NZGamer's Reviews
I totally understand the creators wanting to ride the success of the hype they got on social media, I mean, how often does that happen? But really this feels like a waste of time, let alone money.
Project CARS expects you to spend hours on end, placing all your concentration on the race at hand, perfecting each turn, to chastise yourself for making simple mistakes, and to drive the same course over and over again in an effort to get that "perfect lap". While not all of their efforts have translated perfectly, Project CARS comes pretty damn close. Some frame rate drops hampered my experience, but overall Project CARS has done what it set out to do: build a fantastic looking, authentic racing simulator.
MachineGames have, again, gone beyond the scope of what most people would come to expect from a game with the Wolfenstein tag on it.
When you take into account that the whole game - art, story, music, design, programming, everything - is the work of a single person, problems like these become a bit more forgivable, though. You can't be a master of everything, and Tom Happ has cleared mastered the exploration element, level design, and sense of progression - the most fundamental parts of a Metroidvania game.
The new features in the expansion are highly enjoyable and make Empires worth replaying, just to get the chance to try everything out. Having kids and using the enhanced stratagems are definitely the top changes; even if the battle system might feel old, it adds value to what already is a concrete battle system.
I suggest waiting until more of these Chronicles titles have been released to see how well they end up fairing as a whole. They might be worth it in the end, but for right now? Only if you're wanting a few hours of meaningless stealth action in your life.
State of Decay has everything you could ever imagine in a zombie game, and than some. But, it still plays and feels like an Xbox Live Arcade game. Thankfully, at around $30, it's priced like one too. Running away from the zombies infesting Trumbull Valley I continually got stuck on invisible obstacles, attacked through walls, and had special powerful zombies appear from nowhere, and disappear just as quickly. But, even that didn't stop me enjoying the game. Despite what you may have heard, shooting zombies in the head and being torn in two by the living dead, never gets old.
Admittedly I am Bread is limited by its own choice of object. A slice of bread isn't exactly the prime candidate for platforming - it comes with certain mechanical consequences. As such the game can sometimes feel like a victim of its own creativity, but I am thankful it tried anyway.
Ultimately there's less micro-management in Cities: Skylines than in SimCity, but it in no way feels like something cut-down or "cloney." No, Cities: Skylines is its own game - an impressive feat considering the lineage of the genre.
If you're a hardcore Monster Hunter fan, you'll probably find Toukiden wanting. But for everyone else - and especially people like me, who've struggled to get into the hunting genre but like the idea of it - this is a perfect place to jump in.
Overall, Mortal Kombat X is easily the deepest in the series, in terms of both story and combat mechanics. The microtransactions are a minor issue in the face of the great gameplay, but this is still the best title in the series. One thing's for sure: the next Mortal Kombat has a lot to live up to.
Titan Souls can be fun to begin with, and although there aren't any noticeable bugs, because there are so many things I found annoying, I can't say it's worth it if you're just wanting a good time.
Going into Mario Party 10, you should expect to find the traditional board-game / mini-game setup, but prepare to ride that see-saw of over-zealous joy and almost unbearable frustration with the new ideas that the game introduces. Either way, Mario Party 10 creates a massive hype in the living room, for better or worse, and that to me is always a winner.
If you don't have any of the Wii consoles, and you're interested in seeing what all the fuss is about, then I can't recommend this highly enough. Most gamers can expect over 80 hours of gametime, fantastic characters and voice-acting and some of the best graphics seen on a Nintendo handheld. Whether you buy this for your home console or your New 3DS, it's one of the better JRPGs to have launched in the last few years.
You can polish a turd to make it look better, but in the end, it is still just a shiny turd.
Amazing presentation and a wonderfully charismatic main character go a long way to making this worthwhile, but a particularly frustrating, dated brand of difficulty makes seeing this adventure through to the end a big ask for all but the most dedicated.
If you're returning to Dark Souls II, you'll either come away pleased that you're on the same page as the designers, or annoyed by the seemingly perfunctory remix of enemy and item placement. On the other hand, brand new players may find Scholar of the First Sin to be an ideal, more guided tour of the world of Drangleic.
For a more arcade-style (but surprisingly deep) baseball game , check out our review of Super Mega Baseball! - Ed.
Bladestorm: Nightmare is a game that suffers from its fundamentals. The act of moving your troops around the battlefield, and engaging in combat, is too far removed from the player's input – leading to frustration rather than gratification. Adding dragons to the mix doesn't shake up the formula, and highlights that not all games can act as frameworks for other concepts.
Actually, screw(ball) it. Baseball is cricket's sexier, more confident, and more exciting older cousin, and is better in every way.