This is one of those special games, that without saying a lot, it makes you feel a lot. This game in essence is a lot like Limbo, Journey, Ico, Shadow of the colossus etc. All those are games that rather than focusing on amazing gameplay itself, they focus on being emotionally strong and how to tell a story in a special way, with little worlds, just trying to transmit feelings in a rawer way. Having said that, if you enjoyed any of the games I’ve just mentioned, most likely you will enjoy this one. Graphics and sound. Graphically speaking, you won’t find photo-realistic graphics etc., but artistically speaking the game is superb, they make use of a very limited variety of colours (mainly black, white and grey) to offer a fantastic gloomy setting that goes very well with the game’s universe. They might not be the best graphics, technically speaking, but artistically they made a great job at making the game’s world feel unique, gloomy, sad and tense, a lot like the game’s story itself. Sound is superb as well, there is little music, it’s mainly ambient sound and these are designed to maximise the game experience as in adding tension or whatever to the area you’re in, again sound direction is fantastic. Gameplay, we’re basically speaking about a platforming-puzzle game. Platforming is kind of easy, it’s more about solving puzzles. I feel it is quite fun, as the game is a lot about finding out how to progress and make it to the next area rather than just jumping around. A few collectibles in the game as well, that require thinking to find them, it is quite a decent challenge. Bad thing about this, is that the game itself is not very long (maybe 4-6 hours) and the fact that it is about “finding out” (puzzle solving) how to advance, once you’ve done it, that’s it there is little replay value here. This is probably the main criticism that can be made to the game. However, it is a very satisfying experience, very intense a lot of times, that won’t disappoint. Said that, I wouldn’t pay too high of a price for this, but if it is for sale it is definitely worth, but be aware of the game’s length. Summarising, fantastic and unique platforming-puzzle game, it does an amazing job at making the player feel the intensity of the situations (e.g. when a dog chases you to kill you, you’ll feel real tension and urge to flee). It is a game that emotionally says a lot, and won’t leave you indifferent. Just know that although intense in a lot of ways, this is a short journey (4-6 h). If you liked Limbo, Journey, Ico, Shadow of the colossus, the last guardian etc. that kind of game, I think you should definitely give this one a try. If you didn’t, spend your money elsewhere as you probably won’t enjoy Inside that much.
I think this is a severely underrated game, it is simple fair enough, but it is good fun and in my humble opinion, it is not simply a Zelda clone. So, yes I think is fair enough to say that this game took obvious inspiration from Zelda, specially gameplay wise where a lot of items work in very similar ways, for example bombs. Basically, oceanhorn plays a lot like Zelda; this is a link to the past or a link between worlds, not the 3d zeldas such as breath of the wild or skyward sword. This is and exploration and action adventure kind of game. You just walk around islands, exploring caves and other venues killing monsters, fighting bosses, solving puzzles, using different weapons and items as you advance in the story. This is where this game is very similar to Zelda in a lot of things, is it a clone? In my opinion, it is very similar but different enough not to be considered a clone, but people like to take things out of the context. For instance, Alundra is a cult game, considered by a lot of people as a fantastic game (myself included), it took a lot of things out from Zelda as well, and there wasn’t any general outrage about it being a Zelda clone. This is a multiplatform game in the most extensive use of the word. I mean it’s even out for android and IOs. That means that when it comes to the game itself in ps4, there are some limitations you need to be aware of. First one and more obvious, is the graphics, the graphics are cartoony styled and nice enough, but obviously we’re not looking at high-end graphics, they’re quite simple but they work all right (I mean take a look at some screenshots). Also, artistically speaking the game is quite simple, so you won’t find any venues that will make you wow, but within its simplicity it does a good job at making different islands feel different. Although nothing special, you won’t find islands boring or repetitive. Sound and music, sound is good, I think sounds and voices are well made, no complain in there. Music is fantastic, but looking at the people involved, that is hardly surprising (e.g. Nobuo Uematsu, etc.). Beautiful OST that helps enhance the overall quality and overlook things like the simple graphics. The story and the universe built around it was surprisingly good. This is the main thing that in my opinion makes this game feel very different from Zelda, and makes me believe a lot of the people that say this is a clone have not actually played or finished the game. The story is kind of simple, but it works quite well and I don’t think it’s any worse than in some of the Zelda instalments. Then, the universe felt rich and well developed, some good ideas and interesting lore around it, I’m personally very interested to see where the sequel will go with this because it is a genuinely interesting universe. This universe and its lore are completely different from Zelda’s and I think it takes very little inspiration (if any) from Zelda and, this, in my opinion is what definitely prevents this game from being a clone. The lore is interesting and gives this game its own personality. Finally, there are quite a few things you could actually criticise about this game. The graphics and simplicity (this includes things like animations), but it is an indie game with low budget so I don’t think a lot more could have been done. Nevertheless, it’s something to improve and it looks like is actually going to improve significantly in oceanhorn 2. Also, gameplay wise, more items and more ways to interact with stuff around you would help, it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t close to what Nintendo has achieved in this kind of game. Finally, and probably the most average part of the game was boat travelling. So the world is an archipelago basically, so you have to go by boat between the different islands. You can’t really control de boat, just sit while it goes to whatever island you’ve chosen to go, you can shoot around some stuff but boat travelling feels far too simple and tedious. Some interesting stuff could have been done, but boat travelling is just boring. Good stuff is you get an upgrade for your boat to go faster fairly early in the game, so at least you don’t spend a lot of time in the boat. It doesn’t drag down the experience, but it is something that needs to go or be completely redesigned in oceanhorn 2. Summarising, it is a game that given its indie status, low budget and multiplatform approach has its limitations, especially noticeable when playing in a system like ps4. However, if you’re open minded enough (e.g. you don’t automatically hate something that is not called Zelda), you’ll find a very funny action adventure game. If you like Zelda, as long as you’re open minded, if you like adventure games, I think you’ll have fun. If you cannot get past some of the limitations, like graphics, it’s fine (all opinions and tastes are good and acceptable), but spend your money elsewhere as you won’t like this.
I finished the “main story” game, and I played a fair number of community levels and still feel there is a lot to discover in this game. I do think this LBP is a lot like the other LBPs, which isn’t bad in itself, although you won’t find a lot of new, super-exciting stuff in my opinion. Having said that, this game still excels at what is supposed to be good at, as a level editor. Gameplay is very similar to the other ones; this is a platform game with a lot of puzzle-like kind of things. The “main campaign”, it is good fun and it serves its purpose as a kind of tutorial of the kind of things you can do in LBP, plus you need to do it to unlock a lot of stuff to then build your own levels. There are quite a few multiplayer cooperative levels, which are absolutely fantastic fun, downside is that you’ll need people to play them as, literally you cannot do it on your own. Also worth mentioning is that, if you’re after unlocking all the bits and pieces, you’ll also need to find other players, as some of the secret areas can only be accessed if you got help from another sack boy. If you have some regular friends to play, then the better, but the game itself has a “party finder” tool that works reasonably well. As in the other LBPs, the “main campaign” only scratches the surface of the game. There are some absolutely fantastic and fun levels out there that have been made by other players. You can find very different focuses, from platform classic levels, to puzzle focused levels to super-fast, frenetic levels. There is a level for everybody here. Even if you don’t like creating your own levels, I think just playing other people’s levels is fantastic. Other people’s levels are rated by the community, so it is easy enough to avoid playing those that are bad because you’ll basically see bad reviews/low scores. I don’t think the community is very toxic in this game as I found the reviews usually correlate with reality. In practice, this game is in essence infinite, you’ll play it until you get bored, because there are just thousands of levels, so in terms of duration, I believe you can stay with this game for a lot of hours. Graphics are decent for this kind of game, no complaints in there. Music, as usual (in my opinion) in LBPs is fantastic. Some really nice songs in there. Bad things, multiplayer felt a bit laggy at times, not a lot of times but more than average. Also, I think this game has unfortunately been cut into pieces (DLC pieces) a bit too much. There a lot of extra things you can buy with real money, that hinders a bit the creativity when it comes to level creation; don’t get me wrong, the default stuff is numerous and very nice, but there are a lot of things locked in dlcs. If you liked the other LBPs, this is a safe choice I think, if you like platform games, there is a good chance you’ll like this one. I do believe, however, is a lot more enjoyable if you’re open to multiplayer, so if you’re looking to solo a platform game, you might wanna look elsewhere.
This game is fantastic at some levels, but unfortunately it is a disappointment in a very important thing, level design. First, graphics are nice, they look exactly the same as in the old cartoon series, so they’re fantastic cartoony graphics that hit you directly in the nostalgia spot (if you watched the original series at some point). Sound and music are all right, I do think sounds are very good with a lot of sounds and voices being the same or similar to the original ones. Music, although it goes well with the game, it’s nothing special, so it is average/good. The gameplay is a lot like many other platinum games, like bayoneta for example. Very fast paced combat with different melee combos, some ranged weapons, power-ups and ultimate abilities. It feels a lot like a classic beat’em up in a lot of ways. Gameplay is frenetic and fun, I got no complains about that, and you can try quite a different set of transformers so it gives you variety in characters. Also you can transform in the “vehicle” mode, which unfortunately it’s something that is underused in the game, since “vehicle” mode is basically just a way to get around faster. Maybe something more exciting could have been done with it. One of the things that surprised me the most and it was fantastic in this game is the lore. There are a few collectibles in the game, and when you pick them up, they basically unlock a piece of lore. I wasn’t aware the transformers universe got such a rich and well developed lore so it was a fantastic thing to discover. Following this same line, the story of the game itself, although it’s nothing special, it was nice enough, it felt a lot like one of the old episodes from TV, a bit cliché but still serves its purpose. My criticism for this game, and what prevents me from giving it a better score are the menu/weapon crafting system and the level design. The menu/ weapon crafting system is a mess and massively tedious. You basically, accumulate a lot of weapons and stuff that you can either equip directly or dismantle to get some bits and pieces and make other stuff. It takes a lot of time to do this and feels very boring. For a game that’s basically a beat’em up, adding this RPG kind of thing feels unnecessary and for me slows you down, something that could have been avoided whatsoever and/or simplified. Finally, the level design, it is horrid and I think it’s what makes this game, that otherwise could have been great, fall into the “average game folder”. Level design is super simple, all of them are kind of like clone long corridors that lead to open clone rooms where you find some bad guys. It doesn’t motivate you to explore anything as the map itself is boring and every room and place looks the same within a same location. For example, if you’re in the city missions, all the missions happen in clonic city-like corridors and rooms, there is absolutely nothing characteristic or special about any of them. That makes the game feel incredibly repetitive and even boring at times. It is obvious they didn’t spend a lot of time or money in trying to make venues something special. Shame, I do believe there is a lot of potential in the transformers universe for awesome locations. Summarising, this is kind of a beat’em up game, that feels good in a lot of ways but it’s ruined a lot by the boring, repetitive, meaningless and clonic level design. It could have been a fastantic game and it is just average. If you’re a fan of transformers and you enjoy this kind of game, get it if it’s cheap, I think you’ll have some fun with it (although don’t expect anything special). If you’re not particularly excited about the transformers world I would spend my money elsewhere, you won’t find anything out of the ordinary here.
This is a fantastic game in a lot of ways. You can see it has been made by the same people that makes dark souls, meaning that the game will somehow feel familiar if you’ve played dark souls, but it is a very different game. We’re looking at one of the best ARPG in my opinion, excels in every level. First of all, general graphic quality is all right, you won’t see any superb textures and stuff like that here, but they are good. Anyway, that doesn’t really matter since the artistic side of the graphics is so superb, it doesn’t really matter. Artistically speaking, it is one of the most immersive, unique, mysterious settings I’ve ever seen. It has a gothic/horror feeling to it, which goes very well with the game and universe is set into. The enemies and other npc deserve special mention here, their design again is fantastic, with a lot of grotesque monsters around. Sound and music are also fantastic, it goes fantastically well with the game, amazing music and sound effects in general. To the gameplay then, for those who have played dark souls (DS) before, I think it’s fair to say that it feels a lot like it but much faster paced and aggressive. DS in my opinion is about waiting for the right moment. If you haven’t played dark souls, I’d say bloodborne feels a bit like for example darksiders, or god of war but variety of combos are substituted by weapons. Also BB is a lot more demanding, you’ll die much more easily, you need to have a plan and be careful, which is a main difference with those examples I mentioned. However, in terms of speed and how aggressive you should be, it is similar to those games. I feel the game has done a great job at making different weapons feel different (e.g. fast but low damage weapon, vs slow and bulky but very damaging weapons, differences in range etc.) and depending on your weapon you’ll want to equip different clothes and skills and increase different attributes. So it has a system, that without being very deep, it is deep enough for you to have different play styles. Comapred to DS, DS has a much higher RPG component that this one. So although BB is a ARPG, it is much more action than RPG in my opinion. Finally, my main criticism and the reason I don’t give this a 10, comes from the difficulty. For me bloodborne presents the right level of challenge, it is hard enough to make me give my 100%, but not hard enough to make me grind or repeat something a 1000 times. Most I’ve died against a boss was 3 times or something like that (with the exception of the DLC final boss, which was more in the range or 10-15). However, this level of difficulty is just too much for a lot of people. I do understand that high difficulty is part of the design of the gameplay here, so I think just making an easy mode would actually kill the experience. However, I do believe that there are ways to make a game easier, without having to make the game easier in itself. For example, just by adding the possibility of summoning allied npc’s in every boss (which you can’t do for a lot of them). Also, another thing that’s badly done and it’s going to sound contradictory is that the game gets far too easy towards the end; this is at least in the game of the year edition. I haven’t farmed at all in this game, and I haven’t died a lot (for a DS/BB kind of thing) and I’ve only lost my blood echoes (experience) once or twice. Having said that, the last few bosses (5/6 bosses) were very very easy because I was too strong. This, to a lower extent also happened to me in DS2, so it sounds to me like something they need to work on. This game getting to easy partially ruins the fun, I think they need to work on making sure the game stays demanding throughout the whole thing. I remember FF VIII did that for example, adjusting the level of enemies based on yours. Also think the story could be told in a bit of a more straightforward way, rather than so fragmented. I get the fragmented thing has a point and it builds on a mysterious aura, but sometimes the way you get the info is far too random (e.g. having to look at a specific painting in a castle mid game and having to link that painting with an item description 15 hours later to get some global view on an event is just too random in my opinion). For those struggling to make sense of the story after playing the game, I do recommend reading “the paleblood hunt”. It is a fan written book that throws light and links a lot of gaps you might not be able to link otherwise. I insist I would read it AFTER finishing the game, to avoid spoilers. Anyway summarising, this a superb game in all aspects, gameplay, art, lore. If you like ARPG (that are stronger on the action side of things), you’ll love bloodborne. However, this is a demanding and challenging game, if you don’t consider yourself good at games or ready to face a decent challenge , I wouldn’t go for it. You probably won’t enjoy it and just get frustrated.
First of all, I’m just giving my opinion on the main single player campaign, not the multiplayer. I’ll summarise this as a very average FPS shooter in terms of the campaign. Story is not bad; it is basically very similar to the typical Hollywood cops-drugs-crime kind of movie. This isn’t a bad thing in itself as the story is not bad, but at the same time it doesn’t feel special or surprising at all, you’ll feel you’ve seen this before several times. Graphically speaking the game is all right, kind of at the same level you would expect from any battlefield game, maybe a bit worse. Artistically speaking, again it is very average, venues aren’t anything surprising at all which again compares negatively to other battlefield games. Sound and voice acting is top notch. Gameplay, it’s a classic FPS in the stricter meaning of the word, there isn’t any surprising mechanics at all here, nothing new, just classic shooting without any interesting or novel cover mechanics or anything. Maybe with the exception of a mechanic that allows you to arrest people rather than just killing them, but it’s nothing special. It is worth commenting that you get both action oriented missions and stealthier ones, but again nothing new under the sun. Summarising, this is a very average game, there are much more interesting FPS games out there if you’re looking for a good single player campaign. If you can get it really cheap, you’ll still enjoy it, but I wouldn’t pay a lot for this as it’s nothing special really. Again, I insist I am not taking into account the multiplayer element here, I got no idea how good it is in terms of multiplayer, probably quite fun, but read some other reviews to find out.
So, some really nice ideas in this metroidvania-rpg kind of game but it’s not quite what I expected. To begin with, I thought the story although nice, felt a bit childish. It is kind of like a fairy tale, which isn’t a bad thing, but I just couldn’t feel captivated by it of its characters. Graphically speaking, it’s nice, the quality of the graphics is average, but the art style of both characters and venues is unique enough and it has a nice personality to it. Music and sound are good, some beautiful melodies in there. Gameplay! I think the idea of mixing different genres is fine, but it’s made in a way that it doesn’t feel like it excels in any of the genres that it takes ideas from, ending up with a mixture that without feeling bad, does not feel special either. There is a bit of exploration done in a similar way motroidvanias (MV) are done, but it loses the platforming element MV usually have as your character just flies around. I thought that made the game less funny that it could have been. Then, you also get a touch of RPG, with experience-levelling classic mechanics with attributes and skill boards. You’ll also get a turn based combat system similar to some classic JRPG. As I mentioned before, although it is a nice idea combining all these elements, I don’t think it’s been executed particularly well, it just feels average. That said, the story itself plus the addition of an “easy mode” make it a good game for the little ones at home in my opinion, I think it offers a good experience for smaller kids. For adults, I think it is an average game, it doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy the game, but I think a lot of people will think it’s nothing out of the ordinary.
First of all, I want to say I’ll try and give this game a review as a game, without taking into account what happened with the developers etc. This game is a decent megaman spiritual successor and I mean decent in the full meaning of the word. Meaning I don’t think it’s a bad game, but it’s not also good it’s just decent and a lot of things about it will make you go meh… Let’s see gameplay wise, which is the most important part it feels a lot like a megaman, but with a couple of changes that make it feel faster paced. In terms of playing, it is decent fun. They’ve made a good job a making the different stages feel different, the problem is that they’re kind of simple, you won’t see anything that stands out. Difficulty is kind on normal-ish, maybe hard for some of the younger or less experienced players. In terms on length, the game is short but its replay value is quite high, the same as in the old megaman games. In terms of sound the game is quite good, music is good and it fits the style of the game very well, voice acting is all right for this kind of game etc. Graphically speaking, the game is well below average in my opinion. Although it’s not horrendous at all, they are a lot of things that feel a lot like a ps2 game, which considering the year is shameful. Not that you need photo realistic graphics in a game like this, but taking a look at things like for example “dust: an elysian tale” or other games like that you can actually create gorgeous, distinct graphics without them needing to be awesome. So summarising, it’s not all bad, but I believe this game has a lot of “meh…” things that will let you feeling that it could have been awesome, but it just turned out very average or even below average in a lot of things. If you’re a megaman fan or enjoyed the megaman games, I still think you’ll have decent fun with this (if you keep an open mind), but it won’t feel like megaman is back. You might want to look at spending your money with a megaman collection rather than this, but if you’re looking for something new within the “megaman” genre I think you’ll have decent fun with this. The overall feeling is that, this game could have been a lot more, and they made something cheap and fast to try and make some money.
This is decent interactive adventure game. It is quite a nice concept really, so you walk around looking for spots that trigger conversations that tell you the story. The setting is quite nice, you’re in probably the 80’s or something like that in a small village in England (or the UK anyway); I won’t go into details, I don’t want to spoil anybody, but the village is deserted, nobody is around, some kind of anomaly has happened. Anyway, the game is about you walking around the village looking for things that will trigger some kind of flashback and therefore you will unfold step by step the story. In terms ****, it is quite a calm, relaxing slow experience. You walk around see the next small chunk of story. It is a game where the narrative is the main element. So those for you that are looking for some adrenalin or some thrill might want to look somewhere else. However, if you’re looking for a more relaxing experience, with a story, full of mystery and some drama, this is your game. I don’t want to go into too much detail (and I won’t) but the story is interesting so if you’re looking for that I doubt this game will disappoint you. Graphics and sound are good, nothing that will make you go wow, but they serve their purpose and some of the views are quite nice, it is overall a visually nice experience. Only bad thing I can think of is that I found a couple of bugs while playing, nothing mayor but still a bit annoying. Summarising, looking for a relaxing adventure game that plays like a walking simulator and has an interesting story? Stop looking, you found a good game and you’ll enjoy it. If you’re looking for something more “active”, maybe you want to look somewhere else.
This is a nice little indie game that is probably worth buying on sales if you like this kind of game. Good stuff first, the gameplay is all right, not great but not bad either. An action game from an isometric perspective with a decent selection of movements/magic that doesn’t require you having super reflexes. Gameplay wise it feels a bit like a beat’em up. The platforming side is kind of poor with you having to jump around only a bit. The exploring side is all right, maps are not particularly complex and they feel a bit corridor-like, but I insist, it’s not too bad, it is all right. Graphically speaking is good, not great but graphics are full of colour with an interesting art style, they might not be impressive in a good way but neither in a bad way. Same with sound and music, with the exception of voice acting, which I thought it was superb. Now finally, the main positive point is the story itself, I must say I found it surprisingly good. It is quite a serious/darkish story with quite a bit of nice humour on it, this might be surprising considering the animal look of the characters. Then, there are 24 different endings, yes 24. That is a lot and, sure, some of them feel quite similar but most of them feel quite different and surprising sometimes. I quite like the fact that having so many different endings, well written and connected via the main plot, gives the game a very cool “butterfly effect” feeling. The problem with so many endings is the fact that you have to complete the game a lot of times to get them all and it feels quite repetitive (in a bad way). And this is the only real negative point of the game, although quite a significant one I must say. Unfortunately, once you get 7-10 endings, you start to feel the game is getting really repetitive in a bad way. The problem comes from the number of different stages, so to get an ending you have to complete like 5 stages (around that, I not sure of the exact numbers) and maybe there are like 8 different stages. So, as you can imagine, when you complete the game 20+ times, that means you’ve played the same levels probably a good 15+ times and it is a bit tedious. I personally think it is a shame, because if instead of 8 stages the game had I don’t know 20-25 (even if it is re-using the same decoration but different map), the game would have been superb, but it can get a bit boring after unlocking a few endings. Summarizing, decent game gameplay wise, superb in story but it gets badly repetitive if you want to get all the endings. Still, I think there is a lot to enjoy in this game and it is well worth a small investment if you like this kind of game.
I’ve been playing videogames for more than 25 years, since I was a kid and I must say this game surprised me in a few ways, it’s been a nice surprise. So this is a sandbox kind of game, the setting is obviously the mad max world. Bad things first, I must say I was surprised with a lot of reviews both from fans and professionals complaining about the game being repetitive. Let’s be honest, most sandboxes are quite repetitive in the side quest/additional stuff to do, only very few do something that’s completely different, this is for example the witcher 3 or Fallout 4, where even the sidequest feel very unique. So, I’m quite surprised a lot of people gave this game a hard time for being repetitive but didn’t complain about this for example in Metal Gear Solid V or Mirror’s Edge 2. Anyway, yes the game has quite a few repetitive aspects in the side quest/collective aspect, but in my humble opinion the gameplay is so funny that it didn’t feel like a pain (speak about this a bit more later), but yes the non “main story” content is a bit repetitive and maybe they could have added a bit more variety for certain stuff. Other than that I think this is the only real negative point of the game. Good stuff? Pretty much everything else. Graphically speaking I think the game is superb for a sandbox. I was particularly amazed by how well made the wasteland is done, it is beautiful to see (as beautiful as a wasteland can be) and massive with views that will let you wow. Also, I must say they made a great job at making the wasteland feel not repetitive, considering is a wasteland I think is hard, but you have more kind of rocky regions, sandy desert ones, mountain-ish, landfill etc. The wasteland feels varied and not boring at all. More good stuff, the gameplay is superb and for me is the main positive aspect of this game. Some people say it’s too simple, I say it’s simple but it is good because within its simplicity you have quite a few options, a responsive control etc. Being a bit more detailed, on foot the gameplay feels a bit like the Batman Arkham series maybe a bit simplified with not a lot of combos etc, but still a decent number of moves and the battle feeling is so wild that I don’t think it spoils the fun. The driving is also great with some mechanics I haven’t seen in any other games. Some people complain the car driving is awful, I think that’s unfair. At the beginning of the game you have a **** car and you’re driving over sand, gravel and dirt roads, it is true that at the beginning is kind of easy to lose control of the car, but I think it’s part of the gameplay. I don’t think driving a car with homemade **** tyres over sand etc. has to be easy, on the contrary. If you stick to roads the car drives a lot better compared to just land, I think it makes sense. Also the driving is a lot better when you start upgrading the tyres (with chains, spikes etc.), which again I think it makes sense. Anyway, the driving is good, I think you just need to be sensible and a bit patient as in getting used to it and improve the car; I mean improving the car is a big big part of the main story, so it makes sense to me that they made it feel like it actually matters. The battle mechanics on the car feel great and wild again, it is high adrenaline stuff with you being able to hit cars directly with massive bumpers with spikes, spikes on the side, shacking off guys that jump onto your car, sniping, using the shotgun, using explosive spears and, my favourite, using the hook for a variety of things from destroying other cars (as in taking off a door to be able to shoot enemy drivers), dragging down sniper towers or doors to hook enemies directly and drag their bodies through the mud. It is simple, but you have a decent amount of choice and it feels funny, simple and direct but very funny and satisfying, it is really really fun to play. Story wise, I think the game was all right it is not a superb story but it is good and it has good moments, it isn’t worse than, for example, the Road Fury movie story. Finally, in terms of duration, it isn’t super long but it feels right, around 20 h the main story + another 20 to 40 hours if you do secondary stuff and a huge map to explore. Summarising, if you’re looking for a sandbox with an action packed gameplay full of adrenaline and fun, I think you should give it a try, most likely you’re going to enjoy this game a lot. Otherwise, better spend your money elsewhere.
This is quite a decent game with the potential to become a 10. For me there are a few points that make it lose some score in my opinion. In terms of gameplay, the game feels great, you have 20+ heroes, each one feels very different, they all have 3-5 different skills, there’s a game style for everyone here. I also think they’ve managed to balance the heroes quite well, that doesn’t mean you can kill any hero with any hero; it means each hero is strong against some heroes and weak against some others, balance within a specific game is completely dependent on people making the right choice. As long as people think a bit when choosing, rather than going “Genji is my main no matter what”, it is easy to have a combination of heroes that is balanced, being “combination” the key word here. Said that the gameplay wildly varies between heroes, you have very fast pacing heroes that have to move a lot (e.g. Genji/Tracer), bulky slow kind of heroes (e.g Mei, Reindhardt), healers, etc. etc. Graphically speaking, the game is good, not awesome but I think it stands out by its art style rather that the raw quality of the graphics, music and sound are all right, nothing out of the ordinary but they work all right. Story wise, this being a multiplayer online game, you won’t find a lot of story elements in the game itself, but Blizzard has made an awesome job at giving you context via comics and short movies that you can access online for free. That is quite cool, although I still miss a campaign mode, seeing the universe they’ve created, the main story and the charisma of the characters I think it would be relatively easy to make an awesome campaign. Finally, for those trying to think about how playing this feels I think it’s fair to say that this is a mixture between a multiplayer FPS and a MOBA (e.g. league of legends), so if you played some of those, just expect something that falls in the middle, at least it feels like this to me. Now, bad stuff, the first thing is the lack of proper modes. There are 3 main modes that you can either play on quick play or competitive. Two of them are very similar. These modes feel great, the games are kind of short 5-10 mins (in quick play) so, they’re great fun. Most of the people play to these. There are a few other additional modes, I’m calling these additional for two reasons, first, not as many people play them and second they don’t have maps specifically designed for them (which is awful) and you’ll notice that while playing. These additional modes are things like “deathmatch” 1v1, 3v3 and capture the flag. Capture the flag specifically angers me a bit, it is a very old mode in FPS games and for me it’s great, it’s my favourite usually in this kind of game. Here it feels “additional” because they reuse maps from the “main modes” for it; so basically Blizzard has put almost zero effort on the mode and you can feel that when playing. Now, on top of the lack of proper modes, there is the lack of maps for these modes. So the main modes have specific maps but not many, this is 3 and 4 maps for each of the “capture the zone” mode and 7 for the “escort the payload”. For escort the payload the number of maps is all right, but for example for one of the “capture the zone” modes only 3 maps is very very little. Finally, and maybe the worst for me is the matchmaking system. First of all, I want to clarify that I’m not complying about this after playing a couple of hours. As of today, I’ve played more than 850 games with 112 hours of playtime so I think I’m in a fairly good position to review this. Anyway, people say the match making is designed to try and put together people of the same skill so we have fair games. Some people say the game does this looking at your victory percentage. In principle, this is fine with me, fair games area funnier and I can definitely feel the invisible hand of the system “forcing” me to stay in the victory percentage that correlates with my skill. That again, in principle is fine with me, sounds fair. The game pairs me with better players if I go above my % and I start losing and vice versa. The problem with this is the way the system is keeping my percentage at X value. I’d say that roughly 50 to 60% of my games are games in which my team is immensely superior to the other team and we win very easy or the other way around. The other 40-50% are fair enough games that I might win or not. Anyway, the fact that 50-60% of my games are quite unfair is frustrating, I don’t mind loosing, but I don’t like losing overwhelmingly because it’s just not funny. Same way crush winning the other team is not fun either and that’s why I’m getting to a point where the game is frustrating me a bit. Summarising, there is quite a lot to enjoy in this game so If you like this kind of game go for it, but be ready for some frustration.
A great little platformer game that might feel childish and it is great to play with kids but might also surprise adults if you let it. This game is quite unique in its aesthetic, being all made of paper I couldn’t but be amazed at how some of the environments looked. So graphically speaking I think it is superb, not because of its super-realistic HD graphics (which obviously this games doesn’t have) but because artistically speaking it is beautiful to see and very very unique. The gameplay, was nice but I think that is the right word, nice. It is a relaxing game, quite easy in my opinion, not particularly challenging and kind of slow to medium paced in most areas. I guess it all makes sense if you’re going to play it with children or something, although I found it enjoyable for an adult as well. A thing worth mentioning is that this game has some really really good ideas in terms of gameplay. It integrates the use of the movement sensor, touch pad and the light bar in some really original ways to, for example generate a wind gust or to move a spot light etc., some really interesting gameplay mechanics. The story is not particularly surprising; it is kind of like a fairy tale which goes well with the overall feeling of the game. Finally, there is quite an extensive an enjoyable creative side for this game, where you can draw/cut your own paper shapes to make stuff or to decorate your character; something that creative people will enjoy quite a bit together with the little kids at home. Generally, I think there is some really great ideas for a platformer here, but I also feel that the game was more intended for a children audience, me as an adult I enjoyed this game quite a bit because of the original gameplay mechanics, but I also felt it stopped half way on the road to greatness. If you’re looking for a little nice game to play with children, this is definitely something worth getting, I think it would do an awesome job at that. If you’re thinking of getting it as an adult platformer gamer, be warned that although you might feel at times that is awesome (mainly because of art+ original game mechanics) you’ll probably finish the game thinking it could have been something awesome but in the end it wasn’t. The story might also feel a bit cheese or childish. Despite that, I think it is well worth getting as an adult for a fairly reduced price, just stay open minded and expect a bit of silliness and childish stuff.
This is a surprisingly good metroidvania. This is a really interesting and a good game if you like the metroidvanias. The setting is good and the story and characters are quite decent as well. Graphically speaking, I think is great, it has 2D cartoony like graphics that, in my opinion, reminds a tiny bit of studio Ghibli. Music, sounds and voice acting are superb as well. Gameplay wise, this is a Metroidvania with the action feeling as a beat em up, quite a few combos and magic to do, the controls are really good and it is easy to get used to them. I personally feel the game could have been harder, and that is the only negative point for me, but I didn’t find it so easy that it would spoil my experience, but for those looking for a hardcore challenge, I don’t think you’ll find it here. Summarising, if you’re looking for a Metroidvania with a bit of a beat em up flavour (kind of like guacamelee) and a setting that reminds a bit of a studio Ghibli movie, stop looking this is the game you want to play. Also very good for those who like a good metroidvania. In terms of length, we’re probably talking between 15-20 hours if you want to do the secondary quests etc. the main story is probably around 8-10, so I think it is good for this kind of game and for this price.
This is a little top down action game. I won’t lie there is a few things in this game that could be better, but overall this is quite a nice funny game. So you’re basically a hero that is climbing a massive tower to “save the day” doing a bit a platforming and killing a lot of monsters with your weapons. Gameplay wise, this game is nothing new, it is just a top down action game, with a kind of slow paced action if you compare it to for example dead nation or alienation. There is a decent selection of weapons both melee and ranged, and they feel different enough. Graphically speaking, it is not anything out of the ordinary but it is good enough. Although I must say I was quite amazed by the fact that you can look down anytime while climbing the tower and it is amazing how you can still see stuff that are a long way down. Just climbing the tower and just stop to take a look down almost made the game worth playing by itself. In terms of story, you’ll find a very basic one, hero want to save the day by defeating the evil guy with an unexpected curious twist towards the end. I must say tough that the story is structured in a very original way. So the game is supposed to be an actual movie and the director is recording the comments of the DVD, so as you move forward in the game you’ll hear the director and an audio technician speaking a lot, plus what’s happening inside the movie itself. This is an awesome and innovative idea for the narrative, but I felt the dialogue between the director and the technician, which is meant to be funny, was sometimes is a bit tedious. At least that’s what I thought for the first 1-2 hours, then I got used and I thought it was all right, so be ready to maybe get annoyed a bit if you’re not prepared for some cheap humour. Also worth mentioning is that there is a huge variety of different enemies, which helps each level of the tower feel less repetitive, they actually made a decent job at avoiding the repetitive feel. Summarising, you want a top down action game that feels a bit different with a funny setting, give this one a try you’ll probably enjoy it, otherwise put your money somewhere else.
What can be said about this game other that it is an awesome classic! Anyway, first things first this is a point and click adventure so if you don’t like that kind of game I would probably stay away from it a spend your money elsewhere. For those who like point and clicking, I think this is a must and if you’re new to the genre but you like a funny story and solving puzzles to move forward in a game and more of a story driven/narrative game, go for it and give it a try, chances are you’ll like it. Good things, graphics are awesome, they are very good cartoony like graphics that have been remade completely. There is a mode that lets you alternate between the old and new graphics which is nice and curious if you’ve played the game back in the day. Voice acting is very good as well. Said that, and avoiding spoilers, I’ll just say this is a funny/comedy kind of story, this isn’t a serious point and click adventure (such as for example broken sword). It is all about having a good laugh and just have a good funny time, very similar to monkey island, grim fandango so if you enjoyed those I would be surprised if you didn’t enjoy this one. Summing up, you like point and click adventures and you’re looking for a for a funny story to just have a quick laugh? Stop looking, this is the game you want to play. If you’re not into the whole point and click adventure thing you might want to spend your money elsewhere.
This is a really great game, although I must say it’s starting to feel a bit of a “more of the same” (I mean compared to F3 and FNV, not to F1 and F2), which is both good and bad at the same time. Bad things, I don’t think there is anything particularly bad about this game other than the usual in Bethesda. This is, first, quite a few bugs in the game, mostly minor bugs but some relatively mayor ;e.g. a companion getting lost and not having a clue of where he/she is, they usually end up showing up again at some point but still annoying. Second, and not less important, a.i. is awful both for enemies and companions. It is especially frustrating with companions, mainly because they get stuck in stuff constantly so you find yourself looking over your shoulder quite often just to make sure they’re actually still there. Other stuff; some people say the game is too easy or too hard, well… I don’t think they’re right about this. In my opinion, this is one of the few games out there where you can actually choose a level of difficulty that suits you, from easy which is really easy to survival (which is very challenging, no fast travel, having to eat and drink etc.). Finally, although not a massive deal, I feel the loss of the karma system has damaged the game a bit; I quite liked having a reputation in the game based on the karma thing. It is true that if you go guns blazing in a settlement they’ll be hostile and that is it, so there is still some consequences to bad actions but not nearly as significant as in F3 or other games in general. A good example of why a miss the karma system is companions (yes, again); there’s quite a few companions for you to choose; some are more good than bad and vice versa (ethically speaking). The thing is, I can go and choose a “good karma” companion and do good stuff (help people, avoid violence etc.) so he/she likes me and get all the dialogues and stuff, right after I finish with that companion I can go and choose a “bad karma” one a start doing bad stuff (steal, easy trigger guy etc.) and it is equally easy to get all his lines of dialogue etc. since he does not have any kind of prejudice towards me because I have no reputation (i.e. karma system) so the A.I basically does not see you as having a personality unless it is something serious enough for it to get hostile (as in attacking them or stuff). So basically, you can switch between being a saint and being a damn bastard and it’s fine, as long as you don’t cross a few lines, being this mainly killing or stealing too much. This, in my opinion does not make sense. Other good things, pretty much everything else, the game is beautiful to see and hear, gameplay is pretty much the same as in F3 so it is good fun. The thing that I though was particularly good in this one was the story, very good story with different factions and some charismatic secondary characters. The story is what made me like F4 more than F3, it is in my opinion quite good. Finally, I forgot to mention that maybe I would have liked a venue with a bit more charisma. I don’t have anything against Boston, but for me it’s just another city, does not have anything special (USA people might feel different about this). Anyway, you liked F3? go for this one, I’m pretty sure you’ll love it. In general, if you like this kind of game (I’d call it an rpg mixed with a bit of fps), F4 is quite a safe bet in my opinion.
I see scores are quite polarised for this game, and I understand where it’s coming from. For me, FEZ was a really nice game. So what’s FEZ? I’d say fez is a mixture of platforming a puzzling. It is not as much plataforming as a Mario game is and it’s not so much about puzzles as Dr. Layton is; it’s sits somewhere in the middle, maybe 70-75% platforming and 25-30% puzzles. In terms of gameplay that means it not quite fast, addictive gameplay as a Mario game but something significantly slower and calmer. So, if you’re looking for a Mario, donkey kong or something like that, this isn’t it. The main mechanic of the game, other than jumping around as in any other platforming game is the fact that despite being 2D you can turn around the camera in 3D, giving you different perspectives of a same object/area. This, I think is quite a clever mechanic. It is true though that it could have been used in a better way. I mean that kind of thing could probably be used to make some really nice puzzles and stuff, but in general it is quite easy to see how to progress after you’ve changed the perspective a couple of times. At the same time, maybe it would have made the game too slow, but I understand why some people feel it’s a bit wasted. Anyway, said that the thing that I really liked about this game was the puzzles and setting in general. Music is fantastic, graphics are cute and I have to say it, this game made me feel like an archaeologist. There are symbols and a language that you don’t understand (it is strange symbols) and you can decipher it by solving certain puzzles, to do so I had to actually grab paper a pen which is really nice. It has like a very mysterious setting and you start to find out things and as I said made me feel like an archaeologist/explorer; that for me is very unique in a game. Finally the puzzles, I think there’s a bit of everything here, easy and hard ones and it is certainly a good challenge to complete them all. I’ll say a couple of them, specifically a very significant one is badly designed, meaning the answer is based on knowing a sentence that apparently you learn when you’re a kid at school (a mnemonic); problem is that apparently is a school thing in English native speaking countries so I wasn’t able to solve that one; and that is a bit **** and I think it is bad design (but it is a minor thing if you consider the game as a whole). Overall, I’d say this is quite a unique game and, unfortunately, is hard to know if you’ll enjoy it or not beforehand. I definitely think tough that for you to really enjoy and appreciate the beauty of this game, you need to like the puzzle component in a game, so if you don’t enjoy that I think you’ll go “meh…”
This is quite a decent game I think. It’s not as good as GTA V IMO but still quite a solid game. Summarising, I’d call this game a bit of mixture between GTA and Batman Arkham series; I mean in terms of gameplay. The mission structure, driving etc. resembles to GTA whereas the combat reminds me of batman; yes you can use firearms but there is an obvious stress in marcial arts. I think pretty much anything is good about this game. The graphics are decent, the city looks really good and as a guy that has been in HK, I’ll say it looks quite a bit like the real one, so I think the setting is really good. Gameplay is smooth and good, it is just nice to play. The story line is nothing out of the ordinary, and although not overly surprising it works quite well. I mean it’s a classic undercover cop/mafia story with likeable characters, so if you like that kind of thing then you’ll be all right with it. Bad things!, well… I don’t think there are bad things itself in this game, it is quite well made. However, there are a couple of things that, IMO, could be better. One of them is the music, I think it works well with the setting (music in Chinese etc.), but I don’t think it’s particularly good and feels quite homogenous. GTA V, for example, has an awesome selection of music and there are also other things, like the crazy radio programs than help with the setting; I kind of miss the equivalent in sleeping dogs. Also, as I mentioned above, the map is quite well made in terms of detail and credibility, but it could have been a bit bigger and maybe a bit more different in the different areas. It’s all city areas that are a bit different between them but not too much (with the exception of the financial quarter), why not a bit of city outskirts? bit of countryside or something. Anyway, overall this is quite a good game and I would definitely recommend it to the people that like this kind of game, just avoid comparisons and you’ll see that this is quite a great game.
This is quite a nice little game; it is very similar to the first one so if you liked HM1 you’ll like this one. The gameplay is pretty much the same, some interesting differences might be that you’ll use quite a few characters this time, and each one of them has kind of specific abilities (much like the mask thing in HM1). The gameplay is still very fast and brutal, and not very forgiving, you’ll die quite a lot (it’s twin stick action), the stages are also significantly bigger in this one and the game is longer. So summarising, it is basically more of the same, slightly better. The story is told in a much more direct way this time and it is a good one. In terms of story, it is highly related to the first game, so I suggest you play both games in a relatively short space of time or chances are you’re gonna miss a lot of small things. Storytelling is more direct but it’s still kind of vague, you’ll have to pay attention to follow the thing; it is really good so if you don’t see the full picture after completing the game, I would suggest you do some online reading; it is worth it. Other than that, graphics are the same, old styled, and the OST is amazing, maybe even better than HM1 OST which is quite an achievement considering HM1 OST was already awesome. Anyway same old thing, so if you liked HM1, you won’t be disappointed, although it might feel too similar. For those who didn’t play the game, this is a fast paced twin stick action game, not very forgiving but not too hard. If you like that kind of game and you don’t mind (or like) about old styled graphics, get it! most likely you’ll like the game.
Short version of the review would be, if you’ve played and enjoyed season 1, get season 2 it is more of the same, some good stuff. Season 2, I think it is great as a sequel. The story is good, for a zombie game, for those who don’t know the walking dead is more about how the characters evolve during a zombie apocalypse than the apocalypse itself. I believe the game does really good at that, especially for the main character, you can see how this main character has changed and keeps changing after what happened in season 1 and now, in season 2. I think very little games and, in general, pieces of entertainment achieve such good management in character developing. As I mentioned, the story is good and it has plenty of tense moments and hard decisions for you to experience and make, it is a good thrill. In terms of other stuff, I personally like the graphics a lot; it is let’s call it comic book styled. The voice acting and sound effects are pretty good as well, so basically all you need to have a proper experience. Another good thing is that IMO you can replay the game a few times and try different decisions as some of these have a huge impact in subsequent events. Overall, another good story here, if you liked season 1, don’t think about it, you’ll like this one as well. Finally, It might be worth mentioning this might not be your kind of game. Although the story is quite intense, the gameplay itself is kind of slow paced as you mainly just walk around, talk and observe, so if you like very dynamic games with a lot of action and player interaction, this might not be your thing.
First of all, just want to clarify I’ll only give my opinion about the SP campaign, I haven’t tried the multiplayer nor I am interested in it, although I’m pretty sure it is quite decent. I am just going to say that the graphics, voice acting, sound effects etc. are quite good, I don’t think this comes as a surprise as DICE is usually very good at that. In terms of gameplay, it is just another FPS game, with all the good and the bad. If you like FPS, you will definitely enjoy this one. I don’t think there is a lot to say as everybody has played a CoD or a BF or something at some point and there is nothing special about BF4. I’d only say, in terms of the campaign, I am a bit disappointed. The campaign is not as spectacular and such an adrenaline rush as it is in other games. The story is quite basic, there is absolutely nothing special about it, the characters are a cliché and the missions are not specially surprising, meaning you won’t see something you’ll say “wow”. As I said, this is kind of a disappointment since BF3 had a great campaign, with great story and some really “wow” moments. I understand a lot of the focus on these games (from devs and players) goes into the multiplayer and, that solo player is not that important anymore, but BF4 campaign feels as if it was done quickly to just tick the “this game has a single player mode” box. My opinion then is, if you enjoy this kind of games for the campaign, just buy this one if it is quite cheap (got it on sales for less than a fiver), otherwise look for something else, because you’ll complete the game with a “meh” feeling. Those mainly looking for a good multiplayer experience, I don’t know, but this game is probably quite good for that (read some other reviews ).
Overall, I think this game is good, not great but good. I understand, however, why some people might not like it as there are a few design decision that are not great in my opinion. First of all, as you probably already know this game is mainly focused on online multiplayer. There are a few “missions” to play solo, but they’re not great fun to play in the long term, good however to learn the basic mechanics. Graphics, sound, maps etc. are all really good, they look, sound and feel very well do I don’t think I have any complains in there. What about gameplay? Well…this is where the thing gets juicy, there are both good a bad things. Good thigs first, the gameplay, feels smooth and fast but not too fast and the gun fight lasts long enough (you don’t die too fast nor too slow) which is good as having better aim compared to your opponent can really make a difference, but there is still some room for luck and randomness which is good. Weapons are good and they feel and are different, I’ve read a lot of people complaining that all weapons are the same, that they are not different and that it doesn’t make any difference if you equip A or B. I strongly disagree with this; maybe not all weapons are different but there are definitely quite a few different groups. For example, if we focus on fire rate, there are slow and fast weapons (usually slow weapons are powerful and fast not as much), so depending on how good your aim is, it makes quite a huge difference which one you choose. Low fire rate weapons are usually powerful and overheat quickly which means you need to have good aim or otherwise they’re useless, on the other hand high fire rate weapons are basically the opposite. Also depending on the map you might want to change the weapon you use; e.g. for wide open maps you may like a long range weapon, but this one is probably not that effective in the smaller “corridor-like” maps. Same with the gadgets, you have to give it a bit of thought if you want to use the best gadget for both your skills and map/game mode. Basically, choosing the right equipment makes a huge difference if you’re playing to win, and this is good; if you’re just playing to randomly and pointlessly shoot around and kill, then I guess it doesn’t really matter but I don’t think that’s the game’s fault. Anyway, bad things, the first bad thing for me is the fact that there is a huge breach in equipment between let’s say low rank players (1-20) and high rank players (40+). You basically start with almost nothing, in terms of weapons and gadgets and that ruins a bit the experience at the beginning. First, chances are a lot of people are going to kill you loads just because they have better equipment. That is kind of all right as it is a bit like that in all games. However, I think it is quite quite frustrating when that breach makes you pretty much useless in certain game modes compared to high rank players. For example, in cargo, drop zone and droid run (you basically have to capture something by interacting with it) it makes a huge difference to have personal shields for blaster defense, or a jetpack to chase the enemy carrier, stunning grenades etc etc. With the kind of kit they give you at the beginning you are severely in disadvantage and that, my friends, spoils the fun a bit. I really think they should have given rookies better stuff. Second stuff that frustrates me quite a lot, is the respawn locations, it is not strange at all in this game to spawn in the middle of an enemy mob and that means you’re gonna die instantly. This doesn’t happen this often in other games so there is something wrong here either with the respawn design or the maps, but it is frustrating as hell. Finally, this game feels far too chaotic, I know…partially is because people play in a chaotic way, but again it feels a lot more chaotic here than in other games. You find yourself too often in the middle of crossfires and it is not because the opponents have managed to perform an awesome strategic group manoeuvre, no, it is just random and as I said before, many times is right after respawn. Anyway, when you get past the initial lack of equipment the game is more and quite enjoyable as you can start to create your own “pseudo-class” and try to make a difference in a match. The problem is it will take you quite a bit to get to that point so there is a good chance you’ll get bored/frustrated in the way. If you’re in doubt as I was, I would suggest you get a second hand copy (they’re quite cheap now) and you give it a good play. If you like it, good get the season pass if you don’t just get rid of it and you didn’t lose too much money (I’m still trying to decide myself!).
This game was a complete surprise for me, it’s not that I was not expecting a good game but I really enjoyed it in the end. First thing it’s worth commenting is that I think this isn’t a game for everybody. If you like fast paced games, with a lot of action or where you play a very active role then this isn’t gonna be your thing. This game presents a slow paced gameplay where you basically walk around, talk to people and look at objects; it creates tension and interest through the story, not the gameplay. Said that, it is very similar, in terms of how to play it, to heavy rain, until dawn etc., so if you liked those, chances are you will like this one. I always describe these games as point a click adventures, but without the puzzling element the classic adventures used to have, it is a lot simpler (sometimes even too easy) to progress here. How long to beat? Probably around 15h, assuming you like to explore the surroundings, a bit more, maybe, if you want to find the collectibles. Other things, the graphic style is a bit weird sometimes but I’ve come to like it (take a look at some videos and pics), I don’t think it ruins the experience or anything so they’re good enough. The OST is fantastic, the music goes incredibly well with the game, they’ve done a great work here. Finally and most importantly, the story is great although I must say it might feel a bit slow. The first two episodes are a bit of an introduction and then real interesting stuff starts to happen from middle/ending of episode 3 onwards. This means, it may feel a bit too slow at the beginning (that’s what I felt), but if you hang in there until the end you’ll realise the story is actually quite well done. It left me with a feeling of “wow, this was interesting” at the end. The characters are likeable in my opinion, although this is highly subjective and the story I think is highly focused on the feelings of both the main character and one of her friends, which you may or may not like, but don’t get me wrong, still a thrilling story behind all this, it is not all cheesy. Anyway, I quite like games that make me feel something in the end, after playing games for more than 20 years I find most of them don’t make me feel anything special at the end; well…this one did. If you’re looking for something a bit fresh with a good story and don’t mind about slow paced mechanics, give it a try. If you’re the kind of person that only that likes fast paced games where you have to take a very active role bla bla bla you might want to spend your money elsewhere.
This is a nice little game; fun to play and with an interesting story that opens the door for the good stuff happening in hotline Miami (HM2). Graphics are retro styled which gives the game a bit of personality, but if you don’t like the style you’ll feel disappointed by it. Music is simply amazing; it goes very well with the brutal, fast paced gameplay. The story is quite good for this kind of game; although the game obviously focuses on gameplay, it is simply nice to play but you get a good story as well. The story can be a bit hard to follow if you don’t pay attention and for it to make complete sense you’ll have to unlock the “true” ending. I’d also say some of the questions about the characters won’t be answered until you play HM2 which explains a lot of the stuff that happens in HM1. As I mentioned above, the gameplay is fast, it is all about twin stick fast paced action, and the good thing is the story does not break that rhythm. I think it is also worth mentioning the game is kind of hard and not very forgiving, you’ll die a lot, so if you don’t like that you might want to spend your money elsewhere. Another interesting thing is the violence, this game, despite the graphic style is quite brutal and violent. This is a good thing for people who like it, but be careful if you’re thinking of buying it as a present for children or if there is children around; violence, drugs etc. are quite present here. Finally, I would advise people to play both HM1 and 2 together as the story in the second game is highly related to the first one and answers questions you may have on the first game. There are also a lot of characters and references from HM1 in HM2. If you make the effort to understand the story, I think you’ll enjoy it quite a lot, but you need to pay attention as the game does not hold your hand on this (if you’re losing the point, I suggest you read a bit on the internet after completing the game).
I like it when we get games like this in PS plus, it is a good way of discovering great games that otherwise we wouldn’t buy, or that’s the way I want to see it. Anyway, furi is a very interesting, funny game. The design of the characters and the music (a bit similar to hotline Miami) is amazing. Gameplay is kind of basic in terms on the amount of moves you have but it is quite well designed as it doesn’t feel limited or simple, I guess that’s probably because the game is kind of hard. Said that, the gameplay is quite fast and it relies a lot on you having decent reflexes, this isn’t a bad thing but it might be a problem for some people since it is not only about memorising boss patterns. I also think it is worth mentioning the story, although it is not amazing it has a couple of moment where you’ll say “mmm interesting”, so I think it gives you a nice excuse to want to progress here rather than just say “ok, let’s move to the next boss fight”. On the bad side, the graphics feel a bit strange sometimes, not bad, but strange. Summarising, this is a fast paced, hard game and it only has boss fights, not small fighting or platforming. It has a nice little story and amazing character-fight design and OST. If you like fast paced games with a bit of melee and twin stick action and a good challenge, give it a try it won’t disappoint you. On the other hand if you don’t like hard games where you’ll potentially have a retry the same battle a few times, spend your money somewhere else
I have to say this isn’t the master piece I was kind of expecting, BUT it is still a quite good game. Graphics are all right, which is fine considering the game wasn’t originally conceived in the next gen consoles. It is; however, very good and amazing on an artistic level, some locations are “wow”. The gameplay is also quite awesome in terms of mechanics. These are quite simple, but the game itself is not very forgiving so you have to be careful or you’ll die. The difficulty is just right for me, although I understand it might be a little bit too much for some people. I, personally think is just the right difficulty and it achieves a lot more than just making the game “hard”. I think the fact that you have to be careful because you can die in any moment makes you think about how you approach enemies, which is nice for a change, as in most games you can basically just dive in the middle of a mob move a sword around a bit and be fine. I also think it adds to the atmosphere of the game; you are in a cursed, gloomy land. Hell! you should feel a bit tense about walking around in a place like that and the difficulty level achieves that, it gives you that tiny bit of extra tension you need, it makes you feel this cursed land is actually threatening and that you shouldn’t be there. The design of both dungeons and bosses is superb, it does not feel linear at all nor too overwhelming, and it is quite clever how they make you go back or retrace some times. Bosses are kind of easy compared to the dungeons itself which is funny and unexpected, but they all give you a decent challenge. The main criticism I have for this game is that I feel, being the game infamous (or famous) for being hard, the developers have tried too hard to make everything hard. I don’t have a problem with the enemies being hard, as a matter of fact I like it, but some design decisions seem just annoying to me. An example of this is the fact that the game throws you in the middle of nowhere giving you absolutely no clue about how the skills and stats work. Some people say it is part of the “dark souls experience”, I just think it is annoying and does not contribute to anything good. I respect those who like that, but me, personally, I don’t want to spend hours trying to guess what giving points to a specific stat does, potentially realising after X hours of game that I’ve been giving points to the wrong stat (yes, you can reset them I know, but still…). Finally, I feel there is an awesome lore behind this game but again, the way it is given to the player, although smart it is not very well designed in my opinion. Basically, this lore is very very very scattered and normally is given in very small chunks of info. I don’t dislike the fact that it lets a bit of room for interpretation, for example just by looking at the environment in a significant room you can theorise about how something happened. However, I think the basic lore could be given to the player a bit more digested, e.g. finding a kind of long document explaining something and, maybe, make the document hard to find rather than splitting it into 20 pieces of which you may find only 13. I’m not saying it’s a bad idea to give the lore like that, I just feel it could be better managed to find some kind of middle ground; the way it is at the moment made me feel a terrible lack of context at some points which is a shame because the deps obviously made a fantastic work with this universe. Anyway, this is a really good game and it is excellent, but for it is not masterpiece because of some of the stuff I mention above. For those complaining/worried about the difficulty, I’d like to say that if you play it with a friend (being one of you a tank) the game will be like 1000 times easier, more even if you summon npcs (which you can do in almost all the bosses). This makes the game a lot more accessible to those who don’t want to die that much.
Maybe ps4 is not the best platform to play strategy games, I think we could all agree on that and there isn’t a lot of strategy games either anyway, but this tropic 5 works well and it is fun to play. I wasn’t really going to give this game a chance, although I have always felt kind of attracted to it, but since I got it for “free” on psplus I gave it a try and I’m happy I did. Graphics, music and that kind of stuff is nice, I wouldn’t say it surprises the player in any way but it works well and it is nicely done. I think the main thing about this game is the fact that it is not too complicated but not too simple either, in terms of the gameplay (i.e. how many things you have to manage). That, IMO, is at the same time both its best and worse feature. Basically, depending on the kind of gamer you are, you might feel disappointed about the game not being deep enough in the city management stuff. However, if you’re not too bothered about that and you just want something a bit simpler and have a fun time, then it’s good and, I’ll say tropico does a good job with that. I think it is worth commenting that you have the choice to be a good ruler or a really bad/corrupt one, that can be hilarious at points and it’s really good that you can basically make that choice as it gives the game a bit of variety. Also, it is important to say that the controls feel good and I never missed the keyboard and mouse once I got the hang of it, really good work there. The campaign is decent, although I was kind of getting a bit tired by the end, and the game itself is quite good. The thing about it being kind of simple is that I feel it might be the kind of game you get tired of relatively quickly. That’s basically what happened to me, I only played the campaign an after it I kind of felt I had enough tropico, it was very nice but enough. Summarising, it is quite an interesting and good game, but on the long term I think it can feel repetitive and you might get bored. For people, looking for complex strategy management games I wouldn’t recommend this; similarly, if you’re looking for combat strategy don’t play it, combat here is almost none existent and not particularly funny. It is all right tough as it is not trying to be a combat/military strategy game. Finally, if you’re kind of new in the world of city management strategy games, this is a really good game to start your way in this genre, go get it!.
This game was a nice surprise. It is much nicer than expected although you can see some limitations, I’m wondering if it is because it was a vita game originally. I guess those who enjoy awesome graphics might feel a bit disappointed, seeing that in terms of graphics, it is obvious the game is not a ps4 native. Said that, artistically speaking the game is fantastic, the design of both the areas and characters is great, although maybe could have been a bit better in terms of monsters, but still good. Story is decent, I would not say it is the strongest feature of the game but it is decent, my main criticism comes from the fact that the story poses a lot of questions but it doesn’t answer a lot, giving me a feeling that the story is left kind of unfinished. Good thing about this is that there is good foundations for an awesome story in gravity rush 2, a lot of mysteries will get solved I guess. Also, the main character is a bit too naive and light hearted maybe for my liking, but again, I guess it makes sense considering the game is about her not remembering anything about her past (not a spoiler really, because you learn about this in like the first minute of the game). Finally, I’d say the gameplay is the real strong point of this game, it is really fun to play and the gravity powers are awesome to play with. It gives you a freedom to explore the areas that is not very usual in this kind of games. Combat is smooth and works well and it is fast paced, I’d just summarise it by saying it is really nice and fun to play. You’ll need a bit of time to get used to the powers but once you do, you’ll realise the controls are really good and that makes you feel you’re in real control of the character. Summarising guys, this game is quite good. I’d call it a “decaf” sandbox as there aren’t as many things to do and the map is kind of small compared to other games. That is not necessarily bad, as in my case, after playing MGSV, I wanted something a bit less massive but it might be a let-down for some people. Just to give you an idea, you can probably get platinum (easy one) in 25 hours or so. Still I think it is a really good game for a really good price, really good fun and lets you wanting for more. If you like this kind of game I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
As a game this is good stuff, as a metal gear it is a bit disappointing and I’ll explain why. The game is superb in a lot of ways, the graphics, music etc. is fantastic. I think it is also worth mentioning the gameplay mechanics have been polished and feel great, it is the funniest mgs to play in terms of mechanics. Gameplay wise the open world approach has done a lot of good to this series, giving the player a lot of different ways to plan and perform a task. My main complain as a metal gear comes from the way the story is structured and told. I would say metal gear games have always been story driven games, meaning you play them more to see the next cutscene or codec conversation than because the gameplay is funny. The player was usually given a small chuck of story quite often. This is where MGSV fails in my opinion. The developers have given in to today’s game industry idea of an open world game both for the good stuff (as I mentioned above) and the bad. Basically, they’ve put an obscene amount of side missions and that affects a lot the rhythm of the story. Some people will say “I don’t understand the complaint, the side ops are optional, just play the story missions if you don’t like it”; normally I’d agree with that but for you to see all cutscenes and the real good ending you’ll necessarily have to spend a lot of time doing secondary stuff. Basically, some side ops need to be done to trigger specific cutscenes and, also, you need a lot of materials to improve mother base and make some cutscenes and ending stuff available. Only way to do this is playing online or doing side ops. Anyway, that means I found myself playing for days without getting any new piece of story information because I needed materials and stuff to unlock story stuff. Summarising, you want to see the whole story?, you’ll have to spend quite a lot of time doing pointless secondary stuff, it is not optional if you want to see everything. Now, the secondary mission stuff gets even worse and I’ll explain why. Some games, let’s say mass effect or dragon age, also have a lot of secondary missions; good thing about those games is that the side stuff usually has a context, mini-stories that motivate you to do it and maybe give you small pieces of nice, but not essential, info about the game’s universe. Well, MGSV fails quite badly again in this. There is only a very limited variety of missions in MGSV, maybe 6-7 different kinds of missions and these are repeated like 15-20 times. For example, one kind of mission is “free the prisoner” and there is around 15 of those and they are virtually identical, only thing that changes is the location of the prisoner. There are no context for the side ops whatsoever (for most a them, a few of them are actually story related but maybe only 5-10%), so, for me when I’ve done the exact same thing 12 times, it gets tedious. I’m not saying this is a bad game, it is decent and there are a lot of things to enjoy in it, but as a metal gear it is disappointing. As I said this is mainly related to the fact that you are forced to “farm” a lot in order to see the whole story. If you want to see the whole thing this game will probably take you between 60 and 100 hours to beat of which 70-80% will be pointless repetitive farming. In the end it is worth it just to see how Kojima explained/closed the story of the series, but be ready to potentially get bored quite a bit with the side ops.
This game is a pure fast, adrenaline action game. It is just that, no story or brilliant graphics just fun, and it is very good at that. If you like mayhem, chaotic, action fun with loads of bullets and explosions, this is your game. The campaign is short but there is a lot of replay potential and other stuff that will make you play it for hours. The game play is easy, reminds me a bit (just a bit) of metal slug but the stages are less linear and there is several ways of clearing a stage. You can take the crazy john Rambo approach and shoot everything like crazy or try to be a bit cleverer and find secret paths and shoot just specific stuff, it’s up to you. I think it is quite good that there are quite a few bros (characters) and each one has different weapons, grenades, jumps etc…some are melee other mid-range, long range etc.…. Each time you die or you save a POW you change characters so you don’t really get bored as they play very differently. Only thing I think it could improve, it the final bosses, they’re not memorable at all…not bad, just average, there is a lot of room for improvement in there. The graphics are retro decent. The game for me, being a 90’s child, makes me feel nostalgic as I saw all those 90’s action movies and now, seeing the BROS here (which are basically, iconic action heroes from 90’s movies) makes me relive some of my childhood. If you didn’t enjoy these movies when you were little you might find this is just another game but if you have and you like this kind of games, give this one a try. People complain a lot about it being buggy; I don’t know how it was when it was released but I didn’t have any problems with the game so far; I played for a few hours already. So whatever it was, it’s been fixed I think (April 2016). I haven’t had the chance to play online but I have the feeling that if you have a good friend to play with, I think this one is massive old school direct fun.
I think this game is really good; the real question here is if you like this kind of games. I mean this game feels a bit like an interactive movie (very similar to Fahrenheit, heavy rain etc.), I don’t think this is bad if you enjoy this kind of games. Personally, I like this and the point and click adventures a lot and if you are like me you’ll like it quite a lot I think. However, if you’re more a fast, action, highly interactive kind of player…well…you might want to look at buying something else. Good things!, well the graphics are quite good and they make an awesome work at making the experience immersive, so good work here. And the story it is quite good as well, this game has been sold to have a slasher movie kind of plot. This true in principle, but the game feels like a very well-made with good direction slasher movie. The story is really interesting and makes you want to see what’s going to happen next, with some lovable characters. If you’re wondering, I don’t think the game is very scary, just some occasional jump scares. Although I think the game is good at making you feel tense because you know your decisions have real impact in the story. I mean, you can finish the game from saving all the guys to saving nobody or just some…so…be careful and think twice before acting or you might get somebody killed. I don’t think the game has any particular negative things, I’d just say be aware of the kind of game this is…basically an interactive movie…this isn’t call of duty or gears of war…and obviously if you walk in here expecting that, you’ll go “what is this…?”
First things first, some people complain it is a really short game and that it is not worth the money. Well, for me it was free as a PSN plus game so I don’t really feel that way, I must say though that if you just want to focus on the main story it will last you a couple of hours tops (quite a bit more if you do secondary pointless stuff), so I guess that is not great and some of the criticism is justified. The good thing about this one, basically is that for me it feels like an old MGS with improved gameplay. The mechanics are quite clever and I think it is really fun to play. And this game is story driven, what do I mean by this?, well MGS have always been games where you spent a lot of time looking at cut-scenes or listening to conversations over the codec/radio etc. This one feels like that, and I don’t think it has lost that essence. I am commenting this, because at the moment I am half way through MGSV and I must say that one has lost that story-driven game essence MGS used to have, and in my opinion is a shame. Well, you won’t find that in this one. I liked this prologue game a lot more than MGSV; it is well worth some money if you find it cheap.
I’ve only played the campaign as I am not interested on playing this kind of games online. I must say that the campaign felt quite different in comparison to the other killzones. The other killzones were much more epic, I mean the setting was a proper war whereas this one was more of a covert ops game. Don’t get me wrong this does not mean the game is all about infiltration and stuff, it isn’t, in my opinion it is still a bullets flying everywhere festival. This, for me, means that in terms of story I found it was slightly less interesting but the gameplay is quite similar to the other killzones which is good. Summarising here, I’d say is fun to play with a plot that gives you and excuse but won’t surprise you. Graphics and sound are pretty good with some scenarios that will let you “wow, this is good”, but it is not as amazing as some game magazines say. It is good but just that, good. I have to say that the level design is excellent though, the scenarios are quite big and in a lot of situations, they give you the chance of addressing a situation in several different ways. Overall, I’d say is a good shooter, not great, there’s much better stuff out there but you’ll have some decent fun playing the campaign.
This is quite a decent game, and I think it scores quite high in the world of the twin stick shooters. Its game play is significantly different from the average twin stick shooter (e.g. dead nation) in terms of it is not simple, crazy action fun. Mastering this game requires some careful playing, you need to coop well with the other players, think of the abilities/weapons that make sense in the team, be careful with your aim (mainly, but no uniquely, because of friendly fire) etc.. If you go all crazy john Rambo, you’ll die quite quickly. I think it is a nice different gameplay, but if you’re just looking for some crazy mayhem fun, maybe you wanna look somewhere else. I think everything else, sound, graphics etc…are ok, not great…but ok. It won’t prevent you from enjoying the game, and for me, this one is all about having fun, not jaw dropping scenarios. The variety of missions is decent, there could be a few more kind of missions, especially at low difficulty levels. It might feel a bit repetitive as I said, if you’re stuck playing low level missions a lot, as some missions only appear in higher difficulty levels, but still quite good. In terms of background story of its universe, I think it does ok. This isn’t the most important thing in this kind of game, but it is always nice. If you feel like it, you can read about the background story of the universe in the encyclopaedia, it is quite simple and reminds me a lot of other high-tech universes (such as WH40k) but it gives you an excuse to go shoot stuff around in the galaxy!. Anyway, you like twin stick shooters and you think you might like the idea of a bit more strategic approach to the genre?, give this one a go, it is a well-made game.
I’ve gone through half of the game already and I can, confidently, say this game is good; good but not great. Good things, if you like old arcades, quick direct funny games, you’ll find quite a bit of that in this one and that is a good thing. Also, the game play is great, simple but very well implemented and the controls are very very good, you really feel in control of the ship, not frustrating at all. So basically, I’d say the strongest point of this game is its gameplay, it is funny to play (and unfortunately not so many games can say that today). Bad things, lacks story and background info to explain its universe. I don’t think this is a completely bad thing, this game feels a bit like a classic and a lot of great classic games don’t really have a great script behind them. But at the same time can be frustrating for other people, so just be aware you won’t find an interesting story behind this game. The other main bad thing is that is feels awfully repetitive. As I said the gameplay is really good, but the missions all feel the same, really similar objectives and, for me this is worse, almost identical stages in terms of the art and how they are. So, for example, all stages are always maze like structures, and these structures don’t vary a lot in terms of how they look. I mean, for instance, in season one, it’s always inside an asteroid and season 2 is always inside space hulks. It lacks life and the settings are not memorable at all; you want all season 1 missions to be inside asteroids?, fine no problem, but make those asteroids a bit different. For example, one can be the typical rocky type asteroid, another one can have crystal like structures, another one can have massive plant life, and next one can have some kind of ancient civilisation structure inside and that can also slightly affect the gamplay (e.g. find traps in the ancient civilisation structures). I mean, the asteroid concept accepts variability but unfortunately they didn’t think of that (or they didn’t have budget, could also be that). Anyway, summarising that lack of, let’s say, life on the settings plus not a lot on variation in mission objectives makes the game feel a bit repetitive after a few hours…and in my opinion, ruins the experience a bit. Still quite a bit of things to enjoy about this game, I just felt a bit disappointed as I think it could have been a great game and it is just good (in the more strict meaning of the word). Did try it for “free” with PSN plus but, now that I know how it is, I wouldn’t mind to have paid a few quid for this. By the way, this isn’t good or bad and is highly subjective, but I don’t think this game is too hard as some people do suggest, nor too easy either, sits in the middle in my opinion.
I gave a chance to this game because it has really good reviews everywhere. I got to say I am quite disappointed and, for me, this game is the exact definition of average. It feels and plays like a classic videogame (let’s say a lot like the old megamans). The gameplay is quite simple, you can move in 2 dimensions, jump, crouch and only shoot to the left and right (not up or down). This is fine, as I said reminds me a lot of some classic videogames I played when I was a kid, I say this as a good thing, but that is it (well the soundtrack is also excellent I must say). The game is quite short (20 stages); I played in hard, died a few times (nice that a game is a bit hard for once) but it took me 1h 20m to complete… but I guess that as some people mentioned, considering the game is 2 quid that’s fine. Some people will also argue you still have the duck mode after the normal game, but still, I think it doesn’t make the game better; it is nothing special really…so this mode is basically the same game but you’re playing with a duck. You cannot shoot or anything just fly/jump…makes a simple game even simpler (in concept I mean not difficulty). Personally, I didn’t like the graphic style. It is nice when art departments in gaming try something different (rather than kind of realistic or toon basic stuff), e.g. I liked limbo or apotheon for example; they have very unique graphics, full of life, amazing. However, in gunman clive, although the whole pencil drawing graphic style is a nice idea, I find the stages are quite empty, simple, repetitive and dead, artistically speaking, it is just not visually enjoyable and the 3d effect is very very basic (this is highly subjective obviously, this is just my personal view). Going back to the gameplay, as a said this is very simple in terms of the movements you can make, and that is fine (a bit like megaman, or ghosts n goblins or battletoads, which are amazing games by the way). The problem is the stages are awfully empty, there is nothing there to challenge you other than a couple of enemies and platforms until you get to stage 13 or so where it starts to get better, but considering there is only 20 …more than half of the game is like really simple (I mean the stage design is really average and not impressive at all). They could have done much more with this game, why not a stage where you ride a horse or a raft on a river or something (well there is a mini section where you ride a wagon…but it’s like 30 seconds, only once in the whole game) Boss fights are also really average, not very inspired design, really simple patterns. I don’t know, there are much much better platforming games out there, I just think this one is average. It might still be worth buying considering it is only 2 quid, actually for that very reason there is chance that I’ll give a change to the sequel, see if they have improved the thing.
This is a great game, although I would not call it a masterpiece. Luigi’s mansion is a bit of platforming, exploration and puzzling. It is a very nice mixture in my opinion, but I found the game a bit slow and I think the ghost capturing process needs improvement. It is quite repetitive and pretty much the same throughout the game, dazzle them plus some vacuum power. I think much more can be done with that and at the moment, after a few hours in the game capturing the ghosts gets tedious. Also the mission structure cripples the game in general, you constantly get messages from the professor and they only let you explore a part of the mansion at once which kills the whole exploration concept a bit. Said that, I think this is a pretty enjoyable game, the mansions and Luigi are lovely and it is fun to play in general. The 3D effect is quite awesome and the graphics, in general, are quite good. Summarising, I think the game is good but I don’t think is a masterpiece. I think it needs urgent improvement. They limit quite badly the exploration potential but puzzles are excellent, although they could be a bit harder. I think this universe is wonderful but I think it is a bit restricted with the whole haunted mansion concept. Don’t get me wrong the design of the mansions is amazingly well made, they don’t feel repetitive, but still, they’re just mansions; I was thinking why not expanding the concept, why not the whole kingdom gets haunted and go to woods, caves, mountains and stuff. Anyway, some really good stuff in this game, I just feel it could be significantly bigger and better; it definitely has potential to be a masterpiece.
I get why people is giving such crappy scores to this game. For me, one of the main reasons is that this game has not managed expectations properly and the marketing campaign was wrong. I don’t know about you guys, but before this game was released I read quite a bit about it in my videogames magazines and it was always sold as a 3rd person shooter. Well, the thing is, that for me is not a pure 3rd person shooter (let’s say as Uncharted or Tomb raider), and it was advertised as one. So yes, If you go and buy this game expecting the see the next uncharted or whatever you will be massively disappointed. So what is this game? I’d say is somewhere between Until dawn kind of games and Uncharted. It has a bit of Until Dawn in terms of the game being focused on a story rather than on game play. This means you’ll have quite a few cut-scenes, some of them long and quite a bit of the action is in the form of QTEs. It is just a bit like Until dawn, because it is obviously not so good at giving you choices of what to say or to do (actually it gives you none). On the other hand is a bit like uncharted, meaning you have some really good shootouts (the mechanics are really good) but then there is no plataforming at all. So summarising, that’s why I said is a bit between Uncharted and until dawn, it is none of them but something in between. The order is a story driven game, where you walk around a bit and you take control for the shooting. This means the game is not great as an adventure like game (e.g. until dawn) and not great as a shooter (e.g. Uncharted) but what’s good is very good. The setting is awesome and I am not talking about the graphics (and yes, they are very enjoyable). I am talking about the atmosphere as a whole. It is kind of a bit realistic, mixed with fantasy, very dark, simply a great universe. The story and the characters are good, not awesome but quite good, much better than in most thriller movies. The shooting mechanics are very well implemented; shooting feels good, and very enjoyable and using the right kind of weapon makes a difference I think. So yes, if you know what you’re against when you get this game, I think you’ll find it very enjoyable. If you are expecting a very specific genre (3rd person shooter) you’ll be disappointed because it is just not that. It is not a masterpiece and it is quite average as a 3rd person shooter or an adventure game but it is quite good as a weird mixture of those two genres.
I’ve been playing point and click adventures (I know, not exactly point and click this one) since I was a kid, it’s been a long time and I think one of the only big classics I hadn’t played until now was Grim fandango. A lot of friends and people told me ‘Oh man! It is a classic, you need to play it, my favourite game of all time’ so I kind of had big expectations which might be the reason I was kind of disappointed with this game. I mean the game is really good, very funny, story is good and Manny is just one of the most lovable characters I’ve ever seen, but I don’t know, there is something missing and I cannot quite explain what it is. If you like this kind of adventures you will definitely like this one GO FOR IT, but for me there are quite a few better classics out there such as monkey islands 1-3, day of the tentacle, prisoners of ice, broken sword 1-2, discworld, L. S. Larry (specially 7)… Summarising, it is a really good game, just getting to know Manny makes it worth playing, but it has barely made it to my top ten list of point and click adventures, there are better things out there and, specifically, better Tim Schafer stuff (even broken age felt better, well…only chapter 1, not 2).
I’m more of a campaign player than multiplayer. I got to say this is a decent game, but I think that is the word, decent. I was kind of expecting an interesting story in the single campaign mode because a few guys told me ‘oh man! Really good story, interesting stuff’. The script is interesting but I would not say great or awesome and in gameplay terms in just FPS normal stuff. Considering both the single player campaign and the multiplayer side of the game, I’d say this is an average game. I mean this in both the good and bad way. Good as in it is good FPS fun, well made, BUT there is nothing really special about it, 99% same stuff as before. What I mean is, if you like FPSs go for it, decent game with a nice action intense single player campaign but do not expect life-changing stuff.
For those who played the original game, this is basically exactly the same stuff but with better graphics. In my opinion this is good and I have to say the game felt exactly the same. Abe is simply lovable and the setting is just excellent, dark but at the same time funny. This game has in my opinion a very enjoyable story, very interesting but also very different in the way you experience it. Normally, you would experience a story by what it says in words supported by other stuff (music etc.). However, this game tells a story with very few words feeding from a simple base but thanks to the way the characters behave, the gestures, the venues, the ‘music’ etc. the story is very enjoyable in emotional terms. Said that, the gameplay is kind of puzzle platforming, meaning you basically go around jumping and stuff but you have to use your brains a bit if you don’t want to die. I heard a lot of people got frustrated because they found the original too hard. For those, there is an ‘easy’ mode now so, no excuse for anybody to go and give this awesome and very different game a try.
What can I say, two good games together for the price of one, simply great. However, if you played them individually in the previous generation I don’t think it’s worth. This game has a really good story with and amazing setting in general (although the characters speaking English with a Russian accent felt incredibly ridiculous). Gameplay is good and it is absolutely great that you can choose between a more action oriented style or survivalist. Two very different ways of experiencing the same story. For those who enjoyed the book, I think you’ll enjoy the game as well, the story moves a lot faster but it is well and cleverly managed.
I’ve been playing FF games since I was a kid (it’s been a long time already XDD) and I got to say this FF feels a bit like a mixture of the old and new ones, which is not bad. Bad things first, there are quite a few areas you can visit in this world and unfortunately, quite a lot of them feel quite simple and restrained artistically speaking, for example the cities you liberate are basically all the same in a same country… (Other venues are good). I think the setting in final fantasies has always been excellent, very detailed, awesomely beautiful or well-made environments with captivating music etc. This one does not feel that great. The main characters are average; I like the fact that there are quite a few of them, but although the class as a whole is decent, they are not very charismatic, individually speaking (maybe it’s made a bit on purpose to stress the whole teamwork/class thing but…). Actually, some of the secondary characters have a lot more charisma and they’re more interesting (e.g. dr al-rashia). Good things!!, I think the story was quite good and that is important in a FF, it was unexpected as the story is not supported by strong characters. The type-0 universe is really interesting, captivating and quite awesome in general. If you take some time and read the lore you’ll find that the type-0 universe is very very interesting, one of the best in my opinion. Combat is quite dynamic and fast paced, maybe it’s not my favourite but it is good I think. If you’re wondering, is it worth playing? I’d say yes, it is definitely, but I am pretty sure a lot of people will end up with the same feeling I ended up with. End of day, this is an average/decent game set in an awesome universe with and interesting story. There was potential for a very good thing here but they didn’t achieve it. I really hope square comes back to this world and does something with better characters and taking more time to design the cities and stuff. If they do, it could be absolutely epic, in the meantime give this one a try and treat it as an appetizer for hopefully a future better game set in this great universe.
I got to say this is an awesome game, I totally recommend it if you like metroidvanias. In my opinion, this is one of the best metroidvanias out there. The story is quite simple and it is not the strongest point of the game compared to other metroidvanias, although it is good enough and gives our hero an excuse to do what he does. The setting, music, graphics etc are simply great; it feels quirky, zany and very funny. The gameplay is perfect, it is easy to play and complete the main story, but hard to master (e.g. doing massively long combos) and get the 100%. Best of puzzling platforming metroidvania, if MV are your kind of thing you cannot let this one escape.
You like sandbox games?, give this one a try. This is a pretty good game, it is not a masterpiece but it is quite enjoyable. Bad things, the characters are not awesome but they’re good enough. The setting is good but I felt it was a bit repetitive, there is only 2 areas which are kind of different but at the same time similar; I know it is Mordor…and I know it is supposed to be kind of monochromatic but still you can spend quite a lot of hours playing this game and, in my opinion, the map is a bit repetitive and kind of empty (compared e.g. to GTAV). The final boss is a bit disappointing. Good stuff, the action gameplay is good, some people say it is repetitive but, in my opinion it only is if you want it to be. Let’s face it, the game is easy, and it is quite easy to just say I’ll go around just swinging my sword and it’ll be fine that’ll do. However, there are quite a decent number of different skills and different ways of killing the war chiefs (e.g. direct approach, poisoning grog, taking advantage of a mutiny or what scares them, possession etc.). So, yes you can make this game really simple and repetitive if you want and go CBA, but it is potentially varied in the ways you can approach your enemies and if you take advantage of that you’ll have a lot more fun. Finally, the story is not awesome, but it is all right, good enough.
I have to say that I gave this one a try because I got it for free in PSN. I was a bit reluctant to buy it because I didn’t like bastion a lot and some people say it is similar. Anyway, the music and setting in general is excellent, I just loved the transistor universe. The story is also excellent, it is told in a way that leaves space for some personal interpretation, not everything is crystal clear; it is quite clever and enjoyable in my opinion. At first I thought the gameplay was a bit average, but then you start getting more skills and it gets much much better and deeper. I got to say the combat is an amazingly clever mixture of strategy and let’s call it normal action, simply great. Give this one a try if you’re looking for a rpg that feels a bit different from the rest of the stuff out there.
This game has an excellent, really moving, captivating story. The setting, music, graphics etc. are great. Game play wise, it is a bit like the old point and click adventures but a lot simpler, which is not necessarily bad. I also loved all the real historical data, why not learning a bit while playing? Not only that, reading those historical facts and the horrors of the war made me experience the story in a much more intense way (emotionally speaking). Like a good story and point and click adventures (much simpler that the old ones)? Give this one a try.
This is a pretty good game. If you like Uncharted and other 3rd person shooters you’ll like this one, but do not expect the same stuff we got in the old tomb raiders, it is just not the same; not better nor worse, just different. The old tomb raiders were, in my opinion, action and exploration games in equal parts. This one is definitely a lot more action than exploration (exploration is more of a very optional thing here), the secret tombs give you the old tomb raider flavour here but there is only a few and they’re optional along with a few more optional stuff (GPS thingies etc.). Said that, this one is a really really good action game and if you like action games you’ll enjoy this one a lot; just do not expect an old tomb raider flavoured game.
This game was a complete surprise in a good way. I must say I probably would have never bought this game but I gave it a try since I got it for free in PSN. Briefly, I’d call this a kind of a metroidvania game. The graphics, music and the setting in general is excellent, really good. The game play (in terms of action) is quite simple but works and completing the 100% is a good challenge. I don’t know, I just found this game very enjoyable, it may not be the best metroidvania out there (it is not) but it is worth a shot if you like this kind of game. If you’re not into the whole metroidvania thing you might want to save your money and try some other game first.
