GameByte's Reviews
As a fan of FPS games and a casual fan of the CoD franchise, it pains me to say Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is one of my most disliked entries in the series. The campaign is a huge step down from its original namesake, and the multiplayer has disappointed me on many levels. I know Activision loves to get a slice of the CoD pie every single year, but I still think we’d be better off with fewer titles, bigger innovations.
Horror games, at their very core, are all about the fear factor. Developer Supermassive Games did a fantastic job of sustaining the unpleasantness in certain sequences, but couldn’t maintain it for the entire length of the game. I come away from The Devil in Me with a new-found fear of seeing button prompts pop up at every available opportunity.
Battlefield 2042 has disappointed me. I think it builds upon the older games but in a much more boring way. The maps are relentlessly mundane. They’re all flat ground with high concrete structures. You don’t get those claustrophobic choke points that Battlefield 1 had, or the creative problem solving that came from clever map design in Battlefield 4. The maps in 2042 just all feel the same, and I’m not keen on them at all.
You know exactly what you are going to get with FIFA and FIFA 21 has some misses but a significant amount of hits. Player faces could be improved with some key players missing their actual faces but that’s only a minor point in the grand scheme of things. It feels substantially better than FIFA 20 and it’s definitely a game that will get a lot more game time from me than the previous title. There are still a lot of gameplay elements that need improving so hopefully, a patch will address them very soon.
In conclusion, Paper Beast: Folded Edition is an affordable, enjoyable way of experiencing the beauty of this poetic indie gem. But Paper Beast was created for VR, and it shows. The adapted keyboard controls often induce motion sickness and the technological marvel of the VR world pixel Reef created falls flat on a screen.
However, with that incredibly addictive gameplay alone, along with the plethora of side-content, I can see traditional Final Fantasy fans having a lot of fun here, even if it’s a bit of a shallow adventure. Now that this engine has proven it’s worth in terms of gameplay, I am very excited for their next project if they have more time to spare in the writing room.
Next-gen upgrades will hopefully sort the loading times a bit but the problem is that’s just a part of Madden 21’s issues. Unfortunately, there are so many small things that build up to make Madden 21 an experience that, at times, feels like a step backward.
Black Ops Cold War’s multiplayer brings enough new content to the table to offer the user a number of new experiences which quantifies buying the game. Unfortunately, these modes can grow a bit stale after a while. Yes, they are classed as ‘new’ modes but they heavily borrow from modes that have been present in the past. Vehicle warfare does not quite reach the lofty expectations promised. It’s a fun enough experience, but I found myself leaning a lot more towards Zombies rather than the multiplayer mode.
Though No Straight Roads is filled to the brim with character and style, it can’t overcome its needless complexity in a game which is more taxing than it is fun.
Despite its flaws, The Otterman Empire shows a lot of promise and delivers some really fun co-op play – if you can overlook its issues.
The graphics were good considering it was a port to the Nintendo Switch. Undocked, it played smooth and the frame rates were consistent and the graphics looked really smooth on the docked version as well. I have mixed feeling towards this game and I am heavily conflicted as to if I really enjoyed the experience or not. The opening was very enjoyable and the first few chapters were highly enjoyable, but then it just seemed to flatline slightly and became more of a task to play rather than something that was an enjoyable experience.
Altogether, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake feels like it’s exactly in line with what the cartoon has become. The humour isn’t quite what it used to be, the characters are flanderisations of their original counterparts, and the plot is just too weird that it probably won’t appeal to older fans. But the children will love it.
Abermore is a fantastic idea with lots of potential. I love the writing, the comedy that comes through in gameplay, and the whole vibe as a modern Thief. But just like the classic games that inspire it, Abermore comes with its fair share of jank and bugs. Right now that makes it a frustrating experience.
So overall, is As Dusk Falls worth it? It has a captivating story with more than a few rocky moments, but is as close to feeling “genre” as it can get. It also has a lot of shortcomings that might only be saved by the interesting multiplayer features. It’s the perfect game to pull out for any digital or physical get-togethers, but is otherwise a reminder of wasted potential.
We Were Here Forever represents the growth of its developers – the franchise has come a long way from its humble beginnings as a school project and it’s brilliant to see just what this indie studio is capable of at its full capacity. It’s definitely worth playing if you have a friend to play with. Despite the loss of simplicity the previous games were known for, this doesn’t spoil an otherwise unique and interesting puzzler.
In summary, Nintendo Switch Sports is a great, modern day glow up to the classic Wii Sports and a ton of fun to bust out in family, friend or party settings. It’s not without its faults and it can get repetitive after a while but it’s a game you’ll find you keep coming back to when the situation is right for it.
When paired with the “so bad, it’s good” story and dialogue, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is a good time for the partly the wrong reasons. Critically, it’s not great. You’ve still got a car crash of a game on your hands. But, it’s a car crash you can’t look away from. In the meantime, the combat and job system is a rollercoaster ride which takes you right past it, being a wild ride in its own right.
I said at the top of this review that Gran Turismo 7 does its best to straddle the gap between casual and hardcore racers. While it certainly does a great job of onboarding newcomers warmly, it does so at the risk of boring its more eager fanbase. That makes Gran Turismo 7 a difficult game to recommend unless you love cars and their culture with your whole heart.
Despite an excellent combat system and intriguing world design, Sifu falls too short of its premise. Regardless of whether you’re playing it casually or going harder, the death mechanic is simply too punishing to be enjoyable. Perhaps with a fairer system, this would make for a better game.
With some patches and more quality of life features, this game could easily become the definitive Yu-Gi-Oh! experience, but only time can tell.