overlook some of its foibles. A lackluster HD remastering doesn't make that any easier. The poor visuals and low-quality visual upgrade make this feel like a low-effort port. Despite that, it's a fun game with a fast-paced and exciting combat system and a boatload of things to do, although it's held back by a weak plot and some awkward design decisions. Despite the game's many rough edges, Final Fantasy fans will find much to like here, and it's a solid game for anyone who wants an action-RPG for the PS4.
Dragon Ball Xenoverse is a great game for fans of the franchise. It captures a lot of the style of the show and provides a bunch of content. The create-a-character feature adds a ton of replay value. It's not a game for anyone who's not a fan, but it doesn't try to be. It's mostly held back by a lack of polish in some critical places. With some stronger level design and some additional tweaks to the combat system, it would've been amazing. Instead, it has enough weak points that you must struggle past to reach the fun parts. The core gameplay isn't strong enough to reach anyone who isn't a fan, but DBZ fans will be quite happy with the final game, warts and all.
There's a good game in Harold. The frantic pace at which environmental manipulation can be done and its use in sabotaging the competition breathes some life into an otherwise straightforward genre. The presentation is fantastic, with excellent audio and visuals. The difficulty is appreciated, but the apparent grind is disappointing, and the controls seem better optimized for a touch-screen instead of a control pad. For fans of endless runners with a twist, Harold is worth checking out.
Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires breaks Omega Force's streak in releasing games that can change the minds of series critics. By reverting back to basics with so few modes, the title returns to something of a monotonous grind if you aren't playing as the kingdom leader. Campaigns blend into one another and have very few differentiating factors between them. The creation system is vast but not as much as the PS4 version, and the lack of modes makes the game feel quite small, even though the campaign can last countless hours. It spares Xbox One owners from dealing with a deluge of cosmetic DLC, and it doesn't have to compete with too many other Musou games on this platform. However, it is still the weakest in the series thus far and can only be recommended to lapsed fans and die-hard fans who play all of the entries.
Evolve has rare highs hidden amongst tedious lows. When the title hits its stride, it is easy to see why it was designed in this way. Hunting down and killing a Monster or successfully overwhelming Hunters through clever hit-and-run attacks is amazing. Unfortunately, far too often, the game devolves into long, boring periods of wandering around followed by brief, intense moments of excitement. It might be a realistic depiction of hunting, but it doesn't make for engaging multiplayer gameplay. Playing with friends helps alleviate some of that, but it also means Evolve isn't something you can pick up and casually play. Add in some balance issues and a general lack of content, and Evolve is a difficult game to recommend. There's a very fun core game here, but it's so buried that most players won't find it.
Zombeer is bad. The humor is scattershot and groan-inducing, while the gameplay is barely functional. The graphics spend too much time on useless animations and not enough on anything useful, while the sound is awful except for parts of the soundtrack. The short play time is the only positive thing about the game, but even that isn't enough to recommend the title to anyone.
At the end of the day, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate doesn't reinvent the wheel. It has more content, more polish, and more of the same gameplay that people love. It isn't going to convert anyone who disliked the formula, but it might bring newcomers into the fold. The series is difficult to learn but rewarding to master. The title may stick to its guns a tad too closely, but if you like Monster Hunter or Monster Hunter-style games, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate gives you exactly what you're looking for, and it does it well.
There's a lot of interesting setup in the first episode of Life is Strange, and this is a great start. There's the overarching mystery of the missing girl, but the smaller ones have the potential to open up interesting subplots later on. The time rewind mechanic is very convenient for solving simple puzzles and ensuring that the choices you make are ones you're comfortable with, but it remains to be seen how much of an impact this will all have. Like all episodic adventure titles, it's too early to tell if the entire game will be good. Based on this episode, there's enough intrigue that the wait for the second episode, which is currently scheduled for March, might be a tad unbearable.
Game of Thrones: Episode 2 - The Lost Lords is like the first episode in that it feels like a prologue to something bigger. Asher's appearance is more of an introduction to an upcoming bigger quest, and Rodrik's portion acts as a reboot of Ethan's story. Gared's tale features the least amount of progress. Only Mira's plot feels like it progresses, but the tension is kept at such a high level that the game remains intriguing and pushes things along nicely to the next episode.
It sounds like I am harping on Elite: Dangerous, but it's a fantastic game and makes one wonder why space sims have been away for so long. For all of its polish in some areas, it has obviously unrefined aspects in others. For all the aspects that let you tell a story about the game, there's little to allow you to create in a story within it. During the first few weeks, the game will absolutely demand your free time, and you will gleefully engage. It just needs a lot more to sustain itself.