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PopCap have gone out of their way to cater to the solo player, and while the story questing is a disjointed affair, having AI to play with in every part of the game is excellent. However, even with other additions like the Backyard Battleground and new characters, this largely feels like more of the same. It's not as exciting and refreshing as two years ago, but that's not too big a complaint when it's more co-op defence and liberally borrowed and adapted multiplayer, all slathered in the quirky Plants vs. Zombies universe.
Branding Far Cry Primal as a cheap reskin would be harsh. Although largely formulaic, there's enough here for both fans and newcomers to sink their teeth into, not to mention a wonderfully realised depiction of the stone age. However, beneath this wildly altered aesthetic, for better or for worse, Ubisoft is still playing it safe. Personally, I found Primal to be far more entertaining than Far Cry 4, but even then it's hard to overlook the series' systematic regurgitation of ideas and concepts.
Project X Zone 2 is a videogame for videogame fans. It's not likely to present you with a huge challenge, nor does it take an immense amount of skill to be any good at it, with the tactical gameplay a far cry from genre greats such as Fire Emblem or Shin Megami Tensei. However there's a vast number of characters and content for fans of a particular ilk to revel in, and the spectacular battling is a highlight that never fails to amuse.
Ultimately EDF4.1 ends up being an addictive game that is full of alien squishing fun on a huge scale, but as a last generation port to PlayStation 4, it ends up being far too expensive. I shall await with bated breath for a true sequel.
Whether a returning fan or simply someone looking for a new roleplaying game to play, Cyber Sleuth caters to both parties. Although those familiar with the brand stand to gain more from this recent revival of the series, the gameplay systems are accessible for just about anyone. Still, despite its overall fun factor, Digimon Story isn't exactly innovative, while also being hamstrung by a few niggling issues.
Snowfall is another intriguing expansion from Colossal Order, which blends eyecatching new visuals which come alongside some clever new ideas and additions to how the game plays
Bravely Second is a sequel that is bursting in flavour. It features a world with so much depth, a story which twists and turns in meaningful ways, and clever tweaks to the combat that make the turn-based battles fun. Some sections drag on a little bit and a mild amount of dialogue tries to spoil the broth, but this adventure has had me hooked from beginning to end.
In a way, it feels kind of cruel to mark Gemini down. For all its flaws and lacklustre looks, you can tell that Phosphor were really onto something in the way it experimented with superpowers here. Given more time and resources – and without being weighed down by the Heroes license – the studio could have created a truly special comic book adventure.
Layers of Fear sits somewhere between the pejoratively classified 'walking simulators' and a full game experience, as for the most part you are simply wandering around and solving the odd puzzle. Despite the clichés and obvious jump scares, I rather enjoyed my time exploring the mansion and I'm looking forward to having another play through to see what I missed the first time round. If you enjoyed the Silent Hills teaser P.T. and want more of the same, then Layers of Fear is well worth a look.
Even as a person whose grasp of fighting games is nowhere near top-tier standard, Street Fighter V is the most fun I've had in a fighting game in years. It's a bold choice by Capcom to make this an expanding platform rather than a simpler game release, and it means that while it's light on content, you have to appraise its stability, core combat and look to its true form in the future. Based on the strangth of the gameplay and performance, Street Fighter V is a sublime fighting game and shows that this old dog still has some new tricks.
XCOM 2 somehow manages to improve upon the 2012 series reboot in almost every single way; from the way that the concealment ramps up the pacing, to the minor changes to battles and management that both fit the theme wonderfully and make for great gameplay. Aside from a few moments where the impossible happened and a some optimisation issues XCOM 2 suffers from, this is one uprising worth taking part in.
When an Assassin's Creed game has you swearing under your breath more than Super Meat Boy or Dark Souls, you know that something has gone terribly, terribly wrong. Where difficulty can be used to make a game more addictive or rewarding, here it manages to sap every ounce of fun out of the experience. Factor in the copious amount of idle waiting the stealth genre entails and what you have is a frustrating game that besmirches one of the industry's biggest franchises.
Awakening as a whole shows how good Black Ops 3 can look, and there's a few gorgeous locations spread across the multiplayer maps as well. Those obviously inject some welcome variety into the competitive playlists – well, once the handful of glitches have been ironed out – but for me and many others, Der Eisendrache is the standout addition.
Completely changing the environment that you play in and the way in which you get around that world was a bold move by Techland, but they've taken the challenge in their stride, and created something which is often just pure fun to play. If you're a fan of Dying Light, then The Following is a near essential expansion.
For those who love the novels, manga, and television show, this is perhaps the only Arslan game you'll ever get to play, unless a sequel is already in the works. Based on that fact alone, it's sure to reel in fans although other players may fail to see the appeal. Tear the anime-patterned wrapper away and what you have is essentially another iteration on the same aging format Omega Force has been peddling for years. In this case it has been slightly altered but not enough to conceal the franchise's ongoing fatigue as fewer bold ideas are brought to the table.
Despite some mild improvements over the last entry in the series, Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon is a bland and uninspiring slog that is unlikely to please anyone but the most ardent of fans. 3DS owners would be far better served waiting for the remastered versions of Pokemon Red and Blue than touching this with anything but the longest of barge poles.
In many ways, Unravel comes as a surprise. For one, EA isn't exactly your go-to publisher when it comes to smaller, riskier projects such as this. Then there's the developer, ColdWood Interactive, itself. Based in Umeå, Sweden – which explains a lot about Unravel's artistic influences – the team has worked on titles such as PlayStation Move Fitness and The Fight which, although serviceable, haven't bag them many accolades.
You already know if you are going to be buying Firewatch, and if you loved Everybody's Gone to the Rapture or Life Is Strange then this is the game for you. It's small, short and almost perfectly formed, it's just the shame the game broke so many times when I was playing it. I'm hoping these problems can be found and fixed very quickly after launch and I would suggest holding off buying the game until a patch has been released, but until then we don't have much of a choice but to mark an otherwise lovely game down due to the problems encountered.
Amazing Discoveries In Outer Space is a game that takes no prisoners. You need to be aware of everything to ensure survival, from not using too much fuel to deciding which planet could be worth landing on. While the design of the game is good and there is fun to be had, it comes at the cost of a lot of repetition. There are a couple of things thrown in to mix it up and keep you on your toes, but even those are limited and can't stave off that fact for long. Cosmic Picnic have created a good game and if you like tough roguelikes then you'll have some fun with this.
My experience of Mordheim: City of the Damned is one where knowledge of the source material is both a blessing and a curse. This isn't a bad game, and despite its flaws there is still fun to be found in the Empire's official worst city to live in. I am well aware that some of my criticism stems from my personal love of Games Workshop's ill-fated tabletop classic, but at the same time, this also affected my enjoyment in a positive way. A game which allows me to have online Mordheim-lite matches with friends is great, but ultimately its blemishes stop it ascending to brilliance.