This is a game built with love and thorough attention to detail. It is a startling debut for a young team who demonstrate an enviable clarity of design. But it falls short of greatness, perhaps because its main ingredients of hulking foes and one-hit kills cannot harmonise over the course of an entire adventure.
This vast fantasy adventure combines sophisticated storytelling with an expansive and richly conceived world
Neon Struct's greatest achievement though is in its brooding storyline, told through tense phone conversations, brief chats on the streets and, most vividly, through the sense of fear you feel when you're kicked out of a supporting institution of near-omniscient power, to a place of want and hiding. The narrative is told with a light touch (characters have names such as Vinod Chhibber and Director Furtwengler) but it feels weighty and relevant, without tipping into blunt moralising. The best kind of science fiction thriller then: one dressed in the style of the future, but engaged with the pressing issues of the present.
There are moments of humour (you can, if you so choose, arrange Ortega's record collection by genre and title) and in time both you and your character grow attached to this unseen man whom you serve. The game elegantly communicates a very particular kind of relationship in the period world, in all of its power-dynamics and complexity. Some will inevitably find the lack of formal puzzles, collectibles or many of the other attributes of most contemporary video games off-putting. But Sunset, despite its minimalism, is a rare treat. It tells a story about revolution via the reflection of domesticity, an unusual and thrilling use of the video game medium, and one that expands both its scope and its definition.
The experience is admittedly different to that of a well-constructed detective novel, or carefully charted HBO thriller, but the effects are similar. You are captivated, manipulated and spun around by the plot. Perhaps, in an era where filmmakers so keenly play with chronology, and regularly leave conclusions unwrapped, we are prepared for this kind of patchwork narrative, which leaves you, mostly, to draw your own conclusion of what really happened by the end. Or perhaps it would always have worked this well. Regardless, Her Story is a singular, unfamiliar work, essential viewing for both filmmakers and game designers.
Infinifactory's rich and thick appeal is in the nuts and screws of the manual labour. You may not enjoy many worker's rights here, in the employ of this sour-faced alien management team, but the job satisfaction? It's unrivalled.
But it's also thrilling. While the game lacks certain finesse (it's infuriating when you mistime a trigger, for example, and must restart the stage and repeat the entire trap-laying process from scratch; a soft save of your layout would have been welcome) and eventually becomes repetitive, its humour, idiosyncrasy and constantly shifting tool-set makes cruelty into a virtue - in the video game's consequence-less reality, at least.
This is a game written for people who have worked in a particular kind of game development. It's hard to applaud the jokes when it's unclear where the lines between reality and exaggeration lie - and this is a story whose shoots grow from lived experience. Far easier to applaud the game's core gameplay invention, which enlivens The Magic Circle at its heart, and a piece of design that, unlike Ishmael Gilder, will surely find a life beyond its game.
A twitch epic in which the journey from beginner to master is told not via new abilities, but in your hands and muscle memory.
Galak-Z falls just shy of genius. That it quickly reveals itself to be a demanding game is no surprise considering its lead designer's heritage (Jake Kazdal worked at Sega on exquisite yet challenging titles such as Rez) and the source material from which it draws inspiration.
This whimsical and original game mimics the disorientating effects of blindness, but fails to build meaningfully on its initial idea.
The latest Metal Gear instalment somehow lives up to the hype and expectations, providing a luxurious cinematic gaming experience without equal
Matches take a long time to complete - sometimes upwards of an hour and, for that reason, are best played against human competitors, where one's cruelty and wisdom takes on sharper significance. That said, the AI in the single-player game is able, and for players worried about entering games via Steam matchmaking, with all the attendant risk of having a human competitor who drifts away from their keyboard half an hour in, the single-player portion provides useful on-going training grounds.
An exquisitely presented co-op space shooter that can be burdensome when played solo, but delights when played with a friend.
Glitch-ridden and seemingly unfinished, this is a tragic swansong for Tony Hawk's video game career.
Platinum's brisk and breezy take on the 1980s Transformers cartoons is a joy, albeit one that wears itself out a little too quickly.
Dragon Quest gets the Dynasty Warriors treatment, but there are more fundamental changes than a mere asset swap; this is Musou re-imagined.
Untame's experimental puzzle game pioneers a new style of interaction, layered onto a familiar premise, and finds gold among the ruins.
This sprawling sci-fi series once set the agenda for console shooters, but now far behind and playing catch up, it has much to prove
Lara Croft trades original ideas for popular ones in an action blockbuster that will please the crowds but leave some nostalgic for the days she actually raided tombs