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Toem is a short and sweet adventure game. Your goal is to complete quests by taking photographs and solving some light puzzles. The art style is a minimalist black and white aesthetic, with the interconnected environments and NPCs appearing to be hand-drawn. The story is a basic tale of voyage and return. On PS5 it runs at a smooth 60 fps and probably 4K. You can beat the game in 3 hours or so if you complete the minimum number of quests required in each area, but if you wanna 100% the game then add another hour or two. Overall it's a cute and relaxing, if unchallenging, game and I recommend it.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Balan Wonderworld is a trainwreck ****. It's a cute 3D platformer but other than moving around, your abilities depend entirely on which costume you happen to wear. There is a costume for a spin jump, another for a long jump, a third one for spitting fireballs, a fourth one for jumping and slamming down, and so on. Abilities that are taken for granted in 3D platformers or are unlockable, here are just randomised, that's some odd decision-making. You can hold 3 costumes at any time or find different ones in the levels. Even then, controls are far from being tight and precise. And I haven't even touched the technical issues of this game with low frame rate and ridiculous grass pop-in like 2-3 meters away from the avatar. On PS5 the game kinda runs at 60 fps, but moving objects and even parts of the environment that lie 10-15 meters away run at 30 fps or lower. On last-gen consoles and the Switch it's said the game runs horribly. At least I didn't experience any Cyberpunk 2077-style freezes, slowdowns and glitches. I know there were issues behind the scenes during this game's development, where creator Yuji Naka had a diss with Square Enix and was fired, but even if that's to blame for the technical shortcomings and lack of polish, the core game idea is nothing special. And that's a shame. I expected more from the lead programmer of the classic Sonic games. I played this game for 1 hour or so, up until the first boss fight, and was disappointed enough to delete the game. At least I didn't pay for this game because it's currently free for PS Plus Extra/Premium subscribers.

Just forget this game is named Diablo Immortal. It could be called anything and it wouldn't matter. It's a free to play game that's plagued by loot boxes and is designed to hook people so badly they gonna ruin themselves financially. Unfortunately mainstream reviewers are paid to shill for this scam. Since governments are not banning such predatory tactics, only you can save yourselves. Avoid such abominations of games, and pay $60 on a quality old-school console or PC game instead. Fakk mobile and free to play gaming.

Just forget this game is named Diablo Immortal. It could be called anything and it wouldn't matter. It's a free to play game that's plagued by loot boxes and is designed to hook people so badly they gonna ruin themselves financially. Since governments are not banning such predatory tactics, only you can save yourselves. Avoid such abominations of games, and pay $60 on a quality old-school console or PC game instead. Fakk mobile and free to play gaming.

Returnal is an awesome game from Housemarque, I just wish it wasn't designed as a rogue-like game. Returnal is an evolution over Housemarque's previous arcade shooters (****, Resogun, Nex Machina, etc.). This game is a 3rd person shooter with bullet hell elements. AFAIK there is nothing quite like it out there, it's a unique game. The shooting mechanics feel nice, there are various different weapons (pistols, shotguns, carbines, etc.) each with a secondary fire mode, and you have various other tools at your disposal (dash, blade for melee strikes, grappling hook, etc.). You also collect various consumables, materials, and parasites that can affect you both positively and negatively at the same time. Graphics are very nice and atmospheric, the game is clearly inspired by sci-fi movies such as Alien and Prometheus. Frame rate is rock solid 60 fps with barely any slowdown. And sound design is terrific, with slight horror vibes. Just play this game with headphones to appreciate the 3D Audio, no speakers can do it justice. There is also a story running in parallel, hinting at protagonist Selene's personal struggles, but it's not as well designed as the rest of the game and feels like an afterthought to be honest. The only real problem with Returnal is the rogue-like elements. When you die you lose everything (except for a few permanent upgrades) and have to start over from the first area (aka Biome). I'd rather restart each Biome rather than having to start from the very beginning. This was annoying especially in the early days because there was no save functionality and people lost hours of progress when either switching the console off or playing another game. It took a few months but Housemarque updated Returnal by adding a save functionality to remedy that. Overall, Returnal is a must play for PS5 owners. Just be prepared to withstand the frustration that comes with it being a rogue-like game.

This DLC expansion for Final Fantasy VII Remake is underwhelming and overpriced. In this episode you play as Yuffie, a ninja on the hunt for materia. Her playstyle is different from the main game's heroes, she throws a bladed weapon which attaches to enemies and she can either deal damage with magic attacks from a distance or launch herself towards enemies to land melee physical attacks. Accompanying her is Sonon, a new character you can't take direct control of (unlike the main game where you can freely switch between heroes during battles) but only issue commands to perform. The overall level of difficulty is quite easy, but Hard Mode (unlocked after beating the DLC once) is a step up. You'll have to grind to Level 50 before attempting to survive on Hard Mode, but even then it's doable. Contentwise this episode is poor. They rehash the Midgar slums map for chapter 1 with a couple of quick missions, and have a series of boringly-designed dungeons inside Shinra HQ in chapter 2. There are 3 new boss fights but only the last one is challenging. The combat simulator makes a return, you can grind fights to farm XP and reach Level 50, and there is a couple of new simulator-only boss fights. They added another simulator boss which confusingly can be accessed only through the main game's combat simulator. Also they added a mini game (Fort Condor) which is interesting and challenging. You are looking at 5 hours or so to beat the DLC, and another 5 hours to beat it again on Hard Mode. Another 5 hours if you go for all the trophies. Graphics and music are as cool as they are on the main Final Fantasy VII Remake game, but the story is almost non-existent. It's a happy go lucky ride for Yuffie, with little happening along the way. Just like the main game, you got the option to run the game in either Performance (60 fps at 1512p) or Graphics Mode (30 fps at 4K). Overall, the Episode Intermission is an expansion to the main Final Fantasy VII Remake game, but with less substance than required. For $20/€20 you don't get a good deal of content. Should have been priced half that or less. Or the content should have been of higher quality.

Forged In Shadow Torch (aka FIST) is a great modern Metroidvania game, and the closest we ever got to a AAA production for this genre. FIST's presentation is its strongest feature, with Unreal Engine 4-powered steampunk-style graphics and great cut-scenes with voice-acting that move forward the story. This isn't another game like Guacamelee where the story takes a backseat in favor of gameplay, there is a real story going on with some great-written animal-based characters. Graphics are 4K and run at 60 fps on PS5. On PC the game features Ray Tracing effects which are missing from the PS5 version. The developers said they could update the PS5 version with Ray Tracing post-launch, but so far they haven't (and I don't see it ever happening). Gameplay doesn't break any new grounds for the genre, but doesn't disappoint either. You begin exploring the world with limited abilities but slowly unlock more and more skills and gadgets as you go, opening new paths that were previously inaccessible. The combat system is designed somewhat like a fighting game, you can grab and throw enemies, learn various combos and mix up different weapons on-the-fly if you like, but you can make do even with simplistic yet effective 3-hit combos. There is a dodge button for quick manoeuvers. But one blemish of the fighting-like combat system is that standard actions like parries or uppercuts are considered as special moves and require to spend an energy point to activate them. Another negative point is the clunkiness of some stealth sections and some puzzles with moving batteries around ain't well-designed. FIST will likely last you a good 12 hours or so to beat the main story, and probably closer to 20 hours if you want to do all the side content and explore every nook and cranny of the map. Pretty meaty game for 30 USD or Euros. If you wanna see what a modern AAA-style take on the metroidvania template would be like, I recommend checking out FIST.

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy is an awesome comic book-based videogame, closer to the magnificent Spider-Man than the awful Avengers. The game is set up exactly like the MCU GotG movies. There is tons of humor, lots of banter between the squad members, and a great space adventure to be experienced. It's nice that the voice actors and the graphics artists are not trying to emulate the looks of the MCU versions of Star-Lord et al., and each hero is a unique reinterpretation of the originals from the comic books. GotG is a squad-based light RPG in the style of Mass Effect. You control Star-Lord and give commands to the AI controlled party members. The game is single player and very linear, which is a good thing for story-based games, in a world where every game tries to be a 60-hours-long open world epic, or even worse, a live service game (Avengers, I'm looking at you). The graphics are great to look at, but the game's optimization is sub-par. On PS5 you can choose between a Quality mode (4K at 30 fps) and a Performance 60 fps mode that drops resolution lower than expected, down to just 1080p, along with lower quality settings. Animation is OK even though nothing extraordinary, but it's still a big improvement compared with the E3 2021 trailer where animation quality was utter junk. There are still patches coming to fix streaming issues and little visual bugs, but I don't expect developers to improve this game as much as they'd have to. There is a clear lack of budget and time to polish the game well enough. What this game lacks in technical deficiency makes up for it with an excellent soundtrack. There are lots of licensed songs from the '80s, as well an an original heavy metal album with songs written by the fictitious Star-Lord band. You can even read the in-game CD album's lyrics sheet, like everyone used to in the past, at the game's intro. And if you are a streamer, you can select to feature only the original album in the background in order to avoid music labels taking down your streams. Overall, GotG is a must play game for everyone. It has some technical deficiencies, but it also has a lot of heart inside. I'd rate it higher if it was more polished, but it's still a great game.

Death Stranding launched on PS4 in late 2019 and polarized people due to some curious design decisions from Hideo Kojima. It's rather ironic for a game about uniting the world. After releasing on PC the game has gained some more recognition and respect among the gaming community. Now that the Director's Cut has arrived on PS5, console gamers can experience the game again with technical upgrades and a few more gameplay additions. Death Stranding is a different kind of experience, modeled after games such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild rather than GTA or Assassin's Creed. It's more about traversing the environment than meeting a quest-giver every 5 meters or so and go all guns blazing. It also focuses on establishing connections with NPCs and human players alike. You receive emails from NPCs which trigger an emotion of worry, and you get social media-style "likes" from other real players roaming the game's world and using the structures you left behind. It's an asymmetrical online system inspired by the Souls/Bloodborne games. The game's story is a mix of sci-fi, philisophy and human tragedy. The story itself is fine, full of typical Hideo Kojima twists and turns, but many people will be left scratching their heads. The game's overall atmosphere (a blend of tranquility, solitude and horror) is unique. The actors' performances are the best you can find in gaming, although it's clear they didn't have as much time to shoot their scenes as it's possible on movies. Hideo Kojima has created some fantastic characters with interesting backstories, but a few of them end up a disappointment (particularly Higgs, voiced by Troy Baker, and Fragile, voiced by Lea Seydoux). The world building though is almost flawless. The main gameplay loop is about delivering cargo from point A to point B. But the trick is in traversing the environment. As you walk around, you have to balance the weight of the cargo you are carrying, and also use the tools at your disposal to cross a chasm, descend a big vertical drop, etc. Basically the environment is a puzzle you have to solve in order to proceed to the next mission - or rather, delivery. Apart from environmental hazards there are threats coming from humans who want to rob you of your cargo, and from ghosts called BTs that can grab you and force you to fight otherworldly creatures in a shifting landscape. Unfortunately the boss fights of Death Stranding are few and far in between, and of low quality, just like Kojima's MGSV The Phantom Pain. They could have been something special, especially the Mads Mikkelsen sections, but the way they have been implemented is mediocre at best. Bosses are slow to respond, easy to avoid, just spam them with bullets and you are done with them (or you can just leave most of the boss fight areas and the fight stops). Only 2 encounters towards the end are what you'd call a true boss fight, but don't expect anything that matches Hideo Kojima's brilliant accomplishments in past MGS games. The Director's Cut additions include some new equipment, a racing mode, a firing range (basically the VR Missions from old MGS games), new customization options, a few new OST tracks, and a few more story missions. On the technical side, Death Stranding is a luxurious production. Graphics were some of the best found on PS4 and are still striking on the PS5. Now you got to choose from 4 graphical options, all of them targeting 60 fps (some of them better than others). There is a standard 16:9 mode and an ultrawide 21:9 mode with black bars and wider FOV, and each mode has Performance and Quality options. I think it's best to stick with the standard 16:9 Performance mode, don't engage the ultrawide mode unless you got a really big TV or monitor to compensate for the loss of screen area. This game has one of the most memorable OSTs in recent memory, and the 3D Audio tech enhances the acoustic experience. The Dualsense controller is also used wisely, with the adaptive triggers and the haptics increasing the immersion factor. You can import your PS4 save and continue on PS5 from where you left off, but it's a convoluted process. Death Stranding is a unique experience. It's surreal that this game launched merely months before the Covid pandemic hit the world, lockdowns were put in place isolating people from one another, and dependence on delivery men grew more than ever. Playing the game in a post-Covid world feels completely different than before, because we can relate to the in-game world thanks to our own experience coping with the pandemic. Give this game a try if you are tired of modern AAA games recycling same old same concepts and ripping you off with loot boxes and microtransactions. If you just want to endlessly and mindlessly shoot and punch enemies, Death Stranding isn't for you.

Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart is a joyful new game in the series, taking advantage of the PS5's SSD to deliver some new things that couldn't be done on PS4. If you've played any previous Ratchet and Clank game before, you'll feel at home with this one. This is a story based 3rd person shooter with platforming elements and great characters. Crazy gadgets and weapons have always been what makes this series' gameplay stand out. Previous games have featured sandbox-style open levels but this new game offers a couple of levels that are quite large maps, almost open worlds on their own complete with side quests and NPCs. They are so big in fact that you are given rocket boots to travel faster than by feet, as if driving a vehicle. Shooting enemies is the main activity but there are also other things to do. First there are the dimensional puzzles of Clank. Then there are the twin stick shooter levels with Glitch where you clean up viruses in computers. There are a few racing sequences with the speed bug (not races to win a trophy, but just races to escape). And you can find many dimensional bubbles, or rather mini levels, to explore for bonuses. No other game out there delivers this experience of instantaneous dimension hopping as well as this game does, thanks to the ultra fast SSD. There is also a sequence far into the game with the giant robot seen in the trailers that couldn't possibly be done on PS4 in a real-time in-engine cutscene. Instead on PS5 this sequence is rendered in real-time and playable, even though it's on-rails and scripted, but so much is happening that PS4 could only playback an FMV video of it. Insomniac Games again deliver an outstanding amount of choice when it comes to graphics and frame rate. Similar to what they've done with Spiderman Remastered and Miles Morales, you can choose between a Quality mode (dynamic 4K30 with Ray Tracing reflections), a Performance mode (dynamic 4K60 without RT) and a Performance RT mode (dynamic 1080p60 with Ray Tracing reflections). Personally I always play these games on Performance RT mode because it offers the best of both worlds (60 fps and RT). Recently the developers patched a new 120Hz mode that allows you to play the game with lower latency at 60 fps for the Performance Modes (with and without Ray Tracing) and a 40 fps option when selecting the (normally 30 fps) Fidelity Mode at 4K resolution. The star of the show is the Dualsense controller. The haptics ain't as good as those of Astro's Playroom (a game literally designed around the Dualsense), but the adaptive triggers basically act as 2 buttons each. Most of the weapons provide 2 modes, like press the trigger halfway for a single shot or press it fully to switch to continuous fire. Input latency is also low. The 3D Audio effect is pretty neat, too, especially with headphones. The story isn't anything sophisticated. Just like previous games, it's merely an excuse to zap enemy robots with exotic weaponry. But the concept of the dimension hopping is well-realized by centering the plot around the dimensionator weapon shown in the trailers. You've probably heard it already, so here it is. With dimension hopping you get to meet alternate versions of the established characters. Rivet is a good new character, but she replaces Ratchet as lead character for most of the game's duration. One little complaint that I have about this game is the bugs. The game doesn't crash, nor is my character launched into space. Some times when speeding up with the rocket boots through a level I get stack as if I was hitting an invisible wall when it shouldn't happen, easily solved with a simple jump. Other times I have encountered mission progression bugs (mostly on Clank's dimension puzzle levels when swapping spheres), which is easily fixed with a checkpoint restart. Last but not least, although this game has plenty of quality, I wish it had a bit more content or a lower price. At $70/80 Euros this game costs a bit too much money. Overall Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart is a technical showcase for the PS5. Developers Insomniac Games are easily my favorite Sony studio after releasing multiple quality games within 3 years (Spiderman, Spiderman Remastered, Miles Morales, now Rift Apart). Can't wait for their next game.

Sackboy: A Big Adventure is an isometric 3D platformer game based on the LittleBigPlanet franchise but stripped of the creativity mode. Some people will miss the creativity mode (at least you can still customize Sackboy's appearance with new outfits), but I think this way the game gained what every LittleBigPlanet game before it lacked: cohesion, focus and quality on the campaign mode. Just look at Media Molecule's Dreams, which went full on the creativity aspect but lacks a campaign for players to play through (whatever single player content is included there is an afterthought at best). This time around there is no big-name actor narrating like in previous LittleBigPlanet games, but there is another in-game character acting as a guide. Sackboy remains silent as always. But the game's antagonist Vex is a great character. Playing Sackboy is joyful, with colorful environments and solid platforming which becomes more challenging as you advance through the 5 worlds (there is a secret 6th world which is even more challenging), and there are quite a few boss fights. On specific levels you will be given a tool such as a boomerang or flying boots in order to progress. You can always invite other players (party of up to 4 players) to join you, either locally or online. But what annoys me is the game's collectathon aspect. You won't have an issue beating the game and see the credits, but unlocking the secret 6th world and all of its levels requires you to find all of the blue orbs scattered in every level. Graphically Sackboy isn't anything to write home about, but it's still pleasant to see. A nice upgrade versus the older LittleBigPlanet games is that Sackboy runs at locked 60 fps, providing a smooth playing experience. The game's soundtrack is awesome, with plenty of nice tunes. There are 5 music-based levels which are tuned to "move" according to the music currently playing. "Moving" includes anything from simple shake of parts of the level to moving platforms and activating jump pads according to the beat. On PS5 the game makes limited use of the Dualsense, which is a shame. Resolution is a bit higher than 1440p but definitely not full 4K. Sackboy is easily the best 3D platformer you can buy outside of Nintendo's Mario games. Just play it and you'll enjoy it.

Trine 4 is a co-op puzzle 2D platformer game, taking place in a fictional, lighthearted world of sword and sorcery. This game is a return to form for the developers, after the bad reviews they got for Trine 3. There is a story, but is rudimentary at best as it lacks any depth and ambition. It's just an excuse for the 3 heroes to go on a new adventure of puzzle-solving. The graphics are gorgeous. There are 3D polygonal heroes, objects and NPCs set in a 2D world. And the music is nice. But the voice overs are mediocre. Gameplay-wise it's a standard puzzle 2D platformer game with physics-based objects that can be manipulated. Every room you visit is a puzzle that has to be solved, and every once in a while you have to fight some enemies or the occasional boss. This game's difficulty is quite low overall, but in the final third of the game there are a series of awful puzzles. Not difficult, but awfully designed. Not only that, the whole game's puzzles feel like they were designed around a single player who can switch characters at will, but aren't balanced well enough for 3 players. There are a few puzzles towards the end that me and my 2 mates couldn't pass through, I think we only beat them thanks to unexpected bugs and glitches, or physics that went haywire. I was having some fun in the first 12 chapters or so, but after that and until the end credits I had an unpleasant experience. I would play a Trine 5 in the future, but please balance the puzzles for 1, 2 and 3 players, not just 1. And make sure to design the puzzles in a better way.

Abzu is a great art game, made in the same style as thatgamecompany's Journey. Instead of traversing a desert, in Abzu you swim through a series of underwater levels, with the occasional puzzle (pull a switch or two) to solve. You'll marvel at the numbers of fish rendered at once, even though every object's polygon count is rather low. However, even though Abzu is inspired by Journey (some of the developers worked on that game, too), it's not as good. Abzu lasts roughly 90 minutes but unlike Journey there is no encounter with random strangers online, and the music is just not of the same quality. I was annoyed by sections where you have to avoid proximity mines, but you won't lose no matter how many times you are zapped. But just like Journey, there are beautiful scenes to behold, such as meeting whales or riding through jetstreams and pick up some fish to accompany you. Abzu is not the best art game but it's one of the better ones.

Journey is the ultimate art game. The player controls a robed figure on a journey through a desert towards a distant mountain, which can be seen from the beginning. Gameplay is very limited, there are no puzzles to solve nor enemies to shoot, but the beauty of the game is its vistas and the experience of meeting random strangers online and marching forward together. It's possible to meet another random player from the beginning and finish the game together if they don't separate. Upon reaching the cold mountain traversal becomes more difficult and then the final act is an awesome combination of fantastical vistas and music, unmatched by any other game I've played since. This game lasts 4 hours or so, but you should do yourselves a favor and play this game even if it is rather short. It's quality that matters, not quantity. As a side note, the PS4 version technically runs better (1080p and 60 fps) than the original did on PS3 (720p and 30 fps). There is a minor downgrade in the way sand is rendered compared with the PS3 version, but most people won't even notice. The game's still beautiful.

Journey is the ultimate art game. The player controls a robed figure on a journey through a desert towards a distant mountain, which can be seen from the beginning. Gameplay is very limited, there are no puzzles to solve nor enemies to shoot, but the beauty of the game is its vistas and the experience of meeting random strangers online and marching forward together. It's possible to meet another random player from the beginning and finish the game together if they don't separate. Upon reaching the cold mountain traversal becomes more difficult and then the final act is an awesome combination of fantastical vistas and music, unmatched by any other game I've played since. This game lasts 3-4 hours, but you should do yourselves a favor and play this game even if it is rather short. It's quality that matters, not quantity.

Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales - Ultimate Edition is, well, the ultimate PS5 game to date. Included in this bundle are Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered and Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Spider-Man is not just the best superhero game ever released. It's one of the best games ever released, and my personal favorite over the past decade or so. I rarely replay games, but I've played this one 4 times (twice each on both PS4 and PS5) and got the Platinum Trophy twice. The gameplay, the story, the characters, the technology, the audio, every element of this game is of very high quality. Fan service is also abundant, where most of the significant Spider-Man characters are present, and even Stan Lee makes a sweet MCU-style cameo. Also included is the 3-part "The City That Never Sleeps" Season Pass. Miles Morales is the same game at its core, but with a new protagonist, new moveset, new enemies, and a smaller campaign. I wasn't too impressed by this spin-off compared to the first game because it's not paced as well as the original due to its shorter duration (it's not a question of quantity over quality, rather just less quality overall), but it's still a great game on its own (got the Platinum Trophy on that one, too). I can't praise the developers of Insomniac Games enough. Their work is absolutely top-class, and IMHO they have become better than Sony's other top studios such as Naughty Dog and Sony Santa Monica. They initially released these games with 2 options to play (Performance at 60 fps and Quality with Ray Tracing at 30 fps), and soon after launch managed to patch a 3rd mode (RT Performance) which offers the best of both worlds (Ray Tracing at 60 fps with close to 1080p resolution). I wouldn't recommend anyone buy the standard Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales on its own at full price because it's a rather short game for the price. But the Ultimate Edition is a much better deal. For a little more money you also get one of the best games ever released, and to be frank Spider-Man is a better overall game than Miles Morales.

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time is the long-awaited sequel to the original Naughty Dog-developed trilogy of classic games released 20+ years ago on the original Playstation. That's a miracle considering that Crash Bandicoot was a dead franchise for the past decade or so thanks to Vivendi and Activision having released a multitude of games ranging from mediocre to awful (not unlike Sonic the Hedgehog, I'm afraid). Then the unthinkable happened, with Activision releasing a remake of the original Playstation games (The N. Sane Trilogy and Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled) and re-igniting interest in the series. I grew up with Crash Bandicoot and I'm thankful for the existence of this exquisite 4th game. Gameplay is a return to form for the series, with new abilities such as wall jump, wall running, dimension-swapping, and even a few more playable characters with different playstyles. You have to break all boxes in order to unlock gems and whatnot, but you won't be able to do all these things until you progress far into the game and acquire more abilities. After you beat a level you can replay it with a time attack mode or the so-called "N. Verted mode" where you run through the inverted level plus graphical filters that change the look and feel of the level. In other words, if you wanna 100% this game you will have to replay all the levels many, many times. Don't let the cartoony graphics fool you, this is a tough platformer to play. I'd say difficulty is somewhere in-between the 1st and 2nd games. It's not as hardcore as the infamous 1st game, but it's no Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped-style walk in the park either where you could beat most levels on 1st try without dying once. Even if you don't attempt to break all crates and expose your character to danger, expect to die at least 5 times on each level on the 1st try on this new game (if you aim to break all the boxes expect to die 10+ times). The bosses are cool, too, not too far away from the boss fights of the first games. Graphics are very nice, although I'd like Crash Bandicoot's design to be closer to a teenager/young adult aesthetic (more in-line with how Crash Bandicoot used to be a teenager/young adult icon back in the day) than this kid-friendly look that somehow annoys me. On PS5 the game runs at 60 fps and renders at 4K with dynamic scaling. Added bonuses are the 3D Audio through a headset and the DualSense's haptics and adaptive triggers. All in all, this is the best version of the game. I'm still playing through Crash Bandicoot 4 and it's a joy to revisit one of my favorite franchises. I definitely recommend this game to any platformer fan, especially considering that nowadays platformers are not exactly abundant.

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time is the long-awaited sequel to the original Naughty Dog-developed trilogy of classic games released 20+ years ago on the original Playstation. That's a miracle considering that Crash Bandicoot was a dead franchise for the past decade or so thanks to Vivendi and Activision having released a multitude of games ranging from mediocre to awful (not unlike Sonic the Hedgehog, I'm afraid). Then the unthinkable happened, with Activision releasing a remake of the original Playstation games (The N. Sane Trilogy and Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled) and re-igniting interest in the series. I grew up with Crash Bandicoot and I'm thankful for the existence of this exquisite 4th game. Gameplay is a return to form for the series, with new abilities such as wall jump, wall running, dimension-swapping, and even a few more playable characters with different playstyles. You have to break all boxes in order to unlock gems and whatnot, but you won't be able to do all these things until you progress far into the game and acquire more abilities. After you beat a level you can replay it with a time attack mode or the so-called "N. Verted mode" where you run through the inverted level plus graphical filters that change the look and feel of the level. In other words, if you wanna 100% this game you will have to replay all the levels many, many times. Don't let the cartoony graphics fool you, this is a tough platformer to play. I'd say difficulty is somewhere in-between the 1st and 2nd games. It's not as hardcore as the infamous 1st game, but it's no Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped-style walk in the park either where you could beat most levels on 1st try without dying once. Even if you don't attempt to break all crates and expose your character to danger, expect to die at least 5 times on each level on the 1st try on this new game (if you aim to break all the boxes expect to die 10+ times). The bosses are cool, too, not too far away from the boss fights of the first games. Graphics are very nice, although I'd like Crash Bandicoot's design to be closer to a teenager/young adult aesthetic (more in-line with how Crash Bandicoot used to be a teenager/young adult icon back in the day) than this kid-friendly look that somehow annoys me. On both PS4 and PS4 Pro the game renders at 1080p and runs with an uncapped frame rate, ranging 30-50 fps on PS4 and 55-60 fps on PS4 Pro. This is disappointing news for PS4 users as I feel that 60 fps should have been the target for a platformer, even if it meant reducing the quality of the graphics. It's not unplayable on PS4 but if you have the option, play this game at 60 fps on PC, PS4 Pro or PS5. I'm still playing through Crash Bandicoot 4 and it's a joy to revisit one of my favorite franchises. I definitely recommend this game to any platformer fan, especially considering that nowadays platformers are not exactly abundant.

Marvel's Spider-Man (and spin-off Miles Morales) on PS4 and PS5 is a marvel ****. Marvel's Avengers is the exact opposite of a marvelous game. The problem is that Crystal Dynamics wanted to make a live service game without knowing how to actually make it. And because they designed it as a GaaS, there is no skill in this game's combat system, unlike the 2 games developed by Insomniac Games. You just have to deal damage to sponges, unleash powers and ultimates, and heal yourself, just like you would if you were playing a MMO. This design decision contradicts the very nature of superheroes. Can you imagine, for example, the Hulk being kicked in the ass by puny robots one quarter his size and them not being smashed with one hit? Or Thor swinging Mjolnir into human enemies and them still being alive after the hit? That's what we see in this game. I managed to play just the intro (which is easily the best part of the game) and a couple early missions where I had to deal with waves of spawning and re-spawning enemies in enclosed arenas for an eternity. Then I had enough. And that little girl Kamala Khan aka Miss Marvel is actually very annoying, on top of being a forced diversity/woke/SJW BS. On PS5 there are 2 modes to play the game, performance (60 fps with dynamic checkerboard 4K) and quality (30 fps with native 4K and some graphical improvements such as more destruction). As far as I know there is no Ray Tracing at all. At least loading times are greatly reduced compared with PS4. Yeah, I hate MMOs and loot-based games such as Destiny and The Division. But I'm pretty sure even people who like these genres would really dislike Marvel's Avengers. And I'm surprised we got a GaaS game by Square Enix instead of EA or Activision. I just wish Disney had allowed Sony to make an Avengers game.

Marvel's Spider-Man (and spin-off Miles Morales) on PS4 and PS5 is a marvel ****. Marvel's Avengers is the exact opposite of a marvelous game. The problem is that Crystal Dynamics wanted to make a live service game without knowing how to actually make it. And because they designed it as a GaaS, there is no skill in this game's combat system, unlike the 2 games developed by Insomniac Games. You just have to deal damage to sponges, unleash powers and ultimates, and heal yourself, just like you would if you were playing a MMO. This design decision contradicts the very nature of superheroes. Can you imagine, for example, the Hulk being kicked in the ass by puny robots one quarter his size and them not being smashed with one hit? Or Thor swinging Mjolnir into human enemies and them still being alive after the hit? That's what we see in this game. I managed to play just the intro (which is easily the best part of the game) and a couple early missions where I had to deal with waves of spawning and re-spawning enemies in enclosed arenas for an eternity. Then I had enough. And that little girl Kamala Khan aka Miss Marvel is actually very annoying, on top of being a forced diversity/woke/SJW BS. On PS4 performance is capped at 30 fps, but good luck with all the 20 fps drops when the action really heats up with dozens of enemies on screen. Yeah, I hate MMOs and loot-based games such as Destiny and The Division. But I'm pretty sure even people who like these genres would really dislike Marvel's Avengers. And I'm surprised we got a GaaS game by Square Enix instead of EA or Activision. I just wish Disney had allowed Sony to make an Avengers game.

Control is a game developed by Remedy, of Max Payne and Alan Wake fame. At its core it's a 3rd person shooter with sci-fi/paranormal elements, but the story itself is lacking. You take control of Jesse Faden, a woman who enters the premises of the FBC, an agency where paranormal things happen, and is appointed as Director not even 1 hour after she entered the building for the first time. You are introduced to several characters, and there is some decent world building with the Hiss and whatnot, but the central plot is unimaginative to say the least. It's almost as if it was an afterthought. Jesse Faden is one of the least inspiring protagonists I have seen in a videogame in recent times. Graphics are great, even though the art style is not very much to my liking. This game was heralded as having the most advanced Ray Tracing graphics when it launched on PC back in 2019, but the PS4 version was 5hit with lots of sub-30 fps gameplay. The PS5 version of the game is a step above the last gen one, and gamers have the option to select at any time between 60 fps without RT or 30 fps with RT, both modes at 1440p. I went with the 60 fps mode because the 30 fps mode seems to be jerky with bad frame pacing. Also loading times are greatly reduced. Beyond the technicalities, I have to say that the maps are horribly designed, the minimap is a mess, but at least the directional signs on the walls actually helped me understand where I am and where I have to go. Gameplay is a standard 3rd person shooter, but the star of the show are the superpowers of Jesse. You can launch any object near you at an enemy while waiting for your weapon ammo to regenerate, you can levitate, mind control enemies, and a few more tricks. The environments are littered with destructible objects flying around when you use your powers. Surely it's a spectacle. The boss fights are nothing great design-wise, but at least they can be challenging when accompanied by mobs. There are a few puzzles every now and then. And the game supports the Dualsense controller's haptics and adaptive triggers in a subtle way. Sound is minimal on traversal, but during fights the score picks up nicely. I recommend playing with headphones, because the game's atmosphere demands it. Last but not least, I wanna praise the PS5's UI feature called Activities. For every mission there is a card containing 3 pages of information and clues. So if you are stuck somewhere you can open Activities and read the information or watch a video (there are 3 videos for every mission). You can find even the solutions for the puzzles if you can't figure them out. It's a brilliant alternative to opening your phone or PC and searching for walkthroughs online. All in all, Control Ultimate Edition is a great remaster **** game packaged with both DLCs. I got it for free with PS Plus, and although it's no GOTY I enjoyed it enough to recommend it.

Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales (henceforth MSMM) is a great continuation of the Marvel's Spider-Man game released in 2018 on PS4. MSMM's 8-hours-long main plot follows Miles Morales on his journey to prove himself worthy of being Spider-Man. Likeable characters include Miles' mother Rio Morales and uncle Aaron Davis. Roxxon's Simon Krieger is a forgettable bad guy. Phin Mason is a female version of the Tinkerer aka Phineas Mason, with the intent to highlight more obscure villains from Spider-Man's rogue gallery, but actually this version screams of SJW agenda and forced diversity BS. This female character is likeable but should have been named as someone else. Even creating a new character for the game (just like the Arkham Knight in the eponymous game) would have been a better idea. But as the Tinkerer, Phin Mason just doesn't cut it. Sony and Insomniac Games made the controversial decision to change Peter Parker's face with a new actor's likeness, closer to that of Hollywood actor Tom Holland. Some people like the change, others hate it, I am somewhere in the middle. Gameplay is the same as it was in 2018's Marvel's Spider-Man. It's an open world where you traverse by slinging from bulding to building. Combat is still very smooth and sublime, topping even the combat system of the Batman Arkham games. Miles Morales comes equipped with a few extra powers relative to Peter Parker, namely venom (bio-electric) attacks and invisibility, just like in the comics. This game takes advantage of the Dualsense controller's haptic feedback, but its implementation is way more subtle than Astro's Playroom's excellent showcase. MSMM is a smaller-scale stand-alone game in the style of inFamous: First Light and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. It was developed by Insomniac Games in 2 years in order to coincide with PS5's launch while also releasing on PS4. On PS5 the game features all the next gen bells and whistles such as ridiculously fast loading times and multiple graphical modes. The game originally launched with 2 graphical modes, Fidelity (4K, 30 fps and Ray Tracing) and Performance (1440p, 60 fps, no Ray Tracing). In the weeks following launch Insomniac Games managed to add via patch a 3rd mode named RT Performance which combines Ray Tracing and 60 fps with a few compromises in RT's settings and a lower resolution (something closer to 1080p than 1440p). No matter what mode you select image quality is excellent and the game plays great, but I recommend playing with the new RT Performance mode. The only objective downside to this game is its nature of being a quick project designed to launch with the PS5. Developers understandably had to reuse assets and code from the original game in order to speed up development, but the game doesn't feel that fresh when compared with the 2018 game. Other than that, I disapprove of a few minor SJW agenda references put in the game. I've had enough of this forced BS in recent years. As of posting, MSMM costs quite a lot of money for what is a 8 hours-long game (maybe 12-15 hours with all side content). Currently this game isn't good value for money, but in the future when the price will have dropped to 20 dollars/euros it will be a great deal. Currently MSMM (as well as Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered) is plagued by bugs. My PS5 crashed 2 times (thankfully there was no hardware issue and no save file was lost, problem was solved with a restart) while playing, so hopefully Sony and Insomniac Games will release patches both for the console's OS and the game's code in the near future. Overall, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales is an enjoybale game that also showcases some of the PS5's potential. I recommend this game to everyone.

The Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy is a remake of the 3 Crash Bandicoot games released on the original Playstation. These titles were so much popular that Crash Bandicoot became Playstation's de facto mascot in the mid-to-late 90s. Developers from Vicarious Visions have remade all graphics from the ground up, and the results are mostly fantastic. I say mostly, because Crash Bandicoot's new design deviates a bit from the original (I think it's become more kid-friendly than I'd like it to be, the original was targeting teenagers and young adults), but it still works. My only complaint is that the game runs at just 30 fps. I played the N. Sane Trilogy on PS5, unfortunately there is no next gen patch to unlock frame rate, and the comparisons between this and Astro's Playroom favor the latter in terms of fluidity and responsiveness. Crash Bandicoot has always been a linear 3D platformer with no exploration around the map, unlike its contemporary Super Mario 64. Crash Bandicoot games were never the best or most imaginative in the platformer genre, but Crash was the coolest character during Playstation's heyday in the 90s. This collection is more of a nostalgia throwback for those that were around when Crash Bandicoot was a worldwide pop culture phaenomenon, than a title that will appeal to modern audiences. But in any case I'd suggest everyone start with the last game and proceed backwards to the first one. Crash Bandicoot 3 is mainstream, it's almost devoid of difficulty and no one will have issues beating the game to the last boss with 10-20 spare lives. The first Crash Bandicoot game on the other hand is a notoriously hardcore platformer, too difficult even for the standards of its era. Crash Bandicoot 2 holds a middle ground between the other two games, it's both challenging and accessible, although it's closer to the third game in terms of overall difficulty. It was fun to go back to the Crash Bandicoot games (I played all 3 games many years ago). I'll also try the new Crash Bandicoot 4 that seems like fun.

I admit I haven't played this game and don't intend to, thanks to a myriad of technical issues (low frame rate, awful image quality, bugs, hitches, pop in, crashes) on last-gen consoles (more so on PS4/Xbox One than PS4 Pro/Xbox One X) as reported by several websites and tech specialists such as Digital Foundry. I don't intend to play this game on PC either because I don't have an RTX 3080, which seems to be the bare minimum recommended GPU actually rather than a GTX 780. CDPR openly admit they launched a botched game and actively tried to deceive fans by not showing any real console footage in advance, instead focusing on showcasing the maxed out experience of the PC version in order to "wow" the audience and secure more pre-orders. In other words, they admit they scammed people as much as possible. Due to the growing backlash and PR disaster they offer refunds but also ask people to not refund the game too much as if they were a small indie studio lacking money such as Hello Games (they launched a similarly botched game with No Man's Sky back in 2016, but cash-strapped as they were they kept working on it and have released several patches and DLCs for free to this day, they deserve to be recognised for their effort to repair their game and heal their tarnished reputation). Pure hypocrisy by CDPR. If such a fan-favorite company like CDPR pulls this scam, then what should we expect from companies with questionable ethics such as EA, Activision, Take Two and Ubisoft? I hereby award this awful product a grand zero.

Astro's Playroom is, along with the Wii's Wii Sports, the ultimate bundled-in game. It's designed to showcase the new controller's haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, which it does perfectly. But it's more than just a tech demo, this is a great and fun 3D platformer on its own. This game's short in length but full of surprises. Included are dozens of cameos from Playstation's history (ranging from Crash Bandicoot and Devil May Cry to The Last of Us and God of War) and every piece of Playstation hardware ever released (ranging from consoles and controllers to obscure items such as PSP's GPS antenna and the PS One's portable LCD screen). Astro has become Playstation's de facto mascot recently, also thanks to the PS VR game Astro Bot: Rescue Mission. Not bad for something that debuted on PS4's Playroom app and was intended to be nothing more than a throwaway tech demo. I hope they make a full game in the future.

Shadow of the Colossus is one of the most unique games ever created, designed by Fumito Ueda and developed by Team Ico. Shadow of the Colossus can be best described as a "boss rush game". The objective is to defeat 16 Colossi, ranging from bull-sized to titans standing 30 meters (100 feet) high, or giant creatures 200 meters (650 feet) long. There is an open map which you have to explore, with your magical sword guiding you to each Colossus after 5-10 minutes of traversal, but in-between there are no enemies of any kind. Each Colossus is a platforming puzzle you have to solve, with most Colossi featuring literal platforms on their body, and you defeat them by stabbing their weak points. Bluepoint Games took the original game and remade all the graphics from the ground up. You can play the game at 1080p and 30 fps on the base PS4, but on PS4 Pro you can choose between 1080p and 60 fps or 1440p and 30 fps. The gameplay and AI behavior have been left untouched from the original, for better or for worse. Shadow of the Colossus can be beaten in ~6 hours, and even less than that if you already know what to do. Shadow of the Colossus and its predecessor Ico paved the way for the rise of many artistic games with a minimalist narrative, left open to interpretation by the players. But unfortunately Bluepoint Games chose to ignore Ico altogether and didn't remake that one, too. Which is a shame because it's my favorite of the two. Still, I recommend anyone to play Shadow of the Colossus.

This collection includes two of the most unique games ever created, designed by Fumito Ueda and developed by Team Ico. Ico is an adventure where you have to escape from a castle along with a mysterious girl named Yorda. You solve environmental and platforming puzzles while also protecting Yorda from shadowy enemies who want to take her away. Shadow of the Colossus can be best described as a "boss rush game". The objective is to defeat 16 Colossi. There is an open map which you have to explore, with your magical sword guiding you to each Colossus after 5-10 minutes of traversal. Each Colossus is a platforming puzzle you have to solve, with most Colossi featuring literal platforms on their body, and you defeat them by stabbing their weak points. These games didn't sell too well when they launched during the PS2 era, but they both paved the way for the rise of many artistic games with a minimalist narrative, left open to interpretation by the players. These games had some drawbacks on PS2 (floaty and imprecise controls for both, rather short both of them at ~6 hours to beat, horrible frame rate for Shadow of the Colossus), and the PS3 remasters are a notable improvement in the image quality department, but the imprecise controls are still here. Bluepoint Games chose not to touch the games' code in these ports, but they are much more playable and enjoyable than the original versions. Bluepoint Games would later go on to remake Shadow of the Colossus from the ground up for the PS4.

Demon's Souls literally came out of nowhere. I know this because I was one of those people who learnt about the game through word of mouth and imported an english language version back in 2010. Even Sony (who own the IP rights) failed to realize Demon's Souls' potential by not even bothering with publishing the game outside Japan, because they deemed it as non-marketable. It took plenty of raging reviews and thousands of imports before Sony finally decided to supply the western gaming world with Demon's Souls. Back then all games were hand-holding players and the challenge was nowhere to be seen, so Demon's Souls' success becomes even more astonishing when you think about the gaming landscape of 2009. Sony paid for their mistake by losing the exclusive rights to a fan-favorite series and FROM Software went multi-platform with Dark Souls and later Sekiro. Demon's Souls was a rough prototype for what would eventually become the Soulsborne genre as envisioned by Hidetaka Miyazaki. Thus Demon's Souls is different and more adventurous in its design than the games that followed. Instead of an open world map with plenty of interconnected areas, Demon's Souls features 5 separate worlds, each of which is further split into 3 sub-areas. Each area is a sprawling map with plenty of secrets, twisting passages, shortcuts, traps, and deadly enemies. Bosses range from the easy ones to the more challenging ones, there's even a boss fight where you have to beat a live player who's controlling the boss (if you play offline you fight a stupid NPC boss instead). The world tendency mechanic was a nice idea but not well-enough implemented. But Demon's Souls most unique characteristic is its atmosphere, the Tower of Latria alone is easily more scary than any Dark Souls game (although Bloodborne would feature an even more horrific atmosphere later on by becoming more Lovecraftian). Unfortunately Demon's Souls ran very poorly on the PS3 (although it wasn't uncommon for games of the era to run at 20-25 fps) and image quality was lacking due to the low budget. But the game's shortcomings didn't stop it from becoming a cult classic, a game whose servers were scheduled to shut down in 2011 but popular demand resulted in the servers remaining live until Sony shut them down in 2018. Not to mention that plenty of people emulate Demon's Souls on PC through RPCS3 to this day. Demon's Souls made a huge impact back in 2009 and is an all-time classic game. Not only did it give birth to the Soulsborne genre, but inspired other game developers to make their games more challenging than before and adopt its combat system (just look at 2018's God of War and Team Ninja's Nioh games). And yes, after lots of popular demand, Demon's Souls' even been remade on the PS5, an excellent and modern revision of the original. I highly recommend Demon's Souls, whether you play the original PS3 version, the emulated on PC, or the PS5 remake.

Ghost of Tsushima (from now on GoT) is a game set in feudal Japan during the first Mongol invasion of Tsushima island. It's a very cool game to play, but lacks some elements that would elevate it into being an outstanding game of its generation. Story/characters: The protagonist is Jin Sakai, a samurai with the duty to defend the island and its people from the invaders. Jin struggles between upholding the bushido code of honor and, well, adopting dis-honorable and shady techniques in order to fight the invaders. This internal conflict and the moral issues behind all this actually makes for some great character set up and potential growth, but alas it's never explored seriously. Actually the way Jin transitions into the Ghost is ridiculous at best, a ghost whose identity is known to everyone isn't a ghost. Jin's uncle (and father-like figure) Lord Shimura is so fixated with the code of honor it almost made me LOL. The antagonist is mongol chief Khotun Khan, a ruthless warrior with a strategic mind, but again the developers mess him up. That's actually GoT's one but big sin, the developers and writers set up some potentially cool characters and events but don't take them as far as they should, and the story lacks the impact of other games such as The Last of Us 1 and God of War. World/graphics: GoT is an open world game, with the most beautiful map and special effects I've seen to date in a game. Yes you'll see some low-polygon objects or NPCs here and there, but what the developers have achieved on PS4 is insane. The number of moving grass and lieves is on another level compared with **** Punch's inFamous Second Son and its particles. Riding on horseback and galloping through thousands of moving white-topped grass with the wind blowing over the field never gets old. The map is littered with a very high number of spots and beautiful vistas, ranging from villages and forts to shrines and hot springs, and more. Akin to old Assassin's Creed games there are a few temples you can reach by platforming. Other cool things the developers have implemented is the wind (which acts as a gentle waypoint when swiping upwards the Dualshock 4's touchpad) and the fox/golden bird (which if you follow they will guide you to a nearby shrine or something else). GoT evokes the atmosphere of feudal Japan like few other games, you can even select to play in Kurosawa mode, a black-and-white film filter and a tribute to the great japanese film-maker. But I have to say, the developers have overdone it with the collectibles and almost got as bad as an Ubisoft game (although it's not as ridiculous as AC Odyssey, not even close). Gameplay: GoT's focus is on combat, and the developers have 100% nailed it. Jin uses both a katana sword and bow, but also gadgets (kunai, smoke bomb, etc.) to give him an edge when facing multiple opponents. Gadgets can mask a bad sword combat system, but fear not, the sword combat system is great, you can verify it when dueling an opponent, where you can only fight the enemy with the sword, no gadgets allowed. I play the game on Hard difficulty and it's quite challenging, although it's not as tough to play as Dark Souls or Sekiro. However enemy AI is pretty dumb just like most other games, and consequently GoT doesn't compare favorably with Metal Gear or Hitman as a stealth game, even though you are supposed to also play stealthily as a Ghost. Sound/voice acting: GoT features a majestic OST with traditional japanese music. You can play the game with either english or japanese dialogues. Sound effects are of high quality. Overall: Ghost of Tsushima is a very cool game to play, especially if you are interested in Japanese history and tradition, but it falls a bit short of greatness due to an under-cooked story and set of characters, while also lacking an enemy AI worth of the challenge.

A Way Out is a split-screen co-op game from movie director Josef Fares, the creator of the magnificent Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. The "get out of prison and revenge" story is nice, there is some delightful character progression for both Leo and Vincent, but the unexpected twist in the end is a mis-step because it's out of character for both protagonists. The game lasts 5 hours or so until the end credits roll, it is kinda short but it doesn't overstay its welcome, and it's a nice change of pace between playing epic 60 hours long open world games. Gameplay is very basic, with some environmental exploration and puzzles every now and then. Two players (you can play either couch or online co-op) control each of the two protagonists who have no special abilities of their own, so it doesn't matter which character you choose to play as. The weakest element of gameplay is the shooting system, which is cumbersome to say the least, but it's forgiveable because there is a generous hit box and it's not the focus of the experience anyway. Graphics are very good and stylized, quality being just short of a modern AAA production, with the game being rendered twice or even thrice at the same time on occasion, in order to show different points of view. On PS4 frame rate regularly drops below 30 fps, but it doesn't really affect the experience because it's a slow-paced game. Still I recommend playing this game at 60 fps on a PC if possible. Overall this is a very enjoyable story-based adventure game and I highly recommend it to everyone.

I absolutely LOVE the 1st game, but The Last of Us Part 2 is a huge let down. To be fair, The Last of Us is such an iconic and beloved game that's very tough to follow up with a good sequel, let alone one that surpasses the original. Just like the Matrix sequels couldn't really match the 1st movie. The Last of Us Part 2 is objectively a better game in technical terms. It's got better graphics, better motion and performance capture, bigger environments, better AI, more refined gameplay (at last, a dodge button). In other words, it's got great production values. Yet it fails miserably where it matters the most: the game experience, and the lasting impression it leaves on players. First of all, let me address the big elephant in the room. The game has caused controversy online due to seemingly promoting a progressive political agenda. Yes, the game portrays some LGBT characters alongside straight people, but their presence is not an issue. The game's real issues are far more fundamental. But dare I say, I've had enough of this agenda, especially when it's not applied so "innocently". If Neil Druckmann includes LGBT characters in his game because the story demands it, fine by me, but please don't take advantage of LGBTs so you can call yourself a "progressivist" and potentially open Hollywood's door later on. We know how things work. The original game had a simple yet powerful story punctuated with memorable characters and events. The sequel is a shallow tale about hate and the cycle of revenge, with no memorable characters. I won't spoil the game's plot, but let's say the game's narrative focuses on a dozen characters, and as a result loses all of its focus. By the game's end, I had little to no impression left on me. Another thing that hampers the game experience, is the non-diverse gameplay and the game's length. You traverse the environment, explore an area, and either you loot everything you can or have to dispatch an enemy team, and repeat for 30 hours or so. Puzzles don't exist. There is no trail-stealthily-someone mission. There are no time-limited events. There is no hunt-an-animal-for-food mission. There are no mini-games. There are no secondary dialogue trees to actively pursue, only those you can trigger with the triangle button. Even the fact you can play the guitar is under-utilized. They introduced a few new monsters to the infected roster, and only the Stalkers are a great addition, they gave me a few good jump scares. But at some point there is a horrible boss fight with a creature that reminded me of some recent appalling Resident Evil games. I understand that Naughty Dog wanted to try something different with The Last of Us Part 2, but frankly they didn't deliver a good experience. It can happen even to one of the world's best games development studios which has released multiple great games in a row. Last time they released a game with a lacklustre experience was Jak II on PS2, or the 1st Uncharted on PS3. I'm sure Naughty Dog will re-organize themselves and their next game will be a return to form. But The Last of Us Part 2 should have been much better than it is.

Final Fantasy VII Remake is the 1st part of the biggest and most ambitious videogame remake project ever. This release surely isn't perfect, but sets the stage for something truly memorable down the line. Disclaimer: I have played a bit of FF7 in the past but I'm not a FF7 purist, so you won't find here any criticisms like "oh they changed that story bit and it's awful" etc. It's just the opinion of a first-timer (kind of). This remake focuses on the Midgar portion of the original game, which originally lasted a few hours, thus Square Enix have largely expanded the content, the story, the character arcs, introduced tons of boss fights, etc. in order to make it last 40 hours. I warn fans that some story bits of the original have been changed a bit (ignoring the new content, the overall plot is 95% the same as the original up until the end of the Midgar portion) and Square Enix hint that the story will change even more in the sequels, for better or worse. Treat it like a parallel universe relative to the original 1997 game. This remake is not just the same game with modern graphics, and that's what I appreciate most in remakes of this kind. At least Square Enix take creative chances and don't play it safe. Had it been a straight retelling of the original's story, it'd have been boring for everyone who's read about FF7's story, and even hardcore FF7 fans would have yawned at it. The story is pretty straight-forward but also heavily cryptic (thanks to it having to be continued in the sequels), so there is no clear resolution, just a cliff-hanger. With the expanded scope, nearly every character is fleshed out and has the chance to shine a bit. Cloud is a seemingly emotionless man of few words with a mysterious past, Tifa is a childhood friend of Cloud's, Aerith is a carefree florist with plenty of mystery surrounding her, the trio of Jessie/Wedge/Biggs make for some nice chat, and Barret is a father genuinely concerned about the planet and his daughter Marlene. Of course there couldn't be a FF7 game without Sephiroth, but he's more **** star and isn't fleshed out at all. Red XIII is introduced very late into the game and has no real time to shine, but he should be fleshed out in the sequels. Gameplay is the most important feature of any game and I can say Final Fantasy VII Remake has one of the best battle systems I have played on any JRPG. Gone are the battle screen transitions, you simply engage any foe encountered on the environment. Battles flow like a mix of real-time action and turn-based specials. You can move, dodge, execute basic attacks and guard in real time, while items/spells/special moves can be used only after the ATB bar has been filled. Same for limit breaks or summons, whose respective bars are slowly filled during prolongued battles. I just wish the combat was more challenging, Normal Difficulty is just too easy for me. I never had to use de-buffs or status ailment curatives, and I only lost and continued 3 times. Graphics are great overall. The use of Unreal Engine 4 brings about weird artefacts in some places later in the game (particularly inside the Shinra building with all their reflective surfaces), but main characters are rendered and animated beautifully. While there are a few CGI videos every now and then, at least 90% of the cinematics are rendered in real-time and are the most impressive of the generation so far. Performance is rock-solid 30 fps both during battle and real-time cinematics, even when the screen is filled with plenty of special effects. The soundtrack is mostly the same as the original score (obviously re-recorded) with a few new tracks or songs. The sound effects are great, as is most of the voice acting. Unfortunately Barret's growling voice tone is annoying, while voice actor James Horan (Skull Face in MGSV) is not the right choice for voicing President Shinra. But not everything is perfect with Final Fantasy VII Remake. There are some technical issues which detract from the game's overall high quality. As of posting, there is no patch for the game fixing any of the following issues (which are minor complaints, nothing major). 1st, quite often textures either pop-in right in front of the camera, or fail to load the high-res version and remain in a low-res, jagged mess. 2nd, the overabundance of narrow corridors and "hold Triangle button" sections, which are invisible loading screens actually. 3rd, the level design is linear and almost on-rails, reminding me of the dreadful FF13. All in all, Final Fantasy VII Remake is a virtually flawless game in what it attempts to do. It's not easy for Square Enix to develop this remake while also meeting and exceeding fans' expectations. I definitely had a good time playing through the game and wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone.

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is an amazing sequel to 2014's The New Order. What I really like about this game (as well as its predecessor) is the alternate 1960s history, the characters and storytelling. Protagonist BJ Blazkowicz's character is being built up as a man forced to survive in a world gone awfully bad, and having to deal with his personal demons. Flashbacks show us his tough upbringing by a cruel father, justifying how a man can possibly slaughter hundreds of **** like it were a piece of cake. Blazkowicz also has a pregnant girlfriend and worries about his fiancè and unborn twin daughters, foreshadowing the events of Wolfenstein: Youngblood. Storywise the highlight is the level where Blazkowicz faces his father. The main antagonist is Frau Engel, returning from The New Order, portrayed as a maniacal and sadistic **** general in a playful way. I also like how they mixed Roswell and Area 52 in this alternate history. Even though **** isn't the main antagonist, he makes a cameo appearance (and you have the chance to kick him in the face). Gameplay is the same as The New Order. You have to traverse some open maps (it's not an open world) and shoot down tons of enemies with the option of doing it stealthily. Whereas in The New Order it was possible to stealth kill entire legions of ****, I find it much more difficult to sneak up on enemies in The New Colossus thanks to the level design and the fact that the commanders are located at the very end of the levels, meaning you have to sneak past all of the enemy soldiers before assassinating these commanders (if they spot you they call in re-inforcements). Since gameplay mechanics have remained mostly the same, the developers added 3 "contraptions" (aka gadgets) which you gain access to midway through the campaign. One major gripe I have with the game (as well as its predecessor) is the classic chokepoints. At some points in the game you have to dispatch many waves of re-spawining enemies with bullet sponges thrown into the mix. Without spoiling the story, at the court scene I had to re-load the game some 20 times before finally clearing the level. This is not Dark Souls-style challenging, this is annoying and unfair. Graphics have been greatly upgraded since The New Order (which was a cross-gen game), The New Colossus focuses on current-gen consoles and sports greatly expanded and detailed levels with many more colors in the chromatic palette. The game runs at 60 fps with just a few drops, and gameplay fluidity is never impacted too much. The voice acting is great, with standouts being the Engel and Blazkowicz characters. The OST is OK. Overall, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is a big improvement over The New Order. It's a shame this series is under-appreciated among gamers and the one-dimensional Doom (let alone CoD) steals all the headlines these days. I hope there is a Wolfenstein III in the future, because Youngblood doesn't really hit the target. I definitely recommend The New Colossus to everyone.

Yakuza Kiwami 2 is a nice entry to the series, but is let down by technical downgrades, a horrible combat system and an unfocused story. For reference, I'm a new fan to the series, and have played Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza Kiwami 2 to date. If the Yakuza series has one strong selling point common to every entry, it's the writing and the fully fleshed out characters. Yakuza Kiwami 2 doesn't disappoint in that regard. Series protagonist Kiryu Kazuma is one of the best videogame characters ever, with an overwhelming aura of charisma and a heart of gold. Returning characters such as Terada, Goro Majima, Haruka, Daigo Dojima, Makoto Date and Kaoru Sayama round up the main cast. New additions are limited to Ryuji Goda (the main antagonist), Jin Goda (Chairman of the Omi Alliance) and their various lieutenants. The set up is great, but the actual plot is a mess of conspiracies, revenge tales and out-of-nowhere plot twists. I'll try to give an idea while also keeping spoilers in check. It starts out with Kiryu expressing the need to establish Daigo Dojima as the new Chairman of the Tojo Clan, but the plot soon forgets about Daigo altogether in favor of a love story between Kiryu Kazuma and Kaoru Sayama in the 2nd half of the game's plot. In fact Daigo is alive but isn't even mentioned in the game's final scenes, so what about Daigo being the future of the Tojo Clan, huh? Gameplay is the same as it's always been on the Yakuza series. Kiryu navigates an open map (not open world, just a small map) crammed with tons of content in every corner, and fights goons in random battles to gain experience points. But the actual combat system, while functional, is a huge step down from that of Yakuza 0 and especially Yakuza Kiwami. There are no fighting styles to choose from. Combat has been oversimplified, and the challenge is nowhere to be found. I played the entire game on Hard difficulty, and don't think I lost more than 2 battles (and even those were in the beginning while still adjusting to the game). By comparison Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami were much more challenging on the same Hard difficulty. Another combat system complaint: the weapons are OP and, combined with the game's overall low challenge level, make boss battles a joke. I battled my way to the top of the Coliseum arena just by brainlessly mashing buttons, and only the last 2 Coliseum fights are difficult (or rather, seriously unbalanced). Last combat system complaint: the tiger boss fight at the Osaka Castle stage. It was meant to make Kiryu look like a beast, but it feels so out of place it's just laughable. Yakuza Kiwami 2 is full of mini-games scattered throughout the map. You can enjoy games such as Virtua Fighter, darts, golf, as well as some "activities" designed to make westerners feel uncomfortable (Toylets, anyone?). The Cabaret Club returns from Yakuza 0, as well as the Clan Creator from Yakuza 6. The Cabaret Club is a fun addition (just like it was on Yakuza 0), but the Clan Creator left me bored. On the technical side, Yakuza Kiwami 2 makes use of Sega's new Dragon Engine (which debuted with Yakuza 6 and is featured on Judgment and presumably Yakuza 7: Like a Dragon), but the graphics ain't much better than those of Yakuza 0/Kiwami. The Dragon Engine brings more physics to the fights (debris is flying around when tossing enemies on destructible objects), but the new engine comes with some serious drawbacks: a) resolution drops from 1080p of Yakuza 0/Kiwami down to 900p coupled with tons of visual noise, and b) frame rate drops from 60 fps of Yakuza 0/Kiwami down to 30 fps and even lower. This way the game is very unpleasant to look at and the sub-30 fps bring lots of judder and uneven motion. However, I must admit the game is still playable, there is no noticeable input lag. Overall, I think Yakuza Kiwami 2 is a game with lots of potential but has some serious flaws which affect the experience. Nevertheless, it's still a Yakuza game, and I think everyone has to at least try out Yakuza 0 and the first Yakuza Kiwami. The sequel should be experienced only by Yakuza fans, it's not good enough for making a first contact with the series.

Activision (no, there is no Blizzard left) has done it again. My "favorite" publisher makes EA, Take Two and Ubisoft seem like little angels by comparison. They managed to take a beloved classic and turn it into a turd. Even if Activision just re-released good ol' Warcraft 3 as-is at $30 only adding support for Windows 10 and modern graphics APIs, it'd still be a far better product than this Reforged Edition. But no, they had to release a new version with a new client and several gameplay changes and force even owners of the old version to accept this. Reforged basically removes functionalities and breaks the game for owners of the original version even if they just don't buy the new one. Laughably, but not unexpectedly for Activision's standards, they also require users to waive all their rights to whatever custom maps they may create and upload. It's like asking musicians to automatically waive all their rights to music they compose and record on a commercial piece of software they paid for. This absurdity will make modding (for those who care) practically dead. Just stay away from this pos. I was looking forward to replaying Warcraft 3, but I'll pass on this.

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (from now on UTLL) started life as an Uncharted 4 DLC but it was expanded into a full game. It's a shorter and leaner entry in the series, cutting some of the fat, but doesn't bring much new. UTLL is the same Uncharted you know and love, with a few gameplay additions. Stealth plays a bigger role in this game relative to Uncharted 4 so you've got the silenced pistol and more high grass to hide in, while enemies have the same triangle indicators to let you know when you're about to be discovered. But I mostly enjoyed the open map where you can freely explore locations in any sequence with the jeep. This area is littered with little puzzles and platforming challenges. But this is where positives end. UTLL is just another Uncharted game, same old same but less of it. Big set-pieces are fewer and lesser than in previous games. Don't expect anything as bombastic as Uncharted 2's train sequence or Uncharted 3's airplane scene. The jeep's handling is weird and buffled me compared to Uncharted 4, and it's too bad they didn't add some environmental puzzles with the jeep's rope. This game's supposed to be more open, but invisible walls (or knee-high obstacles that are just impossible to jump over) make an appearance. Last but not least, this game's story just doesn't have Nathan Drake's charm. While Chloe and Nadine have some nice dialogue and character progression, they can't possibly carry a game on their own the same way as the trusty trio of Nate, Sully and Elena. Also Sam Drake's inclusion is so much forced that feels out of place. Final boss is another forgettable Uncharted boss. Overall UTLL is a nice entry in the series, but it's certainly not the best. If there is a new Uncharted game in the future, either a sequel or a reboot, I just hope Nate comes back. And gameplay needs some serious re-design, like God of War re-invented itself.

After years of tremendous hype and great expectations from gamers, Death Stranding is here and has polarized people. It's rather ironic for a game whose themes are about uniting the world. Ironic, but also unavoidable thanks to some curious design decisions from Hideo Kojima. Death Stranding is a different kind of experience. It uses elements from other established genres (open world design, driving, shooting, crafting, etc.), but also focuses on other aspects that haven't been touched by most (if not all) other games out there. I'm talking about human connections. What I mean is this: on other games you meet side characters, complete a few errands for them, and then forget about them altogether. On Death Stranding you meet insignificant side characters, too, but you form a connection with them, and even start worrying about some of them. Can't explain why is this happening, maybe all those emails you get from them as you progress the story triggers that kind of emotion and mentality. For example, one side character is an old man needing medicine and can also die if you leave him without meds for a long time, so it's another worry for the player. Other than NPCs, you also get likes from other real players roaming the same area as you and using the structures you left behind. Likewise, you can use structures left behind by other real players. It's an asymmetrical online system clearly inspired by the Souls/Bloodborne games. The game's story is a mix of sci-fi, philisophy and human tragedy. The story itself is fine, full of typical Hideo Kojima twists and turns, but many people will be left scratching their heads. The game's overall atmosphere (a blend of tranquility and horror) is great. The actors do a great job, although it's clear they didn't have as much time to shoot their scenes as it's possible on movies. Hideo Kojima has created some fantastic characters with interesting backstories, but some of them end up being a disappointment (particularly Higgs, voiced by Troy Baker, and Fragile, voiced by Lea Seydoux). The world building though is almost flawless. Now let's go to the big elephant in the room, gameplay. The main routine is to deliver packages from point A to point B. Simple as that. But the trick is in traversing the environment. As you walk around, you have to balance the weight of the cargo you are carrying, and also use the tools at your disposal to cross a chasm, descend a big vertical drop, etc. Basically the environment is a puzzle you have to solve in order to proceed to the next mission - or rather, delivery. Combat exists in this game but it's limited (and also highly discouraged due to the game's lore of avoiding death at all costs). Enemies are either humans willing to rob you of your cargo, or supernatural beings called BTs that can catch you and force you to fight some weird creatures in a shifting landscape. But to be honest, the boss fights of Death Stranding are a huge let down. They could have been something special, especially the Mads Mikkelsen sections, but the way they have been implemented is mediocre at best. Slow to respond, easy to avoid, just spam them with bullets (or even just leave the area and the fight stops). Only 2 fights in the end are something approaching a true boss fight, but don't expect anything that matches Hideo Kojima's past accomplishments. Now this game's been ridiculed with all kinds of memes, such as walking simulator, postman simulator, etc. which is nonsense and as pointless as branding Call of Duty a "pull-the-trigger" simulator or FIFA a "score-a-goal" simulator. Each game is its own kind of experience, and Death Stranding has its own identity. It doesn't have to appeal to everyone in order to be considered good. And that's why it's polarized gamers. People were expecting something and got another, although they were never promised anything in the first place. On the technical side, Death Stranding is a luxurious production. You'll get some of the best graphics on the PS4 and one of the most memorable OSTs in recent memory. And even though it's only running at 30 fps, input lag is surprisingly low. Overall, Death Stranding is a unique experience. Just like any of Hideo Kojima's past works, the journey to get from Death Stranding's announcement to its release was memorable and almost as significant as the game itself actually launching and being played by gamers. Unfortunately it won't appeal to everyone. Give this game a try if you are bored of modern AAA games recycling same old same things and also trying to rip you off with loot boxes and microtransactions. If you just want to endlessly and mindlessly shoot and punch enemies like you do on every other game out there, Death Stranding unfortunately isn't for you.

I have mixed feelings about Batman Arkham Knight. Story-wise, the writers made an attempt to cram as many characters as possible in the plot. But it doesn't make sense at all. Arkham Knight is a made-up character for this game with a twist from out of nowhere. Scarecrow isn't the kind of character who would be able to organise such a complex scheme and pull it off, it's more fitting of a character like Joker (who died in Batman Arkham City). I found the inclusion of Joker as a mental projection, as very clever, but it could have been implemented in a better and more impactful way, now is more like a nuisance. Other than Joker, the storylines are of varying qaulity, but dare I say I enjoyed many sidequest stories (even if these are very short) more than the main plot. I'm tired of the "one long night" setting of the Arkham games. There is no daylight action. While this makes sense for Batman who operates only during the night, there is no day-time activities as Bruce Wayne. Imagine playing as Bruce Wayne, pretending to be a senseless rich playboy going to parties, interacting with powerful characters such as Lex Luthor or the Mafia to gain information, and so on. It'd add some much needed variety to the setting. This is what Marvel's Spider-Man on PS4 did superbly, it balanced the superhero with the human inside. Gameplay is a mix of open world roaming, thug beating, and light puzzle solving. Combat is the same as it has always been since Arkham Asylum. It is good, it has rhythm, it's already perfect. But it hasn't changed at all, either. Every gadget has been present since Asylum. The only addition (IIRC) is the electrocuting gadget. The problem extends to enemies, too. Same kind of thugs you beat in the previous games. The only addition is (you guessed it) the electrocuting variety. And the amount of brutes in some encounters can be ridiculous. At least there is no one shooting RPGs. There are no traditional boss fights in this game, and I applaud the designers for making this decision. You can't make a boss fight with puny baddies like Two-Face or Penguin. These guys only take a punch in the face to be knocked out, as they lack superpowers. That's why the Joker boss fight in Arkham Asylum was ridiculous. You had to battle a pumped up Joker to justify the boss fight's traditional design of HP bars and whatnot. This time there is nothing like it, and it makes more sense. Batman Arkham Knight's design suffers from the Ubisoft syndrome. This game is stuffed with Riddler collectibles, combat challenges, bombs with tank battles, camps, and fortresses, to a higher degree than really needed. Story-based sidequests are just about the right number, but a couple of them could easily have been removed. But what destroys the experience for me is the Batmobile, which has been turned into a bloody tank. There are many tank battles in this game (particularly towards the end), and it makes no sense for Batman. I don't know what happens in the comics, but I think they took the tank concept from the Nolan trilogy of films and ballooned it out of proportion. The Batmobile is great to chase Firefly, I enjoyed that sidequest, but the tank battle concept is absurd. Also, why not control the Batwing, too? It's present in the game, but only to act as a butler that brings new equipment to Batman. Another issue I have with gameplay design is the absence of some co-op missions with Robin or Nightwing. The dynamic duo has been a thing in comics for decades, but in this game you only play a couple of sidequests along with Nightwing. The Riddler/Catwoman sidequest is total BS story and gameplay design. You spend hours to free Catwoman from Riddler by completing his challenges, and all you get in the end is Catwoman taking off, never to be seen again. Oh, you also briefly fight Riddler in a mech exosuit before he takes his leave, but to face him in a final showdown you have to find 200+ Riddler trophies scattered across the map. I'm not doing that, I have better uses for my time. Graphics in this game are very good. Aesthetically is the same as the previous Arkham games, only with more polygons. Animations are smooth, but Batman's a bit stiff outside combat. Frame rate is mostly 30 fps, but when chasing enemies with the Batmobile there is some screen tearing at the top of the screen, but thankfully it's hidden by the overall dark art style of the game. To sum up, I think Batman Arkham Knight is a disappointment. I'm sure developers had the best of intentions, but the game's design is messed up. This game could have been so much better. Anyone attempting to make a new Batman game should first analyse Marvel's Spider-Man on PS4. It's not perfect, but it's much better and smoother than Arkham Knight.

I don't pretend I have played this game extensively. I merely award this game a grand Zero (0/10) because a videogame rated for everyone (including children) features shameful casino mechanics with dreaded RNG loot boxes and the likes. This alone is enough to ruin an otherwise solid game in its genre. As if no one learned from the Star Wars Battlefront 2 controversy, and it was only 2 years ago that gamers rebelled against EA. Publisher Take Two enjoy a much better reputation than EA thanks to Rockstar making GTA, but they are no better than EA. At least EA don't send thugs to people's homes in order to intimidate Youtubers. This sick practice of videogaming companies milking gamers instead of offering great games with great gameplay and then asking for rightful compensation, has to die here and now.

Genesis is a new MOBA with many similarities to League of Legends, to the point of it being labeled a LoL clone. Genesis' unique selling point is that it's been designed to be played only with a console gamepad - even on PC when it eventually releases there (no K/M they say). All sounds fair enough, but this game has tons of issues. My first impressions were the worst. I had to suffer chinese texts through the introductory tutorial, I just played without knowing what I were doing, and even when I randomly stumbled upon the language setting in the options menu, I had to restart the f***ing game for english to be applied. Thankfully there was an english voice-over during all this. Currently the overall gameplay balance is utterly broken. Some items break the game and a few heroes are OP (particularly Zeus). Why does Genesis feature 6 hero classes (mages, carries, tanks, supports, warriors, and assassins) in a 5v5 genre? It confuses players. Currently Genesis' default gameplay settings are automated, and I mean that in a bad way. Abilities are upgraded automatically as you play. Items are selected automatically and purchased with a one button press mid-game without even having to go back to your base. This automated setting can be altered in the menus. Then again, I can't manually target where I attack, I can only switch a priority setting between enemy heroes, minions and structures, and this can't be changed like the abilities/items upgrades I mentioned before. The whole automatic concept is plain stupid. I can target on my own, I need no babysitting. Another issue is that (other than Apollo) they don't give away some starting free heroes like Smite does (let alone Paragon where every hero was available to all). There are some hero rotations, but hopefully the need to grind coins to unlock them won't be too much. Which brings me to the game's monetization. There are 3 different currencies (2 normal which are gained through gameplay, 1 premium which is gained with real money). Heroes are priced differently from one another instead of having a universal cost like Smite. This game is potentially pay to win because some heroes can only be bought with paid currency. I HATE P2W scams. The game's store also has some crafting materials and other suspicious-looking items, not sure what they are about but I hope again it's not P2W in some way. This whole situation is not a big surprise since Genesis is a chinese production, and chinese free to play games have the worst reputation in terms of predatory monetization and pay to win schemes. If you think EA and their loot boxes are evil, that's only because you haven't played any chinese F2P games before. In the case of Genesis, this game has launched with its monetization system in full swing (these guys ain't just selling skins for heroes, they sell tons of skins for weapons, add-on wings, kill animations, etc.), but gameplay quality is a relative afterthought. These guys want to get their hands on players' wallets before offering some quality gameplay. Genesis has launched with tons of issues, and this was to be expected. Maybe a few patches in the next couple of months will improve this game. But some issues are not just a matter of rebalancing, they are inherent design flaws, and without a radical redesign (for example, let players manually target where they attack instead of relying on "priority") Genesis will fail. All Genesis has done to me is making me want to go back to Smite. A game that I find utterly bland and uninspired, compared to the now-defunct Paragon. And this game is too much of a LoL clone. You can even meet assassins mid-laning, or no junglers in the team, typical of everyday LoL gameplay scenarios. Which begs the question, why hasn't LoL itself been released on consoles anyway? We can do away with pointless clones.

Mafia 3 is a game with quite some potential, that ultimately disappoints. Mafia 3 is a story-focused game with an interesting cast of characters. Mafia 3's setting is the late '60s southern USA during the Vietnam War. The protagonist is a Vietnam War veteran who's returned home, so he's got quite some skills when it comes to combat and guerrilla tactics. The developers even included full racism and the language of the era in the game's themes. Some people may be offended by the racist language, but this gives the game authenticity. Purely judged as a game though, Mafia 3 is lackluster. It's not just the game's bugs (these have been addressed since launch) or its "unfinished graphics" (a frequent criticism). Gameplay is the problem, because it's just like every other Rockstar game. Controls are imprecise (you have the option of having aim assist on High or Medium settings or turn it off) and button layouts make little sense (why use the Triangle button for climbing, when everybody uses the X button instead?). The enemy AI is a joke, more like cannon fodder. And the mission design is both uninspired and repetitive. All in all, Mafia 3 is a game that may appeal to those looking for a game with an interesting story or unique period setting. But be prepared for some tedious gameplay.

Detroit: Become Human is a story-driven, "choose-your-adventure"-style game from Quantic Dream and David Cage, creator of Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls. Gameplay-wise, I'd say Detroit is the best of Quantic Dream's trilogy. It's a mix of Heavy Rain's QTEs and Beyond's simplistic controls. Heavy Rain's tank controls are replaced by Beyond's standard navigation, and QTEs are less complex but still require reflexes. There is a bit of exploration and light puzzles, but I mostly enjoyed the crime scene recreations. As always, your choices shape the game's story, both in subtle and big ways. Detroit has 3 protagonists: androids Connor, Markus and Kara. Markus is an android who rises up against humans and demands freedom for its kind, Connor investigates a case of various androids becoming self-aware, and Kara is a nobody whose story runs in parallel to that of Markus and Connor who come in direct conflict. Kara is the easiest of the 3 to get killed (I had the bad luck of doing it early and missed up on a 3rd of the game's total content), Connor can repeatedly die and come back during the story, while Markus can only get killed in the very end. You can always reload a specific save point and replay whatever part you want. Mechanically speaking, Detroit is David Cage's best work to-date. The game's story has many branches based on the player's choices (you can even see the diagram mid-game). Your choices have consequences where even main characters can get killed. Graphics, voice-acting and soundtrack are great. But the story itself is a disappointment. While there are some great moments and a few very powerful scenes, the overall plot is uninspired. David Cage poses the question of what an artificial being would be like and what humans would do if a race of robots became self-aware and rebeled, but dares not to fully explore this idea. As if Cage was afraid of going deep. In common with Beyond, when David Cage tries to write a big story with worldwide ramifications he kinda misses the point, whereas Heavy Rain's more personal kind of story was very focused and well executed. Maybe David Cage should have written Detroit's story in a more personal style. Still, Detroit: Become Human is a very enjoyable game. While Heavy Rain still has the better story, Detroit is Quantic Dream's best game. I hope they release another great game in the future.

What Remains of Edith Finch is a great story-driven adventure game, from the Giant Sparrow studio that gave us The Unfinished Swan. The story is about the Finch family whose members have all tragically died across the decades. A young girl, the last surviving Finch, revisits her childhood home to discover what happened to her lost family - siblings, parents, aunts, uncles, grand-parents. They all passed away for different reasons, ranging from sickness to accidents and tragedies. In terms of gameplay this is a "walking simulator" at its heart, but it's the best I have played. When walking through the stories of each Finch, the player experiences something different. From reading a pulp fiction magazine, to climbing a tree chasing a cat, to trippy adventures such as controlling an owl or a shark. And each story has an emotional pay off. The only downside of the game are the technical issues. Frame rate isn't locked at 30 fps and moving the camera feels jerky because of erratic frame pacing. Even in enclosed spaces these problems persist. However these are not enough to make this game unplayable or anything bad. What Remains of Edith Finch is a slow paced, narrative-heavy experience, that will get you a good 3-4 hours of playtime. If you like games such as Gone Home, you'll definitely like this, too.

Resident Evil 4 is one of the best and most influential action games of all time. This is the game that ended the classic survival horror era of the first Resident Evil entries. From RE4 onwards, no RE main entry would return to its survival horror roots until RE7, meanwhile Capcom released a bunch of spin-offs such as Revelations but still they never embraced survival horror. RE4 isn't really a Resident Evil game. Horror gets tossed outta the window and it's more of an action shooter game with a focus on survival. Tank controls still exist in how you move and aim, it's a 3rd person perspective instead of fixed camera angles. There is even a merchant from whom you can buy upgrades and ammo. The enemies are not zombies but mutated humans, they are slow but also carry weapons and often transform into monstrosities. Even the (nonsensical) story has nothing to do with Resident Evil lore, RE4 could easily have been named something else and no one would complain. But RE4 is still a great game from 2005, even though its admittedly clunky controls and outdated gameplay haven't aged well compared to 2019 standards, it requires some getting to grips with. Enemies can be shot in different points and react differently. You escort Ashley and have to shield her. You survive countless challenging encounters (the introductory fight "welcomes" the players before they even get to grips with the game). The innovative over the shoulder camera later became a staple of games such as Gears of War and many other 3rd person action/shooter games. And the various boss fights are mostly good. Surely RE4 has plenty of "meat", it took me roughly 20 hours to beat it. Some of it was great, some of it was meh, but overall it was good. On PS4, RE4 runs at 60 fps, but there is some noticeable aliasing around ground textures. Thankfully it's no big problem, but I wish Capcom had worked a bit more on this port. RE4 is still one of the best games of its generation, but if you haven't played games from that era before you'll be instantly annoyed by the clunky controls and the lack of auto save. It's fine to play on PS4 and even other consoles and PC, but I wish someday Capcom release a true remake of RE4 instead of just another lazy port to the next generation PS5 console. Hopefully now that Capcom are on a good roll and released the RE2 remake, they will keep remaking the old games.

Avoid this game on PS4, frame rate is really choppy even though graphics are no more complex than Fortnite (a game which runs at 60 fps on PS4). I stopped playing as soon as I got into the hub after the tutorial. Terrible fps, sub-30 in the tutorial and definitely 10-15 fps in the hub. This is typical of how free to play MMOs run on PS4. If the developers improve this game's performance in a year or so after a dozen patches, I may try it again. My review score isn't about the fun factor of this game simply because I stopped playing very quickly, it's about the bad playing experience I got on PS4. Try it on PC instead if you can.

The Surge is a clone of the Dark Souls/Bloodborne games, but it pales in comparison to both Nioh (the best clone so far) and the original games. The game's world is near-future sci-fi, with AIs gone wrong, drones and mechs turned hostile, and humans gone insane due to digital implants. Actually this is the least inspired aspect of the whole game, and the story isn't anything good. There is no trace of the mystery and abstract lore found on FROM Software's games. Combat is based on the Souls template, with 5 differences: there is no parry and critical strike, no backstab, you can't move while guarding, no invincibility frames during dodges, and no online MP features whatsoever. Plus the game is severely unbalanced, enemies deal tons of damage even by the Souls games' standards. Mere mobs can kill you in a few hits, let alone bosses which can nearly one-shot you. However this game brings 2 new things to the genre. First is the ability to target specific limbs on enemies and chop them off, so you can get materials for crafting purposes. Second is the drones you can get later in the game to assist you in various ways. But overall this game's combat is inferior to the Souls games. Graphics are just OK artistically, nothing beautiful, but they work. Frame rate is locked at 30 fps (a huge improvement over the developer's previous game Lords of the Fallen and the Souls games which run poorly). On PS4 Pro you can choose between 1080p at 60 fps or 1620p at 30 fps. Sound FX, voices and OST are meh. Overall The Surge is a repetitive game paying tribute to the Dark Souls series. It needs more work to be in the same league. Whether the upcoming sequel will achieve that remains to be seen.

Devil May Cry 5 is a great new entry in the beloved action/hack n' slash series, but I think it's a bit overhyped due to its amazing-looking graphics. The story can only be summed up as a monotonous "I got my ass kicked repeatedly and have to take revenge for it each time". There is a giant tree and a demonic invasion but there is no drama. Honestly the story is little more than an excuse for the player to slay demons. As far as characters go, I love it when they do some over the top action or pull off some smart-ass taunts (like Nero vs Goliath). But there are plenty of cringy moments as well. DMC5 offers 3 playable characters with different playstyles. Nero is the default hero, he's very straight forward, his robotic arms come with cool abilities, he's got a grappling hook, and is the easiest to learn. V is a summoner who deals damage with his pets and has to finish off enemies with his cane, but the pets are too random to control directly. Dante has the most moves and styles but the way the game is structured you don't have enough time to master all of that. The are a few chapters that can be played with multiple heroes. Graphics in DMC5 are amazingly detailed. Even the teeth on Dante's mouth during an early cut-scene are almost too realistic. This game runs at 60 fps on PS4. Soundtrack is good, too, with some catchy tunes playing in the background. Despite all the shiny graphics, DMC5 at its heart is a PS2-era game. That's both good and bad. Good news is, action is great and satisfying, launching enemies and pulling combos is a joy, and the boss fights are good (if not particularly memorable, apart from the Goliath fight and the final fight). The bad news is, fights always occur in self-contained arenas that can't be escaped. Level design is just what I said, it's PS2-era like, it's linear with little exploration available and lots of invisible walls. But the worst is that the game forces you to first play on 2 difficulties that are too easy for any seasoned gamer (let alone DMC veterans). I played through to the end on Devil Hunter and it was mostly a walk in the park, but in the final few chapters there is a noticeable difficulty spike. The next difficulty Son of Sparda is more like how I'd want my first contaxt with the game be, it's just the right amount of challenge for me. There are microtransactions in DMC5, but there is no need to pay for them. Thankfully the game is already generous enough with what it provides, and it's not artificially rigged to force players to pay to win. When you are defeated, you have the option to either give up and start over a checkpoint or continue fully healed. It's strange to see this in a hack n' slash game, but at least DMC5 gives different people different options. Overall Devil May Cry is a great game. I just wish it was a bit better in the story and some design aspects, but maybe next time.

Updated review: Apex Legends is a fast-paced FPS in the crowded Battle Royale genre. Unlike other BR games, you play as a hero (in this case, Legend) with 3 abilities (1 passive, 1 active and 1 ultimate). The max amount of players is 60. The game's unique feature is the ability to respawn teammates even if they are shot down (provided you grab their banner and bring it back to a respawn site). The ability to ping anything you want to (enemie positions, loot, directions to an area, etc.) with R1 is very useful. The game runs at 50-60 fps on PS4 and feels twitchy. The core gameplay is a mix of CoD Blackout and Titanfall, you can frantically run and slide and climb walls just like in those games. The game has launched successfully, but it has issues. This game is very tough for solo players. You are forced to play in squads of 3 people (there is no solo mode at the moment), and if you haven't brought friends to co-ordinate with you'll be at a big disadvantage vs everyone else playing in a squad with teammates and comms. The frantic pace of the game means there is no room for being tactical, it's more about run n' gun. The current roster of Legends is horrible. But the ultimate sin is that 2 of the currently available Legends (Caustic and Mirage) are locked behind a paywall or a lot of grinding. At least Apex Legends is free to play. There is an in-game store selling 100s of cosmetics and skins. Thankfully there are no pay-to-win loot boxes so far. The real issue is you have to pay to unlock new Legends, and this may prove to be pay-to-win depending on their ability kits. Apex Legends has been a big success thanks to Fortnite and PUBG's previous success. The game is good, but Respawn need to address the issues.

Nex Machina is another excellent game from Housemarque, the masters of the modern arcade games genre. In designing Nex Machina, they have collaborated with the legendary Eugene Jarvis (creator of such arcade classics as Defender and Robotron: 2084). Nex Machina is a hardcore twin-stick shooter with bullet hell elements. Even at the easiest difficulty, prepare for lots of deaths. It features 6 worlds, each split into mini-stages which have to be cleared before facing a boss. If you lose a life you have to replay the same level (not the world), with all enemies and humans respawning. There is the "save the humans" mechanic granting bonus points and multipliers for those chasing high scores. Other than the arcade mode and single world mode, there are a few challenges and local co-op, but sadly there is nothing else. Nex Machina's arcade mode is masterfully crafted, but the lack of additional modes hurts the game's longevity. On the technical side, Nex Machina utilizes the same voxel graphics technology from Resogun, where enemies and parts of the scenery can be destroyed into small cubes. The soundtrack is terrific, as well as the sound FX. Nex Machina is a great arcade game but unfortunately it's the last of its kind made from Housemarque. They have abandoned the arcade genre due to poor sales of their games despite them being well-reviewed, in favor of making a Battle Royale game. If you are a fan of arcade twin-stick shooters, you have to play Nex Machina and check Housemarque's catalogue of arcade games.