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The Mad Ones' episode lays the foundation of a potentially intriguing mystery narrative, part An Inspector Calls, part Murder on the Orient Express. The Social Influence system, if implemented well through the rest of the episodes, really could be a game changer for narrative adventures, evolving a genre that has needed fresh ideas for a while.
It may a look a little basic compared to recent titles, but when it comes to gameplay Burnout Paradise still thrashes the competition. The racing is sublime, the stunts are spectacular, and there's always something to do round the next corner. It has one of the best soundtracks of any game – and yes that includes Avril – it's just a shame that some of the mechanics are dated and clunky.
With the game's release on Windows and the final additions to the game on console in the Royal Edition, it now feels that Square Enix have put the final brushstrokes to their masterpiece. As Final Fantasy XV comes to the end of its long adventure, it's fitting that it do so in such style, letting people savour the artistic vision behind the game in such glorious detail.
Life Is Strange: Before the Storm isn't a story that needed telling, and it was a risk for Deck 9 to try and add to a beloved series, but they've pulled it off. It answers the question of who Rachel Amber was and what she really meant to Chloe, showing something that feels more grounded like a TV teen dramas and speaks to the struggle to find your place in the world.
Deck Nine have again managed to find a particular point in time that feels natural to explore.
Slice, Dice & Rice is an extremely competent fighting game. The core mechanics are sound, its visually interesting and it rewards strategic play. It's just a shame that there's no one out there to fight against online.
Ultimately, for all its storylines and RPG elements, Defender's Quest is very much about the tower defence at its core, with all the other systems in the game either informing the core experience or accommodating it. That tower defence gameplay is exceptionally strong, full of options and customisation, and the other missed opportunities do little to take away from that.
Ultimately, Bravo Team adds nothing to the VR shooter scene and it's somewhat baffling to see Sony pushing the game so hard considering how it has turned out. If you were considering paying top dollar for that tempting Aim Controller bundle then don't.
The aesthetics, soundtrack, and writing here are wonderful and more than reward the patience required to fully unravel the game's mysteries. Playing it resulted in an immersion that went beyond my niggles with the gameplay.
The Bridge Constructor series gets a lot out of being combined with Portal, resulting in a quirky and engaging new twist on this physics-based puzzler. It could have gone further, whether upping the challenge you can aim for or actually giving you the portals to play with, but what's here is pleasingly inventive and has more than few tricky brain teasers.
Perhaps Iconoclasts just tries to do a bit too much of everything, which is stunning considering it has come from a single person's creative drive, which is so compellingly impressive. A decent edit of the script, fewer bosses and puzzle repetitions, and the rest could have been refined even more. Seven years ago Iconoclasts would have blindingly stood out on its artstyle alone – as it indeed did when announced, but now it has to compete with a plethora of other captivating 2D pixelart games. Luckily for Iconoclasts that, despite its flaws it still stands tall amongst its peers, both recent and its contemporary forebears.
For fans of the anime, Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet is a great use of the license that brings some welcome changes to the series. There are still the recurring issues of pacing and a number of technical flaws that diminish the rest of the game's achievements, but this hopefully sets a new benchmark for the franchise going forward.
New arcade racers have been few and far between over the last half decade, and Gravel is just one attempt to reignite the genre. There's some good racing to be found here, with plenty of licensed cars to take through some lovely scenery, but it doesn't get your heart pounding with excitement. Gravel might be a fairly decent racer, but its biggest sin is that, despite the fireworks and exotic locations, it's just a bit boring.
Moss is an absolute joy to play, proving that a great VR experience doesn't always require that you flail your arms around while fending off bouts of motion sickness. It's a wonderfully realised puzzle platformer with clever twists, beautiful backdrops, and an adorable hero, making PlayStation VR even more tempting for prospective buyers.
All in all, Immortal Redneck is a fun and challenging combination of old school first person shooter design and rogue-lite mechanics.
It's a sad truth that still puts a put in my stomach, but Kojima and Konami are done. Konami still owns the Metal Gear name though, and they still want to make video games for it. Please let them. A new Hollywood reboot of your favorite franchise does not retroactively ruin the quality of the old movies, and Metal Gear Survive does not suddenly make the Metal Gear Solid series any less brilliant. Metal Gear Survive, instead, stands alongside those as perhaps the strongest spinoff in the franchise to date. Metal Gear Solid as we know it may be finished, but after having so much fun with Survive, I'm excited to see what Metal Gear looks like in the future.
While I appreciated the insight into the folklore of the Taramuhara people, Mulaka as a game is about as average as an action adventure title gets. It's got some great ideas lurking within, but the overall structure is incredibly dated and only really saved thanks to the subject matter. As a game, it's not really doing much that hasn't been done better before, but as a cultural insight, it has a lot to offer those interested.
Unwanted and unasked for, Secret of Mana does the bare minimum you'd expect from a remake, and when you consider the original's beloved status, the fact that it's been given such a lacklustre treatment is stupefying.
Payday 2 is definitely getting long in the tooth, but the game's appearance on Nintendo Switch is a good, solid port of the game. All of the same quirks and quibbles remain the same, there's the lingering question from how the game has been supported in the past, and there's the simple fact that we've seen all of this in higher fidelity elsewhere, but if you've got a burning desire for some co-op heisting fun on Switch, then this will scratch your itch to live outside the law.
Sprint Vector is a wonderful surprise and by far the best VR title I've played in 2018 so far. The feeling of movement is just so ridiculously fun and empowering yet precise and responsive at the same time. When it all comes together – the drifts, the jumps, and the well-timed manoeuvres – there's honestly nothing else like it.