Digitally Downloaded
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It's a clever, expertly-designed game that works just as well with buddies as it does alone.
Newcomers will have to research themselves because the game certainly offers no historical perspective, but do so and you’ll walk away gleaming appreciation for now-overlooked classics that left their mark on the industry.
Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games is good fun, but ultimately it's too shallow and simple to be anything but a passing diversion. Nintendo and/or Sega could actually build a bunch of the minigames in here into full sports games in their own right… and frankly I wish they would do just that.
Loud on Planet X is perhaps the video game version of a music festival. It takes big name acts and up and coming talents and puts them on stage, accompanying their music with a solid rhythm game which doesn’t distract from the listening experience
Though there's less direct threat when compared to more mainstream horror titles, there's an intensity to that environment that helps to create a wonderfully sinister atmosphere. It's not an essential horror game, but it's a genuinely ripping yarn.
Aegis is genuine fun, and a genuine twist on a very staid genre.
Super Strike isn’t exactly Beach Spikers 2, but for fans of the sport, it’s something of a consolation prize.
[T]here’s not a single picture in the dozens and dozens of puzzles the game boasts that you’ll actually want to put together.
Ratchet & Clank is a return to form for the series. Without any unnecessary gimmicks or whistles, the game focusses on exactly what the game is about; exploration and fun.
I think it’s an absolute tragedy that Koi is all-but guaranteed to be lost among everything else that’s available on the PlayStation 4. It’s a smart, genuine little game, with soul and a story to tell, and wraps it within one of the best examples we’ve seen to date of serenity as a play concept.
Long time series fans will still find some enjoyment in the solid stealth platforming mechanics but that's only if they face the fact that these games are Assassin's Creed titles in name only.
The writers at Telltale quite obviously ran out of juice after four episodes, leading to this “in between” episode that leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Explicit narrative aside, I found Stranger of Sword City to be a real winner of a dungeon crawler.
Of course Republique serves to act as an Orwellian-style warning against totalitarian and far-right regimes. The overwhelming bulk of the game is geared towards developing that theme, and its narrow focus does come at the expense of characters that I would have liked to see developed to far greater depth. But it's also a superb pure stealth game, and it's always nice to see these kinds of games done without a reliance on violence.
Overall, Chronicles of Teddy is a pretty cool game. The reward of discovery is well worth the trip, and with some tweaks here and there, Chronicles of Teddy could have been one of the best releases of 2016. As it stands, it is still a gorgeous title worthy of your time.
There's nothing overly serious about Stikbold, and that is where most of the charm comes from. For a game that is nominally about Dodgeball I was overly impressed with how the developers were able to keep the experience fresh and comedic throughout.
The problem McDroid has is that it really doesn’t offer anything that we haven’t actually experienced in a game before, and for a while now the consensus seems to be that people are bored with the tower defence genre. McDroid’s inability to do anything genuinely new is a real problem. People already have their favourite tower defence games.
Candlelight isn't a long game but it kept me entranced throughout the entire playthrough. It's a fantastic example of a simple idea executed very well, with extra effort spent in ensuring the player will have a good time. This isn't a game which you will get excited about - but in some ways it's even better than that. This is a game that you can get comfortable with, that will help you relax, and will make you look at platformers in a new way.
DiRT Rally is an excellent game that has a fairly high barrier of entry due to its uncompromising control scheme and challenging style of play. Some better race training could have really helped to offset this difficulty, and is one of the few areas where this title missed a golden opportunity for its players. The end result is a game that can be difficult to get the hang of, but also provides a great sense of accomplishment than most racing titles once you do learn how to race the way it wants you to.
Arc System Works has it in the team to tell a great story. Over in the fighting game space that's exactly what it achieved with the Blazblue series. It's also a highly technically proficient team, and a real mastery over art and design. Xblaze isn't the team at its best, but I suspect that the quality of the visual novels that the team does produce will only improve from here.