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While Astebreed may be short in length, it more than makes up for it with its anime styled storytelling and quality, fast, furious action. It's another classy little indie game on the PlayStation 4 that further enhances the console's value.
Whispering Willows is a scary, scary game in a beautiful, beautiful world. The hand drawn, Legend of Korra style artwork is only a façade to the darkness that lies within, and is stripped down by the notes, diary entries and running commentary by Elena. Whispering Willows is a beautiful game, only marred by the short time it takes to finish, and when that is your only issue, I can still highly recommend it.
But as I said, these three issues are incredibly minor when considering the sheer scale and variety of content in the game, and they haven't stopped me logging over 300 hours in total play across Final Fantasy XIV and now Heavensward. I don't use the five-star rating to describe the perfect game. As per our scoring process, a five-star score is like a five-star hotel; it's a deluxe experience that offers something meaningful well beyond what most games do. But Final Fantasy XIV has genuinely developed into the best MMO on the market as far as I'm concerned, with its brilliant post-game content and now, with the additional Heavensward content, the best is just getting better. This game is a compelling argument for the continued validity of the subscription model for MMOs.
J-Stars Victory VS is very playable. But, when you consider that the entire purpose of this game's existence is to act as fan service, the fact that it fails to offer the kind of fan service that would have had fans clamouring for it is incredibly disappointing. There are so many directions Namco Bandai and Spike Chunsoft could have taken Victory that to produce a merely playable brawler is just not good enough.
Ar nosurge has instantly become one of my favourite games of all, up there with the likes of Nier and Persona 4. Even when it's not at its best, it's still better than almost anything else. Emotional and poetic, deep and intelligent, it's the kind of game that will fly under most people's radars, but it's also one of those games that will hold a place of pride in the libraries of those that are lucky to discover it. This is a game you will hear me celebrating for many years to come.
RONIN is over in around seven to eight hours but the lengthy design of the levels makes it feel a lot longer than that. When you're locked in a stalemate with ten armed guards, jumping around the walls to avoid gunfire is more tiresome than engaging. RONIN is good for a few short levels in your spare time, but I can't fathom playing it for a long session.
These are minor complaints, though. The platforming is rock solid, and as I noted, I love the theme with a passion. I would like to see WayForward do something more narrative-heavy with Shantae, as I think she would be a spectacular lead in a RPG or similar, but as it stands this is my favourite 2D platformer series of all, and I'm glad to see that it's now on PlayStation too.
Despite the odd frustration, Yoshi's Woolly World is an incredibly fun romp. It has been a long time since the world got to see a console Yoshi game, and the fact it hearkens back to its SNES roots better than the recent handheld attempt is a joy to behold. This is one of the best platformers I have played in a long time.
Despite some questionable use of characters, the narrative in Batman: Arkam Knight is engrossing. The city of Gotham is appropriately sprawling with a great deal to do. Combat is smooth and fluid, even if driving the Batmobile is not, and there are several good hooks for progressing Batman's character that reward you for the time invested in the game. The voice acting, music and visuals are all outstanding and the end result is a fun, polished final act for Rocksteady's Arkham games that fans of the series will absolutely want to play.
Adventures of Pip is a solid platformer with a clever little gameplay mechanic, but ultimately doesn't do all that much with it. That being said, away from the mechanics, it was also good to see one of these retro-themed platformers do something more with the art style than simply have it as window-dressing. Adventures of Pip actually turns pixels into part of the gameplay, and that's neat.
While it seemed a bit weird that Capcom had not originally included Devil May Cry 4 into its HD Collection a few years back, the Special Edition is worth a look for fans of the series on the PlayStation 4 as a stand alone game, thanks to the visual upgrades and new character scenarios.
Payday itself has become a very influential game, with other titles, such as Ubisoft's upcoming Tom Clancy's The Siege clearly cribbing ideas from it. I'd be cautiously interested in seeing a third Payday somewhere down the track, as I do think there's room for the developers to build a greater degree of narrative context into the action, and perhaps a touch more variety wouldn't go astray. For now, though, this is a fine multiplayer experience to have sitting on the PlayStation 4.
There's something quite mesmerising as to how such complexity can be played out almost effortlessly by people who practice enough at the game to get good at it, but, frankly, everyone is better off waiting for next year's Street Fighter V.
Overall Kholat is an atmospheric adventure game that is creepy but really should not be labeled as a horror game. With a wonderful art style and amazing sound effects, Kholat should still please horror fans and adventure game fans alike.
Handholding aside, and beyond failing to offer something truly above and beyond its predecessor, the multiplayer offerings are superb, and Swords & Soldiers 2 is good, reliable fun. It won't likely be a game you'll remember a decade from now, but as a weekend buster, you could do far worse than this one.
Despite these irritants, The Escapist remains light-hearted fun. It's not an especially meaningful or rich gaming experience (and of course, it doesn't try to be either), and it won't be remembered a decade from now as a classic, but it's honest entertainment that does on some level tap into one of the more enduring subsets of the crime fiction genre.
There clearly is a market for games like Sparkle Unleashed, but what's sad to see is that there was a lot of effort put into the game. There are animated cut scenes and visually appealing visuals, but the raw lack of innovation in a kind of game that is rapidly showing its age really does let it down.
Splatoon is almost endlessly replayable, and it effortlessly my favourite Nintendo game so far this year.
Dirty Bomb is fresh and fun with fast paced team-oriented action, but is lacking in some of the areas that modern FPS have matured into. But it's a good start to the franchise, with opportunities to expand upon the world there, add some story context and hopefully flesh out the experience further.
But to go back to my original question; what is left when you're playing a humour game that you're not finding very funny? A very competent, but ultimately unremarkable game in this case. In terms of scoring Schrodinger's Cat and the Raiders of the Lost Quark, it's a tough one, because it's one of those odd games where I can see where its appeal would lie for others, but on a personal level, like the most boring of science experiments, I struggled to stay awake through it.