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7th Dragon III: Code VFD proves to be yet another star-studded JRPG to add to your 3DS collection - Filled to the brim with a lengthy 50-70 hour Story Mode, varied and interesting dungeons and locales, and more compelling characters than you can shake a stick at, 7th Dragon III: Code VFD certainly delivers.
The game, however, doesn't come without detriments - As a rougelike, you can expect the game to kick your arse, over, and over, and over again, especially when first starting out; learning different attack patterns and clearing hectic rooms can be a pain, and can easily harm your enjoyment when you get owned by an inescapable attack in some later instances - Another issue is the lack of proper stat tracking and item explanation; whilst on PC this can be remedied by using Missing HUD 2, console and portable players are stuck up creek without a paddle, sadly. This can be annoying when you need to quit out and check exactly what an item does, only to be confused and have it ruin an amazing run. However, once you learn more of the game, overcome the difficulty, and start to experience some of the wacky and crazy combos you can execute, I'm sure that no matter what kind of gamer you are, you'll be hooked!
A mixture of bad design choices, minimal testing, persistent and worrying issues, and a disappointing conclusion and lack of content is what has put an end to The Binding of Issac - What was a swan song to the Rougelike genre has now instead fizzled out, not with a glorious finale, but instead with a disappointing, flat note. I would rate The Binding of Issac Afterbirth + a 6 / 10. If it's on sale, then by all means pick this up, but for the asking price of £10 for new adopters, it certainly isn't worth the price, and is something I'd see Maxis or EA employing. Not Nicalis. Here's hoping that Mod Tools can save us.
All in all, Enter the Gungeon is an enjoyable little indie game in a similar vein to The Binding of Issac, yet is different enough to be set apart from it's counterpart in many ways - The difficulty, the variety, and the god-damn puns are more than enough to satiate any Binding of Issac naysayers, and will keep you challenged for over 30 hours or more! I would rate Enter the Gungeon an 8.5 / 10.
For launch though, Siegecraft Commander rushes out the gates with a healthy amount of content that should satisfy you strategy and Worms-loving junkies for months to come, especially with that glorious Cross-Platform multiplayer! I can't wait to see what Siegecraft Commander has in store for the near future, and will be monitoring it's progress closely.
An incredibly competent brawling RPG that can sometimes collapse under it’s own weight with a huge amount of boring minigames (excluding Karaoke) that leave little to no impact in a title that has fantastic elements better than the sum of it’s parts. After playing a title like this, I wish Sega would push more games out for the mature market as this is clearly what the excel at. I already see the end of year countdown now: “Top 10 Suprises of 2017 Number 1: Yakuza 0”. Well done Sega, much much much more of this please.
A solid free running game that is bogged down by it’s own ambition into changing the formula, come the city but stay for the gameplay… But PLEASE just disregard the story.
Regardless, Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance HD is an enjoyable romp that'll last you a good number of hours. If this is your first Kingdom Hearts game, then for the love of God almighty PLAY ALL THE OTHERS PREVIOUSLY. You won't understand a single thing otherwise! The combat can be clunky at times, and can be a bit annoying to control, but once you get a knack for it, you'll be hooked.
Overall, there's not too much more to say on Rise & Shine - Some characters are likeable, some just disappear, and some are just killed off outright for irony's sake - The gameplay is difficult, and doesn't hold your hand too much, and the references to gaming culture are up there in the hundreds. If you're looking for a good-looking and challenging game that may make you chuckle here and there and go "Oh that's from xxxxx game!", then Rise and Shine is certainly for you. If you were coming into this expecting all laughs and something a bit more casual, then I'm afraid you may be disappointed...
All in all, Alwa's Awakening is an enjoyable retro romp built from the ground up for nothing other than retro-junkies. If you grew up on the old Amiga, NES, SNES, or even Mega Drive titles, then I'd certainly say for you to give this title a fair chance...However if you're just looking for a way to get into the subgenre...Then I'd look elsewhere.
I’ve presented the best way to view battlefront, as a complete game. If you ignore for a moment any price issues or early investments and simply look at the game now you have a great shooter experience in the Star Wars universe. With a sequel on the way this year coming packaged with a single player story and multiple eras, it’s worth picking up the original/season pass for cheap to get yourself excited and back into Star Wars spirit.
Nioh is another killer IP that solidifies itself as one of the best in the PS4’s line-up. Team Ninja has redeemed itself by making a game that is not only well thought-out and greatly designed, but also absolutely oozing with charm. I can’t wait to see what Team Ninja makes next after playing this treat of a game.
Projects Cars brings to the table everything you expect when driving a car, the controls require a bit of learning first but once you get comfortable with your own style you can bring make some serious time on the track. The Career mode will likely be the mode that will suck up your time as you aim to climb the ranks of your chosen motorsport, the game effectively challenges the player to become a better driver without forcing them to do it at a crazy pace, this along with the visuals add together for some of the best virtual driving I’ve had in a long time.
Based on the campaign & vanilla gameplay alone I think that Titanfall 2 is the best single player FPS that I have played since Modern Warfare and sincerely hope that this is the direction that EA and Respawn (LOL) move forwards in, in the future.
For Honor is an impressive fighting game with lots of moving parts that help to create an incredibly rich multiplayer fighting game which came to me as a huge surprise in that had me playing multiplayer way longer than I normally bother.
Nights of Azure looks pretty. It feels pretty. It sounds pretty, but it's heart is ugly. Bland, samey and generic - Sure, perhaps if you haven't played a JRPG Hack'n'Slash before, then give this a shot, otherwise you'd most likely find better for your money elsewhere.
I had tons of fun with this game and found myself often going back into the previous missions to try and find the collectibles or simply do the mission a little better, whilst this may seem standard for a lot of players it has been a long while since a game has provided me with such levels of fun and variety that had me crawling back for more.
Overall, Berserk: Band of the Hawk is probably the best adaptation of the manga's story to date, and lives up to the chaos, havoc and authentic visual style of Berserk - Where it falls short, however, is when you start to compare it to other Musou titles, or if you try to jump in without ever seeing a single speck of the original story - My recommendation? Read the first 16-or-so chapters of the Berserk manga, to learn the underlying characters, story and premise, then move onto playing Band of the Hawk; that way the movie cutscenes and dialogue will fill in all blanks up until the end of the game, which stops short around an arc or two where the manga currently rests. If you've played Musou games in the past, this title may seem extremely simplistic and a bit watered down, but for newcomers to this subgenre of war game, there really isn't a better introduction, or a better time to get into them than right now.
Torment: Tides of Numenera is one of the most engrossing storylines I have ever experienced in gaming that is just a little let down by dodgy frame rates and a little TOO much going on at times but if you are looking for something to truly sink your teeth into then I 100% recommend picking this up.
All in all, Lego Worlds is an amazing Lego game...But as an exploration / sandbox game...It's nothing more than flat, boring and short-lasting. Definitley worth the money if you have a kid who loves Lego, but not if you have two or more children that'll be wanting to clamber around the controller. All you'll get are tears due to the bad optimisation (On console) and lack of +2 player co-op. It's fun, but in short bursts.