Nicola Ardron's Reviews
The Sims 4 is a compelling game with tonnes of customisable options. Sadly, poor attention to the functionality of playing with a controller rather than keyboard and mouse, and a sparse tutorial make this version difficult to overly recommend.
Star Wars Battlefront II is a good video game, delivering a bigger and more detailed game than its predecessor. Much of the conversation will be around the loot box economy, but if you can look past that you will find a game that is as close to Star Wars magic as you will find.
Below the Bedrock is a disappointing episode. It feels nothing more than filler in preparation for what I hope will be an action-packed finale.
By far the best first person shooter released this year. It is often brutal and totally unflinching in its depiction of the violence people do to each other, but it is also hilarious and moving and tells a very human story.
Echo is an example of an exceptional idea that is enough to carry a whole game. The clever use of AI creates unique challenges, but the lack of environmental changes and same enemy type throughout means that it does slightly out-stay its welcome.
Jettomero: Hero of the Universe is visually very beautiful, but it feels like a game that contains a number of unfinished ideas wrapped up in a gorgeous package.
A fairly lacklustre remaster does nothing to diminish what makes Dragon's Dogma such a unique and memorable role-playing game. For fans of western style action RPGs it's a must play.
A unique game that's visually distinctive and at times quite beautiful, but it suffers from a little unevenness in some levels which distract from the meditative experience it has been pitched as.
SEUM: Speedrunners from Hell is a repetitive game, but one that has enough draw to it to give you that “just one more go” drive.
Jailhouse Block is an action packed episode with some great humour and exciting set-pieces.
Maize is an amusing title, it's puzzles don't really require any critical thinking and it is overly linear but it kind of works as a curio with some genuinely funny jokes dotted throughout.
Planet of the Eyes is a competent puzzle platformer, short enough to be played in one sitting, but with a sterile and empty world it fails ultimately to leave any lasting impression.
Swap Quest is a cutesy, tile swapping RPG and puzzle hybrid with clear mobile roots. It doesn't feel robust enough on console and is better played on mobile.
A unique blend of marble madness and tower defence that does become repetitive after a while, but sits nicely in the spot reserved for games that are great to dip into now and again.
Aven Colony is a gentle city builder where you will be tasked with growing colonies in different locations each with their own challenges. Where it lacks in depth it more than makes up for it in accessible gameplay, perfect for dipping into.
Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles is a lovely, sedate open world adventure game that inexplicably gates its crafting mechanic behind an obtuse, tiered system that renders it moot.
A slow start, but Hero in Residence ends on a high note with an interesting new enemy and a very funny new character.
This isn't a bad game, but there are some omissions that have been with the series forever which are strangely missing.
Portal Knights takes inspiration from a variety of games, blending the crafting and building of games like Minecraft and merging loose RPG elements to make it a sandbox game with a goal.
Prey is a game that meshes together a variety of ideas into a game that rewards exploration and experimentation and provides players with a fun toolbox with which to do so.