AshenWon

I cannot describe how close to perfect this game hits the nail on the head. A vast world to explore. Hogwarts is a labyrinth of passages and areas drenched in lore and interaction. Key locations are beautifully recreated with so much grace. The musical score is phenomenal. Tons and tons of worthwhile collectibles and purpose of progression. But most importantly is that what has been created respects the source material and is 100% faithful. The atmosphere captured is lightning in a bottle. I would go as far to say this is the ultimate book/movie to game adaptation.

Recommend for any 90s survival horror fan. Definitely hits the nail on the head replicating a PSX era Silent Hill/RE video game. Also some similarities with Metal Gear Solid. The puzzles created are intuitive and fresh, although at the same time very typical. Combat is a little janky, but is to be expected with the genre. I really enjoy when a game doesn’t hold you hand, tell you what to do, where to go and make courtesy auto saves every minute so this goes down well in my book. There is a sense of pressure knowing that if you make a mistake it will bear a cost. Price point is fair at £15 for the game complexity and length. My only gripe is trying to enter rooms seems to be troublesome when being chased. Almost as if when in danger, the action button to open a door doesn’t register several times causing the player to take damage! I am not sure if this is ‘coded’ this way to create suspense, sheer coincidence, or due to frantic panic, but it is deeply annoying! I would love to see what the team could do with a bigger budget and larger scale game.

I would like to give this a 6.5 but rounded it up to a 7. The game has its flaws, but redeems itself on many areas it excels at. The graphics stand out as the top percentile of todays console games, excluding first party titles. Audio is slightly above average, surprisingly, I did expect more in that department. The universe, the characters and the enemy designs is spectacular and in my opinion is what saves this from becoming an average 3rd person shooter. That and the combat which is unique and quite fun - although not quite ‘’Dead Space fun’’. It has annoyances though. Far too much crawling through vents (although the vent crawling animation exceeds any title out there), and too much shimmying through crevasses and tight spaces. Really spoils the pacing. Also the stealth areas are tiresome. With such good combat it seemed out of place. There’s a few moments of enemy vocals when there is in fact no enemies to be seen which was a bit of a cheap tactic. Mostly however, I didn’t feel as tense or as scared as I did with Dead Space 1 and 2 - which was where the bar was set for me. Overall I would very much recommend the game but here’s hoping for a few improvements if there is ever room for a sequel on the horizon.

Sonic Frontiers is the Mario Galaxy/Breath of the Wild of ingenuity. A unique experience which takes a gamble that pays off. So incredibly pleased that this franchise has had a major success and hopefully continues to do so.

Overall it’s a fun game and I’m glad I decided to give it a chance. Graphically it’s a marvel (most of the time). The general movement and facial animations are outstanding, I would say best in class. Lighting is also a technical masterpiece the way it shines on hair, skin and material is nothing short of spectacular. At some points you can question if the non-playable sections is real footage. I particularly like the use of depth-of-field which blurs the protagonist rather than medium/long distance environments. This effect is used very well and I hope more 3rd person perspective games use this or at least make the feature optional. The voice acting and mo-cap is also stellar, although I think the writing sabotages the great work the actors and actresses have put in. What I mean by that is that the game is supposed to be survival horror, and while the acting is highly rated, the lines themselves diminish the horror element. Most characters rarely look or feel scared in relation to their current situation. In place of dialogue that would make the player more uneasy/nervous/fearful, the writers over-do clever quips, cheesy/humorous one liners or have the characters ignore horrific events with a blasé attitude. This completely destroys the tension in my opinion and results in a playthrough that just isn’t scary. Even less so on a repeated playthrough when the mystery has already been unravelled. And just to clarify, this isn’t a singular character playing the joker, it’s the majority of them. And it’s not just at the initial character building stage, it’s throughout the entire ordeal. They just don’t act like they are in any real danger and it’s atmosphere breaking. The story itself is serviceable and does everything I suspect the makers intended. It’s not too convoluted, a bit predictable and contains the typical teen horror tropes that we expect; a Jock, Loner, Nerd, the Pretty Girl (on the outside at least). A few of which are well written and others that are completely unbelievable/un-relatable or just plain annoying (the latter kind of being a good thing in the case of a decision making game of life and death). Again, some of the characters and their actions completely suspend the immersion. Overall I would say 7/10 based on the great technical feats that the devs have pulled off, amazing acting from the cast, but points deducted for the writing decisions which distracted me from the horror genre I expected the game to focus on.

While it certainly wouldn’t be a GoTY contender, the game is a barrel of fun and certainly provides enough subtle (and some not so subtle) fan service. The story, while serviceable, is a derivative to the original film(s). It follows a very similar arc, visiting the same locations, seeing the same faces etc. but to be honest, that’s pretty much what I wanted to see. If it were a film, it would be a copout, but as a game, it works! It’s safe, but still enjoyable. The game mechanics are intuitive and work well - using 4x different style proton packs to tackle various ghosts or puzzles. Standard weapon/item upgrades, nothing groundbreaking. But, where the game really shines however is of course the cast, and their interactions. Wonderful voice acting all around. Also incredible orchestral music, as expected. Personally, I think the game is better than a 7/10, but trying to be objective and in the interest of fairness I will stick with the 7. I do however think that this game has earned the title of ‘cult classic’, because I know that this is a much loved game. It’s something players can fall back on over time with great comfort and nostalgia.

The original on steroids. It’s the ultimate experience, an emotional rollercoaster and terrifying yet beautiful piece of work. No other game comes close to this. Arguably the best looking game to date across any platform.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

The game oozes style and perfection like no other. From the interfaces to the tinkles of pianos in the menus. Arguably my favourite car list on a racing game. The main campaign with the menu books provided enjoyable motivation and gave a nice personal touch. Scapes, the rotational car dealerships, and just overall vibe of the game is actually pretty incredible. Unfortunately I have to deduct points on the always online ‘feature’ and the game’s economics. The average player can kiss-bye ever earning some of the legendary cars unless they invest IRL. Sport mode is incredibly shallow, with minimum financial gain and lacklustre competitiveness it feels extremely unrewarding. The typical online match consists of waiting 15 minutes in a menu (literally a 15 minute fixed counter on the screen) for the race to even start, all to begin and finish in the similar position after a further 15-20 minute and earn 7000 credits (desirable cars will be in the millions)… I even came first one time and was so excited to see a grand payout after how remarkably hard that feat was and got no more than 10,000 credits. Utterly pointless. Fantastic single player experience that could’ve been boosted further if the economics were finer tuned. Online, as with most games, feels like a poor obligatory bolt-on.

FROM yet again use their Midas touch to create yet another masterpiece. The cooperative accessibility really helped propel this game into being my favourite SoulsBourne title. It’s open world, while not revolutionary, is significantly delivered better than most other AAA titles. I think this has to do with how it still doesn’t really hold your hand. Commonly, waypoints destroy the immersion and sense of exploration and wonder, but Elden Ring doesn’t ‘instruct you at all times’. It merely points you in the right direction and it does it so well you may not even consciously realise. The graphics have improved, as they tend to on each title. They fall slightly short of the Demons Souls remake, but it can easily be forgiven for the sheer scale of Elden Ring which impossibly seemed to get bigger and bigger throughout my playthrough. The story is very reminiscent of FROMs predecessors. I don’t think I have the patience or mental capacity to understand it all (I’ll stick to YouTube deep dives to explain character relationships and further lore). It’s quite deep and complex, but the core objective is Dark Souls nuance. Tons of value for money, a game that will be cherished for generations. It’s a remarkable feat, and while not everyone enjoys these types of games, they should certainly take the gamble if they are on the fence.