Brodie Gibbons's Reviews
It's no surprise given Milestone's pedigree that Hot Wheels Unleashed is a mechanically sound and confident racing title as it boils down the true essence of Hot Wheels and puts on a showcase exactly why they're a beloved pastime. The bloated story mode does little to obfuscate the game's skeleton crew of modes, though I think the game will find resilience through a community of online racers and their wonderful, imaginative creations.
It's not an easy thing Arkane has done here in serving up a genuinely fresh take on one of the medium's most enduring genres. Deathloop redefines what a shooter can be, and the developer has used their entire toolkit to get there. Satisfying action, world-building that's second-to-none, style and substance, and a genuinely enthralling riddle at the centre, Deathloop delivers it all. And it's through these triumphs that Deathloop earns its place in the first-person shooter pantheon, and puts its hand up during Game of the Year talks.
Toem combines elements of both Pokémon Snap and its mainline series, letting players loose into a darling world full of weird and wonderful characters, animals, and sights to behold. Armed with nothing but a camera and a pair of itchy feet, Toem is further evidence that 'taking aim' in video games can stem from a creative and peaceful place.
As a guitar-shredding odyssey throughout a stunning cosmos, The Artful Escape delivers on its name tenfold. It is a short tale and I'm in no hurry to book a return trip to the Cosmic Extraordinary, but it remains an unforgettable journey thanks to superb art direction, an uplifting story, and stirring guitar solos by cliffside.
While it manages to side-step its shortcomings through clever design, Twelve Minutes ultimately feels like it'll be one of those water cooler games that some will love, others will hate, but everyone will just want to talk about. It tells a cerebral story while demanding your full attention, along with an unorthodox wit, to best its cat and mouse puzzles.
This quaint story about a workaday crow discovering that death is a force of nature that without discrimination takes all, both good and bad, winds up being far more memorable and touching than I could have ever expected. With a world and characters full of Miyazaki-proportional charm, and combat and puzzles that offer up a real test, Death's Door is a beautiful sophomore effort from Acid Nerve and is certainly something to crow about.
Metro Exodus shows some heart, and it's clear the developers have poured a lot into this third chapter of Artyom's story. Unfortunately, there are a lot of things that keep the game from hitting the standard set by its predecessors. Pacing is hamstrung by the ambitious misfire of an 'open-world', while performance issues and glitches mar much of Exodus.
With some doubt at the front of people's minds, Returnal is a shushing finger across the lips of detractors as well as a tremendous example that PlayStation's middle line titles can still offer as much value and entertainment as its tentpole exclusives. Housemarque achieves an atmosphere like few can and set up a universe ripe for expansion while marrying it to a grind - which is more forgiving than most of its kind but will still alienate some -that's both brutal and gratifying all at once.
Although the story of Cody and May doesn't meet the standards set by the game's varied gameplay, It Takes Two sees the continued form of Josef Fares and his team at Hazelight in crafting wonderfully creative and engaging worlds for players to share and collaborate in. It Takes Two is a co-op experience that's second to none, which offers more ways than you can imagine to experience these larger than life play spaces.
The product of a one man team, Olija is a tight and entertaining seafarer's voyage that manages to be memorable despite not bringing anything particularly revolutionary to the table. Instead, it's in the atmosphere and tone that Olija excels, proving that the deep blue sea isn't full of just terrors.
Cyberpunk 2077 is staggering, overwhelming, and even surprising at times in its spectacle. Although my first dozen hours with the game has been marred by easy-to-fix problems, Nighty City, along with all it offers and all that call it home, makes for an intoxicating escape. Here's hoping the next one hundred hours are as utterly compelling.
With Observer's original atmosphere intact, System Redux is an exceptional refinement and redelivery of one of the generation's most underrated titles. The loss of Rutger Hauer felt even more profoundly exploring these tenement halls again, but his offbeat and quirky role as Daniel Lazarski will live on for another generation.
Although the campaign is only a small slice of the larger package in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, it's great that it counters its 'blink and you'll miss it' length with a bit of replay value and some memorable missions you're bound to want to play again. Raven Software's more subtle approach to Cold War espionage feels like viewing Call of Duty through a new, exciting lens.
Bright Memory is an utterly fascinating Swiss Army knife of a game that, despite its several ideas clashing in glorious cacophony, forces you to overlook the imperfections and other side effects of lone wolf development. It's an utterly confusing, but equally compelling, sub-hour whirlwind through a Chinese cultured fever dream that writes a few checks that I pray Infinite can cash when it releases next year.
A colourful, vibrant adventure that's sure to stand out as a true family-friendly option for the next-gen. The platforming feels imperfect when needed the most thanks to limited camera control, however, The Touryst's puzzles are bound to keep you on your toes throughout. Be sure to soak up the sun, explore at your leisure, and uncover monumental secrets in this unexpected gem.
Dirt 5 isn't at all the game I thought it would be. Far from a clinical rally sim, what it is is a simple, fun off-road racer that has a big personality. While it doesn't dive too deep underneath the hood, it still tears up a huge number of tracks across a great number of race types-it does more than enough to keep players firmly in the driver's seat.
Ghostrunner might be standing on the shoulders of games like Mirror's Edge, and even Dishonored, in terms of inspiration with its parkour and slick swordplay. But it also separates heads from those shoulders and stands proud as the far better application of both disciplines-Ghostrunner is a sleek, fun exercise for deft hands.
Not unlike the discs we spent so long combating, Disc Room is far more clever than it appears to be at a glance. Like Minit before it, Disc Room is another minimalist concept rooted in classic design and inspiration, except there's so much more beneath the surface. Just as the ship called out to our scientist like a siren's song, Disc Room's cool, addictive appeal does the exact same to me.
It's easy to argue that Star Wars: Squadrons doesn't offer quite enough. Players get what is essentially an eight-hour tutorial which acts as a prelude for the game's multiplayer, a limited but fun offering of modes with some potential for great staying power.
Serious Sam is a series that has long alluded me and I'm starting to think it might have been for the better. Although this fourth iteration might feature some staggering, titanic battles and silk-smooth gunplay, its existence feels like a clear reminder that it's often best to let the past stay dead. Serious Sam 4 is an excavation from a long-outdated era that is more Duke Nukem Forever than it is Doom.