Digitally Downloaded
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The solution is always obvious, and never elaborate enough to be truly entertaining. In other words it’s pointless busywork.
What’s left is a competent, but wholly remarkable and uninteresting hack-and-slask JRPG. There’s plenty of loot to reward the grind if you can handle how overwhelmingly generic the experience is, but, I wasn’t really going in for loot. I wanted a game that was like Muramasa: The Demon Blade; a game that would take the aesthetics of classical Japan and really do something with it. Instead, Sadame proves itself to be vapid and uninspired in the extreme, and so very disappointing as a result.
It’s irredeemable.
Being based on a novel I was hoping for a better standard of story and in being short at only around nine hours, Trulon is also far shorter than I went in expecting for a JRPG. This doesn't make the game bad. I did enjoy the characters and the battles at first, and it is still an enjoyable Sunday afternoon game. I just can't help but think this one could have been more.
It lacks the amount of narrative control over the story that Mass Effect provides, but in most other respects The Division accomplishes the things it sets out to do. It might not be the textbook definition of fun, but the bleak world is interesting, the combat is engaging and I found progression rewarding. That is a recipe for success despite a few other smaller warts along the way.
For a game that is 13 years old, it's surprising how well the game holds up today. The game is enjoyable as the strategy is solid. It's a little strange that NIS would decide to bring this game to PC ahead of its more complex (and modern) successors, since these games don't generally rely on the knowledge of previous titles to enjoy them, but nonetheless Disgaea remains a very worth tactics JRPG indeed.
Senran Kagura: Estival Versus is great fun, combining the rawest of Japanese-style raunch humour with a tight and mechanically sound combat system. Frankly, I don't think there's much else the developer could have done to nail the brief on what this game set out to achieve, and the PlayStation 4 has a new king of exploitation entertainment on it.
If you're keen for one of the suspenseful thrillers manageable with just images and text, Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc comes highly recommended. The story stands alongside any mystery film or novel, and the writing lets you understand and even befriend the characters before you're forced to see them pushed to their psychological limit.
Lacrosse 16 captures the soul of the sport. In the moment-to-moment play this is a fast, energetic, entertaining sport and that is exactly what Big Ant have offered in its take on it.
Ultimately the success of Samurai Warriors 4 Empires rests on how well it has been able to merge action and strategy together, and while I feel this veers strongly on the side of action, compared with even the Dynasty Warriors Empires series, there’s still enough thinky stuff to do between battles to add nuance to the overall experience. For that, Samurai Warriors 4 Empires has become my preferred Samurai Warriors game, though I would strongly recommend people play one of the previous Samurai Warriors games to get a proper feel for the characters and setting before digging into the more abstract and cerebral experience on offer here.
Strong narratives don't age, and this one has a strong story to tell. Throw in quality port work that gives the art direction the detail and clarity that it really deserves, and Twilight Princess is a classic that has scrubbed up well enough to be a worthy Wii U title in its own right.
I feel like I'm being very harsh on The Walking Dead: Michonne, but that's only because I've been such a fan of Telltale games over the years, and this doesn't meet my expectations of the team. I do want to know more about Michonne's backstory, I just wish she was working it out with more engaging characters.
With a core gameplay loop that is this utterly intoxicating, it's hard not to love AAC. It's an addictive and elegant score-chaser that has the power to bring newcomers into the shmup genre, as well as the legs and tail to truly satisfy shmup veterans.
Stranger of Sword City is a stellar, and surprisingly unique example of a dungeon crawler. It's dark, grim and gothic at times, and revels in the same difficulty that Experience Inc was able to throw at players in Demon's Gaze, but its unique mechanics and themes make it one of the most boundary-pushing dungeon crawlers we have seen in recent years.
I’ve long been a fan of how clean and slick Nnooo’s art direction is, and this game is no different. Blast ‘Em Bunnies might be simple – no, it is simple – but it’s simple in the right way, and that’s something to be impressed with all by itself.
Bravely Second: End Layer is an absolute delight of a game. Traditional where it needs to be, and wildly humorous when it wants to, this is the perfect follow up to the spectacularly successful original title.
Return to PoPoLoCrois: A Story of Seasons Fairytale is a fun game, do not get me wrong. I believe that the developers wanted to craft something that might not have many unique features or systems on its own, but something different due to the blending of genres. It works, and the game is accessible and will likely appeal to a broader audience as a result. The problem I have is that Return to PoPoLoCrois: A Story of Seasons Fairytale starts to feel shallow.
Screencheat is my favourite local multiplayer game on the PlayStation 4. It's a nice, small, download that I'm going to leave sitting on the harddrive for whenever I have friends over, and while that might not happen on a weekly basis (I like my space, okay), each and every time I pull the game out, it's going to more than validate its worth. Because it is simple, silly, fun, and it's a great start for Aussie games on the PlayStation 4 this year. [OpenCritic note: Matt Sainsbury separately reviewed the PC (3.5 stars) and PS4 (4 stars) versions. Their scores have been averaged.]
Does it create emotion or stir up old memories? Fear. Pure fear. The most primal of emotions is the overwhelming one while playing Layers of Fear.
There could have been more games crammed into a Mega Man collection in 2016 than just the NES titles (and, in fact, that has happened), but the current roster doesn't disrupt its mission in the slightest. That mission is to share the earliest exploits of a gaming icon with a new audience while throwing a bone to longtime fans so Capcom can contemplate the Blue Bomber's next step.