The original Moving Out was not only one of the more successful and charming runs at the “chaotic co-op sim” crown worn at the time by the likes of Overcooked, but it was a neat little Aussie success story with the folks at SMG Studio behind the wheel of the world’s hardest-working removalist truck. Fast forward three years and the team is back with a full-on sequel, revisiting the concept with an itemised list of new ideas and an already-solid foundation to build on and around.

As someone who’s just done the end-of-lease moving dance, a journey I had the distinct privilege of paying what might have been the world’s worst professional movers to accompany me on, I was excited to jump back into Moving Out to prove that I could have done an infinitely better job at it myself. Forgetting, of course, that the poor folks at Smooth Moves Inc. have a lot more to deal with than millennials with too many overpriced gaming collectibles to fret over.

Moving Out 2 opens with an excellent animated intro that perfectly captures the vibe of its 80s setting, before launching into its sizeable campaign. The team at Smooth Moves has run into a spot of bother after their boss, a sentient cardboard-box-person, accidentally rips open the fabric of time and space during an attempt to boost company efficiency by 90% with 90% less employees – a classic workplace caper. With the town of Packmore sporting some fresh new gaping portals into alternate universes, it’s up to you and the Smooth Moves crew to put everything back in its rightful place and restore order to the moververse, one truckload at a time.

The game’s campaign follows a pretty similar structure to before with a handful of “worlds” containing multiple levels (over 50 in total this time around) to play through, gradually unlocked as you complete objectives and raise your F.A.R.T. (Furniture Arrangement and Relocation Technician) ranking.

Each level presents its own spin on the task of loading up your truck with the correct bits of furniture, appliance and decor within a time limit. Like last time, what starts out as a mad dash to get everything in the truck as fast as possible while fighting intentionally-wobbly physics and physical conundrums in early stages quickly becomes so much more with out-of-this-world levels adding new opportunities and challenges outside of the realm of good customer service.

One level might see you and your team attempt to sort magical baubles onto their corresponding freight trains, or use drones to carve out new paths or cross chasms, there are even levels designed around moving in which challenge players to put items from the truck into their correct places within a building. Without spoiling too much, the situations in Moving Out 2 get a lot more wacky a lot faster than in the original, almost to a fault. There were times when I’d be flinging giant candies into basketball hoops with a slingshot or jumping through magical portals and wished I was just hilariously trying to drag an L-shaped couch through a narrow hallway or flex my Tetris skills to fix the horrendous packing job my partner had done on the truck.

It’s ultimately a good problem to have though, as the majority of Moving Out 2’s gimmicks make for a perfect blend of problem solving, teamwork and laugh-out-loud catastrophe when playing with others – which remains the undisputed best way to play this game. Whether you’re playing in couch co-op or (for the first time in this sequel) cross-platform online with up to three others, the game does a great job of scaling the challenge of its frankly loopy concepts for all team sizes and skills. I did find that a few levels veer wildly into overly punishing or absurdly easy territory seemingly at random, but with so many on offer a couple of duds doesn’t hurt too much.

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There are also some great assist options on-hand to help smooth things out if the team isn’t gelling or on even ground in terms of capabilities, like extended time limits, lighter items or even the ability to have objects disappear into the ether once they’re on the truck to make packing easier. I can’t speak so much to the actual accessibility of the experience but the settings there are fairly basic. With increased gameplay and visual complexity in the sequel it might still present some insurmountable hurdles, but the assists are definitely a welcome feature. The game manages to get a pass on some frustratingly inconsistent control and collision stuff as well, purely by virtue of frustrating inconsistency being its whole schtick, but it does wear a bit for anyone genuinely trying to achieve those Pro times and extra challenges.

SMG has absolutely nailed the presentation though, building on the visual blueprint set out by its predecessor and polishing it up to a sheen to be much more lush, vibrant and dynamic. It feels much stronger in its identity too, coming across as an overall more high-quality production. It looks nicer, but also more cohesive, and far richer. There’s plenty to unlock again as a reward for completing a litany of optional objectives in levels as well as discovering hidden secrets, including challenging new Arcade levels and over 30 characters to play as once you’ve unlocked them all.

Massive props has to go to Moving Out 2’s writers, who’ve really out-punned themselves in this effort. In fact, I reckon this game probably has the highest per-page saturation of puns in a video game to date, and the dialogue as a whole is thoroughly entertaining at every step of the way.

The post Moving Out 2 Review – Boxed Office Smash appeared first on Press Start.

There’s a lot of friction in Atlas Fallen. Some of this is intentional; grinding across sand dunes and slamming overpowered attacks into fantastical creatures that are hungry for your blood to stain the earth below. Some of it isn’t; those same overpowered attacks in a constant wrestling match with the game’s camera while its overarching plot and writing catch like sand between gears. A slow but undeniable churn of grit in the machine that undercuts the game’s best ideas and brings an otherwise cool set of mechanics low.

I can always see the vision in a Deck13 game. The German developers have spent the better part of a decade emulating the FromSoftware house style, transplanting challenging action combat systems into fresh settings on a much leaner budget. The Surge games, both of which adhere much closer to the team’s inspiration points in terms of structure and theme, also embodied some of its best work. Tightly crafted experiences that introduced unique layers to the formula and successfully lifted it all into a gritty sci-fi world. Atlas Fallen pivots in almost every way; deliberate play spaces traded for open-zones, discreet encounters for bombastic rumbles, sharpened storytelling for genre pastiche. It goes on, but for the pockets of fun I had in Atlas Fallen, I struggled to see the vision.

Atlas, the titular world, has fallen. A harsh and arid land of rocky mountains, sandy dunes and dying pockets of forest, this primordial plateau has been the stage of a centuries long holy war. In the process, the land has been systematically strip mined of its Essence, a glittery sand-like substance that fuels the magic of the realm and is now solely meant for Atlas’ looming god, Thelos. Having taken the form of a massive stone idol that floats above the land, tracking its denizens like a fucked up Mona Lisa, Thelos has weaponised humanity’s belief systems and forged a religious army to do his bidding. You play as a Nameless, an underclass of people who form the worker backbone of the continent with very little in the way of compensation or basic respect.

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Once you’ve customised your hero from a decent enough selection of hairstyles, you’ll be quickly introduced to the game’s central idea – the Gauntlet. Found during a disastrous trip across the country and quickly wielded to set herself free from servitude, the Gauntlet is 2023’s third sentient, magical handheld that cracks wise at the player while offering them access to escalating powers to use in combat. Atlas Fallen’s Gauntlet houses Nyall, a Na’vi-looking blue man with a vendetta against Thelos and a tremendous arse to boot. Nyall will be with you across your whole journey, granting access to a plethora of RPG systems, traversal tools, plotty dialogue and game hints, the latter of which can be thankfully toned down in the game’s settings.  

From here, Atlas Fallen is a pretty straightforward action RPG affair. You’ll be sent out across Atlas to collect pieces of the Gauntlet to power it up enough to progress to the next story beat, each portion of the map a discreet but interconnected series of open zones that house side quests and challenges to complete. The Gauntlet allows the Nameless to shift the sands of Atlas, raising platforms, activating timed magical puzzles, and best of all, propelling themselves across the sand like an ice skater. Deck13 use this to great effect, turning any open space into a slip and slide for the Nameless, and solving the open-world traversal slowdown effortlessly, if not seamlessly. You can only glide if the game registers sand beneath your feet, making some areas a clumsy stop/start experience as a small rock abruptly stops your flow in frustrating ways.

These flow issues are writ large in the game’s combat, an uneven and sporadically fun collision of systems. Atlas Fallen gives players an impressive arsenal of tools to play with, layering basic weapons like axes and whips with several types of modifiers and an underlying risk/reward micromanagement in Momentum. Landing consecutive blows against enemies raises the Momentum meter, unlocking evolved versions of your base weapon along with tiered special abilities, but also making you much more vulnerable to damage. Momentum can be expelled through critical strikes that deal massive damage and lower the bar again, making for a constant and engaging push and pull between power and limitations. It’s also consistently undercut by an unstable camera that pulls focus in frustrating ways during group encounters, endlessly fighting with the lock-on function to make for a disorientating experience.

Doubly so when camera control is essential to fully engaging with Atlas Fallen’s enemy designs, most of which require targeting specific body parts to deal meaningful damage. In concept it rules, harkening back to The Surge and allowing you to incapacitate certain attacks or cleave off new weapons by focusing on armoured limbs and the like. In practice, it wears thin, as to actually defeat a foe you’ll need to focus damage but the camera makes this an exercise in frustration. Atlas Fallen’s menagerie is detailed but limited, a rotating door of Wraiths who escalate over the course of the game but never vary all that much. It’s a combination of issues that take a baseline solid combat system and dulls its shine like sand slowly but surely burying a treasure.

Elsewhere there is a loose set of RPG systems churning away, most of which can be ignored to no real peril. There are a few currencies to collect to spend on vendors, leveling and perk slots; a crafting system that requires you to collect plants and ores from the world; a bunch of side quests and NPCs; armour customisation; the list goes on. The bulk of essentials will be given to the player via the main questline, but what really makes these systems forgettable is the overarching world of Atlas Fallen. It’s not bad, as such, but it’s shockingly dry. Voice acting and dialogue is about as unenthused by it all as I am writing this, and the repetition of the game’s missions and puzzle challenges quickly dispels any real sense of adventure.

Which is a shame because Atlas Fallen is partway to being exactly the kind of elevated action experience the genre deserves right now. A comforting throwback to design ethos of old, happy to let the player just wail on some monsters in a cool looking world. And there are elements of that kind of fun buried in here. Atlas feels grand, a massive playground to whip across the sands on and marvel at the imposing natural beauty of it all. Claiming it back from an evil god with these particular tools should be a great time. Instead, for the moments of fun I had at this beach, I just feel sunburnt and ready to wash the sand off.

The post Atlas Fallen Review – Sinking Sand appeared first on Press Start.

Once known as Chorus, Stray Gods is the ambitious debut title from Summerfall Studios, a new independent studio spearheaded by David Gaider, who cut his teeth in the industry taking the lead writing a number of BioWare games. The fashion in which it tells a fantastical story within a regular, urban setting reminded me a bit of Fables—the graphic novel on which The Wolf Among Us is based. However, it remains a novel experience by delivering much of its story through song. 

We’ve seen television veer into musical theatre from time to time, as shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Scrubs have produced big, lavish episodes brimming with catchy songs and dance numbers. The results often speak for themselves, but they’re a creative, light-hearted departure from the main story arcs. I’ve not played every game ever so I won’t confidently declare Stray Gods to be a trailblazing first. However, given the team at the helm, it’s undoubtedly the highest-profile title to make the jump from game to musical. 

After the idol Calliope is unceremoniously killed under mysterious circumstances, her eidolon, the essence of an idol’s godlike powers, passes to Grace following a chance encounter the pair share during the latter’s band auditions. Calliope’s death becomes the subject of Grace’s trial at the hands of Athena and you’re tasked with proving your innocence before your trial and likely execution. I think the story is clever, especially the way it presents these gods within the context of a mortal world, and how the fatigue of their constant transmigration weighs heavily on them. 

Though it’s a big cast, with the likes of Laura Bailey and Troy Baker in the lead roles of Grace and Apollo respectively, you’d be forgiven for thinking Stray Gods is top-heavy in terms of talent. I’d argue that the game has a deep bench in terms of voice talent, even if they’re not as capable on the microphone as the leads—Rahul Kohli, who plays a bashful and bumbling Minotaur, remains a baffling choice as his singing chops are non-existent, leaving his comedic timing as his singular attribute in this particular performance. Similar deficiencies can be heard during harmonies, or in any of the many call-and-response phrasings involving more than one singer. There’s a lack of confidence that is audible from certain performers, whether it’s the material itself or their own hesitance; it does stick out like a sore thumb.

It’s evident that representation was a focus when pulling the ensemble together, the team even went as far as to reflect their actor in their god, where appropriate. For example, voiced by Erika Ishii, Hermes is presented as a gentle, genderfluid emissary, while Apollo is a shirtless surfer bro—so perhaps they’re not all one-for-one. It feels like an ensemble of angsty millennials, except the dialogue isn’t remotely as exhausting as that makes it sound. 

Though it is billed as a roleplaying musical, Stray Gods delivers more on the latter than the former. While you shouldn’t expect skill trees and stat distribution, your choices, and how you attempt to curry favour with the gods, can branch the narrative off in some significant ways which should come as no surprise for anyone familiar with Gaider’s work on Dragon Age and Knights of the Old Republic. Rather than accruing stats or having your choices ultimately unlock dialogue options, you’ll choose from a few proficiencies to carry with you throughout. I opted for charm and, later on when the option presented itself, I went for a more abrasive, ‘kick ass’ attitude adjustment. Like a lot of other narrative-driven, choose-your-own adventure-likes, these choices will open up dialogue options that, without providing much story craft, fill out the narrative’s flavour.

Stray Gods is also a very horny game. In fact, my biggest takeaway was that these idols have likely spent their era-spanning existence on the mount and the invitation is definitely extended in bulk, and accepted by, in my instance, Grace throughout her investigation. That said, pursuing these romantic interests didn’t really feel earned during my play through and felt like something of an afterthought and a means to fog the windows up a bit.

Another area where choices can create a bit of flavour is within the songs themselves. During a bunch of the numbers, Grace is able to interject or steer the arrangement in a particular direction, whether that’s an aggressive or passive path is up to the player. Not only does this provide a replay value, but it’s also a neat feature to offer a bit of agency over how a song pans out. I can’t help but feel that the songwriters might have been spread a bit thin considering every permutation, however. Except for a select few, the songs in Stray Gods don’t get their hooks in and are fast forgotten as you advance the plot. I do think the songs they choose to reprise and use as motifs throughout are well-picked, particularly Grace’s first solo which features prominently throughout. 

The game’s story unfolds similarly to a visual novel, serving the player with beautiful, hand-drawn frames that have small flourishes of expression to help make the cast feel alive. Excluding the few that don’t reside among mortals, the design of these idols remains pretty grounded throughout, though I would say their appearance reflects their personalities. One touch I loved was how the aspect ratio shifts to letterboxed for any of the musical numbers, it gives it a cinematic quality that flouts its low-cost presentation.

I also feel like Stray Gods aimed to present itself as a non-linear game all about choice but fails to deliver a compelling way to get from place to place. Picking whether to visit Apollo or Persephone from an over world map, for example, isn’t exactly an exciting transition. In fact, this game’s strengths from a visual design perspective definitely do not extend to the UI and UX, which is rather drab and had me wishing the team managed to implement a more appealing means to present the player with choice. 

The most damning thing I can say about Stray Gods is that it’s a musical with very few memorable tracks. Otherwise, it’s well-written and offers up a novel way to experience the gods among us trope. 

The post Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical Review – A Pitchy Performance appeared first on Press Start.

There have been many imaginative puzzle-adventure games over the course of the last generation or two that have been genre-defining. There’s a hard balance in crafting tasks that’ll challenge all comers, and I’d argue that something like The Witness, as magical as it was, might have proved a tad obtuse for the general gamer. Of the tentpole puzzlers that have paved the way here, Viewfinder reminds me most of Portal. It’s mechanically very different, but it serves up all of its elements and “aha!” moments at such a digestible cadence that I never felt like the game had me over a barrel.

Although Viewfinder itself isn’t a completely novel idea, games like Superliminal have toyed with perspective before, it spends its modest four hour runtime proving that it’s the best application of these problems that take just a tweak in viewpoint to press on, deeper into the journey.

I remember first seeing Viewfinder in action and marvelling at the creativity that has gone into interpreting so many of photography’s inseparable and notable elements—framing, single-use Polaroids, photocopying. Despite being a centuries-old technology, the magic of the photograph still makes my mind melt at times, so the transference of a static image into the game’s world here felt like sorcery.

Viewfinder does a wonderful job at introducing all of the player’s tools piecemeal, and I found myself constantly surprised at the game’s ingenuity. The goal is to, with the help of a butter-voiced cat guardian named Cait, progress through a computed construct to find mankind’s answer for their red alert climate crisis. With the aim of activating the terminal in each level, which frequently requires battery power to operate, you’ll need to exercise all of your smarts to get out.

With the godlike power of replication at your fingertips, you can manipulate photographs of walls to shape new bridges, you can manifest surplus batteries to power your exit, and you can even use ‘selfies’ as a means to copy yourself and transmit your matter to hard-to-reach places. There’s a liberating freedom in most of the tools Viewfinder offers, and it’s a freedom I abused at times to cheese my way through a few of the trickier endgame levels—which, similar to Tears of the Kingdom and its seemingly limitless systems—is more impressive than anything.

In that sense, I never found myself unable to get through the main game. The optional levels that can be found throughout the handful of hub areas, on the other hand, are going to have players digging deep because they’re particularly tough.

It certainly seems as though the Viewfinder team had kept much of the game’s story and mystery close to the vest. The game’s demo, which hooked me originally, didn’t give a sense of the overarching plot. While there’s a tangible story there, it feels reticent and not super consequential to the game’s core loop, meaning you can drink it up if that’s your preference, but if you’re just looking to solve a puzzle or two you don’t have to scour the map for every single audio log.

There’s definitely an interpersonal narrative there that spends the whole time raising its eyebrows suggestively towards the “games for change” end-of-year gong, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t serviceable.

There’s a vibrancy to the world of Viewfinder that’s more in line with The Witness than it is Portal, which leaned more on futuristic, machine-led sterility. The construct you explore seems built upon the fundamentals of classical Roman architecture, there’s a lot of concrete, arches and aqueducts presenting a clean, white canvas for the pops of colour evident throughout. Vegetation and technology come together to create a spectacularly vivid sandbox to get weird in, and the deeper you get into this construct the more abstract and disjointed it becomes.

Photographs are one way you can bend reality in Viewfinder, but the game makes a habit of leaving rich oil paintings, black and white line etchings, and ‘straight to the fridge’ kids drawings around to let players create these immersive, beautiful moments within all manner of art itself.

Not only is Viewfinder the best example of perspective-bending pageantry in video games yet, far exceeding its contemporaries that helped pave the path it walks, it’s arguably the most enjoyable puzzle game since Portal made us question a cake’s authenticity fifteen long years ago.

The post Viewfinder Review – A New Fantastic Point Of View appeared first on Press Start.

Exoprimal feels like it’s from another era. It harkens back to a time when Capcom was slightly more experimental in its approach to making games. A time when they weren’t relying on remakes of tried-and-true classics but instead were creating new and engaging IPs. It’s a gamble, then, that Capcom would create a new IP and a new multiplayer IP in Exoprimal after their numerous successes with their flagship franchises. But Exoprimal is much better than I expected and does more for the hero shooter genre than I ever thought possible. The gamble paid off.

And there is a story to it all too. It’s 2043, three years since dinosaurs were unleashed worldwide from portals and tears in space and time. You play as a pilot who has crashed and landed on Bikitoa Island following the opening of another portal during a routine flight. Here, on the island, you’re greeted by an AI named Leviathan, who forces you and others into simulations of wargames while wearing powered exosuits against hordes of dinosaurs. It’s ridiculous, but it’s the right kind of ridiculous that lends itself well to the concept.

The fact that there’s even a story to follow in Exoprimal is also a bit of a miracle. Story progression is tied to how many battles you complete – you don’t even have to win – and they’re mapped out in a separate menu to look at in your own time. Some cutscenes are played after specific matches, further detailing the goings-on of your squad, but for the most part, you can engage with Exoprimal’s surprisingly robust story as you see fit. It’s certainly a nice inclusion and hopefully, the beginning of yet another universe for Capcom to pull from.

But it’s easily how Exoprimal carries itself in battle that makes it stand out. There’s technically only one mode called Dino Survival, but within that mode, a lot is going on. More than the game itself tells you. Each match pits two teams of five against each other in two phases. The first phase has the teams fighting to complete objectives faster than the other team in PvE situations. The second phase then moves both teams onto the same map into a PvPvE situation in a battle for the win.

For example, the first phase might have your team fighting waves of dinosaurs, defending a point on the map and then escorting to a certain point. The second phase might have your team protecting a payload (think Overwatch) while dinosaurs and other enemy players attack it. The assortment of objectives and activities you’re given is random, to a point, but there’s a lot here to keep the whole experience both engaging and enjoyable.

Exosuits are essentially heroes as they appear in other shooters of this ilk. There are ten suits to choose from in three categories – Assault (DPS), Tank and Support. Each suit has its own abilities and can be outfitted with unique modules to improve their performance and, more importantly, feel balanced. The exosuits are fun to learn and use and have wildly different ways to approach battle baked into their design. Even support, a category you rarely see to be so popular in games like this, gets a fair shake of the stick when players are building their teams.

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Even better, you can switch at any point in the match. With a button, your pilot can eject themselves from their exosuit and change to something else. I regularly switched up my suit depending on which objective was in play, which encourages experimentation with the numerous suits and their abilities.

But it’s not just about the players either. There are over fifteen different types of dinosaurs that the game will throw at you, big and small, that ensure that the action in Exoprimal never gets old. From the most basic form in the raptors and the Pteranodons to the history-bending neosaurs that mix dinosaurs we’ve come to know with outlandish mutations to make them more dangerous than ever. The game does a great job at mixing up the combinations of dinosaurs that it throws at you, and some of the heavier ones especially are difficult enough that they encourage you to work as a team to feel them faster than your opponents.

From time to time, the Leviathan AI will get testy and throw a random mission at you that becomes really intense. These are the moments where Leviathan will open a portal and pour out thousands of dinosaurs that attack you. Sometimes he’ll even cut a match short and transport you to an alternate dimension to fight a boss, turning respawns off and bringing together two competing teams of five to throw a ten-player co-op mission at you instead. It’s an incredibly dynamic system, and these set pieces seemingly bridge the gap between what you’d expect to see in a single-player campaign and the multiplayer game that Exoprimal is.

Of course, there is a big dark cloud looming over Exoprimal, and that’s the way that progression is handled. After competing in a certain number of matches, your party will eventually be interrupted by a “story” like mission that’ll pit you against a unique threat. Around six of these encounters’ll happen across sixty or so matches. They’re incredibly fun. But it’s what happens next that might be annoying or just too vague for some players.

Completing these missions then “opens up” more of Leviathan’s simulation for you. So future games you’ll play will have more objectives, maps, and dinosaurs thrown at you. Exoprimal isn’t forthcoming with how this content is dished out nor how you gain access to more of it. Playing with friends who are lower level than you will essentially “lock” you into the lower-level missions, creating an illusion that there’s only one map and a handful of dinosaurs. This is especially obvious in the opening weekend, where your average party level will be lower due to many factors, including the ease of access with the game’s inclusion on Game Pass and the like.

I’m trying to say that as time passes and the overall player population increases in level, the content on offer in Exoprimal will be more obvious to the broader player base. But the other side of this argument is that many players would not necessarily be bothered to get to this point but that they’ll assume Exoprimal is so much less than what it is. 

Exoprimal currently has five PvE objectives and five PvP objectives that can be played out across six unique maps. But most players will easily only see almost half of these if they are playing for several hours. Capcom is promising multiple free updates – including exosuit variants with new weapons, new objectives to complete, new maps and even new dinosaurs. If they keep the content coming, Exoprimal will be something special. It already is, but it needs to put its best foot forward now to convince players that there’s more to it than their lower-level parties might be showing them.

Regardless, at the end of the day, Exoprimal does what I previously thought was unthinkable. It makes a competitive multiplayer game fun, even when losing a battle. There’s a good breadth of balanced exosuits to play with and many activities and dinosaurs to mess around with. Mix this with a unique approach to storytelling and some pretty fantastic setpieces, and it seems Capcom may be on to a winner with some tweaks here and there.

The post Exoprimal Review – Don’t Call It A Dino Crisis appeared first on Press Start.

I think I was supposed to be paying a little more attention to what’s going on in Synapse, the latest from well-known VR studio nDreams (Fracked, Powerwash Simulator VR), especially given it features the vocal chops of some industry legends in Jennifer Hale and David Hayter, but the truth is I couldn’t tell you much of anything about what happened in it. I know that I was some kind of secret brain spy diving into the literal mind of a rogue Colonel through a virtual gateway in order to thwart some nasty plans, but truthfully I was far too immersed in being a certified badass throughout my handful of hours with the game to take too much notice, which I consider genuinely high praise.

When it’s not telling its incredibly-thin tale, Synapse takes cues from roguelite games with a run-based structure that sees you attempt to break through eight zones of defenses within your target’s mind before tackling a final showdown and “finishing” the game, with each death sending you back to the beginning. Of course, you’ll be better equipped going in each time thanks to points earned in previous runs which can be spent on upgrades to give you an edge.

It’s a mechanic that works especially well here, with the mini-challenges that dole out the necessary points making an otherwise-successful run still feel worthwhile. You’re not rewarded for how far you get in but by how you meet certain conditions in a growing challenge tree, so even if you don’t make it as far in as you’d like you’ll still usually feel like something was accomplished on each run.

Better yet, a fair few of the challenges involve making the best use of Synapse’s ridiculously fun take on shooting. Equipped with a gun in your dominant hand and telekinetic powers in the other, the game wants you to feel like a badass at every possible opportunity and it’s rare that it’s ever not the case. Synapse uses the PlayStation VR2’s eye tracking for targeting your telekinesis, which results in probably the closest video game Jedi simulation I’ve encountered. It’s especially great when you learn that you can lightly grip explosive barrels to move them around and then give a considered squeeze to crush and explode them.

On top of being able to fire a handful of different weapon types and throw shit around with your mind, Synapse also features a very cool cover system that essentially lets you use the L and R bumpers on the Sense controllers to grip any part of the environment to pull yourself behind it for protection or even to climb just about any wall or ledge you see. By the time you’ve unlocked a few upgrades and you’re able to throw dudes off ledges and even turn enemies against each other, weaving behind cover, pinning baddies on the ground while you finish them off with a close-range shotgun blast it’s an absolute thrill.

You’ll need to make good use of everything on offer too because Synapse isn’t shy of a challenge – expected given its roguelite tendencies. Ammo is incredibly scarce, as is health, at least until you fill out the top end of your upgrades, so making good use of your telekinetic powers to slam enemies against walls until they’re pulp, hurl their grenades back at them or just drop heavy boxes on their heads repeatedly is incredibly important. Eventually you’ll find yourself doing all of that and popping off headshots around every corner like you’re Keanu Reeves’ Neo mixed with Keanu Reeves’ John Wick.

A complete run to the game’s “conclusion” only takes about an hour in totality but most people will spend more than a few hours just getting to a point where that feels possible – at which stage a harder version of the run opens up and dangles a carrot of further narrative exploration, followed by an even tougher one. I did find myself wishing for more than four enemy types and four different weapons by the time I was well into my third complete playthrough, a similar criticism that developer nDreams has faced with its previous efforts, but simplicity does work in the game’s favour when it comes to letting players really hone their skills, and the level layouts and different enemy groupings that are generated for each run tend to feel unique time and time again.

Simplicity also extends to the game’s look, which – aside from the brief intro, intermission and end narrative sequences – is almost entirely monochrome. Any colour you’ll see within each zone is there to guide your eye toward something, whether it’s an item you’re focused on, an upgrade or healing station, the rain of fire from your weapons or the saving grace of a level exit. It’s gorgeous and striking, and makes encounters very easy and intuitive to read at a glance, especially with the extra immersion afforded by VR. It all looks nice and sharp and clear on the PS VR2 as well, although sometimes a zone would be shrouded by a fog that’s supposed to add extra spice by obscuring your view, but wound up making me feel a bit uncomfortable.

nDreams has also done a great job with the game’s audio production, with explosive effects, unnerving cult-like enemy barks, otherworldly wails and the aforementioned vocal tones of Hale and Hayter peppering the crunchy sci-fi soundtrack and really pulling the whole presentational package together.

All of the great PS VR2 features are also really well-utilised here. Bullets thumping into your head through the visor haptics, the feedback from the Sense haptics and adaptive triggers, 3D audio, all of it comes together superbly to put you in the zone the entire time you’re playing. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this aware of my surroundings and assailants in a game like this and it just adds so much to the experience of being a badass mind infiltrator. Synapse really does feel like a game designed to take full advantage of the PS VR2.

This is also a game where I found using full analogue stick-based locomotion and smooth camera turning to be incredibly comfortable either standing or seated, despite its relatively quick pace. It almost felt necessary to play that way as well thanks to how spicy the challenge can be, but for those that need it all of the usual comfort features that you’d want from a VR title are present and work well.

The post Synapse Review – Insane In The Membrane appeared first on Press Start.

As someone who primarily watches the McMahon-Helmsley federation, because who could resist that Bloodline story arc, my familiarity with All Elite Wrestling is limited to an all-too arrogant-champion whose dedication to kayfabe knows no bounds, buckets of blood, and a little bit of the bubbly. When I heard that the upstart wanted to create a video game to recapture the feel of Nintendo 64-era games like WWF No Mercy, rather than compete with their 2K contemporaries, my ears pricked up. And then when I heard they managed to jag Hideyuki Iwashita to direct, I began to believe.

Almost immediately, AEW: Fight Forever captures the spirit of those AKI games I used to adore. It features the same arcade framework, and feels like No Mercy’s classic engine made new again. However, emulating a quarter-century old game can tend to expose a few gaps in budget and feature-suite, no matter how good the game’s feel is.

The wrestling itself feels very much like No Mercy or Wrestlemania 2000, mixing both regular or strong strikes and grapples to wear your opponent down. In a system that mirrors even modern wrestling games, the aim is to wear opponents down, causing limbic damage, while building enough momentum to perform your signature and finisher moves. In an effort to modernise its aged systems, action and passive skills can be assigned similarly to stat points, giving a variety of buffs that can help turn the tide of a match—desperation kick outs, kip ups, and first-strike buffs all add a strategic layer to the classic No Mercy formula. 

I also feel as though the way momentum is handled can lead to unbalanced experiences, from time to time. Unlike finishers, signature moves don’t seem to drain momentum which led to me giving out Stunners as though they were charitable donations. Similarly, I feel like frustration when playing is set to stem less from the difficulty itself and more from all-too-common cheap losses in the game’s bigger four-way matches. 

Although there are a good amount of match types, Road to Elite will be the main draw for people wanting some form of structure and story, a term I use loosely. It’s digestible and crafted with replay value in mind, and I’d sooner liken it to Mortal Kombat’s Tower than its story mode. With either a created or rostered superstar, you’ll progress through one year of AEW programming broken up into four blocks full of weekly shows leading up to the brand’s quarterly marquee events.

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Even if it’s largely forgettable to play, it’s the moments of history peppered throughout Road to Elite that make it feel special. It’s not exactly their rival’s seventy-some years of history they’re drawing from, but it’s nice to see all of the company’s defining moments across four years touched on, from the brand’s formation, to Jericho’s inaugural reign as champion, to CM Punk’s debut. It’s all framed within this weird, jet-setting adventure that highlights all of the lesser-thought of parts of the business—meet and greets, enjoying local cuisines, and even lifting weights. It all ties into the mode’s management busy work which lurks on the periphery of the fun stuff.

Though there are other superstars on the way courtesy of a season pass, Fight Forever’s roster of around fifty is pretty comprehensive. There’s one or two omissions I am a tad curious about, but it’s hard to fault the selection. It’s definitely big of those making the call to keep Cody Rhodes in the game in spite of his defection back to WWE to “finish the story”. His place in the startup’s history is assured, so it was nice to see. Similarly, the match types that are on offer cover off on everything the brand is known for, the most extreme being the Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch which is as nuts as it sounds—I can’t believe it’s a real match type. 

In one of the more unexpected twists, Fight Forever has a small selection of Pokémon Stadium-like mini-games to really hammer home that absurd, arcade feel the game has. Although the list of challenges alludes to more being added post-launch, the three we’ve got so far are a bit of fun. As a sucker for trivia, my favourite of the bunch is certainly the pop quiz full of deep cuts only fans could appreciate.

In addition to its season pass, Fight Forever has some other “live service” features like challenges, including both dailies and weeklies, that’ll line your pockets with credits to buy things like superstars, arena decor, and taunts from the shop. Some moves and taunts walk the line of trademark infringement, with Brock Lesnar’s devastating F5 featuring under the tongue-in-cheek name “Diverticulitis” while Roman Reigns’ lock and load taunt serves as acknowledgement of The Tribal Chief. As I’ve already unlocked a decent portion of what’s available, I look forward to seeing how often the shop’s stock is refreshed, if at all.

Because it’s a first effort, I didn’t want to be too critical of the game’s creation suites. I mean, you’re not going to see big communities emerge for created superstars in Fight Forever, and stitching together entrances using other star’s music and moves feels appropriately dated, given it’s something I recall doing back in No Mercy. Though I couldn’t manage to find anyone else playing pre-launch, I expect the game’s classic and largely accessible systems will breed a pretty fun and competitive space for people to enjoy wrestling without all of the deck-building nonsense its contemporaries have forced into the mainstream.

Through cartoonish, chonky character models, Fight Forever carves out a fun niche right beside the realistic presentation of the WWE titles. Chris Jericho’s keg-chest and CM Punk’s “most punchable face in wrestling” are both realised with comical accuracy, with all the roster looking the part aside from a couple of so-so renders. I wish I could say the presentation was spectacular throughout, though when you’re chasing the past’s glory as Fight Forever does, graphics ends up being an area where corners can be cut. Long, flashy entrances make way for truncated strolls, and blood spatter—as cool as it is to have a serial-bleeder like Moxley leaking claret like he was born to do—looks like a stamp that appears on the canvas, without any semblance of dynamic at all.

There are a lot of known graphical hitches that I’m sure will be ironed out by launch, including a lot of clipping and render issues. Though, that same cheapness extends to the voiceover efforts which are basically reserved for owner Tony Khan. Beyond that, the written word does the heavy lifting of the oddball drivel that comes out of other superstar’s mouths. A few gimmicks land within the scope of Road to Elite’s script, though it’s a bit of a mess considering I saw Kenny Omega referring to others as Kenny when cutting promos. 

It’s that kind of oddity that sums up the Fight Forever experience. For every bloody perfect thing it delivers from the vintage No Mercy experience, it serves up something you wish was left in the 64-bit age.

The post AEW: Fight Forever Review – Old, Elite Wrestling appeared first on Press Start.

Although it wasn’t overly surprising (but very welcome) to see Activision release the Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy back in 2017 to properly capitalise on nostalgia for the IP that it acquired in 2008, I’ll admit I’ve been pleasantly surprised to see the manic marsupial continue to star in his own titles in the years since. We had another re-do in the form of Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, followed by a wholly original (and shockingly punishing) platforming sequel with Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, and now yet another new and original Crash game has arrived – Crash Team Rumble.

Despite its initial reveal summoning my deepest desires for a return to the Crash Bash/Crash Boom Bang! party game school of mayhem, Crash Team Rumble is instead a competitive, multiplayer online battle arena-style effort where players compete to collect and deposit Wumpa fruit for the team across a variety of maps. As someone that’s largely steered away from even the most basic of MOBA-esque games, it’s certainly not something I would’ve considered dipping my toe into were it not for a lingering penchant for its mascot. That said, after spending a solid amount of time with Crash Team Rumble I can genuinely say I’ve been having a fair amount of fun with it – though glaring, foundational issues with its content offering and structure make it sadly difficult to recommend.

Let’s start with what works though, because my initial experience with Crash Team Rumble has been surprisingly positive. The basic premise is fairly easy for players of all ages to grasp (if I can do it, so can your kids), pitting two teams of four against each other to run around the selection of nine unique maps and collect Wumpa before bringing it back to their team’s scoring area and depositing it as quickly and completely as possible.

Nuance, and opposition, comes from the opposing team’s ability to interfere with that process. Players can attack each other, causing their opponent to drop Wumpa, activate score-boosting gems around each map, use unique character-based abilities and special items, and spend collected relics on game-changing powerups unique to each map in order to get a competitive edge and reach a total of 2000 points before the other team.

Like any good game of this ilk, it’s all about each player in a team working in tandem to manage these various mechanics and become a well-oiled machine of mayhem and Wumpa-hoarding. The included roster of eight recognisable Crash Bandicoot characters is divided into three categories – the Scorers whose characteristics and abilities make them the best fit for zipping around the map to pick up and deposit Wumpa, the Blockers who are more capable of attacking players and obstructing their goal zone to prevent scoring, and the Boosters who want to be activating boost gems around the map and otherwise acting as a support.

The synergy between these classes, even when a team is stacked in one direction or missing one of the three entirely, is pretty remarkable most of the time. In my many, many matches so far I’ve rarely seen anything get too one-sided with the majority of my bouts turning out to be thrilling nail-biters right up the finishing score. The game seems to do a pretty good job of matching and sorting players into appropriate teams before each round, which is great. All of the maps, though on the smaller size, feel unique in their layouts and the various power-ups they offer and are well-designed overall. Coupled with the fact that special abilities are charged by performing the actions your chosen class is intended for, it makes it easy to jump in with randoms and feel assured that everyone’s going to play their part.

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I’m embarrassed to admit that on more than one occasion I’ve found myself yelling at teammates and opponents alike through my TV screen (not into any actual comms, of course) as things got particularly heated. I haven’t managed to convince any of my mates to get into a game with me for some genuinely strategic play but my experience playing with silent strangers so far has been excellent. I have run into the occasional instances of particularly nasty Neo Cortex duos from players clued into the meta but those are few and far between and rarely soured my enjoyment.

So it’s a success on the gameplay front then, but the issues with Crash Team Rumble exist in just about everything outside of the matches themselves. For starters, there’s just that one game type to play. With nine maps and eight characters, repetition can set in pretty quickly. I’ve been playing a maximum of a couple hours a day since just before the game officially launched and I’m already feeling bored with the content on offer. The only thing keeping me going currently is the game’s Battle Pass-style progression, which in a game that’s boxed up and priced on shelves is also a disappointing choice. Between an anemic content offering and the slog of grinding out character levels on top of a timed, seasonal pass, Crash Team Rumble feels like it should’ve been a free-to-play game and not something that you’d pay up to $69.95 for.

At present, there isn’t any way to spend real money on anything, which is nice. But I also don’t know how that’s all going to shake out as far as future content goes, as much as I’ve enjoyed unlocking a heap of character skins and even iconic music from across the franchise that plays when I put the opposing team in the ground. It feels wrong to suggest, but I honestly might have been more optimistic about Crash Team Rumble’s future had Activision decided to make it a freemium release with a paid battle pass. It could have meant more people willing to give the game a go with friends, and as a paid product in the state it’s in right now I just don’t see it garnering the kind of audience to justify a continued investment in Toys For Bob putting out regular content updates.

At least it’s already seen some hefty discounts retail.

The post Crash Team Rumble Review – A Crateful Of Fun While It Lasts appeared first on Press Start.

Final Fantasy has been in something of a renaissance as of late. Between the near universal appraise of the Final Fantasy VII Remake project, and Final Fantasy XIV delivering smash hits with every expansion release, FF fans have been eating good recently.

Despite this, the lack of a truly excellent mainline title has been sorely felt for some time. The once-ambitious Fabula Nova Crystallis that had shaped much of Final Fantasy for many years is now a distant memory, and Square Enix is looking to break free of its chains with Final Fantasy XVI. A grittier tone and the commitment to a real-time action combat framework are just a few of the ways that Creative Business Unit III is swinging big with the 16th mainline entry into this legendary franchise.

While Final Fantasy can vary wildly in gameplay and narrative settings, summons have been a constant all the way back through to Final Fantasy III. These incredible entities inspired by countless mythologies and religions take centre stage in Final Fantasy XVI’s story. Referred to as Eikons in FFXVI’s setting of Valisthea, these organic machines of destruction are locked in struggle against one another as warring kingdoms fight over dwindling resources. What’s more harrowing is that each Eikon is harboured by a Dominant – regular people that can tap into and unleash the powers of these epic beings.

The Mothercrystals sit at the core of this conflict; monolithic crystalline structures that function as hotspots for Aether and Magick as a result. All while this is going on, a destructive Blight inches its way towards capital cities, leaving desolate deadlands in its wake. It’s among the midst of this conflict and turmoil that Clive Rosfield seeks revenge for a tragic incident from his younger years that changed his life forever.

Final Fantasy XVI’s narrative takes place across three periods of Clive’s life, each one integral to his journey and offering something different in terms of overall tone and feel. Where the beginning of the game serves up a fitting introduction to Clive’s loved ones and kingdom in his early teens, the latter portions of his life explore a man broken by loss, fueled only by a need for revenge. It’s Clive’s cold determination that causes him to push others away, often shouldering his lofty burden alone despite the fact he has people to lean on.

Final Fantasy XVI goes far deeper than revenge, but it would be a shame to spoil it here. The overall story shifts dramatically after the first act for the better, moving to more fertile ground that allows for a deeper and more poignant exploration of its themes and ideas. In totality, FFXVI’s narrative is an all-timer of a JRPG tale about breaking free from the shackles of fate – no matter how impossible it seems. There’s also an excellent element of meta-narrative to it that longtime fans will no doubt recognize and get a kick out of as the story rolls on.

While it doesn’t break much new ground, the story is remarkably well told across a briskly-paced 35-hour (by JRPG standards) runtime for the core path, with endearingly complex characters and narrative beats that feel akin to Final Fantasy XIV’s lofty achievements. Clive is an immensely compelling protagonist that you can’t help but root for, and Ben Starr does a brilliant job of portraying a wide range of emotions for all manner of situations. The same can’t be said for all characters across this vast story, though, as one character in particular falls to the wayside towards the end of the game to prop Clive up further, which felt off in comparison to how they’re handled up to that point.

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A large reason the story succeeds in the way it does is thanks to how well-realised Valisthea is. The worldbuilding is deliciously palpable everywhere you go. Refugees flock to the Mothercrystals for shelter, corruption is rife among all kingdoms, and the discriminatory treatment of Magick-wielding Bearers is explored in confronting detail. It paves the way to a rich, dark fantasy world that feels oppressive and bleak, further punctuating fleeting flashes of hope and optimism found in Final Fantasy XVI’s most resonant moments. If you ever get lost in the grandeur, the inclusion of a Lorekeeper and the Active Time Lore feature means you can always freshen up on the happenings of the world and the connections between the people that inhabit it.

Instead of opting for a true open world ala Final Fantasy XV’s Eos, Valisthea is comprised of combat stages and open zones. Combat stages are narrative-focused levels made up of enemy encounters and boss fights, often popping up at key junctions in the narrative. The four open zones are more non-linear affairs, with hunts, side quests and collectibles to find off the beaten path. Each zone is big enough to incentivise exploration and curiosity, but small enough to not inundate or overwhelm.

The simple structure of moving through open zones as you progress towards combat stages keeps Final Fantasy XVI feeling fresh and varied throughout its relatively lengthy campaign. It’s easy to see why Final Fantasy XVI’s narrative has been referred to as a rollercoaster ride, with peaks and troughs to allow for set pieces of spectacle that contrast deeply with its more introspective moments. Combat stages never overstay their welcome, bowing out before their linearity can wear thin, and while the open zone portions can be shot through quite quickly, you’d be missing out by passing up on the available side content.

This is because the excellent writing found in the main story is present in a vast majority of the side quests. They often explore themes and ideas prominent throughout Valisthea in greater detail, and through numerous lenses. They also expand on characters key to Clive’s journey, and can lend a lot of emotional weight to some of the main narrative beats as a result. The tail end of the game has some particularly poignant side stories, as they payoff narrative threads and character arcs in satisfying fashion before the credits roll.

When you aren’t in the field, you’ll spend most of your time in the Hideaway, which serves as a base of operations for Clive and company. You can craft new weapons, purchase goods at the shop, listen to unlocked music tracks, replay combat stages and much more. The Hideaway doubles as a home away from home for Clive, and it becomes a community you’ll retreat to between exploration and big narrative beats. It’s always a joy to explore this space and talk with its denizens to see how they react to happenings in the world and Clive’s adventures.

Ever since Final Fantasy XIII, it’s felt like Final Fantasy’s combat systems have tried to emulate the cinematic spectacle of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children to varying degrees of success. Final Fantasy XVI feels like the first in the series to fully embrace an action framework for its combat system, completely abandoning anything that’s come before. Combat director Ryota Suzuki’s experience on Devil May Cry 5 and Dragon’s Dogma is infused into the DNA of FFXVI’s kinetic clashes.

At a base level, Clive has access to a quick four-hit combo, magic projectiles, and a dodge. You can mix and match slashes with magic attacks for Magic Burst combos, and last minute dodges lead into deft counterattacks. You also have Torgal; the best boy, and Clive’s pet wolf. Using the d-pad allows you to sic Torgal on enemies for quick damage and launchers, or even aid Clive with a regenerative heal to get you out of a pinch. It doesn’t have the depth and complexity akin to Devil May Cry, but there’s enough options here to afford a healthy amount of player expression and intricacies to learn.

Where things start to open up, is with the Eikons. As the dominant of Ifrit, Clive has access to Eikonic Feats and Abilities that drastically shake up combat. While you start with the blessing of the Phoenix, you’ll quickly unlock other Eikons to attune with, three being the max you can have equipped at any given time. Each Eikon has their own unique Eikonic Feat and slew of Eikonic Abilities to employ in combat, each with different strengths and weaknesses.

Where Phoenix is an all-rounder with an aggressive teleport in the form of Phoenix Shift, decent area of effect coverage with Scarlet Cyclone, and high single target damage in Rising Flames, Titan focuses on using well-timed blocks to launch your own all-out offensive. Each Eikon is remarkably unique in what they can do, becoming more and more intricate with each unlock.

Most enemies will fall victim to your attacks and Eikonic Abilities relatively quickly, but it’s the mini-bosses and boss fights where you really need to put in the work. These enemies also have Will gauges, which deplete as they take damage. Upon hitting 50% Will, an enemy will stagger briefly, and emptying it out in full will lead to a lengthy knockdown, boosting your own damage and making way for an opportunity to go all out. This is all without getting into Clive’s ability to Limit Break as a pseudo-Awakening mode, boosting damage and priming into an infernal state.

If it sounds similar to Final Fantasy VII Remake’s combat flow, that’s because it is, only much faster. Combat really starts to shine when you get a feel for the rhythm of these fights, pulling off precision dodge after precision dodge, unleashing Eikonic Abilities at just the right moments, only to unload even more carnage just as your enemies go down. It’s exhilarating stuff, especially in the late game against some of the tougher side hunts and boss battles which employ raid-like area of effect attacks and damage checks to get your blood pumping.

All of these elements build up to what are undoubtedly Final Fantasy XVI’s biggest moments – the Eikon battles. These are unbelievably huge confrontations between Eikons in all of their glory and power, offering a few distinct gameplay formats from the regular hacking and slashing. From an on-rails shoot em’ up to a wrestling match of titanic proportions, these fights are raw spectacle in every sense of the word. Limbs are torn off and holes are blasted through bodies, only for these wounds to heal as Eikons keep trading blows. Each one has you questioning how the next could possibly top it in scale, but FFXVI somehow rises to the occasion every single time.

These clashes also do a bit to help pacing as they act as a pseudo narrative reset, almost as if each one is the climactic conclusion to an arc in a much grander story. They’re few and far between but that makes them all the more special. My only gripe with the Eikon fights is that it feels like there’s one missing in the last third of the game, leaving a long-awaited confrontation feeling somewhat anticlimactic in comparison to other boss fights.

If you just can’t get enough of the combat after credits have rolled, Final Fantasy XVI has you covered. Aside from the aforementioned ability to replay combat stages, you can also tackle them in a scored Arcade Mode. In addition, the Chronolith trials are another worthwhile combat activity that tests your skills with a particular Eikon, locking your loadout in a 3-round gauntlet as you race against the timer to the finish line. There’s also a robust New Game Plus offering with an added difficulty that raises the level cap, remixes enemy placements, and adds new gear, allowing you to flex your Eikonic prowess while still being challenged.

The commitment to action combat also means that progression has shifted from traditional stat chasing and min-maxing to obtaining new combat techniques and upgrading your Eikon Abilities. Completing enemy encounters and quests nets you ability points, which can be spent to upgrade and master Eikonic Feats and Abilities at your leisure. Mastering an Eikon Ability allows it to be slotted onto any Eikon, meaning you can combine Eikonic Feats with abilities you usually wouldn’t be able to. Experimenting with this is good fun, as it can lead to combinations that allow for ludicrous amounts of damage that feel incredibly satisfying to pull off.

While Clive can be equipped with new armour and weapons as you craft and purchase them, they don’t do much other than increase stats. The biggest form of gear customization comes in the form of Accessories. You can have three equipped at any time, each one granting different effects, from reduced cooldowns, to increased ability damage, and even accessibility options like automatic dodging, healing, and Torgal commands for those who’re overwhelmed by FFXVI’s faster pace.

If you’ve laid eyes on Final Fantasy XVI in motion, you’ll know that it’s a visual marvel . Regardless of the mode you play on, FFXVI is chock-full of gorgeous environments that drip with attention to detail, bringing the dark fantasy setting of Valisthea to life. The Mothercrystals tower over their respective kingdoms, standing as beacons of hope for the masses, while remnants of a more advanced race known as the Fallen pepper landscapes surrounding them.  A special shoutout should go to the combat stages, where the more linear progression allows for tailored cinematic shots and eye-popping spectacle that never fails to disappoint.

Final Fantasy XVI has two main graphics options; Quality and Performance. They do what’s written on the box, but there’s a few caveats with each that are worth mentioning. Quality is putting out a native 1440p upscaled to 4K and targets 30 frames-per-second. Performance, which is where I spent a bulk of my time, runs at a native 1080p upscaled to 1440p and targeting 60 frames-per-second.

While performance mode manages to maintain a steady 60 across a vast majority of combat encounters, exploration drops down to an abrupt 30-40 frames-per-second for a temporary visual trade-off. While it’s nice to have improved quality when the game isn’t firing on all cylinders, it’s jarring to constantly move between two extremes when you’re frequently dipping in and out of combat. The ability to turn off motion-blur is also sorely lacking at launch, but is promised to be coming at a later date. Load times are lightning quick across the board, with instantaneous fast-travel alleviating any tedium associated with quests that have you darting around the map.

If there’s one thing you can always count on with Final Fantasy, it’s that you’re going to get an incredible soundtrack to elevate the experience. Final Fantasy XVI is no outlier in this regard. Masayoshi Soken’s work on Final Fantasy XIV is tangible in XVI’s more subdued tracks, particularly when exploring the overworld or hanging out in the Hideaway. The combat themes pick up in pace dramatically, and the orchestral grandeur of the Eikon battle themes are some of the best work Soken has ever done. Liberal use of vocals play a massive part in these tracks, affording a sense of gravity and weight to these fights that bolster key character moments and the clashing of wills.

It almost feels poetic that mainline Final Fantasy is back on-track amidst the myriad successes of other FF projects in recent years. There’s an undeniable confidence in the story told here, the world it’s built within, and in the dramatic shift to action-focused combat. A game this big can never be without issues, but Final Fantasy XVI delivers exactly what long time fans have been wanting from this legendary franchise for the last few years.

The post Final Fantasy XVI Review – An Eikonic Achievement appeared first on Press Start.

When you think about Bloober Team, you think about horror. But while they had shipped ten games in other genres before Layer of Fear, you’d be remiss for assuming it was their debut. Layers of Fear really put Bloober Team on the map. It balanced an intriguing story with a sense of atmospheric immersion unlike anything before. However, its lack of interactivity hurt it in places. Now, seven years later, Bloober has revisited the game that made it all happen for them. It’s called Layers of Fear once more, but it’s an all-encompassing package that is the best way to experience Layers of Fear, even with all its faults.

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While it shares a name with the first game, Layers of Fear is a compilation of everything released in the series. It includes Layers of Fear, its Inheritance expansion and Layers of Fear 2. These three components, previously only available on older consoles and built on Unity, have now been entirely remade and updated to run on Unreal Engine 5. The remarkable result is such a stark visual upgrade that it’s easily the best and most definitive way to jump into the Layers of Fear series.

But there’s a little bit more included here for returning fans too. On top of a rather generous upgrade pricing option, some brand-new content further fleshes out the game’s story. It will honestly be up for debate just how much these new additions add to the experience. It’s still a nice inclusion for those who’ve already played the previous games to death.

The first new inclusion is a brand-new chapter within the first game’s world. It’s called The Last Note, and it sees you playing as the wife of The Painter from the first game. It’s a very brief, albeit enlightening, chapter that tells her side of the story in an attempt to recontextualise events of the first game. With so much detail already put into Layers of Fear and Inheritance, I can’t help but feel this wasn’t needed though it comes with two endings.

I say this because while the second game is much less revered amongst the fans, it’s also had no attention paid to it beyond its original release. This would’ve been a great opportunity to better flesh out the characters’ stories in that game, so it feels a little misfire to not include anything in this otherwise robust package.

The other new inclusion is the story of a character known only as “The Writer”. Her story is presented as a framing narrative – you’ll play one of her (shorter) chapters between the chapters in Layers of Fear and Layers of Fear 2. They’re good at breaking up the monotony of these other chapters, but the transition to them is a bit jarring and not really justified narratively. Still, the writer’s story is a good attempt to tie all the stories together.

Once again, whether that’s done elegantly or in a totally satisfying matter is up for debate. I’m not going to spoil anything here – but it feels like The Writer’s story is doubling down on an aspect introduced in the second game that I wasn’t a fan of. I’m sure some fans will appreciate the direction it takes the story, but for me, it felt like a bit of a cop-out.

But credit must be given to Bloober Team and Anshar Studios. Most developers would be happy to port their old games to a new engine and leave it at that. Including new content in Layers of Fear is appreciated, even if that content doesn’t quite resonate with me. But it’s important to highlight that these aren’t straight remakes either. Both Layers of Fear games have had changes made to address criticisms aimed at them all those years ago.

Many encounters, especially in the first game, have been reworked to take advantage of both newer technology and the presumably evolving talents of the developers. Both games are still largely passive experiences, but some of these remixed and redesigned set pieces do good work in alleviating some of the repetition of the original games, where you’d walk through corridors and impossible spaces while scary voices whispered at you or objects fell to the ground and made loud noises.

This is done in both games in different ways. The first Layers of Fear gives The Painter a lantern to wield, which can “cleanse” objects or areas to reveal new paths in the world. It also allows him to fight off an enemy who stalks him in certain situations. During these moments, you’ll often evade an enemy while moving through a more open area to find a key and escape. This is a good attempt at cleansing Layers of Fear of its often derogatorily used term “walking simulator”, but it’s not quite as engaging as I’d hoped. It feels like Outlast, and given that I wasn’t a massive fan of this design choice almost ten years ago, it still doesn’t play well here.

The second Layers of Fear already had some moments where a monster stalks you, but the changes implemented here feel a bit more carefully considered. Here, you’re given a flashlight. It can stun the monster that stalks you through the ship, alleviating a key criticism of the original release. But It also can be used to solve puzzles – shining the light on specific mannequins will animate them to move something out of the way or hand you an item. It’s a lighter change, but its inclusion makes Layers of Fear 2 feel more like a “game”. It’s also used to up the ante during the game’s numerous chase sequences.

But at the end of the day, while these changes are numerous and nice, I’m reticent about declaring that you’ll suddenly like Layers of Fear if you never did initially. The style of scares is still the same – which will always be subjective at the end of the day. The experience is still essentially linear and, to a certain extent, predictable, despite implementing these more marginally open areas. I’m not implying that linear is always bad, but sometimes Layers of Fear feels so directed that the tension can evaporate once you realise you’re playing a game that wants you to take a particular path.

Of course, it goes without saying that Layers of Fear does a great job of looking the part. The jump to Unreal Engine 5 is nothing short of remarkable. Every location you trudge through looks phenomenal, rebuilt from the ground up to deliver a better sense of place than the original games. Horror games immensely benefit from a well-realised atmosphere, and Layers of Fear provides that in droves. Combining stellar sound design and some awe-inspiring ambient lighting really elevates the presentation of the games beyond what was presented all those years ago.

The post Layers of Fear Review – Adding The Final Strokes appeared first on Press Start.

Between Diablo III’s disastrous launch and the egregious monetization of Diablo Immortal, one of Blizzard’s most defining IP hasn’t been in a great spot as of late. It’s in these circumstances that Blizzard have decided to pivot back to what made Diablo special to begin with in Diablo IV. Moving back to a more grounded setting, honing focus on characters as opposed to spectacle, and polishing a beloved formula up to snuff for 2023 standards are just a few of the things this game has set out to achieve.

Diablo IV harkens back to Blizzard’s glory days, a time where the developer’s titles stood out on store shelves thanks to chunky boxes synonymous with quality and polish. It remains to be seen how its live service offerings will pan out over the coming months and years, but the day one package feels undeniably feature-complete, rich with content, and brandishes impeccable presentation informed by an unwavering commitment to the vision of a redefined Sanctuary. It might not break much new ground, but Diablo IV is a hell of a good time.

Some 30 years after the events of Diablo III, the war between angels and demons has taken its toll on both sides, and on Sanctuary itself. It’s in these moment of vulnerability that cultists have summoned Lilith, daughter of Mephisto and mother to Sanctuary. Her awakening brings only chaos, as demons and humans alike are overtaken by their sinful desires when graced by her presence.

In the absence of Tyrael, Lilith has claimed herself as the new protector of Sanctuary. The flipside of this coin is Inarius; co-creator of Sanctuary and founder of the Cathedral of Light. A fallen angel seeking redemption through ending Lilith’s newfound control, so that he can return to his rightful place in heaven. It’s in the midst of this conflict that the wanderer and the Horadrim set out to thwart Lilith’s plans and defend Sanctuary from the inevitable fallout of a foretold prophecy.

The conflict between Lilith and Inarius is grey and ambiguous in nature. Inarius’ goal is to the benefit of humanity, but his actions are driven by a prideful ignorance and want for acknowledgement from the high heavens. Lilith’s plans are portrayed in a similar light, but there’s always an undertone of uncertainty and manipulation whenever she’s stealing the scene on-screen. It’s a more nuanced and intricate take on the never-ending war between heaven and hell that prompts you to read between the lines as opposed to just taking a side.

Character development is similarly engaging when it comes to the Horadrim. Lorath and Donan represent everything wrong with the Horadrim as they tackle personal demons, where newcomer Neyrelle embodies everything the Horadrim are meant to be. Her naivety is sharpened into cautious optimism by the time credits roll, but the dynamic between these three always delivers, even if they don’t come together all too often.

Where the character stuff is mostly great, the pacing of the narrative itself is a bit of a mixed bag. The opening chapters work to lure you into a more grounded version of Sanctuary, with a seemingly innocuous string of events that take a hard left turn into the despair and corruption brought by Lilith’s summoning. Things do slow down quite a bit from there though, with Acts IV and V feeling particularly side-tracked by a game of cat and mouse. These sluggish middle chapters eventually give way to an Act VI that careens towards the finish line, punctuated by one of Blizzard’s hallmark CG cutscenes that really earns its scope and grandeur through subtle tension building.

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Perhaps the most interesting detail in regards to narrative structure is its non-linear progression. Acts II and III, alongside certain quest chains in other acts, can be completed in any order you see fit. If there’s a particular character you want to see more of, or a zone you want to explore, you can do so without hindering progression. Most zones scale to your level, so there’s never any worry of being over/under levelled for a particular area. This also lends tremendously to replay value and character progression, as you can tackle certain dungeons for class specific rewards whenever you feel like it.

I came to appreciate it even further as I explored Sanctuary. This is an open-world packed with stuff to do, from single-room Cellars and multi-floored Dungeons to world events and hidden Altars of Lilith that provide permanent stat bumps to all characters you make on that Realm. Despite some of the content feeling recycled, there’s something around every corner, and not being railroaded into a single zone at a time makes for a refreshing sense of freedom in a genre that typically herds you down its golden path.

While some of the content on offer here can get repetitive after hours of play, there’s always a worthwhile reward to come by the end of it. Everything you do is also earning you reputation for whatever zone that activity is in, with each reward tier offering useful character upgrades, most of which are account-wide. Whether it be loot or playstyle-altering Aspects that can be previewed before you commit to running a dungeon, Diablo IV’s grind respects your time without ever taking away from its inherent satisfaction.

The biggest choice you make when starting a new Diablo game is almost always which class you’re going to descend into hell with first. I spent the majority of my time with Diablo IV’s Rogue. After some experimentation through the ability to respec at any time, I eventually landed on a glass cannon build that incentivized teetering on a knife’s edge, imbuing weapons with shadow damage and hitting enemies with hard and fast barrages of arrows and blades while making ample use of traps.

While I stuck with this core build once I landed on it, it’s remarkable how quickly you can flip a build onto its head and change the entire dynamic of a class. Rogues can go down many different routes, from melee or ranged only, to a hybrid class that makes use of stealth to reposition. Other classes offer a similar level of flexibility, but there are some clear balance issues at the moment that position certain classes as better than others.

Instead of redefining character progression, Diablo IV opts to add new layers of power onto your builds and gear through a few systems. Aside from being inundated with new equipment and gaining skill points each level, Aspects can also be unlocked through various means. Most of these are class specific, but there are a few that are universal. Earned Aspects can be imprinted onto gear to give bonuses that alter or compliment your playstyle. It adds a new layer to gear progression that isn’t as passive as simple stat bonuses, and instead incentivizes you to play around with new skills or build for ones you’ve taken a liking to.

The core gameplay loop will be instantly familiar to anyone who’s played Diablo before. It falls more in line with recent entries as opposed to the more deliberate nature of Diablo II, but that isn’t a detriment. Combat has a visceral flow to it that fits with the overall world and atmosphere Blizzard are looking to establish here in Diablo IV, where bodies ragdoll and rip apart due to the sheer force of your blows. Fallen enemies result in countless loot drops to bolster your character’s power, and the ever satisfying ding of a legendary drop still taps into a primal part of the brain. Aside from being Diablo IV’s highest rarity tier, legendary gear brings playstyle-altering passives and even bonus skill ranks for all manners of play.

A special mention should go to Diablo IV’s boss fights, which are almost always excellently designed, and represent the best of what ARPGs can achieve. I played all of my campaign on World Tier II, which offered challenging boss encounters that forced me to play in a more considered manner as opposed to hammering on my abilities and basic attacks. Dodging projectiles, reading tells, and making smart use of potions all coalesces into exhilarating encounters that kept me on the edge of my seat. Completion of the campaign also allows you to work up to higher World Tiers, further bolstering difficulty with the incentive of increased reward.

The other notable end game content comes in the form of Whispers of the Dead, and Helltides. The former sees you completing favors for The Tree of Whispers in specific zones as you build up to a point cap. These favors are often things you’ll already be doing, like Cellars, Dungeons, and world events. Once you’ve completed enough favors, you can turn in your Whispers for a cache of loot, containing a bunch of armour or weapons, gems, gold, and experience points.

Helltides are only unlocked and present on World Tier III and higher, where empowered demons spawn in a specific region. These demons drop Cinders, which can be spent to open Helltide chests scattered in the area, creating potential for top tier rewards if you’re willing to take the risk. These empowered demons are no walk in the park, but my experience with Helltides prop it up as some of the best content to engage with for high quality gear in the post-game.

Similarly interesting is the Plains of Hatred, which functions as a PvPvE zone. Defeating other players and demons in the Plains of Hatred will net you Seeds of Hatred, which need to be purified into Red Dust to be used as currency. The catch, is that players are free to attack you while you’re purifying, adding an inherent risk/reward factor in the process. You can of course opt to only engage in PvE, but you’ll need to purify at some point, so the Plains of Hatred are best ventured with friends. Earned Red Dust can later be spent on ornamental rewards like cosmetics and mounts.

This is all without discussing Strongholds, Capstone and Nightmare Dungeons, levelling other classes, the myriad of side quests available to you, and so much more. There’s a wealth of content to engage with across all skill levels in Diablo IV at launch, and it’s only going to get bigger with incoming seasonal offerings.

The biggest question mark at the moment lies in Diablo IV’s monetization. Blizzard have been clear that there’s no pay-for-power in Diablo IV, but it remains to be seen how egregious pricing is for the cosmetics and mounts on offer. The press build didn’t have a functioning store to peruse, but the easily accessible and simple transmog system allowed me to tailor the way my characters looked without spending a dime. It’s also worth mentioning that there’s going to be premium battle passes for post-launch seasons, but specific details on this were also absent in the review build.

Diablo IV’s impeccable presentation is the glue that holds this experience together. A more muted color palette stands in stark contrast with Diablo III and Immortal, falling much more in line with the first two games. Catacombs and dungeons are decorated with viscera and gory remnants of battles long past, bodies are posted up in the arid wastes of Khejistan as a grisly warning to adventurers and would-be heroes, and Scosglen’s countless ruins mark the history of its former inhabitants. It goes a long way to building a moody atmosphere and tone in this gothic wasteland.

That isn’t to say that Sanctuary is a landscape of dull greys and limestone yellows – quite the opposite, in fact. Each region offers something visually distinct from the last. Where the frozen Fractured Peaks is a frigid wasteland of cold death, Haweza is festering and humid bog filled with all manner of abominations. Each zone seamlessly blends into the next, all while offering their own interpretations of hell and how it spills over into the land. This is further bolstered by a diverse array of grotesque enemy designs that mix the familiarity of Diablo’s demonic trappings with eldritch horror.

Polish is also unsurprisingly up to snuff for Blizzard standards on the PC side of things. Performance was silky smooth across 30 or so hours of play, with the only real issues I encountered being some rubber banding when moving too fast on a mount. I’m unsure how things are on the console side, but I suspect that a similar standard is upheld.

Diablo IV doesn’t just feel like a return to form for the franchise, but also for Blizzard as a developer. There’s a keen awareness for what makes Diablo special present in Diablo IV. It’s as contemporary as it is traditional, understanding that ARPGs have evolved past the days of button mashing, but also paying homage to its forebears and legacy. It’s not without issues, but Diablo IV delivers where it counts.

The post Diablo IV Review – A Superb Return To Form appeared first on Press Start.

Street Fighter 6 needed to do everything it could to right the wrongs of its predecessor. With fighting games enjoying a strong resurgence in recent years, it’s simply not enough to cater solely to the hardcore audience and Street Fighter 6 knows that. Where Street Fighter 5 would eventually fumble to the finish line as a competent product, Street Fighter 6 starts off stronger than ever with an appeal to all audiences. And while the roster isn’t as numerous as most of its contemporaries, it’s laid a foundation riddled with a vigour that can only auspiciously grow into Capcom’s greatest fighter yet.

Street Fighter 6 doesn’t mess with the genre too much. You pick a character and battle it out with an opponent until one of you wins. It’s a system that works. Street Fighters’ main schtick has always been the solid systems underpinning the flow of its combat, making up for its lack of melodrama or violence with good old-fashioned gameplay. Street Fighter 6 is no different. It leverages a solid battle system to appeal to experienced players but incorporates some much-needed changes to welcome new and inexperienced players to the fold too.

The most obvious change here is the three control options it offers up. Typical fighting games require inputting commands and buttons to pull off special moves or combos. This is still in Street Fighter 6, as the “Classic” control mode. But two other control modes simplify things for newcomers. “Modern” lets players pull off special moves and combos with simplified and less intimidating inputs. “Dynamic” is even simpler – allowing flashier combos and move strings with the mashing of certain buttons – it acts as a de-facto “party” mode of sorts for a super casual player.

I’ve experienced first-hand how newer players to the genre might find these games overwhelming, especially when playing against somebody experienced. These control schemes don’t feel like afterthoughts. They’re an earnest step in the right direction to break down barriers that might stop people from picking up the controller. Some aspects of the Modern mode, such as lower damage output, might seem controversial. But it only seeks to illustrate the strength of it – you can throw out moves and combos faster than the average player, so a damage compromise seems fair.

Another less obvious way that Street Fighter 6 feels more approachable is the Drive system. It feels significantly streamlined by incorporating parrying, blocking, cancelling, and all other kinds of gimmicks from previous games into one system. You can use your drive meter to absorb attacks, counter them, or even block or cancel out a string of attacks. Like in previous games, it can even be used to enhance special moves. Giving players so many options at the beginning of a match leads to a flow of battle that’s much faster and, more importantly, more flexible for players.

The Drive system really is ingenious. It manages to roll the cooler gimmicks seen in previous Street Fighter games into one, but it also provides a consistent set of skills that every character can access from the beginning. If you can successfully grasp the concept of the Drive system as a whole, you have a substantial collection of abilities to fight with no matter who you choose. It’s a much more intelligent and elegant system than in Street Fighter 5 – where every V-Skill and V-Trigger had to be remembered and chosen at the beginning of each match. Even then, they were all wildly inconsistent and unbalanced. The Drive system is a more straightforward approach with much more potential.

Appealing to a wider audience, there’s a nice amount of content here to experience as a solo player. The newest, World Tour, has been done in some fighting games in the past, though not to the extent seen here. The mode puts your avatar character into the world of Street Fighter in an action RPG-like mode, where you’ll travel the world to learn moves from your favourite characters and throw down with people on the streets. The transition between fighting and exploration is seamless and fun from a gameplay perspective.

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World Tour is, for the most part, enjoyable. It was fun to see all my favourite characters behave outside of a match and learn abilities from them to build my perfect characters. It’s not perfect, however. The plot is certainly engaging, but the world just isn’t as interesting or as lore-rich as Mortal Kombat would be in adapting this formula. There was even potential to have satisfying exploration with Metroid-esque gates that only certain abilities could open, but there isn’t anything of that sort here. Most quests are also “move to this area and speak to this person”, so while World Tour does a great job of teaching you the basics of Street Fighter 6, it’s not something I could play for long bouts at a time.

You can take your avatar or any other character straight into Battle Hub, a more complex lobby system for the game online. The hub is like a giant meeting place, allowing you to organize matches with other players or buy gear for your character at numerous stalls. There’s even a massive screen up front that celebrates high-performing players in each room. It’s a great idea that feels like the most well-realised execution of “community” in a fighting game. However, only time will tell whether this concept will stick. I play most of my fighters privately with the same people, but for those who are more sociable, this is an effortlessly seamless way to play with others.

I was fortunate enough to do this with both the betas and the pre-release period for the game. Thankfully, online performance is solid. I had better matches with the random Australian that I ran into (thank you, whoever you are), but even against higher latency opponents, the rollback-based net code performed admirably. Online, as a whole, is masterfully executed in Street Fighter 6. Performance is great. Rematches are quick and snappy. Rankings can be maintained on a per-character basis. The online offerings for Street Fighter 6 are nothing short of the industry’s best and are what other fighters should aspire to be.

Fighting Ground is the other third of the game, and it’s really just a one-stop shop for all the modes the game has to offer. You can fight each other locally, fight other players with crazier rulesets, learn character-specific combos or even just about how to play your favourite character and engage with character-specific stories in the Arcade mode. Back in the day, everything included in Fighting Ground would’ve been enough for a fighting game, but to see this and much more included in Street Fighter 6 is encouraging. For the old-school fan who isn’t a fan of the flashier lobbies that Battle Hub provides, you can also set up private rooms here to invite your friends.

And while Street Fighter 6 looks to be doing so much so well, there was one big glaring omission that I can’t ignore – and that’s costumes. I’d argue they’re a series or even a genre staple, but nothing was included in the pre-release build. Hopefully, these will be included with the addition of a day one patch, for sure, but if absolutely all extra costumes are relegated to paid microtransactions, then this arguably feels like a step back from the Fight Money system that Street Fighter 5 used.

Of course, stylistically, Street Fighter 6 is on point. Powered by the same engine that has powered Resident Evil and Devil May Cry, RE Engine sees each character taking a more realistic approach as a base. But then, building on that base, the game has been heavily stylized to offer up this strange yet distinct visual style that looks better than most fighters on the market today. The animations are fluid, and the flourishes of paint that flick off special moves are bright and striking. This is easily the best that Street Fighter has ever looked.

All of this comes together to offer up a package that tries to right the wrongs of its predecessor and succeeds. It’s truly exciting to see what Street Fighter 6 will look like in the coming years, though if the team can save Street Fighter 5, think about what they could do with this.

The post Street Fighter 6 Review – Hits In All The Right Places appeared first on Press Start.

When The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum was revealed, it had more than a few people questioning who had asked for a game starring Gollum. It’s me. I’m that person who finds the idea of a game following the little weirdo quite appealing. He’s a strange little guy, sure, but his life has been utterly consumed by the Ring and the power it represents, and he’s instrumental in the overall narrative arc that is The Lord of the Rings.

I went in hoping that Gollum could be a window into this character that hadn’t been shown by film or game before. Disappointingly, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum really wasn’t that. It’s a game that feels precariously held together, lacks polish, feels horrible to play and is both technically and aesthetically dated.

The moment you gain control of Gollum you’ll probably notice his movements and actions feel strange. His repertoire consists of running around, sneaking, jumping and climbing using clearly marked handholds. I imagine the developers wanted him to play quite differently to the average athletic video game protagonist but rather than sneaky and agile, controlling Gollum feels clumsy and haphazard.

A majority of the game involves climbing to reach an objective. Sometimes you’ll latch to handholds like they’re magnetic, sometimes Gollum will fling himself with such ferocity that you overshoot the platform you wanted to land on and fall to the abyss below. I was fighting against the controls rather than using them to overcome a challenge, and as a result never felt accomplished once I got to where I wanted to go. Everything about moving through Gollum’s world is a slog.

So much of what the game asks you to do is utterly uninspired. I don’t know quite what I expected gameplay-wise from a Gollum title. A lot of sneaking, maybe some exploring. I certainly didn’t expect a game full of tailing missions and fetch quests – but that’s a lot of what I got. Seriously, the opening chapters are full of annoyingly-long fetch quests tasking Gollum to go and collect tags from corpses in a mine or herd a bunch of aggressive Mordor-cattle into cages.

Things don’t improve as the game goes on. There’s a little more variety, but lengthy insta-fail stealth sections that consist of mostly hiding in grass and waiting for enemies to turn around don’t exactly lift Gollum from gameplay tedium. It’s full of gameplay tropes that we’ve moved past for a good reason. It might be okay if somehow Gollum was a particularly great example of these tired game styles, but it’s definitively not.

A world that is exciting to explore and enjoyable to look at can elevate even the most mediocre of games. And yet, with all of Middle-Earth available as a possible environment, half of Gollum’s chapters are spent in a dull brown mine in Mordor doing prisoner work – every bit the dull brown trend that was tiresome in the Xbox 360 era. It makes the drudgeries you’re tasked with all the more mind-numbing.

Things do improve markedly in the latter half of the game, going from dull brown to a lush green palette. These later environments created occasional moments that had me stop to admire the view and made the still rather uninspired gameplay tasks a little more tolerable, but not by much.

The overall presentation here has more lows than highs. I do appreciate the voice work behind Gollum. The studio has managed to give him his own sound that does some justice to his warring personalities while avoiding sounding like an impression of Andy Serkis’ work in the franchise films. Gollum’s character design too is a high point, with his face being hugely expressive. There are also occasional musical moments that help to elevate the experience.

The same can’t be said for the game’s overall visuals which are hugely lacking in polish. Character models wouldn’t look out of place in a game from 2007, animations are very strange, and things like faces reverting to a default state in an instant after a character stops talking are minor in the grand scheme but make a rough looking game look even rougher. Gollum has a suite of graphics options on PS5 – performance, quality, quality with ray tracing, and the most interestingly-named option I’ve seen in a while, “Gollum Hair Simulation.”

The ray tracing option makes puddles and such ultra reflective, but strangely didn’t apply to an actual mirror I found in the game. Performance mode is where I spent most of my time and somehow despite looking like an early-generation PS4 game it still had plenty of hitches and performance hiccups while running on a PS5.

The one possible saving grace for a franchise like this could have been the story. Gollum is a hugely important character in The Lord of the Rings and his role outside of accompanying other characters has been rarely explored in film and games. Disappointingly, the story here is pretty threadbare. Nothing of great consequence happens across the game’s overall story arc and things finish with Gollum in a position to take his role in the established story. Gollum’s story could have made for something compelling, but what we get instead is a narrative justifying a smattering of video game tasks that does nothing for his character or the world he inhabits.

Early previews didn’t show it in the best light, but I still had some hope for this game to deliver some good moments for fans. Gollum is a compelling character and the world of Middle-Earth has so many interesting possible places to explore, but instead we spend most of our time enclosed in mines and woodland cities. Environments are devoid of life and full of unpolished, sharp edges. It looks like an average game from another era, and learns none of the gameplay lessons from then either.

The post The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum Review – Uninspired Drudgery appeared first on Press Start.

I’m a sucker for a good arcade racer, and even more of a sucker for anything LEGO, so when LEGO 2K Drive was announced I knew I was all in from the get-go, even if I’ve never been a huge fan of developer Visual Concepts usual output – largely the NBA 2K and WWE 2K franchises. Still, I was pinning a lot of my hopes for a worthy successor to the classic LEGO Racers games, and thankfully this has delivered in ways I hadn’t even expected.

Accompanied by the legendary Clutch Racington and his robotic assistant, S.T.U.D., you play LEGO 2K Drive as a voiceless driver of your choosing, on a path to winning the coveted Sky Cup Grand Prix Trophy. The core of the game’s single-player offering is a hefty adventure through four distinct, open zones in pursuit entry into this ultimate race where you’ll find yourself completing quests, earning experience and taking on a series of entertainingly unique rivals across 24 main races – each with their own quirks to contend with on the track. It’s a bold mix of ideas plucked from open-world racers and LEGO platformers where your avatar is less the minifigure behind the wheel and more the brick-built vehicle surrounding it.

Whether it’s burning miniature rubber on the two dozen well-designed tracks or roaming free across the four maps that they exist within, the simple act of driving in LEGO 2K Drive is an absolute joy at all times. No other open-world driving game can boast the kind of freedom that exists here thanks to the combination of transforming vehicles and highly-destructible environments. The roads here are barely more than suggestions, with every point-of-interest a completely straight shot away if you’re creative enough. When you’re not screaming across the map you can just as easily move with the precision of a platformer using the dedicated jump and quick turn buttons, making navigation feel super approachable even for those less familiar with driving games.

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The real feat is that, despite possessing the traversal chops of an open-world action game when the situation calls, the actual act of racing feels as tight and skilled as the best arcade racers out there. Vehicles handle superbly no matter what form they take, with the nuances coming from a combination of how they’re built, the stats they possess and any added perks. Even before factoring in the ability to build new rides from scratch using hundreds of different LEGO pieces, there’s a heap of variety on offer to unlock and custom loadouts let you preset different trios of street, off-road and water vehicles for different situations.

You’ll race across these three different surface types in LEGO 2K Drive, with the game automatically switching you between your three preset vehicles for each situation. It took a hot minute to get used to seeing my ride rebuild itself into another form each time the ground beneath me changed, but it’s genuinely impressive to witness and makes the racing and action feel impressively dynamic. It’s not an understatement to say that the folks at Visual Concepts have nailed how this game feels to play in just about every moment. Even when you’re driving around in a giant hamburger, or some ridiculous creation of your own design that you spent hours building brick-by-brick to look utterly hilarious, it always works and always feels fantastic.

If you want to, you can really hone in on the brick-building aspect as well and carefully craft an arsenal of different builds for every need. Whether it’s gearing your vehicles to be more offensive or defensive in races, or specifically suited to certain types of open-world challenges, LEGO 2K Drive throws up a huge amount of different gameplay scenarios and you can tackle them with as much or as little engineering as you’d like. It’s a perfect match to the fun of LEGO itself, especially so when combined with the fact that your vehicles fall to their individual pieces with damage – and driving through all of the destructible LEGO bits throughout the world adds pieces back on.

It quickly becomes something more akin to an open-world adventure/RPG than a pure driving game, throwing new and more challenging obstacles your way through its series of quests that can be overcome with pure skill or navigated with thoughtful vehicle building. The world itself can even change in ways that affect races, like being rewarded a lawn mower in an optional side quest that can clear out patches of weeds across each map so they’re not in the way during races. There are a handful of “minigame” type main quests that are nowhere near as fun as the regular races and so feel a bit overused by the third time you’ve been forced to do each, but it’s a minor mark on an otherwise excellent 8-10-hour main run of missions.

Completing just the primary stuff still leaves about 80% of the game incomplete though, with LEGO 2K Drive stuffed to the gills with challenges, optional missions and a plethora of collectibles all offering up experience and cash to get even more out of the customisability of your LEGO rides. The primary way to get new drivers, LEGO pieces and vehicle perks is to complete more of the game, but there’s also the ever-present “Unkie’s Emporium” premium store beckoning at every garage stop. Being a 2K title it’s perhaps not surprising, but 2K Drive features an enormous catalogue of drivers, vehicles, LEGO pieces and decorations that can only be purchased using an in-game currency that’s drip-fed for free but buyable in bulk with real cash.

So far, so expected for just about any modern game, and it’s ultimately not all that intrusive on the fun of the game as a whole. This is a full-priced title though, one that’s already being supported by a paid season pass model, and yet a huge chunk of the coolest stuff is locked behind in-game purchases. By the time I’d completed every main and side quest in the game I’d earned enough currency to buy maybe three or four of the roughly 200 items on offer. Some younger players with enough time and patience might be able to grind out the bucks they need to get a good portion of it, but the rest are very likely to succumb to Unkie Monkey’s in-your-face salesmanship, which feels grubby.

[Note: The 2K team has reached out to inform us since this review was published to say that they’ve made some adjustments post-release, significantly increasing the payout of in-game currency from story progression and races. I’d already completed the vast majority of everything in the game by the time these came into effect so it’s difficult to test out how impactful this change is, but it’s worth highlighting that a change has been made.]

Putting the 2K-ness of it all aside, this is still a game built for pure joy, and that never lets up. It’s all superbly put together as well, with a well-realised aesthetic combining the plastic and organic worlds to great effect alongside flawless and fluid performance – at least as far as the PS5 version that I played. It’s easily the best-looking LEGO game that I’ve encountered, and by far one of the best-looking arcade racers around, with huge and detailed environments and massive amounts of LEGO-based destruction. Particularly impressive are the real-time cutscenes that use the same stop-motion style character animations as the excellent LEGO Movie, making me wish that TT Games had adopted something similar for its recent entries.

Oddly, the audio side of things in LEGO 2K Drive is a bit of a mess. I don’t know enough to know if it’s a low bitrate thing – the game’s paltry 8GB download on PS5 might suggest it is – but all of the voice work in the game sounds tinny and awful. It’s not just the sound quality either but the mix itself with volume issues in abundance that ruin the otherwise-great sound effects and mostly-good music. The trademark LEGO humour still manages to shine through though, with gloriously bad puns, visual gags and slapstick comedy in a relentless abundance that kept a stupid grin on my face the entire time.

So there’s a whole lot to love in LEGO 2K Drive, and I’ve not even touched on all of the multiplayer potential with the entire campaign playable in online co-op and all 24 superb races available to play locally or online in single race and cup configurations. It’s a fully-fledged adventure game and a top-notch multiplayer kart racer combined that easily trumps the likes of Mario Kart a run for its money as far as its content offering and variety goes, while also being shockingly competitive when it comes to the quality of the racing itself. This could’ve been a half-bricked grab at the LEGO crowd and still somewhat landed, but instead it’s thoroughly impressed me in just about every way.

The post LEGO 2K Drive Review – A Brickin’ Great Car-PG appeared first on Press Start.

Allan Jeans once famously compared a drawn footy game to “dancing with your sister”. You can put on your best shirt, cut up shapes on the dance floor, but at the end of the night, there’ll be no result. It’s a quote that feels analogous for the latest iteration in the rather niche AFL video game series, which Big Ant Studios returns to after a decade-long absence. It’s flashier than before, it pulls a few more tricks out of the bag, but ultimately feels as hollow as gazing up at a tied-up scoreboard after a two-hour slogfest. 

There’s no denying that AFL, as a sport, is extremely complex. The real players and officials can barely keep up with the ever-expanding laundry list of rule changes year-to-year, so to expect a game developer—on a wafer-thin budget—to realise it 1:1 is pie in the sky stuff. Big Ant Studios developed the first modern AFL game, AFL Live, about a decade ago only for Wicked Witch to take over as custodians from then on.

Although they’ve cut their teeth developing other sporting titles, Big Ant’s return to AFL felt like a coming home story bigger to rival Jason Horne-Francis. Unfortunately, several of the persistent issues to plague these footy games remain, leaving us with yet another product befitting the sport’s niche status.

As Big Ant are still aggressively patching the game to mend its launch issues, I expect that in time many of my gripes will be fixed. Things like errant handballing, missed tackles, and frequent failure to actually deliver on the rules of the sport can all be tweaked and improved as time goes on. I do think there are some fundamental issues with momentum in the game when you turn the ball over against even the weakest of sides, as they seamlessly move the ball coast-to-coast like an unstoppable wave. The skill ceiling and learning curve for AFL 23 are both astronomical for a sports game, but when I look at the opposition move the ball in a way that would otherwise be impossible for the player, it becomes frustrating. 

It also doesn’t appear as though you’re able to implement much strategy to curtail ball movement like this. You can’t control eighteen players at once and there’s no meaningful way to tighten up formations, or instruct players to man-up in dying stages. It’s small omissions like this that makes this game in particular feel a little feature incomplete.

When it’s on your terms, however, the game can feel very satisfying. I think shorter field kicking is the best it has ever been and A.I. teammates always lead into space to make each kick look like a million bucks. Similarly, goalkicking takes on its best form and it’s the one facet of this game that players should immediately be able to pick up and play. The pendulum-style power and accuracy meter is instantly readable in a way many of the sport’s other systems are not, and it’s not like the game has a great tutorial to begin with. 

The entire suite of modes in AFL 23 is rather limited, in all honesty. There’s the bog standard season mode that sees you make your way through the fixture in pursuit of the Holy Grail. The game’s attempt at a management sim is much the same, except you’re charged with list, contract, and recruit management. For those that really like things like SuperCoach and other fantasy leagues, it might scratch an itch, but it’s largely bare bones. While the big leagues are certainly involved, it would appear that state and grassroots teams have been left on the bench this time around, which feels like a sad back step.

In the past, the online modes in AFL games have at least had some form of ladder or ranking system to tie it all together. Not only is that absent here, leaving the multiplayer side of things feeling rather pointless, with only a quick match option on offer, it’s impossible to find a match against.

This is a huge shame as, of the games I’ve played against randoms online, the game feels far more tense and balanced. It might expose shortcomings in the way ruck contests are handled because Max Gawn is effectively cheat codes, but I’ll admit happily I had the most fun with the game when not getting exposed and split open by improbable A.I. Despite its hang-ups elsewhere, latency surprisingly wasn’t a huge drama when it came to online play. 

In terms of presentation, it’s the best a footy game has looked. Of course, the bar has never been that high, but perusing the academy within the game’s menu and admiring the player’s models shows that a level of care has been put in here. A lot of effort has been put in to emulate the broadcast aspects of the game, from pre-game warm ups, the coin toss and the celebratory team song in the rooms after the final siren—they pulled real-life audio to make these as authentic as possible. It’s a shame there’s just no way around the same old stilted, robotic commentary we’ve always been treated to.

I wish more effort was put into bringing the crowd to life, nothing about it feels real. The polygonal cost might exceed a few hundred while the chants and cheers are piped in. To see the top deck of the Melbourne Cricket Ground vacant during the pointy end of September is baffling. 

There also seems to be less avenues for the sharing of user-generated content, most of which would already be the pits. It’s an area that Wicked Witch excelled at nearer the end of their tenure, but it has clearly not been a focus of Big Ant’s. Within the academy you’re able to knock up players, entire clubs, logos and stadiums, but the systems to do so are undercooked and the communal search functions to find something you actually like aren’t great. It might have been a glitch, but there’s no function to preview a piece of content before downloading it—a bare minimum in what is effectively a hub free of quality control. 

It’s probably never a promising sign when the minor, somewhat forgivable bugs become almost an unintended marketing beat for the game at launch. Things like the model for the head coach appearing as the goal umpire and the physics-defying “90m handball” have been everywhere, and it just speaks to a product that needed a little more time. Of course, releasing a game like this is never easy, especially in conjunction with the actual ongoing footy season, but you’d hope future patches to not only sharpen up this particular title but firm up the foundation for next year’s—if it happens.

With things like the Legends roster and Pro Teams to come, time is fortunately on Big Ant’s side to keep refining the experience for players. What’s there is good, but it’s light on many features that make it a fuller product. It’s a long season though and premierships aren’t won in May.

The post AFL 23 Review – Like Dancing With Your Sister appeared first on Press Start.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is Respawn Entertainment’s dark middle chapter. What Jedi: Survivor isn’t, is Respawn’s Empire Strikes Back. That would be too easy; instead, the team has crafted an unruly, introspective tale that pulls from the best of Star Wars storytelling while striking out on its own. It echoes Attack of the Clones and The Last Jedi, pivoting focus and intent seemingly on a whim to forefront its characters and massively expand its gameplay languages, resulting in a game that plays like an action movie but flows like a drama – a dissonance that requires Jedi-like trust in the process to eventually see the light.

Jedi: Fallen Order left Cal and the Mantis crew in a bit of no man’s land. Having conclusively destroyed the list of potential Jedi survivors, the little band of unlikely mates were set adrift into a galaxy that has already had its storytelling potentially largely tapped. These are the dark times, the height of Empire with only a budding sense of Rebellion to push back, and having run the gambit of iconic locations and faces in the first game, exactly where Respawn would take Cal next was something of an enigma. It’s here, in this freedom, Jedi: Survivor thrives.

Many years of fighting the Empire has fractured the crew, each of them peeling off one by one to pursue a different path after the inevitability of the imperial creep – except for Cal. Knighted in battle and unable to let go of the fight, we pick up with this version of the now seasoned Jedi in the midst of a Rebellion heist. Like the entire cast of the game, he’s changed. Jedi: Survivor’s Cal is stronger, faster and angrier. The game’s opening sequence is an all-timer in intention statements, a colourful and violent descent through Coruscant’s underworld culminating in a definitive blow dealt by Cal that lets the player know, right away, this is not going to go the way you think.

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Fleeing the scene and seeking to lay low for a while, Cal and BD-1 find themselves on Koboh, a sprawling, original planet that serves as the game’s hub world and primary location. That last point there is undoubtedly going to raise some eyebrows; the first game prided itself on being a galaxy-trotting adventure and Jedi: Survivor sprints in the opposite direction, instead opting for a more narrow scope but becoming deeper for it. Koboh is a towering achievement of Star Wars world design complete with a charming cantina, unique wildlife, half a dozen biomes and some deep cut lore that set my heart aflutter. Your adventure will send you to a handful of other locations but these are often much smaller instances, no less intricately crafted but all roads lead back to Koboh in the end.

Initially, this tighter loop made my brain short-circuit – for all my bluster about wanting entirely original Star Wars stories, I still found myself somewhat wanting for more recognisable planets and locations to visit. But the longer I sit with the game the more I’ve come to appreciate the intentionality behind it. Jedi: Survivor is rarely the game you’re expecting it to be and once you embrace that freefall, you can begin to appreciate the ride.

Jedi: Survivor’s core gameplay systems have been effectively perfected, a remarkable spit and shine of Fallen Order’s ambition to offer both meaningful combat and exploration. There are five different Lightsaber stances to choose from – single blade, dual blade, double blade, blaster and cross-guard, each offering players unique engagement methods that favour balance, speed, defense and power. You’re able to have two of each style equipped at any given time, flipping between them with a simple button press. These stances all sport their own skill trees that unlock progressively cooler moves, most of which drain your Force meter, which is then refilled by hitting foes with standard attacks.

Speaking of the Force, it has well and truly awakened in Jedi: Survivor. Cal begins the game with a basic assortment of abilities (Push, Pull, Mind Trick) that can all be upgraded through another set of skill trees. But the true joy of the game’s combat snaps into focus through the middle stretch, during which Cal will unlock additional Force powers that bolster his existing ones, allowing for markedly improved crowd control and offensive capabilities. There’s no wrong combination of stance and Force here, a delightful bit of player expression that allows you to build Cal out in the exact way you prefer to play. For instance, I sat on my skill points for hours waiting for the cross-guard stance to unlock, eventually dumping them all into the tree and wielding a Lightsaber claymore for the rest of the game.

Once you’ve found the stance you’re most comfortable with, the fluidity of Jedi: Survivor’s combat becomes undeniable. Cal has a bounty of animations to pull from, giving attacks contextually interesting outcomes that you’ve earned through a series of tight parries, dodges and deliberate blows. Stronger foes will deploy these same tactics against you in turn too, often requiring your patience to wear down stamina meters before you can break through and land a blow. Exchanges, largely, feel like a dance – weighty, pointed strikes spinning out into micro-breaks in flow that allow you to catch your breath before throwing yourself back into the fray.

Cal is every bit the Jedi Knight Cere expected him to become, and in turn, the player is allowed to experience a power fantasy that lifts the best elements from previous titles like the Jedi: Knight and Force Unleashed series. Jedi: Survivor does this without sacrificing its original intentions, rewarding conscious player choices with bombastic, cinematic thrills, capitalising on the contrast for great effect. Boss battles are the crown jewel of this balance, often extensive and incredibly trying exchanges that require your best play and in turn deliver some genuinely stunning set pieces that had my jaw cratered on the floor.    

Likewise, exploration has been vastly improved over the first game, with quality of life choices and a sharper eye for level design both elevating Jedi: Survivor. Cal moves much faster now, scampering along derelict ships and cliff faces with a fluidity that removes unnecessary player friction and allows you to feel more equipped to manoeuvre the game’s immaculate platforming playgrounds. Again, in pulling focus onto just a small selection of locations, Respawn has crafted far more engaging play spaces that utilise an array of traversal mechanics, including a contextual hook shot, improved Force jumping, ground and air mounts, and some Arkham-lite tools BD-1 picks up along the way. Traditional puzzles have been dialled back from the first game too; the ones that are here are enjoyable enough but largely Cal’s only barrier to progression will be your skill with his new movement abilities.

Conversely, Jedi: Survivor features a handful of systems that can be largely ignored by the player. There is a whole Perk system that requires slot management for passive boosts to your skills but to be frank, I had entirely forgotten about it for long stretches of play. That charming cantina on Koboh also has an adorable rooftop garden you can maintain with BD-1 but for the life of me I never found much of a mechanical imperative to return to it. There’s also the excellent cosmetic customisation suite that allows players to fully build their own saber, deck out BD-1 and the blaster in custom parts, and even change the colour shading on the dozens of outfit combinations. And yeah you can give Cal a mullet. The game never forces your hand on these systems, content to let you engage at your leisure, but this system passivity is at odds with, to my mind, the game’s most interesting player demand – that you care for the sake of caring.

Jedi: Survivor has a confidence in its storytelling and a faith in its audience, I find utterly fascinating. The game is effectively a four-act narrative, picking up and discarding threads with ferocious speed as it whips through tones and plots that run the gambit of earnest human drama to old Extended Universe novel pulp. The Empire takes a backseat for the majority of the game, instead Cal and friends are embroiled in the centuries old plot of High Republic era Jedi Dagan Gera as he races to claim an oasis planet hidden beyond an impenetrable abyss. Cal sees the planet as a potential Rebellion training ground, pitting him against Dagan as the two Jedi survivors duke it out to claim a new home. It’s smaller stakes than expected and gives the game room to explore what exactly it means to be a survivor in a galaxy this far gone.

This conflict draws in several familiar faces, as well as some compelling new ones, and forms a tremendous thematic backbone for the game. Dagan is a treat, absolutely devouring scenery as he paces in his ornate golden robes and taunts Cal for letting the galaxy fall after the High Republic. The game does a cursory job at educating players on the relatively recent Star Wars era, and while some aesthetic touchstones are present, the majority of the High Republic connections are found in data files and inference alone. You should still read those books though. Much like the planets, I was initially caught on this choice but Jedi: Survivor has so much more cooking than anticipated, and while its ambitions can result in some pacing hitches and speedy conclusions, its achievements are worth the scramble.

Much like Jedi: Fallen Order, moment-to-moment dialogue can still occasionally slip into broad strokes, or some exposition heavy exchanges, but Jedi: Survivor navigates these characters into far more interesting waters. Cal’s Jedi journey is perhaps most surprising, a brilliant echo of the High Republic teachings and a definitive answer to what exactly you do with this character. Elsewhere, Merin returns in a pivotal role that balances Cal’s changes and locks the two of them into exciting narrative potentials. Dagan is drawn a little lighter but remains fun throughout, and the new supporting cast are thoroughly likeable and will break your heart if you let them. It helps too that the game lets you spend more organic time with its characters as Cal is sometimes joined on missions by companions, giving them a chance to banter in mostly organic and charming ways.

The race to find a hidden planet is a wonderfully fun set up, all the more for giving Cal a plot that doesn’t necessitate known factors and instead allows Respawn to craft their very own corner of the galaxy. Jedi: Survivor overflows with colourful and expressive art that draws Star Wars in tones and shapes that feel fresh and exciting. From Koboh’s Old West-inspired ranch towns to Jedah’s ornate Jedi temples and even the phenomenal score and sound work, the game is dense with little flourishes that make it feel both a part of the larger galaxy but also distinctly its own beast. The only real issue is performance; playing on PlayStation I was hit with a fair few issues, from texture pop in to slowdown and clipping. Which is a shame because the game is otherwise a technical marvel, that gorgeous art direction rendered beautifully on screen, when it works.

Jedi: Survivor feels like it has something to prove. Maybe to the team behind it, whose ambitions for Cal have clearly grown exponentially in the interim years, and maybe to its audience, who the game places explicit trust in. It’s a game that dances, gleefully, in the tonal dissonance of its Star Wars building blocks. Colliding power fantasy mechanics, high-concept sci-fi and nuanced, character-driven writing, the end result occasionally stumbles trying to hold it all together but ultimately emerges a roaring success of genre melding. Jedi: Survivor is a monument to the best of Star Wars.

The post Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Review – An Audacious Middle Chapter appeared first on Press Start.

Strayed Lights is a game that came out of nowhere to land on my radar, but it landed hard. I’m a massive sucker for a simple, stylish indie adventure that can be blown over in an afternoon and straight out of the gate I can tell you that this game has all that and then some.

French studio Embers’ first outing casts players as a being born of light, taking them on a journey from birth to ascendance in a dreamlike world where they’ll need to battle their inner demons to bring about peace and a balance of energy. It’s a wordless and esoteric narrative that, at least as far as my own experience goes, serves primarily to offer up a cool-looking world and contextualise some inventive and exciting combat mechanics.

As you make your way through this mysterious world, split into two hubs of interconnected biomes, you’ll happen across its less-than-friendly denizens. Rather than a traditional blow-by-blow combat system, Strayed Lights’ is one of an exchanging of energies. You can certainly take swipes at them, but the true tactic is to carefully party every blow they send your way until you’ve successfully absorbed all of their energy meter into your own, at which point you can end things at the touch of a button.

The added complexity in all this is a colour-based system that rewards you for switching the ethereal glow of your body between orange or blue to match that of your enemy at the moment of parry. Parrying as the correct colour is how you’ll successfully absorb energy (and regain health) while getting the timing right but the colour wrong will still negate any damage but without the other benefits. It’s simple enough but deceptively engaging, as you’re not only learning each enemy type’s attack patterns but memorising which colour they’ll be at key points in their combos, including a third, purple colour signifying an unblockable attack that you’ll need to dodge instead.

This comes together wonderfully during the game’s marquee boss battles, which up the scale of your foes significantly while giving them unique extra mechanics to contend with. These are unanimously great fights that feel increasingly satisfying as you hone your partying and dodging skills against the regular enemies in the lead-up. There aren’t all that many encounters across the game’s four-hour runtime, maybe a dozen for each of the major areas, making them all feel like crucial steps in your journey.

The one concern I do have with Strayed Lights’ otherwise-commendable take on enemy encounters is that there’s a bit of built-in exclusion that comes from the colour aspect. With no settings to tweak how these are displayed or alternative method of delivering the information needed, those who struggle with colour vision could find themselves at a huge disadvantage, doubly so given there are no difficulty settings to speak of either.

Outside of combat, Strayed Lights’ loose exploration serves well enough as a stroll through its oneiric landscapes. There are some collectibles to be found off the beaten path that add towards character progression, and a smattering of abilities to upgrade as you go, but it’s otherwise fairly basic stuff. The positive there is it makes this an easy game to slip into and vibe with minimal interruption, and it keeps things nice and succinct. Upon finishing the game I was a little stung to find that it’s not possible to go back to the pre-climax state and search out anything I missed along the way – the game simply throws players back to the main menu with only “New Game” as an option to dive back in.

I’d happily take the plunge again though, not least because Strayed Lights is a beautiful experience. From the breathtaking environments and their abstract-but-endearing inhabitants to the awe inspiring boss designs and anime-as-hell set pieces tussles you’ll have with them, this is a very handsome title indeed. The music, dreamt up by Austin Wintory (Journey, ABZÛ), is equally gorgeous even if the games overall audio mix is a bit dull throughout.

It’s not out to shake up the indie video game space, but thanks to a uniquely engaging combat system and a consistent stream of wonderous sights and sounds, Strayed Lights is a worthwhile little journey that makes for a great lazy afternoon play. It’s unfortunate that the user experience has suffered an oversight or two, especially in areas of accessibility, but mainly because it’s a quiet gem of a game that absolutely deserves to be played.

The post Strayed Lights Mini Review – Colour Me Impressed appeared first on Press Start.

The original A Fisherman’s Tale was a delight when it released back in 2019, and still one of my favourite games on the original PlayStation VR. Cue my excitement when InnerspaceVR announced that a sequel was on the way with Another Fisherman’s Tale – as well as my slight hesitation at the fact that this new entry would be swapping out the recursive puzzles of the first game with a completely new mechanic.

Turns out any hesitation was completely unfounded on my part, as Another Fisherman’s Tale has proven to be every bit as creative and enjoyable with its puzzles as last time, and although they’re a little less mind-bending they still play with perspective in a uniquely satisfying way.

Let’s start at the start though – Another Fisherman’s Tale puts us back in the shoes of Bob, the fisherman/wooden puppet who we last saw wrestling with a mysterious and never-ending model lighthouse. Told from the dual perspectives of Bob and his daughter, Nina, it’s a chronicling of his past adventures, wrestling with pirates, treasures and mythical creatures. Each adventure is represented by an intricate model, with players controlling Nina inbetween stories as she pieces together her father’s history to discover more about him. It’s a thoughtful setup to the fantastical escapades of each chapter that brings a lot to the table to ground Bob’s character and wraps up nicely by the end.

Of course, as well-realised as the narrative is this is a puzzle game first and foremost, and Another Fisherman’s Tale’s unique mechanic this time around is Bob’s ability to remove his head, hands and legs at will from his wooden-doll body. This gives players a completely new way to engage with puzzles by literally being able to separate themselves from the situation at hand and get a new perspective by lobbing their head to a better vantage point, or popping off a hand and walking it through small crevices and tunnels to grab items or pull levers. You’ll also often have the opportunity to replace either of your hands with other tools like crab claws, hookshots and robot hands to add even more layers to puzzles.

These might be simple enough ideas on their own, but combined with the immersion of virtual reality it sells the concept of perspective even further. When your head’s on a perch in the corner of a room and you’re free to look around as you independently control your body, or when you have to follow your disembodied hand and peer into tight spaces to ensure you’re not going to send it into a hazard, it’s hard not to truly feel like parts of you have genuinely been relocated. Most VR games try their hardest to make it seem like you’re in another body – Another Fisherman’s Tale makes it seem like your body is in another place entirely.

Like the first game, the only real gripe I have here is the relative brevity of the experience. Coming in at under 2 hours I was happy that this is the kind of VR experience I can comfortably complete in one session without feeling the need for a break, but as a puzzle game there’s only so far things can be taken in that timeframe. I would’ve loved for the puzzle designs to escalate even further as there are some truly ingenious concepts at play here (I won’t spoil a single one because of how short the game is), but nothing that becomes overly taxing on the ol’ grey matter.

Playing on the PlayStation VR2, the game continues the solid aesthetic of its predecessor, but on a larger scale and with a nice amount of added flair, plus the obvious increased sharpness neat features like haptic feedback and adaptive triggers when played on the PS VR2. The first time I threw my own head across the room and felt the thump from the PS VR2 headset’s haptics in my own head was a pleasant shock.

If you’re a fan of inventive puzzle games attached to endearing and emotionally-driven narratives, and you’re lucky enough to have the hardware required to play it, I can wholeheartedly recommend Another Fisherman’s Tale as a great way to spend a couple of hours on a lazy weekend. I truly hope the folks at InnerspaceVR can expand even further with the next title, making it bigger and more challenging, but there’s no denying the smile on my face the entire time I was playing this one.

The post Another Fisherman’s Tale Mini Review – An Out-Of-Body VR Puzzler appeared first on Press Start.

It’s no secret that I adored Horizon Forbidden West when it launched last year, awarding it a 10/10 for taking what worked about its mostly-good predecessor and cranking the dial up to an 11. So when Guerrilla announced that fans would be able to return to the game in a sizeable expansion, especially one that takes Aloy to a post-machine-apocalypse Los Angeles, I was more than ready.

Burning Shores is exciting for a few key reasons. Firstly, it’s a completely post-game expansion meaning what we’re getting is more than just a side story carefully slotted into the existing framework of the game – instead it’s easy to assume it functions as a bridge to whatever Guerrilla has planned next for the franchise. Second, it’s exclusive to the PlayStation 5 version of the game, a choice that manifests quite clearly in not just the visual splendour but the content itself in the Burning Shores. And of course, new locations, characters, machines, gear and everything else that comes along are all very exciting for those of us that’ve squeezed Forbidden West dry of every drop of content.

Now, with the main quest component of Burning Shores under my belt along with the bulk of the optional bits, I can say with confidence that the expansion delivers on all of the above quite nicely, but it’s not without a few unfortunate stumbles and just a touch of over-familiarity.

Spoilers For The Ending Of Horizon Forbidden West From This Point On!

Provided you’ve completed the main questline in Forbidden West, Burning Shores opens with Aloy receiving a call out of the blue from Sylens, voiced of course by the late Lance Reddick in bittersweet fashion, revealing that he’s uncovered evidence that one of the members of Far Zenith remains alive and at large. The Musk-esque Walter Londra, CEO of space mining corporation Heaven¢, has holed up somewhere at his pre-apocalypse HQ in the Burning Shores, formerly Los Angeles, and is up to something. And so, Aloy sets off to new territory to see what’s up.

Discovering an encampment of stranded Quen refugees almost immediately after arriving, Aloy befriends Seyka, and with a shared interest in scoping out Londra’s location to find a missing Quen scouting party Seyka joins Aloy for the bulk of this new adventure. It’s clear early on that Guerrilla wants to establish Seyka as a prominent character in the Horizon universe, and she comes as a welcome addition both for her personal journey and interactions with Aloy as well as her utility in gameplay.

Unlike some of the other characters who’ve joined up with Aloy along the way in the base game, Seyka is a near-match for her understanding of the world and prowess in combat, making her less of a tag-along and more a partner. It’s something that works incredibly well to make Burning Shores feel different in the moment-to-moment as the two tackle each situation in tandem.

This comes in incredibly handy with facing down some of Burning Shores’ new challenges, whether it’s environmental puzzles and set pieces requiring the pair to work together or fights against touch new machines like the Bilegut. This huge, frog-like machine is easily one of my favourites in the game with its disgusting, acid-spewing “pores” and long, metallic tongue combined with its “eggs” that birth swarms of small but aggressive fly-like machines.

There’s an off-putting, organic quality to everything the Bilegut does that makes it feel much more threatening than most, so having Seyka on-hand is a godsend. She’s capable of the same kinds of tactics that players would employ as Aloy like using elemental damage or casting ropes to tie machines down, which almost gives the game the Monster Hunter-esque feel that I’m sure plenty of fans have imagined for the series as the two of you cooperate to bring down huge and formidable foes.

Another one of the new machines, the Waterwing, is equally exciting for different reasons. The Burning Shores are a set of broken-up land masses with a heap of verticality from immense cliffs and decaying skycrapers to deep oceans and volcanic ruptures and that means you’ll spend a lot of your time in the air – whether catching volcanic updrafts with your Glider or riding on the back of a machine. Waterwings are the go-to here for their ability to not just soar through the air but also dive down and rocket along underwater. Flying for the first time in Forbidden West was an exhilarating moment but this overgrown and ruined LA feels more purposefully built for taking to the skies and the oceans.

It also feels purposefully built for the power of the PS5, pushing the already-gorgeous Forbidden West to a whole new level with easily the most impressive vistas I’ve seen in a video game that only become even more impressive as you explore them close-up. Dense environments packed with lush lighting and mind blowing effects aren’t new to Horizon but there’s a definite sense that the studio really pushed things as hard as they could here, and that fancy new cloud tech is just divine.

Unfortunately, the expansion has also been strangely lacking in polish during my playthrough. There were several points where I encountered bugs from voice-overs disappearing during cutscenes to Aloy clipping through the environment and even some fight sequences being soft-locked when certain things didn’t activate as intended. The game still struggles to maintain a sense of fluidity in indoor environments where Aloy’s movements become awkward and the camera is consistently obscured by the architecture.

Those missteps don’t do too much to sully the experience though, and it’s one that Horizon fans absolutely won’t want to miss out on. It feels like essential playing for anyone who finished Forbidden West, introducing some great new characters and giving existing ones new moments of personal development, all while setting up some enticing threads and paying off others in incredible fashion. Some of my favourite parts of the main game came from a sense of wonder and discovery in how Guerrilla presents remnants of the Old World and takes players on journeys of discovery and without saying too much that’s in full effect here.

That’s all without even going into the many new mechanical wrinkles from new types of weapons to new abilities for Aloy to unlock that are generally quite exciting and useful, the additional side quests that include a returning favourite or two, fun collectibles to find across the sizeable new map and scattering of new ideas. I’m impressed by how well-paced and fresh the golden path feels in Burning Shores just as much as I’m enamoured with all of the discoveries to be had off that path.

Positioning this as a post-game expansion was a great move, because what’s here doesn’t just feel like extra content bolted onto Forbidden West, it’s a genuine continuation of the world, story, characters and gameplay and a great little lead into an exciting future.

The post Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores Review – A Worthy Expansion appeared first on Press Start.

It’s finally here. Almost a decade after its announcement and changing developers no less than three times, Dead Island 2 beats all odds. Having spent so long in development, I’d wondered if it could best the original game. It does in many ways, but it still feels like it came out of the same era of games, for better or for worse.

Dead Island 2 occurs a few months after the original game’s events. An infection has found its way to the sunny state of California, infecting everyone there and turning them into grotesque zombies and monsters. You play as one of six survivors whose plane crashes while trying to escape the quarantine zone. You’re eventually bitten, discover that you’re immune, and begin your journey, meeting up with survivors to plot your escape. It’s a done-to-death story but simple enough that it carries the action well.

As I mentioned in my preview last month, Dead Island 2 is most certainly going for a more tongue-in-cheek approach with its storytelling, for the most part. The game is loaded with humour and comedy that will land differently with different people, poking fun at the most vacuous of celebrity culture. The plot is serviceable at the most basic level but introduces a few mysteries about halfway through that aren’t entirely resolved when the credits roll. Perhaps this is the beginning of a new thread of stories for a sequel to deal with or even some hooks for DLC. Regardless, it’s incredibly simplistic.

Similarly, Dead Island 2 plays like almost no time has passed since the original was released over a decade ago. Like nearly anything that’s come before it, you’ll be thrown into California to complete optional side quests, quests that advance the plot or find weapons hidden by people throughout the map. It’s a typical open-world experience that anyone who’s played a Dead Island, Borderlands or Dying Light game will be familiar with. It’s a tried and true formula, but it’s not breaking much new ground.

One point of difference that Dead Island 2 is determined to make is that you can choose a playable character from a roster of six. Each of these characters has different strengths and weaknesses to suit your playstyle. But it ultimately doesn’t mean much. One, for example, boosts damage to enemies that aren’t surrounded by other enemies. This situation rarely happens in Dead Island 2. Another can create an explosive effect when hitting an enemy with a type of attack. The same effect can be stacked on weapons as you progress through the story. These innate skills are only meaningful in the opening moments of the game.

Every character has their own dialogue and personality too, but your character’s lines are chopped and changed around the dialogue of NPCs so that it rarely sounds like two people are in a room having a conversation. It removes so much from the story’s presentation, which was already lacking that I can’t help but feel like pulling them all together would’ve helped serve the story better.

But it’s not all bad. The FLESH system helps to make the combat much more satisfying than it has any right to be. It stands for Fully Location Evisceration System for Humanoids, and it’s a system that offers greater realism in how you rip, burn or tear your zombies apart. Every zombie you attack in Dead Island 2 will react differently and realistically to whatever weapon you’re using.

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It’s a system that, in real time, is pretty impressive. Constantly hitting a zombie with a blunt weapon will see bones dent, crack and break. Slashing with a bladed weapon will separate the skin from muscle until you’re hitting bone. Attacking joints in a zombie’s leg will drop them to the floor. It’s a macabre system separating Dead Island 2 from those that came before it, even if its addition to the game is mainly cosmetic.

Another aspect unique to Dead Island 2 is the reliance on a card system rather than a traditional skill tree. These cards are decorated with some pretty gnarly artwork. They are given as rewards for completing certain challenges or through story progression. You can equip any combination to best create your perfect build – like giving your character an evade or a block. Others heal you when hitting a zombie with a heavy attack or boosting your damage after a successful block. There are over fifty cards to mix and match to suit your playstyle, a degree of flexibility that I appreciate more than a skill tree with respec.

A crafting system allows you to add certain elemental traits to your weapons too. Certain enemies are weaker to certain elements, but it adds a very satisfying tinge to the already satisfying combat. Hitting enemies with a spray of acidic bullets and watching their skin melt away down to bone is a fun, if not slightly disturbing sight. Similarly, hitting a zombie with an electrically charged weapon will fry them but also arc out electricity to enemies around them. In a body of water? The effect is amplified. It’s a fun little system that was a joy to engage with in a genre that usually has me rolling my eyes at crafting.

Depending on how much you engage with optional content, most players will get around fifteen to twenty hours out of Dead Island 2. Whether you’ll want to is another matter entirely, though co-op certainly helps make things a lot more fun, though the lack of any crossplay options in today’s climate feels like a miss. Despite there being multiple characters, too, there’s no reason to play through the game more than once as the plot progresses in the same way. While I’m not quite at the point of finishing the entirety of the game’s side quests, I’d estimate most players would get at least thirty hours out of finishing everything.

But I will warn you – Dead Island 2 is repetitive. So many objectives will have you heading to an item to activate, realising the item needs power to work, and then fighting off hordes of zombies while you wait for the power to be restored. You’ll reattach a valve to a pipe multiple times and turn it to access a new area. It’s, once again, bound to be an experience only saved by the funny interactions you have with zombies as you complete these objectives, but they’re still repetitive as ever.

In terms of presentation, Dead Island 2 hands in a decent performance. California as a setting is beautiful and almost genius or a game of this ilk. From the sweeping hillside neighbourhoods of Bel-Air to the sunny sands of Venice Beach, Dead Island 2 successfully captures a sense of paradise like Banoi in Dead Island before it, just a different type of paradise. It’s an immaculately realised setting I can’t find much fault with. Some visual glitches led to limbs dancing long after the zombie they were attached to had perished, but this only added to the comedy. Intentional or not.

Despite its shortcomings, I still had fun with Dead Island 2. It should grow old quickly on paper, but even playing by myself, I never tired of destroying countless hordes of zombies in exciting and varied ways. It’s by no means a perfect sequel, but it does a great job of channelling the spirit of the original, regardless.

The post Dead Island 2 Review – Trouble In Paradise appeared first on Press Start.

With the inherent success of Minecraft, we were always going to get plenty of spin-offs of all kinds that explore a diverse array of genres and experiences within the IP. 2015’s Minecraft: Story Mode and 2020’s Minecraft Dungeons have marked the beginning of this with varying levels of success, but there’s no denying their originality in comparison with vanilla Minecraft. The next title in this slew of spin-offs is Minecraft Legends, a self-described action strategy game that’s most comparable to the Dragon Quest Builders series, with a unique Minecraft flavor.

After my brief hands-on preview with the game in Tokyo, I mentioned that I’d had a good time with Legends, despite being worried about game length and how it would keep things fresh throughout its runtime, and that my brief hands-on with the multiplayer mode was a blast. After spending much more time with both of these modes, it’s clear that the preview I played had barely scratched the surface of what Legends has to offer. The end result is the best Minecraft spin-off yet that, despite some niggling issues, offers a satisfying and moreish gameplay loop and an intensely engaging versus mode.

The narrative here is about as deep as you’d expect from a Minecraft experience, but it is positively bursting at the seams with the charm the IP is known for. A dangerous threat from the Nether known as the Piglins have been spilling over into the overworld with plans of conquest and domination. Their bases poison the natural landscape with noxious gasses and Netherrack creeps further out as more Piglins pour in from protected Nether Portals found within each bastion. It falls to you to expunge the Piglin threat and send the three distinct factions back to the Nether.

Overall, it’s a feel-good narrative that employs plenty of slapstick humor and Minecraft trademarks to get you onboard. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t chuckle at a few of the visual gags, and the cutscenes on offer here have incredibly high production values that expand the sense of scope within Legends and mythos of Minecraft. It’s ultimately a good time, one that kids will likely get more of a kick out of, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing here for older fans.

Gameplay is where Minecraft Legends differs the most from its source material, offering the same core tenets of mining and crafting, in an entirely different format. Everything you do in Minecraft Legends comes back to the Allays, which are your main tool for gathering materials and building structures. A quick button combination can send these little guys out to harvest resources like wood, stone, coal, and more. Gathered materials can then be used by Builder Allays to form structures, mechanisms, and much more.

It’s a more passive way to engage with what’s effectively the core loop of Minecraft, but this is only to make room for all the extra stuff Legends brings with it. It’s through the gathering and utilization of these resources that you can push back the Piglin threat. From setting up defences around liberated villages to constructing a Redstone Launcher to blow open the gates of a Piglin base, everything eventually comes back to mining and building.

This core loop of gathering resources in order to bolster your own defensive and offensive capabilities is incredibly moreish. Where flexibility isn’t afforded in the structures you create, it is in the way you place them, the way they interact with each other, and in the way you pick and choose how best to use certain materials when trying to overthrow a particularly difficult Piglin base. It helps greatly that there’s an immense variety of things to build here that steadily unlock over the course of the campaign, constantly offering up new strategies and game plans to employ against the Piglins.

Your main method of siege comes in the form of Golems. These little guys can be amassed from crafted spawners, and brought along with you to tackle Piglin outposts. Each one specializes in different abilities, from healing and de-buff cleansing to stunning enemies or bringing down structures. You have to consider what kinds of Golems you want to bring with you on a siege given the obstacles, and that’s without talking about the ability to employ hallmark mobs.

Creepers, Skeletons, and Zombies are here in full force, united against the Piglin threat. You can also spawn these mobs alongside Golems, each one costing a little bit more in terms of resources in trade-off for extra power. The Skeletons, for example, excel at ranged combat and taking out enemy units, where Creepers make incredibly short work of enemy structures, making them useful in a pinch if you need a last ditch assault to bring down a Piglin base. While your army is initially limited to a total of 20 units, you can expand that number further, and simple commands can be issued in combat to have them focus on particular enemies or structures.

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Clearing Piglin outposts and liberating villages rewards you with Prismarine, a resource that’s key to upgrading your capabilities, resource capacity, and total army count. Prismarine is doled out often enough that there’s always something new to invest in upon returning to the Well of Fate, which almost always leads to meaningful player progression. It’ll have you constantly eyeing your Prismarine count so you know when you can get your next upgrade.

The general flow and progression of the campaign is also something I really enjoyed. After a brief tutorial and some opening objectives to get you to grips with the many systems of Minecraft Legends, you’re let loose to tackle the Piglin threat as you see fit. Three unique factions have setup three bases throughout the overworld, each one varying in difficulty and rewards. You’re encouraged to tackle the easy ones first, but there’s nothing stopping you from knocking on the doors of the most fortified of forts if you really want the challenge.

It’s this non-linear structure in combination with some extra-curricular open world activities that makes Legends so easy to play. You’ll stumble across mob outposts that have been taken over by Piglins, abandoned towers that can be deconstructed and tucked away for later use, and huge golems that’ll join you in your fight should they be resurrected. There’s always incentive and reward to explore outside of just gathering resources.

It comes to a head when all three of a faction’s bastions have been felled, and one final outpost makes itself known. These provide some of the best strategy Minecraft Legends has to offer, and are punctuated with explosive boss fights that test every skill you’ve learned during the campaign. It makes for a solid difficulty curve if you tackle bases in the right order, though I’m sure you can circumvent that order with some cheeky tactics and ample use of the game’s more powerful structures and minions.

Another thing to consider is the way that Piglins will launch attacks on allied villages when night falls, incentivizing you to build up defences around each one once liberated. You’re always warned in advance which village is going to be attacked, and it’s rewarding to see all your efforts pay off when a village successfully pushes back the Piglins without your help. One irk I had with this, though, is that if a village does fall, you have to retake it from the Piglins, which got tiresome in the second half of the game, especially when it means rebuilding defences.

While the campaign mode is able to be played in co-op, where I think Minecraft Legends is really going to take off, is in its versus mode. It’s a simple 4 versus 4 affair with either team trying to siege the other’s base and destroy their Fountain. All of the systems from the campaign are intact here, from Prismarine progression and Piglin outposts to resource harvesting – it’s all here in full force, and is of great importance.

While you could absolutely band together and launch an all out assault on the enemy base, there’s just as much value in spending time gathering resources and Prismarine to gain access to more structures. I can’t begin to fathom the kinds of long-winded matches that will come out of this mode once players jump into it. It has a MOBA-esque quality to it that instils an inherent tension in the experience, and it’s easily some of the most fun I’ve had with Minecraft Legends so far. While it’s a great time with friends, the mode does struggle with the inherent limited communication brought by matchmade games, as a lot of the enjoyment comes from planning and collaborating with allies.

As mentioned in my hands-on preview, everyone knows what they’re getting into when it comes to the visual presentation of anything related to Minecraft. Legends doesn’t shock or surprise in this regard, offering a tried-and-true art style that’s bolstered by a diverse range of biomes and some snazzy particle effects that tie the whole experience together. There’s plenty of new stuff to see here in the broad scope of Minecraft and the game always looks great, but don’t expect Legends to reinvent the wheel in this regard.

Performance on PC is similarly reliable, and I experienced very few technical issues aside from one notable audio bug. I’m not sure if it was something to do with the mixing, but some sound effects and dialogue lines were extremely quiet during my time with the game. This made it hard to get properly invested in cutscenes and did create a bit of a disconnect in battle as my sword swipes didn’t yield much feedback. It wasn’t enough to rip me out of the experience entirely, but the absence is notable enough to mention it here.

I’ve come away from my time with Minecraft Legends pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. The campaign is a tightly paced jaunt through a new Minecraft experience that doesn’t outstay its welcome and offers a fresh spin on the strategy genre with a distinct Minecraft flavour. Despite having my fill of the campaign, I have no doubt I’ll be returning to Legends over the coming months to play its outrageously fun versus mode with friends, and I can’t recommend enough that you check it out to do the same.

The post Minecraft Legends Review – Building A New Kind of Strategy appeared first on Press Start.

It’s been over seven years since EA Sports took its last swing at a golf game, but I’m pleased to say EA Sports PGA Tour is a heck of a lot better than that outing. It’s lacking in some staying power and I’ve had some frustrations with a handful of its gameplay mechanics, but there’s a lot here for newcomers and die hard fans of the sport to enjoy.

This starts with the approachability of PGA Tour’s gameplay. EA Orlando and EA Madrid have done an excellent job in making the game feel approachable for newcomers, all the while maintaining a sense of complexity for seasoned pros. This is due to the plethora of settings that can be fine tuned to get the most out of your time with the game.

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As someone who has an appreciation for the Mario Golf games (laugh at me if you will), I was curious to see if my enjoyment for the more arcade-style of golf would translate over to PGA Tour, and it has to a degree. You can adjust a variety of different systems, like swing difficulty, power boost and spin control, to make the game feel more arcadey and less unforgiving than what you’d see in a professional golf sim, and it mostly works.

Pure Strike, PGA Tour’s big gameplay innovation, also goes a long way in making the game feel realistic. Powered by PGA Tour ShotLink and TrackMan data, ball movement is accurately recreated according to the type of terrain it’s landed on, wind conditions and the club you’ve used. It did take me a bit to get used to, but after some time (and several woeful shots) I began to understand how to best place my shots and what to keep an eye out for. 

One thing I didn’t like, however, was the lag that would seemingly appear every time I went to take a swing. For a game that’s based heavily around accuracy and an appropriately timed swing, I often noticed my golfer not hitting the way I’d have liked them to thanks to the slight lag spike during the swing animation. I’m sure a jump in framerate would help (as the game’s currently locked to 30fps on current-consoles), yet no matter how much I tinkered with the settings I couldn’t seem to get rid of the problem. I’m unsure whether this is happening across other platforms, but my Xbox Series copy had this issue on both Series S and X, ultimately leading to some frustrating game situations.

Further to this, I’ve also experienced difficulties with the game’s suggested putting lines. There’s been more than a few times where I’d follow the line suggested by the game, only to have my ball miss the hole by some distance. I feel in these instances it’s been better for me to use my intuition rather than strictly following the guidance provided, but for beginners especially it’s a bit weird for the system to be so inaccurate at times.

I also found the game to be fairly averse in taking the time to guide players through the nitty gritty of the sport in my initial couple of sessions. While I generally know my way around golf, those who don’t know too much – be it the scoring system or types of clubs and shots – will likely feel overwhelmed at the beginning. Thankfully, there’s a decently large selection of challenge tutorials that help outline everything from approach shots all the way up to making the perfect putt, but you do need to look for them.

These come by the way of the Coaching Academy, which forms part of the challenge area in PGA Tour. Rather than being taken through little tutorials, you’re instead given challenges that range from getting a shot onto the fairway a certain amount of times to making a successful putt. It feels like it’s more about the experience of playing the game rather than getting bogged down in the theory of it all, which I can understand – there’s no better way to learn than failing, really. 

Along with the game’s Coaching Academy challenges, there’s a truly astounding amount of other challenges available to jump into from the get-go. There are real-time featured challenges that highlight what’s currently happening in the real sport, over 500 challenges based on championship moments from PGA and LPGA history and a section to earn sponsored gear to take onto the course with your golfer.

Completing challenges is fairly important no matter what you do in PGA Tour, as they act as a primary way of getting more experience for your created golfer as well as cash to spend on customisation items.

Most of my time was spent within the game’s career mode, as it has the most longevity to it. That’s not to say there’s not much else to keep yourself occupied in PGA Tour – as the game’s quick play section has a lot of fun little modes within it, alongside social and competitive options – but it was the best way to get acquainted with everything the game has to offer. 

Career mode casts your created golfer right into the spotlight, allowing you to take on the amateur circuit to rise up the ranks or bee-lining straight for the bigger tournaments – the choice is yours. And I really have enjoyed my time with it, whether that’s through the litany of competitions I’ve played through or the coach/sponsor challenges that have encouraged me to try something a bit different for some extra rewards.

The only major issue I had with the mode was how lifeless it felt at times. There’s just not a lot happening behind the scenes as you make your way through each tournament and set of challenges, which was disappointing.

As well as this, the commentary, while decent most of the time, didn’t feel as personalised as I’d hoped. This was in part due to the commentary team constantly referring to my golfer as the ‘featured golfer’. I did like how accurately the crowd seemed to react to my shots (whether they were good or bad) though, and the presentation packages continued to impress me throughout. With that said, everything else felt a little bit lacklustre in terms of general atmosphere.

Aside from gaining basic experience points for participating in tournaments and completing challenges, quests form a big part of PGA Tour’s progression system. They reward you with points that can be used to purchase new gear and equipment to deck your custom golfer out in. And while the system certainly works, lots of quests have more than a couple of goals to achieve, meaning it can feel like a bit of a slog to get to the nicer cosmetic items in the game. Similarly, you’ll need points to jump into the more prestigious online tournaments, so expect to spend quite a bit of time grinding for those higher priced items in the store.

Spending time out on the green isn’t so bad thanks to the gorgeously recreated (and brand new) courses on offer in PGA Tour. Whether you’re playing through Augusta National or plying your trade in the Wetlands fantasy course, there’s a lot to experience and admire. The team’s done a fantastic job bringing each course to life and making it look particularly wonderful. I was disappointed to see a lack of weather conditions in-game, though, and hope they might make an appearance in a post-launch update. 

PGA Tour’s menu system can feel a bit clunky, as well. Oftentimes it’s slow to update and can be confusing to actually navigate through, and it’s something I hope the team addresses sooner rather than later.

Similarly, the selection of professional golfers currently on offer is fairly disappointing. While greats like current world number one, Scottie Scheffler, are available to play, there are more than a few key players that aren’t included (for one reason or another). The team has said more will be added in post-launch updates, however.

It’s not all bad, and certainly marks a solid return to the course for EA Sports after many years out of the game. It might not be for everyone, and it can feel like a bit of a slog at times, but among the excellent selection of courses, deep career mode and accessible gameplay, EA Sports PGA Tour should satiate the appetite for those wanting an enjoyable golf game.

The post EA Sports PGA Tour Review – On Par appeared first on Press Start.

Citizen Sleeper was, and still remains, one of my favourite releases of last year. It had one glaring problem though, at least on a personal level – it wasn’t available on PlayStation. My patience in waiting for all three of its free DLC episodes to launch before diving back into the game has paid off though, with the release of the final episode, Purge, coinciding with the game’s debut on PS5 and PS4.

I’m going to abstain from re-explaining what Citizen Sleeper is – you can read my full review of the game’s original release right underneath this write-up – and speak strictly to the new stuff, namely the PlayStation release and the full run of story DLC.

The long and short of it all is this; If you’re a PlayStation player and haven’t played Citizen Sleeper yet, please do. It’s an intoxicating mix of sci-fi flavoured capitalism critique aboard a diverse and characterful space station, tabletop mechanics, time management and branching narrative that’s deceptively simple with a powerful mechanical underbelly. There’s not much to say about the game’s port to PS5 and PS4 specifically, it’s by and large the same game available on other platforms, but it’s (hopefully) a whole new community of players given the chance to experience this indie masterpiece.

Returning as someone who’d played the game on another platform, I did find Citizen Sleeper a lot less daunting this time around, and felt a lot more confident in my ability to establish myself on the Eye and game its systems to pull myself out of poverty. I’m not sure that’s the right angle of attack for this game, but I kind of appreciated it.

The other side of the coin here, of course, is the availability of the three episodes making up Citizen Sleeper’s DLC sequence, which sees players navigate a spot of turmoil as a flotilla of interstellar refugees arrives at Erlin’s Eye, the station’s proprietors at Havenage unwilling to take a few thousand new souls into the already-struggling ecosystem. This trio of chapters arrives toward Citizen Sleeper’s “late game” with a simple item exchange requiring some degree of progress acting as a gate to entry, and definitely brought me back down to Earth (heh) when it came to my confidence as a veteran Sleeper.

The first episode, titled Flux, introduces players to Eshe and Peake, two new arrivals along with the refugee ships that act as a catalyst of sorts for the player, as the titular Sleeper, to understand that the plights of these people mirror much of your own. It’s an interesting shift in perspective after having worked and scraped and sacrificed everything to make a place for yourself on the Eye, only for thousands more to arrive looking to you to help them do the same. This 1-2 hour first chapter is a stressful one too, giving players a tight window of time to achieve quite a few tasks to make sneaking the refugee ships through quarantine and onto the Eye possible.

The next episode, Refuge, turns the attention to the flotilla itself and the three subgroups of people aboard its ships. Hailing from three different moons of a larger, inhabited planet, these groups have come from a three-way political tension to wind up displaced in unison. Thus, most of this episode focuses on getting to know each of the groups’ leaders and the individual needs of their crews to establish some degree of understanding. It’s a far more relaxed and text-heavy chapter, with plenty of new and well-written characters to get to know.

The final of these DLC episodes, Purge, is a special one and it’d be remiss of me to spoil just about any of it, suffice to say the tension and time critical panic of Flux returns here, and culminates in a hell of an ending, using all of the groundwork and character building established in the previous two episodes to great effect and tying up a bundle of threads from the base game in the process. I came away feeling the best I’ve felt about any of Citizen Sleeper’s prior possible resolutions, and I would absolutely urge anyone that’s played the main story portion to come back and play through all three new episodes.

Read my full review of the game’s original release below:

It was right around the point that I made the choice to go foraging for rare mushrooms over helping a stranded father and daughter get their one shot at a fresh start, that I realised Citizen Sleeper had made an arsehole out of me. I don’t know what it is about tabletop or tabletop-like games that does it, perhaps it’s the combination of high stakes and low odds that triggers a certain response, but I wind up looking out for me and myself alone. The dozens of names and faces aboard the doomed company-town-on-a-space-station-turned-intergalactic-refuge, Erlin’s Eye, became little more than stepping stones on my path to freedom but now that I’m on the outside I can’t say I care to look back in.

How did we get here, though? That’s the blank chapter in Citizen Sleeper’s slice-of-life narrative that you’ll be filling in. This bold new title from In Other Waters developer Jump Over The Age (Gareth Damien Martin) casts you as a ‘Sleeper’, a digital copy of a human consciousness in an artificial body, that has escaped the clutches of corporate ownership and found themselves aboard the Eye without so much as a plan to hang onto life let alone start a new one. Thanks to a built-in planned obsolescence, time is ticking before your physical form falls apart and so every moment and every decision counts as you explore the station, make allies and enemies and do what you must to survive, thrive or leave alive.

To say I fell in love with the world this game presents would be an understatement – I’m obsessed. Here’s a genuine sci-fi adventure game packed with intrigue, drama and challenge, but one that eschews putting a stick in your hand in favour of putting the world in your mind. Or is it your mind in the world? Citizen Sleeper tackles the heady subject matter of the coalescence of biological and synthetic life and the blurring of the lines between nature and data. Then it imagines how we might fuck even that up in the name of greed, putting your synthetic arse to work for scraps in the shell of a corporate space station like the data-digging equivalent of a hard-rock miner in a company town.

All of this is put together through the lens of a tabletop RPG, the world around you barely more than a top-down map of Erlin’s Eye adorned with icons representing places, people and tasks. The game plays out in Cycles that represent the passage of time – within a Cycle, you’re able to explore the Eye and take various actions, most of which require a roll of a dice to perform and determine their level of success. The number of dice you have at your disposal each Cycle depends on the current condition of your physical form, which degrades as your progress time and also as a result of work done. You’ll be able to take measures to ensure your energy levels stay high and your condition gets better before it gets worse, but it’s a careful balancing act between keeping yourself alive and using your time constructively.

The actions you’ll take aboard the Eye, things like undertaking work in a scrapyard, extracting data from terminals or navigating tricky social interactions, are all means to fulfil your Drives. Drives are your goals, they unlock as you meet new people and uncover new mysteries and they’re what will eventually see your story through to some kind of conclusion. Some can be treated with a certain degree of leisure, but others are at the mercy of Clocks – meters that count up as you perform certain actions or simply as Cycles pass. Between trying to achieve your Drives and manage the various Clocks around Erline’s Eye it almost feels like juggling pins and spinning plates at the same time. The juggling part is fine on its own, but those plates are a constant, looming threat to your ability to keep the pins up in the air. Also some of the plates will cause intergalactic bounty hunters to come and shoot you in the face if they stop spinning.

The result though is a game that hinges on two things – hard choices and bold risks. Not only will you need to gripe with your own time management, forethought and conscience when deciding what to focus your limited efforts on each Cycle, but even once you’ve formulated a plan there’s an element of chance that can completely undo everything. Actions that work on a dice roll can have positive, neutral or negative outcomes that are dictated by both the value of the dice you choose to play for it and your character’s own affinities. At the beginning of the game you’ll be asked to choose one of three classes with their own stats and unique buffs that can then be augmented with upgrade points earned from completing Drives.

The way that all of these different systems interweave and feed into the vast many narrative possibilities is an incredibly slick feat of design, especially once you get over the initial sense of being overwhelmed by them and start to understand how to focus on the outcomes you genuinely want to see. After that it’s just a matter of praying things work out – if you’re anything like me trying to leverage my Interface skill to score a job on a colony ship as a Junior Tech you’ll learn that part the hard way. It can all be quite stressful initially, but also just forgiving enough in the early hours that your failings feel more like new forks on your road to success than genuine disasters.

Citizen Sleeper is also a game that feels genuinely replayable. It can easily be finished in around five hours or less if you can stomach leaving friends, enemies and answers behind for a quick getaway. Or you can push yourself, play the long game, explore deeper and deeper into the Eye and seek out everything the game has to offer. Luckily, finishing the game creates a return point right beforehand so you can easily go back and forge an alternate path ahead should you want to, but it’s just as rewarding to start completely fresh and see how differently it can all go.

Life aboard Erlin’s Eye is presented with a clean and stylish aesthetic that works far harder than its combination of mostly static environments and text-based narrative would imply. For starters, the character portraits from acclaimed comic book artist Guillaume Singelin that accompany story beats are gorgeous and add incredible dimension to the game’s already-fantastic writing. When it kicks in, the game’s soundtrack from returning composer Amos Roddy swings deftly between ‘illicit underground fetish club in the year 2090’ and ‘metaphysical contemplations on a Korg MS20’ and it honestly slaps fucking ass. For a game where the most important bits are delivered mostly in text and numbers, Citizen Sleeper is an absolute vibe

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If a game offers a fishing mini-game, I tend to seek it out. Ever since Ocarina of Time introduced me to the concept of the trophy catch, games have been a convenient avenue to take part in a pastime I’ve never gravitated towards despite my late-grandad’s wishes. The exception is Dredge. It’s all fishing and dragging the waters in search of secrets that lurk in the undercurrent. And quite frankly, it’s a bloody riveting video game. 

Something that’s inevitable every calendar year is the handful of independent games that come as if from nowhere and ultimately feature heavily during end-year commendations. Celeste, Hades, Disco Elysium, and even last year’s Cult of the Lamb. All of these went on to transform the teams behind them into household names overnight.

I feel that Dredge has that special something that might see it cause ripples for the team at Black Salt Games across the pond in New Zealand.

Dredge is a pretty simple sell in terms of its darkly spun story, as you’re cast ashore by a fierce storm and come to capsize in the quaint, seaside village of Greater Marrow, the nucleus in this particular archipelago. You trade favours for a replacement vessel to get your sea legs back under you, only to discover the islands—as well as those who dwell there mostly in isolation—harbour some twisted, nasty surprises.

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One way you pick yourself up by your bootstraps is to ply your trade as a fisherman, collecting all manner of ocean life and selling it back to the town fishmonger for the right price, throughout your travels you’ll be able to dredge the sea floor for both trinkets and salvageable materials that, in turn, can be used to refine your boat like the Ship of Theseus—until its every part, from the lantern to trawl net, is better than before. There are several little systems at play that all interlink to make Dredge a surprisingly complete, and fun, fishing game. 

Rather than struggling against a tense line by mashing buttons, fishing in Dredge is a mostly peaceful test of timing. Depending on the magnitude of the catch, you’ll either deal with up to a couple of spinning rings with broken paths that you’ll hop between or a singular ring peppered with prompts to speed up the angling. Time is of the essence after all, as the clock ticks over quicker when you’re luring a shoal and you don’t want to get caught out at night—at least at first. 

Another of the game’s mild challenges come with its Resident Evil-like inventory management. Everything consumes space, from your boat’s components—although they become more compact the more you spend on refinements—to the fish you haul in. It’s a game within a game as each catch has a peculiar shape, it almost becomes a game of Tetris trying to wedge that last cod onboard. 

Whether it’s recovering mysterious artefacts for an enigmatic “collector” or assembling a mortar to help a marooned pilot, you’re given a lot of varied objectives to keep you occupied throughout the game’s ten hour story. Dredge’s showpiece, however, is absolutely the fishing. Mastering the day and night conditions and acquiring the perfect equipment depending on where you’re dropping a line are two key pieces of the puzzle when it comes to filling out your journal like it’s a National Geographic guide for the cruellest of seas. 

I’m delighted at just how much Dredge feels like a Pokémon game at times, and how much joy I felt trying to catch them all.

Aside from the regular cod, mackerel, eels, and sharks, nightfall brings a particularly macabre twist as aberrations of these fish are pulled up from the briny depths. I kind of see this as the Dredge equivalent of shiny Pokémon, even if they’re eye-catching in a different way. Slick with grime rather than a glittering sheen, the distorted monstrosities are the prize catches that’ll net you both renown and a handsome payday.

Nighttime fishing is a perilous endeavour however, as the untameable beasts of the deep tend to wreak havoc if you stay out after sundown. This is wonderfully juxtaposed by how peaceful fishing can be under the safeguard of the sun’s rays, although the tension and danger is ultimately undercut by the game’s end as you’re granted protection spells from the aforementioned “collector” that’ll let you temporarily ward off any danger, overload the boat’s engines with a burst of speed, or even simply instantly transmit yourself back to the safety of his manor-side dock.

In certain areas of the archipelago, these spells are a must. Frustratingly, and perhaps it’s an effort to not directly gate progress, if you find yourself in the Twisted Strand early on, you’ll quickly find it was a journey wasted—and it is a good day’s trip with an undercooked vessel. It’s commendable that the entire map is open from the jump, but discovering through sheer trial and error that the road through lies elsewhere can be a drag.

Dredge’s presentation is absolutely lovely, from its simple and readable UI to the game’s positively eldritch art direction that truly encapsulates the sinister scariness of the unknown that comes with a vast, open ocean. While it is a strong direction, certain things are clearly hampered by a shoestring budget—although none ultimately hamper the fun.

Character’s avatars are voiceless drawn stills and the comical animation of the truck-sized angler fish that can wreck your boat undercuts the terror to a degree, but it matters not when you’re teetering on sanity’s edge after a dangerous, sleepless night at sea and your mind plays spectacular tricks on you. Beautiful waves of light dance atop the still water, stunningly destructive whirlwinds blow through, and woes of fog cover cause jagged rocks to appear out of nowhere.

Dredge is a fresh take on the collect ‘em all trope and I particularly adore its eldritch dressing. I’m one who’s particularly petrified of the unknown, with the ocean and outer space being specific triggers of this in different ways. While not as infinitely vast as space, a fine case for the crushing scariness of the ocean is made by Dredge and you’ll long for the warm-glowing lantern, dangling like a beacon for safety on the dock in the distance.

Dredge will be a contender this year. And that’s not limited to the indie scene either, as I expect it’ll make waves and be Game of the Year bait in its own right.

Dredge is out on March 30th for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Switch and PC.

The post Dredge Review – A Trophy Catch appeared first on Press Start.

Last year’s complete revamp of the WWE 2K series was a much-needed breath of fresh air, receiving a proper rebuild from top to bottom. In WWE 2K23, Visual Concepts has smartly tinkered with what made 2K22 so good, improving the game in key areas where it needed small but necessary improvements. Because of this, 2K23 is more about slight reinvention than it is complete revolution. That’s not a bad thing, though, as WWE 2K23 is more of what made last year’s game so damn good, and then some. 

Those who have played 2K22 will feel right at home when they fire up this year’s entry. Tweaks and refinements have been made to general gameplay – such as using your momentum meter for signatures and other ring antics, like possum pins and payback moves – alongside the addition of the excellent WarGames match type.

WarGames pits two teams of three or four against one another in two rings side by side. As expected, this immediately transcends into pure chaos, but the moment-to-moment action is stupidly enjoyable. Memorable moments arrive in spades thanks to the sheer amount of action going at one time, which is further made apparent when you take the action online and against friends (or rivals). While some connection issues hampered the fun online, it’s still silly, hilarious fun that is a welcome addition to the plethora of content already available in 2K23. 

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Aside from the sheer chaos of WarGames, the mode works because 2K23 controls excellently and looks great. Whether you’re a newbie, haven’t played a WWE game in a while or are a returning veteran of the series, the game caters for you and your skill level. And I can confidently say I’ve had more fun with this year’s entry than I have with any other wrestling game in over a decade. Whether it was performing something ludicrous off the stage ramp or hitting a perfect set of finishers to end a tough match, there was always something that captured my attention and made me smile. This also translated to the myriad of silly glitches I encountered throughout my time with the game, which were never too game-breaking to completely kill my enjoyment but certainly reared their head a little too much for my liking.

John Cena is the focus of this year’s Showcase mode, and I enjoyed my time with it. I particularly enjoyed the focus on Cena’s biggest losses rather than his victories, from his debut against Kurt Angle to getting properly dismantled by the Undertaker at Wrestlemania 34. Cena’s commentary provides some fascinating insight into his preparation behind these key matches, though there’s just not enough of it. This, combined with a lot of dead air during each match (thanks to the fact there’s no commentary, which is substituted for some truly awful b-tier rock music), makes for a fairly subpar experience on the presentation side of Showcase.

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That said, by taking control of Cena’s opponents throughout the years – following objectives and watching footage spliced in with gameplay as the match plays out – you’re never really doing the same thing twice, which was an annoyance of mine from last year’s Showcase mode. A lot of the matches have different opponents, meaning you’re rarely playing as a superstar more than once. This adds a decent amount of variety to the mode and kept me interested throughout, and while it was short (at around 2-3 hours) it was a nice trip down memory lane. 

If you’re sick of beating up John Cena, MyRise offers two stories to play through in 2K23 with a created superstar. Both are generally pretty enjoyable to venture through, giving you a handful of choices to make that slightly alter the story and encourage some replayability, while doling out some of the most cringe-worthy dialogue you’ll hear in a game this year. It’s not all that bad, but there was a certain point during The Lock’s story where I really began to hate my own character for being such a whiny brat. That said, I did enjoy the superstar cameos and variety of matches thrown my way during each story. 

A major gripe I had with MyRise were the loading screens, however. Loading screens were so consistent that I was constantly pulled out of any bit of immersion I’d had with the story. 2K23 is plagued with loading screens in general, but the issue really comes to a head when playing MyRise thanks to the consistency of them – whether you’re going between cutscenes or wanting to change your character’s entrance, moveset or look. They’re everywhere, and it was incredibly bothersome.

MyGM, 2K22’s flagship mode that puts you in the role of a GM competing with the other WWE brands, returns this year with some well-needed tweaks. You can now compete over the course of multiple seasons against up to three other players (whether that’s via local play or against AI), giving the mode some much needed longevity. It’s an absolute blast to play, too, though I do wish I was able to play against mates online in a sort of Mario Party-style format, as it seems almost geared for that. 

Even so, MyGM has been one of my favourite modes to jump into across both 2K22 and 2K23, and the addition of Hall of Fame and seasonal challenges, new match types and new GMs to pick from has made the mode a heck of a lot better. It’s a massive improvement over last year.

WWE 2K23’s Universe mode is the best it’s been in many years, too, giving players an unparalleled level of freedom to customise the WWE universe to their heart’s content. Whether you want to create dream rivalries and scenarios or bring in created wrestlers, shows, arenas or championships to spice things up, it’s entirely up to you. Both the manager and superstar modes in Universe mode impressed me with the amount of customisability on offer – there’s just so much to do and involve yourself in.

On the topic of customisability, the creation suite on offer in WWE 2K23 is unlike anything I’ve ever seen in a sports game. Returning customisation options, like the ability to create shows, arenas, championships and the like are great, however the welcome return of advanced entrance customisation options gives players an unparalleled level of freedom. There’s truly so much room for experimentation here that I felt constantly overwhelmed with the options at hand. Community creations have already blown my mind during release week, whether they’re bringing old wrestlers back into the game or creating brand new ones, and that’s a testament to the options available.

The most disappointing part of 2K23 continues to be its MyFACTION mode, which sees little improvement this year. Much like last year, the mode did very little to entice me to play when every other mode was more enjoyable, rewarding and fun to work through. The rewards in MyFACTION are relatively meagre and it can feel like a slog at the best of times, making for the weakest mode of the lot by a decent margin.

Even with some minor disappointments and some of the most frustrating load times in a current-gen game I’ve experienced, I’ve had an absolute blast with WWE 2K23. It continues Visual Concepts’ upwards trajectory of the series which kicked off with WWE 2K22, and improves on the formula in small but significant ways. The addition of WarGames, a great new Showcase, an awesome roster and welcome tinkering of MyGM make for a game that wrestling fans should get plenty out of. And that’s not even mentioning the creation suite, which I have no doubt will continue to boggle my mind throughout the year. Wrestling fans can rejoice – WWE 2K23 is a triumph.

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One of the greatest appeals of a good indie video game, to me, is knowing I’m playing something created with passion. The gulf in production values between a blockbuster release and a passion project from a small studio might be obvious at times, but the same can be said of the creativity and ingenuity between them.

Tchia is a fantastic example of this, as both a game that often feels compromised by its ambitions but never once seems burdened with them. It’s relentlessly charming and packed with the kinds of ideas that the churning, AAA machine wouldn’t touch with a million-dollar budget. It’s also intensely cultural, coming from Awaceb in New Caledonia (this is only their second game!) and steeped in local history and talent. It’s the kind of game where a handful of flaws is far from cause to look past it – it’s still an unforgettable and highly recommended experience.

Cast as the game’s titular heroine, Tchia introduces players to a fictional archipelago based loosely on New Caledonia, and one ruled with an iron first by an evil god named Meavora and his army of magical fabric warriors. After Meavora’s followers kidnap Tchia’s father and leave her stranded on her tiny island home, she decides to set out to the greater islands and formulate a plan to take him down and rescue his prisoners. Without giving anything away, while the game tells a fairly straightforward tale, there are actually some rather powerful moments told with a lot of nuance and from some refreshingly unique perspectives.

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Although there are some jarringly dark moments peppered throughout (fair warning if violence towards animals and infants could alarm you – there’s a bit of that here, though it’s all rather “cartoony” and there’s a Family Filter option), Tchia is also packed with charm with plenty of gorgeous and well-composed cutscenes with some genuinely great comedic timing at moments. Its narrative beats are constructed with the kind of care and production I’d expect from a CG-animated series on a major network. It’s also all been recorded in traditional languages by local talent, which is fantastic. Tchia is a game that doesn’t simply use culture as set dressing, it’s embedded in everything from the stories it tells and the way it tells them, to how it plays and what it wants players to take away from it.

As far as playing goes, what’s here is a freeform adventure in a sizeable open world made up of large and small islands with plenty of characters to meet, secrets to find and challenges to surmount. You’ll be guided throughout by a series of overarching quests, most of which task Tchia with going to specific places or collecting particular items, but you’ll more often than not find yourself simply exploring of your own accord, drawn to any number of points of interest that catch your eye.

Luckily, the act of getting around is one of the game’s greatest joys thanks to its unique mechanics. While you can walk, sail and use limited fast travel, by far the best way to traverse the game’s varied environments is to use Tchia’s power of Soul Jumping. Tchia can use her power to possess any animal in the game, as well as a huge number of inanimate objects, and take control of them. Some will have their own abilities used to solve light puzzles, like a crab’s pincers to cut through ropes or a lantern’s explosive heat to set things ablaze, but more often than not you’ll Soul Jump into a nearby bird to quickly fly across the islands or get real tricky and start flinging yourself through the air as an errant coconut.

Soul Jumping adds a ton to the experience of solving otherwise basic puzzles too, not least because the game has an admirable disregard for logic. Need to dig up a nearby treasure chest? Jump into a dog and get digging. No dogs around? Go to the next village over, find one, stuff it in your backpack next to the four bunches of bananas, dodgy radioactive canister and multiple live birds and return to the dig site with it. A prevailing design ethos of Tchia’s is “why not?” and I’m absolutely here for it.

That ideal goes across the board, too. Awaceb’s approach to gameplay systems in Tchia is “who cares about gameplay systems?” and instead the studio seems to have just created whatever gameplay mechanics it wanted to at any given moment. It gives the game a lovingly handcrafted quality and invites the player to be playful and expect the unexpected. One moment you’ll be slingshotting off a treetop to then Soul Jump mid-air into a soaring bird, fly across a city and jump back out to perform a 720 triple frontflip into the ocean, the next you’re playing ukulele alongside a tribe of magical, wooden people in a secret underground shrine. It’s not quite the emergent sandbox that was Breath of the Wild, but it has a similar playfulness – more like a toy box, I suppose.

Tchia also comes equipped with some great tools, like a ukulele that winds up imbued with some magical musical powers that allow her to learn simple tunes that have various effects like changing the time of day, summoning creatures or items or giving her temporary unlimited breath underwater. The ukulele is a constant, there are actually quite a number of musical play-alongs embedded in the story with songs recorded with Kanak choirs and musicians which are all beautiful, as is a small raft for sailing the open ocean, both of which can be customised quite a bit along with Tchia’s outfit as you find and unlock new cosmetic bits and pieces.

I’m especially fond of the tactility of everything in the game. Everything feels hands-on and, more often than not, if there’s something to be done you’ll be doing it in real-time. Even Tchia’s version of a “Photo Mode” has her using a camera with manual controls (including a tripod for timed shots) and then popping over to the nearest photo kit to develop all her film before it gets added to the in-game gallery.

Not all of Awaceb’s decisions pan out, though. For every stroke of genius like the in-game map that doesn’t actively show you Tchia’s location, instead requiring some proper orienteering and environmental context, there’s something equally baffling like a lengthy, late chapter consisting of mechanically monotonous and aesthetically dull “combat” sequences in some factory locations that has none of the charm of the rest of the game. Likewise, while the game’s simple visuals can often make for some stunning landscapes thanks to Unreal Engine 4-powered effects and massive draw distances, it rarely holds up to close scrutiny – especially in built-up areas where buildings and structures just look flat and unfinished.

The game feels woefully unpolished at times too, full of performance issues There are some egregious bugs as well, even after a few updates on PS5, but despite often finding myself stuck in some environmental geometry or unable to progress a quest, Tchia includes at least one immensely thoughtful quality-of-life feature in the ability to just skip entire gameplay segments from the pause screen. Not feeling a particular mini-game? Frustrated and running around trying to fetch a multitude of items for a quest? Skip it. Skip a quest, skip a chapter, skip the whole game if that’s something you wanted to do for whatever reason. I adore that it’s an option – and one that seems to work without a hitch which I’m quite impressed by.

In the first hour or so of playing Tchia, I honestly had no idea what to make of it. The care, and reverence for culture and local talent were clear, but the execution wasn’t. Another eight or so hours later, as I rolled the credits (and witnessed the game’s stellar ending), I realised I didn’t care about the latter when the former – in addition to the frequently creative and charming gameplay design on offer – was so utterly compelling. Tchia is messy, and sometimes weird, but usually in all the best ways. It’s rare a game feels this refreshing and earnest without any level of pretension or restraint, and it’s all the better for it.

The post Tchia Review – A Charming And Earnest Adventure appeared first on Press Start.

I was sceptical from the beginning as to whether Capcom needed to remake Resident Evil 4. While it wasn’t my favourite in the series (a controversial opinion, perhaps), I could still appreciate its influence on the industry and why people loved it. Given its impact, I also felt like it still played fine enough. But it turns out I was wrong. Because while I was sceptical as ever, Capcom has put an earnest effort into ensuring that Resident Evil 4 not only reimagines the original experience. It absolutely eclipses it in practically every way.

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Resident Evil 4 follows the plot of the original game closely. You play Leon S Kennedy, who has since begun working for the US Government following his escapades in Resident Evil 2. He’s sent to a mountainous region in Spain to rescue Ashley Graham, the president’s daughter, from a strange cult living in the area with strange proclivities. He arrives, the villagers attack, and chaos ensues. It’s not your typical Resident Evil story, but it’s simple enough to follow regardless of whether you’re new to the series or a returning fan. It’s incredibly self-contained.

Resident Evil 4 does such a great job of recontextualising the events of the original game that I’m almost tempted to say it surpasses it. Where the original game was action heavy, the remake reimagines the whole adventure with a more horror-tinged atmosphere and aesthetic. It’s largely successful in doing so – there are some creepy moments throughout – though arguably nothing that reaches the creepier heights previously sought by the first half of 7 or Village’s now-infamous House Beneviento and its DLC.

But where the original game was lauded for its cheesy B-movie vibe and hammy one-liners, Capcom has seemingly done the impossible. It’s managed to translate the original game into the nigh photorealistic style of its current slew of Resident Evil games while keeping the cheese intact. While the one-liners and quips that Leon or his many enemies spout from moment to moment are different, they all still fit within the original game’s tone. It’s a truly masterful execution of what felt like an ambitious task.

And that’s really the running theme when talking about Resident Evil 4. It’s a remake that remarkably respects the game that came before it. It builds on the already strong foundation that the original game laid, updating it to feel like a classic Resident Evil game and a modern one. So much of the storytelling is elevated by the addition of numerous files detailing the backstory of the village and the cult. While its structure is the same – it cuts you off of each location after you finish it – it feels like three mini Resident Evil games packed into one, with each major area explorable more than before.

But it doesn’t stop there. The combat has been similarly revamped into something I can only describe as series-best. Everything in the original is here still– roundhouse kicks, goofy suplexes and a wild variety of weaponry. But Resident Evil 4 introduces a few simple mechanics that, once again, elevate the experience. Leon can now crouch – which sounds ridiculous to celebrate – but it opens up many evasion opportunities not previously available in the original. In addition to this is the parrying system, which uses up knife durability to prevent receiving damage. Your knife is repairable, and you can have many, so it’s not quite as annoying as expected.

And while the combat is excellent, the pacing is similarly immaculate. As I mentioned previously, everything you enjoyed about Resident Evil 4 is here in some form in the remake. There are key moments that you’ll remember, but they’ve either been condensed or changed entirely to flow better and offer a better experience that makes sense. Areas that previously served as weird, out-of-place in-between spaces have been reincorporated into a critical path that, once again, improves the game’s pacing. Resident Evil 4 is often said to be masterfully paced, but that remake only furthers that fact.

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Even the encounters you have with most enemies have been adjusted or reimagined to be something else, and it’s often for the better. Some of the boss battles in particular have been reworked in a way that they’re entirely something different (and better). Others have most certainly played it safe, but given how strong these battles were in the first place, it is encouraging to see them marginally improved rather than completely changed for the sake of changing it. The team has done a great job of crafting a delicate balance between old and new here, which is more than encouraging.

It’s not all retreads, though, as some things are brand new. It would be remiss to spoil just how much the main story deviates from the original in structure and flow, so I won’t. But this remake plays with your expectations if you’re a returning player, playfully winking at those who think they know the original game inside-out. It’s a kind of playfulness and willingness to have fun with fans’ expectations that I haven’t felt since 2002’s remake of the original game and one that no remake since has managed to capture.

The new optional content is a nice touch that isn’t excessive or detrimental to the game pacing. From time to time, the merchant will issue requests to the player to do something. These quests are often simple; find an item somewhere or kill a more powerful variant of an enemy you’ve already encountered. But they encourage backtracking and exploration of the world. Completing them gives you spinels, which can be traded with the merchant for goodies. There are around thirty or so of the quests to finish, but they’re all introduced at an appropriate enough rate that they never get in the way of the main game.

Even with the addition of the side quests, Resident Evil 4 still manages to clock in around the same time as the original game, though it’ll still take most players more time than the original. My first run through the game on Hardcore mode clocked in at around 26 hours. It’s undoubtedly the most substantial of the Resident Evil games Capcom has done since transitioning to RE Engine, and it’s a good type of substantial too. The game is constantly throwing a wealth of old and new enemies at you and leveraging its robust combat systems and high enemy variety to offer an evergreen experience.

Die-hard fans will notice a few omissions, however. A single boss from the original game is missing, but much like Resident Evil 2 before, I only yearned for these encounters to be included once I really thought about it. Resident Evil 4 is complete. It’s not missing aspects to the same extent as Resident Evil 3 was, and in fact, has had things added. Of course, The Mercenaries is sorely missed but it is coming as a free update later on down the track. Ada’s campaign, Separate Ways, is also missing. Still, given the lower quality of that campaign I wouldn’t be surprised to see Capcom reworking it to be something much more substantial and enjoyable down the line as downloadable content.

But what makes Resident Evil 4 such a compelling upgrade is the attention to detail and the sheer quality of its presentation. I’ve said it before, and I’ll repeat it – this is easily Capcom’s best-looking game since they switched to RE Engine. The Village, the Castle and the Island are all brought to life in ways that respect the original games while tinkering with them to be more cohesive. A cabin that was previously a single room has been expanded to multiple rooms with all kinds of macabre charms, alluding to the cultic presence scattered throughout. It really feels like the developers used the environment to not only update the look of the world but tell a deeper story within it. It’s a fantastic upgrade.

The same can be said for the sound design too. Floorboards creak. Caves drip. Mad rabid cultists breathe feverishly and heavily. It all comes together to give the world a great sense of atmosphere. The music has similarly been revamped and incorporates a lot of choral chanting to allude to the cult’s presence in the region. It’s a step up in practically every way – and while I was used to hearing certain tracks at specific points of the story in the original – these new tracks turn every boss encounter into a loud, confident bombastic set piece.

The post Resident Evil 4 Review – A Triumphant Reimagining appeared first on Press Start.

If you’d asked me how I felt about Destiny’s latest expansion, Lightfall, prior to release, I probably would’ve insinuated it was a homerun waiting to happen. It felt like the writing was on the wall – high stakes, a swanky new subclass in Strand, a new city to explore, and so much more. It’s these hopes and expectations that set a bar for Lightfall that it simply couldn’t meet.

Does that mean Lightfall is a bad expansion? No, I don’t think so, at least. Where Lightfall crashes and burns with its character writing and narrative, it excels in its new gameplay additions and changes. Where difficulty has been adjusted to be more in-line with the ever-looming threat of power creep, Neomuna can feel disparate and empty. For every step in the right direction, there’s also a step backwards that feels more tangible than ever given The Witch Queen’s myriad successes.

If you equivalize Destiny’s decade spanning saga to that of the MCU, Lightfall is essentially the Infinity War of this narrative. The threat we’ve all been waiting for is here – the Witness, alongside a transformed Calus as its newest disciple. After attacking Earth and taking the Traveler captive, the Witness sends Calus to Neptune in search of a mysterious paracausal object known as the Veil.

Lightfall’s opening is firing on all cylinders, properly establishing the threat of the Witness and a sense of urgency about the whole campaign as our guardians hitch a ride to the hidden city of Neomuna. There’s a sense of rivalry between ourselves and Calus as years of conflict have built up to this moment. It’s unfortunate then, that after the first two missions, the campaign comes to a screeching halt on all fronts.

There’s a few key offenders, the most glaring of which is the general lack of explanation and characterization. Despite it being mentioned multiple times over the years in the lore, the Veil is never fully explained or explored here in Lightfall. Jargon and technical terms are thrown around in similar fashion to that of Destiny’s original campaign – only there’s no external lore to properly support it. Not only does Lightfall leave you with more questions than it does answers, it does so in an unsatisfying manner.

It’s clear that Lightfall’s seasons are going to delve into these subject matters deeper. I’m sure we’ll eventually learn what the Veil actually is, what the Witness wants with it, what the Radial Mast was meant to do, and more. That doesn’t change the fact that it’s hard not to feel short-changed when we’re essentially back where we started before the expansion dropped. As we move into the final year of this saga, it’s a time to provide answers, not shroud players in more mystery.

The Cloud Striders in concept are a great idea – defenders of a city separated from Guardians and the Traveler’s protection. Rohan in particular is quite engaging as he nears the end of his tenure as Cloud Strider and mentor to Nimbus. There’s a lot of parallels to be drawn between him and Osiris, and there was great opportunity for real growth between them. Unfortunately, Rohan just doesn’t get enough screentime to become the fan favourite character he had the potential for.

Nimbus is similarly misspent, largely in the way that their dialogue betrays the tone and atmosphere Lightfall is trying to establish. They’re constantly quipping, even after traumatic events, often resulting in cringe inducing moments. A lot of their writing does fare better in the post-campaign quests, but it feels like too little too late for it to have any long-term impact on players.

Arguably the biggest problem with the Cloud Striders, is that time spent with them is time that could’ve been spent with established characters. Osiris and Caiatl, who should’ve been pivotal to the plot of Lightfall, have very little to do, filling minor roles at best. Caiatl feels especially wasted given the conflict with her father should’ve taken centre stage here. Calus also feels unexplored given how often he’s served as our adversary over the years. One character that undeniably delivers, though, is the Witness, who commands every single scene they’re in. It’s in brief and fleeting moments that we see them, but it’s clear Bungie has a handle on this character and its otherworldly nature.

One of the most lauded inclusions in The Witch Queen was a new approach to campaign design and difficulty. Lightfall continues the trend with a new Legendary campaign, bringing eight tightly-paced missions to surmount on Neomuna. I don’t think the quality is quite at the same level as The Witch Queen’s campaign, but still offers an enjoyable romp from start to finish. It feels more coherent with the 80’s action movie inspiration Bungie was going for. Tormentors also accomplish what they set out to do remarkably well, serving as a terrifying yet engaging enemy unit that feels distinct from any other.

A large part of this success is thanks to Strand, our second Darkness-based subclass. Learnt over the course of the campaign, Strand is all about tapping into an ethereal weave that connects everything. This core concept gives way to some truly whacky ideas like a grapple hook, suspending enemies with threads, and unleashing sentient Strand constructs called Threadlings. Each Strand subclass feels incredibly distinct and immediately powerful with proper buildcrafting. You can really get into a flow with high actions per minute and flexible gameplay loops with each ability at your disposal.

From the mobile and powerful Hunter Threadrunner to the minion master Warlock Broodweaver, Strand has much to offer in countless facets of Destiny 2. It also helps that there’s a decent selection of Strand weapons to pair with these subclasses, offering new Strand-based perks and abilities that really freshen up the sandbox. The grapple is a particular standout, offering unparalleled movement and interactions that weren’t possible before. It feels truly distinct in the broader scope of Destiny’s subclasses, which isn’t such an easy feat nowadays given the complexity of the pre-existing four.

Destiny has often struggled with recent destinations being empty and lacking in things to do. They’re visually stunning and offer some degree of exploration, but don’t have the same enemy density as other aspects of the game. Neomuna is an improvement in this regard but there’s still work to do be done. General exploration can often feel quite barren and lifeless, with all of Neomuna’s citizens residing in a state of digital consciousness. It means you’ll only ever come across enemies, digital constructs, and other Guardians.

Terminal Overload and the Vex Incursion Zone do quite a bit to alleviate how empty it can feel at times, providing activities with loads of enemy density and worthwhile rewards. The city itself is gorgeous, offering neon-soaked skylines and high-rise buildings that feel distinct in Destiny’s slew of locations. It’s a shame it isn’t more vertically inclined given Strand’s inclusion, but swinging around the city is still a blast nonetheless.

There are few things that players look forward to more in new expansions than the introduction of a brand-new raid. Lightfall’s comes in the form of Root of Nightmares, set in a pyramid ship belonging to the Witness, only terraformed by the Traveler. It’s a truly gorgeous raid, with some of the best visuals we’ve seen in a raid to date – which is no small feat.

Unfortunately, I don’t think Root of Nightmares sticks the landing in terms of gameplay and design. It’s a combat focused raid, which there’s nothing wrong with, but it comes at the cost of mechanics. While there’s something to be said for simpler raids, I’d argue that RoN is overly straightforward. Three of the four encounters feel as if they could be Dungeon encounters, requiring little to no communication and collaboration between players. There’s nothing wrong with a short and sweet raid ala Wrath of the Machine, but the limited mechanical complexity means a lot of time is spent dealing with combatants as opposed to engaging with mechanics and puzzles. Where Vow of Disciple maybe leaned a little too hard into mechanical depth, Root of Nightmares is skewed too far in the other direction.

While the seasons that launch alongside major expansions are typically lighter in content, they’re also some of the most consistent. It’s still early days for Season of Defiance, but what’s been released so far has been quite enjoyable. It offers a pretty standard Battlegrounds activity that’s made more engaging through difficulty and high enemy density. The new exotic mission, Avalon, is also a hit for many of the same reasons. The writing here is also leagues above that of the main narrative, and I look forward to tuning in every week to see how the battle on Earth unfolds now that Neptune is (relatively) safe, even if the seasonal model is feeling tired.

Power creep is a concept that frequently rears its head in live-service games, and Destiny 2 is no stranger to it. Our power has grown exponentially over the last few years, and Bungie have decided to reel it in a bit by raising the game’s overall difficulty floor. The changes mostly land, making general playlist content more engaging than usual, incentivizing players to make use of buildcrafting and loadouts.

Not all of it works, though. There’re a few kinks to be ironed out within certain difficulty tiers, Nightfalls, and even Root of Nightmares. A flat increase in difficulty doesn’t work for all aspects of the game, though I suspect it’ll take some more extensive playtesting and feedback to get these activities to where they need to be. As a veteran player, I appreciate the overall increase in challenge, but can also see how it’s alienated some of the casual player-base, and can feel inconsistent.

You could also argue that Lightfall’s best inclusions come in the form of its quality-of-life changes, which are plentiful and vastly improve the overall experience. The mod system has been streamlined to demystify buildcrafting, with many mods being rolled into the new Armor Charge system. While I was initially hesitant at how simplified it seemed to be, I’ve come around to the system quite a bit. Buildcrafting is much less convoluted and you spend less time in menus as a result, while also cutting down on the overall messiness of the inventory. Loadouts and the new mod screen similarly streamline the process of managing armour and mods, making for a much more seamless experience overall.

Another long-standing point of pain, Champions, have also been addressed via using built-in subclass verbs and abilities to stun them. This seemingly insignificant change allows for much more freedom in terms of loadout and weapon choice, and adds a much needed fluidity to the combat loop when dealing with Champions. Artifact Mods have also been reworked to always be active, with the caveat of only being able to unlock 12. You’re free to reset the Artifact whenever you’d like, but its once again another example of cutting down on monotony while still placing buildcrafting at the forefront of Destiny 2’s RPG systems.

Destiny has long had an issue of bringing new and returning players into the fold. Its lack of tutorials and seemingly convoluted systems were alienating to those looking to get into the game. Bungie have made many attempts to address this issue, the latest of which comes in the new Guardian Ranks system. Guardian Ranks acts as an account rank that is meant to display how experienced a Guardian is, while also pointing new players in the direction of what to do next. While I can’t speak for the new player experience (which still doesn’t seem all too great), Guardian Ranks are a nice way to signify a player’s experience with the game, though it has some problems.

Because Guardian Rank unlocks are retroactive, its as if every single player is rank six – the highest you can be when a season begins. This already poses some issues, as someone with 3000 hours versus someone with a few hundred will start a season with the same rank. Unlocking Advanced Ranks allows you to grow further, but they reset at the start of every season, bringing everyone back down to six.

The biggest problem with this is that the system doesn’t really function as intended, and going to all the effort to earn Advanced Ranks feels wrong knowing it’s going to reset. The decision to tie achieving a certain Commendation Score to Guardian Ranks is also a baffling decision, completely undermining their purpose as people hand them out left, right, and centre to bolster their own scores.

If there’s one thing you can always count on with Destiny, it’s that the art team is going to deliver – and deliver they did. Neomuna is positively brimming with detail and architecture that feels almost alien and out of place – the way that a hidden city should be. Root of Nightmares is a visual feast as previously mentioned, and the few forays we’ve had into the Vex Network have me yearning for more. The visual effects of Strand also really pop with neon green threads exploding in every direction as you unravel your foes.

In saying this, Lightfall does continue the trend of buggy expansion launches. While the actual day one experience was remarkably smooth, numerous issues have reared their heads since launch, some of which have yet to be fixed. Aside from the usual weapon and armour bugs that have them doing ludicrous amounts of damage, there’s also an issue with character and weapon models turning invisible during long play sessions, which is seemingly linked to the commendations system. There’s also countless enemy attacks and environmental hazards tied to framerate, which actively punishes players for playing at higher frames. I think its fair to expect bugs on launch, but it’s disappointing that these nagging issues have yet to be fixed.

Expressing my opinion on Lightfall has been tricky. I don’t think this expansion is nearly as bad as some are making it out to be, there’s plenty of good on offer here. Strand, loadouts, mod changes, the post campaign activities, and more are reason enough to argue that Destiny 2 is the best it’s ever been from a gameplay standpoint. Narratively, though, Lightfall objectively fumbles what should have been a homerun at a time where Bungie really can’t afford to do so.

I sincerely hope that the stuff that’s come after the campaign is a signifier of what’s we can expect with future seasons as we build up towards The Final Shape. Despite the disappointing narrative, I’ll keep coming back to Destiny 2 because the other inclusions are just that good, and if you can move past the shortcomings, you might just have a similar experience.

The post Destiny 2: Lightfall Review – Underwhelming Finality appeared first on Press Start.

Having not indulged in the first Figment game, to which this is a sequel, Creed Valley feels very much like another relapse within a disturbed mind. It tells its own contained story, complete with teaching moments. It does feel more like Dreamworks than Disney in its ability to deliver characters and dialogue to help stitch the gorgeous, hand painted world together, but it’s ultimately tough to fault this little indie that could.

You play as an elvish lad named Dusty, the embodiment of courage itself within the mind palace that Figment’s story takes place in. With Piper, his avian aid, he’s tasked with achieving peace inside of a headspace still plagued by nightmares. A day inside the mind is realised creatively, not only do you rhythmically dispatch nightmares but you wade between open-minded and closed-mindedness to converse with anthropomorphic, and quite frankly shaggy to an adorable degree, Opinions—which range from some profoundly important things like self-help to inane topics such as how to leave the toilet seat. 

Which is down, by the way.

There’s a meta story that exists beyond Dusty’s perception, as the nightmares he wrestles with serve as manifestations of external stresses that concern our hero’s owner. It’s not exactly Inside Out in terms of delivery, and it’s kind of just there—it’s doled out in between major story beats and in conjunction with the game’s sole collectible. 

Figment plays kind of like a game jam version of Bastion had it been mashed together with the concepts behind Psychonauts. It’s ultimately an isometric action game that incorporates environmental problem-solving, a small amount of detective work, and some humour to break up the action. 

That’s where the game does experience a few hang-ups. While it’s apt for what it is, Figment’s combat is rather one note. Where a game like Bastion has many weapons on top of many systems to give the gameplay a bit of heft, Figment arms you with a lone wooden sword that can attack lightly, slightly less lightly following a roll, or deflect comically drawn rockets that fire from the periphery of the mind’s defences.

It is simple, which will suit its intended audience, which I’m guessing is younger teens. But if you’re hoping for a rollicking action game with meat on the bone, this one is certainly style being favoured over substance. 

Figment’s marketing certainly promised a musical adventure and I feel like the game does ace this in a few key areas. Music is simply present everywhere in different forms, whether it’s a bridge made of piano ivories or boss fights dressed up as full blown musical numbers. Figment is certainly a theatrical game, and I couldn’t wipe the grin off of my face during any of the handful of original compositions. 

As far as ads go, the enemy variety is rather sparse too. Reflecting now, I can recall perhaps three or four enemies that’ll aim to cause you grief. While this’d spell trouble in a twelve hour game, Figment’s brevity serves it well here, ensuring that neither its limited mechanics and cast of villains overstay their welcome. If nothing else, Figment delivers a brief adventure fitting of its budget price.

The game’s art direction is one of its strongest points, without doubt. While mindset, which as I established there’s two to hop between, can guarantee varying moods, there’s a lovely assortment of colours this game leans on to deliver its oil paint on canvas aesthetic. I actually adored the imperfections too, especially the unevenly dried globs of paint. I feel like it has an almost rushed look that, in tandem with a particular scenic vista near the endgame, speaks to the inability of Dusty’s surrogate to slow down enough to smell the roses and ultimately embrace joy. 

I encountered only one game-halting bug in my handful of hours, but fortunately due to the rather short chapters, I was simply able to restart and quickly catch up. The game performed well otherwise, save for a few moments of slow down when one of the bigger skirmishes took place.

Figment 2: Creed Valley is a quaint game that’ll warm a lot of hearts. There’s nothing it does particularly wrong, in fact it’s quite capable in all facets of what a game can be. It’s simply a case of where less isn’t more, it’s just less. The combat is fun, but one-note and there aren’t enough enemy types to warrant strategic thought. Fortunately, the moxie of Dusty, the gleeful exuberance of the world itself, and the big showman-like show tunes from the roided-out baddies would make our Hugh blush.

It’s a fun romp, you’ve just gotta put your mind to it.

The post Figment 2: Creed Valley Review – In One Ear And Out The Other appeared first on Press Start.

It doesn’t happen often, and I’m not ashamed to admit when it does, but Before Your Eyes had me doing a cheeky little cry by the time its credits rolled around. Which is a weird phenomenon when you’re strapped into a VR headset, but to the PlayStation VR2’s credit it does have decent drainage for human tears, so that’s something. After just under two hours experiencing the abridged version of a life in its entirety, controlled entirely with my eyes, I remain convinced that the medium of VR still has an incredible amount of untapped potential when it comes to storytelling.

Before Your Eyes, without saying too much and spoiling what is a heck of an emotional ride, sees players take on the role of Benjamin Brynn, who is dead. As you’re ferried toward an ominous-looking tower to be judged by the “Gatekeeper,” steered there by a mysterious wolf-like fella, you learn that your ultimate fate will be decided by the story of your life before death and how compelling of a retelling your new canid companion can give it. And so, you’ll spend the next little while revisiting key moments in Ben’s life from infancy to childhood and beyond to piece together his journey.

While it’s a mostly passive experience with nothing in the way of obstacles or challenges to overcome, save for a handful of opportunities to choose your responses to situations, Before Your Eyes offers a novel take on interactivity with its titular gimmick – eye tracking. Thanks to the capabilities of the new PlayStation VR2 headset (the game was previously available for PC and mobile platforms with various control solutions), the entire game is controlled with nothing but glances and blinks. Each new scene generally has you fixed in place, observing the people around Ben like his aspiring-composer-turned-reluctant-accountant mother, his classically goofy dad or oddball friend Chloe, occasionally looking at people or objects when prompted and blinking to interact with them.

Blinking also serves as the game’s other core mechanic, where blinking during certain scenes will skip the story forward in time. It sounds simple enough, like pressing a button to cycle through scenes in a regular game, but when I say that this one idea had me shaken on multiple occasions throughout Before Your Eyes I’m not exaggerating. The amount of times I strained to keep both eyes open because I was invested in what was happening, only to accidentally blink and lose the moment forever is too painful to recall and really drove home the idea that I was seeing my life flash before my eyes, desperately clinging on to the pivotal moments that I wanted so badly to remember only to have them coldly ripped away from me. I feel as though loss is a tough thing to convey in a video game, but Before Your Eyes nails it.

There are other moments where the sensory experience of the PS VR2 further serves the emotional beats that the game is going for, especially in scenes where you’re asked to shut your eyes to keep the world around you moving. Tightly holding my eyes closed while my parents fight around me, glances of movement obscuring and revealing light that barely seeps through me eyelids and hearing their footsteps and voices shift around the room – well, let’s not explore that too deeply on a video game website but it got me good.

It’s all truly powerful stuff, in spite of the game’s relatively simplistic look, short runtime and sparse interactivity. What GoodbyeWorld Games has done with Before Your Eyes is execute on a novel concept with the perfect amount of restraint and a carefully-paced emotional journey to create something truly special, something that uses the medium of VR and the unique features of its target hardware to hit that much harder. If you’ve got a PS VR2 and a taste for artsy, contemplative indie experiences then you owe it to yourself to play this.

The post Before Your Eyes Mini Review – Not A Dry Eye In The House appeared first on Press Start.

The Outer Worlds was one of my favourite RPGs of the last generation, with Obsidian Entertainment playing to the strengths it proved in the fan-favourite Fallout: New Vegas and producing a succinct sci-fi romp with fantastic characters, a dense and detailed world and some hilarious writing.

Now, the game is back and jazzed up for both the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S platforms as well as PCs rocking more modern hardware. I’ve spent the last few days checking out the PS5 version specifically, after having originally reviewed the game and completed a couple of playthroughs on the PS4 where it certainly felt hamstrung by the comparatively meagre console hardware.

Free of last-gen confinement, the new Spacer’s Choice Edition of the game offers improved visuals, some slight gameplay tweaks, PS5-specific DualSense features and a complete content package with both previously-release DLC expansions.

PS4 (left) vs PS5 (right)

Naturally the most immediate difference in the new-gen version of the game is the visuals, which benefit from changes both big and small. The game’s sweeping, planetary environments look much more detailed and lush thanks to upgraded assets, better draw distances and an improved lighting model. A lot of characters and objects aren’t obviously improved until you compare them side-by-side with the last-gen versions of the games but they do sport some improved animation work in places. The game’s overall look is significantly nicer than before, and it all goes a long way to selling the incredible art direction that’s always been there.

Unfortunately, while it looks great performance is a bit weird (at least on console). There are two modes with a graphics-focused option offering a sharper image with noticeably better lighting and particle effects, as well as a performance option that dials things down slightly in favour of a higher framerate. I was expecting the performance setting to be leaning toward a locked 60fps given the age of the game and the power of the new machines but it seems to really struggle, instead wavering wildly and introducing some distracting stutter. While I’d normally be happy to take a bit of a visual hit and stick with the higher framerate option I’d actually almost recommend going the other way with this one and taking the nicer visuals – it’s a game that plays just fine at 30fps anyway.

PS5 Performance Mode (left) vs Graphics Mode (right)

One big performance benefit comes by way of the load times, which are far from instant here but still a huge reduction over the original’s frustratingly lengthy load screens on console.

As far as gameplay goes, this is pretty much still The Outer Worlds you know and love, although Obsidian does promise some small tweaks like an increased level cap, which should make coming back for a new playthrough at least a little more interesting, and improved companion and enemy AI – something I’m inclined to believe is a thing but is hard to realistically gauge after having not played the original in a while. Of course, both DLC expansions are included in Peril on Gorgon and Murder on Eridanos, which are both fine additions to the game. The addition of support for haptic feedback and adaptive triggers on PS5 is definitely welcome, with the game’s already-great selection of interesting and fun sci-fi weapons all feeling that much more distinct here.

The thing that makes or breaks the value proposition with The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition really is the way it’s being offered. If you’re brand new to the game and don’t own it on any platform, it’s around $90 AUD for this updated version including the expansions, which in my eyes isn’t too bad for what you’re getting. If you already own the game and not the extra DLC however, you’ll also still be up for the full ninety bucks, which kinda stings. Lastly, anyone who does own the base game and both expansions is eligible for a $12 paid upgrade. There’s probably a lot to argue around the value of these new-gen upgrades and the mechanics of how they’re implemented but I can’t help but feel this isn’t going to be ideal for a lot of prospective players.

There’s also no save transfer from the old version to this new one, which is a bit of a bummer.

At the end of the day, The Outer Worlds is still an excellent RPG that I’d highly recommend to fans of slightly-camp sci-fi adventures or most of Bethesda and Bioware’s catalogue. This new iteration isn’t perfect, but it’s both a great jumping-in point and a nice little upgrade for fans who don’t mind splashing a little cash to replay it in improved form.

If you’re yet to experience The Outer Worlds for yourself and you’re keen to know more, you can read my original review of the game (played on PS4) right here:

Picture this: you’re one out of tens of thousands of interplanetary colonists on The Hope, an enormous space station bound for a shiny new, corporate-owned colony in space. The trip is supposed to take ten long years, with the entire population in cryogenic sleep. Something goes awry though, and The Hope is stuck out in space for closer to seventy, at which point waking any human up from cryosleep would result in ‘explosive cell death’. A scientist by the name of Phineas Welles manages to science-up a chemical concoction to revive just one colonist though – you. You quickly learn that the corporate-owned Halcyon Colony hasn’t quite panned out the way it should’ve, with at least one planet already all but abandoned, and the divide between the powerful and the poor at its most extreme. Plus, the reasons for The Hope never making its destination are murky at best and sinister at worst. What would you do?

That’s the question that The Outer Worlds asks, but the answer is entirely up to you. I mean it when I say that, too. Keen to save your people and tear down the systematic oppression that the Halcyon Holdings Corporation is using to live in luxury at the cost of the colony? Sounds great. More concerned with taking advantage of the state of the colony and rising to power than helping revive the people on The Hope? Fuck those people. You do you. One of the reasons this all works so well is The Outer Worlds’ absolutely stellar (pun intended) writing. From the sheer enormity of incidental detail and pages upon pages of descriptive text contributing to the overall worldbuilding, to the superbly fleshed-out characters, it’s clear that a lot of love was poured into crafting the Halcyon Colony. There’s also some really welcome representation for sorely underrepresented groups in the game that comes across as genuine and meaningful, which is really nice to see. Above all, the game is gut-bustingly funny, to the point where I’d call this one of the all-time greatest examples of how comedy can really work in games.

Your immense influence on the narrative is impressive, as is the way that every quandary is less a simple moral choice than a considered and calculated maneuver. Obsidian have truly kept the ‘Role Playing’ in RPG alive in The Outer Worlds, and the way the story plays out from the grand scale to every small detail is entirely in your hands. At face value, the core mission and plot at the heart of the game is quite simple, but there’s a complex world full of equally complex systems to allow players to determine for themselves their role in the whole thing. Put in the hard work and you might start to see that the ‘bad guys’ aren’t always who you think they are, and sometimes you just have to kiss the corporate ring to get to where you need to be.

The other side of all this role-playing goodness is deep, robust and surprisingly approachable RPG progression. Everything your character does (or is able to do) in the Halcyon Colony is underpinned by their skills. Every time your character levels up they earn ten points to spend across seven skill groups, each with two or three subsets of skills. It’s mostly traditional RPG-type stuff like weapon proficiencies, sneaking and hacking, medicine, science and so on. The skills affect everything from your effectiveness in combat to the options available to you in conversations and the way in which you’re able to interact with the world. That might all seem pretty traditional as far as these types of games go, but The Outer Worlds does such a fantastic job of providing players with options upon options for how they approach each and every moment that where you put your points has a marked and tangible effect on every facet of your character’s journey.

One quick example of how this works in practice would be one of the many times that I found I needed access to a restricted area. The easiest way to traipse through off-limits places is to use your handy Holographic Shroud to disguise yourself as someone who is supposed to be there. Usually this is done by procuring a relevant ID, and so in this case I knew I could get one from a certain character. Trouble was, my character’s dialogue skills weren’t quite where they needed to be to convince this person to just part with their ID. My next best option would have been to just steal it from them, but my sneaking and lockpicking skills were also too low to get into their stash (and without them seeing) thanks to my oversized armour with its -5 sneak penalty. The solution? Go back to my ship, respec my skills to put more into lockpicking, strip (almost) naked, go back and break into the person’s place, steal their ID and be on my merry way. This one situation could have played out so many ways depending on my character’s build and how I, the player, wanted to approach it though. The way that character skills and playstyles gel together in The Outer Worlds is extremely satisfying and makes for some great emergent storytelling.

During this one encounter is also where my character picked up their first Flaw; an optional, permanent hit to a predetermined skill in return for an extra Perk point. In this case, the Flaw I was offered was ‘Paranoia’, a result of my being caught one too many times sneaking around restricted areas (although I always managed to talk my way out). Flaws are a lot of fun, taking your existing gameplay habits and offering you a chance to better yourself in spite of them. Fall off of stuff a lot? Being harshly debuffed when close to edges means you won’t get so close to them in future. Developed a fear of Raptidons from being mauled by them too often? Maybe now you’ll stop bothering them out in the wilderness. Okay, you probably won’t but you get the idea.

Companions are another big factor into how players’ individual stories will wind up being told. There are six of them in total, although it’s entirely possible to play through the game without ever letting any of them join your crew (good luck playing that way, though). Aside from helping you out in battle, each of these characters brings with them a rich backstory and their own personal quests to assist them in. These quests often mesh with existing storylines, and your companions will regularly interject in conversations with NPCs that are relevant to them, so the simple act of letting someone tag along on your adventures has a real effect on your experience. It’s also fun to experiment with different pairings of characters to see how they interact with each other. At one point I took a new companion out with myself and my favourite, Vicar Max, and we got exactly five minutes into exploring before she asked to call him ‘Vicky’ and he told her “Absolutely fucking not.”

While you could, with great difficulty, complete the entire game without ever taking another life – chances are that you’ll spend a decent chunk of your time in The Outer Worlds engaged in combat. For me, this is probably the game’s weakest area. Not that the combat is bad by any stretch, just that it doesn’t feel quite as fully realised as everything else. What’s there is solid; the shooting feels nice enough, the enemies (especially the awesome-looking alien creatures) are fun to fight and the companions are super helpful in a pinch. It wasn’t long before every fight started to feel the same though. Part of that can probably be attributed to my very basic, ‘tank-y’ character build, but this is also a relatively small world with few enemy types, whose AI patterns usually just boil down to rushing the player. There are a few awesome wrinkles to combat though; like Tactical Time Dilation, which lets you slow down the action and target specific enemy parts for crippling effects (think V.A.T.S., but with live aim).

This is without even going into the myriad options available when it comes to weapons, armour and other neat gear, but this is all Serious RPG Stuff that I’m not about to bore anyone with but RPG nerds will absolutely love. There are (mostly minor) gripes to be had though, starting with an occasionally clunky interface; especially the way item description boxes pop up over other items while you’re sorting through them. The ammo system can also be quite inconvenient – breaking weapons up into just three ammo categories means even if I spend the whole game armed with a wide spread of weapon types, they could all be pulling from the ‘heavy’ ammo category, leaving me with not enough of that and an abundance of ‘light’ and ‘energy’ ammo that I’ll never use.

One clear distinction from other, similar games that The Outer Worlds makes for itself is that it’s vibrant as hell. Obsidian weren’t afraid to give their world some actual colour, and the game is all the better for it. It borders on garish at times, but that’s just part of its charm. It really sells the satirical nature of the world, and also helps make the environment easy to read. Characters are equally creative and outlandish in their design, and look great in up-close conversation. They’re almost all voiced fantastically, too, with some notable names like Ashley Burch and Crispin Freeman among the very capable cast. The only real issues I had with the game’s presentation were the very noticeable texture pop-in that occurs when entering new areas and the annoying load screens when entering or exiting towns, larger buildings and the interior of the player’s ship, but those certainly aren’t deal-breakers.

The post The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition Review – Some Choice Upgrades appeared first on Press Start.

Despite the massive impact that FromSoftware’s titles have had on the games industry over the last decade, there are very few experiences that scratch the same itch. From’s world building and sense of place is unrivalled, it’s a daunting task to make a “Souls-like” and have it constantly compared to one of the most timeless franchises of the last decade. This is something Team Ninja has been keenly aware of in their forays into the genre, opting to focus on the combat and RPG aspects of these games to deliver something action-heavy and high-octane.

If the Nioh duology is Team Ninja’s answer to Dark Souls, then Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty serves the same purpose to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Much like Nioh, though, Wo Long’s comparisons to its parallel are surface deep, offering an experience that’s much different to From’s 2019 hit. It leans more heavily into the combat fantasy of split-second decisions, speedy reflexes, and flashy action to make for an immensely satisfying and mechanically deep experience that insists you step up to the plate and surmount its seemingly insurmountable challenges.

Set during the Later Han Dynasty of China, specifically the Three Kingdoms period, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty follows your unnamed player character navigate their way through the murky waters of war and chaos. Despite starting out as an unremarkable militia soldier, you’ll quickly gain notoriety as you rise up to fight back a demonic outbreak plaguing China, often crossing paths with notable figures from Chinese history in the process of dealing with the source of this supernatural threat.

Wo Long’s narrative ultimately serves as a sort of adaptation of these events with a dark fantasy flavour, imbuing it with supernatural elements and twisted takes on Chinese mythology. All the carnage and chaos that transpires really sells the idea that the long-standing Imperial dynasty is on the verge of collapse. The story itself is relatively paint-by-numbers, with a few interesting elements that might keep you from skipping cutscenes, but won’t necessarily have you on the edge of your seat. The most alluring aspect of it is interacting with storied heroes like Lu Bu and how they fit into Team Ninja’s take on a more dramatised retelling of the period.

Where Wo Long categorically excels, though, is in its combat. It’s similar to Sekiro at its core, but has so many in-depth systems built around it that it becomes a much more involved and measured process. That isn’t to discount the challenge of Sekiro’s rhythmic flow, but Wo Long has a much faster pace to it overall that demands your full attention at all times. Between regular encounters and boss fights, there’s much to look forward to for fans of the genre.

It’s all built around the Spirit Gauge, which acts as a sort of posture/poise meter, while also doubling as a resource in combat. Proper deflect timing, counters, and light attacks will build up this meter, while using heavy attacks, Wizardry Spells, and Martial Arts will expend it, as well as getting hit. Using any of the aforementioned attacks costs Spirit Gauge, but also grow in power in accordance with how much you have.

Breaking an enemy’s Spirit Gauge opens them up for a critical attack, but your own can also be broken, leaving you completely defenceless for a short window of time. It lends to a constant risk/reward factor in combat where you know that one more successful deflect means you can unleash a nasty heavy attack for big damage, or cast a Wizardry Spell without putting your own Spirit Gauge in danger.

Even dodging and deflecting costs Spirit Gauge to use, so throwing them out in the hope to survive will set you on path towards swift demise. It can be overwhelming at first, but you’ll quickly find that you perform every action in combat with intent, and the decision to tie your Martial Arts and Wizardry Spells to a consistently renewable resource means you’ll engage with them much more than you otherwise would.

The cherry on top are Critical Attacks and Divine Beasts. The former are heavy hitting attacks that can’t be blocked. Successfully deflecting these results in a large chunk of Spirit Gauge damage, as well as shortening the enemy’s overall Spirit Gauge until their next break. Divine Beasts function similarly to the Guardian Spirits of Nioh, where you can summon an equipped beast when the Divine Beast Gauge is full to gain advantages in combat, or use to them unleash a powerful attack.

Progression throughout levels is also another novel concept that Wo Long builds on in interesting ways, namely through the Morale system. While you’ll level and gear your character as you play through missions, each one also has its own Morale ranks to raise through exploration. You and your enemies have your own Morale ranks, which determine your overall strength within missions. Generally, you don’t want to go up against enemies with significantly higher levels of Morale than you. You lose Morale through death and getting hit by critical attacks, while it’s gained in a few ways, most notably through dispatching enemies, and via the brilliant Fortitude system.

Fortitude represents the lowest that your Morale can drop to. You’ll start main missions with zero Fortitude, while side missions are usually higher. As you explore levels, you’ll find Battle Flags and Marking Flags, both of which increase your Fortitude, meaning you’re slowly lifting your minimum Morale as you venture through each mission. This mechanic alone if enough to incentivise exploration in Wo Long’s environments. You can absolutely try to beeline to the boss room while gaining Morale on the way, but without hitting any flags, you’ll lose it all as soon as you die, and it isn’t exactly easy to recover.

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Morale applies to your enemies as well, which is another thing to consider. Hitting an enemy with a critical attack after breaking their Spirit Gauge will drop their Morale by one, and some enemies can boost their allies Morale passively. Additionally, you can find groups of enemies guarding Battle Flags that need to be dispatched before you can claim them, and picking them off one-by-one is incentivised to slowly whittle away at their Morale. Not only is it a fantastic form of progression within each level, but it also goes hand-in-hand with the setting and themes of Wo Long.

I will admit that there’s a lot to contend with here. Even the most seasoned of Souls-like veterans will need to take some time to adjust and learn all the systems at play here. It can be confusing at first, especially when so much is thrown at you in the opening hours of the game, but sticking with it gives way to systems that intertwine to create a cohesive combat system that’s incredibly satisfying to master.

A combat system like this is nothing without good enemy design, but this is another area where Wo Long delivers in spades. Both visually and mechanically, there are many foes to contend with here, each with unique move sets and capabilities that keep you on your toes. Seeing these Chinese myths converted into more demonic forms is fascinatingly morbid that always had me keen to see what was up next. The boss fights are a particular highlight, serving as firm punctuation marks to the end of each level. Some of them are definitively better than others, but they’re still always something to look forward to.

The other core form of progression is your traditional levelling, but there’s also some changes made here that keep Wo Long unique within the genre. Instead of investing points attained with each level in traditional stats, you can put it into one of five Virtues, each one scaling with different weapon types, boosting their own stats, and grating access to specific wizardry spells. There’s less incentive to generalise and a push to spec into one or two Virtues specifically to build out your character. The high level wizardry spells require quite high Virtue levels, so investing in a particular type yields worthwhile rewards.

When it comes to weapons and armour, there’s a tried and true focus on acquiring loot from chests, enemies, and by completing levels. Unfortunately, much like Team Ninja’s other titles, there is far too much loot to collect and manage. Stranger of Paradise made some progress in this regard via the inclusion of an auto-equip function, but even that is sorely lacking in Wo Long. You end up spending long stretches of time in menus, picking and choosing which armour and weapon combinations you want to use, along with ranged weapons and charms also.

A vast majority of the loot you’ll get across your first playthrough will eventually become useless, and ends up getting sold or tossed away at some point. One welcome inclusion is the ability to upgrade weapons and armour with materials, but it’s hard to commit to making a proper build when a bulk of the best gear drops in the post-game.

Speaking of weapons, there’s a wide array to choose from here, each with their own string of light attacks and a heavy attack. Each one also comes with a unique set of Martial Arts, and higher rarity weapons drop with special effects that can further cater to a particular play style. There’s a lot to sink your teeth into here if you’re a fan of Team Ninja’s post-game build crafting, but it can feel arbitrary outside of that as you constantly cycle through gear for better stats.

Wo Long isn’t a particularly pretty game in the traditional sense. It’s rife with grunge and rancid corruption that go a long way to building up the world and the events transpiring within it. Each battlefield you’ll visit is remarkably unique, from towering forts to serene mountainsides. No matter where you go, though, Demonic Qi has taken hold. It’s an all around well-realised setting that I never got tired of exploring despite how desolate and war-torn it can be at times.

The PS5 version features two visual presets, one that prioritises frame rate, and another that focuses on resolution. I found that the resolution mode, while gorgeous, often dropped below 60 frames when the going got tough, which isn’t ideal for a game as reflex based as this. The performance mode is what I spent my playthrough on, which sports a consistently smooth 60 frames no matter what was transpiring on screen.

While Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty falls victim to the problems of Team Ninja’s prior Souls-like outings, there’s no denying that there’s an excellently crafted game here that’s unique among their offerings. It has such strong combat, and some really great ideas that execute just as well, that it’s easy to look past what few flaws there are and really enjoy what’s on offer here. I’ve always enjoyed Team Ninja’s games, but Wo Long in particular is an experience I won’t be forgetting anytime soon, and one I’ll surely be revisiting over the years.

The post Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Review – Mechanical Bliss appeared first on Press Start.

Initially revealed at Gamescom last year, Scars Above is a challenging action game set in a science fiction-inspired world full of places to explore and creatures to survive. In truth it’s a little bit Souls, a little bit Metroid, and a lot of fun, elemental combat. It’s a lot smaller in scope than any of the games it seems inspired by, but Scars Above is a decently exciting romp through an alien planet, acquiring knowledge and burning things on your quest for truth and the scientific method.

Scars Above put you in the shoes of scientist Dr Kate Ward, one of a team sent to investigate a strange object in space. Soon enough though, things go awry and Kate finds herself stranded and alone on an alien planet searching for her colleagues and struggling to survive. You’ll encounter a strange, ghostly being that seems to be encouraging you to explore this strange planet, beckoning you to discover how it came to be as it is.

The game gives you three main ways to engage with its world – explore, do science, and fight. Exploration is fairly enjoyable, but don’t expect something as complex or rewarding as Metroid or Dark Souls on that front. Areas are structured around big alien objects called pillars. Think of these like checkpoints – you’ll start at the last pillar you checked in at if you die, and all the creatures you’ve defeated will return, but you’ll also reload your ammo reserves and restore your health.

Between pillars there is usually a path forward, and side paths that you can explore for collectibles and occasionally to open shortcut paths. Both are worthwhile. Finding a shortcut can help you get to areas more easily after dying and returning to a pillar, and collectibles are useful for upgrading your character and weapons for combat. Environments are varied enough to remain interesting, and you generally don’t spend long enough in any one place for things to feel stale. Exploring in Scars never really gets more cerebral than making sure you go down each fork in the road to find the goodies at the end, but it helps keep the pace brisk.

Science and the pursuit of knowledge as a theme is something that sets Scars apart, even if it is mostly set dressing. A few times during the game you’ll encounter situations or mechanisms you need to visually analyse to find important elements and then come to a conclusion about what happened or how a device functions. You don’t earn experience by defeating enemies like in most games, but by gaining knowledge about the world around you. This can be done by scanning the bodies of defeated creatures (only once per creature though, so there’s no grinding) and in a way that ironically engaged my ‘brain off’ mechanism – by finding ‘Knowledge Cubes’ littered around the environment.

The science theme is an interesting one and it’s used mostly to good effect. Your character becomes stronger through knowledge rather than strictly through violence and training. Just try not to think too hard about cubes that make you smarter.

Combat, then, is the other major piece of Scars Above’s gameplay, and it’s where the game shines brightest. Your main weapon is initially not a weapon at all, more a general science tool, but it unsurprisingly finds usefulness in combat. You can use different elemental projectiles which all have some effect on enemies and the environment around them. A lot of enemies have glowing weak points and some have moments of weakness you can exploit if you pay attention to their animations. Your initial weapon fires bolts of electricity and you’ll soon see the effect this can have on enemies that are wet or standing in water.

Later elemental upgrades like fire are used to set enemies or areas alight, and ice can slow quick enemies down to give you a chance to collect yourself. Throw in the gadgets you unlock throughout the game that give you even more options (highlights to me were capsules of flammable liquid that can set groups of creatures alight and a gravity well that can hold enemies in place for a short while) and you get a combat system that is easy enough to grasp but rewarding to experiment with.

Visually, Scars Above has it’s ups and downs. Cutscenes in particular bring things down quite a bit. The animation is quite wooden in both general movement as well as faces – it reminded me of scenes in the first Mass Effect and it feels a generation or two behind compared to its contemporaries. Once you’re through the cutscenes though, actual gameplay looks quite decent. There are some definite standout creature designs that I really enjoyed and some varied, well-realised alien environments to admire and move around in.

Sound design has some highlights as well. Music generally is pretty sparse during the experience, but some particularly cool moments are accented by fantastic sci-fi synth music that bring scenes to life.

I had a pretty fun time with Scars Above. Its themes of science and the pursuit of knowledge are a neat idea and the story goes to some interesting places that I found fairly compelling and even timely given recent advances in AI technology. The elementally-infused combat is engaging enough to feel fresh throughout and environments are varied enough that the exploration doesn’t get stale until a section in the late game that I found killed the pace a bit right as things were getting interesting.

Scars Above is out now on PlayStation, Xbox and PC. Amazon has the game for $59 with free shipping.

The post Scars Above Review – The Pursuit of Knowledge appeared first on Press Start.

Atomic Heart is all at once the strangest, most off-the-wall, most bombastic game I think I’ll play this year. It’s got a self-referential, almost self-deprecating sense of humour that surprised me to no end and its nods to the games it so badly wanted to be—see any BioShock game—were so on the nose. 

To put it the only way I feel I can, Atomic Heart is unadulterated, pulp schlock. 

Based on my preview of the game, I’d expected Atomic Heart’s story to do its best to emulate BioShock’s musings on determinism and free will. Sadly, those that expect caviar and get served mince and mash are bound to be disappointed. That said, mince and mash is perfectly serviceable in a pinch and Atomic Heart gets the job done, it just never rises to the lofty heights of those it imitates. Its cast of characters, from top to bottom, is thoroughly repugnant and the “hero” has levels of vulgarity that should have died when Duke did forever ago.

There’s a particular character whose mad turn feels so unearned that it’s almost insulting. Hilariously, it all feels like another self-sabotage gunning for an impossible gold standard. Atomic Heart’s biggest sin, in the end, is that it forces us to reminisce about what is ultimately a better game.

It’s a shame because I feel as though all of the game’s action, if it were condensed down into a more linear experience, could make for a much better game. The two prongs of attack both feel great and feel like the only area where Atomic Heart might even edge out its precursor. I might have only secured blueprints for no more than a handful of the weapons on offer, but they all felt powerful in their own right. I’m a sucker for a shotgun and seeing the shells in Atomic Heart tear shreds off of the several automatons lining the halls—and even shearing them in half—never gets old.

The game’s most dazzling minutes, the ones that truly sell to me that fragments of the Atomic Heart game I wanted does exist, belong to the magnificent boss fights. Granted, they’re as plainly signposted as the story’s many “twists” by obvious arenas, but they’re a thrilling showcase of what the game does best and that’s its combat. 

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And on the other hand, literally, is Charles. He’s a polymerised artificial intelligence that rides sidecar throughout your journey and serves as the other offensive prong in your arsenal. With Charles, you’ll be able to deal elemental damage, wield the wild powers of telekinesis, and shield yourself. Now, while the gunplay is a treat in Atomic Heart, all of the trimmings, such as the player’s upgrade paths—for guns, for Charles, and for the agent himself—feel like a bit of a mess. There’s simply too many currencies to keep straight, especially when it comes to sprucing up your gun shed.

As I gleaned from my initial preview, the game is structurally probably a bit more like Metro Exodus than it is Halo Infinite. The game is a series of overworlds separated by a series of facilities. The former are vast enough, though they’re ultimately void of anything worth seeing, so much so they might as well be a tunnel from point-to-point. Atomic Heart’s corridor crawling is the game at its best, and I’ll recall the game’s first handful of hours fondly. It doesn’t do anything particularly creative with how it structures fetch quests, but I do admire how it creates a sense of place and lets the untapped creativity of Atomic Heart’s design team run rampant.

When I previewed the game on PC, performance was as crisp as you’d hope for. Sadly, things aren’t quite as smooth for its console counterparts. The frame rate was largely inconsistent, pop-in was always a given, and I encountered a couple of hard crashes in one particularly theatrical boss fight. Other niggles, such as UI persisting throughout cutscenes, were present and kind of undercut the attempt at establishing some tone.

Another area that Atomic Heart has great success in is its art, although I’m prepared to omit any human characters from that otherwise blanket statement. Like in other areas, it borrows from BioShock’s handbook in delivering a world of several extremes—it showcases capitalist decadence through its lavish marble auditoriums, it also places man’s hubris on a pedestal through its dilapidated laboratories. As barren as it is, even the overworld, for all its lush greenery juxtaposed by abandoned cars, has a real Tales from the Loop appeal. I’ll go so far as to say if your interest in Atomic Heart is mainly from a design standpoint, buy the inevitable art book instead. 

While I ultimately did enjoy my time with Atomic Heart, I can’t not view it as a disappointment. For the few things it does well, its ambitions ultimately cripple it, leaving it firmly in the cold shadow of greater titles that it so desperately seeks to emulate.

Atomic Heart launches on February 21st for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC. Amazon has the cheapest copy at $84.99 with free shipping.

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The first Octopath Traveler was a great game, but I felt it was often misunderstood. It’s deliciously old school presentation set the scene for the game players wanted it to be – a fresh modern take on the RPG that still managed to look like it came from the golden years of the genre. Underneath it’s shiny veneer was some fantastic gameplay bolstered by a flexible job and party system. Now, Octopath Traveler II attempts to address the criticisms levelled at its predecessor to offer a more intertwined story. And while it’s not necessarily the direction I think the series needed to head in, it offers up more of what players loved five years ago.

The new game takes place in a new continent called Solistia. It’s different to Osterra from the previous game, sporting a much more modern setting. Solistia is in the midst of an industrial and trade revolution, so it feels like a time of great prosperity in the world. The story follows eight characters, each with their own stories and motivations. Some want to be the best in their field, others want to capitalise on the boom in trade. The story eventually converges, but like the original game, it really is all about the individual stories.

I adored Octopath Traveler but I feel like the concept is already starting to wear a little thin. So much of Octopath Traveler II feels lifted directly from the predecessor to the point that it can feel like  a retread at times. Where the original game lacked meaningful interactions between the party, Octopath Traveler II attempts to remedy this by incorporating new stories that usually intertwine two characters, complete with sub-chapters. While I feel like this is the right direction to move in, there were still moments overall where my main character would just stand there in silence while cutscenes centering on other characters played out.

It would be a logistical nightmare to accurately predict the order players obtain their party members and adjust dialogue and interactions accordingly. But I can’t help but feel that, with a little bit more linearity, a party with synergy at both a story and gameplay level could easily be developed. I admire the attempts to bring things closer together, even if that wasn’t the intention of the original game, but overall it feels like more of a half step towards that goal more than anything else.

But underneath the plot, there’s a fantastic game here too. Like the original, it’s a turn-based RPG that feels fast paced but still has enough depth to it that makes it fun to master. As mentioned previously, you’ll explore Solistia while following the individual stories of eight characters. The world itself is beautiful – presented in a unique 2D-HD style that the original game pioneered. But is Octopath Traveler II just a typical RPG with a nostalgic look art direction? It’s honestly so much more.

The battle system is just as strong as in the original game. A typical turn-based system with the Break and Boost mechanics returning. Each turn, each character gains a BP, which can then be used to increase your attacks or power in the same turn. Using this system to target an enemy’s weakness can “break” them, stunning them and, if planned correctly, prevent them from attacking and open them up to more damage. It’s hard to explain – and I implore you to try the demo – but it’s a satisfying combat system that rewards those who think about each turn and how they’ll flow into one another.

Octopath Traveler II does introduce a few new aspects to the combat. Latent powers are the most obvious. These are available to each character and are usable after filling a gauge that fills from either taking damage or breaking an enemy. Each power has a different effect, allowing you to focus a group-targeting spell onto a single enemy for extra damage or even buffing your party depending on the time of day. They’re a nice touch that adds an extra layer of strategizing to battle, but they’re also not essential enough that I found myself using them a whole lot.

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A little bit more essential is the robust jobs system that underpins the combat. Each of the playable characters has a primary job that denotes what abilities and weapons they can wield. Secondary jobs can be assigned to fill gaps in that character’s loadout. I’m a huge fan of a good job system in RPGs, and Octopath Traveler II has what I consider to be some genre-best execution of the concept. It’s so much fun to experiment with different combinations to build your perfect party, and almost mandatory to overcome the games later trickier chapters.

Outside of battles, the changes are more obvious. Path actions return, which allow you to interact with NPCs in different ways. You can rob them, convince them to follow you into battle or even bribe them for secrets. It’s always been a cool idea. Octopath Traveler II gives each character two path actions, dependent on the time of day. But in the original game, these actions often came in pairs, with one being superior to the other. One character can steal, for example, while another can still steal but only after battling the person. It felt a bit padded out in the original game, and by almost doubling the path actions in this game, it feels especially so.

I’ve talked a lot about who time of day affects so much in Octopath Traveler II, and that’s one of the cooler new aspects of the game. With the press of a button, the setting you’re in will change from day to night. Some path actions only work depending on the time of day and stronger enemies come out at night to do battle. You’ll even encounter different NPCs at night. It’s a bit gimmicky, but visually impressive to see the world change instantly in front of you. The music changes too – from flourishing orchestral tracks during the day to more subdued and relaxed pieces of the same music at night.

Other aspects are introduced that weren’t in the original, though aren’t as game changing as I’d have hoped. The party eventually gains access to a ship that allows them to travel between the two halves of Solistia. The “open sea” aspect of Octopath Traveler II is really just like a glorified world map. I appreciate the variety on offer here, but it feels like it’s being touted as a feature when it’s really something most older RPGs have had in the past.

But speaking of the past, there are times where I felt that Octopath Traveler II was perhaps living too far into it. With the advent of so many other RPGs incorporating time saving measures, there were too manty times where I’d spend so much time in Octopath Traveler II just grinding. Not even grinding to gain levels, mind you, just running between areas to heal at an inn so I could make progress in the story. So much of Octopath Traveler II feels old school your characters who are benched are still needed to be levelled up, especially if you want to tackle the optional final chapters.

It might sound asinine to complain about an RPG having a long runtime. But given how many other games in the genre have included time saving elements like quick battles or fast forward it feels especially egregious. Octopath Traveler II does let you double the battle speed and advance its cutscenes quickly, but these are surface level. The design fundamentals underpinning it, like the aforementioned levelling of benched characters and constant need to heal do not respect the players time.

Without a doubt, though, Octopath Traveler II is the best-looking rendition of 2D-HD yet. Not only does the game leverage the unique style to create a world much more modern than the previous game, but stunning camera work and frame composition leads to some pretty epic moments throughout the story. It all feels a lot higher budget than previously. Other small touches, like adding animations for attacking enemies, makes a great case for 2D-HD as an art direction not losing any of its lustre.

And the music. Oh, the music! Yasunori Nishiki returns to compose for Octopath Traveler II and it’s one of the most beautiful soundtracks I’ve ever borne witness (or listened) to. The soundtrack does not disappoint in any aspect. The voice work is similarly pretty strong, with both English and Japanese voice tracks being selectable. Some of the deliveries are still a little bit melodramatic, but otherwise the whole experience feels well produced and presented.

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The EA Originals imprint is fast becoming one of my favourites. First Unravel, then It Takes Two, and everything in between. The latest, Wild Hearts, is an unexpected collaboration between Koei Tecmo and EA and my favourite. Hunting down fantastical beasts in a wide-open world inspired by Feudal Japan is a great concept, and Wild Hearts has a few tricks up its sleeve that separates it from the rest. It has a few issues that begin to emerge the more time you spend with it, but overall, it’s a strong debut for what will hopefully become a new franchise from an unexpected collaboration.

Wild Hearts takes place in the world of Azuma, a land inspired by Feudal Japan overrun by a strange beast that locals call the Kemono. Each Kemono is a beast fused with nature and inspired by Eastern mythology. Imagine boars with gardens growing on their back or gorillas with lava coursing through their veins. Wild Hearts’ premise is simple – you’re a hunter who must bring balance to the world of Azuma by slaying the Kemono. It’s a simple premise that provides a reason to go out and hunt the Kemono, but while some of the battles are wildly cinematic, don’t expect Wild Hearts’ story to blow you away.

Then, the premise of the game is similar to games like Monster Hunter or the developers’ own Toukiden series. You’ll travel through Azuma, either solo or with friends, hunting the various Kemono. They’ll drop loot of some sort, you’ll regroup, create better weapons and armour, and go after even bigger Kemono. It’s a simple premise that doesn’t need much shake-up, but Wild Hearts does do things a little bit differently to distinguish itself from its contemporaries.

The most obvious difference is the presence of the Karakuri. In the plot, Karakuri is a mystical force that allows you to summon ancient technology mid-battle to help slay the Kemono. In terms of gameplay, it allows you to build structures during battle, ala Fortnite, to assist you in exploration and combat. Springs to cover great distances, walls to block dashing Kemono. Even giant hammers to deal massive damage. There’s a whole bunch of Karakuri, and more on the way, but it’s the sheer variety of them that opens up the combat to all kinds of approaches that you’d not even be able to consider in other games.

This does give off shades of games like Fortnite, but I wouldn’t let that put you off if that’s never been your thing. Building the Karakuri mid-battle, either for yourself or for friends to utilise, is an incredibly satisfying and easy process. You could technically play without them, but the game would offer a greater challenge than it already does. But why wouldn’t you? The Karakuri have effects that I’m not even sure are intentional but helpful – some can be used to cancel animations and offer a faster flow to the game’s combat.

There are over twenty different types of Karakuri, some of which have multiple uses. It’s a system that really changes how you approach your hunts. Some are simply reconnaissance tools, allowing you to highlight a certain Kemono you might be hunting. Others are highly damaging weapons or bombs. Some even enable your hunter to travel long distances in Death Stranding-esque ziplines or catapults. There’s a lot on offer here to think about before you even consider the weaponry you’ll be using. And that’s before you even begin to fuse them to make even better constructions with wilder effects.

Weapons in Wild Hearts give to you at certain points in the story and feel simpler than what you’d expect from games like Monster Hunter, but that’s not a slight against the game. While combos are arguably simpler than most players would be used to, every weapon in the game is a joy to use and grasp. There are around eight weapons to master in Wild Hearts, each unique, offering different playstyles to ensure most players find something that suits them.

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My obvious favourite is the Bladed Wagasa, a fast-bladed umbrella specialising in parrying and aerial combat. But other weapons behave differently to what you’d normally expect – the bow, for example, is all about stacking arrows and then “detonating” them to deal massive damage, rather than just a simple ranged weapon. Some are more technical than others, like the shapeshifting spear, but there’s a wide and varied enough selection.

Your weapons and karakuri are essential, but your preparation is vital to conquering the more difficult hunts of Wild Hearts. Early on in the game, I admittedly wasn’t paying a lot of attention to resistances in my load-outs, but a fire-based enemy absolutely destroyed me and sent me back to the drawing board to better equip myself. It feels a lot more purposeful and highlights just how important it is to get your build right before charging into battle. Something I recommend to anyone reading – make sure you use the food system. Going into a battle well-fed will offer you buffs that can be the difference between success and failure.

Your builds are important, too – as there are numerous sprawling skill trees to drop points into that’ll provide you with different skills to utilise on your hunt. There’s a deceiving amount of flexibility here, as your path through a skill will determine which skills you’ll “inherit.” This means that while two players might be at the same point on the skill tree, they might have inherited different skills and thus have different builds. Essentially, it means more flexibility in how you approach your builds to complement your playstyle. As things get increasingly complex, especially in the post-game, you’ll want to craft suitable enough armour or weapons but also make sure you’re looping around the tree to inherit the best skills. It’s early days, but the meta feels especially strong.

But be warned that Wild Hearts can be a bit of a grind, if not more so, than Monster Hunter. During my lengthy time with the game, I fell victim to numerous bottlenecks where I’d have to go grind a few more hunts to get the gear that I wanted. It’s something that I’m sure fans of games like Monster Hunter are used to, but it does feel a little bit more egregious here. On the other hand, hunts are, on average, shorter than Monster Hunter and the combat is so fun that it’s less of a grinding feeling despite properly being one.

But I’ve yet to talk about the Kemono, the beasts you’ll actually be hunting. Each is beautiful to look at, existing at the intersection of flora and fauna, but they’re all terrifying to battle. The Emberplume, a ferocious peacock, is my favourite, but there are around twenty or so Kemono to battle across Wild Hearts. As mentioned, some of them are a little more cinematic in their approach, but overall, it’s a nice variety. It’s a little bit of a shame to see some of the Kemono recycled towards the end of the story – for example, using a creature with an ice element rather than lava – the variety here is pretty good, even if I am keen, and left wanting more.

Thankfully, the game performs well online. The drop-in and drop-out options are seamless, and you can request help during a hunt with the hold of a button. There are traditional ways to invite people – like travelling to a certain point to summon them or whatever – but being able to do it on-the-fly is a nice touch. Similarly, progress is shared across all players, so you can play the entirety of Wild Hearts with two other friends if you wish. It can be a challenging game, so you’ll want someone by your side, even if the fights scale slightly with more players.

So then, to presentation, Wild Hearts is less consistent. Across my time with both the PC and console versions, there was notable texture pop-in and inconsistent framerate issues during more intense battles, even when playing in performance mode. It’s a shame, too, because the art direction is absolutely stunning – Azuma is a beautiful world filled with vast biomes inspired by the seasons, and the Kemono are beautifully designed. But the further you get into the game, the worse the performance gets. Hopefully, this can be optimised and fixed as time goes by, but for now, if you’re very sensitive to performance issues, then be aware that Wild Hearts isn’t perfect just yet.

I came away from my time with Wild Hearts last year excited to see more. Now, after experiencing the whole thing, I still feel the same. That’s not because Wild Hearts isn’t satisfying; it’s because the world that Koei Tecmo has crafted and the concept of the Kemono still has so much more potential that I hope we’ll get to see with expansions or perhaps even a sequel. But for now, Wild Hearts is the perfect jumping-off point for what will hopefully become a new franchise that spans many years to come.

The post Wild Hearts Review – A Hunter With Heart And Soul appeared first on Press Start.

While virtual reality has quickly become a space for some fantastically innovative and unique video game experiences, the number of titles that could comfortably be considered “AAA” VR blockbusters is quite small. With the arrival of the PlayStation VR2 though, it’s clear a killer app was needed to show potential punters that this is the next generation home VR platform, something to communicate what the combination of the PS5’s powerful hardware and the PS VR2’s cutting edge feature set could be capable of beyond novelty. Enter, Horizon Call of the Mountain.

As a side-story to the events of Horizons past, Call of the Mountain puts players in the figurative shoes of Ryas, an ex-Shadow Carja hoping to redeem himself in the eyes of the Carja and the Sundom as a whole. The game opens with the player being escorted to the care of Blameless Marad, who fans will recognise from the main series games, before things go awry and machines attack. As it turns out, the area of Brightdawn has been the subject of a series of machine ambushes and, in exchange for a pardon, the Carja want Ryas to go and investigate the cause of the attacks before the machines become a threat to the great city of Meridian.

If you’ve yet to immerse yourself in the world of Horizon and that all sounded like a whole lot of nonsense, fret not. While it’s handy to have a general idea of what’s going on in this world, especially where familiar faces pop up on occasion, the narrative in Call of the Mountain is by and large just an excuse to shoot you around various locations within the Sundom from one exciting encounter to another. Ryas as a character is a little ho-hum, but as a moderately blank slate for players to embody in virtual reality he does the job.

More important than what’s happening in Horizon Call of the Mountain, is what you’re doing, which is a whole lot of traversal, climbing, puzzling, combat and tinkering in VR, and that’s where this game shines on a whole new level. 

While the actual act of climbing is somewhat simple and pretty much exactly what you would expect from virtual alpining, it’s the climbs themselves in this game that are routinely exhilarating. Hanging off of dilapidated towers attached to cliffs hundreds of metres in the air and looking out across the enormous and richly detailed landscapes is easily one of the coolest gaming experiences I’ve had. You’ll genuinely feel like a badass as monkey-bar your way across makeshift rope bridges or hurl your Ropecaster across a ravine and swing to the other side like a 1997 Brendan Fraser.

Most of the missions you’ll go on and areas you’ll explore in Call of the Mountain will also task you with figuring out light environmental puzzles that are typically very hands-on. All of the opportunities that the game gives you to interact with things in a nearly 1:1 fashion are a heap of fun and feel incredibly tactile and natural – even the optional gesture-based movement that has you walk by gingerly swinging your arms works well as a stand-in for actual ambulating and doesn’t feel nearly as goofy as it probably looks from the outside. One of my favourite touches is the way the game has you physically craft the new weapons and gadgets you find blueprints for along the journey, putting the different components into place and binding them with rope.

As great as the climbing and puzzles are in Call of the Mountain, arguably the weaker link is its occasional set combat encounters against recognisable machines from the games. Aside from a handful of semi-stealth based Watcher sections, most of these take place in contained spaces with movement restricted to strafing left and right while you fire various arrows and bombs at your foes. Firesprite has done a very respectable job of translating the fun of strategically shooting off each machine’s crucial components and utilising elemental damage to exploit their weaknesses, making the core part of the combat experience a thrill, but the limited movement and awkward and unreliable dodging controls can lead to frustration. The fights are still exciting, especially against the most formidable of the machines, but they’re less successful overall than the game’s other portions.

There’s no denying the production values here are immense, with the game looking every bit as accomplished as a majority of “flat” AAA games. Sure, it’s not quite the technical powerhouse that something like Horizon Forbidden West is on PS5, but for the VR space it’s downright astonishing. Sweeping vistas, lush and detailed environments, gorgeous lighting and precise physics interactions all come together to mind-blowing effect here. Though I’m yet to have tackled any super-high end PC VR gaming on astronomically expensive equipment, this is easily the most visually impressive virtual reality title I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing. From an audio standpoint it’s also very impressive with a fantastic soundscape and score, all heightened by the Tempest 3D Audio Tech.

As far as other unique PS VR2 features go, the game also does a great job of showcasing things like haptic feedback, adaptive triggers and eye tracking. Haptics in the controller and the headset convey both immense feedback like the crashing of a Thunderjaw’s tail into a nearby turret or the force of a Stormbird’s beating wings, as well as small subtleties like the difference in the way a rope or a heavy stone feel in the hand. Eye tracking is used to great effect in ways that add to the immersion and augment gameplay nicely. NPCs will actively catch your gaze, which really took me aback when I first realised it was happening, and you can navigate menus just by looking at the options you want. There’s even an option to add extra aim assist to enemies and objects you’re focusing directly on, which I think is super neat.

READ OUR FULL REVIEW OF THE PLAYSTATION VR2 HERE

As someone who’s sunk easily over 100 combined hours in the two mainline Horizon games, probably the biggest draw here for me has been the prospect of seeing the many machines up close and personal, and Call of the Mountain definitely doesn’t disappoint. The sheer scale and detail of these things is a sight to behold and really puts into (literal) perspective just how fearsome and powerful the likes of Thunderjaws, Stormbirds and Fireclaws actually are in this world. A special extra mode available once you’ve gone through the onboarding portion of the campaign, called Machine Safari, that takes you on a five-minute boat tour where you can see the game’s svelte selection of machines going about their business without fear of being destroyed. If you’re looking for a quick and easy way to introduce someone new to VR via the PS VR2 it’s probably the best little experience I’ve come across yet.

It’s also packed with a number of wonderful little touches, like the way NPC characters dynamically react to you getting too close for comfort, even when they’re already speaking and animating in dialogue scenes, or the fact that you can accidentally burn yourself with a torch if you’re not careful about where you wave it. The team at Firesprite wasn’t afraid to let players have a little fun along their journey, with plenty of musical instruments, paintbrushes, breakable pottery and other distractions dotted along the way.

What’s crucial with Call of the Mountain is that, while all of the above is very fun and exciting, it could have easily come off as nothing more than a very expensive and well-polished tech demo. It manages to feel like more than that though, not only serving up a well-paced, 8-10 hour campaign full of engaging mechanics and progression but also giving players plenty of reason to come back with things like collectibles, extra challenges, the excellent Machine Safari mode and simply by virtue of its world being a fantastic place to immerse yourself in.

The PlayStation VR2 and Horizon Call of the Mountain release on February 22nd, 2023.

PLAYSTATION VR2 PRE-ORDER LINKS:

• PlayStation VR2 Standard Kit – $878 with free shipping
• PlayStation VR2 Horizon Call of the Mountain Bundle – $958 with free shipping
• PlayStation VR2 Charging Station – $79 with free shipping

The post Horizon Call Of The Mountain Review – A Thrilling AAA VR Experience appeared first on Press Start.

If you’re somebody who grew up with Harry Potter, then Hogwarts Legacy is the game you’ve been dreaming about. You’ve probably got some well-placed nostalgia in the original games; enjoying the experience of going to class at Hogwarts, casting spells, and exploring the grounds. Until now, no game has come close to capturing the magic of the world of Harry Potter. While Hogwarts Legacy does have some of the pitfalls that many modern RPGs of today do, no game with magic feels as joyful to play as this. 

Hogwarts Legacy takes place over a hundred years before Harry Potter took his first train to the wizarding school. In the game, you play as your own student, unusual in that they’re beginning their magical journey at Hogwarts in their fifth year, but also in that they can tap into and harness a powerful force that not many people have been able to prior. It’s simply called “ancient magic”, and its rarity has made you a target for Ranrok, the leader of a goblin rebellion, who has allied himself with dark wizards to try and harness your ancient magic for their own purposes. 

While Hogwarts Legacy has little to do with the franchise it was born from, the plot is serviceable enough to keep you intrigued, even if it does take a bit to get going. There was rarely a surprise as the story played out, but I appreciate the dedication of Hogwarts trying to do its own thing and not simply being a retread of the conventions that we’ve come to see from both Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts. Regardless of where the story goes, it does a great job of nailing the feel and tone of a story set in the world of Harry Potter, which is a plus. 

But I’d fervently argue that the crux of the Hogwarts Legacy experience is just living your life in the world of Hogwarts. From a gameplay perspective, you’ve probably played the type of game that Hogwarts Legacy is before. It’s an open-world that’s populated with activities to undertake, characters to engage with, and secrets to uncover. Hogwarts Legacy’s world isn’t as big as other open-world games, but it’s packed with things to discover. Hogwarts itself is a marvel comprising winding corridors densely packed with hidden nooks and crannies just begging to be uncovered. The surrounding areas like Hogsmeade offer a shopping district for players, while the Highlands around Hogwarts is also explorable. It’s bigger than you’d expect but smaller by the standard of most open-world games. 

There’s a whole bunch of activities packed into Hogwarts Legacy’s world to uncover. The open world is filled with collectibles packed with little lore-laden tidbits that I’m sure fans of the Wizarding World will enjoy uncovering. Other activities include Merlin’s Trials, which act as Breath of the Wild-esque shrines, offering puzzles to solve with minimal guidance, and of course a wide range of beasts and dark wizards to take down. 

THE CHEAPEST PRICE: $79.99 WITH FREE SHIPPING FROM AMAZON

Surprisingly, one of the strongest cores of the Hogwarts Legacy experience is the combat system. You’re eventually given just over twenty spells and each of them serves a great purpose in battle. With the press of a button, you can block spells with Protego, but perfectly blocking allows you to parry, throwing back a Stupefy to stun your attacker. There are dodge rolls as well for avoiding the odd unblockable attack, but magic is the solution to most of your problems in Hogwarts Legacy’s combat. 

I say that because the combat has been tuned to take advantage of most of the spells you’ll wield. Where other games might just add elemental weaknesses to their combat, Hogwarts Legacy has you exploiting physical weaknesses to get the jump on enemies. You can suspend mutant toads by their tongue mid-attack with Levioso, exposing their soft underbelly to deal critical damage. You can even slash that same tongue with Diffindo, a severing charm, to insta-kill it. A troll’s club can be Flipendo’d to deal critical damage to itself. You can even use Expelliarmus to interrupt a wizard’s casting or rip an axe out of a non-magical enemy’s hands and throw it back at them. There are even more options to exploit enemy weaknesses too, and it helps encourage the use of your whole repertoire of spells. 

Spellcasting and combat are just one side of the coin, however, as you’ll still have to do what you can around Hogwarts to be a star student for your house. Attending classes often unlocks new spells, but also opens up questlines for other students around Hogwarts who might need your help. There are clearly two tiers to Hogwarts Legacy’s side quests – some of the more involved quest lines feel like they could be in the main game, while others are delivering certain goods from one area of the map to another. 

Spells are not only used in combat either, with some of them being utilised to solve puzzles too. They’re the kind of puzzles that have clear solutions, so no immersive sim-like interactivity is present here, but they’re still just as satisfying once you realise what you have to do to solve them. It’s especially exciting, and perhaps even Metroid-like, to unlock a new spell and then go exploring to see what new areas of the castle or highlands you can explore now. It all comes together in the sense that there’s always something to do or see in Hogwarts Legacy no matter what point you’re at in the journey.  

Through the story, you’ll eventually be given access to The Room of Requirement. It’s designed to scratch that base management itch that many players might have – allowing you to conjure furniture to decorate it how you see fit. It’s so undemanding that if you hate this kind of thing in games you can safely ignore it, but it’s simple enough to engage with that it pays dividends if you do. You can set up potion stations, potted plants, and more to create your own little terrarium of sorts, which can then be harvested once a certain amount of time has passed. 

Within the Room of Requirement is also a selection of habitats to house the friendlier beasts in the game, which can be captured in a knapsack out in the wild similar to Newt’s suitcase in Fantastic Beasts. Emptying the knapsack then allows you to care for the beasts (or set up the systems that will care for them) which in turn provides you with materials to enhance your gear with. It’s another system with enough depth to it that it’s impressive that it’s even included. But if it’s not your thing, you can engage with it as much as you like. 

The main story will take most players around fifteen or twenty hours to complete, but Hogwarts Legacy’s world is full of other activities to fulfill. Completion of optional quests and finding certain collectibles contribute to challenge meters, which subsequently unlock sets of gear for players. It is admittedly done-to-death design in open-world games, but there is so much variety on offer here in a world so compelling that it doesn’t ever feel incessantly grindy. If you’ve got your eyes on completing everything, you could easily pull fifty or so hours out of Hogwarts Legacy or even more depending on how long you spend on each task.  

And I say that with love because Hogwarts Legacy is really good at making you feel inefficient. The world is so inviting, and the activities are just so compelling that I rarely travelled in a straight line from one objective to another without getting distracted by something else. I haven’t felt this compelled to explore an open world since dare I say it, Elden Ring, but it feels like the right mix of size and density for the type of experience it’s providing. 

It’s not all great though, and there are some things that I think Hogwarts Legacy could most certainly do better. For one, the gear system is great. There’s a nice variety of robes, scarves, glasses, and hats on offer that any wizard or witch would love to wear. You can even transmog anything at any point, but the gear itself feels a little bit tiresome to manage. You’ll often find yourself with five robes, all looking the same, but with slightly different stat increases. It’s not a huge dealbreaker, given that the combat feels more rooted in skill rather than pure number or stats crunching, but it was annoying enough to have to keep selling off the old stuff that I had to mention it here. 

And then there’s the absence of one of the most integral parts of the Harry Potter experience – Quidditch. There’s in-universe justification for why it’s not playable in Hogwarts Legacy, but it feels strange not to have it here when every other aspect of the Hogwarts experience is here. It by no means demotes the feelings of the experience, but even having the big Quidditch arena stand there, going unused, feels like a bit of a misnomer to not include it. 

From a presentation standpoint, Hogwarts Legacy does its best to align with the same visual style of the films. While it incorporates some of the classic motifs from John Williams’ now iconic score, Alexander Horowitz’s original score does a great job of evoking the wonder and whimsy of the Wizarding World without entirely relying on the crutch of nostalgia. My favourite touches were the very subdued but, once again, whimsical pieces that played while exploring. They just helped to give such a sense of tone and place to Hogwarts and its highlands as you uncover its many secrets. 

The post Hogwarts Legacy Review – A Spellbinding Adventure That Exceeds Expectation appeared first on Press Start.

Nostalgia sells. And in few places is that more true than the video game market. Whether it’s remakes, remasters, cheap ports or new ideas spun from old IP, nostalgia remains a potent force that’s often wielded with reckless abandon. 

When THQ Nordic first teamed up with Purple Lamp Studio to capitalise on their hold of the rights to the beloved PS2 platformer, SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom, it resulted in a surprisingly good trip down memory lane – one that no doubt resulted in the kind of easy money that would make Mr. Krabs swell in his shell. Purple Lamp clearly proved itself too, because it wasn’t long before it was handed the reins to develop an original 3D platformer based on the franchise – albeit one still largely powered by nostalgia. Enter, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake.

If there’s one thing modern popular media, especially in things like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s that the quickest and easiest way to tap into nostalgia and fandom is with a multiverse storyline. How better to squeeze a metric ton of references and cameos in than whisking our heroes through a bunch of mashed up and barely-connected realms? That’s where The Cosmic Shake comes in, sending SpongeBob and Patrick on a world-hopping journey through several “WishWorlds” based on iconic locales and events from the Hillenburg-led first couple of seasons of the show.

That’s this game’s biggest drawcard too – if you were a fan of the yellow sponge in his earliest outings, you’ll instantly recognise the vast majority of the gags and situations here, and no doubt appreciate that they’re all wrapped up in a fresh story about a deceptive mermaid witch named Cassandra tricking SpongeBob and Patrick into tearing apart the fabric of Bikini Bottom and all delivered by the entire original voice cast.

It’s important that you enjoy that stuff going into The Cosmic Shake, too, because everything around it is about as bog-standard as it comes. As a 3D platformer it feels less like an iteration on what was delivered in Battle for Bikini Bottom and more like a direct continuation of that 2003 release. That’s not necessarily a bad thing on all fronts, but it’s an expectation that begs setting because it’s definitely a far cry from what one would expect from most modern platformers. 

As a licensed tie-in game based on a Nickelodeon property, it’s honestly still a cut above, though. For the budget price of entry, you’re getting an 8-10 hour adventure set across seven worlds and a sizable hub with tons of collectibles to find and easter eggs to do the Leo DiCaprio pointing gif at. Each world sees SpongeBob don a throwback costume and endeavour to rescue one of his friends from their own twisted wishes with Patrick in tow as a helpful, airborne balloon (there’s a reason for that) on hand to point him in the right direction or drop a fresh pair of health undies in a pinch.

Clocking in at anywhere up to an hour in length, each of these worlds represents a decent jaunt with a good amount of gameplay variety switching between precision platforming, light combat, minigames and the obligatory SpongeBob sliding sections. I can’t say I found the actual level design anything close to inspired, but if you enjoyed what BFBB had to offer, Purple Lamp has clearly set out to replicate the same simple, no-frills vibe that would definitely go down well with younger audiences who are less likely to baulk at its flaws. There are some interesting enough new wrinkles, like SpongeBob’s bubble attack that traps enemies in place or his karate kick, which is routinely combined with jumping and gliding to make for some pretty engaging platforming sections. 

There’s a lot that feels rehashed from the last game, for better or worse, but I feel it’s important to stress that I absolutely did have fun playing through this new adventure as a fan of collectathon 3D platformers. It’s not going to have an moustachioed Italians lining up to renew their plumber’s certification but it’s a far sight better than most of the licenced junk aimed at kids and parents out there.

It’s really the joy of the SpongeBob property and its cast of characters that carries The Cosmic Shake, a fact that I’m sure doesn’t come as a surprise. It’s here that Purple Lamp has really nailed the assignment, giving fans an enjoyable new story that’s positively stuffed with nostalgia for the earliest era of the cartoon. Only now it’s all presented through some genuinely attractive cutscenes backed up by brand-new voice work from the show’s cast. Despite being relatively simple, the in-game visuals build on what worked for Battle for Bikini Bottom and look perfectly pleasant, plus the 30+ unlockable costumes are a riot.

It’s tough to complain about a game like this with the context of its place in the landscape, but there are definitely some gripes I had that felt warranted. Enemy variety is just okay, with less than 10 different jelly-based bad guy types, but SpongeBob’s limited combat prowess makes them feel even more repetitive to fight. And you’ll do it a lot as you return to each world looking for collectibles with nearly no method of tracking beyond a number total, making constant backtracking a reality.

The post SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake Review – A Decent Bit Of F.U.N. appeared first on Press Start.

Brands like Silent Hill and Resident Evil have a cachet that has endured decades and they’re undoubtedly mammoths of the survival horror genre, but there’s no denying that Dead Space was an instant classic when it first launched two generations ago. It upended the genre’s “aim for the head” trope, delivered a master class in tone and atmosphere and proved the exception to the rule that in space people could absolutely hear you scream. 

EA Motive’s remake of Dead Space is absolutely divine.

THE CHEAPEST PRICE: $74.99 AT AMAZON WITH FREE SHIPPING

They could have easily turned in a prettier, 1:1 experience that served to copy and paste a game that didn’t really do a whole lot wrong to begin with. Instead, Motive has taken a modern classic and rebuilt it from the ground floor to meet the expectations of ‘today’s gamer’. Isaac Clarke is no longer the stoic, silent protagonist, encounters are more dynamic, and the game’s setting, the USG Ishimura—an iconic, sci-fi planet breaking starship that rivals Nostromo—is a seamless dreadnought without a loading screen in sight. 

While that’s undoubtedly exciting for people who adored the original Dead Space, I also expect there’s an audience of gamers who’ll be exposed to the series through this remake.

Dead Space’s narrative is a simple one at first glance. Aboard the Kellion, Isaac Clarke is lured to the USG Ishimura as part of a search and rescue mission, motivated largely by the fact he’s had radio silence from his wife Nicole, who has been serving aboard the vessel, after her last cryptic video log. Once aboard, things go pear shaped as Isaac is separated from his crew, pursued by mutated and reanimated corpses known as Necromorphs, and he’s left to unravel what happened here. Of course, fans will recall Dead Space having quite a bit of lore to uncover throughout.

EA Motive has done an incredible job at reworking several characters, from Isaac himself through Gunner Wright’s return performance, to Nicole and the more obscure, disposable characters like Dr. Cross, to craft a more cohesive narrative that you’re in for the duration. They’ve also injected pieces of that aforementioned lore into this game’s side missions, managing this time to show as well as tell while confirming a number of fan assumptions left unanswered by the original work.

Isaac’s resourcefulness and desperation is a very relatable part of his character. He’s just an everyman engineer and it shows through him brandishing his plasma cutter—intended as a mining tool—as a weapon. The spirit behind the original’s combat is firmly intact here, as Visceral’s genius twist on traditional survival horror tropes sees them flipped on their head. By establishing the destroyed brain matter of these reborn monstrosities, they cleverly abandoned the notion of delivering lethal headshots, instead pivoting to immobilisation. To do this, players need to sever the limbs of these horrors before leg-by-leg, and arm-by-arm eliminating their ability to reach you.

It’s an effective twist on the formula and holds up still today. The one thing that feels like it’s a detriment to every encounter and undercuts some of the tension felt is the game’s new Intensity Director. Despite the dynamicity introduced to encounters, it can tend to sap the feeling of dread as the game overwhelms you with numbers rather than fear. It felt, at times, a little closer to the more action-oriented sequels and felt notably less scary than I fondly remembered.

As far as new features go, Dead Space definitely delivers and, by the end, does feel like a new take on the experience rather than a road retread. Gated areas, unlocked only through increasing your security clearance aboard the vessel, coupled with the aforementioned side quests, give plenty of reason to trot to and fro on the seamless vessel—there’s a Metroid-feel to the game’s map that wasn’t quite evident before. The upgrade trees have been overhauled, removing any redundancies within the grid layout, and some of the weapons introduce brand new alt-fires that offer more creative and strategic avenues during some of the bigger arenas.

Moving about the vessel, and even transitioning between the story’s chapters, is also vastly different at times. I was pleasantly surprised at how often this Dead Space remake would subvert what I thought was coming and present the original’s story beats through a new lens.

Areas of the map with zero gravity now allow unfettered free movement, which is more in keeping with the original’s sequels. There are also a bunch of environmental obstacles, in the form of corrupted tendrils that can only be eradicated by shooting the glowing pustules. On top of challenging player progression throughout the ship, they also serve to pre-empt the weak spots on Dead Space’s infamous boss encounters. I’m also part way through my new game plus run and the addition of unique collectibles, stronger enemy variants and an alternate ending are going to do plenty to get me through again.

As with most remakes, and even remasters, the most apparent improvements come by way of fidelity and performance. Motive’s is clearly the prettiest and most optimised version of the game we’ve had the pleasure to play, and I certainly recommend people diving back in to opt for the performance mode. The rock solid frame rate lends to the game’s immersion and keeps players looped into the action. The game’s use of light and shadow has been completely overhauled, giving an even more grim personality to the game’s shining star—its world. It’s different enough, however it certainly honours Visceral’s tone, art direction, and atmosphere. 

One thing Resident Evil 2’s remake did exceedingly well was the wet gore that added a real splash to all things gruesome. Dead Space serves up the same sinewy slop alongside a layer system that results in literal peeling of flesh from bone. The first encounter where I stripped away meat from a Necromorph’s shin left me aghast. It really enhances the shock factor of having to shoot appendages off of the shambling dead.

One touch I really loved was the retro futuristic holographic menu that returns from the original game. It’s minor and ultimately means little in the game’s context, but seeing it and feeling that pang of nostalgia served as the perfect return to Dead Space.

Dead Space releases on January 27th for PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. Amazon currently has the cheapest price at $74.99 with free shipping.

The post Dead Space Review – A Horror Classic Made Whole appeared first on Press Start.

While I realise it’s an incredibly early call, it’s one I’m more than willing to make – SEASON: A letter to the future (stylisation intentional) is one of 2023’s first Game of the Year contenders.

In a stage of my life where time is precious it’s not often I find myself putting more than an hour or two into a single video game session, but for a full five-plus hours one balmy and slightly stormy afternoon I saw this particular game through from start screen to end credits. I’d found myself so completely enraptured and entangled in its world that I couldn’t fathom the idea of letting it go until it ultimately did the letting go for me – an experience mirrored by the woman I’d come to observe on-screen and shared between us via the controller in my hand.

To be fair, five hours isn’t really all that much to ask. And SEASON doesn’t ask at all, it invites you to give. You could give more, if you like, or perhaps less if you try, but in a game about capturing the fleeting moments before an inevitable end it feels natural to hold on as long as possible. In this world that developer Scavengers Studio has drawn out of nothing, one frozen in a moment that’s never existed, time is less a linear path and more a vessel to be filled with knowledge and discovery, with art and culture, with love and war, all crystallised and worshipped as memory.

Memory is the seen and unseen force driving SEASON’s story, in which a woman from a small village is tasked with capturing the memories of a world on the brink of being washed away by a ruinous event. Armed with an instant camera, an audio recorder, a journal and a bicycle, she’ll take her first ride through new lands, collecting the memories of the people and places about to be left behind. In this game’s reality, memories are almost material and tangible, able to be given as well as taken away, lending this task a special importance that becomes more evident with every new observation.

What this means, as a sharp reminder that this is in fact a video game that necessitates playing, is that you’ll guide this woman in a mostly freeform fashion within the cosy borders of Tieng Valley, searching for people and points of interest to record in your journal as sights, sounds, and artistic interpretations. It’s a task to not only collect memories, but to interpret and distill them into a record of a place in time and a study of its place in time. Which memories have endured in this place and why? How do they shape the land and those who live on it and how will their absence or presence shape the future? That’s for you to decide.

Your in-game journal is a nearly freeform expression of what you observe in this world, each page representing a small slice of the landscape that you can fill with whatever photos or audio recordings you make within them. Though there’s an end goal, and some important steps to get there, the way you move through the Tieng Valley and the things you take from it are entirely up to you. It’s a genuinely refreshing way to experience a piece of art, not just to witness it, or partake in it, but to actively preserve it. And not as a whole, but in a form that only you can give it and that only you will take away from it. That those things can be said of a finite collection of data engineered into one, consistent arrangement is quite something, I think.

If misguided attempts at flowery language are any indication, describing what SEASON means, is difficult. What it is, though, is a video game, and a very good one. Whether you’re gazing at beautiful vistas or seeing the game world rush past as you intuitively pedal your bicycle through the magic of the DualSense controller’s adaptive triggers and visceral feedback, it’s wonderfully pleasant in the hand. Scavengers Studio has made existing in this place a joy, giving players wonderful freedom to experience and parse things at their own pace without fear of getting it wrong. It’s a succinct little adventure, but one that has plenty of time for those inclined to take it.

As you travel around, taking snaps and audio clips and personally placing them inside your journal, you’ll slowly start to unravel the mysteries behind the impending cataclysmic event as well as the history leading up to it, occasionally meeting new faces and engaging in choice-driven dialogue. The game’s themes continue to ring true as you help its citizens decide what memories in their own lives are important and what can be gained by the forgetting of others. It’s all very simple but rarely anything less than enamouring and constantly inviting contemplation – it’s the kind of game to be thought about and talked about long after its powerful conclusion and far beyond the boundaries of its content and mechanics.

Above all else, SEASON: A letter to the future is a game that trusts players to take as much or as little from it as they want to carry with them, as much as they feel is necessary to keep it alive or as little as it takes to move forward into the new. As a video game it’s a solid and clever take on storytelling within the medium, albeit one with a noticeable number of bugs, performance hitches and glaring typos, but as a moment in time it’s entirely unforgettable.

The post SEASON: A Letter To The Future Review – An Unforgettable Experience appeared first on Press Start.

Two years ago, when we first saw the PlayStation 5, we also saw Project Athia. It was a brand new game from Square Enix touted as a thrilling story-led adventure. Some thought it could be a new Final Fantasy game. Others thought it was a glorified tech demo, never to release. Now, Project Athia is Forspoken, making good on most of the promises made when it was first revealed. But with that declaration comes a few caveats. Yes, Forspoken is a story-led experience, but it’s average pacing really belies the potential of its unique and inspired combat systems.

You’re Frey Holland, an orphaned street kid whisked away from New York to a strange new world called Athia by a magical talking bracelet nicknamed Cuff. Standard stuff, I know. Frey has entered Athia in a state of turmoil – the four sorceresses (called the Tanta) ruling it have been corrupted by a mysterious presence referred to as “the break.” Frey is resistant to the break, so the people of Athia think she is the hero they need. She wants to get home. But she plays along, hoping that eventually, these two goals will converge. Of course, it’s never that simple.

One of the most impressive aspects of Forspoken is that the world of Athia is exceptionally well developed. There’s a lot to take in here as someone who can appreciate a good amount of lore in games. A joint writing effort between Garry Whitta (Rogue One) and Amy Hennig (Uncharted), I often found myself getting lost in the game’s numerous lore drops. Such a strong sense of worldbuilding establishes history for the world of Athia, so when the inevitable revelations come across in the story, the impact is more significant.

But I wish I could sing similar praise for the characterisation of Frey herself. The way she is characterised is so haphazard. There are times when she’s a sympathetic protagonist, especially in the opening hours, but others where she is genuinely mean to other characters for no reason and subsequently unlikeable. She eventually comes around as the story closes, but during battles, she’ll throw out Marvel-esque quips in a manner that I can only describe as cringe-worthy. There’s a fine line between confident and obnoxious, and Frey crosses it regularly. On the plus side, perhaps the developers knew this, as there are options to reduce the frequency of non-essential dialogue, but it still doesn’t excuse just how asinine it can be.

You’d be surprised to discover that I’m still keen to see another game set in this world and even more so to see Frey continue as its protagonist. Forspoken’s story comes together in such a satisfying manner that I’m almost disappointed to hear that the upcoming expansion will be a prequel rather than a sequel. Not seeing Frey or Athia again after both have been through so much would feel like a waste.

Athia is a massive open world, peppered with activities and checklists to finish. It’s a veritable playground, designed from the ground up to perfectly complement Frey’s unique abilities and how she gets around with the powers Cuff granted her. But if you’ve played any open-world game released in the past decade, you’ve probably already got a decent idea of how Forspoken is structured and where it falls flat.

It’s a relief, then, that Forspoken nails the sense of fluidity and speed in its attempt to offer traversal mechanics like no other. With the hold of a button, Frey can zip around in a magical parkour system called “Flow” to cover a great distance in no time at all. She can evade enemies, do flashy dodges, surfs across the water, and even grapple to new heights with her magic. It’s a sense of speed and subsequent freedom unlike any other I’ve seen in a game. It’s a joy to handle and never gets old. And it’s even better to see how these mechanics feed into the combat of the game.

In combat, Frey can wield four distinct types of magic with differing styles, so any action game fan will be able to find a style to suit them. It’s a deceptively deep system that splits its spells into defense and attack. Attack magic behaves similarly to weapons in games such as Devil May Cry or Bayonetta, allowing Frey to conjure explosive rocks, fiery spears, drenching tornadoes, and area-affecting lightning attacks. Support magic buffs, debuffs, and summons assistance for Frey. There are over forty spells to get acquainted with in Forspoken, and they’re all fun to use and just as viable as each other.

Couple these solid traversal mechanics with a robust magic system, and you’ve got a combat system in Forspoken that’s just fun. Really fun. The game throws all kinds of enemies at you, some of which have elemental weaknesses, adding an additional layer to the combat and encouraging you to change your approach. It’s a bit of a bizarre decision to relegate some boss battles behind optional side missions, which many players might not even see.

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I say this because Forspoken fills its map with hundreds of collectibles and activities to pad out the experience. I’ve alluded to this earlier in the review, and it’s just as you’d expect. Side missions are overly simplistic, rarely offering up more than a wave of enemies to defeat or an item to find. It’s one of the least compelling ways to do optional content, though I must credit Forspoken for not gating progress behind completing some of them like other games have in the past.

But if you stick with the game’s fifteen-hour main story, you’ll still find value in what Forspoken offers. Each boss battle with the Tanta, the villainous sorceresses, feels epic in scope and scale and tests Frey’s mettle. It’s a shame that the game is so poorly paced sometimes. The first half of the game dumps lore on you – not even through cutscenes, sometimes through mandatory lore entries – and then forces you to slow walk with people around a town before finally letting you loose to fight your first Tanta.

From that point on, the game rushes you through the rest at a breakneck pace. This is the part I liked – the game didn’t outstay its welcome and kept the momentum once it got going. It’s just questionable as to how many players will make it to this point. The opening moments are truly woeful – giving you a taste of Frey’s incredible powers but then literally and figuratively trapping you in a locale where you can’t use them. It feels needlessly long, and it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that these lore dumps were added to the game after everything else was said and done.

If you like to do everything in a game, though, there is a heap to do and find in the world of Athia. Completing quests unlocks cloaks, jewelry, and nail patterns that improve Frey’s stats and abilities. If you’re a crafting junkie too, there’s a heap of customising that can be done with individual equipment, like improving magic or defense. As I’ve mentioned, there’s a heap to see and do here, and you can do as much or as little as you like. But if you want to do absolutely everything, I can see players getting forty or so hours out of it. My advice? At a minimum, try a few of the dungeons. The boss battles contained within are great.

Forspoken puts its best foot forward when it comes to presentation. Everything is presented in these exotic gold-accented visuals, and the artistic direction is as strong as you’d expect from a team who has produced a Final Fantasy game. There are some awkward facial animations here and there, for sure, but it’s a fantastic-looking game. In terms of performance, the game has many resolution-first and framerate-first options, including high-framerate modes. In performance mode, I would find myself zipping around an arena that’s being showered with water, lightning, and flames all at once with little to no slowdown.

On the same token, Bear Mcreary and Garry Schyman’s original score lends dramatic bravado to the game’s battles and a sense of exotic otherworldliness when exploring Athia. It’s a great score that perfectly encapsulates the mood that Forspoken is going for and makes every moment feel uplifting and engaging.

The cast is similarly strong – Ella Balinska turns in an excellent performance as Frey, even though her moment-to-moment lines are average at times. The Tantas are brought to life with the help of some major talent in Janina Gavankar, Pollyanna Mcintosh, and Claudia Black. However, my favourite standout is the fiery archivist Johedy, played by The Greatest Showman’s Keala Settle. While the cast comprises mainly celebrities, they all do great work bringing their respective characters to life.

For all that’s bad about Forspoken, there’s a lot that’s good too, which I think is easy to forget. And it’s a shame because underneath the cringeworthy dialogue that Frey spouts from time to time and the done-to-death open-world design, there’s a fantastic game here with an even better premise. Forspoken is a game set in a well-developed world with some really fun and unique mechanics that I’ve never seen in other games. For that, it at least deserves some credit.

THE PLAYSTATION 5 VERSION WAS PLAYED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW. A DIGITAL COPY OF THE GAME WAS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.

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I used to adore the Need for Speed games. Underground on the GameCube was my obsession for a time with its combination of slick, night-time visuals and great-feeling arcade style racing absolutely slathered in early 2000s tuner culture. This time around we’ve got a full open city area full of events, traffic, collectibles and cops to escape; a hip hop laced soundtrack and cel-animation inspired visual flourishes. Need For Speed Unbound has some great aspects and absolutely kept my interest for the length of the campaign with new and faster cars to drive as I progressed – but a few annoyances dragged Criterion’s NFS experience down from greatness for me.

Unbound didn’t make a fantastic first impression on me. Likely due to my lack of experience with modern NFS games, I was expecting near Mario Kart levels of easy drifts and high speed races. I found the game much more demanding of control finesse. Especially in the fairly high powered car you get initially it was very easy to lose control around corners if I expected to just hold the accelerator and drift like it was Ridge Racer. Once I came to terms with actually needing to learn the racing model, adjusting handling of cars to suit my style I found keeping the car under control much easier. Challenging enough to feel rewarding (especially when the game rewards you with boost and a sweet visual flourish for nailing a corner) but still more forgiving than say Gran Turismo. Driving in Unbound feels pretty fantastic.

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The game’s campaign is split into four weeks of driving in Lakeshore, each day split into day and night sessions and the week culminating in a qualifier event to eventually enter the Lakeshore Grand – the ultimate race to earn glory and fame. Each day and night will have a wide variety of events to compete in like races, drift events and takeovers (where you show off combos of drifts, jumps and target smashing) allowing you to pick your preferred way of competing. I really enjoyed the way the game is split into calendar days. It meant I could play for just a day, lock in some wins and reach a logical finishing point – or I could play an entire week in a play session if I felt like it.

It’s important gameplay wise too, as the more events you do in a single day, the more attention you’ll get from the cops. Racing for big rewards increases your heat level so there’s a constant risk/reward going on that keeps things tense. Winning big bucks only to lose your entire days winnings when you’re busted by the cops in the evening feels horrible, but is an effective way to encourage you to find better ways to lose the cops or maybe be a little more considered with how many events you participate in on a particular day.

The cops though, are one of my main annoyances with Unbound. They’re just so damned persistent. Things get easier as your car gets faster and more capable, but in the early days if you build up a decent heat level it can feel damn near impossible to lose the fuzz. Even when I had a fully upgraded, top of S+ tier car it was still more annoying than fun to lose cops given that the moment a helicopter flying overhead or a patrol car driving a nearby road spots you it’s fully back on with the map suddenly peppered with all terrain vehicles and police helicopters. Things get a little more manageable on the relaxed difficulty mode at least, but even there the police’s ability to spot and rain hell upon you at a moments notice gets tiring when all you really want to do is start the next event.

Unbound’s aesthetic is something that I think will be divisive, but personally I love the way it sticks to a very specific vibe. The visual style is semi-realistic with cel-animation flourishes which I think look fantastic, and the music is 100% hip hop. As someone who listens to quite a bit of the genre I recognised quite a few names, but there were some artists I’d never heard before. While I think I wore out the soundtrack by the time I finished the campaign, I love that the track choices had the breadth to introduce me to new music. The characters and dialogue you need to listen to while driving around though, I definitely found grating. It was hard to have all that much sympathy for a bunch of kids tearing up the streets, smashing up people’s cars and then getting on their high-horse about the cops daring to try breaking up their street races.

It would be remiss of me not to mention the Lakeshore Online mode of Unbound. It is entirely separate from the campaign, with a separate money balance and garage but functions in a similar way. You jump into an online city, drive around to events and invite the other players in the city to compete. I think if you enjoyed the campaign and wanted more, this could be a way to keep the whole thing going. I can understand why they’re totally separate garages, but it was a bit of a bummer to have to start from scratch again in the online mode for me.

There’s a lot I liked about NFS Unbound. I love that the game doesn’t expect you to come first to progress, and often I wasn’t even close. Higher places are in most cases just a slightly bigger payday so continuing on a 4th place still gets you some cash to upgrade and hopefully do better next time. I loved the commitment to modern car culture aesthetics, events like the takeover are a great addition along with the distinct visual and musical style choices. While I found the cops mostly tedious rather than exhilarating, once I lost them and got back to the racing I had a great time climbing the ladder, upgrading my cars, learning the city and eventually nailing the corners in races.

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GRIS (pronounced like “grease” and meaning Grey in Spanish) was one of my favourite indie games of the last generation, so hearing the news that it would be getting a native new-gen version with 4K/120fps visuals was music to my ears and a stark reminder that it was high time to replay this gorgeous experience.

That time, dear readers, is now, and with a second playthrough under my belt not only has this re-release of Nomada Studio’s 2018 cult classic reaffirmed my adoration for the game but it’s also helped to rekindle my affections for games viewed firmly as “art”. GRIS is, after all, a moving artwork and never has that been more clear than now.

If you’re yet to have given GRIS a go, it’s a tough one to explain from a narrative perspective, revelling in ambiguity as it does. Playing as the titular Gris, your goal is to bring colour back to a mysterious and desolate world and ultimately recover your voice in a story that slowly reveals itself to be a rumination on grief, remorse, fear and ultimately self-actualisation. Polygon’s Charlie Hall penned an excellent piece on its themes back when the game first launched that’s well worth a read after playing through and digesting its themes for yourself.

When it comes to the game side of GRIS, what you’re in for is a fairly straightforward and incredibly chill adventure platformer that’ll see you make your way through a variety of 2D environments, solving light puzzles and making use of a series of gorgeous transformations that riff on Gris’ personal growth in the face of adversities. It’s free of fail states and rarely mentally taxing but compelling all the same thanks in large part to a number of interesting ideas and a malleable visual identity that adeptly complements what’s going on in any given moment.

GRIS doesn’t ask for much of your time, offering a 4-ish hour journey that you’ll eek ever so slightly more out of if you’re chasing trophies/achievements, but so many stunning views and memorable moments in time and stunning views are offered up in that time that every minute will stick with you. I envy anyone coming into the game for the first time with this new iteration, but even if you’ve experienced it before you’re sure to catch those feels all over again, no less because of the slick new visual treatment.

Running at an uncompromised 4K resolution at 120 entire frames per second (provided you’ve got the hardware for it), GRIS is a marvel. The painterly aspects of its existing aesthetic are only amplified by being presented in such a raw, high-fidelity manner. Anybody witnessing this game should be so lucky to see just one frame of its hand-painted scapes, let alone nearly 8000 of them every minute. I don’t often get excited about ports or remasters of games that simply up the pixel or frame count but this is one of those instances where the improvements made feel distinctly tangible, like you’re being invited into a piece of art with no velvet rope or plexiglass to dilute its splendour.

All that said, if you’ve played and enjoyed GRIS in the past – let it be known that this is undeniably the same game. While I’d enthusiastically advocate a replay to anyone, I wouldn’t go as far as saying that the 4K120 presentation is reason enough to double-dip in place of any of the many other compelling indie releases of 2022. If you’re fresh to the experience, don’t hesitate a second, but otherwise consider whether you possess the technology to get the most out of this new port and/or whether you’ve had your fill of what GRIS has to offer before now.

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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a fantastic open-world action RPG more than worthy of the novels its world and characters are based on. Of that, there are few arguments.

CD Projekt RED had a lot to prove with its 2015 epic, following on from an already-excellent but mostly linear adventure in The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, but it clearly nailed the assignment as it became a pivotal point in the franchise that’s since spawned DLC expansions, a Netflix live-action show and even an anime adaptation.

It’s hard to believe, but that was over seven years ago now, a hallmark amongst the last generation of console hardware and games. With the studio’s next big title, Cyberpunk 2077, not enjoying the same level of near-unanimous praise as Wild Hunt, fans have quickly become eager to step back into the shoes of Geralt of Rivia and relive the gigantic journey all over again. Thankfully, CDPR was listening and won’t see its community suffer the admittedly-wonky performance or somewhat aged designs decision of the original flavour of The Witcher 3 – instead blessing patient players with a remastered and reinvigorated new-gen version of the game built with PS5 and Xbox Series X|S in mind.

I’ve had a number of days to spend some early time with The Witcher 3’s PS5 update, which is free to existing owners of the game, replaying the adventure from a fresh save file (although you will have the option of transferring existing saves to this one) in an attempt to gauge whether or not diving back into Wild Hunt is worth the time of anyone who’s already invested 200+ hours into it in the past. The short answer? Absolutely.

That recommendation comes with a few caveats, of course, like do you have the time to replay The Witcher 3 right now? I certainly don’t, but for those of us still hanging onto our old physical discs or who’ve picked it up digitally through some sale or subscription in the past, it’s worth the low admission price of free to spend at least a few hours back in its world. If you’re totally new to the game and have even a passing interest in massive RPGs or caught the books or Netflix show and developed an interest in the franchise, even better, you’d do well to pick up a copy now and play it through in the best state it’s ever been.

Right off the bat, the most noticeable improvements in this new-gen SKU of The Witcher 3 come in the form of its visuals. CD Projekt RED has taken to the game’s core graphical feature set with an angle grinder and a fresh coat of paint, smoothing off the rough edges of the existing console release and then dialling the quality of just about everything up a fair few notches.

On PS5 and Xbox Series X, this starts with the choice between two distinct visual modes – a ray-traced mode that targets 30fps and a “performance” mode that sits closer to 60fps. Both options utilise AMD’s FSR 2.1 upscaling tech to produce a dynamic 4K resolution. I initially thought I was going to have a hard time choosing which mode to play in, especially because the difference in the quality of the lighting and shadows and the way everything comes together in the ray-traced mode is so incredibly stark. After trying both though, the 60fps target in the performance mode is definitely the real winner. There’s a natural beauty and wonder in the game’s world that comes through most in movement, whether it’s the remarkable weather and time-of-day effects, the way that foliage sways in the breeze and bends under foot, or just the scenery rushing by as you dash through on your trusty Roach. Running at high frame rates simply sells this better than ever before on consoles and really elevates the experience of just exploring and enjoying the massive open world.

Outside of the technical improvements, CDPR has also retooled a ton of the game’s assets, making use of a combination of community mods and in-house updates that have a pretty transformative effect on the game’s overall look. It’s great seeing a lot of cutscenes that were originally pre-rendered now produced in real time, and with character model and texture bumped up significantly, and a lot of the higher-quality models and shadow effects previously reserved only for cutscenes now carry across into general gameplay as well. Just about every object out in the world looks nicer, either because of added detail or just by way of the tweaked environment lighting and optional ray-tracing. I’m not someone that’s able to pick apart every pixel of every frame and discern what’s new or better, but it’s easy to appreciate the game’s image quality as a whole, now that it’s all a lot more cohesive with vastly bigger draw distances and object density and much-improved performance.

I only wish that CD Projekt RED had taken ideas from other, recent AAA titles and offered some kind of VRR/120Hz options for those with the display hardware capable of it. After enjoying God of War’s highest-fidelity visual mode at an unlocked framerate well above 30fps it’s just too much of an adjustment to play The Witcher 3 at 30fps in its ray-tracing mode. It’s unfortunate, because the game looks stunning with ray-traced global illumination and ambient occlusion implemented, but it just doesn’t feel anywhere near as good. In the end I found myself switching over to ray-tracing every time I reached a new area, just to see what it looked like and snap some gorgeous screenshots in the robust new Photo Mode. I imagine many will do the same.

Of course it’s not just visual improvements that make this the definitive version of the definitive open-world RPG. Taking a similar tact, CDPR has revamped many of the game’s underlying mechanics as well as implemented a number of welcome quality-of-life features, once again including some help from community-developed mods. Many of these go a long way to making The Witcher 3 feel more “modern” again, like the new cinematic camera that puts in more effort to frame Geralt’s heroic stature and all of the action he finds himself in. I occasionally found it awkward during fights or certain bits of navigation, more than likely just down to the fact that these encounters and environments were built with the more pulled-back view in mind, but overall it’s a nice way to replay the game from a slightly new perspective that looks a lot more impressive in the moment.

Also adding to this are changes to things like Sign casting, which lets you cast any of Geralt’s Signs by holding R1 and pressing the relevant face button, rather than having to pause the flow of battle to select a sign in the radial menu. It’s one simple tweak but it radically changes how fights feel once you’re used to it, and definitely has encouraged me to use more of the signs that I largely ignored in my original playthrough. CDPR says it’s implemented a lot of combat balance changes based on mods and feedback as well, and although it’s been too long between plays for me to really understand where those can be felt I’m already feeling a lot more confident in battle just because of how much more responsive everything is.

If you’re playing on PS5 you’ll also have the added benefits of console-specific features like adaptive triggers and haptic feedback, which while not overly game-changing have been a nice extra touch so far, as well as Activity Cards and other UI integrations that should help make the whole thing a lot more accessible. At the time of writing the UI features like Activity Cards hadn’t gone live yet, but I’m very keen to make good use of them for jumping straight into specific content as I keep playing.

There’s so much more to talk about when it comes to this hugely comprehensive upgrade to The Witcher 3, and probably a lot I’m yet to see first-hand in the gargantuan game, but I’m confident enough already to say that what you’re getting here is a lot for free. Even if you’re new, the game now comes with all of the excellent expansion content and improvements made to the game in the years since its original release, so it represents great value for money even before the new-gen upgrades. Without a doubt, if you’ve been on the fence about giving The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt another go around or dipping your toes in for the first time – now is your moment.

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After playing through the already-excellent Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII for a third time in its newly-refreshed and revitalised form in Crisis Core –Final Fantasy VII– Reunion, one fact rang true throughout – this is a proper remaster. More than just a simple upscale or even a new coat of paint, it’s a carefully reconstructed and retooled product that wonderfully modernises a 14-year-old handheld game without any sacrifices to the core of the original. In short, it’s both the best way to play Crisis Core and a great new release in its own right.

Some context for those who’ve not played Crisis Core before, though: In this prequel set seven years before the events of the original Final Fantasy VII, players take on the role of Zack Fair, a Shinra SOLDIER operative that becomes embroiled in the fallout after his mentor, Angeal, and another SOLDIER 1st Class named Genesis seemingly turn on Shinra for reasons later explained. Set to the backdrop of a war with Wutai and the rapid takeover of Shinra and its clamour for the world’s precious resources, the game’s narrative ultimate leads players to a deeper look into the origins of Final Fantasy VII’s star players from Cloud and Sephiroth to Tifa, Aerith, Yuffie and many more.

Over the course of the 15-30 hour experience on offer, Crisis Core was an occasionally messy but ultimately clever prequel that quickly became the highlight of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII media blowout of the 2000s that also gave us the likes of the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children film. Back then, it was an exclusive to Sony’s PlayStation Portable handheld console, where it impressed with production values beyond what anyone was used to in such a small format and a compelling gameplay loop that included a unique, real-time combat system.

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Fast forward to today, and Final Fantasy VII is seeing something of a renaissance thanks to 2020’s Final Fantasy VII Remake kicking off a trilogy set to explore the original’s story and setting anew. Where that game was a wholly new take on the early portion of the main Final Fantasy VII game, Crisis Core Reunion is closer to a “remaster” of the PSP prequel, updating the presentation and crucial gameplay elements but leaving the core of the game largely intact. It makes a lot of sense too, where the PS1 original’s old-school JRPG sensibilities were due for an update in the remake, Crisis Core’s action-oriented gameplay and snappy pacing still hold up fairly well.

The biggest and most immediate changes in Crisis Core’s move to modern platforms nearly all stem from the vast gulf in functionality between the PSP’s restrictive button layouts and the controllers available to players on home consoles and PC. The simple addition of camera control with a right stick has a transformative impact on how the game is presented and how Zack handles in the moment, but the team at Square Enix has risen to this new challenge admirably by both ensuring players have stuff to look at outside of the confines of the original perspective and also taking the bulk of its combat gameplay back to the drawing board to rethink how it should work in the new format.

I mentioned a lot of what’s changed in my earlier preview impressions of the game, but the crux of it is that combat in Reunion feels vastly more fast-paced and reactive than in the PSP version of Crisis Core. Gone is the clunky, scrolling menu that bound all of your actions including basic attacks and magic, and now everything is mapped to the multitude of face and shoulder buttons available instead. With full, immediate control of Zack’s actions and a freely-adjustable camera, fights feel much closer to something like Final Fantasy VII Remake or even Kingdom Hearts.

All of the neat little wrinkles and ideas that made combat in Crisis Core unique and interesting the first time are still here, mind, like the compelling and unpredictable DMW system, the way Materia is incorporated into the flow of the action and the need to think hard about your equipment layout when facing down the game’s toughest foes, it’s all just a lot more manageable in the moment. Some new tweaks have been implemented to take advantage of Zack’s enhanced playability as well, such as the ability to cancel powerful foes’ ultimate attacks by pummelling them with strong abilities. In its new form, I’d almost be bold enough to suggest it’s one of my favourite takes on real-time combat that the Final Fantasy franchise has dabbled in thus far, despite a noticeable lack of challenge even on the Hard difficulty setting.

Outside of combat, the general gameplay and structure of Crisis Core is a lot more recognisable and true to the handheld original, although again the addition of full camera control does give everything a different feel. There are times where it’s more noticeable, in fact some of the late-game set pieces and minigames seemingly had to be modified to fit, but for the most part it’s the same game. That means what’s here is a mostly-linear jaunt through 10 distinct chapters where you’ll trek through a few key locales while occasionally being afforded the opportunity to wander sections of Midgar and other places of your own accord and pick up side content. Funnily enough, anyone coming to this game from Final Fantasy VII Remake will feel right at home with how everything is laid out, albeit of a much smaller scope here.

The one quirk of Crisis Core’s that might come out as a bit of a rub with new players is its reliance on bite-sized, self-contained “Missions” to pad out its gameplay offering. There are 300 of the bloody things, and while they were a fantastic way to offer PSP players short bursts of gameplay that they could knock out on a commute or during a bathroom break, they make less sense here. Each one is a barely minutes-long endeavour where you’re dropped into one of only a small selection of environments to navigate, picking up treasures and engaging in combat encounters on the way to take down a predetermined foe. 

These missions aren’t not fun, largely thanks to how good Reunion’s revamped combat is, but they get grindy real quick and they’re unfortunately quite essential to obtaining the game’s most useful items and abilities and keeping Zack levelled up to meet the challenge of the main content. At the end of the day there’s no getting around the fact that they’re a core component of the game and something returning fans will have already accepted, but new players might question what they’ve gotten themselves into after around the 150th mission.

Elsewhere, some very welcome quality-of-life improvements do go a long way to alleviating any frustration or tedium that might arise from the original’s design. All fights can be instantly restarted upon dying, for example, also offering players the opportunity to tweak their character build before going back for a second beating. Throw in auto-saves, increased checkpointing amongst multi-stage encounters and a vastly improved UI that pretty closely resembles Final Fantasy VII Remake’s menus and there’s much to appreciate about how Square Enix has considered where it presents Crisis Core warts-and-all and where it smooths off any rough edges.

Of course another huge selling point for Crisis Core Reunion is the massive upgrade to its visual and audio treatment. Built from the ground-up in Unreal Engine 4, it’s pretty well night-and-day compared to the PSP version, with model, texture and effect work that feels on par with the gorgeous Final Fantasy VII Remake. There are definitely some obvious holdovers from its origins, environments for example are packed with tons more detail but they’re still built on the same compact, basic layouts. Likewise character models are gorgeously-rendered with sharp texture work and new geometry but they’re placed on the existing rigs which means they animate like it’s still 2008, which can be awkward at times.

It’s still an enormous glow-up overall though, all of the new assets and effects combined with the razor-sharp resolutions and fluid performance afforded by new platforms make it an impressively new-feeling iteration that goes well beyond what’s expected from a modern remaster. It doesn’t stop at in-game visuals either, with Square Enix using a combination of AI-upscaled and edited original CG animations and some completely new content (gorgeous new summon sequences being a great example) to tie everything together.

There’s also the small matter of the game’s voice work which, shockingly, has been completely redone with the voice cast updated to match the Remake more closely and voice acting added to all of the previously text-only dialogue. It’s a pretty big deal and another stark example of just how much work has gone into updating Crisis Core beyond the expected new bells and whistles. It’s seriously impressive stuff, and the new cast does a great job overall, especially when it comes to characters who had zero voiced lines the first time around. What’s more, Crisis Core’s original composer, Takeharu Ishimoto, is back with brand-new arrangements, making Reunion just as much an updated aural experience as a visual and mechanical one.

To be frank, assessing this “remaster” as a whole is a difficult task, as anyone’s enjoyment of it will largely come down to what Crisis Core means to them. Devout fans who played it on PSP are going to see an old favourite in an entirely new light through well-considered updates designed to delight returning players, but those coming into it having missed the game in 2008 or entering fresh off of Final Fantasy VII Remake may find it a jarring transition. That said, critiquing it purely on the merits of the work done to enhance the base game it’s a stellar effort and a commendable commitment to producing something worthy of Final Fantasy VII fans’ love for this world and its characters.

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I’ve always been a big fan of Dead Space, so having a new game of that ilk in The Callisto Protocol was always going to be appealing. From the minds that brought us Dead Space, it’s occupying the same space as other fantastic spiritual successors like The Evil Within, Bayonetta, and even Lost Odyssey. After playing The Callisto Protocol, it’s clear that the Dead Space DNA has been left intact, but much like the new Biophage threat, it’s mutated into something entirely different.

The Callisto Protocol sees you taking on the role of Jacob Lee, a freight transporter pilot running jobs for the United Jupiter Company. His latest assignment is simple but lucrative – move some unlabelled but volatile cargo between Jupiter’s moons – Europa and Callisto. His ship is ambushed by a terrorist group, leading to a crash and subsequent imprisonment in a facility built on Callisto. Of course, while imprisoned, Jacob is broken out of his cell during an outbreak of an unknown pathogen and realises that he has to escape.

What follows is a story that is ironically only surprising in that there are almost no surprises. The Callisto Protocol wears its influences on its sleeve, no doubt, but it feels like a real missed opportunity to play with and subvert players’ expectations with how the game plays out. Instead, The Callisto Protocol delivers a sci-fi story shamelessly derived from the stories that inspired it – think Alien meets Dead Space – with little artistic flair to truly establish it as its own. That being said, The Callisto Protocol does feel more grounded than Dead Space, so anyone who found the gigantic space-faring bio-recombinant necromorphs obnoxious will find solace in the simplicity of The Callisto Protocol.

So as you’d expect, the game plays similarly to Dead Space. It’s a largely linear, narrative-driven thriller that sees Jacob working his way through Callisto’s facilities in an attempt to escape. But even though it’s clearly inspired by Dead Space, The Callisto Protocol does a few things that you’d never see in a Dead Space game in an attempt to carve out its own niche. It does this in a few ways – from telling a more grounded story and handling combat and encounter design.

The Callisto Protocol’s combat isn’t about dismembering but instead more about heavy hitting. With more of a focus on melee, you’ll spend much more time up close and personal with your enemies. With such an increased focus on melee, it also means that you’re given a whole bunch of manoeuvres to evade and block attacks from incoming enemies. This is done by holding the stick to the left or the right of an enemy as they attack or holding it back to block. While the game insists that there is no timing requirement, there were times when a successful dodge still led to me taking damage. It’s a cool system in practice and one that feels so good when you pull it off correctly, but one that could have been more consistent.

This dovetails rather awkwardly with the fact that while the combat has some great weight and is relentlessly satisfying, things start to fall apart when you’re being attacked by more than one enemy. Jacob can’t dodge more than one attack at a time, and you’re given few options to take on multiple enemies simultaneously. A heavy melee strike can hit multiple enemies, but it’s so slow to wind up that it is impractical in the middle of a pile-on.

If you’re not reading between the lines enough, I’ll say it. The Callisto Protocol is a challenging game. For the most part, it’s challenging in that you have to manage your resources effectively when engaging in battles with your enemies. In some aspects, and this is the minority of my experience, it’s challenging to the point where it can become frustrating. The combat system falling apart when faced with more than one enemy and attacks that kill in one hit are bound to frustrate players. As a massive fan of horror games, these kinds of challenges are ones I’m accustomed to (and perhaps even welcome), but for some players, it will be more frustrating than fulfilling. Accessibility options will no doubt remedy some of these frustrations – including auto-dodge and lock-on aiming, but Callisto can be a challenging game.

The weaponry you’re outfitted with is relatively modest, offering players variations on the typical pistol, shotgun, and assault rifle. None of the weapons ever really have a purposeful use – you can easily finish the game with the gun you’re given at the start – and it feels like a missed opportunity to have such simple weaponry.

That said, the combat does a fairly good job of forcing you to mix it up between weaponry, melee, and your telekinetic power (called GRP). There wasn’t a single time in the game when I relied on one more than the other. Pummelling an enemy in melee highlights an area on the enemy, which deals better damage if you shoot at that point quickly after dealing damage. It’s a simple system that never gets old. Throw in the ability to grab and throw enemies onto traps such as spikes, fans, or rotating blades with your GRP, and you’ve got a pretty strong combat system that The Callisto Protocol builds itself on.

It’s a shame that the enemy variety is so low. The new threat is called the Biophage, and there are only about six or seven enemies that you’ll encounter throughout the game. Perhaps even more disappointing is that about half of these enemies behave the same, merely looking slightly different. Games like Resident Evil 7: biohazard did so much with so little, so it can work, but the lack of enemy variety in The Callisto Protocol did mean that encounter design towards the end of the game did get a bit repetitious.

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Once again, some creative flourishes do their best to keep things interesting here. The second act encourages you to play stealthily due to the design of the enemies there, feeling more akin to the encounters found in games like The Last Of Us. Similarly, leaving enemies damaged but not dead for too long will see them mutate, but all this ever amounts to is literally turning them into bullet sponges who deal more damage. These are both great ideas, in concept, but I’d love to have seen different mutations that altered the flow of battle in other ways rather than just having to spend more ammo on them.

I previously referred to Callisto Protocol as a thriller, which was a deliberate distinction that I made. If I had to decide how scary a game like The Callisto Protocol is, I’d liken it closer to games like Dead Space 3 or Resident Evil 4. It’s a tense experience constantly throwing things at you, but it never quite reaches the lofty heights of terror similar to games like the first two Dead Spaces or even something like Resident Evil 7. The Callisto Protocol is a loud game, constantly throwing music and loud stingers at you to the point where it doesn’t give you the space to even build tension. Such a loudness takes away from the scares, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a tense experience.

As alluded to earlier, there aren’t any corners cut either. Your first run will easily take you upwards of fifteen hours to complete. My first run took almost twenty as I was taking my time to explore everything and defeat some of the more challenging encounters on the hardest difficulty. The game gives you some “optional” paths that further flesh out the story and rewards you with extra loot, but you can see everything the game offers in a single playthrough. There are no unlockables, unfortunately, and the new game plus mode is coming later too. So while the game is lacking in the replayability department, I never felt short-changed by the experience The Callisto Protocol provided “out of the box”.

When you start thinking about Callisto’s presentation, things get a bit more complicated. This is the first game in which I struggled to choose which mode to play in. One thing is sure, however, and that’s the fact that the production values are through the roof. Every cutscene has been well directed to the point where it would stand alongside games like Dead Space or even the recent God of War games – mimicking the “continuous cut” style that those games employ.

It is harder to deduce whether you’ll want to play this game in its performance or resolution modes. The 60fps option is fantastic, and post-patch works wonderfully. But it comes at the cost of reduced lighting effects, which is a pretty big trade-off in a game as atmospheric as this. Regardless of your choice, The Callisto Protocol is a great-looking game. The characters are well-detailed, the locales are beautifully realised, and the atmosphere is absolutely on point.

Although it might seem like I’ve been overly critical of The Callisto Protocol, it’s still one of the most enjoyable horror experiences I’ve had this year. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel in any tangible way but still offers up an engaging and enthralling experience from beginning to end, even if it’s devoid of surprises. It’s a cliché to say, but I’ll do it anyway – essentially, The Callisto Protocol feels greater than the sum of its parts – and I think any self-respecting horror or even action game fan owes it to themselves to check it out.

THE XBOX SERIES X VERSION WAS PLAYED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW. A DIGITAL COPY OF THE GAME WAS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.

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Although they’re not short of wins with the terrific Spider-Man games, after the underwhelming response to ensemble-led misfire that was Marvel’s Avengers, it feels as though Marvel Games would be hungry for a win in the guise of a big, exciting team-up. On paper, Firaxis is the studio you’d put in charge of bringing a turn-based strategy flavour to one of the comic giant’s many properties. However, as fascinating a brood as the Midnight Suns are, this game’s strongest features are totally eclipsed by plenty of jank, a lot of cringy and uninteresting hangouts at home base, and presentation that doesn’t feel even remotely current.

The game’s most interesting ideas posited revolve around the turbulent peace treaty between the sides of might and magic in the Avengers and the Midnight Suns as they band together under one roof to put a stop to Lilith. As her reanimated progeny, “Hunter”—an imaginative name and occupation double—you’ll be recruited by the group to unlock the dormant memories that helped you fall mother dearest the first time around. I think it’s the attempt to do so much that sees Midnight Suns come up short in telling a focused, engaging story front-to-back. The relationships between the game’s several characters tie it all together, but there’s no belief behind any of them. The game might be crammed full of wall-to-wall heroes and villains and yet a meaningful arc never really emerges.

Midnight Suns is a toxic marriage between two ideas that, in theory, should work. Firaxis’ ability to iterate on their distinguished brand of turn-based strategy, through the implementation of free movement and a deck system, is undeniable and clearly is this particular game’s strength. But as with their last game, XCOM: Chimera Squad, their want to place the interpersonal ties on equal footing comes up short as pretty much any second spent on the Abbey grounds—which serves as both Hunter’s once resting place and the base of operations for the mission to take down Lilith—feels like a waste of time.

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Although the combat bonuses granted can be handy, building these relationships up through inane hangouts and jaw sessions is painfully lifeless. With dialogue and line delivery fit for a ham sandwich, I dreaded any moments of forced conversation.

Just as I think there are simply too many awkward pleasantries shared in the Abbey’s halls, I feel like Midnight Suns lobs a few too many ideas into the mix as far as upgrading your heroes goes. A few of the ideas, including rolling two identical cards into a souped up “+” variant and visiting Tony’s forge, work for me, though I fast gave up on sending heroes out on solo ops and other seemingly inconsequential things. 

Thankfully, the meat and bones of Midnight Suns’ squad-based strategic combat feels like Firaxis firing on all cylinders. Although I miss the easily quantifiable rules of grid-based movement, there’s certainly a cinematic feel to having the likes of Captain America, Captain Marvel, or Blade freely moving around the play space. Managing your heroism level, which can tick up or down based on cards played, is certainly the most strategic part of the fray, even it feels a bit random given the unpredictable nature of the draw. Of course, on the middling difficulty I played on, Midnight Suns is rather forgiving—when a character is downed in combat, you’re likely to be dealt a revive card, so the fall of the cards can fit the circumstance you’re in. 

Despite there not being a heap of variety within Hydra’s ranks, there’s enough going on per fight that you’ll need to keep your wits about you. After a while, already toppled bosses can pop up to mix things up and turn fairly standard battles into pressure cookers. The boss fights themselves have a big feel and are this game at its most “Marvel”. 

I feel like Midnight Suns’ presentation is several rungs below what should have been expected, and it’s even well below Marvel’s Avengers which, despite its undoubtedly larger budget, is still years older now. To say Midnight Suns is hamstrung graphically by its support of older tech is an understatement, which is a shame because its art direction isn’t bad. There are unfortunate masked loads like passing through a portal in Limbo which is every time backed up with a literal loading screen, it stutters, and on Steam Deck—which in fairness isn’t an optimised platform yet—it crashes after nearly every operation. The transitions between Hunter’s sleeping and waking existence are cumbersome and clunky, it feels as though the entire game is at times a stitched together Frankenstein’s monster. 

Outside of the aforementioned cringe line delivery pretty much across the board, Midnight Suns has pretty great sound design and an original score that’s suitably epic. 

Marvel’s Midnight Suns feels like proof that, at some point, Firaxis will perfect this formula they’re going for. Their handle for turn-based combat is top notch, it’s just all of the role-playing lite elements that ultimately hampers the experience. It has its share of issues but Midnight Suns is an easy enough recommendation for both strategy enthusiasts and those swept up by the Marvel machine. 

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Gungrave G.O.R.E. looks like it would have a heap of ingredients for a great game. Stylish gunplay, slick combos, a cool early-2000’s era property and mountains of bad guys to deal with – it almost sounds like Devil May Cry with a heavier focus on gunplay. I wish that were the case. While there is some fun to be found in developer Iggymob’s Gungrave G.O.R.E., it thoroughly outstays it’s welcome and ends up being a tedious, repetitive experience.

The setting is classic video game – you play as Grave, an undead near invulnerable soldier wielding dual pistols and a giant coffin for close-range bashing. You’re introduced to a series of mob bosses in an opening scene and then let loose to beat them one by one, area by area. It’s a story that harkens back to an earlier time in games, mostly serving as an excuse to blast a bunch of guys.

And blast you will. I hope you’re not prone to RSI symptoms if you want to play Gungrave because you’ll spend nearly the entire time pulling the right trigger to repeatedly blast wave after colour coded wave of bad guys the levels throw at you. There are a couple of neat systems that help make things a bit more engaging than just mindless blasting. There’s a ‘Beat’ meter which tracks your consecutive landed attacks while contributing both to your end of level score and your Demolition meter. Demolition moves use this meter to pull off flashy attacks which do big damage and refill some lost health.

You have a shield which recharges if you avoid damage long enough and you can help boost it back up by performing an execution move on a stunned enemy, Doom-style. This can be combined with a whip that you can use to pull stunned enemies to you, or zip yourself to them as a way to move around the battlefield. You’ll gradually unlock more close-combat moves which can be used to break enemies with shields, as well as Destruction moves and general character stat boosts like extra health and gun damage.

Even with this variety of actions and unlocks though, I found the game stopped being all that interesting after the first few levels. Each factory, warehouse and city street setting begins to blend into the next – to the point where it felt like a breath of fresh air once I reached a level with some vegetation. But more than the repetitive environments, the repetitive enemies and combat encounters really began to grate well before getting to the end. New enemy types are introduced so gradually, and half the time don’t really demand a different method of play to anything you’ve encountered before. Mash the trigger, use the Destruction moves as they charge, and dodge when you can.

Every time I played I got the distinct impression that the Gungrave G.O.R.E. needs a bunch more polish. I found some consistent bugs through my play through like a door that was supposed to open after an encounter just… not opening. Walking into a room, being blasted back through the door just as it automatically closed so I was stuck in a hallway until I restarted from the checkpoint. Music that doesn’t loop properly, instead just reaches the end of a track and begins again. And maybe most annoyingly, cut scene audio was consistently blown out. Volume was considerably higher than the regular game audio with voices sounding like they’d been amplified to within an inch of their life. This persisted even after closing and re-opening the game. Level and encounter design was messy as well. Bosses that are just sudden difficulty spikes, and some regular level encounters just threw an unreasonable amount of tanky enemies in an extremely uninteresting attempt at creating difficulty.

Having done some research on the original 2002 Gungrave game, it makes me wish Iggymob had borrowed from it’s cel-shaded anime-like visual style. While G.O.R.E. looks technically impressive, it definitely doesn’t have the same personality with it’s lightly stylised visuals. On PS5 it held up a consistent 60 frames per second in performance mode even with waves of enemies and objects in the scene breaking all over the place. There’s a quality mode which turns on ray-tracing at the expense of a 30-fps cap, but

I found the less fluid movement didn’t suit an action-focused game like this. I didn’t do any Digital Foundry style pixel counting, but in performance mode everything was super sharp on a 4K display. Things can look pretty spectacular when you’ve got the environment smashing around you, enemies coming from all directions and shots flying every which way – it’s just a shame the environments and enemies are so repetitive and soulless.

There is absolutely some fun to be found in Gungrave G.O.R.E. The over-the-top combat is spectacular to watch at times, and blasting at waves of various colour coded enemies is definitely fun for a while. Sadly, it is only a short while. For the majority of my 7-ish hours of play time I just found myself going through the motions. The story didn’t do much to invest me in the world and the environments and enemies were just so repetitive.

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Given the whirlwind of releases over the last month or so, you’d be forgiven if Evil West has slipped under your radar. A brand new IP from Flying Wild Hog of Shadow Warrior fame, Evil West is something of a relic of the past, with a linear single player campaign, secret collectibles, weapon upgrades, perks, and so much more. This isn’t to say Evil West feels archaic, though, with a tightly paced campaign, satisfyingly brutal combat, and flexible progression that all coalesces into a thoroughly enjoyable carnage filled adventure.

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Set in a Wild West under the threat of supernatural beings known as the Sanguisuge, you step into the shoes of Jesse Rentier, a vampire slayer and heir to the Rentier Institute. Headed by Jesse’s father, William Rentier, the Institute’s sole purpose is to eradicate the vampiric threat that has a stranglehold around the United States. With the Rentier Institute having weaponized steam and electricity, the Sanguisuge are desperate to survive against all odds, and launch a nation-wide attack to stamp out humanity for good.

It’s a fairly by the numbers narrative that’s made entertaining by its exaggerated characters and overt cheesiness. While Jesse himself is a pretty cookie-cutter protagonist, it’s supporting characters like long time vampire slayer Edgar Gravenor and doctor Emilia Blackwell that bring out the best in him through their interactions. The dialogue between them has a tongue-in-cheek awareness to it similar to Flying Wild Hog’s Shadow Warrior 3.  It’s also chock-full of references to longstanding franchises like DOOM, Castlevania, and more, further adding to the self-awareness. While it’s nothing to write home about overall, it serves as an engaging backdrop for the blood-soaked action built around it.

If I had to describe Evil West, I’d say it’s most akin to a third-person DOOM Eternal. It has a taut focus on resource management, target prioritization, and making you feel as badass as you look. The core combat revolves around ranged and melee attacks, where Jesse has access to close-quarters combos and long range guns. It’s a seamless and fluid melding of the two that make for an entirely unique and kinetic style of combat, where you swap between weapons as needed, weaving punches in between and tying it all off with a finisher for a much needed health drop.

Combat only deepens further when you unlock an electric powered gauntlet which has a slew of capabilities. It’s primary use is for electrocuting enemies, which allows you to follow up with a high damage beatdown, but it’s the way in which you can zap your foes that allow you to get creative. Whether it’s successfully timing parries, pulling foes towards you with a whip, or unleashing electric hell on the Sanguisuge in an overdrive mode, the gauntlet is consistently satisfying to use in combat, and this is only reinforced through progression.

As you move through linear levels, you’ll level up and obtain perk points which can be spent on new skills for Jesse. There’s a few different trees you can spec into here that provide unique and distinct playstyles, such as maximizing your energy regen to make the most of powerful gauntlet attacks, or exploiting environmental hazards against enemies to get the upper hand. Every perk point obtained is an ever alluring prospect of new ways to dispatch foes in a gloriously satisfying manner.

The plethora of weapons you obtain can also be upgraded over the journey as you collect Bucks. From a standard six shot revolver and bolt-action hunting rifle, to a literal flamethrower, there’s always a way to power up and customize your favorite weapons further. Everything combines to make for a certifiably bonkers combat system that’s practically begging for a new game plus playthrough once you roll credits, which really cements how much Jesse’s slaying capabilities expand over the course of the game.

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All of these aspects, alongside the ability to refund perk points at any point, means you have a robust and flexible progression system that encourages you to experiment with Jesse’s skills. One playthrough wasn’t enough for me to obtain every upgrade, but I’m sure a new game plus playthrough will result in a fully upgraded and equipped Jesse which I’m sure is as crazy as I’m anticipating it to be.

The game is somewhat slow to get going, though. I found the first few missions fell into repetition in their combat arenas due to a relatively limited move set and weapon choice early on. This only lasted for the first 3-4 missions, but left combat feeling more mundane in its opening hours in comparison to how chaotic it can get in the second half of the game.

A combat system like this is nothing without enemy variety, though, and Evil West delivers on that in spades. It’s constantly serving up new combinations of enemy types that demand you to pick and choose what you want to focus on first to make things as easy as possible. During my roughly 10-hour playthrough on normal difficulty, I died a handful of times but ultimately felt like the difficulty curve was satisfying and rewarding. This is most prominent with Evil West’s bombastic boss fights, that demand a higher level of focus, prompt dodging, and exploiting enemy weak points.

While the missions in Evil West are remarkably linear, that certainly isn’t to its own detriment. Each mission hangs around for just the right amount of time, never overstaying its welcome or bowing out too soon to where its ideas can’t breathe. Despite the supernatural setting, Flying Wild Hog still finds ways to weave cowboy staples into these levels, such as an explosive train heist and tense bank robbery. Each level still has some hidden collectibles, skins, and upgrades to find, so it’s never as simple as walking straight ahead.

While I wasn’t able to test the coop during my time with Evil West, only the session host can progress through the story missions and character upgrades, meaning anyone who joins up to a session as a guest will lose all progress made when returning to their own file. Enemy health and damage is scaled up to account for the extra player, but it’s disappointing that a 10 hour experience like this is lacking in the ability to save progression between solo and coop play sessions. Still, though, the entire thing is playable with a mate, so there’s definitely some value to be found in that.

While the Wild West might typically be synonymous with rolling deserts and tumbleweed, Evil West bucks the trend by including a myriad of environments to explore, all as captivating as each other. From your typical western towns to blood leech ridden forests, each mission is a visual delight with a suitable amount of spectacle to each of them. It adds to that already tight pacing to keep you engaged and involved in each part of the world you visit.

While it doesn’t quite stand up to some triple A juggernauts of today, Evil West’s visual allure is in its style, bursting with the vibrant colors of blood and electricity in direct contrast with a steampunk aesthetic. It also ran remarkably well on my 3060ti, and I only ever encountered a few audio bugs during my playthrough.

THE PC VERSION WAS PLAYED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW. A DIGITAL COPY OF THE GAME WAS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.

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Another year, another Dark Pictures game. Little Hope was my least favourite, and last year’s House of Ashes was easily my favourite. So far, all of the games have taken some great horror concepts and flipped them on their head, subverting most, if not all, your expectations. The Devil In Me, then, is the ultimate subversion. That is to say, it’s exactly what it presents itself as, and as a result never quite feels like it capitalises on its fantastic premise. That’s not to say it’s bad – it’s heads and shoulders above Little Hope and better than The Quarry despite it’s significantly smaller scale – it’s just lacking any surprises.

Like the previous games, The Devil In Me is an interactive drama like Until Dawn and The Quarry. You play as a group of characters and must make decisions to navigate them through the story (hopefully alive) to the credits. Each decision you make can have rippling effects on how the story plays out, leading to multiple potential outcomes. Like the other Dark Pictures games, The Devil In Me is entirely self-contained, and you don’t need to play (or have liked) the previous games to appreciate this one.

The Devil In Me follows a crew of documentary filmmakers looking to revitalise their in-trouble series. The team is working on a project about one of the first serial killers in America, Henry Howard Holmes. Stuck on how to make the done-to-death angle interesting, the team receives a mysterious invite from an eccentric millionaire to come and visit his modern-day replica of the H.H. Holmes Murder Castle. In real life, the hotel was unremarkable, but in most fictional depictions, it’s portrayed with impossible spaces, dead-end hallways, and all kinds of other architectural idiosyncrasies designed to trap and kill people.

But I’m getting a bit carried away here. The Devil In Me follows the crew as they visit this totally-normal replica of a serial killer’s playground, but as they arrive, they realise that perhaps they’re being watched and even manipulated. Throw in a crazy masked serial killer and some SAW-esque traps and you’ve got yourself a horror movie, or in this case, a perfectly solid concept for a Dark Pictures game. A mysterious looming threat, a band of characters who love to hate each other, and a setting that’s ripe for scares.

It’s a bit of a shame then that The Devil In Me fails to capitalise on the potential of its concept as much as other games in the series have. I really enjoyed the journey from beginning to end, don’t get me wrong, but it did feel like the writers were playing it safe in some ways. I obviously will not spoil the places that the story goes, but I was waiting for a huge holy shit moment, as usually happens in the Dark Pictures games, and it never came. I’d even go as far as to say despite the grotesque nature of the plot and the violence in The Devil In Me, it’s easily the most grounded and restrained of the games yet.

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It just feels like that Supermassive could’ve done a lot more with the clear SAW inspiration they’d taken for The Devil In Me. I was excited to have to, in the heat of a moment, perhaps do something horrible to my friend early on and then see how that would carry out for them as the story played out. Almost all the “SAW” like moments of The Devil In Me seem to result in somebody dying, and their story closed off. None of the decisions in these moments specifically ever felt especially weighty, and the odd moment where we did kill a cast member, it felt like an almost comical Final Destination-esque moment. I appreciate a good kill as much as the next person, but too much feels left to chance.

Thankfully, the improvements added in House of Ashes carry over with The Devil In Me. Fixed camera angles are still gone, and the useless dedicated flashlight button has been removed. Instead, we have a cursory inventory system that stores keys and unique items for each character. When I played a few chapters of the game last month, I was excited to see if this meant we’d be getting more of an exploration-based Resident Evil-like experience rather than a linear story. While character-specific items and abilities introduced new ways to explore the world of The Devil In Me, it never feels as dramatic a departure from the linear series formula as it could be.

Of course, the elements that do similarly work return here. Besides playing solo, Shared Story mode allows you to tackle the entire experience with a friend online, just as if you were playing together locally. Movie Night, on the other hand, lets you assign the five characters to up to four other people in the room to control. The game subsequently prompts each player when it’s their turn. I adore this mode and will never play a Supermassive game without it. However, I still wish that characters with lower screen time were marked somehow so they could be evenly divided between players.

But as always, each player in Movie Night can have the difficulty of their experience altered. Suppose there are people in your group who are terrible at QTEs or wanting more of a challenge. In that case, they can individually increase or decrease their difficulty. I think it’s a great idea, as these games tend to skew towards more casual audiences anyway, so being able to invite anyone into the fold is well worth the inclusion of difficulty options.

I can’t talk about a game like this without talking about the scares, either. The Devil In Me, as previously mentioned, feels a lot more grounded than in previous games. As such, your mileage may vary as to whether you could find this to be a truly terrifying experience, though for me personally the only scares I got here were from jump scares. Nothing as egregious or as annoying as Little Hope, mind you, as many of The Devil In Me’s jump scares feel well-measured and earned. But The Devil In Me lacks the tension that House of Ashes had.

Similarly, The Devil In Me’s presentation is very much all over the place. It’s hard to work out just how it doesn’t manage to look as good as its predecessors, but so many scenes feel like they’ve been lit incorrectly, or facial animations animated strangely. The central location that the game relies upon has a lot of charm, for sure, but overall, this is one of the most inconsistent-looking Supermassive game thus far. Some of these issues can be fixed with updates in the future, which is a shame because when The Devil In Me looks great, it looks really great.

Thankfully, the entirety of the cast feels really on point this time around, which is great given how flat Ashley Tisdale’s performance was in House of Ashes. The cast is led by a sensational Jessie Buckley, who keen eyes might recognise from Chernobyl, Fargo, or Taboo. The rest of the cast, who’ve made supporting appearances in Game of Thrones, Dune and Coronation Street all hand in decent enough performances to the point where I think they could be the most likeable protagonists in a Dark Pictures game.

THE PC VERSION WAS PLAYED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW. A DIGITAL COPY OF THE GAME WAS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.

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How do you even begin to talk about a game like Goat Simulator 3? I could sit here and write all the crazy things that happened to my Goat and me during my time with it, but that would spoil so much. Despite having finished it and seeing the credits roll, I can’t tell you what the game is about. But while the concept undoubtedly baffles my old man brain, there is one thing I do know about Goat Simulator 3. It’s really stupid but really fun. And isn’t that enough?

Despite the title, Goat Simulator 3 is the second mainline Goat Simulator game. Setting the tone for the game’s humour, creative director Santiago Ferrero reckons it was named that because “God of War: Ragnarok was already taken”. Putting that unfortunate situation aside, Goat Simulator 3 does a fantastic job of building upon the foundations of the first game. As you’d expect, you play as a goat. As you might not expect, you’re thrown into the world on the back of a trailer in a sequence that mimics the opening to Skyrim. So yeah, Goat Simulator 3 is trying to be funny.

This time, your playground is San Angora, which is a bit different from the previous game. It’s bigger, though not as big as the open worlds most players would be accustomed to today. Goat Simulator 3 makes up for this with the sheer density of the map. It’s a real playground and a joy to mess around in. The general goal of the game is to wreak havoc to see how it plays out. After all, a lot of the original game’s notoriety came from the virality of the moments. Goat Simulator 3 is bound to see the same type of attention.

But there’s an admirable effort here to try and make Goat Simulator 3 more of a game with some structure. The open world is still there to play around in, but San Angora is peppered with activities called “Events” to complete. Each of them is usually a joke – help a Swedish person build some flatpacked furniture, kick some tree-hugging hippies off trees to help them grow, play the imperial march on church bells. There’s a nice variety of activities to do here that, more often than not, have funny punchlines.

But there are, of course, some moments where it can get a little bit cringe, though I’d be lying if I didn’t say that Goat Simulator 3 made me laugh on more than one occasion. To tell you everything I enjoyed about this game would be neglectful and irresponsible – the absurdity of these situations is in and of itself funny. But just know that no matter what type of gamer you are, whether you played Wolfenstein to Counter-Strike to Fortnite, Goat Simulator 3 no doubt does a good job at playing to a wide audience.

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Besides events, there are hundreds of “Instincts” to complete, too, though these aren’t mandatory to unlock anything or finish the story. Instead, completing them unlocks currency that can be exchanged for gear. Many of these Instincts feel closer to what was on offer in the first game – hit ten people with a specific item or drive a certain distance in a particular vehicle. They’re menial tasks and busy work. But they help make Goat Simulator 3 feel more fleshed out as a game.

Continuing this theme, Goat Simulator 3 rewards completion of Events with rankings that determine how high up in the Illuminati you are. Each rank you’re in expands your home base, similar to the castle from the first game. Finishing all the grades leads to the game’s final “boss” battle. I really appreciate the intention to better flesh out Goat Simulator 3 and give it more structure, but it doesn’t quite do as much with the concept as it could.

For one, I can’t help but feel that Goat Simulator 3 has become the thing that it’s satirising at points. The structure is like any open-world game of the last decade. Climb some towers, reveal some activities, complete some checklists and fill some progress meters to do it all again. Thankfully, Goat Simulator 3’s ridiculous physics and gameplay keep the game fun even if it doesn’t do everything it sets out to.

So much of Goat Simulator 3 is centered around unlocking gear, and for a good reason. So much of the gear can make your Goat fabulous and change form completely. Eventually, you can play as a giraffe, human, or shark. So much of the gear also comes with unique abilities designed to facilitate your goal of wreaking havoc and causing chaos. Rocket boots, laser beams, pizza launchers, magic beanstalk seeds; you name it, it’s probably in Goat Simulator 3 as a wearable. While I loved the huge slew of equipment and abilities, I often wished they were utilised more in the puzzles during the events.

Besides Events and Instincts, Goat Simulator 3 also features many minigames to jump into with friends. Accessible from the map, each of them allows up to four goats to battle it out in all kinds of precarious situations. Soccer, king of the hill, racing, demolition derbies. There’s a lot to do here, and the physics and gameplay upon which Goat Simulator 3 is built only make each of them funnier than it has any right to be.

More impressively, Goat Simulator 3 also supports both online and split-screen multiplayer. Online is missing the oft-included crossplay options, but including split-screen is a fantastic touch. While doing so drops the framerate down to an (apparently controversial) thirty frames per second, it was pretty impressive to see how much crazy shit I and three friends could conjure up without the game crashing. Splitscreen is oft forgotten as games have grown more complex, but for Goat Simulator 3 to both have a mode and one that works is to be commended.

So while you’ll be done with Goat Simulator 3’s simplistic story mode in about six or so hours, everything that remains after the credits have finished rolling make it stand out. A dense and fun open playground to mess around in with hundreds of items. With friends, either online or off, the sheer stupidity and chaotic nature of everything is bound to make you smile. And isn’t that what games should be about?

THE XBOX SERIES X VERSION WAS PLAYED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW. A DIGITAL COPY OF THE GAME WAS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.

The post Goat Simulator 3 Review – The Best Dumbest Fun appeared first on Press Start.

After sharing similar thoughts on Call of Duty Modern Warfare II’s campaign as Brodie (find his campaign review here), I went into the game’s multiplayer expecting it to impress. However, with every step forward Modern Warfare II takes – like the new perks system and welcome changes to the ever-satisfying gunplay – there seemed to be something holding it back. 

Let’s get this out of the way, though – the gunplay in Modern Warfare II is exceptional, and it’s always been the series’ key strength no matter how rough other parts of the game are. The return of a quick time to kill makes every encounter tense, with new movement options – like the ever-excellent dolphin dive and reworked slide – giving players new ways of gaining an advantage over opponents.

While I usually prefer the usual 6v6 modes, I had a blast with Modern Warfare II’s Ground War Invasion mode as well. Packed full of enemy AI and other players, the sprawling maps were a great way of experimenting with new loadouts, weapons and perks to see what worked for me. And while the game’s AI in Invasion aren’t the brightest tools in the shed, it was a nice change to what is otherwise a hyper-focused set of 6v6 modes.

On that subject, all of the main 6v6 modes you’d come to expect are included in this year’s game, with a handful of new objective-based modes also making their way into the rotation. And while I’m usually one to stick to my beloved selections, I actually liked both of the new modes. 

The first, called Knock Out, tasks two teams of six to have hold of the briefcase when the round ends. It’s a best of five mode with only team revives enabled, meaning players need to stick together and communicate efficiently to get the win. Alternatively, a team can also win the round by eliminating every member of the other team. 

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I really liked this mode for a couple of reasons. As soon as a player takes possession of the briefcase, they become a moving target that’s highlighted to everyone on the map. This always makes for a tense final few moments where players need to be tactical and evade enemy fire, while also ensuring teammates are reviving those who have been downed. As you’d expect, each round tends to fluctuate depending on what happens in the first minute or so, and it makes for a focused and highly enjoyable change to the regular stuff we see every year.

The other new mode, called Prisoner Rescue, tasks players to locate hostages and to either get them out of the area or prevent their extraction, with the first team to 500 points winning the match. It didn’t quite tickle my fancy like Knock Out did, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

Third person mode also makes its way to Modern Warfare II and it’s a blast. Combining a range of classic multiplayer modes into one playlist, third person mode completely changed the way I played the game. It forced me to think strategically about where I was on the map and how players could see me, which made for a genuinely different experience to anything else on offer. It’s not something I’ll always go to, but it’s great to have it there as an option when I don’t feel like any of the other modes on offer.

In terms of general gameplay changes, Infinity Ward’s made some interesting choices with the game’s perks and gunsmith systems. 

Rather than sticking with three always-on perks in your loadout, this year’s game elects to allow you to pick four. However, perks are divided up into three different categories: base perks, bonus perks and ultimate perks. Players start every game with two base perks, while the bonus perk and ultimate will unlock over time. Taking out enemies and completing objectives makes bonus and ultimate perks unlock quicker.

While it was a bit confusing in the beginning, the new system provides a lot of flexibility in the way loadouts can be created for specific game modes. Ultimate perks are incredibly handy, consisting of beloved perks like Dead Silence and Ghost, for example, and are great for team deathmatch and domination modes. Whereas you might want to opt for something a bit different for something like Ground War or Search & Destroy. There’s more than enough here to play around with, and it’s nice to finally get a bit of a rework to the age-old perk system.

Modern Warfare II’s revamped gunsmith system, on the other hand, took some time to even understand at a basic level. Weapon platforms have been introduced to the game, putting weapons into various families rather than having them separated. This allows players to unlock attachments for a ‘family’ of weapons rather than a single weapon itself, which in turn makes for a faster way to gather the attachments for newly unlocked weaponry. It’s a decent enough system once you get your head around it, however this is where my biggest issue with Modern Warfare II comes in – the game’s menus are absolutely atrocious. 

I can’t put it gently: Modern Warfare II’s menu system is easily the worst I’ve ever seen in a Call of Duty game. Doing the simplest of tasks – like changing your calling card or making a new loadout – is bogged down by countless, unnecessary submenus. It’s absolutely jarring to have to go through five submenus to get to things in the game, and it’s mind boggling how this version of the UI even made it to the retail release. It needs a serious rework already. 

Something else I was particularly taken aback by was the lack of Call of Duty mainstay content at launch, too. Two of the major omissions that particularly irked me was the lack of hardcore mode (which, to be fair, is slated for Season 1’s launch on November 16) and the barracks/challenges area. It’s ridiculous to me that, at the time of this review going live, you can’t check your stats properly – you can’t see active challenges you’re making progress towards aside from the three dailies that are in the main menu, while redeemed double weapon and level XP don’t have a counter going either. Combine this with the plethora of bugs currently plaguing every platform – from hard crashes to texture pop in – and it’s been a rough first week for the game.

That said, I did enjoy my time with the game’s Spec Ops mode. A continuation of the game’s main campaign, the three missions available at launch offer a great cooperative-focused change to what’s seen in the other main modes in Modern Warfare II. Each mission is different in its own way, with Low Profile – the most stealth-focused mission of the bunch – the highlight for me. Each mission won’t take you too long to complete, clocking in between 15 to 30 minutes each, but they do offer up nice cosmetic rewards and some XP for completing them. I hope to see more added to the game over time.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare II doesn’t quite stick the landing, but I’ve had a blast playing it. The changes to gameplay and gunplay make the game feel incredibly slick and satisfying, with the selection of new modes more than welcome. It’s just a shame the game is absolutely riddled with technical issues and an awful menu system. Even so, there’s a lot to love about the game, but temper your expectations.

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The Chant follows Jess Briars as she is invited to the Prismic Science Spiritual Retreat on a remote island to deal with trauma in her past and move on with her life. It’s like a spiritual self-help camp offering a series of treatments firmly at a warped intersection of science and spirituality. During one of the group’s routine chants, a dimension called The Gloom is opened, and the psychedelic horrors within pour out into the real world. Doing her absolute best, The Chant follows Jess as she uncovers the cultish history of the island and her attempts to reverse the ritual.

The Chant is interesting because it explores an aspect of horror that isn’t often explored in games. The cult you’re finding yourself in doesn’t even call themselves a cult – but attempts to come up with scientific explanations for everything happening. It’s an intersection between science and spirituality that, like I said, isn’t explored a lot in games, but it’s an interesting story that plays a pertinent role in gameplay too. While so much of The Chant is unique, so much of it is cliché too, and genre fans will find great enjoyment in this familiarity with throwbacks that harken back to the best thrillers of the seventies and eighties.

As alluded to earlier, The Chant does things a little bit differently. Think of it as a Supermassive game (like Dark Pictures or Until Dawn) but with combat. Horror games, especially outside the AAA market, often exclude combat (much to my chagrin). The Chant doesn’t feel like it’s taking any shortcuts – it’s trying it’s hardest to offer an experience that players of more passive games like Outlast would enjoy but also enough “game” for those who enjoy more involved games like Resident Evil.

The result is something entirely unique. The Chant carves out its niche by promising a more open area to explore and a cast of characters to interact with. It’s an interesting premise, for sure, but the premise falls short of what it promises. For one, while the game insists that it’s an open world, the story progresses rather linearly, and many of the areas you’ll explore will have nothing to do in them until the story says so. The open world feels like an obligation to fulfill a marketing bullet point rather than a true gameplay feature, but that doesn’t mean The Chant falls short in other areas.

Thankfully, The Chant has a full combat system and a nice variety of enemies to fight off as Jess finds her way around the island. A mix of supernatural beings from The Gloom and possessed cultists, each of the enemies Jess encounters has distinct weaknesses you’ll want to exploit to play properly. Weapons include what you’d expect in a game based around new-age spirituality – sage, salt, crystals, and fire. But Jess also has “prism” abilities that allow her to manipulate time to better control crowds, while later abilities allow Jess to deal heavy damage.

The crux of The Chant is built upon balancing three key stats – spirit, mind, and body. Each of these can be drained by doing certain things in the game. Body is physical health, which is pretty straightforward. Spirit is like mana, powering Jess’ more powerful prism abilities. Mind is similar to Sanity and can be reduced when Jess is stuck in the dark or experiences random attacks to her mind. Let any of them drop, and Jess can be subject to a panic attack until she finds safety. It doesn’t sound very pleasant, but it never gets to the point where it gets in the way of the game. You can sacrifice spirit by meditating to improve your mind, which almost always makes things manageable without being annoying.

Your actions in the game also allow you to develop each of these three stats, though this system is hit-and-miss. Certain dialogue options with the cult members will improve each of the stats while using certain items to recover will also enhance them. Other more mundane things, like picking up collectibles, will also contribute to one of your stats. It’s a good idea in theory, but with so many things contributing to each of the stats, it feels pointless and doesn’t change much beyond the ending. Playing naturally will keep all three of your key stats at a reasonable level, though each ending is tied to which of the three ends up on top at the end of your playthrough.

I’d assume that the idea behind this system is to encourage repeat playthroughs, which is a great idea. But so little changes from the moment-to-moment gameplay beyond the ending that I’d struggle to see why people would bother beyond achievement or trophy hunting. That being said, your first run will take between six to eight hours to complete, so it’s a short and sweet experience to replay, but I did feel like there wasn’t a lot of reason to return to The Chant once the credits started to roll.

Of course, being a horror game, we must address just how scary it can be. While The Chant does its best to build a real sense of place and atmosphere with its open-ish world, it’s not as frightening as you’d hope. I absolutely adore the idea of The Gloom and the way it fills each of the scenes it seeps into with bright Giallo-esque colours. But the aspects with the most potential to be truly scary – the humans you encounter and the possessions that ensure – feel underserviced. The Chant is interesting, but it’s not as scary as it could be.

I’ve alluded to this before, but The Chant does its best to offer up a nice variety of scenery along its modest adventure. It’s obviously never going to reach the levels of Supermassive’s adventures, but it does a great job of selling the psychedelic nightmare of The Gloom. The soundtrack is similarly fantastic, once again throwing back to some of the best horror films of the seventies with some great electro-rock tinges.

The post The Chant Review – A Surprising And Psychedelic Adventure appeared first on Press Start.

In the interest of helping along anyone hoping to avoid even the most mundane of spoilers or simply here to glance at a review score in an effort to reconcile an expensive collector’s edition pre-order, I’m going to say this upfront – God of War Ragnarök is the best game of its kind that I’ve played since, well, the last one. After the significant shake-up of the series’ formula in the 2018 soft reboot it’s easy to understand a degree of hesitancy around a follow-up largely built on the same foundations. What’s important to remember though, is how good those foundations are and how much talent lives within the walls of Santa Monica Studio.

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But when it comes to the end of everything as we know it, there’s no better place to start than the beginning. God of War Ragnarök picks up some years after the end of God of War 2018 and sees the godly father-son duo of Kratos and Atreus staring down the barrel of the apocalypse after receiving the world-shattering news that (here come some spoilers for the end of that game) Atreus is, in fact, the Norse god, Loki. With the titular Ragnarök approaching, and the nine realms plunged into ‘Fimbulwinter’, the pair set out on a new journey to band together whatever gods they can find willing to oppose the likes of Odin and Thor, unite the realms and attempt to drive back Ragnarök.

What follows over the next 20-50 hours is a fantasy epic unlike nearly anything I’ve experienced in a video game of this scope and prestige. To touch on even the most innocuous of story beats would be to spoil any number of genuinely memorable moments that continue to mine the depths of a rich cast of characters. As Kratos and Atreus chase myths and mysteries, repair bonds, form new ones, witness larger-than-life events and face impending doom they’re tested at every turn. Whether it’s Kratos’ past and the way it shapes the relationship with his son, Atreus’ teenage angst and desire for autonomy as his entire future is laid out in front of him in prophecy or Freya’s grief turned to hatred after the death of her own son, many of the same themes and ideas from the previous game are further explored here, but just as many new threads and perspectives are woven in.

And perspective is crucial to the tale that this game is trying to tell, something it nails by daring to match Kratos and Atreus up with new and returning faces for portions of its story as both travelling companions and active support in gameplay. Much like Horizon Forbidden West did earlier in the year, God of War Ragnarök enriches its world and cast of diverse beings by giving them all significantly more screen time and a more immediate role in the journey and it’s all the better for it. The mysterious entity behind the camera giving us the game’s single, unbroken shot continues to do the Lord’s work in imparting a sense of scale from the most grand to the most intimate, and the concept is taken to far further and more surprising places than anything from God of War 2018.

This is a tale of community, of strength, of reconciling with the past and embracing the future, of grief and acceptance and it’s one that couldn’t exist without Kratos but it no longer belongs solely to him. It belongs equally to Freya, the Norse God of War Tyr, the mysterious young giant Angrboda, to Odin, Thor and a huge number of others you haven’t seen yet. And, of course, Atreus. “It takes a village to raise a child” rings true here, with the duo’s found family growing over the course of the game and genuinely supporting each other in a way that feels rare in a video game, no less one so otherwise driven by spectacle. I absolutely would have loved to see some of the new faces here given more time to shine and have their stories and purpose more wholly explored, but I’m confident they’ll be appreciated regardless.

I’m not one for tears, but there were moments that definitely had me on the verge of them – and usually not because of some gut-punching twist or bad fate, but rather seeing these characters tested to their absolute limits and coming out better for it. The growth on display in this cast of well-rounded and surprisingly human-feeling gods and legends is immensely cathartic to witness. It’s a story told with deep respect for its characters, immense creativity, levity and solemnity in equal measure and a desire to inspire wonder in its audience.

We all remember the moment that Kratos takes up the Blades of Chaos again in the previous game, and the powerful concoction of giddy nostalgia and narrative weight that it bore, and Ragnarök does a great job of recapturing some of those feelings. But what’s hugely more impressive and commendable is the boldness with which it creates new feelings, blazes new trails and forges new legends that are just as powerful if not more. There’s so much I can’t and won’t say, but this sequel’s best sequences come from that same place of giving players new tools and mechanics to work with that don’t just add depth to gameplay but add meaning to the world and characters around them, and I think that’s something special.

What I can say on the subject of gameplay and that all-important concept of being an angry ex-God of War in a world full of mythical creatures to beat up is that combat in Ragnarök is an improvement on its predecessor in just about every way. I touched on it a little in my preview of the first few hours of the game and it holds true for the rest, there’s a new breadth to combat here afforded by increased verticality, a stronger focus on elemental abilities, better support from partner characters and a massively expanded variety of enemy types. Where things could eventually err towards predictability in God of War 2018, there’s nary an encounter I went into here where I could comfortably say I knew what to expect or how I would handle it.

Everything matters when going toe-to-toe with foes and creatures in Ragnarök , from the individual enemy designs and mechanics to how they’re grouped together and interact, to where you’re fighting them, who’s with you and what gear you’re using and all of these elements are constantly being mixed up in a way that no two fights feel the same. It’s all just as meaty and satisfying as ever, and for those hoping to see more boss battles this time around – there are a heap, and they’re all brilliant. There’s simply never a dull moment, and the pacing of both combat and exploration is aided immensely over the course of the core story content by some very smart, temporary changes in tone and perspective.

Further variety comes in an expanded arsenal and new tweaks to progression. Where a game like Forbidden West sought to expand its gear game by simply throwing tons of it at the player to its detriment, Ragnarök smartly adds nuance without overwhelming. Both gear and character progression benefit from the expanded elemental mechanics, greater variety of tools and more flexible customisation on offer, making upgrades and changes feel like measured choices that have tangible gameplay impacts. Things like greater variety in Kratos’ shields and how they impact gameplay, or the way that the skills you more frequently use eventually gain special slots to be further augmented with mods, go a long way to making things feel more personal and tailored without radically shaking up the already-excellent combat experience.

The character, equipment and shop menus don’t always do a great job of communicating crucial information, but once I wrapped my head around everything I appreciated the way the game encourages establishing your preferred playstyle early on with specialised gear and then has you tweak and build on it over time.

The allure of new loot and progression is, once again, a great reason to head off the critical path at every given opportunity and God of War Ragnarök continues its predecessor’s penchant for mixing up more linear and directed segments with plenty of opportunities to roam more open spaces within its larger realms. There’s much to admire about the mastery of design on display here. Nine realms all packed with networks of secrets and stories that steadily open up over the course of an otherwise tightly-scripted narrative that weaves in and out of them, a rotating roster of support characters, landscapes that change entire states on a whim, there are a ridiculous number of moving parts that all come together into something that feels precisely curated at every turn.

I’m particularly fond of the puzzle design on show in Ragnarök, whether it’s the one-off challenges you find dotted around each locale or the large scale, multi-part environmental puzzles that often reveal themselves further with repeated visits to an area. Kratos’ and Atreus’ expanded repertoires and the new gear they come into along the way are put to great use, and everything is impressively intuitive. There’s nothing you can’t figure out by applying what you’ve come to know about the rules of this universe, and the game is so confident of this fact that the most it does to hold your hand is have other characters naturally react to your progress and offer their own thoughts on the task at present.

Your companions’ quips and musings on the world around them are just as much reason to take every opportunity to explore, in fact. The game’s side quests and content are always narratively interesting, generously rewarding and often unexpected. Even 50 hours in I was seeing things I’d never seen before and getting the impression that my actions were having an impact within these nine realms. Admittedly, because the game’s realms and their gameplay possibilities don’t fully open up until you’re blessed with the full range of gear and abilities, the back half of the game can feel quite overwhelming with content – particularly right towards the end where you’re suddenly handed an enormous and largely optional new area stuffed with lengthy side quests and collectibles that threatens to ruin what is truthfully a bit of a thin climax.

There is a post-game state though, so you’re quite easily able to save the extra challenges and collectibles for when you’re ready to return to the game for your next God of War fix. I would heavily recommend diving right back in once you can as well, a post-game conclusion to one of the game’s most important and emotional moments does more to wrap the whole experience than the slightly shaky scenes before it.

Exploring each of the realms I was also constantly reminded of how strong a sense of place the team at Santa Monica Studio managed to create with the last game. Returning to familiar areas in this sequel, whether intact or completely transformed, immediately opened the gates to a flood of memories of puzzles, boss fights and pivotal scenes – despite my not having gone back to the 2018 game since that very year.

It’s all presented in a fashion more than deserving of its lineage, the trek across these varied and fantastical realms resulting in one of the most breathtaking audiovisual experiences in the medium from both a technical and artistic angle. Nothing in this franchise has come even close to the sense of wonder that permeates Ragnarök. It’s still a grim and violent fantasy, but Santa Monica Studio has packed such a vibrant and imaginative array of stunning landscapes, awesome creatures and magical moments all backed up by a wonderful score by the returning Bear McCreary that rivals some of the best soundtracks cinema has to offer when it comes to elevating the tone and mood of each scene.

You can almost sense Santa Monica directing the game’s every moment from behind this camera, whether you’re in control or not. Cutscenes and set piece moments benefit from masterful camera work with a filmic attention to composition and imagery, and universally phenomenal performances that result in these characters feeling both alive and larger-than-life in equal measure. That’s especially true of the Aesir gods like Odin and Thor, whose depictions in Ragnarök are a great deal of fun. There are scenes here that I can’t wait to talk to people about for either their pure visual splendour, emotional impact or for just being fucking cool – there’s one bar fight scene in particular that’s hands-down one of my favourite video game moments of all time.

It’s no secret that this is a game built primarily for the franchise’s enormous PS4 audience, with PS5-exclusive features few and far between and mostly confined to the physical realm with the DualSense controller’s haptics and adaptive triggers. The solution instead is art – bereft of buzzword tech like ray tracing, the studio has instead art-ed the shit out of everything it could possibly touch. The new generation edition is blessed with impossibly good-looking character models, lush environments with rich lighting and ridiculously detailed texture work that all adds up to a jaw-dropping presentation. As we explained during the game’s preview phase, there’s a nice amount of choice for PS5 players here in terms of visual/performance modes as well.

I’d be remiss to not once again call out the excellent suite of options on-hand for customising and tailoring the gameplay experience, either purely from a place of personal preference when it comes to how the game feels in the hand or in the name of making it as accessible and approachable as possible to all manner of players. You can read about these more in-depth in a piece we posted here.

The post God Of War Ragnarok Review – A Triumph Of Godlike Proportions appeared first on Press Start.

I can’t help but feel for Sonic Frontiers. At a glance, it’s almost too easily categorised as Sonic Team’s attempt at Breath of the Wild, a comparison point the team has been quite doggedly avoiding during preview coverage of the game. This is, partly, kind of absurd given how obvious the comparison point is. Sonic Frontiers plops the titular blue blur into large, open-zone environments in which ancient technology has broken down and nature has largely returned to claim its land. Mysteries abound, friends must be rescued and existential questions answered. But Sonic Frontiers is so much more than its surface. It’s deeply strange, often throwing conflicting ideas at the player at breakneck speed, and ultimately not entirely successful. But it makes a bold and earnest attempt at the genre and despite losing a few rings along the way, still clears a comfortable A grade.

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Sonic Frontiers sees Sonic and friends thrust into one of the series’ more touching tales. Eggman has meddled with forces far greater than even his genius and inadvertently trapped himself, and Sonic’s best mates, in a digital realm known as Cyber Space. Here, memories are warped by Godly AI processing power and rendered into explorable manifestations (in this case old Sonic levels and subtext-packed cutscenes). With the Chaos Emeralds and his loveable roster of friends and foes trapped on Starfall Islands, Sonic must venture forth into the unknown and explore a series of loosely connected open-zones, solving puzzles, completing levels and generally being a snarky little hero.

These islands arguably serve as Sonic Frontiers’ biggest formula shift since the series’ jump to 3D back in the late 90s. Massive in scale and crammed full of small activities to complete, these spaces are borderline seamless playgrounds designed to push Sonic’s speed and your platforming skills to new limits. Equipped with the divisive Boost mechanic on the right trigger, Sonic is effectively encouraged to tear arse through the five available islands, utilising a simple but engaging loop of momentum, combat and exploration geared toward constantly rewarding the player. To complement the speed of the Boost, Sonic is also able to create whimsical trails of light with the new Cyloop ability that has you hold down a button and draw a loop in any shape you can muster. This is often used to activate puzzles, lower enemy defences or uncover rings and other useful items.

The five islands are an amalgamation of gameplay ideas that individually function quite well but collectively can wear a little thin. There is great fun to be had in simple exploration with approachable momentum-based platforming and rail building for convenient traversal ala Death Stranding. The overworld is littered with springs, platforms and rails to bounce between, offering some form of collectable as a reward for the thirty or so seconds it might take you to complete them. It all works, managing to blend fixed and free camera work in a split second and realising the best of Sonic’s movement. Those collectable rewards are also directly impactful of your progression, as Sonic will need to gather up a surprising number of resources to move the story forward and unlock new things to do.

Cyber Space levels, the game’s small but gorgeously rendered line-up of classic Sonic platforming levels, need to be unlocked using gears that you can nab from harder combat encounters. These levels are all themed around old-school Sonic aesthetics and while not the biggest roster of influences has been drawn from, what’s here is some of the most fun you can have in Sonic Frontiers. Depending on how well you complete each level you’ll be rewarded with keys (one for finishing, S rank time, red coin collection and ring numbers) which are in turn used to unlock Chaos Emerald vaults.

There are also friendship tokens that are given liberally and used to unlock cutscenes with your mates, and some fishing coins you should absolutely keep an eye out for. The game’s fishing economy is wonderfully broken, allowing you to effectively buy your way through an island if you wish, all while chilling with Big and catching random junk as a goof. Along with the skill points to earn, attack and defence tokens to uncover, and the admittedly wonderful Kocos to collect, Sonic Frontiers can often feel a bit much. The tone of the open-zone is so deliberately serene and begs a flowstate from the player but the game’s overarching systems can harsh the vibe as it were, even if they’re relatively harmless individually.

As Sonic Frontiers begins to expand its adventure and you push from five to ten to the roughly twenty or so hours it takes for a first pass, these systems lose some shine. The back end of the game increasingly wrestles camera control away from you in unforgiving platforming sections while the level design itself begins to constrict your speed potential, effectively snuffing out a lot of the fun. There is also the game’s severe pop-in problem that can sometimes snap a new rail into existence mere meters away from you. The speed at which Sonic moves through these environments means I can empathise with the difficulty of rendering it all at once but when you need to be making split-second directional choices, it can be immensely frustrating to not know what might pop in next.

Given the shift to freestyle adventuring, Sonic is also forced to engage in combat more directly than ever before. Sonic Frontiers certainly understands the need for style and flair, often making you feel like a badarse with its flurry of hyper-speed, vibrant animations as Sonic lobs energy balls and booms at foes. Better still that all of this can be achieved in a remarkably approachable way, whether actively through basic button combinations or passively through the auto-skill ability you can toggle on and off once unlocked. Like exploration, combat just feels good to use, and just like exploration, it can wear thin over the game’s run.   

You’ll be unlocking high-level skills quite late in the game, though these are just additional button combinations to add to your roster, combat itself only fundamentally evolves based on what you’re fighting. Sonic Frontiers’ roster of robotic foes is largely a delight, a hobbled-together assortment of vaguely humanoid/animal creatures that require slightly different approaches to defeat without incident. The islands are also home to several larger-scale fights that utilise platforming and tighter timing to take down, often serving as a nice precursor to the game’s exceptionally cool major boss fights, the Titans.

Sonic Frontier’s Titan bosses are a standout of the game and are best experienced firsthand for a multitude of reasons. The first of these fights, Giganto, has been featured in marketing so I’m at least comfortable enough to talk about this walking anime cutscene of a monster. The Titans tower over the islands, using that scale to implement platforming segments before and sometimes during moment-to-moment, intensely cinematic combat sequences. All of this towering scale kicks off with unique, pop-rock tracks that bellow earnest lyrics about hope and new horizons while you effectively fight mecha-God. It rules so incredibly hard and I’m glad we have creators in the AAA space willing to be this dorky.

It’s a sense of style the rest of the game largely carries too, with a vibrant, if sensible, art direction and a general understanding of the power of going really fast through well lit-environments. The islands themselves aren’t anywhere near as varied as I would have liked though, with the initial greenery of Kronos dominating the palette for much. Ares was my favourite play space, with its harsh topography and small oasis pockets to discover in the arid deserts, but Chaos’ volcanic slopes and fragmented land mass left me a little cold. The final two islands, one of which is more of a gimmick, do lean back into forestation but the last one is a wonderful spot that made me wistful to be wrapping up.

Sonic Frontiers presents its story in a rather odd way though, which is especially sad given that the narrative beats and character interactions are all fairly compelling and fun. In an attempt to harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds, Eggman has made himself a daughter in the form of an AI project named Sage. As Sonic races against time to save his trapped friends, Sage will frequently show up to observe or interact with the gang and their impact on her is not inconsiderable. It’s a simple tale but ends with surprising weight, made all the more impactful by the game’s background narrative that doesn’t shy away from some pretty heavy stuff.

The game’s final moments had me cheering a little, and the cut to credits is shockingly poignant (even with the mid and post-credits scenes evening out the tone a little). The moment-to-moment writing is clumsily pronounced but again in an endearing way—Sage’s ruminations on what a “real” family is, Knuckles lamenting his life of service, Amy pondering love and Tails fighting imposter syndrome. The only one without a clear arc is Sonic but he works as a mirror to the cast in many ways and is more of an observer to the game’s true story. Which is all wonderful and good, but pacing issues and obfuscation dull its best qualities. There are some great Sonic lore elements at play here but you wouldn’t know it from what the main story gives you alone, instead, you’ll need to dive into menus and memos to find out.  

All of these disparate systems and uneven feelings can’t fully derail this ride though and despite my many small grievances, I still look back fondly on my time with Sonic Frontiers. Its open-world adolescence is awkward, yes, but endearingly so— you can feel how badly this game wants to impress and that carries it far further than I imagined it could. Its moment to moment gameplay remains fun from start to finish and while the middle section slumps somewhat, it pulls up just in time to deliver a gorgeous and absurd final act. At some point in the story Sage observes Sonic trying to help his friends and shakes her head, “He never stops. Clarification, he never gives up”. And yeah, Sonic Frontiers stumbles often, but just like its titular hero, it never gives up.

The post Sonic Frontiers Review – Brave New Zone appeared first on Press Start.

This is the single player/campaign portion of our Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 review with our multiplayer/full review to come following the game’s launch this weekend.

Despite still emerging as the best-selling game of last year, the disappointment around Vanguard was profound. So, as has happened a few times before, the eggs have returned to the safety of the Modern Warfare basket. And in delivering a follow-up to 2019’s reboot of the franchise’s most popular sub-series, Infinity Ward has played a rather safe hand. It delivers a familiarity and fan service only they’re capable of, built upon the bones of the original Modern Warfare 2 while telling a starkly different story. 

Modern Warfare feels like a snapshot of the last two decades of geopolitical tensions, but the line it walks has never been more grey. Not that it ever has, but the conflict Task Force 141 finds tangled up in doesn’t have archetypal heroes and villains. It’s men and women doing what they believe is right, regardless of their alignment within the bigger picture. Though it’s tough to follow at times with its tiny moving parts, the idea of “the team” is really sold throughout. I felt the choice to have Ghost be something of a pointman for the story, emerging from the quiet mysterious type to a slightly louder mysterious type, is inspired. I was actually surprised with how often Price, who is often seen as the series’ lead, took a backseat to let the remainder of the team shine. 

Not only do Gaz, Soap and Ghost all shine, I particularly grew attached to both Alejandro and Rodolfo. Their sub-plot, which saw them trying to wrestle control of Mexico back from the weapon-smuggling cartel aiding Al-Qatala, was an engrossing distraction from the bigger picture. 

We’re introduced to twisted versions of the characters we think we know, and our expectations of the narrative to be are subverted deftly in yet another globetrotting, geopolitical Mission: Impossible-like romp. It’s semi-grounded by real-world technologies, which I appreciate, but it certainly still lets loose like only a Call of Duty can.

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It’s also amazingly nostalgic for the “original trilogy,” for want of a better term. There are some surprisingly wonderful character moments, full to the brim of the bravado and brotherly love you’d expect to see on an episode of Sons of Anarchy. There are also many callbacks to missions held dear, including storming a rain-slick freight ship, a prison break, and the obligatory aerial overwatch op. These aside, Modern Warfare 2’s campaign has tremendous variety, even if not all of the game’s seventeen levels hit the same. I felt the levels that served to showcase the shiny features in the game’s multiplayer were bottom-rung, especially ‘Violence and Timing’—a vehicular convoy mission which is meant to get players excited for driving jeeps in competitive modes. That said, there are some great open-ended stealth missions—‘El Sin Nombre’ for one—that felt almost like Hitman in their execution.

This newest instalment of Call of Duty continues the franchise’s consistent delivery of industry-leading mechanics, to the point where it’s hardly fair at this point. As a shooter it’s exceptionally tight, and it’s not easy to fault the game’s feel. I didn’t quite get a sense that the A.I. had improved out of sight, despite the team’s focus on creating a greater sense of immersion with enemies that were still easily duped and companions that, despite keeping their heads on a swivel, pathed rather awkwardly. Despite its clear strengths as a run and gun shooter, this game spent a lot of time turning the player into a vulnerable glass cannon in a handful of stealth missions. I’d never baulked at the slow burn ops historically, in fact I adore ‘All Ghillied Up’ from the first Modern Warfare, but the team’s decision to include mandatory crafting felt ill-considered. Scavenging for materials to cobble together smoke bombs and pry bars never feels as interesting as the covert stalking through enemy territory. 

The fidelity of the game’s pre-rendered scenes, much like Black Ops Cold War, is unbelievable. There were moments of such intense expression, captured in such detail, that I found myself questioning whether the scenes had been filmed live-action or not. It’s more or less matched by the in-game visuals, although there were noticeable pop-in issues in some of the larger open areas. 

Another vast disappointment is how the game performs. It does maintain a steady frame rate and runs rather well, it’s just that there are rampant bugs that mar nearly all facets of the game’s presentation. Hard crashes to the dashboard are one issue, though it’s the audiovisual glitches that cheated me out of truly experiencing some of the game’s key beats unfettered. On one occasion, no audio outside of gunfire was sounding while on another a black screen lingered in place of arguably the story’s biggest plot twist.

It was discovered, after some troubleshooting, that a simple mission restart from within the menu should do the trick. 

It might be a result of having been worked on by just about every studio under the Activision banner, but Call of Duty has always kind of been a benchmark for consistency within blockbuster video gaming. Modern Warfare 2 isn’t a bad outing by any means, I just don’t feel it plays to the series’ strengths. The overabundance of glacial stealth missions and the crude introduction of crafting mechanics two-thirds through the game continually stalling any momentum the game kept mounting. It eventually roll starts and emerges as a decent war thriller, underpinned by the camaraderie of Task Force 141.

The Xbox Series X version of this game was played for the purpose of this review. 

The post Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II Campaign Review – Playing It Safe appeared first on Press Start.

It feels like we’ve been waiting for Gotham Knights, or even another Batman game, but after what felt like incessant teasing originally, it’s finally arrived. It certainly sets up a tough challenge for itself – can you make a Batman game without Batman? I was sceptical too. But while Gotham Knights lacks some of the finesse of those games that came before, it’s still an enjoyable experience, even if it takes a bit to get going.

First things first – Gotham Knights takes place in its own canon. Forget what happened in Arkham Knight. That said, anybody with a cursory knowledge of the world of Batman will easily find their footing in the world of Gotham Knights. We open with Batman dying in a battle with Ra’s al Ghul. In his absence, Gotham City is stricken with crime once more. Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, and Red Hood, all proteges of Batman, take up the mantle as protectors of Gotham, continuing with the investigations Batman was working on. In doing so, the crew finds themselves embroiled in a war for Gotham between two of its oldest factions – the Court of Owls and the League of Shadows.

Comic book fans will undoubtedly find something to love in the way Gotham Knights presents its story. It’s packed with fun references to Batman that fans will love and some great moments between the cast as they reminisce on how to carry out Batman’s final will. There are some fun, if not predictable treatments of fan-favourite characters, but there’s one thing I absolutely adore. There’s absolutely no Joker to be seen. I’ve got nothing against him – but the mystery brought about by The Court Of Owls bolstered by their opposition to the League of Shadows is equal parts compelling and refreshing.

So, then, Gotham Knights eschews a playable Batman for Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, and Red Hood. Each of the characters has their own unique moves, abilities, and tools that cater specifically to a type of playstyle. I gravitated more towards Red Hood, who doles out heavier damage and has excellent range options thanks to his pistols. But Batgirl and Robin were helpful on missions where stealth was more important. Nightwing felt like a jack of all trades, but his mobility helped me get around the city much more quickly. You can switch between them at the start of each night, so playing with each of them to find your style is recommended.

The combat system feels like it’s been lifted from Arkham but tweaked to better showcase the breadth of abilities each of the characters has. The general premise of the combat is the same – melee attacks that can be directed between enemies using the control stick. It still flows well and feels approachable enough for newcomers – but experienced players will build momentum better. Momentum powers your abilities, which are abilities that are unique to each character and buff, debuff, and inflict massive damage.

It’s a terrible cliché at this point, but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Given how much functionality they can fit into a controller, it’s safe to see why Gotham Knights adapted this combat system from the Arkham games. But there’s one thing that can really hinder the flow of battles: how enemies react to your attacks.

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There’s no way to sugarcoat it – Gotham Knights has spongey enemies. Enemies take a lot of hits, bullets, or both before they die, and it feels especially egregious during boss battles which can last upwards of ten minutes. This issue permeates the entire game – everything feels longer than it should be. Like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Gotham Knights shoehorns RPG elements into its design – including levelling and crafting – to handle progression.

Admittedly, after finishing the game, I did discover that simply lowering the difficulty will reduce the amount of scaling of the enemy’s health, and makes the game flow a lot better, but be warned that reducing it too much will remove almost all semblance of a challenge. And you don’t want that.

As for how things flow, Gotham Knights splits its missions into story-based case files, other side missions, and villain case files. Most of the main story missions are great – mixing stealth and action in just the right amount – though some later levels get a bit repetitive. No matter what you do, the map populates with activities at the beginning of each night, so things are always changing, and there’s a sense of living within the city.

The variety in the activities feels like a lot, owing to a fantastic amount of enemy variety of wildly different types. But the way that the game uses these activities, too, once again, makes things longer than they should be, which can be a little frustrating.

While there’s no explicit level gating in Gotham Knights, there are situations where the story’s pacing slows to a crawl. I’d be introduced to a new character a few times, but before they’d talk to me, I’d have to go off and do three or four side quests. I’d generally be okay with this brand of a detour, except these side quests never had much story relevance, and they felt like a cheap way to pad out the game.

I would’ve loved to have seen more of the villain files – these are three sets of storylines that follow three villains with missions that feel like they could be part of the main story. Harley Quinn, Mr. Freeze, and Clayface are the key villains featured here, and their storylines, while non-essential, serve as great and meaningful distractions from the primary investigation. While I’d love to see newer villains we’ve never explored in games before, the iterations of these villains shown here were fresh enough.

But one thing I adore about Gotham Knights is how flexible the progression system is. Given so much else about the game, it could’ve easily asked you to level up your characters individually. Thankfully, your level is synced across all four characters. Ability points will simply be waiting there for you when you switch characters. It’s a straightforward but effective way to encourage players to experiment and helps alleviate the feelings of repetition I’ve felt elsewhere – but, once again, there’s a catch.

Abilities are unlocked as the story progresses and are separately unlocked for each character. To do so, you’ll have to complete specific objectives. Defeat ten of a particular type of enemy. Complete five of a specific type of quest. I understand why these abilities wouldn’t just be given to everyone – but when you consider that this means you’ll have to do these objectives four times to unlock them for all – it does feel unnecessarily grindy. Add to this that basic traversal abilities, which makes the gameplay immensely better, are locked behind objectives like this, and it’s safe to say Gotham Knights doesn’t put it’s best step forward first.

When a friend joins, things are handled relatively well. While there is no arena-based mode yet, the entirety of the story can be played with a friend. When you join someone else’s world, you’ll keep all the experience you earn. If you complete missions in their world, you’ll be able to skip them entirely when you return to your own world. So many games have grappled with how to reward progression in games like this appropriately, and I think it’s safe to say that Gotham Knights absolutely nails it. Even better, you’re not tethered in the game world, so you can go wherever you want.

This might be controversial, but Gotham Knights is a fantastic-looking game. While it eschews the smoother framerate we’ve expected from this generation, it more than makes up for it with some phenomenal lighting effects. Gotham City is a neon-lit playground that’s a joy to fly around in. For the team to ideally leverage HDR and raytracing to give this world so much mood and brightness, I dare say it was worth the sacrifice. It’s a great and colourful game that still feels as brooding and moody as a game set in the world of Batman should be. There are some performance issues, though, especially during more intense weather moments (especially toward the end of the Mr. Freeze sections), but it generally performs well.

As the credits rolled on Gotham Knights, I couldn’t help but reflect on how, despite doing things that rubbed me the wrong way, it was still both addictive and enjoyable. I couldn’t wait to go back out onto the streets of Gotham, whether it be to prevent some more crimes, find some collectibles, or test a new ability I’d just unlocked. Even gliding around the city with each of the four characters was enjoyable. It sounds cliché, but Gotham Knights is greater than the sum of its parts, mainly if you stick with it through its somewhat rocky beginning.

The post Gotham Knights Review – Batman Without Batman appeared first on Press Start.

It’s no secret that for a long stretch of the last console generation, Telltale Games and their brand of point-and-click adventure was a real mainstay in the zeitgeist. Of course, their fall is also well documented, but there’s no denying that, at the height of their powers, they told some tremendous stories that put player choice—or at least the illusion of it—at the heart of the experience. Tales from the Borderlands, through it all, reigned supreme as my favourite IP they tackled, and now Gearbox Quebec has resurrected the brand with a spiritual successor of their own making. 

New Tales from the Borderlands certainly recaptures the essence of what made the original enjoyable, and while it does circumvent some of the pitfalls that ultimately saw Telltale fail, it does careen headfirst into others.

As has always been the case, New Tales from the Borderlands is delivered across five roughly two-hour long episodes. Fortunately, all of the episodes are launching simultaneously, so there will be no poorly-cadenced release schedule for the season. The pacing felt a bit disjointed and for a Borderlands title, the game’s events felt less bombastic than I had expected. The finale, for example, for all of its reflective, existential ruminating, is a drag for much of its runtime. It has considerable heart and does manage to close out some character arcs in a satisfying manner, but it ultimately fell a bit short of the heights the original hit. 

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The lure of these ‘choose your own adventure’ games is the lure to return and explore the many narrative permutations but that lure simply isn’t there for me with New Tales. 

The three leads—Anu, her brother Octavio, and ‘fro yo’ slinger Fran—build up a fun camaraderie throughout the season, although I found their in-jokes to be very hit or miss. Louie, Octavio’s assassination bot of choice, is very much a tangential character and gets sidelined far too often. He’s absolutely the funniest part of New Tales, and never has a running gag about learning people’s full names dished up repeated yucks.

One thing New Tales does well is tie itself back to the franchise at large. Showing a small slice of life on Promethea, a slumly planet introduced in the series’ third mainline instalment, it really ramps up the conflict between Atlas and Tediore. Somehow, it feels like the most grounded Borderlands game of the lot, but it certainly has its moments of absurdity. 

Obviously, New Tales serves as Gearbox Quebec’s first venture into the genre Telltale lived and died by. Despite the opportunity to analyse where it stopped working for them and really carve out a unique interpretation on the well exhausted ideas we’re so used to, New Tales feels far too familiar and doesn’t manage to innovate at all on the genre’s tired concepts.

As you’d expect, the gameplay loop in New Tales is a balance of dialogue-heavy conversational pieces and free-roam areas where you’re able to explore, take in the environmental storytelling before arriving at the objective to push things along. I can’t fault the game’s ability to manufacture tension through the dialogue trees, throwing in a mix of scarily brief opportunities to respond and quick-time events, but the free-roam portions felt a bit like filler. They’re not exactly dense for lore to uncover, there’s a shit load of inexplicably ‘hidden’ cash money haphazardly stored in crates throughout the world, and the collectible Vaultlander figurines—despite being another very enjoyable recurring joke—weren’t exactly off the beaten path and felt like cheap busywork. Where settlements in Telltale’s The Walking Dead felt lived in and had lore in most corners, it doesn’t feel as though the same consideration went into the open areas of New Tales. 

I did truly admire the team’s commitment to accessibility, which should be a standard and not something that requires lauding but until that’s the case I’ll continue to pay credit where it’s due. They’ve provided a wealth of options to make things more enjoyable for those who might struggle with quick-time events and quick-reflex inputs. 

New Tales absolutely nails the Borderlands aesthetic with the cel-shaded world, and the characters that inhabit it, standing out as one of the game’s real highlights. The presentation, as a whole, is pretty great. Each episode opens with an opening credits montage set to a playlist of banger rock tunes. It felt like a bit of a spiritual extension of that infamous first Borderlands trailer set to Cage the Elephant. One thing I’m thankful for is how well it runs. Obviously, it isn’t being funnelled through the Telltale engine—which got flogged to within an inch of its life for a generation without much iteration—but for it to hold a solid frame rate, render properly, and have swift loading times is a refreshing marvel in its own right.

Although New Tales does some things right, I can’t help but see it as a missed opportunity to really take the bull by the horns and create something that feels unique in this space. Instead, New Tales feels dated and of a time that’s now far gone. 

I expect fans will still glean a few belly laughs from it and ultimately rally around Louie, who absolutely needs his own spin-off.

The post New Tales From The Borderlands Review – Tale As Old As Time appeared first on Press Start.

NOTE: While this review doesn’t contain any major spoilers for A Plague Tale: Requiem, some discussed gameplay aspects of this sequel tie directly into the first game, so read on with caution.

A Plague Tale: Innocence came as a surprise to many. An ostensibly “AA” linear stealth-adventure game from a studio known mostly for its work on racing and licensed children’s titles, it won over critics and audiences alike with a compelling narrative and fresh ideas. Following it up was surely a tall order, but it’s one that Asobo Studio has risen to with  great degree of success (and only a few slight missteps).

Requiem kicks off roughly six months after the events of Innocence, with Amicia and Hugo having left their devastated hometown of Guyenne in search of a new home, as well as a mysterious island in Southern France that Hugo has begun seeing in highly-symbolic dreams. Trouble follows the pair, naturally, and they soon find themselves separated from their mother and the alchemical student, Lucas, and instead greeted by the same horrific rat plagues and shady characters they’d been trying to forget in their travels.

While it’s incredibly difficult to speak on the specific beats of this sequel’s narrative for fear of spoiling any of its twists and turns, it’s safe to say that it continues touching on many of the themes set up by the original game while introducing some compelling new ones and escalating events far beyond anything before. The studio has undoubtedly honed its craft in the years since the last game, making great use of the fantastic faux-historical grim fantasy setting to explore themes of family, morality and deification on a very personal scale that then unfolds to a surprisingly hectic finale that never loses sight of its beginnings.

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Something that Requiem does differently and very well is pairing up its leads with a parade of new characters that each add their own dimension to proceedings. While interesting in their own right, a badass pirate named Sophia is a particular highlight, they also do a great job as supports to Amicia and Hugo’s continuing struggles. While I spent the first half of the game wishing Amicia would say anything that wasn’t fawning and concern over Hugo, that’s only because her own internal conflict as she wrestles with both her conscience and her sense of self makes her a compelling and empathetic character in her own right. The sibling bond that both share still makes for a great point of difference in this story and is highlighted at almost every narrative, visual and gameplay opportunity.

When it comes to making your way through this 12-15 hour journey, A Plague Tale: Requiem follows a similar blueprint set out by its predecessor. Namely, it’s a linear experience broken up into distinct chapters where you’ll spend equal amounts of time strolling through narrative sections, engaging in stealth/combat scenarios, solving environmental puzzles and enjoying high-octane set pieces – sometimes all at once. It’s your prototypical third-person action adventure format, then, but the team at Asobo has once again shown that they’ve a masterful handle on pacing and progression.

One thing I’m especially appreciative of is the way that Asobo approaches the escalating dangers of enemy encounters as the game goes on. Rather than throw more, tougher enemies at you over time and call it a day, each new situation brings with it new ideas or new spins on old ones and feels memorable in its own right as a result. Whether it’s new partner characters with their own unique abilities, new opportunities for Hugo to flex his ratty powers or unique environmental factors you’ll never go into a stealth or combat scenario feeling like you know what’s to come, and that’s fantastic.

Of course it wouldn’t be A Plague Tale without plenty of rats to contend with on top of everything else, and the same basic concepts from Innocence return here – namely you’ll spend plenty of time navigating poorly-lit environments through the use of fire so as to avoid being overrun by the light-averse rodents. Amicia’s entry-level alchemical skills once again see her combining various compounds to create, enlarge or extinguish sources of flame to help her and her companions get around. Environments are bigger and options are more plentiful across encounters and puzzles, which immediately increases the number of possible ways through each – something that the game does well over the more restrictive original.

Requiem also adds a couple of crucial new tools, like the crossbow, to further augment the options both in puzzles and enemy or rat encounters, but like its narrative one of the best things it does is give Amicia and Hugo some new travelling companions with their own roles to play. Whether it’s commanding them to activate levers from afar or using their brute strength to manage soldiers in the open while you sneak around, the new and old faces along for the ride add a nice, occasional extra layer of gameplay that doesn’t over-complicate anything. Hugo’s ability to directly control small groups of rats, though not always available, is just as gloriously gross and satisfying as it sounds on paper as well.

I do have gripes, though they’re far from enough to stop me from giving Requiem my utmost recommendation. It mostly comes from a lack of communication – for example, Amicia can gain a handful of new skills that unlock via a kind of invisible XP broken up into three categories, and although it’s obvious that these are loosely based on stealth, direct combat and use of tools it’s near-impossible to know what the specific requirements are and how/where you’re fulfilling them. Similarly, there’s nothing in the way of a persistent codex or tutorial section to refer back to information presented throughout the game, which isn’t a huge issue in such a linear game but for anyone like me with the memory of a goldfish can lead to some frustration.

There’s also still a degree of stiffness to everything that can undermine both stealth play and head-on combat. Hiding under carts or tables, for instance, involves a rigid animation that ensures you can’t re-orient while hidden, and you’re also inexplicably unable to use Hugo’s enemy-detecting power, making it a far less useful tactic than it could have been. Likewise many of the close-quarters combat options like stunning enemies for a quick getaway feel clunky and involve the same, stilted animations each time which lessens their impact.

Outside of those occasional moments though, this is one handsome game. Asobo is clearly gunning for Naughty Dog in the beautifully-rendered linear adventure space and though it definitely doesn’t reach the emotive heights of the characters featured in the likes of The Last of Us, its landscapes are something else. From lush fields of flowers to desolate beaches and sprawling cities, this vision of Southern France is rendered with positively astonishing detail and backed up by sumptuous lighting whether it’s the beating Provencial sun or the light of a torch cutting through a foggy, rat-filled cavern. It’s a result borne more of labour than technology – every inch feels crafted and placed by hand – which makes for truly beautiful still frames but can sometimes be jarring in motion.

Performance especially is a concern, at least on the PS5 where I played through the game for review. It seems to target 60fps and gets there often enough, but it’s marred by frequent and massive dips to even sub-30fps territory which can be pretty uncomfortable to witness. It seems to be at its worst when atmospheric effects combine with multiple light sources and large swathes of rats, but given that those are core components of the experience that’s a little disappointing. PC players at least should be better off, and in fairness my impressions have come from the game pre-day one patch so hopefully the worst of it is resolved soon enough.

Olivier Deriviere returns once again with an exquisite score to underpin everything, pulling on just the right emotional (and literal) strings at any given time. From Gregorian choirs droning underneath sombre moments to a violence of violins cutting through the tension in close-stealth encounters you’re just as likely to be moved by Requiem’s musical backdrop as you are to forget it’s there – praiseworthy in both cases.

A Plague Tale: Requiem is, in totality, a grim and grisly affair that pushes the familial bonds and moral compasses of its characters in a frankly fucked up dark fantasy world and wraps it up in a compelling action adventure game that only slightly stumbles on its ambitions. Should Asobo return to this genre, or even this world, in future I’d love to see a few key improvements but this is still one of the year’s must-play titles.

The post A Plague Tale: Requiem Review – A Provencial Tail appeared first on Press Start.

For those that dabble in PC gaming that goes beyond simply looking at the top trending titles on Steam, you might have noticed a burgeoning and ever-expanding world of simulators and games that aim to recreate a specific job, skillset, or pastime. Okay, so that sentence might be wordy, but we’re talking about experiences where you drive bus routes through cities, fix boats in a garage, wash driveways with a power washer, manage train routes, grow crops on a farm, and construct a building. 

And with that, even though Hardspace Shipbreaker features a narrative set in a futuristic world where space travel is commonplace – at its core it’s a sim. With something like Farming Simulator drawing countless fans that aren’t farmers but want to chill and manage a farm, the appeal here is along the same lines. In Hardspace Shipbreaker you are as the title suggests, a Shipbreaker responsible for pulling apart and salvaging valuables from decommissioned spacecraft in low orbit.

Like with many sims, it’s the premise that drives interest. For me, the idea of using a laser cutter and grapple beam, and tethers to rip apart a spaceship for parts sounds pretty amazing. Like, say, describing the premise of Resident Evil to a survival horror fan or Elden Ring to an open-world RPG aficionado. If the premise grabs you, as it did me, then the opening hours of Hardspace Shipbreaker offer up low orbit zen-like bliss as you cut and grapple and move about in zero-g. 

Playing on Xbox Series X (which would be the same on PlayStation 5) the zero-g controls take some getting used to in that you’re rarely completely still and have to manage roll, thrusters, aiming, and scanning in a fully immersive 3D workspace. It’s kind of like the old-school PC game Descent, in that it’s easy to get disoriented and lose the sense of which way is up. But, the process of salvaging is kept fairly simple – which is great. The furnace is red and fiery so pieces of a ship that need to be destroyed will be labeled red on the scanner. Blue precious metals go into the blue-coloured drop-off, and green for valuable tech and items like fancy cockpit chairs to salvage. 

All of the deposit spots are large and neatly arranged around the ship you’re working on, which helps keep a sense of flow as you’re working. Once you complete the Campaign tutorial though, things get a lot more involved. Taking on the role of a day-to-day Shipbreaker, a worker, in a satirical and hilariously cynical future is the order of the day. Once a time limit enters the picture, 15 minutes represent a single work day and you’re then tasked with pulling apart more complex ships with pressurised cabins, hazardous conditions, reactors, and more.

Setting-wise you’ve become a Shipbreaker because you’re over a billion dollars in debt, and if you die whilst working on a ship you’ll have to pay to be genetically reconstituted and get back to work. Dealing with fuel tanks is a dangerous business. Likewise, whenever you need to refill your thrusters or get more oxygen, it all gets added to the tab. This then leads into the narrative and progression and almost never-ending feeling that comes with playing Hardspace Shipbreaker. There’s a variety of ships to work on, which can take multiple days, rewarding you with small amounts of money to pay off your debt, experience points, and tokens to spend on upgrades via the Lynx Corporation company store.

And there is a tonne of upgrades to work towards, from simple things like upgrading the capacity of oxygen tanks to improving the strength of your laser cutter and getting new explosive tools to play with. One of the great features is how each new tool added to your Shipbreaker arsenal is met with a detailed tutorial that plays into the story involving other Shipbreakers on comms. With the cynical and over-the-top sci-fi tone, there are themes around labour unions, worker’s rights, and more peppered throughout the Campaign.

As with many games that have a strong sim core, you can opt to simply play without time limits or story elements and enjoy the leisurely pace of pulling apart a spaceship. That said, the pace of the Campaign is glacial, upgrades come thick and fast at first but then slow all the way down. The focus is clearly on being a Shipbreaker, with the narrative serving more as space-window dressing.

And Hardspace Shipbreaker nails the feeling of pulling apart spaceships in low orbit, where everything from the art direction to the country music-inspired soundtrack to the first-person perspective and low orbit sights and sounds add to the immersion. It might be a bit of a grind and repetitive to get your Shipbreaker status all the way up and pay off your debts, but that’s all part of the deal of a life working on rigs in the distant future. And there’s a simple joy that comes with learning a new job.

The post Hardspace Shipbreaker PS5/Xbox Series X Review – Pure Low-Orbit Job Immersion appeared first on Press Start.

When I reviewed No More Heroes III just over a year ago, I absolutely adored how it attempted to wrap up or at least provide a definitive end to Travis Touchdown’s story. For the most part, my opinion hasn’t changed but playing on the Nintendo Switch last year led to a myriad of performance issues. Now something we’ve come to expect from third parties on the Switch, No More Heroes III rectifies these performance issues by making the jump to other platforms. Make no mistake, this is the same game, but one with better performance and, without a doubt, the best way to play.

No More Heroes III takes place nine years after the events of the second game and two years after the events of Travis Strikes Again. Travis Touchdown is once again the star and takes it upon himself to protect the planet as an alien ship descends on Earth. Onboard is an intergalactic alien prince known simply as FU, who has brought with him a troupe of other aliens who want to conquer the planet out of sheer boredom.

No More Heroes III continues the story of Travis Touchdown from previous games. Still, as a standalone game, it is easy enough to follow. The history of the characters is rich – some of which spanning over a decade of games – but I wouldn’t be put off if you haven’t played the first two games or even Travis Strikes Again. Certainly, the direction that No More Heroes III takes might seem a bit out of the left field, but it naturally progresses from where Travis Strikes Again left things.

Regardless of your experience with the series, there’s no denying that No More Heroes III is a stylish affair. An endearingly potent love letter to video games, it’s clear that this is a product that auteur director Goichi Suda had every hand in creating. This isn’t just a tribute to No More Heroes as a series; it’s a celebration of Suda and his distinctly endearing style of game-making. It’s self-aware and fantastically written. That being said, one or two characters definitely didn’t need to make a return and aren’t entirely developed as much as the others, but overall, No More Heroes III is Suda’s stylish best, easily.

No More Heroes III plays closer to the original game than its sequel. You play as Travis Touchdown as he works his way up the Galactic Superhero Rankings. Essentially, you have to kill ten different bosses to save Earth from destruction. But this competition is run by the UAA, so in between missions, you’ll have to scrounge the open world for jobs and money to pay for each of your ranking battles. It’s a simple premise held together by the strength of its set pieces.

Speaking of simple, the combat inherits aspects from previous games while adding its twist. Travis will now fight with the identical beam katana from beginning to end but still retains his wrestling move repertoire. In addition, the death drive device on his arm can now be equipped with skills that are a little wackier – including installing turrets, teleporting dropkicks, and telekinetic throws. These do a great job of keeping the combat fresh without completely overhauling it – which is great as the combat in No More Heroes III is the smoothest the series has ever had.

Such streamlining has been applied to the structure of the game too. In previous games, you’d enter a level, fight through enemies and then battle the boss. In No More Heroes III, you’ll be treated to some scenes detailing the boss and their relationship with FU before being thrown straight into the battle. This revised structure has proven to be divisive between fans in the past year, but I feel that it results in a much better-paced experience with little to no downtime – a common issue that I found with both of the previous mainline titles.

But don’t fret – this doesn’t mean there is less “game” on offer. Between missions, Travis can explore five districts of an open world. To progress, you’ll find preliminary qualifying battles to take place in or pick up odd jobs to make money to pay for his entry fees. The battles are all single-room affairs that have you fighting all kinds of unique enemy types. These admittedly feel super game-like in how separated they are from the story, though it also, once again, means that No More Heroes III feels immaculately paced.

I say this because No More Heroes III commits to throwing new stuff at you regularly. I can probably count around ten unique enemies in the game, but mixing those battle encounters with other activities keeps things fresh to the end. These other activities include collecting scorpions, shooting crocodiles off the coast, going into space to defeat flying space peacocks with a mech suit, and mowing the lawn. It’s a wide variety of activities that never force themselves onto the player excessively but never feels like grinding if you want to go for extra resources.

But what would a No More Heroes game be without boss battles? Absolutely nothing – so it’s a boon that pretty much every single one on offer here is fantastic. Where previous games would throw ten battles at you and rely on the uniqueness of each boss to shake things up, some of these battles can even be described as genre-bending. I’m not going to ruin any of them here – that would be cruel – but every one of them has a uniqueness to them that can’t be understated.

Regardless of which difficulty you play on (though I warn you – Spicy is HARD), using extra resources allows you to improve Travis and his abilities however you want. You can invest in some pretty standard upgrades to health, damage dealt, and the like. But you can also craft chips that will improve some aspects of Travis while reducing others. I favoured wrestling moves more during the later battles, so I equipped chips that would enhance my wrestling damage while dropping damage of moves I never used. It’s a system that never feels one hundred percent necessary but is there to tinker with to get that extra edge on harder difficulties.

Most players will get twelve or so hours out of No More Heroes III depending on how much you do, though my first run took around fourteen. But there’s so much more to it than running through and doing all the battles. All kinds of collectibles are strewn throughout the open world. While they’re unnecessary, they will help those who want to finish the more formidable difficulty modes on New Game Plus. There’s, of course, a bunch of shirts and collectibles to find too.

In my original review, I was a massive fan of the artistic direction of No More Heroes III. It’s a bright style that pops with vibrant and numerous colour, though different from the previous two games in the series. It’s never dull to look at, and the bump in both resolution and framerate with this updated port only helps the game’s presentation. Where the original Switch version performed well during battles, there were still some pretty noticeable framerate drops during more intense battles and when exploring the game’s open world. Thankfully, with these ports, these performance issues are almost non-existent. They’re not rock solid, mind you, but the faster load times and better performance make this version of No More Heroes III the best you can buy.

The soundtrack is bold, brash, and vibrant on the other side of the presentation coin. An eclectic mix of electronic, industrial, and even some reggae-tinged pieces permeate every battle and every menu to give the game a vibe like no other. The voice work is similarly fantastic – and it’s such a joy to see everyone return to voice their respective characters, no matter how small their roles might be. As expected, Robin Atkin Downes is the standout here, lending Travis a cocky bravado like never before. Other highlights include Noshir Dalal, who voices FU with so much charm and intensity that I want to be mates with him, even if he wants to conquer my planet.

As I played No More Heroes III again, I continued to be enamoured with just how engaging an experience it is. At first glance, it looks like a retread of the things that No More Heroes has done before – a bunch of boss battles with some kooky direction and a cringe-worthy protagonist. But No More Heroes III is so much more than that – it subverts all your expectations to offer some of Suda’s best work. And this updated port makes things only better.

THE XBOX SERIES X|S VERSION WAS PLAYED ON A XBOX SERIES X FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW. A DIGITAL COPY OF THE GAME WAS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.

The post No More Heroes III Review – An Even Better Experience appeared first on Press Start.

There’s a lot of confusion surrounding what Overwatch 2 actually is. Is it a fully fledged sequel? A glorified update? Is it worthy of the 2 appended to its title in a seemingly desperate fashion? Even after its proper reveal in June of this year, many were left wondering that the game would actually entail. The answer lies somewhere in the middle of all the discourse and conversation surrounding the sequel to Blizzard’s seminal hero shooter.

Fundamentally, Overwatch 2 is a reworking and revamping of the original experience, made free in an age where live service games are becoming more and more accessible to the masses. With a shift to 5v5, an increased emphasis on teamwork, and thoughtful new hero designs, Overwatch 2 makes a good first impression, but ultimately, it feels incomplete and lacking in content.

A vast majority of the changes in Overwatch 2 come with changes to its core foundations and overall structure. The change to 5v5 as opposed to 6v6 is one that feels thought out and deliberate, placing more emphasis on the role of tanks and teambuilding for particular playstyles. It ultimately makes way for a quicker, more frenetic moment-to-moment experience that feels different from its predecessor but not to the point that it abandons its core identity. It’s clear that Overwatch 2 is going in hard on being a team-focused game, which comes with it’s own set of pros and cons.

While it’s relatively fun to solo queue into quick play matches, the real satisfaction comes from playing with friends, regardless of whether or not you want to coordinate and play seriously, or just casually and for fun. Being able to communicate and play as a team always was core to Overwatch’s core gameplay loop, but it feels even more paramount here, and is all the more rewarding for it. The downside to this is that the game just isn’t as fun playing solo, often feeling somewhat mindless and mundane outside of a competitive setting.

To adjust for the shift to 5v5, a few of the original heroes have been tweaked, adjusted, or straight up reworked to fit better into the new team sizes. Each role has their own passive abilities now to help them further, from support heroes gaining passive healing after a set amount of time or tanks taking less knockback and generating less Ultimate charge for healing and received damage.

Heroes like Orisa and Bastion have had their skills changed for the better, placing stronger emphasis on their roles and gameplay loops, giving them more identity in what’s grown to be a large roster. A special shoutout should go to Doomfist, who’s been entirely reworked into the Tank role, functioning as a sort of hybrid between offensive and defensive heroes. He’s loads of fun to play and balancing high-speed aggression with trying to stay alive was constantly entertaining and engaging. There are definitely some heroes who feel lost in translation, such as Widowmaker and Symmetra, who haven’t been adjusted to work better within a 5v5 framework, which is made even more noticeable by the heroes who did get brought forward.

The three new heroes coming at launch, Sojourn, Junker Queen, and Kiriko are all a resounding success as well. Each one has a kit that feeds into itself and flows with clear strengths and weaknesses. Sojourn, for example, is a high speed damage dealer with a rail cannon that’s charged up by its primary fire. She also has a projectile that functions as a vortex on impact, making for easy headshots with said railgun. Junker Queen and Kiriko have similarly coherent designs that feel like a definitive step up from some of the stuff we saw in the first game – especially at launch.

Not all is so consistent on the game mode front, unfortunately, and it’s made even more apparent here with the core changes made to Overwatch’s foundation. The new game mode, Push, sees teams going head to head over the control of an endearing robot, who will push a barricade towards the enemy’s spawn when in control of either team. It makes for a dynamic and ever-shifting battlefield where you constantly have to adapt to new terrain and evolving team compositions, and often results in some tense tie-breakers. The downside to this is that some of the other objective based game modes like Escort feel archaic in comparison, especially when the core gameplay has potential for so much more.

Map design is similarly untouched, with a few of the old ones fitting into the changes and others not so much. The six new maps coming with launch feel tailor designed for it, though, so I often found myself more excited to play on those than a majority of the returning maps. These maps are also set in new and interesting locations that hadn’t previously been explored before, including the likes of Rio De Janeiro, New York City, and Rome.

If all of that sounds bare-bones in regards to new content, that’s because it is. Overwatch 2 is launching with one new game mode, three new heroes, and six new maps, which feels decidedly lacking for what is meant to be a whole new sequel. The most glaring omission is the lack of the new PVE mode due for release sometime next year, which one can only assume is the reason things are so content-light on the multiplayer side of things. Still, though, it’s hard not to feel like Overwatch 2 is more of a glorified content update as opposed to a whole new beast at launch.

As with any live service game, Overwatch 2 is adopting the seasonal model, with roughly nine-week long seasons introducing new heroes, maps, game modes, and a season pass. While every new hero is automatically unlocked upon purchasing the season pass, players who choose to stick to the free track can only unlock them upon reaching tier 55, which is another strange decision given the already lacking number of brand-new heroes. Battle pass progression is also noticeably slow, even for those who pay for the premium track.

There’s also some baffling decisions that have been made in regards to the new player experience. As a first time user, you have to unlock the original cast of heroes from the first game over roughly 100 matches, limiting the potential pool of playable characters for new players right from the start. While I can understand the amount of options might be overwhelming for some, it’s a strange decision given the emphasis on teamwork and teambuilding, especially with competitive play unlocking at 50 quick play match wins.

One thing you can always count on with Blizzard, though, is production values and polish. Overwatch 2 is yet another outstanding showcase of attention-to-detail with characters that are positively bursting with emotion and personality, a timeless art style that’s quality is only emphasized by the engine upgrades, and fine-tuned optimization that leaves every aspect of the game feeling smooth and seamless. The new heroes, maps, and design reworks are particularly inspired, but even if some aren’t for you, there’s the option to opt for their Overwatch skins as well. Thankfully, all of your cosmetics also carry over to Overwatch 2 here, so there’s no need to worry about any precious skins or gold guns.

THE PC VERSION WAS PLAYED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW. A DIGITAL COPY OF THE GAME WAS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.

The post Overwatch 2 Review – A Solid Foundation But Lacking in New Content appeared first on Press Start.

This year’s FIFA focuses on the fundamentals of the sport, bringing with it much needed changes in the way the game plays. It’s not always perfect, but a bigger focus on moment-to-moment action, the Women’s game and a complete rework of Ultimate Team makes FIFA 23 easily one of the best in the series in years.

Like the Ignite Engine all those years ago, current-gen exclusive Hypermotion 2 technology feels a bit like a revolution for FIFA. It scrapes away a lot of the rustiness in animations seen in previous entries and has brought with it a slew of new ways to play the game. As a result, matches look and feel more like the real thing, with defenders expertly cutting out through balls with well-timed slides and more predictable outcomes happening when players jostle for the ball. 

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Acceleration has seen a shake up as well, with recovery speed of defenders playing just as important a role as an attacker’s pace. Because of this, spamming your team with pace merchants isn’t as viable as it once was, with defenders now making a marked effort to chase players down to get a challenge in. Of course, there are still moments where pacey players will rinse defenders (and this will depend on stats, position on the field and how the ball is played), but the fact defenders now have some chance to get back and recover well makes for a more accurate depiction of the real thing.

Hypermotion 2 led to a change in the way I’d attack, too. Rather than playing risky through balls, the game rewards smart build up play through the middle. Keeping hold of the ball and slowly building up an attack worked wonders, especially when I was in the final third. Shots from outside the box have been dialled down significantly due to the introduction of the new power shot mechanic, as well, which gives you manual control of a shot with a bigger wind up. 

Power shots are extremely useful if you have the space to pull one off, as it puts a lot of pace behind the ball which can lead to a potential fumble from the keeper or an outright goal. It’s all about risk versus reward, though, as there’s a lot of time for a defender to cut you off if you’re in a crowded space.

Women’s football has finally received some attention in FIFA 23. The raft of new animations included in Hypermotion 2 allows the women’s game to feel significantly different when compared to playing men’s football, and it’s great to finally see a bigger focus on it. The addition of two major women’s club leagues in the FA Women’s Super League and the French Division 1 Feminine are also welcome, though I hope this is just the beginning of a major focus for the team. Aside from kick off and tournament modes, there’s not much else you can do with the aforementioned club teams so there’s still some way to go. It’s a big step forward, either way.

Career Mode aficionados will be disappointed to hear not too much has changed this year. A new menu makes the player and manager career modes feel a bit more fresh, but the actual fundamental changes underneath are very minor. You’re finally able to play as a real manager in the latter, with the selection of accurately recreated managers across leagues fairly impressive for a first outing. As well as this, you’re now able to play out the major highlights in a match, which I enjoyed to a degree but felt the balance was consistently off. Some games would give me more attacking opportunities than defending and vice versa. As such, if I was already down by a goal or two it’d be near impossible to make a comeback. 

Player career introduces personality types and a range of extra curricular things to do throughout your career. The money you earn in your player career can be put towards things like booking dance classes and donating to animal shelters, while decisions pop up every now and again depending on the results on the pitch. Every activity you do, as well as your performance on the field, will allot points towards your player’s personality. That said, the Maverick, Heartbeat and Virtuoso personalities have very little impact on the mode itself, giving you a couple of extra points in your player’s stats. Because of this, it becomes fairly lacklustre as you progress and see similar options pop up every couple of weeks. There’s just not enough backbone to it to keep the mode interesting.

In contrast, FIFA Ultimate Team has seen its biggest refresh ever in FIFA 23. The entire chemistry system has been redone, with a bigger focus on being able to create more varied teams that aren’t hamstrung by stringent chemistry links. The result is a more fluid system, which looks at what league players play in, their clubs and their nationality and combines it into a three tier system. Rather than individual links, tiers come together to build chemistry across the entire team. As a result, it gives players better building blocks to create strong teams with great chemistry. 

Further to this, the addition of FUT Moments is a nice nod to players who don’t want to duke it out online all the time. In this mode, players need to complete certain objectives in each game within a specified time limit in order to earn FUT Stars. Objectives range from combining a range of passes to performing skill moves. Accrued FUT Stars can then be redeemed for a range of rewards, like loan items and card packs. 

While it’s a nice deviation from the tried and true modes across FUT, I felt myself becoming a bit bored after running through a handful of these challenges. And as per usual, I felt tired of FUT’s insistence on heavily pushing microtransactions and gave up on it pretty quickly. If you like FUT, you’ll appreciate the range of changes in FIFA 23. If you don’t, there’s not much here that’ll bring you in.

Unfortunately Pro Clubs and Volta Football haven’t seen too much in the way of radical changes this year, and languish as relatively forgotten modes in the overall scheme of things. Your avatar and some items move across both modes this year, with shared progression the key highlight. Other than that, don’t expect too much in the way of improvements. I feel like I say it every year, but Volta’s potential, in particular, has been completely squashed over the last few FIFA entries and it’s a damn shame. 

Finally, cross-play has arrived in FIFA 23 and my time with it has been fairly seamless. Xbox Series, PC and PlayStation 5 players can play against one another, while Xbox One and PlayStation 4 players can go up against each other across a range of the main modes like FUT and Seasons. Ultimately it’s something we’ve wanted to see for a long time and it’s nice to finally have it in the game, though it’s a shame co-op modes don’t have it available as of yet.

The introduction of HyperMotion 2, a refreshed FIFA Ultimate Team and notable improvements to women’s football make FIFA 23 a strong entry in the long-running footy sim, and one the team can work from in next year’s EA Sports FC. It’s a shame about Volta and the lack of real invention in the game’s career modes, but there’s certainly enough here to sink your teeth into. 

The post FIFA 23 Review – A Much Needed Refresh appeared first on Press Start.

Visual Concepts has finally found its groove with this year’s NBA game, knuckling down on the fundamentals while improving on a range of modes both new and old. It’s still not without its shortcomings, but there’s never been a better reason to jump back into the series than now. 

A lot of this comes down to the gameplay, which has seen significant improvement across the court. New animations make the game look and feel more like the real thing, while a welcome refresh to passing, in particular, provides a sense of freedom for players on offence. All players now have adrenaline boosts, too, which has been implemented to stop players from overdribbling. Each player has three boosts, which are consumed by performing explosive sprints. When you’ve consumed these boosts, your player will be noticeably slower until the shot clock is up or possession changes. It’s a welcome change, though it’s a bit odd that every single player has the same amount of boosts, no matter their experience or rating.

Defending has received a notable uplift, with well-needed refinements to shot blocking, steals, and ball strips, allowing for a range of different defensive maneuvers to call on throughout the course of a game. Similarly, match ups across the court are closer to what you see in the real world, with the game actively rewarding you for stacking the right player up against a dribbler and making the right decision when electing to block or steal. It’s a well needed refresh that injects a better sense of reward when taking risks, whether you’re on offence or defence, and it’s something that the series has desperately needed of late.

A refined focus on the court allows for NBA 2K23’s returning mode to shine, too. The Jordan Challenge, which looks at 15 of the biggest moments in Michael Jordan’s career, is a fantastic trip down memory lane of one of the all time greats of the game. The mode walks you through moments that defined Michael Jordan’s career, from his early college days to the iconic Bulls vs Jazz 1998 NBA Finals game.

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Throughout each of the games, you’ll be asked to complete a range of tasks. These range from relatively basic requirements like winning the game to scoring a certain amount of points or getting a particular amount of rebounds. This, combined with the excellent presentation package on offer, makes the Jordan Challenge one of the standout modes in 2K23 by some distance. Whether you’re an avid fan of the game or have dabbled in the sport every now and again, there’s something on offer for everyone in the mode.

MyNBA has seen a welcome refresh this year with the introduction of MyNBA Eras. Rather than focus on just the present, the mode now allows you to jump back to defining eras in the sport. Whether it’s the Magic vs Bird era from the early 80s to the Modern era, MyNBA Eras gives you the reigns to play through (and potentially change) iconic moments that changed professional basketball as we know it. Presentation packages, commentary, kits, courts and players are all expertly recreated here, making for one of the deepest modes in a sports game by a mile.

The Jordan Challenge’s visual presentation packages also make their way to MyNBA Eras, adding a nostalgic flavour to the mode. Jumping into the early 80s, for example, brings all of the classic presentation packages over while fuzzing up the visuals to look like you’re watching the game on a much older screen. While the filter can be turned off, it definitely adds to the immersion of playing those classic match ups and is a nice option to have.

I was particularly happy to see a bigger focus on the WNBA in this year’s game, with the inclusion of the Commissioner’s Cup a notable highlight. These inclusions are positive steps forward for the series, and there’s no doubt the mode is well above anything else seen in any other sports game right now, with a raft of options available for those wanting to play through The W or a WNBA season. 

NBA 2K23’s MyCAREER mode includes a range of improvements across the board, opening up a range of new ways to carve out your own story as an up and coming NBA star. Whether you want to dominate the paint or dip your toes into the world of a modern basketball star – where fashion, business and music are also huge parts of a player’s career – there’s more than enough content here to keep you entertained for a long while.

That said, the game’s story still finds itself going a bit too over the top for my liking and is filled with lots of grinding for those that don’t want to cough up some money to improve stats. Because of this, I found myself gravitating towards the more rewarding modes, like MyNBA Eras and the Jordan Challenge, rather than getting bogged down in the MyCAREER grind. Microtransactions are littered throughout MyCAREER, unsurprisingly, making the mode feel like it’s more keen to grab your money than it is about rewarding you as a player.

It’ll come as no surprise to hear 2K23’s MyTEAM mode continues to be the weakest mode of the bunch. Filled with predatory microtransactions, I found myself bouncing off of this mode relatively quickly. That said, there are some nice minor additions, with the single-player focused Clutch Time mode a particular highlight. Looking past this, though, it’s still easy to see the litany of issues I have with the way the microtransactions are structured and pushed. Your time’s better spent elsewhere in 2K23. 

While it still has its issues, Visual Concepts has done a good job in setting the NBA 2K series up for a positive future. The Jordan Challenge is excellent, and the improvements across almost all of the main modes are well appreciated. The game’s core gameplay has seen some well-needed revitalisation, too, coming together to form one of the most enjoyable basketball sims in many years.

The post NBA 2K23 Review – A Solid Step Forward appeared first on Press Start.

I don’t think I’m alone in being more conscious of time these days. These past couple of years haven’t been our collective best, a daily reminder that very little can be taken for granted. Likewise, we have witnessed our national healthcare system pushed to the limit and then some, another unavoidable example of who we are and what we stand to lose. What this nationwide freefall has left me with is a keen awareness of time and the indispensable nature of human kindness. Wayward Strand is a game that fundamentally understands this too. The ways we use and waste time, the passage of it, the warmth of memory and the pain of an old wound. It achieves this vision while being earnestly Australian too, with a familiar vibe that encompasses this simple but effective narrative experience.  

Wayward Strand sees you fill the shoes of Casey Beaumaris, a young teenager trying to make the most of her school holidays in the summer of 1978, Australia. Bored and restless, Casey has thrown herself into her writing and is looking to pen the ultimate expose for the school paper. Her subject is the magnificent airborne hospital that floats gently above the red earth, filling the blue skies with its lavish and omnipresent design. Joining her mother for the long weekend aboard the ship, Casey must use the three days to both investigate the ship and try to help the elderly patients who occupy its aesthetically rich halls.

Melbourne based developers Ghost Pattern have been open about the intentional limitations of Wayward Strand’s narrative design. Aboard the ship are over a dozen folks to interact with, but as Casey’s three days march forward, she won’t have time to discover everyone’s stories. The game wants you to make choices and make your peace with what you may miss, a built-in hook for replayability and a nice mechanical riff on the game’s thesis on time itself. To help you keep track of all these threads, Casey comes equipped with a journal for noting routine times, locations and points of interest. You can also be quickly directed toward a resident by clicking on their portrait in the journal and following an arrow.

Guiding Casey through the ship is a smooth experience, requiring no more than basic inputs to move about and interact with the game’s many friendly faces. Using simple arrows at the bottom of the screen, Casey will either walk or jog left or right, stopping to allow contextual options like going up or down stairs, entering a patient’s room or talking to a passerby. Casey can also be a bit of a snoop, hiding behind walls to eavesdrop on conversations and overhear clues or hints as to where to go next. It’s all very open, a freeform experience that allows the player to dictate their own path and pace.

Once you’ve chosen who you’d like to spend some precious time with, Casey enters into a charming conversation wheel system with them. Baseline options usually allow you to start a chat with branching dialogue, have a bit of a nosey around their belongings, leave or simply sit a while and allow the air to settle. Which of these you lean toward will vary based on the person you’re trying to talk with. Some patients prefer a slower-paced conversation, the silence you leave allowing them to bring up topics of their own choosing. Others will gleefully answer your questions, even if it’s with polite bemusement. Others still will tell you to bugger off if they’re too tired.

Wayward Strand does a terrific job of situating you in Casey’s reality thanks to its writing. Every single one of the people you can meet on the good ship feels unique and fully realised. By the end of my first day onboard I had already fallen in love with the kindly, slow talking Mr. Pruess, and promptly decided to walk the other way when Esther Fitzgerald would be moseying down the hall. You’ll undoubtedly find your own favourites, your own stories and worlds that appeal to you and make you compelled to spend your time in your own manner. The collision of the game’s Australian nature and its gorgeous writing results in a feeling not too dissimilar to visiting your grandparents when you were a child. A luxury so few of us have these days.

The writing is in turn elevated by Wayward Strand’s amazing cast of voice actors who bring their respective quirky characters to life. Nancy Curtis plays Casey with pitch-perfect youthful earnestness, a layered portrait of a young woman confused, intrigued and frustrated by the world around her. Elsewhere a litany of Australian stars grace the halls, including familiar faces from iconic shows such as Neighbours, Blue Heelers and more. All of these performances go a long way to realising Wayward Strand’s unique Aussie world, a place that manages to capture the light, and grit, of people just trying their best.

Wayward Strand is also obviously a game with things on its mind. The heightened reality of its airborne hospital is something of a cosy trap. A warm and vaguely familiar glow obscures some deeply meditative words on medicine as a system, the power of people, war, and of course, death. Ghost Pattern’s public decrying of crunch culture in game development feels of a piece with the commentary in the game. A definitive and gently amusing riff on how certain systems can steamroll good people and the damage caused in turn. It never shies away from the harsher truths of the human condition but is always ready to offer a shoulder when it all feels a bit overwhelming.  

While the game is a visual delight and a moving meditation on emotional subjects, it can sometimes waver in its ability to grasp the player. Wayward Strand is a strikingly slow experience in ways I often adored but its pacing being player-driven can lead to some slumps. The inability to save is the real killer here, as the game only autosaves after the completion of a full day at the hospital, approximately an hour and a half in real time. I can appreciate that this is done to avoid save scumming the narrative but in practice, it can lead to some tiring pushes or even lost progress.  

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Metal Hellsinger is a heck of a time. While the game’s core story and premise don’t offer up anything relatively new, there’s something completely wonderful in the way it delivers its head-banging, visceral gameplay. Combining fast-paced demon slaying action with a beat to stick to, Metal Hellsinger has some of the most unique first person shooting you’ll likely ever experience.

As someone who absolutely adores rhythm games, I couldn’t have been more delighted with how developers The Outsiders nailed the feeling of slaying demons to a rip-roaring soundtrack that’ll make Mick Gordon proud. Composed of eight hells to venture through, the soundtrack, which lends vocal talents from well-known metal artists like Matt Heafy from Trivium and Serj Tankian from System of a Down, is brutally metal in all the right ways.

I found myself enamored with the way the game seamlessly blends the audio mix with what’s happening on-screen, too. As you play through the game you’ll be tasked to match your actions with the beat of the song – doing this will net you a higher score per kill, while also increasing your score multiplier. As your score multiplier increases, more elements of the song will come into play, culminating with the introduction of the song’s vocals. Performing finishers on enemies also has to be done on the beat, in turn giving you a big dose of health to allow you to keep slaying away.

With that said, while the sound mixing and rhythm-focused gameplay mechanics in Metal Hellsinger are excellent, don’t expect much else in the way of game-changing surprises. You’ll slowly unlock new weapons and face new enemies as you venture through the various hells, but the fast-paced, reaction-heavy combat has been seen (and perfected) before. The big draw here is how that’s all mixed in with the game’s soundtrack, and how that sense of beat really adds some punch to the game’s enemy encounters.

The game’s story is fairly forgettable, unfortunately. Acting more as a means to justify your rip and tear-induced journey across Hell, there’s just not a lot of spine to it. You play as The Unknown, a Hellsinger who’s had her voice taken from her by The Red Judge. Throughout the game, you’ll make your way through eight hells taking on aspects sent by The Red Judge in a bid to reclaim your voice. Performances from Troy Baker and Jennifer Hale certainly help raise the quality of the story a notch or two, however I didn’t really take much interest in it at all – especially when I was more keen to hear the next song I’d be slaying demons to.

Throughout the game’s five-hour campaign, you’ll unlock side levels called torments. Completing torments will award you with sigils, which act as a way of upgrading your character. Successfully completing them will give you a new ability to add to your loadout as you enter a level, with abilities ranging from never dropping below a 2x multiplier to doing more damage when low on health. 

Torments were a nice distraction from the game’s main levels, though they were the only real piece of side content in the game. After you finish the game’s main campaign and the 21 or so torments, there’s not much else to really do. Unless you’re keen to battle it out on the leaderboards on the three difficulty levels offered, there’s just not a lot of replayability available in the game which is disappointing. 

I also found the environments to be fairly indifferent throughout my time with the game. Each of the hells you venture through all have the same basic style to them, with areas locking off every now and again and inevitably pushing you into similar-styled fights. Because of this, it all started to feel a bit repetitive after a few hours. 

The highlights within each level, though, were the aspect boss fights. Even so, I was disappointed to hear the same boss fight song start up every single time aside from the final fight in the game. That said, these encounters were really enjoyable and varied up the gameplay enough.

The Outsiders have come up with an interesting gameplay formula within Metal Hellsinger. The moment to moment gameplay is strong, yet it’s let down by an uninteresting story and quite a bit of repetition across the board. That said, if you’re after an FPS with some flavour and style to it, there’s nothing quite like its rhythm-focused demon slaying out there. 

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Yes, the Souls-like genre is bloated, to say the least, but by no means does that suggest that developers shouldn’t attempt to carve out their slice of the challenging action game pie. It does mean, however, that a new game in this stacked genre needs to innovate to stand out. While Steelrising, the latest title from French developer Spiders, doesn’t quite manage to break the mould in any lasting fashion, its creative premise and historical setting allow it some room to breathe away from this exceedingly crowded market.

In an alternate 1789, France has been thrown into turmoil by the inadequate rule of King Louis XVI. The people have revolted, the monarchy is on the brink of destruction, and revolution is looming over Paris. So far, so historically accurate, but I did mention that this is an alternate 1789.

In the king’s madness, he turns to the enigmatic oculist Cagliostro and the acclaimed inventor Jacques de Vaucanson, commissioning an army of unfeeling automatons that purge Paris of those who oppose the crown…and just about everyone else. At the height of the Clockwork King’s delusion, queen consort Marie-Antoinette tasks her mysterious personal guard Aegis, the only automat with the capability of speech, to end the mechanised violence.

Leaving the safety of Saint Cloud, the player will control Aegis, the brass ballerina turned brawler, as she makes her way across fractured France. Despite her dancing background, Aegis can do far more than pirouette and plié.

Without being too reductive, Steelrising’s combat is more or less what you would expect from a Souls-like RPG, with a few minor tweaks thrown into the mix. Aegis’ basic manoeuvres consist of a light and special attack, a dodge and a jump, all of which are tied to a stamina bar. If depleted, you’ll have a brief window to press a face button to regain your stamina early, though it comes at the cost of ice build-up that could potentially have you frozen in place.

Strewn throughout the city are Vestals, mechanical cages that Aegis can access to refill her health and upgrade her gear. This is done by using Anima; a resource dropped by defeated enemies. As is expected, you lose all collected Anima Essence upon death, wherein you can regain it by returning to the spot you fell.

The fundamentals are similar to Bloodborne or Elden Ring, as Aegis is nimbler than the lumbering knights in the Souls series. Steelrising does an admirable job emulating this combat style, though it feels clunky in places. Aegis was programmed to move with the grace of a dancer, and some of her animations portray that well, but the timing of attacks, blocks and parries often feel a bit sluggish and occasionally non-responsive.

After making a few cosmetic decisions during the game’s opening, you’ll be given a choice between four starting classes: Bodyguard, Soldier, Dancer or Alchemist. Though your choice here won’t lock you into a particular play style, it will determine your starting weapon, item and stat buffs.

The weapon variety is impressively wide, from fans, chains and claws to maces, wheels and dual swords. Each weapon type offers a different fighting style, whether heavy and hard-hitting halberds or fast fans. Expanding on this are the special attacks that can be used to block incoming attacks, parry enemies or infuse your damage output with an elemental effect of ice, fire or fulmination. Ranged weapons and some special attacks use Alchemical Capsules, a type of ammo gained from killing enemies or purchased from a Vestal. You’ll never be too strapped for Capsules, but balancing when and where to use this resource can lead to tense moments.

As extensions of Aegis’ own body, these damage-dealing devices more than look the part as well, with my personal favourite being a heavy axe that took the form of three parchment scrolls that could be unfurled to create a shield.

While the arsenal at Aegis’ disposal is varied and unique, the same can’t reasonably be said for the environments she traverses. On route to overthrow the Clockwork King, you will travel through eight regions across France, including Luxembourg, Invalides and Bastille. Mechanically-altered France is an ideal setting in theory, but, save for the final area, none of the locales manages to feel distinct from the rest. Cobblestone streets adorned with crumbling buildings are interesting enough at first, but the appeal fades when you’re walking those streets, again and again, no matter the level.

Once again, similar to the Souls games, levels become interconnected by unlocking passageways and gates that lead to previously visited areas. Furthermore, the levels feature a degree of verticality and incentivise exploration by employing three upgrades that Aegis obtains by defeating certain bosses. A grappling hook, a dash and a ram allow the player to reach previously inaccessible areas in hopes of discovering secrets, though these diversions more often lead to an item or two that you’ve seen before. Though I enjoy the added dimension to levels, the often-stiff controls made platforming a chore, leading to all too frequent backtracking.

Standing, rolling and floating between Aegis and her goal is the king’s army of automatons. The design of the enemies you encounter is intricate and exciting, with plenty of moving parts and period-appropriate flourishes that make them feel believable in this fictional retelling of history. In particular, the design of the bosses is fantastic, drawing inspiration from the location you encounter them. A clear standout is a bible-wielding machine, propelled by a huge sphere, whose weak point is a tiny statue of a bishop where a head would typically sit.

Regarding gameplay, the clockwork combatants are serviceable, with clearly telegraphed attacks and move sets that allow you to watch, learn, and act. Unfortunately, I feel like I had seen everything there was to see in combat upon leaving the first main area. Travelling to a new level means battling the same few automats, the only difference being their elemental damage output. There’s no point in comparing this aspect to the Souls series, but a deeper variety of enemy types would’ve made a world of difference.

Exempt from this criticism are the bosses. Just as they stand out aesthetically, so too do they in a combat sense. The fights against these gargantuan gearheads are challenging and fulfilling, feeling like an actual test of your abilities. As you whittle away at their health, their attack patterns and movements will devolve, causing them to become less predictable and more dangerous. Though it’s possible to load up on bombs and other damage-dealing items to try and cheese your way through these battles, I never felt compelled to do so.

The destruction of these tin titans is compelling while you’re taking part in it, but the narrative behind your actions is decidedly less intriguing. As I’ve said, the setting is interesting, but the story is largely forgettable. You’ll meet plenty of notable historical figures, but none of them manages to feel alive or meaningful. This is mainly due to some stilted writing and rather wooden voice acting. Bafflingly, all characters speak in either a high English or cockney accent, regardless of the French setting. I would assume this is down to budget, but it seems doubly odd, considering Spiders is a French developer.

While the visuals aren’t outstanding, the art direction does manage to carry most of the weight. Vaucanson’s mechanical creations are complex and detailed, with animations matching their robotic nature. However, I ran into several technical troubles, ranging from funny to frustrating. Enemies had a bad habit of T-posing post-mortem, and a fair share of missing audio made for some awkward cut scenes that should’ve been dialogue-heavy. Worst of all, I had an issue with a boss clipping through the environment and not returning, moments before I landed the finishing blow. Not ideal for a game built around challenging combat, that’s for sure.

The tough-but-fair gameplay that’s made the Souls-like genre so popular is undeniably excellent, but it’s not exactly inclusive. Looking to change that, Steelrising includes a number of assist options that aim to make the experience more accessible for everyone. Choosing whether or not you lose Anima upon death, reducing enemy damage and improving stamina regeneration are all options that keep the experience intact while allowing more players to enjoy the game. The accessibility conversation has been growing over the last few years, and it’s great to see Spiders bringing these options to a genre known for being devoid of them.

The PS5 version of this game was played for the purpose of this review.

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It’s been a long time since mascot platformers dominated the gaming landscape. 20 years ago when the original Pac-Man World was released platform games were king of home consoles, and the king of arcades wanted in on that action. For better and for worse, playing Pac-Man World RePac took me right back to my weekends playing random platformers I rented from the video shop on my PlayStation back then. I

t feels dated in level design and general gameplay but as someone who enjoyed games like these growing up I definitely developed a soft spot for the way it so faithfully recreated a style of game that isn’t much in fashion anymore.

RePac opens with Pac Man returning home to a party in his honour, only to find that his entire cast of family and friends have gone missing. So begins our spherical hero’s quest across a bunch of themed platforming worlds to collect letters, waka-waka some pellets and defeat the forces of Toc-Man to save his friends. It’s not exactly an inventive story, but it only really ever intends to be set dressing for the main focus of the kid-friendly platforming so I won’t hold it to too high a standard.

The platform gameplay on offer feels pretty ancient, which makes perfect sense when you consider the original game that forms the mechanical basis for this one is over 20 years old. The platform game was on top of the world, but was still very much designed the way it had been in the 2D age – just with some extra depth to play with.

Pac-Man World RePac faithfully recreates these old worlds with a layer of modern paint, without changing the way it plays in any significant way. You’ll need to play through a series of mostly side scrolling levels, maneuvering your way to the end of the level using Pac-Man’s jumps, butt bounces and charge moves, dodging or dispatching of enemies to progress. A range of optional collectibles add a fun and necessary twist to the otherwise pretty dull A to B.

Collecting fruit adds to your score and can unlock some doors, finding floating letters to spell P-A-C-M-A-N unlocks a bonus round after the level, and you can even find special classic style Pac-Man mazes which give some extra variety to play. Collecting all of these things will require some back tracking to doors that are now unlocked. None of it feels particularly interesting, but I will admit that it tickled the collector in me. Knowing there’s an A sitting somewhere in the level that I’ve missed was enough to make me want to explore every crevice of the levels to find it even if it felt like a cheap way to extend your time in a level sometimes.

Boss levels add some welcome variety to proceedings, as well. It’s a relic of the past where games seemed to pack in seemingly random gameplay one-offs but much appreciated here. Cute touches like a Galaxian-esque shooter boss and a grand prix kart race against a line-up of circus clowns are surprisingly fun. Fleshed out just enough to be fun for their quick one-time levels, they make for a nice break from the regular platforming levels.

While the game plays very much like the PlayStation original did, the presentational overhaul makes a huge difference for the game and brings it much closer to modern expectations. Everything is presented in lovely high resolution graphics, environment and character models completely overhauled while staying mostly faithful to the original game. Visual design stays pretty similar as well and as a result looks really nice at times (the beach area comes to mind) but can be horribly garish at others like the Funhouse area. I found the funhouse maze levels particularly bad, the garish colours and unclear design made it difficult to see what was a maze wall and what wasn’t.

Music too has been fully re-created and for better and worse is fully based on the original compositions. Expect some very short repetitive loops that will, if you’re anything like me, slowly drive you batty.

The PS5 version if this game was played for the purpose of this review.

The post Pac-Man World RePac Review – A Platforming Relic appeared first on Press Start.

Since its launch almost a decade ago, The Last of Us has become one of PlayStation’s hottest IPs. Not only did the original receive the remaster treatment shortly after its release, but its sequel is also almost the most decorated game to ever exist, though it wasn’t without controversy. Since then, an HBO series based on the game’s events has been produced with an expected premiere date next year.

The discourse over whether The Last of Us Part I, a remake of the original game, needs to exist has been fiercer and far more targeted than I’ve ever seen. It’s tough because this game isn’t for one specific group of people. It’s a careful, honest remake of a classic game that will be brand new for some.

I would have contended at one point that the existence of Part I was to drum up interest in the upcoming TV series and serve as a far shinier entry point for people who’ve never played The Last of Us. While that might still be the case, I also believe it exists as a vehicle to deliver Joel and Ellie’s story with far greater production values and with the creases ironed out.

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After losing his daughter twenty years prior during the outbreak of Cordyceps infection that plunges the world into banditry and martial law, Joel accepts the task of escorting Ellie across the country. Part I has been billed as a remake from the ground up, and it’ll grow increasingly evident the more you play that there’s no word of a lie there. Save for one particular moment that’s retconned to help continuity between games, the story of The Last of Us is very much intact and remains the torchbearer for riveting, character-driven drama. I’m also thankful, in retrospect, that they resisted the urge to weave Left Behind, the standalone expansion that explores the relationship between Ellie and Riley, throughout the main plot because the game works into such an irresistible rhythm in its second half that it would have been a shame to tamper with that.

It’s obviously still available from the main menu, but The Last of Us is simply a powerhouse script from Naughty Dog that rings truer than ever today, especially as a new parent in a post-pandemic world. 

Naughty Dog could have invested the time and effort into incorporating mechanics introduced in Part II, such as the dodge and rope physics, though I don’t believe they needed to. Not only does it not make sense for Joel to be as swift and agile as Ellie grows to be, but introducing the latter would have forced the team to reconsider the play spaces and the player’s options to explore them. Unlike the sequel’s Seattle, this game’s world wasn’t built with verticality in mind, so I’ve no problem with the team leaving well enough alone. It feels as though plenty has been done to bring the game up to par with its sequel, even if it is simple, smaller touches. 

I’m calling it the rose-tinted glasses effect because as is the power of nostalgia, Part I’s changes are subtle enough that it still feels like The Last of Us that I remember.

Although the bones of the game’s combat remain the same, each encounter feels much more tense and exciting thanks to the advancements the team made with artificial intelligence. It’s not only enemies that appear smarter, with more aggressive and tactical pathing, but your companions are thankfully no longer immersion-breaking standees lingering in harm’s way. I certainly felt the pinch on more than one occasion when I’d break stealth and have a few shotgun-bearing bandits descend on me. It only further grounds the gritty, gory gunplay, which is especially horrendous given the game’s improved fidelity. 

It’s hard to argue that the original The Last of Us was a pretty game, but the work done to bring Part I, as a remake, up to par with Part II is astounding. Nature springing back to life to reclaim its domain from men is such a picturesque aesthetic, and none has done it better than this franchise. But even more impressive than the world are the characters that fill it, the iconic performances that have only grown in stature with time, and the team’s ability to go comb through the original recordings to eke out every ounce of acting possible. There are so many pivotal scenes that ultimately defined The Last of Us that hit so much harder this time around, from the heartbreaking prologue right through to the fleeting moment of reprieve with Henry and Sam.

Regardless of the rendering mode that you opt for in Part I, the game looks so much better. It offers both fidelity and performance modes, which favour either resolution or frame rate, and though I spent the majority of my time targeting those smooth frames, I found pop-in and visual bugs to be a bit more frequent when placing fidelity on the back burner. 

Despite its mainstream appeal, The Last of Us is a survival-horror game. As such, console-specific features from both the DualSense and Pulse headset have done a bit of the heavy lifting to help establish the atmosphere and dark tone we’d expect. Feeling the tensile response from the triggers when aiming is an understated addition that only further heightens the craze of combat, while I appreciated the more subtle times it’d pop up like feeling your mount’s rhythmic gallop underfoot. It’s engrossing and engulfing in ways that weren’t possible once, but that this series does deserve. 

Part I had a real opportunity to be a celebration for The Last of Us and its fans. It obviously delivers the most definitive version of the game yet, but it fails to offer anything of substance to those who are potentially triple-dipping. None of the extra content, from the behind-the-scenes footage to the podcasts detailing the game’s conception, is new and can be found elsewhere, which feels like a shame. Even the commentary that can be played over the cinematics is from the remastered version and offers no insight into the game’s facelift.

There’s also an exhaustive set of alternate skins you can choose for Ellie, many of which celebrate PlayStation’s storied franchises, though even many of these are recycled. That said, I still wouldn’t walk past that Daxter backpack in the store if I passed it. 

Naughty Dog had praise heaped on them for the lengths they went to to ensure The Last of Us Part II was as accessible to as many people as possible. They’ve delivered again with Part I, with countless options that will no doubt open the experience up to so many. Even though it isn’t for me, I particularly love they’ve made use of the DualSense’s rumble feedback to help deaf gamers feel the cadence or emotion attached to a particular line delivery.

Regardless of where one comes down on the discussion about whether Part I should exist, it does. And although it appears that, on the surface, all of its improvements are skin deep, Naughty Dog does plenty to drag this game up to the standard they set with its sequel through improved A.I. and accessibility options to create the most definitive The Last of Us yet. 

The post The Last Of Us Part I Review – Makes Every Shot Count appeared first on Press Start.

When Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird came up with the idea of four mutant turtles with ninjutsu skills in the 1980s, few would have believed that such a franchise could still be going strong nearly forty years later. But by the late 80s and early 90s, having the video game licensing to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was in effect a license to print money, and Konami were ready and raring to go. Here we arrive in the present day with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection, a treasure trove of thirteen games developed by Konami for various platforms in their heyday; with genres spanning beat-‘em-ups, fighters, and platformers, and all featuring everyone’s favourite heroes in a half-shell.

TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection is a glorious trip back through time with an emphasis on preserving the game the way they were, while still throwing in some extra features and cool little easter eggs. This is how you want games to be emulated – scaled up for larger screen sizes (so it doesn’t look like you’ve just plugged a NES into your 65” OLED panel) as well as tweaked for speed and controller responsiveness.

Yes, it is still a tad jarring to be playing an old-school Game Boy game on your TV, but Digital Eclipse has done a fantastic job in mastering all of the retro titles for modern consoles and PC. There’s even some great TV/LCD screen filters to overlay as well, and the option to play certain games in their Japanese release too. For those who can’t stand the challenge, there’s save states and rewind modes to keep you from throwing your controller through the screen, and where available, local co-op is available too. At the time of writing, I wasn’t able to play the online features, but I guarantee if it’s anything like couch co-op it’ll be a blast.

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Outside of the games themselves, Digital Eclipse has raided the vault and provided a wealth of material to explore when you’re not playing as well – concept art, design sketches and even box art is available to flip through for each title, so you can see the full history of the game without having to track down a physical copy.
But enough gushing about the features, what about the games? Well here’s a brief run-down of what you get in the Cowabunga Collection (in order of their original release);

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES): The original TMNT game for the NES which plays like an RPG game. Players transition from side-scrolling action to overworld environments in a top-down perspective, with the ability to switch between Turtles at any time. If your Turtle’s health drops to zero, they are ‘captured’ by the enemy (but can be saved and returned to the team later on). Be prepared to be frustrated by the map obstacles and the overall difficulty.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Arcade): Chances are this is the game that your parents, older siblings or relatives fed countless coins into back when it was released. With the ability to pick one of four Turtles (usually the arcade cabinets had a designated spot for each one) players venture through Manhattan in an effort to save April O’Neil and Splinter from the evil Shredder. Each Turtle has pros and cons to their gameplay style, and the enemies are colour-coded to the way they attack as well. Fight your way through each stage until you reach the boss battle at the end, usually a notable TMNT sub-villain.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game (NES): It wasn’t going to be easy porting an arcade game with its own board to the NES, but Konami did it anyway. Extending the existing levels and throwing a few extra stages in as well, the game (billed as a sequel due to the TMNT moniker taken already) lacks any multiplayer mode but does pretty well to hold its own.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan (Game Boy): The first handheld entry in the series, the game is a platformer where the four Turtles must venture to save April O’Neil while taking down Krang and Shredder. A pretty vanilla outing, but a good place to start nonetheless.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time (Arcade): One of, if not potentially THE best beat-‘em-up arcade games around, Turtles In Time builds on its arcade predecessor by adding more attacks and new stages. This time around you’re tasked with taking down Shredder and returning the Statue of Liberty to its rightful location. Expect to be hitting the “insert coin” button a fair bit though, because the difficulty really ramps up as you play through.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back from the Sewers (Game Boy): A more polished sequel to the Fall of the Foot Clan game. Switching between Turtles before a stage, each Turtle has their own strength and weakness in gameplay. The game adds a bit more depth than just a simple platformer, with sections that can be jumped to in the background and foreground.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project (NES): A sequel to the NES port of the arcade game, but also an original title. The game takes its cues from the 5th season of the TMNT cartoon, and improves on the original NES port by speeding up the gameplay and introducing a two-player mode.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles In Time (SNES): The first entry for the SNES, and in my opinion the best of the lot. The port of the arcade game resembles its original title very closely, and adds levels and assets from the original arcade game to make it a longer, more fun experience. This game is worth the price of admission alone.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist (Sega Genesis): Of course it wouldn’t have been fair on the Sega fans if they couldn’t get in on the TMNT action. Essentially a re-skinned version of Turtles in Time for the Genesis/Mega Drive, The Hyperstone Heist changes up a few of the boss characters and stages from Turtles in Time and creates a new story, while maintaining that difficulty.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Radical Rescue (Game Boy): The third game in the Game Boy platformer series, we see a huge shake-up in the gameplay – no longer linear and horizontal, the stages also become vertical and add the ability to collect full pizzas to keep your health up as you fight your way through to save the Turtles from capture. This one gets a bit frustrating though, as enemies seem to re-spawn once just out of frame.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (SNES/Sega Genesis/NES): Don’t be fooled – the games may have the same title, but all three iterations are wildly different.

The SNES version plays like a TMNT-skinned Street Fighter II, where you fight and build up a Mutagen Meter to perform special attacks, as well as having weak and strong kick and punch buttons assigned to the controller. The game introduces characters from the ‘Archie’ series of comics.

The NES version was the last game Konami released outside of Japan for the system, and strangely the game was never released in Japan. The game sees the Turtles hold a contest to see who is strong enough to take on the challenge of Shredder.

The Genesis version sees the Turtles and allies travelling through Dimension X, fighting clones of themselves as they rescue Splinter from Krang. This version is strangely darker and less fluid.

Of course, these games are all relics of their time, and are not without flaws – but usually indicative of the limitations of their technology. NES games still get some severe slowdowns with heaps of units on the screen, the Game Boy games have jarring and repetitive 8-bit music, and most or all of the games in the collection have a degree of difficulty that some are just not used to these days. Thankfully with the ability to change settings prior to playing, a lot of these gripes can be stopped before you start.

The PS5 version of this game was played for the purpose of this review.

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While Shin Megami Tensei has a firm understanding of its identity and what it is today, it was still finding its footing when the original Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers came out in 1997. The series hadn’t yet landed on the pivotal Press Turn System that Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne would bring to the table, something that would inform the design of every entry going forward. Still, though, Soul Hackers stood out for its palpable atmosphere, slick cyberpunk setting, and experimental mechanics that preserve its originality and uniqueness to this day.

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It’s with this knowledge that the announcement of a sequel, nearly 25 whole years later, came as a shock to many fans of the cult-classic. In a world where the Devil Summoner spin-off series had seemed to be long-forgotten, what form would Soul Hackers take in a world where Persona is more popular than the mainline series? The answer is unfortunately, a rather disappointing one. While Soul Hackers 2 has all the fundamentals of a typical Shin Megami Tensei game, it lacks the alluring complexity of previous entries. Opting for a more streamlined and straightforward RPG, that while immediately accessible, struggles to stand up to the lofty achievements of its predecessors, and that’s without getting into its egregious DLC practices.

Set during a war between the Yatagarasu and the Phantom Society, Soul Hackers 2 follows two supernatural beings named Ringo and Figue. Birthed from a place purely made of data and information, Ringo and Figue enter the human world in order to avert a predicted cataclysmic event that will end all of humanity. They quickly meet with Devil Summoners from both Yatagarasu and the Phantom Society that have their own motives for revenge and the party sets out to untangle the web of conspiracies and malicious plans that will ultimately lead to the end of the world.

While it isn’t a narrative I’d describe as boring or mundane, it definitely feels more surface level and less nuanced than the original. There aren’t many themes or ideas explored here beyond your typical end of the world schtick, and there was a lot of potential for that with the likes of Ringo and Figue being sentient AI. It feels like it merely serves as a vessel for gameplay, but that stands out in a series with a narrative pedigree like Shin Megami Tensei.

The core cast also doesn’t do much to save it, unfortunately, mostly because they feel so tangential to the main plot. Ringo and Figue are undoubtedly the most interesting struggling with the concepts their presented with as AI in a human world. While the others are decently fleshed out over the 30-40 hour run-time, nothing particularly stuck with me after the credits rolled. Part of this is due to the Soul Matrix, the way in which these characters are explored. As you explore dungeons unique to each character within the Soul Matrix, you’ll uncover key events in their lives that led them to where they are today. The problem, is that progression through the Soul Matrix is gated by main story progression, leaving it disjointed, and sporadic in nature. There’s no real depth or complexity to the core cast here, which also extends to core gameplay.

Shin Megami Tensei is known best for its brutal turn-based combat, where a single mistake can lead to a cascade of effects. What’s typically as triumphant as it is ball-busting in difficulty, is disappointingly watered down here in Soul Hackers 2. At the core of every SMT game since Nocturne is the Press Turn System, with each spin-off riffing on the idea in some format to introduce something new. Soul Hackers 2 does this in the form of Stacks, whereby hitting enemy weaknesses will create a Stack. If you have at least one Stack by the end of your turn, your demons will perform a Sabbath, a huge attack which grows in power depending on how many Stacks you have by the end of your turn.

While it’s an initially flashy and instantly rewarding spin on the Press Turn System, it grows to be mindlessly simple and lacking in complexity. It’s ultimately boils down to getting bonus damage for hitting an enemy’s weakness with little to no strategy in regards to how you get there. The combat system is also hurt by lack of punishment for rash or hasty decision making, with attacks that enemies are resistant to resulting in nothing except lost damage. The core appeal of striking enemy weaknesses and having smart party setups is still here, but isn’t nearly as rewarding. It does make for a more accessible SMT experience, but ultimately one that I think many will bounce off of due to the lack of complexity.

Dungeon design is also disappointingly simple, with uninspired and rudimentary puzzles sprinkled throughout visually dull hallways. The Soul Matrix is particularly mundane, with environments feeling copy and pasted between floors with scattered boss encounters throughout. When you begin exploring a dungeon, Ringo will send out her recruited demons to scout the area for items, money, side quests, and more. While this is a cool idea on paper, it significantly waters down exploration and Demon Negotiations.

I mention Demon Negotiations specifically because this is also relegated to the scouting system, where demons will propose to join you if you give them something they demand. It can’t be understated how much this takes away from the core idea behind recruiting demons. What used to be a system where world-building and smart decision making combine to create an incredibly engaging system, is now watered down into a simple yes or no choice, that will almost always be a yes from the player, as recruiting a new demon is far more valuable than whatever it is they’re asking for.

Outside of dungeon exploration and combat, you’ll spend your time purchasing equipment, items, and fusing your demons to create even stronger demons. Fusion is exactly as you’d expect, incentivizing smart use of your demon supply to bolster your party and weakness coverage as you progress through the main story. There’s heaps of equipment to customize each character with, allowing for some neat build potential. Nothing feels like a wrong choice as demons can be assigned to party members as you see fit, allowing you to switch up roles on the fly. A special mention should go to upgrading the demon summing device, the COMP, where you can improve the rate at which you gain Stacks, boost skill damage, and much more.

While Soul Hackers 2 can’t hold a candle to the likes of Persona, this is still a slick looking RPG from Atlus, especially compared to other entries. The 3D models of demons are a joy to look at, attack animations are eye-catching and the general aesthetic of the game, while different from original, establishes its own identity. The 2D character portraits are similarly expressive and detailed, giving character interactions an extra bit of personality and life that goes a long way. Performance is also remarkably smooth, making for an overall polished experience, regardless of whether you choose to play it at 4K, or 1440P.

THE PS5 VERSION OF THIS GAME WAS PLAYED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW. A DIGITAL COPY OF THE GAME WAS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.

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Released back in 2006, Destroy All Humans! 2 expanded the scope and scale of the original in almost every way, so it only seems fitting that it would get the same remake/remaster treatment that the first game did in 2020. Destroy All Humans 2!: Reprobed brings the vastly superior sequel into the modern age with several welcome advancements and an attractive coat of paint but, for better and for worse, beneath that veneer is still a game that hit shelves in 2006.

Picking up 10 years after the events of the first game, Cryptosporidium-138 (the clone of the first game’s Cryptosporidium-137) is sitting pretty as the President of the United States and, even more impressively, is in possession of “the package,” a trait that no Furon has been gifted with for millennia. Yes, Crypto-138 is sporting a penis. This naturally infuriates the KGB, so Crypto is forced to leave his comfortable post and pursue the Russians across the world.

Does the premise make sense? Not really. Does it need to? Absolutely not. The ludicrous plot is a vehicle to move Crypto from one location to the next in a fictionalised 1969 Earth, providing an occasional laugh along the way. Beginning in the satirical version of San Francisco that is Bay City, DAH2 unshackles itself from the strict US setting of the original game to go global. During the 10–12-hour campaign, you’ll visit this universe’s equivalents of England, Japan and Russia, as well as a fifth location that I’ll keep top secret, despite the game being almost 17 years old.

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Each location is a decently sized sandbox environment, filled with vehicles, buildings and pedestrians to throw about and disintegrate. While each of the areas is functionally the same, acting as little more than set dressing for destruction, they each have enough character and personality to feel unique. The London-inspired Albion level, for instance, is covered in thick fog, and its tea-drinking populace are all driving Aston Martins. It’s not accurate, nor is it always politically correct, but it’s a nice change of scenery from the first game.

As with almost all remakes and remasters, the visual overhaul is the most prominent element. Built from the ground up in a new, modern engine, Reprobed has seen less of a renovation and more of a teardown and rebuild. The stylised, almost cartoony art style is brimming with colour and personality, bringing the locations to life. Though I found myself bumping into the same hippie, ninja or KGB agent all too often, the character models have seen the most significant leap forward, with every NPC and, of course, Crypto himself looking mighty fine.

Graphically, Reprobed is a winner, but the game’s performance was less than stellar. Despite being relatively stable during downtime, the framerate would take a staggering dive during larger set pieces, and I even experienced a number of crashes during a specific boss encounter. That’s without mentioning the NPCs and vehicles that would frequently move through other objects and audio bugs that would leave cutscenes without ambient noise or dialogue. These technical issues are hard to excuse as commendable as the upgrade is.

Though impressive, it’s not just the visuals that have significantly improved. Controlling more like a modern third-person action game than some modern third-person action games, Reprobed is easy to pick up and play and is satisfying to do so. Whether moving through the world, flying the saucer or utilising Crypto’s extensive arsenal, the way everything controls feels tight and responsive.

While the visuals and controls have been rebuilt, the voicework remains almost entirely intact. This isn’t to say that the voice actors don’t deliver, but the original audio comes with it the original script, which may divide the audience. I can’t say I ran into anything that I found outwardly offensive, but some of the content has aged rather poorly, and certain jokes won’t land anymore.

With 11 alien weapons flanked by a range of telekinetic abilities, Crypto’s combat capabilities are far from limited. The reasonably straightforward Zap-O-Matic and fire-flinging Disintegrator are mixed in with the Dislocator, a gun that causes enemies and objects to bounce violently, and, naturally, the Anal Probe, among others. Combined with the ability to pick up and fling enemies and objects into the stratosphere with your mind, cause bystanders to break out into dance and disguise yourself as any nearby human, the offensive options become decently robust. It may seem par for the course by today’s standards, but the combat is old-school fun.

One aspect that could’ve done with some tweaking is the saucer gameplay. While the ground combat is refined, the saucer feels clunky and unresponsive, even with the novel weapons onboard. As great as the notion of flying around, abducting unsuspecting pedestrians and razing buildings sounds, the spacecraft doesn’t quite live up to the concept.

Where the gameplay is entertainingly retro, the missions and objectives are less entertaining and more retro. The opening few levels that have you narrowing down the play area, finding a McGuffin and fighting a wave of enemies are solid, but it gets a bit tedious when you’re going through those same motions 8 hours in. Winding back the clock also means dipping into tropes that have been left in the past for a reason. I find fetch quests to be generally acceptable, but the repetitious escort objectives were a step too far down memory lane. If you played the game back in the day or simply want to switch off your brain and blast away at hapless hippies, then you’ll have fun, just don’t expect modernised mission structure.

Each mission has a few side objectives that, if completed, award the player with Furotech Cells that can be used to upgrade your ship and weapons. Though the perks are usually an increase in damage or range, it does add a bit of progression and a reason to reach for higher than a passing grade.

One of the more notable changes made between the original and DAH2 is the addition of co-op. A friend can join your game locally at the press of a button in the in-game menu. The fun of causing chaos is multiplied once you introduce a mate, with your partner’s gear matching your own in every way. The only drawbacks are the performance being strained further, and the saucer controls being shared between the two of you, which is awkward.

THE PS5 VERSION OF THIS GAME WAS PLAYED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW.

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Saints Row didn’t make a great first impression in its opening hour. I found it difficult to care at all for the protagonists of this new outing, and the game didn’t feel as polished as I’d hoped it’d be. However, the hours following the first were a huge improvement. If you’ve played a Saints Row game before, don’t expect revolutionary changes. That said, this year’s reboot has been built on the foundations of the stronger entries in the series and I ended up having a really good time with it.

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Those opening moments in Saints Row establish some of the key groups and crews you’ll be dealing with throughout the game, and after things inevitably take a turn for the worst, it’s time for you and your ragtag crew to build up the Saints.

With four specialists as the co-heads of the Saints (one of which is particularly adverse to wearing a shirt), you’re tasked with building a criminal empire that’ll take every last penny from Santo Ileso, the new setting for this year’s reboot.

Spread throughout the city are a bunch of vacant lots, and to build up the Saints’ criminal empire you’ve gotta buy them. Lots are disguised as run of the mill businesses, however beneath these businesses are a range of money laundering schemes that help fill the pockets of you and your crew members. This, in turn, allows the team to bring in more members, upgrade the Saints base, as well as allowing you to purchase more lots to make even more coin.

Businesses, otherwise known as criminal ventures, have their own sets of side missions to complete in order to fully take over districts in Santo Ileso. By completing these missions, you’ll rake in more cash to continue to create a monopoly on the city. Some of these side missions will be very familiar among series vets, with insurance fraud a particular highlight. 

Each venture has its own type of side mission, and they don’t really change as you progress. This makes for a relatively repetitive slog if you’ve got to complete a certain amount to progress in the story (which does happen), and it slows the pace of the game’s story down a little bit. 

Criminal venture missions aren’t to be confused with side hustles, either, as they’re their own separate thing in Saints Row. Some of these will have you protecting drug dealers, while others will see you making use of a helicopter to transport vehicles across the city. There’s also cool little history lessons you can engage in, gang threats to scupper and photos to snap of notable locations throughout the world that you’ll then be able to add as props inside Saints HQ.

If that wasn’t enough, hitman missions return in the form of the wanted application on your phone, giving you a list of bounties to complete to get more cash.

Every activity you do in Saints Row reaps some sort of cash reward, which you can then inject back into more criminal ventures or into the litany of customisation options for your character. I was really impressed with the sheer amount of customisation on offer. From vehicles, to weaponry to customising the Saints HQ, there’s an unprecedented amount of things to tinker with in Saints Row and it’s a big step up from earlier games in the series. 

Co-op play is available in this year’s game, however my attempts to give it a whirl during the review period didn’t work. The game refused to send a final confirmation notification to the host player, so I wasn’t able to test out how it worked and performed. A shame, too, as these missions seem tailor made for some great co-operative fun.

On that subject, I did have my fair share of issues throughout my 15 or so hours with the game. Most notably, the lack of any cover mechanic felt like a bizarre omission as it seemed like enemies had plenty of space and ability to take cover from my character’s shots.

The newly introduced instant takedowns became my go-to during intense firefights because of this, with these rewarding you with a well-needed health boost when executed correctly. The new special abilities, which are earned as you level up, were also extremely useful in clearing out enemies. Some of the abilities available were particularly fun to use, like the powerful limited-use sniper rifle and a grenade that would send enemies hurling up into the air.

Another gripe I had was the game’s general background noise, which felt very low and lifeless at times. Santo Ileso isn’t a bad location by any means, however it lacks any real sense of identity. Compared to Stilwater, this was a major disappointment for me. And this goes hand in hand with the game’s general graphical presentation – it’s not bad, but it isn’t great. For a game that’s released a few years into the current-gen, it certainly won’t turn heads.

During my time with the game I experienced a myriad of graphical, UI and gameplay glitches. From vehicles spawning in at random to not being able to use the weapon wheel or enter vehicles (and having to restart a checkpoint or save), it’s clear the game still has some kinks it needs to iron out.

Something I really liked about Saints Row, though, was its mission variety. The sense of creativity sprinkled across the 10-hour campaign was an absolute joy to play through. And while the story itself felt relatively mediocre when compared to series highlights like Saints Row 2, it’s certainly a step up from Saints Row 4 and Gat Out Of Hell. I just wished I liked the characters more, and that there were any sense of stakes whatsoever. 

It’s a good time though, but setting expectations is key. If you like the Saints Row games, you’ll like the reboot. Volition’s done a great job bringing this series back from the depths, and I’m keen to see where they go next. It has quite a few stumbling blocks along the way, but the sheer insanity and fun you get from it is exactly what I want from a Saints Row game.

The Xbox Series X|S version of Saints Row was played primarily for the purpose of this review.

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How interactive does a video game need to be, to be considered a video game? That’s a loaded and probably completely unnecessary question, with an answer that probably lies somewhere between “who cares?” and “anything can be a video game” but it’s one that found itself curled up in the noodles of my brain during the entirety of We Are OFK. Helmed by Teddy Dief of Hyper Light Drifter fame, We Are OFK is an episodic narrative that shines as a cross-media, interactive animated series and pop EP but might be a touch too passive for those looking for the traditional notion of a game.

We Are OFK is a largely an origin story, one that chronicles the coming-together of four friends, old and new, amongst the cutthroat Los Angeles scene to produce the EP of their dreams. It’s essentially a music biopic that simultaneously launches the virtual musicians that it depicts, while also acting as a self-contained slice-of-life story of friendships, relationships, grief, love and trauma in a modern setting. Releasing episodically over four weeks, it’s a roughly five-hour narrative experience presented through gorgeous, stylised visuals and choice-driven dialogue.

If it reads like I’m skirting around a lot of what actually happens in We Are OFK, I am. Not least because the game is releasing on an episodic schedule with only the first two episodes available this week, so there’s a lot I’d be loath to spoil. More than that though, it’s less the broad strokes of the game’s slow burn of a narrative that are noteworthy and more how it’s all put together. The core beats of OFK’s band origin story aren’t new or surprising by any stretch, but they’re presented through some incredibly snappy and natural-feeling dialogue and convincing character writing. Itsumi and co. come across perfectly as young creatives navigating their goals and relationships in LA, whether it’s in-person or through the game’s frequent text message conversations (finally, a game that accurately portrays the overwhelmingly large percentage of my interactions being in text form). 

We Are OFK’s writers have also done a bang-up job of portraying the same creative industries that birthed the game itself and how they fit within the societal and cultural positions of its characters, whether it’s Itsu’s run-ins with burnout and discrimination at the Riot-esque Leviathan or Jey’s inner conflicts between her parents approval and her creative freedom. It’s also unflinchingly queer in a way that feels genuine and a product of a diverse team. After rolling the credits on the fifth and final episode I came away unsurprised with its conclusion but absolutely hungry for more of OFK themselves. All throughout I couldn’t help thinking that this could very well work as an ongoing project, a Gorillaz moment for the video game world, where musical output is buoyed by visual art and thematic context in a way that wouldn’t otherwise exist. I don’t think it’ll happen, but I’d love to see it.

Of course, given its musical stylings it’s no surprise that the audio experience in We Are OFK is fantastic. For starters, the voice cast do a fantastic job across the board at delivering the already-well written dialogue, and LA musician omniboi kills it with the game’s broad musical score. Most importantly though, the five-track EP from the titular OFK that the game serves as a basis for absolutely slaps. Even if you’ve no desire to play or watch someone play the game itself, there’s no reason you shouldn’t jump on your favourite music streaming service and give these tracks a listen. Follow/Unfollow has been doing the rounds for a while now, but I’ve been (impatiently) waiting since finishing all five episodes for the releases of Fool’s Gold and Infuriata – those are both going straight into regular rotation.

As much as We Are OFK excels in its storytelling and presentation though, I’m not entirely convinced of how it interacts with its players. Or rather, how much interaction it gives players. The game asks that you keep your controller in hand throughout but gives you little more to do with it than occasionally press a button to advance a scene or make semi-frequent dialogue choices. The latter definitely adds to the experience thanks to the strong writing, but also rarely has any major bearing on how everything plays out. 

I’ve no business trying to define how much or how little direct engagement a video game should have with its players, especially in something that is billed front-and-centre as an “interactive EP” before it’s a game, but I couldn’t shake the feeling during my time with it that I’d have much preferred the option to simply watch it play out. It feels as though the interactive aspects don’t add enough to the overall experience to justify its method of delivery. It’s exactly the kind of gorgeous, contemplative slice-of-life story and audiovisual aesthetic that I’d love to lay back and zone out to, but I can’t, because I have to make sure I’m ready to press X whenever Itsumi gets a text message.

There are some more “game-y” bits, to be fair. A couple of neat interactive portions that riff heavily on classic text adventures and JRPGs are a particular highlight, and then there are the music videos for OFK’s five-track EP that feature across each episode. These playable sequences don’t really ask a lot and feel more like digital toys than any sort of gameplay challenge, but that idea fits nicely with the overall vibe of the game and makes the best case for We Are OFK’s blending of mediums. Interactive music videos are a neat idea in general, as is launching a virtual band through a tactile platform, even if this particular go of it feels at odds with the environment it’s positioned in. It feels simultaneously bigger and smaller than the home video game console ecosystem, especially as a musical project that could genuinely stand on its own.

The post We Are OFK Review – A Band In Hope appeared first on Press Start.

As rookie sensation Kara Hassan, a relative newcomer to the near future reality-bloodsport Rollerdrome, you’re set to take the 2030 season by storm. It’s a spectacle that’s as deadly as it is acrobatic, it’s also far more Running Man on skates than it is Disney on ice. Rollerdrome pushes inline action to its most violent extremes, transforming roller derby from a bruising pastime into a snuff sport that serves as a misdirection for corporate misdeeds. It’s a stark glimpse at a near future—or grim present in some examples—where propaganda is king and civilisation grows increasingly uncivil.

Rollerdrome wrings its story out through walking simulator vignettes that bookend the tournament’s qualifying rounds. As Kara, you explore offices and locker rooms in an effort to uncover whatever it is Matterhorn is hiding in drawing public eyes to their grisly murder sport. It’s all surface level to the point where I’d call it window dressing, declaring its anti-capitalist undertones through newspaper clippings and notes found in ajar lockers. Other characters are only heard through radio broadcasts, closed doors and snarky audio logs. As cool as the setting is, it feels like kind of an afterthought—it seems aware of what it’s trying to say, but not wholly interested in saying it in a meaningful way.

The meat and bones of Rollerdrome blends the acrobatic inline action of Aggressive Inline with balletic, reflexive bullet time shooting. Movement in the game should feel swift and nimble and it does, provided you’re moving in straight lines. Turning is almost akin to a shopping trolley and the game’s less than ideal camera quite often obscures your field of vision. On the flip side, the management of the few available weapons you’ve got and your ammo stocks is probably the game’s strength mechanically. I particularly admire the mechanic that ties tricking and dodging to ammo replenishment, it keeps the field clear of pick-ups and keeps the objective simple—empty your clip, catch air for a top-up.

It does set up stakes loud and clear. Skate or die. Or skate and die, in a lot of cases. 

As far as objectives go, your most pressing is to live to fight another day against the Matterhorn’s House Players, the admittedly rad name given to the enemies populating the arenas.

It’s in these arenas that the game is somewhat let down, as the same areas present themselves multiple times throughout your twelve-hour journey. Things like varying objectives and enemy variants will keep you on your toes, but for it to be the same handful of backdrops in a game with only about a dozen levels is a shame. That’s not to say they don’t look super nice, I really like the game’s distinct, cel-shaded art style that feels a lot like Sable without that game’s distinct, stylised, choppy frame rate.

In an homage to games like Tony Hawk’s, each of Rollerdrome’s rounds comes with a laundry list of objectives that aren’t essential to progressing through the game but certainly add to the challenges that present as you advance throughout the bracket. Whether it’s topping the reigning champion’s best run or killing all of the House Players in one single, spectacular combo, there’s enough reason to revisit the levels to mop up without factoring in the competitive endgame of leaderboard one upmanship that’s prevalent in score attack games like this. 

‘Out for Blood’ is a tough as nails ‘hard mode’ that unlocks after the credits roll on the main campaign and presents Kara’s sophomore season as defending Rollerdrome champion. With a target painted squarely on her back, making it to the season’s end alive is a job for masochists. I found the main campaign to be hard enough once in the late stages, but Rollerdrome does offer some great accessibility options, like an invincibility toggle, for those who might struggle. 

Rollerdrome is a damn cool video game. 

The concept of a leech-like megacorporation playing host to a vicious bloodsport while lacking any basic humanity isn’t a new one. But what Rollerdrome does is it applies to it such style and flair that it’s easy to ignore its shortcomings, like a story that is more framework than character study, and a lack of variety in arenas and those who occupy them that would otherwise be hard to forgive.

The post Rollerdrome Review – These Violent Delights appeared first on Press Start.

Massive Monster’s Cult of the Lamb has all the makings to emerge as the Death’s Door of this year. It has an anthropomorphic animal lead and dynamite combat that, in a lot of ways, feels like an homage of sorts to a title of old. But Cult of the Lamb also feels like a game of two very distinct halves, and they’re halves that are exceptional individually but never seemed to complement each other throughout twelve wholly enjoyable hours of preaching and plying my trade as a false idol to an impressionable flock.

Cult of the Lamb casts you as the titular lamb, sacrificed by bishops of an old, ancient faith in an effort to thwart a tired prophecy that told of a woollen warrior that might overturn the status quo and free the grim spectre known as “The One Who Waits” from his exile. In exchange for a second chance at life, you must build a cult in his name and crusade against countless eldritch nightmares and rival cults. Cult of the Lamb divides your time pretty much straight down the middle between crawling through dank dungeons and tending to your twisted settlement, which really is like a cute Animal Crossing village plagued by shit, sickness, and ritual sacrifice.

I’m not one to gravitate toward the micromanagement of erecting a settlement and pandering to the every need of your devoted followers, but Cult of the Lamb keeps things engaging and chugging forward by tying everything under together under the guise of a Midsommar-like murder cult full of woodland critters. With the flock at your disposal, often monotonous busywork, like gardening and custodial services, can be streamlined through delegation, leaving you to focus on the more enjoyable things on offer.

Whether you’re putting the finishing touches on your temple, or declaring doctrines to help you further exploit the cult’s devotees, Cult of the Lamb’s upgrade paths and economies are all accessible and straightforward—though they’re all driven by maintaining the faith of your flock. If their belief in you wavers, it could be a bit of a slog to see all of the game’s more imaginative rituals—which range from Pagan bonfires and group psychedelic trips to marriage and a barbaric bloodsport that sees followers battle to the death—unless you’re a merciful idol.

Your gathered resources aside, managing your flock and the moral decisions made don’t ever really seem to have an impact on your holy crusade. It really does, at times, feel like two separate games.

Not only does Cult of the Lamb borrow its cutesy juxtaposition of sweet and savagery from The Binding of Isaac, much of its roguelike combat feels inspired by it too. While Binding of Isaac is for all intents and purposes a shooter, Cult of the Lamb feels more like Death’s Door or Hollow Knight, opting for an up close and personal brand of combat that emphasises timing and dodging. It’s tight and well-crafted, it’s hard to fault the game’s grittier portion. Similar to Inscryption, you carve out a path through four or five levels, opting for either physical challenges or levels that might offer a cache of resources or even a would-be follower in need of rescuing.

Each crusade begins with a random weapon and curse—a supernatural secondary fire that often deals area of effect damage. Throughout a run you’ll pick up tarot cards that buff your lamb’s powers, which further emphasises the game’s roguelike prowess and keeps each crusade feeling relatively fresh. Cult of the Lamb has four distinct areas, each with its own theme, safeguarded by a pious bishop. Before you meet them, you’ll need to run any given area four times and leave all heretics in your wake.

The side content is ultimately limited by the game’s indie sensibilities. With only a couple of worthwhile extracurricular activities in fishing and Knucklebones—a surprisingly riveting game of chance—it doesn’t always seem worthwhile veering from the main path to venture out and spelunk Midas’ golden caves or trudge through the mushroom grotto. With plenty to unlock, including gaudy decorations for your village and wearable fleeces that toggle modifiers, the game does a fine job to encourage replayability. My village is full of flower arches, all that’s missing is Florence Pugh’s triumphant grin in the face of death.

Cult of the Lamb’s art direction is certainly one of its great triumphs. It’s so bright and exuberant, delivering the same blinding brand of daylight horror as seen in Ari Aster’s subversive film. Of course, it’s even more disarming to see a cute bunny sacrificed to the gods, but that’s what is so clever and memorable about Cult of the Lamb. The game’s world is presented almost like a pop-up book, it really is a sickly sweet diorama of hand-crafted critters. While it can be ethereal and moody when required, River Boy’s score can be a bit of a bop.

The theme for “Knucklebones” is an earworm. Despite there only being four adversaries, I couldn’t help returning from time to time to toss them bones and jam along to a tune that’s Darren Korb-like—which I feel is decent praise given his body of work.

Ultimately, I think Cult of the Lamb is a great example of flipping the power fantasy concept on its head, framing that thrilling pursuit of all-conquering omnipotence through the eyes of a once-hapless lamb is a stroke of genius. The dissonance I felt between its colony simulation and dungeon-crawling halves is unfortunate, though it doesn’t keep said halves from being brilliant in their own right. You’re getting an exceptional roguelike hack-and-slasher and an adorably dark and dramatic settlement-builder that will test your moral compass more than once.

THE PC VERSION OF THIS GAME WAS PLAYED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW

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Two Point Studios made a name for itself when it came careening into the emergency ward with 2018’s Two Point Hospital. That game did incredibly well by recapturing sim fans’ love for the Theme Hospitals of old while injecting its own prescription dosage of charm with tongue-in-cheek humour and making things super-accessible for curious newcomers. Now comes Two Point Campus, a follow-up effort with an entirely new hook that puts players in the virtual shoes of an omnipotent university administrator with a goal of offering the finest and highest education that money can buy. And hopefully that’s a lot of money.

If you’ve played a management sim game in the vein of Theme Park or Planet Zoo or certainly Two Point Hospital, you’ll pretty much know the score here. It’s your job to take the bare bones of a functioning campus and grow it into something spectacular via careful management of your space, your staff, your incoming and outgoing funds and most importantly your students. Where this game differs from a lot of what’s out there is that last bit – the students. Rather than paying customers frequenting your park/zoo/hospital, these people are here for a good time and a long time. Retaining them, catering to their base needs and ensuring they have the support to score high marks is key to getting the best financial return and increasing the prestige of your school to attract even more new students.

It’s this new twist on the management sim formula that’s the most interesting and compelling part of Two Point Campus. On a surface level it’s all relatively simple and accessible but, as you’ll grow to learn throughout its dozen or so campaign levels that throw in all manner of unique twists, spinning the right plates at the right time takes a particularly humanistic approach. Yes, your campus needs to look good and you need to be turning a regular profit, but if you’re not properly taking care of your student body and campus faculty you’re going to wind up fighting an incredibly uphill battle. Creating spaces for people to live, to relax, to seek support and to socialise is just as important as creating ones to learn but as we all know full well there’s little money to be made in looking after people. So what you end up with is a very tight balance between your reputation, your results and your coffers, and it’s an intoxicating challenge if there ever was one.

The best place to start in Two Point Campus is in its campaign, which takes you across a spread of bespoke scenarios in which you’ll take over established or semi-established campuses with their own hurdles or idiosyncrasies to navigate. The first few are basic enough and mostly there to show you the ropes, but eventually you’ll be doing things like helping rebuild a copyright-skirting wizard school after it’s been attacked by an angry witch, trying to strike rich at an archaeological campus built amongst ancient ruins or selling your students’ souls to a creepy orb-obsessed cult at an arts school that otherwise doesn’t charge tuition fees. It’s a great mix that’ll see you spend at least 10-12 hours just bringing your campuses up to a one-star rating with plenty to do and improve beyond that.

Once you’re done with being gently told what to do in the campaign, you can also delve into the game’s Sandbox mode which comes complete with multiple ways to play. You’re able to fire up a standard-difficulty game on any map of your choosing, challenge yourself to a harder mode with fewer starting resources, customise your own difficulty or just go for broke in a creative mode with everything open and free for the taking. Thankfully there doesn’t seem to be any ties to your campaign progress in terms of which maps you have access to, you’ll just need to re-unlock any in-game items or research per map. As fun as the campaign is, Sandbox is a great way to give yourself room to really sink your teeth into the nitty-gritty of campus management without being semi-directed by level goals. There’s a lot to get into and tweak beneath the surface level so hardcore sim fans should get a lot out of the game in the long term.

If it wasn’t already obvious, part of Two Point Campus’ appeal is its tongue-in-cheek approach to its subject matter and general air of silliness. With course offerings like Knighthood, Virtual Normality and something called “Money Wangling” this is far from serious stuff, and the background noise of Two Point Radio serving up nonsense talkback and irreverent advertising further drives the point home. Best of all, the flippancy of its attitude towards any degree of success means that even the most dire situations you’ll find yourself in are routinely hilarious. Case in point, the time that I blew all of my reserve funds on decorating my campus before the school year (and thus, tuition income) had even started. That resulted in me falling so far behind that I wound up selling my school’s fancy fountain to pay for a start-of-the-year student party, which I used to keep everyone occupied while I quickly spent their fees on my unfinished lecture halls.

For all the good that Two Point Campus does I do have some reservations. For a wacky game about the joys of higher education there are relatively few antics to witness. Students from rival schools will occasionally “invade” your campus until your staff run them out, and your own flock are prone to the odd sweeping craze, but it’s all pretty tame. There’s also a notable lack of fanfare for anyone’s individual achievements bar a basic slideshow that plays after each school year.

More genuinely frustrating were a bunch of issues that plagued my time with the game on a PlayStation 5. The control layout itself is mostly okay, an achievement in itself given the very controller-unfriendly genre, but there are a few specific menus and situations where things become finicky or too easy to mess up – especially when building rooms. Worse than that were a host of bugs that brought the experience down, things like inputs not responding or menus getting stuck to the screen, and an especially annoying issue where items I placed would report their positions as invalid until I picked them up and set them down again in the exact same spot. Hopefully these things are ironed out either at launch or shortly after, though.

The post Two Point Campus Review – A New Twist On Management Sims appeared first on Press Start.

It’s bizarre to think that just nine months ago, MultiVersus leaked. A seemingly random collection of characters from Warner Bros. wide range of properties, it was hard to not write it off as a cynical Smash Brothers cash-in. Following several leaks and an early preview several months ago, MultiVersus is finally here. And while I was wrong about quite a few things from my initial impression of the reveal, it’s easily one of my most played games this year.

At first glance, you’d be forgiven for assuming MultiVersus was a clone of Super Smash Bros. The premise is remarkably similar – four players enter an arena and battle it out until nobody is left. The damage system is identical, too, with higher damaged enemies flying further when attacked. Flying out of bounds of the arena results in death and a point scored to the other team. But that’s where the similarities to games like Brawlhalla and Super Smash Brothers end – there’s a wealth of options in MultiVersus whether you’re playing with someone or solo.

When I previewed the game a few months ago, I was taken aback by how similar the game was to other successful service games like Apex Legends, Fornite and even Fall Guys. I even expressed some concern about the pace that you progress through the game. There are heaps of tasks to undertake to unlock currency, which can be used to purchase characters and cosmetics. As someone who lived through the first six generations of gaming, I will forever be skeptical about games that hinge their progression on lengthy time commitments from the player. But after two to three hours with the game, I had enough to unlock another character which felt reasonable given that the game is free to play.

Now that I’ve clocked over thirty to forty hours of the game across multiple platforms, I’m inclined to say that MultiVersus is a pretty good time and value for players. So far, there are around sixteen characters, and each has had so much love and care put into them that I can’t help but be excited to see who the team brings to the fold next. My favourite is still Velma, who fights with speech bubbles, calculations, and idea light bulbs. But other characters like Bugs Bunny play true to their Looney Tunes origins with over-the-top, brash cartoony special moves that add to the chaos of the fight. It’s a well-varied roster with a surprising amount of depth that I absolutely adore.

Similarly, the game still plays as well as I played it several months ago. It’s incredibly fast-paced, but at the same time, the controls are tight enough that it doesn’t feel slow or floaty. While not as tactilely satisfying as Smash Brothers, the heft of the attacks makes the game feel expensive. That might be a bizarre term to use. Still, the dedication to ensuring MultiVersus has a solid fighting engine and mechanics to build upon by the developer will surely pay off in the long term. It, quite simply, is one of the best-feeling platformer fighter I’ve played.

But perhaps the only barrier to my enjoyment was my initial expectation with MultiVersus. It’s most definitely not to be played or experienced like Smash Brothers. Whereas Smash Brothers has a shallow skill floor and mechanics that mean you can achieve basic competence with any character, MultiVersus almost demands you pick a main and stick with them for a bit. The depth of each of the characters’ move suites is so vast that, like other competitive fighting games, you’ll get the most out of it if you learn the ins and outs of a single character.

The most unique thing about MultiVersus is that the game is ostensibly designed around it’s primary mode – 2v2 teams. The characters in the game all have moves that usually have some kind of benefit to the team. Velma can buff her teammates she hits with her attacks but similarly debuffs an enemy if those attacks land on them instead. The all-original character Reindog can tether themselves to their teammate and pull them in should their teammate be in peril, though anyone touching the tether in the meantime still takes damage. Wonder Woman can even shield her partner from attacks. They’re all great touches that make this game feel like something more than the other platformer fighters on the market.

It’s the sense of team that really brings MultiVersus to life. The best matches I’ve had are the ones I play with friends – and while they’ve not all been well versed in how to use the buddy abilities – it’s been a real joy to either be saved or save them from danger at the end of a very dicey match. Other modes are on offer here, including a free for all mode that introduces items, but given how chaotic things get during 2v2, I found just throwing something else into the mix makes things even more so. Still, it’s an excellent option and one that I’ve especially enjoyed playing locally. I have and will continue to enjoy 2v2 when playing online, personally.

I’ve briefly touched on the nature of character unlocks, but everything else operates slightly differently. While I think the progression required to unlock characters feels adequate, the progression for everything else feels slow. To compound this, there doesn’t look like a lot to unlock or work towards in the current season pass. This is something that I’m almost certain will improve with time, but right now (besides characters themselves), things unlock slowly, and there isn’t a whole bunch to unlock. Skins are expensive too, but this is no different from other games of this ilk – they offer nothing of value in terms of gameplay and can be easily ignored.

A word of advice is that you can access any of the characters in The Lab offline. Think of it as a try before you buy system and one that I implore you to engage with before spending your precious gold., especially for some less conventional fighters like Arya or Tom & Jerry.

From a presentation aspect, MultiVersus is a great-looking game too. It boasts some rock-solid performance, and the art direction is similarly fantastically consistent. I’m genuinely excited to see how the developers will bring in other characters from more realistic franchises and match them to the art style of the roster here. If Arya Stark and LeBron James are indications, it’ll be incredibly executed. While the characters and art direction are great, the same can’t be said for the levels. While they’re all different locations, MultiVersus definitely has a variety of problems with its arenas that I can only hope will be fixed with future updates.

But perhaps the most prominent aspect that sticks out as being incredibly lacklustre is the music. Where there are so many fantastic franchises to pull some incredible music from, MultiVersus instead offers up dull and generic music that does little to inspire or motivate. It feels like the music you’d hear at a low-rate theme park rather than an inspiring medley of themes or motifs. Once again, I can only hope it improves as time goes by, but for now, it’s sorely lacking.

While it’s clear that some things need work on MultiVersus, it’s encouraging to see that the things that truly matter – the unlocking of characters and the core gameplay systems – are the things that have received the most attention. These are easily the two strongest tenets of MultiVersus’ offerings thus far. With time, I can only hope that the lack of variety in levels, lacklustre music, and slower cosmetic offerings can be remedied.

The post MultiVersus Review – A Strong Start With Some Earnest Effort appeared first on Press Start.

You’d have to be keeping a pretty low profile to have missed the hype surrounding Stray – the debut indie title from French development team BlueTwelve Studio that puts players in the shoes (or paws?) of a cat in a post-human world. After being picked up for publishing by Annapurna Interactive all the way back in 2016, the wait is over and the cat game is finally here! And I’m happy to say it’s bloody excellent.

The majority of Stray’s narrative takes place across a mysterious walled-in city (inspired by the now-demolished one in Kowloon), originally designed to keep its citizens safe from ‘The Outside’. Only, what was once a haven populated by humans is now a relic passed down to some of the only beings to have outlived catastrophe on the inside – a community of former companion robots. After accidentally falling into the city while exploring with its clowder of cat companions, our feline protagonist finds itself befriending a drone named B12 and starting off on a quest to find its way back.

With a translator now on hand to communicate with the robot population it quickly becomes clear that all are still living in deep fear of the outside, but the trail of a group of rebellious bots looking to prove that things are better beyond the walls leads the pair of hopeful escapees on an adventure across the city. It’s a simple but compelling enough setup that asks little of the player except to enjoy its stunningly-crafted little world and endearing characters and to that end it succeeds. Not least because the entire thing is a sumptuous visual feast that’s lush with detail soaked in gorgeous lighting and packed with impressively-rendered and animated characters. It’s the kind of video game space that I’d happily occupy well beyond the events contained within and just take in the sights and sounds. It’s one of the best-looking games I’ve played in ages both technically and artistically, and a seriously impressive effort from a small team.

Beyond its exemplary work in every other area, BlueTwelve’s greatest feat with Stray is crafting one of the most convincing and endearing video game heroes of our time. The unnamed leading kitty is a joy to control, bounding naturally up and down objects and structures in exactly the ways you’d expect from a cat. Better yet, there are countless opportunities to truly embody the cat life by unnecessarily knocking things over, scratching up furniture, nuzzling against the legs of strangers, sleeping and doing a heap of meowing – that last action even comes with its own dedicated button. There’s a really strong commitment on show to making sure that whatever challenges the game presents you the solutions really require you to ask the question, “What would a cat do?”

Stray also triumphs at making its adventure simple and satisfying to navigate which, given the perspective and agility of a cat, is impressive. Despite having all manner of structures, objects and furniture to climb, narrow walkways to cross or nooks to slip into it’s nearly always a cinch to read the environment and understand how and where to manoeuvre though. In lieu of a dedicated jump button, simply looking at something traversable will result in a button prompt to appear and allow you to perform the appropriate action. Your drone companion is also consistently helpful, reaching for switches and items you can’t and keeping track of whatever it is you’re meant to be doing.

The whole adventure is split up into distinct chapters with most new locations offering a slight change-up in gameplay. Some, like the slums or midtown, will give you some breathing room to explore populated areas and pick up a smattering of optional collectibles on your way to your core goals. Others are more linear, with some based around platforming, others around (fairly forgiving) stealth puzzles and some occasionally dipped in action sequences that see you trying to avoid or eradicate Zurks – gross, rat-like glowing alien creatures that eat just about anything have been decimating the robot population. It’s a good mix that means you won’t spend too long doing the same thing, but the chance to just wander around, get into mischief and interact with the often hilariously-written robot citizens in the more open sections is a definite highlight.

Whatever you’re doing, the pitch-perfect pacing and continuously inventive ways in which Stray presents cat-centric solutions to classic video game problems are very much worth celebrating. After the roughly five hours of gameplay required to see and do absolutely everything in Stray it’s not likely that you’ll come away having seen or done anything you haven’t before, but that’s hardly the point. This is a game about being a curious cat in an even more curious circumstance, and to that end it excels admirably. One aspect of the game’s ending does fall into a disappointing trap that feels unnecessary but is otherwise as cathartic and hopeful as you’d want.

The post Stray Review – A Meow-mentous Adventure appeared first on Press Start.

I praised Cuphead when I reviewed it five years ago because it, unlike most of its contemporaries, trimmed the filler to deliver a super stylish boss rush platformer tailor-made for sadists. The Delicious Last Course—a cute name for the game’s downloadable content, no doubt—has been a long time coming and I do worry people’s expectations might need checking at the door. 

Thanks to its meticulously hand-crafted art, Cuphead itself took an age to develop. This expansion, which delivers one new isle housing six new bosses, might have taken a handful of years to pull together, however, it’s worth remembering what has been endured throughout that time. MDHR has been vocal about its culture being free of crunch, and it’s clear that the effort poured into The Delicious Last Course is painstaking. 

Because of this, as well as the content’s exceptionally reasonable price point, it’s easy to overlook the fact that the expansion is fleeting.

The expansion places a focus on the returning Ms. Chalice, who debuts as a playable character after numerous appearances in both the original game and the Netflix series. Her hope to escape from the astral plane and return to her golden-lipped corporeal form hinges on Chef Saltbaker’s infamous Wondertart, a legendary dish capable of turning Ms. Chalice into a real chalice. However, it’s not that simple as the ingredients for the mystical pastry are all under the safeguard of the isle’s bosses.

It’s an adorable jaunt, and The Delicious Last Course delivers a surprising amount of content and changes for its short stay. Ms. Chalice herself brings exciting new abilities including a double jump, an invincibility roll, and a dash parry with an extremely generous hitbox, it’s definitely fun relearning the game of Cuphead through this new lens. Beyond that, there’s an entire fourth isle to explore, cool weapons, and new charms including the Heart Ring—a handy trinket that restores a hit-point for the player’s first, third, and sixth parries of the level. This one, in particular, was a game-changer for me in surviving the toughest of the new stages.

These new additions not only make The Delicious Last Course a delight of its own, it completely changes how the original Cuphead can be enjoyed. There’s value in simply going back with a new character, along with the abilities she brings to the table and taking down the devil to task all over again. With only a handful of levels, it mightn’t deliver the most content, but the quality of life improvements can’t be overlooked.

Obviously, the main event of The Delicious Last Course are its larger-than-life boss battles that punctuate each biome of the isle. Although the Run ‘n Gun levels are absent here, the big battles are a mix of regular fights and shoot ‘em ups. Unsurprisingly, all of the bosses are wildly imaginative from a speakeasy housing a gang of criminal bugs to Esther Winchester, a bovine cowgirl who transforms mid-conflict into a chain of sausage links—a comical and cartoonish commentary on the meat packing process.  

As if the development time wasn’t evidence enough, the care and consideration are clear in these new levels and not one of them feels like something half-arsed or pulled from Cuphead’s recycling bin. They’re rock solid from a design standpoint with each phase—no matter how outlandish—rolling seamlessly and logically into the next. I do think a couple of The Delicious Last Course’s levels were among the toughest Cuphead has offered so far, but I never once felt I’d died cheaply or unfairly and I think that’s an exceptionally tough balance to strike in a game like this. 

Regular difficulty is essential to making progress towards the much-required tart, but it’s also essential to not experiencing a watered-down version of Cuphead’s glorious, multi-stage encounters. 

Don’t get me wrong, these levels can be hard. But practice makes perfect and it’d be an enormous shame to settle for scraping through the easiest option and not seeing the journey out in full. 

The isle also has a few little side dalliances and non-playable characters to occupy your time with as you explore. There’s a whimsical cactus sat by a campfire waxing lyrical about past deeds, a podium of anthropomorphic mining gear, and a ghost detective seeking aid to solve a graveyard riddle. It’s hard not to get drawn in by Cuphead’s fanciful world when untold personality is piled into each and every point of interest. 

As someone who adored Cuphead, The Delicious Last Course scratches that persistent itch I’ve felt since exhausting myself of that game five long years ago. The price is certainly right for a new isle, a new hero, and a host of cool charms and abilities. Although it’s painful to consider that we might not see our porcelain pal again for some time—if ever—and if this serves as his last playable adventure then what a bloody treat it has been. 

The post Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course Review – A Cup Half Full appeared first on Press Start.

Capcom Fighting Collection brings together ten titles from the arcades between 1994 and 2003. Each game is brought together with arcade-perfect parity and other features of modern fighting games like training modes, spectator modes, and rollback style online play. It’s a collection of firsts for the Japanese publisher. The first time Capcom has touched Darkstalkers in almost ten years, the first time that the RPG-tinged Red Earth has been released on home consoles, and the first time the entirety of the Darkstalkers games have been made available outside of Japan.

Much like the Street Fighter collection before it, Capcom has made an effort to ensure this is a collection that fans will appreciate. These games have all been modernised to be playable today – including with the aforementioned online play – and a slew of extras are included as well. Every game has save state support, which is nice, but also a heap of concept art and design documents to pore over. It’s interesting stuff, especially if you’re into game development, with some of these materials having never seen the light of day. It’s always interesting to see how a game begins and how it comes out at the end of development.

The games are all largely fantastic – though this is arguably a Darkstalkers collection with five extra games thrown in. Besides the five Darkstalkers games, you also get Red Earth, Cyberbots, Hyper Street Fighter II, Super Puzzle Fighter II and Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix. Besides Puzzle Fighter, all the other games are fighting games with distinctly different styles.

The crux of the package is dedicated to Darkstalkers, and for a fantastic reason. The series has always been in the shadow of Street Fighter despite offering a faster and more fluid flow to combat and a, by comparison, even zanier cast. I’d often thought that these games were just Street Fighter but gothic. The latter might be accurate, but these games feel more like precursors to the more fast and frenetic games like Marvel vs. Capcom. They still play as smooth as ever today, and I’m kicking myself for not having dived into them sooner.

Besides the Darkstalkers games, the other arguable standout here is Red Earth. First released over two decades ago in arcades, it has you picking one of four heroes to battle a gauntlet of eight bosses. The twist here is that your character gains experience with each hit to level up and discover new moves. A password system saves your progress (much like it did in the arcade), and each character has multiple endings. It’s a simpler game than others – especially with such a small playable roster – but it’s one of the stronger single-player offerings from this era of fighting games, and the sprite work is just gorgeous.

The other three games are great but not ones I rush to play. Hyper Street Fighter II is a souped-up port of Super Street Fighter II Turbo, but easily the best-looking Street Fighter II version that wasn’t included in the anniversary collection from 2018. Cyberbots is interesting – it has you choosing a pilot and a mech and then doing battle – but lacks the personality or the thrill of the other games in the collection. Puzzle Fighter feels like Capcom’s take on Puyo-Puyo, similar to Tetris and games like Columns. Super Gem Fighter is great fun, if a little ridiculous, and sees chibi versions of Street Fighter and Darkstalkers characters battling it out.

Online modes are included and are fantastically implemented. Each game has casual and ranked matches available to players, but you can also switch which games you want to find while matchmaking rather than just matchmaking for a single game. It’s more minor touches like these that help contribute to the online health of a game. However, other more significant missteps like the lack of crossplay seem like a major missed opportunity here. Thankfully, the online works fantastically despite all of this, though I still hope there’s some way to make things crossplay in the future.

There’s also a bit of an issue with the Darkstalkers games. There isn’t a single game that features all eighteen characters playable. Instead, the full roster is scattered across the three later games in the collection that players will have to jump between. It seems like something unreasonable to complain about but a definitive version of the latest Darkstalkers game with all characters already exists. The home port of Darkstalkers 3 for the original PlayStation was originally released in 1998 with the full roster, so the choice to exclude this more “definitive” port over dedication to arcade perfect emulation irks me a little. Still, the menus are snappy, and it’s quick to get around the collection, which somewhat makes up for this.

Besides the slick menus, an excellent level of production value holds this collection together. You can adjust the size of the screen and the background surrounding the screen and apply filters that alter the game to look like the screens you might have played these games on back at the arcade. Viewability aside, the sprite work on many of these games is still fantastic. Red Earth is easily the standout here – though the character that each of the Darkstalkers characters has with their expressive and over-the-top animations is genuinely something to behold. These games don’t look photorealistic, but they’ve aged fantastically over two decades.

Capcom Fighters Collection brings together some great games you couldn’t play until now – the cornerstone of a good collection. They play fantastically, the online functionality is more than welcome, and they all still hold up visually. Despite there being no crossplay and no singular definitive Darkstalkers game, it’s still a well-rounded package that any self-respecting fighting game fan should try.

THE XBOX ONE VERSION WAS PLAYED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW. A DIGITAL COPY OF THE GAME WAS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.

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Few video game franchises have endured as long as Sonic the Hedgehog, but those that have typically haven’t had as rocky an existence as our spiky, blue friend. Where his rivals have gone from strength to strength, Sonic’s catalogue of releases has become more and more mixed over time. It makes sense then, that SEGA is keen to continue reviving and re-selling Sonic’s earliest outings. Sonic Origins is the latest example of those efforts, and it’s a surprisingly decent package overall.

Sonic Origins serves up the SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis versions of the original three Sonic the Hedgehog games as well as Sonic CD, all recreated in the same “Retro Engine” used to power 2017’s Sonic Mania. On top of the games themselves, there are a handful of extra modes and a museum of unlockables spanning the blue blur’s most historic years. It’s not quite the all-encompassing collection that we’ve seen in the past, omitting games like Sonic Spinball and Sonic 3D Blast, but the trade-off is these are faithful and pristine ports. Each game also has its own animated intro and ending sequences, which look fantastic.

There are also multiple new ways to play the four included games, with everything tied into a central ecosystem of collectible coins. You can play the games in their original, 4:3 forms in Classic Mode if you like, but the new Anniversary/Story modes are where it’s at. Playing any of the titles in Anniversary Mode gets you essentially the same game, but with widescreen support and the ability to choose Sonic, Tails or Knuckles as the playable character (no Lock-On technology needed!) as well as the removal of lives. Yep, no game over screens here – with unlimited lives everything instantly becomes a lot more accessible than before. 

Story Mode, on the other hand, puts all four games and the new animated sequences in chronological order (Sonic 1, Sonic CD, 2 and then 3) in one long run with Sonic as the only playable character. Then there’s also a Boss Rush option available for each game as well as a Mission Mode that offers up a series of objective-based versions of levels where you’ll need to meet goals in order to unlock harder missions and earn plenty of the all-important coins.

Those coins, which you earn across the extra modes as well as Anniversary/Story in place of life pick-ups and are carried across every game, are useful for two things. Firstly they’re used to unlock everything in the Museum, which is stacked full of a bunch of pretty cool memorabilia from covers to manuals, never-before-seen art and documents and of course a ton of music. More useful though is the ability to cash them in to restart any of the bonus stages across the games, which have always been a bit of a pain point given they’re incredibly easy to fail and crucial to seeing the true endings of each game. If you’re keen to finish all of the titles in Sonic Origins you’ll definitely want to hang onto your coins for that purpose.

All said, this is a decent little package with a few neat wrinkles to make playing these games more enjoyable than ever, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thoroughly impressed with the way it’s all presented. The games themselves look razor sharp and run impeccably, though it’s a bit disappointing that there aren’t any extra visual options or filters made available given these have been rebuilt from scratch. I also really wish a “rewind” feature not unlike those included with previous emulated Sonic collections was available in at least the Classic mode to further mitigate frustration. The front end menu, which presents each game as a gorgeously-rendered 3D island, is totally unnecessary but looks great, and you can even zoom into and inspect each one – provided you paid for the privilege.

Yep, the one real blight on this whole collection is that SEGA has seen fit to nickel-and-dime fans out of a bizarre selection of extras that are locked to its “Digital Deluxe Edition”. While only $7 or so more expensive than the base version, the fact that the more expensive version contains stuff like camera controls and animations in Sonic Origins’ menus feels a bit gross. It’s also a touch jarring to play Sonic 3 & Knuckles with what’s seemingly a very early iteration of its soundtrack, included here in place of what’s long been suggested was a soundtrack composed in collaboration with Michael Jackson, but that likely couldn’t have been helped if there’s any truth to those rumours.

We’ve had plenty of retro Sonic compilations before, and the cynic in me wants so badly to see this as just another in a long line of nostalgia grabs amid the continued futile attempts at modern franchise entries. The thing is, for the first time in ages this feels like a genuine celebration of the blue blur’s beginnings, made with care and a reverence for the source material. Weird Deluxe Edition choices aside, anyway.

The post Sonic Origins Review – A Blast (Process) From The Past appeared first on Press Start.

Despite drawing inspiration from the best horror of the eighties, The Quarry takes place in the modern-day. You take control of a group of camp counsellors who decide to stay on for an extra night at Hackett’s Quarry, following their duties as camp leaders during the summer. A lot of bad stuff goes down, and things eventually unravel as alliances are tested, and things aren’t quite all that they seem. As with other Supermassive games, you’ll have to do your best to try and keep everyone alive and, as always, sometimes doing nothing is just as valid as a response as making a choice.

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You’ve probably already got an idea of what to expect from The Quarry. Suppose you’ve played any of Supermassive’s previous output, whether it be Until Dawn or The Dark Pictures games. In that case, there’s not a lot that’s changed here. An interactive drama of sorts, you’re tasked with making decisions and guiding your characters (ideally) through to the credits of the story. Every decision you make, no matter how innocuous, will usually affect how things play out. Like those that came before it, The Quarry tells a completely self-contained story, so you don’t have to play Until Dawn or any other games to appreciate it. It’s a very simple-to-play experience that I adore sharing with friends, no matter their skill level. 

While the story is the focus here, I’m wholly divided by it. Last month I was able to play a segment of the game and was excited to see how each character played into the mystery and just what the mystery was. I think that mystery wraps up nicely in the end – there’s nothing I was unclear on as the credits rolled – but I’d felt like I’d seen this story so many times before. That’s not to say it’s a bad story, I enjoyed the journey it took me on, but given Supermassive’s pedigree, I can’t help but feel they’d played it safe. I found beauty in the simplicity of Until Dawn seven years ago, but in the time since then, so much has happened in the genre. Even in the wake of Supermassive’s own Dark Pictures games, The Quarry feels almost pedestrian.

The most remarkable aspect of The Quarry that no other medium can ever accurately reproduce is how choices affect how the story plays out. As I mentioned previously, seemingly innocuous choices you make throughout the story may have instant consequences or latent ones much later in the game. Choosing to break into a cabin to get your belongings early on out of pure laziness might mean that same door won’t lock later on. Choosing to defend yourself in a fight (rather than run) might see your character mess up and die or cause a chain of events to get another character killed.

The choices you make aren’t ever visually documented in a way as simple as games like Detroit: Become Human did it, but I’d argue that’s because the consequences are so much more multi-faceted. A nice touch is that, at any point, you can pause and browse each of the “paths” you’ve chosen. They’re styled as old-school VHS horror films, and while they don’t show you the path you didn’t take, they do give some clues as to how each of your choices might have interacted with each other.

There were so many moments in The Quarry where I’d have this moment of realisation. This mental backtracking is where I realise how my actions have affected the result I’d come to. None of them ever feel unfair or unwarranted. Still, hindsight is always 20/20, so it’s perhaps I’m overcompensating for my own biases.

The main collectible in The Quarry is Tarot cards. At the end of each chapter, you’ll be able to give them to Eliza. She’s a fortune teller played by Grace Zabriskie, who plays a similar role to the psychiatrist from Until Dawn or the Curator from Dark Pictures. You can give her a tarot card on each visit, and in exchange, she’ll give you a short vision of the future. You’ll see a small piece of vision play out that’ll show you a character potentially dying in a future chapter. Of course, armed with this knowledge, you can attempt to avoid it, though the right way to do so isn’t always the obvious one.

I talked previously about how I felt that The Quarry was playing it a bit too safe, and I think that way, especially with the quick-time events. They’ve been grossly oversimplified in The Quarry (compared to Until Dawn and Dark Pictures). Most of them involve either moving the stick in a direction, mashing A, or holding A. There’s no mix-up to the buttons you have to press. Just putting these words to paper, I realise some might prefer that, but it meant that I almost knew what was coming whenever a more tense sequence started playing.

This is a shame because the accessibility options that The Quarry provides do a great job at adjusting the experience so that everyone can enjoy it. The difficulty and timing of the quick-time events and other aspects of the game can be adjusted to ensure that those who are naturally slower to react can still enjoy the game properly. I can appreciate this move towards accessibility, but at the same time it feels like, as a result, almost all of the challenge evaporates.

The breadth of multiplayer options returns from previous Supermassive games and, as always, is a welcome addition. Couch co-op is a blast and allows you to add as many characters as you want to each player in the room with you. While I will continue to enjoy this mode, it feels like each character has a different amount of screentime so some players might naturally be left playing less. I don’t know what the perfect solution is – but even a percentage indicator to indicate how much each character appears in the script, or something, would do wonders. In my session, I found myself selecting two characters who got the most runtime, so it felt like I was playing for most of the time.

Other ways to experience the story are also appreciated. Movie Mode allows players to just watch the story play out as film but choose whether everyone dies or lives. There’s another third option here – where you can adjust the individual personality of each character and just watch things play out too. This mode is a nice touch for those who want to see how things might play out without committing to a full playthrough, but it’d be so much better if (like a movie) we had ways to fast-forward it.

Of course, there is an online mode coming too, so if your current situation prevents you from catching up with your mates physically, hold out until that functionality is patched in sometime next month.

So is The Quarry scary? I’m hesitant to say so. While I derided Little Hope for incessantly throwing jump scares at the player, I adored House of Ashes for its restraint and the way it built tension. The Quarry doesn’t really do either – it feels more like a mystery thriller with a psychotic third act rather than a full-blown horror experience. That being said, some incredibly Gorey (and notably tense) sequences play out here, so it’s most certainly not for the squeamish. Stylistically, I adore how the creatures in this game “appear,” though I won’t say much more so as not to give away. So is it scary? Not outwardly, but it sure is tense.

As a whole, the entire cast turns in a decent performance. There were so many standouts here that I couldn’t possibly list them all, though my favourite was easily Lin Shaye as Constance. She plays so against type here that it felt a shame to see her relegated to so little screentime in the big scheme of things. I get it – this is a big cast – but so many of the older celebrities especially were more or less glorified cameos who showed up and then disappeared for a while. In particular, David Arquette is just playing a slightly savvier version of Dewey from Scream. However, this might be intentional given that a very similar tune plays when he’s on-screen in The Quarry as when he’s on-screen in Scream.

It doesn’t have to be said either. The Quarry is a stunning game and easily the best looking out of the Supermassive catalogue. So many times, I’d pause and be shocked that I was watching a game rather than a film. A few characters, especially Laura, have some facial animations that cross the uncanny valley a little bit too often. Still, on the whole, The Quarry is immaculately presented.

THE PC VERSION WAS PLAYED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW. A DIGITAL COPY OF THE GAME WAS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.

The post The Quarry Review – An Enjoyable And Tense Cliché appeared first on Press Start.

As something of a platformer aficionado, I’m surprised that it’s taken me this long to play a Kao the Kangaroo game. The series first found life on home consoles with the Dreamcast original in 2000 before seeing a sequel on the PS2, Xbox and Gamecube, but neither game or any subsequent spin-offs did particularly well with critics or audiences. It’s interesting then that some 20-odd years later we’re getting a brand new Kao game thanks to Polish studio Tate Multimedia, but unfortunately it seems Kao is destined to live in obscurity a little longer.

Kao the Kangaroo starts off much like any of its genre peers – a dark power has invaded Kao’s (pronounced K-O) world and spirited away a loved one, in this case his sister, Kaia. Armed with a pair of magical boxing gloves inherited from his equally-lost father, Kao decides it’s up to him to go and rescue Kaia and bring peace back to his world. I’ll admit, that’s about as much as I remember of this game’s plot despite how simple it is in theory, and that’s because as soon as the game’s events kick in it stops making any sense at all.

It’s probably a bit much to ask of a B-grade platformer to have any kind of compelling narrative, but Kao the Kangaroo’s writing is frankly dreadful. Plot points are introduced and dropped without warning or context, and at no point did I feel like I knew exactly what Kao was actually meant to be doing. Dialogue wavers between nonsensical and woefully unfunny, relying on borderline offensive stereotypes and punchlines based on horribly outdated memes. Worse still, in a world populated by kangaroos, koalas and plenty of cheap Australiana there isn’t a single Aussie accent to be heard.

All of this would be easily forgiven if Kao’s platforming was more interesting than its world or story, but gameplay here is unfortunately just as derivative and uninspired. Kao controls well enough and the game at least attempts to create a point-of-difference with its melee combat that grants its hero a scant few combos and a finishing move but it’s all bound to tepid level designs with annoyingly missable collectibles and boring puzzles. Kao’s gloves can be powered up with three different elements (fire, ice and wind) that allow him to manipulate different parts of the environment but every single one of the game’s puzzle sequences simply throws the necessary elemental power-up at you as it’s needed which takes away any and all challenge.

That’s not to say I never enjoyed the 7-8 hours I spent completing everything that Kao the Kangaroo has to offer, it’s still a classically-styled collectathon platformer so it’s sure to please long time fans of the genre even if it does nothing surprising. This is definitely a game better suited to young children who might want a Crash Bandicoot-inspired experience without so much challenge and who won’t balk at the middling boss fights and forgettable characters. Each of the 15 levels and 4 hub worlds at least looks nice as well, with plenty of striking and lush environments to explore. The game’s voice acting and music on the other hand are… decidedly average, and so I wound up switching them off in lieu of listening to my own music while I played.

Less forgivable are the constant bugs I experienced, everything from getting stuck in geometry to objects not disappearing, enemies wigging out, audio playing incorrectly, sound effects looping and UI elements lingering on screen. I didn’t experience anything that broke the game entirely or halted my experience but there were far too many times where I got stuck and wasn’t sure if I was doing the wrong thing or the game was behaving incorrectly. Usually it was the latter.

One particular issue, which isn’t a bug but as the game’s developers told me directly is intentional design, is that the game has no option to invert its camera controls. Such a basic feature being omitted with no plans to add it in after the fact is downright bewildering and sure to alienate a whole bunch of players – as an inverter myself I had to push on for the purpose of this review but I struggled with the camera throughout my entire playthrough.

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It’s been almost five years since we’ve had a new Sniper Elite game, and it’s safe to say it’s what developer Rebellion does best. They’ve dabbled in other experiences like Strange Brigade or even Zombie Army, the spin-off of this game. Still, none feel as slick or as polished as Sniper Elite. That being said, Sniper Elite 5 represents a major turning point for the franchise. It’s easily the best the developer has put out, but it’s also an indication that the series is perhaps in need of a bit of a refresh. And that all starts with its setting.

Sniper Elite 5 continues to follow hero sniper Karl Fairburne a year following the events of Sniper Elite 4. The US Rangers have tapped Karl to assist in weakening the Axis defense. It’s about a year after the events of the fourth game, and most of the major events take place around D-Day in France. Eventually, Karl contacts members of the French resistance before uncovering a secret Nazi plot – Operation Kraken – which he must both investigate and ultimately destroy.

There are some great attempts here to make Sniper Elite 5 more attractive, including introducing some more memorable supporting characters than ever seen before. Still, the truth is that the game’s plot is a little bit too pedestrian. We’ve perhaps had too many games take place during this conflict, and there’s really only so much you can do with it before it all feels like a retread. It’s a story rife with stereotypes and tired war conventions that I struggled to empathize with.

Thankfully, Sniper Elite 5 as a game is much better than the story it’s trying to tell. While it’s a fairly typical third-person shooter at a glance, there’s a lot to be found in each of the game’s wide-open levels. Continuing the design philosophy that I really appreciated in Sniper Elite 4, every level feels like a mini open-world. Large, sprawling and most importantly – alive. Each level is filled with things to uncover, whether main objectives or smaller optional objectives that provide greater experience rewards. There’s a lot to do in each level and they’re clearly built for replayability to, as each one has multiple entry points that must be unlocked and heaps of intel and collectibles to uncover.

Intel is the most interesting aspect here. In my first run of the first level, I found a radar tower that I had to destroy. The most obvious way the game led me initially was to scale it and use satchel charges to destroy it. Another way, however, came up on a repeat playthrough where I grabbed some intel from a dead body (or maybe somewhere else, I can’t be sure) and was instead given the location of a breaker box that would short the radar entirely without the need to collect explosives or scale it. It sounds minor, but it feels like a more natural progression from what Sniper Elite 4 offered and clearly highlights that there’s a lot more freedom in how you can approach your objectives.

Of course, the game is called Sniper Elite, so it would be remiss of me not to talk about the sniping. One thing I really appreciate about Sniper Elite 5 is how it allows you to customise the realism of how everything works. There’s an incredibly robust custom difficulty system that allows you to adjust how enemies behave, how much damage they’ll take but also other things that offer a more realistic sniping experience. The world is designed so that you’ll have to handle aspects such as bullet drop distance and wind into account, but if you want a more arcade-like experience, all of these features can be turned off. The result will appease both those wanting a more simulation-like experience with the game’s shooting or those who just want to line up the perfect shot and worry about nothing else with a less realistic, more game-like experience.

The X-Ray kill camera returns, too, as do options to either decrease or increase their frequency if you so wish. I thought I’d grown tired of this aspect, but it honestly never gets old. To line up the perfect shot and watch the bullet shatter the bone of your opponents or rupture their organs is a bit macabre but endlessly satisfying. The X-ray aspect has been expanded now, too – so sub-weapons can trigger them, too – but I’ll never get tired of watching a bullet pass through an enemy’s brain before splattering out the other side of their skull. I probably sound a bit unhinged talking about this, but it’s one of the most simple yet effective ways to make the kills in Sniper Elite 5 so gratifying.

Progression is similarly handled quite well. You are given a player level that raises with the completion of objectives and the achievement of specific kills that award you skill points. Points can then be invested in three (very modest) skill trees to improve how your character plays. Guns are also very customisable, and rather than obnoxiously tie these to grinding or levelling up, customisation parts are unlocked by finding gun workshops located on each level. Progression is fairly typical on the multiplayer side of things – level up to unlock load-outs, skins, and perks from one of four specialist classes.

While the open-level design is to be admired, and the kills are always so satisfying, some aspects of Sniper Elite 5 feel like they’re still stuck in the past. For a game that emphasizes exploration and openness, I can’t count how many times I’d go to run through a bush or past a fence and for it to be an invisible, impassable wall. This kind of game design feels, quite frankly, quite dated and is what’s really holding Sniper Elite 5 back. Too often, I’d be running from vantage point to vantage point, in a rush, and be stopped by a barrier that simply feels like it shouldn’t be there. I was frustrated with this in Sniper Elite 4, and it’s a shame to see it hasn’t been rectified here.

That being said, it’s admirable to see how many different ways you can play Sniper Elite 5. The whole campaign can be played with another person in co-op. The open nature of the level design lends itself nicely to splitting up and getting stuff done if you want to be efficient. I find it more fun to have one player on the ground and another spotting from a distance as a sniper – but that’s what makes Sniper Elite 5 so fun – the choice really is yours. More interestingly, another player can also invade your game at any point as an enemy sniper (though this can be turned off if you want a traditional experience), and it adds just another element to the already layered campaign.

There’s a suite of competitive multiplayer modes available too – though I didn’t spend much time with them during the pre-release period – they’re bound to appeal to series traditionalists as they return from previous games. Survival mode allows up to four players to take on waves of enemies and feels weirdly similar to Rebellion’s spin-off series, Zombie Army, sans Zombies. The other typical modes are here – free for all, team deathmatch, squad match and no cross modes. Squad match is the newest and has four teams of up to four players, whereas team deathmatch has two teams of eight battling each other. No-cross returns from Sniper Elite 4 and has two teams battling it out across long distances, separated by an impenetrable barrier to keep things fair and ensure its truly snipers only.

Sniper Elite 5 is easily the best looking of the series thus far in terms of presentation. The team at Rebellion has used photogrammetry to bring many of these locales to life, and the result is something that looks both realistic and crisp. The game runs at a very smooth sixty frames while looking beautiful on the PlayStation 5. While the original score is quite pedestrian, I appreciated the subtle accordion added to the music to really sell the idea that you’re shooting Nazis in France, even if it does feel a little on the nose.

THE PLAYSTATION 5 VERSION WAS PLAYED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW. A DIGITAL COPY OF THE GAME WAS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.

The post Sniper Elite 5 Review – Slightly Short Of The Perfect Shot appeared first on Press Start.

So many horror franchises are being adapted into the asymmetrical, four versus one multiplayer format. It makes sense – so many of those games often have groups of people running from a more powerful but solitary killer. Dead By Daylight is especially impressive for the licenses it manages to bring into its world, but none of these experiences has ever had the production value or competent gameplay to back it up. Evil Dead: The Game bucks this trend. Not only does it play remarkably better than its contemporaries, it is without a doubt the most fun I’ve had with a horror adaptation in a long, long time.

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Evil Dead: The Game doesn’t so much as tell a story as it celebrates one. A multiplayer game at its core, it brings together the best of the revered franchise. It fittingly adapts it to the ubiquitous asymmetric multiplayer experience that so many horror films seem to be co-opted for. Evil Dead feels quite appropriate for this setup – the franchise has previously been adapted into a Resident Evil-like horror experience and Dead Rising-like action adventure to average reception. For now, I’m confident in saying that this is the best adaptation of Evil Dead so far.

The premise for Evil Dead: The Game is simple. Four human survivors must rally together to defeat the Kandarian Demon. This unseen force can possess and manifest beings called “deadites,” which are creatures pulled from the franchise’s history. It’s a simple premise, though it feels more like an action-adventure style of game rather than the hide-and-seek style seen in games like Dead By Daylight, Friday The 13th and presumably the upcoming Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The twist here is that players can step into the role of the survivors or the demon, though you can play against an AI demon if you so wish to.

While it’s only been a week since launch, there is clear debate on which side of the battle is easier. My first instinct was that it was much harder for the survivors to be victorious, but playing the amount that I have for the past week, it’s been clear that a good team of well-coordinated survivors can easily beat the demon. Perhaps that’s what sets Evil Dead apart from its asymmetrical contemporaries – the fact that good teamwork is almost essential to survive. You’ll rarely be able to “wing it” by going solo.

Regardless, the survivors have a bit more to do than the demon. In each match, your team will have to explore a (rather large) area to find three pieces of a map. They’ll have to defend two points against waves of enemies for a certain amount of time before heading to an area to vanquish a demon and then protect another point. It’s a simple set of objectives that could get old quickly, but playing with different groups highlighted how dynamic the game could be. This fed into a set of new challenges to face every time I would play.

The survivors themselves are all uniquely tailored – each of them has a unique ability and unique stats that affect how they play. Your character’s stats can be boosted temporarily, like a MOBA, and are wiped at the end of the match. The other, more expansive skill tree gives you the ability to increase more permanent traits about your character. The latter can’t be completely filled but can be changed at any time, so you’ll have to really dedicate your points to a specific build of your character rather than just work towards maxing everything out entirely. I like this approach – it means that even though everyone might get to a max level with a specific character, their specific builds on the skill trees might ensure the player pool doesn’t all play the same.

Obviously, the demon plays solo but can summon a wealth of AI-controlled creatures to assist them. Each of them plays differently, too, but the demon’s gameplay emphasizes attempting to separate and pick off the survivors. The demon can do this by setting traps for the survivors and possessing certain inanimate objects to instill fear in the survivors. Raise their fear enough, and you’ll be able to possess the survivors themselves to either create in-fighting amongst the team or just waste precious resources. It’s well and truly griefing, but it’s so fun to mess around with players that it cleanses me of any guilt I feel.

Games like these will live and die on how they’re supported in the future, though, and that’s where it becomes difficult to predict Evil Dead’s longevity. At the moment, there are only really two maps with the same sets of objectives. Although there is great effort to make them feel different with weather effects and time of day, it feels a little light. Upcoming updates promise to bring at least one new map to the fold, and there’s potential to introduce content from the 2013 soft reboot. It’s much too early to make a call, but if the content keeps coming and things continue to be balanced, Evil Dead could have longer legs than any of the asymmetric multiplayer games.

I say this because there is one thing that’s absolutely obvious about Evil Dead: The Game, and that’s the fact it feels very well put together. Combat is responsive and fast whether you’re fighting with a gun or a melee weapon. There’s an Alan Wake-esque dodge, which is remarkably powerful if you learn to use it properly. So even under insurmountable odds, it’s possible to escape dicey situations. There’s no doubt that this game flows and plays better than, say, Dead by Daylight or Friday The 13th, so the foundation is well and truly there to overtake those games with enough future support. It’s just whether Saber will capitalise on that is to be seen.

There are also some single-player missions and options to play against the AI for those who don’t want to play against other people. Though they’re reasonably short, the missions offer up vignettes inspired by the films and recent television series. There’s also little to no production values here – expect to see some text with some (admittedly very nice) artwork to push the story along while you run between objectives and fight waves of enemies. To put it bluntly, even if you’re a fan of the franchise, these missions are well and truly not worth picking the game up for.

Overall, Evil Dead: The Game offers up a rock-solid foundation upon which I hope the developers will continue to build. While I’m getting close to spending thirty hours with it, I’m still having a lot of fun and do not want to stop anytime soon. Some little niggles that will no doubt be fixed, such as certain button prompts not working immediately, are outshone by what is an otherwise robust and cross-play enabled netcode.

THE XBOX SERIES X VERSION WAS PLAYED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW. A DIGITAL COPY OF THE GAME WAS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.

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At its reveal, I felt a stirring inside of me that assured me that Trek to Yomi might be one of those special experiences. A transcendental game that mirrors a mood or feeling lost to time, and a perfect art piece that adapts the central pillars that inspires its very existence. I think Trek to Yomi succeeds in being something that, were he born several decades later, Akira Kurosawa might be proud to call his own. However, because it lacks nuance and is so boxed in by its limitations as a game, Trek to Yomi is a hollow, albeit gorgeous, title.

Trek to Yomi’s tale feels like a road well-travelled. Hiroki’s tale is one of a tortured samurai so bound to duty, and so grief-stricken from his past failures, that not even death frees him. It’s a simple narrative that is driven forward by the traditional tropes of the genre, but is made more engrossing by the game’s determined dedication to authenticity, Japan’s culture, and mythology. 

Trek to Yomi plays almost like a classic Prince of Persia, except obviously set in feudal Japan and without a jump button. Inspired by near-century-old silent films, Trek to Yomi plays out like a gorgeous stage play where every set Hiroki visits, by moving left or right through the world, is more stunning than the last. The game, set in a 2.5D plane, burdens the pretty rudimentary combat systems with carrying the entirety of the gameplay loop. Unfortunately, when a simple parry, counterattack, and occasional finisher, gets the job done, Hiroki’s grocery list of combos isn’t likely to resonate with most people. I had hoped that the game’s decent variety of enemies might force me to adopt particular postures and engage in some elegant swordplay, but it wasn’t to be.  

Even as the game takes a turn for the supernatural, it becomes evident that even those not composed of flesh and bone fall easily enough to Hiroki’s blade. And even when the blade doesn’t do its job, you’ve got enough arrows, daggers, and ballistics to defeat a small army. I never felt underpowered in Trek to Yomi, it does a good job of keeping the drip-feed of new abilities and upgrades—more health, stamina, and more room on the hip and quiver—provided you’re prepared to stray from the path to spot them. 

Despite the game’s best efforts to be accessible and cater to all crowds with a wealth of difficulty options, including a story mode that is a literal breeze, I feel like this works to the game’s detriment. While there’s minutiae to the game’s combat that can be unearthed, I feel most will look past it and take the reductive approach to combat—especially once it’s proven that most enemies fall to a heavy hit or two. The skeleton of the game’s combat simply isn’t exactly dynamic enough to make whacking away at the easiest difficulties interesting, nor the hardest difficulties fair.

It’s this same combat that does a lot of the heavy lifting for Trek to Yomi, although the team tries desperately to shake things up in the later chapters by serving up an attempt at environmental puzzle-solving. I appreciate them trying to change gears, but I’m not sure playing ‘I Spy’ with iconography within the game’s carefully curated frames and translating it to a path-clearing spin-wheel is the answer.

It is hardly surprising that the game’s visual identity is its shining accomplishment. Leonard Menchiari, the game’s lead designer, established the game’s striking monochromatic look early on, eventually tying it to an idea to honour classic samurai cinema. Trek to Yomi is truly a breathtaking game at times, it might go down as the most screenshots I’ve ever taken in a game—and the fact that Trek to Yomi is only around six hours makes that feat even more astounding. By taking camera movement out of players’ hands, Trek to Yomi achieves a standard of cinematography not seen in most games.

As one-note as it is, the balletic nature of the swordplay is quite smooth. It’s kind of everywhere else where the animation looks a little stiff and constrained by budget. Hiroki doesn’t feel fleet of foot, enemies ragdoll like spent elastic, but it doesn’t prevent Trek to Yomi from being one of the most striking games I’ve played this year. The lighting is beyond gorgeous, even if the bloom near certain light sources—crackling fire for one—could be toned down a tad. It won’t take combing through to notice the obsessive detail poured into each frame of this Edo Japan, and every sweeping expanse—be it the limitless fields bloodied by invasion or the literal ruins of hell—had me awestruck.

Trek to Yomi achieves an even greater immersion and authenticity through its use of traditional Japanese instruments. Even greater are the well-directed, powerful performances from the native voice actors, which the game rightly places front and centre as the default option. 

It’s hard to argue that the vision of Trek to Yomi has been left wanting here. It’s a cinematic tour de force that honours a samurai’s call of duty through the lens of Kurosawa, one of the all-time legendary directors. It’s just such a shame the combat doesn’t rise to meet the standard set by the team’s impossible-to-fault artists.

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In my household, the expectations for this LEGO game have been built up. Bigger than a UCS Millennium Falcon #75192. My two sons, Luke and Ben, are budding master builders of actual physical bricks and TT Games’ full catalog. And when it comes to Star Wars, well, they were sired by a Sith who covertly manipulated events to get them named after his favourite Force users. By the time anybody caught on, it was way too late.

So yeah, we’re a triumvirate of veterans who really wanted LEGO Star Wars The Skywalker Saga to be a new hope, not another half-baked clone. You can imagine our surprise, then, when we played a fully armed and operational reimagining that represents a Force-jump in evolution for this franchise.

It’s important to manage expectations on Skywalker Saga from the get go, however. For starters, it’s not simply an up-rezzed, level-for-level remake of 2007’s LEGO Star Wars The Complete Saga. Obviously, that game only covered six films as opposed to the full complement of nine movies here. And though you’ll spot a tiny handful of similar gameplay sections and reused cutscene gags, this is very much a page one rewrite of the greatest Star Wars piss-take this side of Spaceballs.

For seconds, you’re getting full VO this time around (calm down, there’s a mumble mode for you purists). With a few exceptions, the soundalike actors they went with are excellent. They nail the little inflections your brain expects when hearing those classic movie lines for the umpteenth time.

Lastly, when we talk of mechanical upgrades, what’s been done isn’t the equivalent C3PO getting a red arm after ten years—somebody has taken a serious hydrospanner to the combat and class systems. They’ve even bolted on a universe scale sandbox—24 planets with three or so settlement areas apiece, orbit arenas encircling each world, and an absolute bantha load of collectables.

Honestly, what’s here makes the 2000s games look like LEGO DUPLO Star Wars.

If you’ve somehow never played one of TT Games’ titles, you should know that they’re best consumed in 2P split-screen co-op. (Online would have been nice, but it’s somehow gotten the saber chop.) Play this (Han) solo or with “another” as a Force-dyad, and the experience will be relatively the same: slapstick melee/pew-pew combat, mass destruction of property, some class-specific puzzling and simplified jumpy-jump platforming. However, with two people, you can have these emergent, low-stakes frenemy fights along the way.

Understanding that everybody Stans a particular trilogy, TT has wisely opted to let you kick off at the three generational entry points of Phantom Menace, A New Hope or The Force Awakens. If you stick to the breadcrumbed objectives markers and ignore the many, many opportunities to go off track, you can clock a single movie in roughly an hour and a bit.

That runtime is roughly in line with the prequel and OG LEGO Star Wars titles which spun their respective trilogies out into four hour campaigns each. Mind you, when you consider we got a 6-hour story from a single film, LEGO Star Wars The Force Awakens, Skywalker Saga feels like it’s paced like a pod race.

On a more positive note, there are the many enhancements I alluded to earlier. There’s now a four-button combo system that thwarts button mashers while monetarily rewarding speed, consistency and timely counter presses. Gunplay includes a cover system, body part damage, gun crate “trade-up” weaponry, and a third-person cam that requires some recoil control. Though it has to be said that the latter frequently reduces you to squinting through an X-rayed version of your avatar to get a good shot off.

As you’d expect, your fisticuff capabilities are determined by the unique class-type of your current minifig—Jedi, Hero, Scavenger, Scoundrel, Bounty Hunter, Villain, Dark Side, Astromech, Protocol or ‘Extra’. Including DLCs there are 380 characters, each of them offering a means to circumvent specific environmental obstacles, decipher new quests or just fold in a cool combat skill. Case in point: using Jedi to fully possess enemies.

Oh, and it’s also worth mentioning that there’s a sprinkle of stealth in here, too. You can slowly acquire stormtrooper armour to go incognito or stay out of enemy vision cones in these My First Metal Gear sections. Like most of the game, there’s not a huge amount of depth or challenge to any of it, but TT earns solid points for mixing it up.

If your pants piece ever gets tired of legging it everywhere, you can always whip out your holoprojector and take to the stars. While this game is no danger of being mistaken for Rogue Squadron IV or a mini No Man’s Sky, the dogfighting and level of freedom impressed me quicker than the mishap had in the droid assembly line level.

You can get nice little space battles going with your favourite starship, each of them with the ability to roll, boost and lock on with homing torpedoes. The orbit areas around every planet are decently populated with asteroid fields, multi-ship dogfights, spawning aces, Capital ships to board, and stud comets to vaporise.

Even though I had to finish this on a deadline tighter than a mynock’s embrace, I got led astray by the side-opportunities in Skywalker Saga. Let’s do this by the numbers: if you want to earn the mysterious 100% completion reward, you need to tick off 225 minikits, 135 level challenges, 140 side missions, 731 puzzles, 38 trials and 10 challenges. One of the latter is my personal favourite, a Wandering Wookie who repeatedly Where’s Wallys his furry butt around this colossal universe.

Double—possibly triple-digit—hours of quality gameplay aside, Skywalker Saga isn’t without some misses. In the movie retellings, some barely significant parts in the series are given altogether too much screen time. Quick example: you have to physically hop in an X-wing after exploding Jabba to fly into orbit, go through a light speed load, land on Dagobah, and do an uneventful slog through the swamp to Yoda’s place to watch him die. Level complete.

Conversely, some cracking setpiece moments in the films can get lip-service in a cutscene, even though they’re fertile ground (read: a nice flat green piece) for gameplay. Quick example: the TIE escape with Poe and Finn gets a five second nod. That was a 10-minute affair in LEGO The Force Awakens.

It also has to be said that the new upgrades system is thicker than a Hutt but roughly about as useless in places. The four odd perks for every class are heavily weighted towards making the incredibly simple combat even easier. I honestly forgot all about it until the end credits of Rise of Skywalker. You’ll probably invest in the perks that reward you with extra studs for doing [class-specific menial task here], then ignore the rest.

Oh, and if you’re playing co-op, may I suggest you quickly secure the significantly higher ground that is your first controller. Often will be the time when a climactic 1v1 boss battle reduces player two to that of an awkward extra. Typically that’ll be a droid who’s about as useful as a poodoo-flavoured lollipop.

Be that as it may, the positives more than outweigh the negatives with this game. Genuinely humorous games are in painfully short supply in our medium, and Skywalker Saga is one of the rare few that can make you chortle like Salacious Crumb on red cordial. When it comes to mission titling and Easter Eggs in the sandbox, this game has clearly been made by a bunch of super nerds whose meme game is utterly on point.

Likewise, the slapstick antics in the mid-mission movies are brilliant. Quick example: Han telling his co-pilot to punch it, whereupon Chewie misinterprets and hauls off into C3PO’s face. We’ve all wanted to do it at some point. Let’s be honest.

The good times elevate even more when you factor in the stupid fun of co-op, particularly if you do literally Force lift your friend over a chasm and let them drop. Even better, there are a host of ludicrous bonus modes to chase, like “pew pew” sound effects, baguette sabers and a universe-wide rave dance. These are the rewards that make the blue milk worth the massive bantha squeeze.

THE PS5 VERSION WAS PLAYED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW. A DIGITAL REVIEW CODE WAS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.

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When looking back on Borderlands 2 and the way that it influences the games industry today, its hard to omit its fantastic slew of add-on content that released in time after launch. One of the most well received packs was Tiny Tina’s Assault On Dragon Keep, where players are plunged into Tina’s Bunkers and Badasses campaign, which is Pandora’s equivalent to Dungeons and Dragons. Its success can be attributed to so many reasons; an entirely unique setting, a funny narrative with a surprising emotional pay-off, its sporadic and off the wall nature, and more.

Almost 9 years on from its release, we have Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, a spin-off of the main series that takes the ideas brought to the table by Assault On Dragon Keep, and extrapolates them into a full game. While Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is a Borderlands game through and through, it manages to carve out its own identity among the pack, bringing new and interesting ideas to the series while still retaining the core elements that hooked players in to begin with. It’s not without its own drawbacks, but Wonderlands is an enjoyable experience from start to finish – especially with friends.

One of the main things people took issue with in the long awaited Borderlands 3 was its main narrative, and villains – the Calypso Twins. Most of the humour didn’t land, weird story decisions were handled poorly, and it was an all-around uninteresting plot that lacked a lot of the charm from the first two games. Gearbox Software seem to have taken that criticism to heart because Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is mostly a step in the right direction in this regard, bringing with it a different kind of humor better suited to today’s world, well-written characters, and side quests that have no right being as entertaining as they are.

After crash landing your ship on Pandora, you join Tiny Tina and her group of friends as they embark on a new campaign in Bunkers and Badasses, with Tina at the helm as Bunker Master. After creating your Fatemaker, you’re dropped into the Wonderlands with the task of stopping the Dragon Lord. Its a simple, and easy to follow story that excels not in its premise but in its writing and characters.

It leans heavily into the themes and trappings of DnD, but much like Dragon Keep, the Wonderlands are ever-changing and unpredictable thanks to Tina’s explosive personality. It provides meta commentary on not only DnD, but video game design in general, with fourth wall breaks and constant prodding at tropes we’ve all come to expect. It’s brought together by another excellent performance from Ashley Burch as Tiny Tina, as well as a solid supporting cast with Andy Samberg as Valentine and Wanda Sykes as Frette.

While a lot of Borderlands 3’s jokes ended up falling flat for a lot of players, I found myself always entertained by the bickering and back and forth between these characters, as well as the occasional one-liner from Tina here and there. There’s a deadpan delivery to a lot of the humour here that feels much more suitable compared to the often cringe inducing monologues of the Calypso Twins. A lot of this is also carried over into the side quests you’ll find scattered about the Wonderlands, making each one worth investigating to see what kind of ridiculous situations they confront you with.

The core appeal of Borderlands has always been the progression, loot, and customization, all of which are retained in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, and in some instances, improved. Instead of choosing a class based on a preset character, you’ll create your own Fatemaker from scratch with an extensive character creator. Leaning heavily into DnD, you can tailor almost every aspect of your character to your liking. From physical traits to choosing an upbringing that affects your base stat spread, there’s a startling amount of control here that allows for a more personal attachment to your character and class.

Speaking of which, there’s a whopping six classes to choose from in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, each with two Action Skills, a passive ability called Class Feats and one skill tree to invest points into. While each one has its own unique playstyle and incentivizes you to use particular weapons for maximum effect, they’re not as fleshed out as previous offerings, but for one reason. In true DnD fashion, Wonderlands eventually opens up the option of multi-classing to you, allowing you slot an additional class, giving you access to that class’s respective Feat, Action Skills, and skill tree. Every time you level up, you also gain a point to allocate into your stats, which influence things like weapon damage, spell cooldown, action skill cooldown and so on, allowing for even more flexibility.

It goes without saying that there’s so much here to experiment and play around with in regards to class synergies and build crafting. My main class was the Spore Warden, sporting a poison-farting mushroom companion and an affinity for applying elemental status effects. Combine that with the Clawstrider, which also has a companion, with a focus on dealing lightning and fire elemental damage through various means, and you have one of many lethal builds you can use in throughout the Wonderlands. The ability to respec all skill and stat points, alongside changing your secondary class means this system gives the player plenty of breathing room and agency in regards to trying new things, which is refreshingly flexible and can alter your gameplay loop quite a bit.

The other big new addition in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands comes in the form of the overworld, which connects all of the areas you’ll explore for actual quests. As you traverse it, you’ll come across random encounters, dungeons, collectibles, side quests, optional areas and more. Each major segment of the board has a Shrine that can be activated by collecting all of the shrine pieces in the area. These can be found in overworld challenges, dungeon encounters, or even backtracking, and they permanently boost things like loot quality and experience gains once unlocked, making them well worth the effort.

It’s a great inclusion that adds more depth and personality to the Wonderlands, providing an explorable hub world to move throughout as opposed to a standard hub that you teleport to levels from. There’s a lot here to be found for those who love secret hunting, and while dungeons rarely do much to change up their encounters, the enemy and location variety is enough to keep things feeling relatively fresh.

As expected with anything Borderlands, there’s a metric ton of guns and loot to be found that improve your character in a myriad of ways. There’s a lot of returning weapon archetypes here that behave how you’d expect, but some of them are more than meets the eye. There are assault rifles that will fire cross-bow like bolts, or submachine guns that fire out homing balls of pulsating energy. It all fits nicely with the overall setting and theme that Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands establishes, and this extends further to the Spells and melee weapons.

Funnily enough, grenades aren’t really a thing in the Wonderlands, but Spells most definitely are. Spells are abilities you can slot that are also on a cooldown alongside your Action Skill, but each one behaves differently and has varying fire modes. From Fire and Forget Spells to Hold and Charge Spells, there’s plenty here to choose from and they drop just as often as guns do. Melee weapons also add an extra wrinkle onto combat, allowing you to customize your build even further and placing more emphasis on a typically mundane and one note action – especially if you’re playing the Stabbomancer class.

Once you reach level 40 and you start working out the finer details of your class and build, you unlock Mythic Ranking. Similar to Badass Ranks in previous games, Mythic Ranks are an extended progression system where levelling up nets you tokens you can use to slowly increase your stats to the highest they can be. The core difference in Wonderlands, though, is that Mythic Ranks are in the form of constellations, each one correlating to a particular playstyle. If you put a point into a particular tree, you have to move to a tree clockwise to the one you just invested in for the next point, which makes it feel rigid in comparison to the flexibility of other systems.

Where Borderlands has always allowed players to truly flex their build, is in the end game content. Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands main end game comes in the form of Chaos Chamber, a randomly generated run through encounters that you can make easier or harder for yourself depending on how handsomely you want to be rewarded. As you clear waves, you can opt to activate modifiers that increase how many crystals you get as you complete a run, which are eventually used in the final room to chase certain weapon archetypes. The catch is that if you use up all of your lives in any given run, you’re booted back to the world and have to start fresh, making it a sort of rogue-lite mode.

It’s an addictive risk versus reward loop that incentivizes you to challenge yourself in the never-ending chase for loot, and it can all be played with friends or matchmade with strangers. Couple this with the Chaos Levels unlocked upon beating the campaign where you can increase enemy difficulty for more loot akin to Mayhem Levels, and you have plenty of reason to come back to Wonderlands after the credits roll. One weird omission that I couldn’t find was the option for new game plus, a staple in previous Borderlands games that’s seemingly absent here. I’m not sure if Gearbox want to pivot to a different kind of end game or if it’s being added in at launch, but its definitely disappointing that it’s missing here.

That’s another thing that Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands should be applauded for, the cooperative play available at launch is mostly comprehensive. Aside from the disappointing lack of local PC coop, there’s almost everything else you could possibly want from a Borderlands game. Both the campaign, and Chaos Chamber are fully playable in coop, and both can be matchmade for those looking for people to play with. On top of that, all platforms will support cross-play on launch, meaning players can venture through the Wonderlands together, even if playing on different consoles.

If there’s one thing that never seems to get old about Borderlands, its the tried and true cel shaded art style that defines the visual aesthetics of these games. Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is no different, but there’s something special about the way this world has been translated into this art style. These are some of the most diverse locales we’ve seen in a Borderlands game yet, from sand swept Sunfang Oasis to the lofty Tangledrift, there’s so much to see here within the trappings of fantasy that wasn’t explored in Assault On Dragon Keep. I’m also happy to report that the game feels very polished aside from one crash and some odd frame drops I experienced in one particular area.

THE PC VERSION OF THIS GAME WAS PLAYED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW. A DIGITAL COPY OF THE GAME WAS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.

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Ghostwire: Tokyo is a series of firsts for Tango Gameworks. It’s the first game since their debut with The Evil Within eight years ago to not be a pure horror game. It’s also the first time the team has presented their game in first person. But most overwhelmingly, it’s their first-ever open-world game. I was skeptical whether the team could make a city as densely compelling as the more wide-open worlds we’re used to seeing in other games. Still, I’m happy to say that Tango has nailed it. Ghostwire: Tokyo is a fun open-world experience, though that does come with some caveats.

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In Ghostwire: Tokyo, you play Akito, a man who has been in a traffic incident and, in his final moments, is possessed by a spirit hunter calling himself KK. KK imbues Akito with supernatural powers and offers him an ultimatum – help him stop the person responsible for this, and KK will help Akito save his sister, who has been taken hostage by a mysterious man named Hannya. It’s a basic story that’s presented in a rather bizarre manner, but despite all the twists it throws at you, I found it hard to be satisfied by the ending. It wasn’t bad, mind you, it just happened, and I didn’t feel anything.

As alluded to in my preview earlier this month, Ghostwire: Tokyo is Tango’s first truly open-world game. You’re thrown into a map comprising main missions, side missions, and more minor activities. The difference here is that the world of Tokyo presented in Ghostwire is relatively dense, so the open world isn’t vast, overwhelming, or unmanageable. Another key difference is the way combat is done, using an assortment of talismans, charms, and unique spells to destroy the enemies you come across in the city. The running theme throughout Ghostwire: Tokyo is thusly so; it does what every open-world game has already done but in such a uniquely compelling way that it doesn’t feel as trite as it should.

The combat itself is the heart of the experience with Ghostwire: Tokyo. Called Ethereal Weaving, it allows Akito to manipulate the elements to defend himself from the otherworldly visitors that Hannya has summoned. The three major powers you have behave similarly as weapons would in other games. The wind spell is a quick, handgun-like projectile, and the fire spell is a heavy and piercing explosive, while the water spell is better for groups and up-close, like a shotgun. Each of them has a more appropriate use in battle, depending on how the enemies swarm you. However, charms and talismans can be used to stun enemies and facilitate stealth options if you so wish.

You can attempt to play Ghostwire: Tokyo from a stealthy perspective. Akito also acquires a bow and arrow early on, allowing him to take down enemies without alerting others. In my preview, I’d hoped these mechanics would see some expansion beyond the arrows you get in the opening hours, but it remains the same from beginning to end. Other charms and talismans can be used to distract enemies or even spawn vegetation to hide in, so there are options that encourage stealth too, but the bow and arrow feel undercooked as a mechanic.

The enemies you’ll be fighting come from a nice pool too. While many of them are all different-looking humans, they all serve different purposes in battle. Some of them are more prone to rushing you down, while others will stand back from a distance and pelt projectiles at you. Ghostwire: Tokyo’s combat shines when it’s throwing all kinds of enemies at you, and you have to manage them effectively with the spells and gear you have on hand. But what’s even better is when it throws one of the few non-human enemies at you. These demons really feel like rejects from The Evil Within with their grotesque appearance and stranger abilities, with some even being able to separate Akito from KK.

There are moments when Akito and KK are separated, either for story purposes or during combat. During combat, it’s stressful but usually manageable enough to just return to wherever KK’s spirit is and reabsorb him. In my preview earlier this month, I was worried that the separation forced on the player during the story would get old fast. Thankfully, it doesn’t happen anywhere near enough to become a problem during the main story path, which is a relief.

There’s a handful of boss encounters that you’ll be thrown into as the story progresses too. Much like the enemies themselves, these are inspired by yokai but given a bit of a twisted visual update to better suit the vibe Ghostwire is going for. These boss battles are pretty standard – you just pelt them with spells until they die – though one of them is more of a stealth encounter which I particularly enjoyed. That being said, I’d have appreciated if there was a little more to these beautifully macabre creatures than just wailing on them until they died.

I think that’s the thing about Ghostwire: Tokyo that stands out the most. A lot of the combat doesn’t feel very nuanced, as almost every encounter just has me scrolling through my powers and throwing them out there until everything is dead. Like I’ve mentioned before – perhaps it would’ve worked better if some enemies were weak to a specific element or if the enemy design was done so in a way that required certain powers. It’s a fun combat system; there’s just not much to it.

What really separates Ghostwire: Tokyo is how much of a joy it is to get around the city. From the get-go, you’re given the ability to grapple to the roof of the buildings of Tokyo wherever a tengu (a type of yokai – more on those soon) appears. Later on, as you upgrade your abilities, you can grapple up to almost anywhere. Add a very generous glide mechanic and a distinct lack of fall damage and getting around Tokyo is just one of the many reasons Ghostwire: Tokyo rarely feels tedious even when you’re doing something as basic as climbing.

Thankfully, the side missions are just as compelling as the main story missions. Each of them is usually tied to a yokai – a kind of friendly spirit pulled from Japanese folklore. Usually, you’ll work with the yokai in a side mission to solve some small dilemma and be rewarded with collectibles that will enhance your skills. That being said, the design of these side missions admittedly feel like side missions. Many of them have you sneaking up on someone or moving somewhere to find an item, or being transported to an arena to take down enemies. They are, once again, nothing new for a game of this style, but the stories and activity types are varied enough to keep things interesting.

Other less elegantly executed optional content comes in the form of the many collectibles strewn throughout the city. Spirits can be absorbed and then exchanged for skill points throughout the city. Shrines can be prayed at to increase the maximum storage amount or your ethereal weaving spells. You can even find items and exchange them for currency at the games many floating cat shopkeepers. These aspects of the game will undoubtedly give players more to do but feel the most by-the-numbers in terms of their design and implementation – they’re incessant (but not compulsory) busywork.

Suppose you decide to do absolutely everything in Ghostwire: Tokyo. In that case, you’d probably find yourself spending around twenty to thirty hours doing so, depending on how efficient you are. The main story took me about fifteen or so hours, but I did many side quests early on in the game. Other difficulty levels offer a bit more of a challenge, too, including one that see you run through the game without upgrades, but this feels like a traditional one-and-done single-player experience.

Without a doubt, however, Ghostwire: Tokyo is a visual feast for the eye. The neon-lit cityscape of this alternate world Tokyo is gorgeous – seeing the lights hit the wet pavement with raytracing is one of those experiences that you can’t get anywhere else but the new consoles. The creature and yokai designs are all uniquely charming, and it all comes together to offer a world that’s truly unlike anything in any other game. The music is similarly fantastic, adding that Japanese flair to an already strong and pounding dramatic score.

Ghostwire: Tokyo is a bizarre game – on paper, it sounds rather unremarkable. But in practice, everything comes together so wonderfully to offer an open-world experience where its similarity to other games is quick to fade.

THE PLAYSTATION 5 VERSION WAS PLAYED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW. A DIGITAL COPY OF THE GAME WAS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.

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Competing with Skyrim for the award of most re-releases possible, Rockstar Games’ brilliant Grand Theft Auto V has made its way to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles. And while the game was initially promised as an ‘Expanded and Enhanced’ edition of one of gaming’s true masterpieces, the end product still manages to tidy up some of the last-gen version’s notable shortcomings.

That comes by way of a welcome visual and performance upgrade across the board. It might not look as good as what we’re regularly seeing from new titles these days, but Grand Theft Auto V still looks downright gorgeous at times. The world’s packed with things to see and do, and that’s further improved in the current-gen port.

Three visual and performance options are available in this outing if you’re playing on PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X – Fidelity, Performance RT and Performance. The former caps the framerate at 30fps, delivering a 4K image and making use of ray traced shadows throughout, while the latter two options target 60fps at a 1440p resolution.

Fidelity, while delivering a crisper image and better detail, immediately felt slow to me. Having been spoiled with fantastic 60fps modes on console games of late, I couldn’t stand the thought of working my way through the many action sequences in GTA V’s story mode in this way again.

Performance RT, however, was my preferred way to play. This mode felt like the best way to go for those wanting a snappier frame rate while still experiencing some level of ray tracing. Playing GTA V at 60fps on console makes a resounding difference to the general experience, and while I know some will happily sacrifice frame rate for quality of visuals, I found it hard to justify such a massive cut to performance. The input lag, while rough in each mode available, is incredibly cumbersome at 30fps – especially during on-foot sections. It’s worth mentioning Xbox Series S does not have any ray tracing options available and is restricted to 1080p 60fps in Performance mode, while Fidelity mode sees the Series S support upscaled 4K at 30fps.

The visual jump between PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of Grand Theft Auto V and the current-gen versions seemed significant enough. Again, the game looks fantastic for the majority of the time you’re moving through Los Santos and Blaine County, and the higher quality textures used from the PC version of the game make enough of a difference to recommend to players wanting the best GTA V experience on console.

The biggest change in the two versions, though, is the load times – it’s a monumental improvement over what’s come before. It’s finally time to bid farewell to the tediously long load times (two minutes plus) seen on the older version of the game, which have now been replaced with load times that are around 6x faster. Huge. Whether you’re cold booting the game from your console’s main menu, switching to a different character in story mode or switching over to Grand Theft Auto Online, there’s a significant load time difference to enjoy. If anything, this is exactly what I was hoping to see and I’m happy to confirm the super-fast SSDs in the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles deliver.

While it’s never been my cup of tea, Grand Theft Auto Online’s new streamlined introduction sequence and Career Builder allows you to jump relatively quickly into the mode from scratch, which was nice to see. That said, cross-play between console generations isn’t available right now, so do take that into consideration if you’ve got buddies who play that are still on last-gen platforms. As soon as you make the transfer to the current-gen version of GTA V your save will be wiped from the last-gen version.

As I alluded to earlier, the notion of this version of Grand Theft Auto V being ‘Expanded and Enhanced’ is long gone. There’s very little new content to experience here, so if you’ve done it all before don’t expect any surprises. That said, GTA V’s story mode is still one of the series’ greatest and is well worth a revisit if it’s been quite some time since you last stepped into the shoes of Franklin, Michael and Trevor. Similarly, if your buddies have made the move over to the current-gen versions of the game it’s worth kickstarting or continuing your crusade on Grand Theft Auto Online. It feels a lot more welcoming than it ever has.

Is it worth the paid upgrade? I’m not so sure. We’ve seen updates like this for many games over the last few years that have released and cost nothing. As such, it’s a bit disheartening to see this launch as a paid upgrade (even though it’s currently discounted for a couple of months). It’s still a fantastic game though, and well worth revisiting if it’s been a while or if you’ve somehow never managed to give it a crack.

The post Grand Theft Auto V PS5/Xbox Series X Review – A Decent Upgrade appeared first on Press Start.

In a year that promised the second coming of cyberpunk Jesus, the only game that came close to that lofty ambition was Ghostrunner. It was a sleek and stylish action game where parkour, lightning reflexes, and mastery of the blade were key to surviving its dystopian world. It was like Mirror’s Edge met Katana Zero in a harmonious, ultraviolent cocktail, and part of its allure was that it was hard as nails and hosed with style. 

Project Hel mostly serves as a prequel to the base game, though by the end it does run concurrently to Jack’s story. If the title wasn’t a giveaway, the expansion casts you as Hel, the original game’s second boss and an absolute nightmare of clinical machine menace. Unlike Jack, whose sentience shone through almost instantly, Hel’s harsh, logical nature serves as a scary foil to Jack’s optimism. Although I feel Project Hel tackles a lot of fascinating existential ideas within its dialogue, the story itself feels a tad inconsequential in the grander scheme of things – as is often the case for a lot of prequels. 

The biggest selling point for Project Hel, as it was in Ghostrunner itself, is the seamless mix of laser speed traversal and combat which has seen some evolution from the base game. Parkour is clearly still one of the game’s big focuses and Hel’s capacity to move swiftly through the tightly-designed maps is immense, even greater than Jack’s was. Not only can Hel cover greater ground with her leap, being able to home precisely on a landing point makes a lot of the platforming, which felt more brutal and plentiful in the original campaign, a lot more manageable here.

With the eponymous cyborg serving as a literal killing machine of Terminator-like persistence, Project Hel rightly places a greater emphasis on the game’s combat. There’s still a slick blade in hand that can be used offensively and defensively, but the overhauling of the battle systems for Hel is perhaps her greatest departure from Jack. With a Rage metre that ticks over with each kill and parry, it can either be used to power an energy burst or kept in reserve as an over shield, capable of absorbing what would regularly be a kill shot. One of the things I liked most about Ghostrunner was the rinse and repeat nature of the one-hit kill combat. Jack felt fragile, the encounters felt insurmountable, and the inevitable relief was palpable. To say an over shield completely discards that sense of reward would be hyperbole, it just feels different.

It certainly allowed One More Level to create larger and more elaborate arenas to fight in. I certainly felt as though Project Hel had much bigger encounters where the odds are stacked firmly against Hel, with up to twenty enemies to dispatch at times. The enemy variety is still pretty serviceable for an expansion only seven levels long, with a couple of new variants, like the cleverly named Hammer guards, among returning headaches like the long-leaping Sluggers. The moments in between these frenetic fights are the same deftly designed routes that made the original’s ceaseless movement such a joy, so even if the combat feels like a deviation I’m glad they stuck to the playbook for getting around Dharma City. 

The other area One More Level resisted reinventing the wheel is in the skill upgrades, which remains the same tactical exercise players went through with Jack. Each of the tetrominoes, for want of a better term, on the grid has a skill assigned to it, and it’s up to you how you build your character. It’s still a great risk-reward system and it’s fun tinkering with builds depending on what the encounter demands. 

Ghostrunner, for all of its gaudy neon signage and contrasting grimdark alleys, was a gorgeous game and Project Hel does little to dispel that. It’s the same stunning cityscape, suspended in the indeterminable and incomprehensible space of the cybervoid. The game’s fictional ads still adorn this middling rung of the Tower’s societal ladder and while it was nice to be back and see old stomping grounds among the many new levels, I hope we venture elsewhere the next time we see Ghostrunner.

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WWE 2K22 is a shining example of what taking a year off to reassess can do for a series. Following one of the worst WWE games to ever see the light of day in WWE 2K20, Visual Concepts has done an extraordinary job in executing the ultimate babyface turn – delivering one of the best wrestling games in years.

This starts with 2K22’s gameplay. What used to be one of the worst elements in recent 2K wrestling games has now become one of the best. The redesigned gameplay engine allows newcomers to pull off awesome-looking moves while being deep enough for veterans to seek their teeth into. Animations are less janky when compared to recent entries as well, making every move look closer to the real thing. The camera’s positioning, now much closer to the ring, plays a big role in enhancing the moment-to-moment action and is another welcome change to the game’s general presentation. This all comes together to form a more cohesive presentation package that kept me captivated throughout the many matches I played.

The control system’s revamp is a particular highlight this year. Light attacks, heavy attacks and grapples are assigned to individual face buttons and can be chained together to form devastating combos against an opponent. Reversals can still be performed through the assigned reversal button; however Visual Concepts has added a ‘breaker’ option – a new type of reversal that can quickly put you on the front foot. These are executed by guessing what the opponent is about to press – whether that’s the light attack, heavy attack or grapple button – and pressing the corresponding button at the same time. This will put an end to whatever move they’re trying to execute – whether it’s a chained combo or a few basic attacks – allowing you to then start going on the offensive yourself.

When executed correctly, breakers can change the entire flow of a match. On harder difficulties, these become necessities and ultimately make matches in 2K22 feel more fluid and enjoyable to play. They add an extra element of strategy to the mix, taking a step closer to what we watch on television each week all the while adding to the fun of the experience. After many years of the same old formula each year in these games, 2K22’s gameplay feels as fresh and exciting as a wrestling game ever has.

This year’s Showcase Mode covers the long-running career of one of my favourite wrestlers of all time, Rey Mysterio. Most of the matches included in Showcase Mode are pivotal matches in Mysterio’s career, like the Wrestlemania 21 match against Eddie Guerrero and his match for the World Heavyweight Championship against JBL at Judgment Day 2006. It was great to revisit these with commentary from Mysterio himself, as it provided a deeper insight into the importance of each match. Given Mysterio’s long-running history in the brand I was disappointed that only one WCW match was included, and the recent matches included were all relatively insignificant. It seems like a lot of the classics – like the Wrestlemania 22 triple threat match and his match against Chris Jericho at The Bash in 2009 – weren’t included due to the opponent either leaving WWE and/or joining up with rival brand AEW. All-in-all, it’s a nice look back at one of the most storied careers in WWE history, but it could have been done more justice.

On that subject, WWE 2K22’s roster is the weakest in some time. Neither good nor bad, there’s an odd mix of wrestlers in this year’s entry. A surprisingly large chunk have now either departed WWE or have been released, yet still made it into the game. In some ways this is great, as still having access to wrestlers like Jeff Hardy (one of my other all-time favourites) and Samoa Joe gives the roster some depth. Yet legends of yesteryear and notable up-and-comers are few and far between. Lucky those omissions can be downloaded through the rather excellent creation suite, huh?

MyGM suffers a bit because of this, but that still doesn’t take away from what is one of the best modes in WWE 2K22. Taking the reins of a WWE General Manager and battling it out against a rival with the goal of becoming the top-rated show, MyGM sparkles by shining a light on a different side of wrestling than what’s offered in the game’s other modes. Here, you pick which brand you’re going to take to the top, draft superstars to your chosen show and schedule matches and rivalries that will captivate the crowd.

Throughout the mode you’re able to directly control superstars in matches or simulate to your heart’s content – whatever you do, success is determined by examining wrestler types and setting matches up between wrestlers who can produce exciting matches with each other. This is where MyGM can get a bit confusing, though, as dream matches you thought would be instant classics – like Drew McIntyre vs Goldberg, for example – can earn underwhelming one-star ratings for being too boring. Drew McIntyre vs Riddle, though? Potential gold. It’s a bit bizarre, and it most definitely feels a bit wrong to pit superstars like Rey Mysterio up against Brock Lesnar, but there’s enough offered up in the mode to make it feel unique.

Throughout the MyGM season you’re able to sign free agents (as most of the big hitters won’t be available in the draft, weirdly enough) on either timed or permanent contracts as well as legends. You’re also able to use power cards, which can be earned by achieving a goal set by your commissioner each week. These give you bonuses to use on your superstars, on your own show or against the rival brand and play an important role in coming out on top.

You’re also given a budget in MyGM and need to keep a close eye on it as you progress. You’ll earn money for well-received shows which can be then used to buy more power cards, put on a better show (with a bigger arena, better lighting and pyros) and/or sign superstars to join your brand. MyGM rewards strategy first and foremost, and I enjoyed carving out different rivalries with wrestlers and having them crescendo at PPVs.

It’s a shame MyGM maxes out at 50 weeks long and only allows you to have two titles per brand (alongside a limited amount of match types), though I’m hopeful that this is a starting point for future iteration. I’d love to see more than just one rival brand to take on at the same time, while a long-winded schedule would call for some proper strategic planning. There’s certainly a lot of potential with the mode.

MyRISE takes a solid step forward this year, throwing away the wackiness seen in 2K20’s MyCAREER mode. Starting out at the WWE performance centre, MyRISE takes your created superstar through the ranks of the WWE, ultimately carving a path toward winning titles and achieving ultimate glory as a legend of the business. The voice acting here is still a little bit wonky, but it’s a more refined, grounded take on wrestling this time around. The sheer number of things to do gives the mode more than enough staying power and is a marked improvement over previous iterations.

The well-loved Universe Mode returns in WWE 2K22, too, allowing you to play through as a superstar or control all facets of the WWE in Classic Mode. There’s not a whole lot that’s changed here, but it’s the go-to option for those that want to dive deep into the business, controlling the many different storylines that run each week. Superstar Mode bakes that down to just playing as one superstar, forming rivalries, competing in a variety of different matches and attempting to win championships along the way. I found Classic Mode to be more rewarding than Superstar Mode, given the sheer number of options available in the former. It’s another solid option to sink your teeth into — just don’t expect any shiny new changes.

2K22’s MyFACTION mode, a single-player collectible card game that focuses on building a strong faction and competing against other factions, is rather dull. You earn points for completing objectives, earn tokens to spend on WWE superstars and, of course, buy virtual currency if you so desire.

I found MyFACTION to be the weakest mode available in 2K22 as progression felt slow and I have a particular disdain for 4v4 matches. They’d go on for far too long and I didn’t feel like I was really achieving anything by going through the mode’s proving grounds or towers. Progression in the game’s other modes will give you tokens to use in MyFACTION, but again I couldn’t help but feel like it was the least interesting mode of the bunch by some margin – especially when there’s so much fun to be had elsewhere.

It has its issues, but there’s no doubting WWE 2K22 is the best 2K wrestling game in many years. The new modes on offer, the gameplay revamp and the reworking of controls makes for an immensely engrossing experience. There’s still some way to go in making MyGM feel truer to its strategic aim and the Showcase Mode is missing some major matches in Rey Mysterio’s career, but there’s no doubting this is a significantly better product than what came before it.

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It’s no secret that Bungie has had innumerable ups and downs with Destiny over the last 8 years, but never has this been more evident since 2018’s Forsaken. Shadowkeep and Beyond Light, while bringing plenty to the table, often felt like expansions built to lay new ground for the core of the game to build itself upon. Expectations for the next major expansion were high, touting a long awaited villain in the form of Savathûn, a renewed focus on campaign design, and weapon crafting. It’s not without its growing pains, but after some time exploring what The Witch Queen has to offer, I’d argue that The Witch Queen isn’t just the best Destiny 2 expansion, but the best piece of content Bungie has put out since The Taken King, if not better.

If you aren’t familiar with the happenings of Destiny 2’s world, the last few months have been tumultuous to say the least. In the aftermath of exorcising Savathûn’s worm, Mars is suddenly returned to the solar system from the clutches of the Darkness, with Savathûn’s very own ship in tow. Upon boarding it, our guardians quickly discover that she has somehow stolen the power of the Light, gifting it to her very own Hive, and is using it to rebuild her Throne World. What follows is a 6-8 hour investigation into how Savathûn and her underlings came to gain this power, and how we can take it back.

Without spoiling too much, this is undoubtedly the best campaign Destiny has ever seen. Bungie had stated multiple times that there was a renewed focus on campaign and storytelling, but I don’t think anyone was quite ready for what we actually received. Eight extremely high quality missions, all superbly paced with engaging boss encounters, thrilling set pieces, and plot twists that even the most die-hard lore fans couldn’t have seen coming. Savathûn is more than just a typical antagonist – there’s merit to what she’s trying to achieve here, and what we find out about not only her and her Hive, but also the true nature of the Darkness is truly gripping from beginning to end.

There’s also the inclusion of a Legendary difficulty, which caps your power level below the mission’s recommended level, and will really put you to the test for those extra rewards as you play through the campaign. The cherry on top of all this is the option to replay any of the missions on either difficulty, meaning you can go through again on a higher or lower setting to see how it differs. For the longest time Destiny has struggled to turn its fantastic lore into immersive storytelling, and it feels like The Witch Queen – much like the last few seasons of content – is a real turning point for the franchise and a true return to form for Bungie.

While The Witch Queen doesn’t bring something as pivotal as all-new subclasses, it does mark the start of something much more important – the reworkings of the old Light subclasses, starting with Void 3.0. Those familiar with the way Stasis works will be right at home here. Each class can pick between different Super abilities, Grenades, Class Abilities, Aspects, and Fragments to allow for more customization and control over your builds.

The end result is truly remarkable, breathing new life into subclasses that felt ancient in comparison to the flexibility and adaptability of Stasis. Each class has a lot to play around with, and while there’s definitely some tuning needed for certain classes, there’s more reason than ever to be excited for Arc and Solar to receive the same treatment over the coming months.

There’s also the long awaited weapon crafting, which as of now feels like it’s going through some growing pains as Bungie works out how they want to implement it properly. A huge part of Destiny is the loot – chasing the rolls you want on all the new weapons that come out with each content drop.

It’s clear that weapon crafting isn’t supposed to replace this chase, but compliment it instead, allowing players to craft the roll that they covet for a particular weapon, and make it theirs. Unfortunately there’s quite a small pool of weapons to craft right now, and the caps for crafting materials are slightly too small, resulting in a lot of wastage as you earn other essential materials. While the core of it works and it serves its purpose, it’s clear that crafting is going to grow and change quite a lot over the next few seasons, which leaves it feeling like more of an experiment as opposed to a concrete addition to the game.

Weapon crafting is also the means by which we create the new weapon type: Glaives. A ranged/melee hybrid, the Glaive is unlike any other weapon type we’ve seen in Destiny before, boasting an energy blast, combos, and a shield that’s recharged by dealing damage with the projectile, it’s all about carefully weaving these actions together to become a lethal killing machine at close to mid range. While it remains to be seen how this archetype will fit into the broader  scope of content – especially endgame – there’s no denying that Bungie are still creating some of the best feeling weapons in first-person-shooters today.

The post-campaign content is also some of the most enjoyable we’ve had out of an expansion thus far as well. Wellspring is a 6-man matchmade activity that rotates between Attack and Defense everyday. Attack sees players launching an assault on the Wellspring to take it from the Hive, whereas Defense sees them protecting it from hordes of Scorn, eventually resulting in a chase against a Hive Lightbearer. Weekly Story Missions make their return here, allowing players to play specific story missions at a higher level for gear and weapon crafting materials.

In terms of more unique content, there’s also an all new Exotic Mission called Vox Obscura, which involves sieging a Cabal fortress under the cover of night to stop rogue transmissions from reaching their ominous receiver. This mission is a thrilling race against the clock as players blast open the doors to the Cabal installment with hijacked tanks, culminating in a boss fight and an all new Exotic weapon, the Dead Messenger. There’s so much variation in what The Witch Queen’s activities have to offer, and plenty of reason to engage with them, and that’s without mentioning the raid.

If there’s one day that the Destiny community comes together like no other, it’s during the first 24 hours of an all-new raid release. After a number of completions, both with the day one Contest modifier and on its normal difficulty modes, I think its safe to say that Vow of the Disciple is my new favorite raid in all of Destiny.

Without spoiling too much, the atmosphere and theme fits exceptionally well into the coming war between the Light and the Dark, and there’s a palpable sense of foreboding and dread that emanates from every major encounter in the raid. The boss fights in particular are undoubtedly some of Bungie’s best, bucking typical trends we’ve seen with bosses from previous raids that were becoming tired and overused. A special mention should go to the final boss, Rhulk, who is not only a spectacle to fight, but also has the lore and narrative chops to give the encounter meaning and context within the broader scope of the universe.

The final piece of the puzzle is the new season: Season of the Risen. While I can’t comment on its quality entirely as it hasn’t concluded yet, what’s here now continues the trend of challenging the beliefs of pre-established characters and throwing them into unforseen conflicts to gauge new perspectives and opinions, namely Lord Saladin and a vulnerable Crow, still reeling from the shock of Savathûn’s impersonation of Osiris.

This season is largely focused on working with Empress Caiatl and her legion to further uncover how the Hive came to posses the light. This is done through PsiOps Battlegrounds, a new 3-man matchmade activity that retains the trademark enemy density and fast paced gameplay we’ve seen from past seasonal activities. We’ve yet to see if this season will reach the heights of Season of the Chosen or Season of the Splicer, but Risen is off to a promising start, and I’ll be logging in every week to see how it develops.

It goes without saying that the state of PvE in Destiny 2 is arguably the strongest its ever been, unfortunately, the same can’t be said for Crucible, Gambit, and Trials of Osiris. While Bungie have been very transparent about the current state of Crucible and Gambit, the efforts made in The Witch Queen to help them maintain relevancy aren’t quite enough to bring them up to the same level as the PvE content. Crucible is still in dire need of maps, modes, and matchmaking adjustments, while Gambit is still largely uninteresting and frustrating despite the changes made at launch.

Trials of Osiris is its own bucket of worms. While a major shakeup in Season of the Lost saw player populations shoot up to an all time high in the playlist, it quickly becomes clear to anyone who engages with it that matchmaking is fundamentally flawed, and high-skill players abuse certain systems to get matched with low-skill players and promptly mop the floor with them. It’s not quite as bad as it was this time last year, but there’s still more work to be done to make Trials a much more healthy competitive experience compared to the luck-of-the-draw nature it currently suffers from for most players.

Bungie have always been praised for their excellent art direction, skyboxes and environments, and The Witch Queen is no different. Savathûn’s Throne World is distinctly divided between boggy swamps and Dark City ruins and a risen luminescent fortress built in the image of Savathûn’s newfound light. There’s a stark visual juxtaposition here that also communicates her developments as a character, further accentuating the themes of deception, and light versus dark. Once again, a special shoutout goes to the raid, which will constantly have you in awe as you ascend through one of the most visually unique raids we’ve seen so far.

While launch was surprisingly smooth, The Witch Queen wasn’t without its technical issues. Numerous weapons were disabled due to bugs over the last few weeks, certain activities can soft-lock players forcing a restart, crafting materials couldn’t be purchased, and the raid also suffered from various error codes on launch. While Bungie should be applauded for jumping on most of these in quick fashion, a few of them still plague the game today, and occasionally rear their heads to hamper the experience.

THE PC VERSION OF THIS GAME WAS PLAYED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW. A DIGITAL COPY OF THE GAME WAS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.

The post Destiny 2: The Witch Queen Review – An Immense Payoff appeared first on Press Start.

I’ll waste no words here. It’s remarkable that Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is actually fantastic. The first trailer was so misguided as a first impression that I’d argue it’s become a meme in and of itself. The demo wouldn’t work for several days following its upload. So many people I’d speak to have even forgotten this game exists beyond that first trailer. So much was against this game, and I was ready to be too. But now, having played from beginning to end, while still a bit rough around the edges, Stranger of Paradise is a fantastic Final Fantasy spin-off and perhaps even one of the best.

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is essentially a retelling of the original Final Fantasy game, though told through an alternative “what-if” kind of scenario. You play as Jack, a man thrown into the world from another reality who barely remembers anything of his past. He meets up with four other similarly forgetful people. They set off on their merry way to restore four crystals in a bid to finally defeat Chaos, the evil being and final boss of the original Final Fantasy game.

There’s no sugar coating it – Stranger of Paradise’s story is the greatest most concentrated example of “so bad it’s good” that I think I’ve ever experienced in a video game. Jack himself is comically overwritten, and most of the game events occur with little connection between them. The opening scene where the major characters meet feels like it’s missing dialogue and context. It’s entirely cringe-worthy, but to the point where it was incredibly entertaining. I can see the plot and characterisation of Jack, especially being divisive amongst players. However, despite the fact this is abhorrently bad in terms of video game storytelling, it’s still remarkably entertaining.

It’s extremely fortunate, then, that Stranger of Paradise is a fantastic action game underneath it all. Much like Nioh before it with Dark Souls, many have been quick to compare this game to Nioh. While both are action RPGs, Stranger of Paradise carves out its own niche to offer something entirely its own. However, it’s similarly structured to Nioh. Each level is selected from a world map and offers a dungeon to crawl and a killer boss at the end. Some locations have more than one mission to offer too.

This means that Stranger of Paradise is comprised mainly of what it does best – combat. It’s without a doubt one of the fastest Team Ninja games I’ve played (second only to Ninja Gaiden itself) and has all the bells and whistles you’d expect from a game of this ilk. There’s parrying, evading, and blocking, and there are regular attacks and special attacks too. The most unique aspect is Soul Shield, a special block that depletes your stamina meter but recovers your MP.

The crux of the combat is around managing your MP pool, which powers both magic and special abilities that you’ll learn as you level up. Stranger of Paradise isn’t like other games in its genre – dying won’t lose you any experience. Instead, as you finish off enemies, you’ll be able to expand your maximum MP pool. Dying in Stranger of Paradise merely resets your maximum pool to its base levels, with an opportunity to return where you died to restore it too. It’s a much gentler way to punish players than games like Nioh, Dark Souls, and even Elden Ring did.

It’s all pretty standard stuff for an action game, though Stranger of Paradise does its best to fold Final Fantasy into that mix to offer up something much cooler.

Enter the jobs system. There are over twenty-five of them in Stranger of Paradise, and any Final Fantasy fan will be familiar with how they work. The job you choose for Jack governs what weapons he can use and what abilities he has access to. Most of these are pulled from classic Final Fantasy games – think the warrior, dragoon, or black mage. Each of them has their own skill tree that improves their abilities and grants bonuses no matter which jobs you have equipped. It’s a friendly system that encourages you to change things up, and, even better, you can hot-swap between two jobs at once on the battlefield.

What I really liked about the jobs system in Stranger of Paradise is how much flexibility it gives you in combat and how much depth there is to it. I’d often spend my time with the Sage – a master of both black and white magic – but also switch out my second job with one of the games many physical options too. Dragoons are masters of spears and can use the series signature “jump” move, while the Monks can buff themselves to deliver more damage per hit, as an example. There’s a heap on offer here, and being able to mix and match from a pool of over twenty jobs means there’s bound to be something here for everyone.

Similarly, while some abilities are tied to your job selection, others are bound to whatever weapon you have too. Learning one of the weapon-based abilities in one job unlocks it for any other job as long as you have that same weapon type equipped. These abilities are great, too – they can be slotted in between your regular attacks to alter your combos and create combos that best suit your playstyle. Top this with abilities that you can absorb from certain enemies and throwback at them, and you’ve got an excellent pool of options at any point in combat to pull from.

If I’ve not made it clear – the combat in Stranger of Paradise has greater depth and scope than I could have ever hoped for, and it’s why it’s such a joy to play no matter your playstyle or skill level.

The enemies and locations are similarly pooled from classic Final Fantasy lore. It’s fun to see all these classic creatures be tweaked to better suit the faster paced gameplay in Stranger of Paradise, and the boss battles can get especially hectic. Locations are similarly, while not exactly as they appear in other games, inspired by the classic games’ locations. It’s a bit of a shame then that about two thirds of the way through the game, the enemy variety is stifled considerably – you’ll fight pallet swapped versions of enemies you’ve already seen, though with different abilities.

Most would quickly take the mental shortcut and assume that Stranger of Paradise is as hard as games like Nioh or Dark Souls. While Stranger of Paradise can get pretty tough – it not only has selectable difficulties but even a casual mode that does a lot of the heavy lifting for you. I’m all for more people playing this game the way they want – even though I switched to Hard about a third of the way through to give myself more of a challenge. That being said, I never found myself stuck on any of the games’ numerous boss battles for more than an hour at a time. If you’re not as stubborn as me, you can lower the difficulty on the fly on a per-mission basis at any of the save points in the game.

Following completion of the game, there’s a brand-new mode called Chaos Mode, which feels like a new game plus mode of sorts that’s more difficult and tuned more with end game progression. Similarly, your job trees can be “mastered” to improve their benefits. So even though Stranger of Paradise will take most players between twenty-five to thirty hours to complete, there’s more to keep coming back for. Even cooler, two other players can tackle the game’s numerous main or side missions. Those who join their friends’ game will earn more than usual EXP through a consumable called anima shards, so there’s a nice incentive there to do so too.

The game isn’t without its faults, though. While it’s fantastic to be able to see all your collected gear appear on your character, Stranger of Paradise does fall victim to the dreaded looter-shooter mentality. I picked up over fifty pieces of equipment once, all with marginal stat differences in one level. To the game’s credit, it’s effortless to select multiple and discard them or dismantle them for components that can improve other weapons. But it feels pretty unfocused and, without a doubt, is one of the game’s weakest aspects. I rarely ever selected my equipment and just used the series-standard “optimise” option instead.

The game’s biggest downside is also the most obvious – its presentation. Stranger of Paradise looks great at times, but its production values feel remarkably low for the most part. I opted to play the game in performance mode, which meant an apparent reduction in resolution to get the game running as smoothly as it was. The worlds themselves are beautiful and well realised, as do most cinematics; it’s just that the game is lacking some kind of shine or polish to make it look as good as it can be. Mind you, it’s come a long way since the demo, with clear changes in lighting in an attempt to make it brighter and colourful, but it’s still a bit of a strange-looking game. It’s good that the music is great Final Fantasy fare, consisting of entirely original pieces and joyfully remixed pieces from older games.

THE PLAYSTATION 5 VERSION WAS PLAYED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW. A DIGITAL COPY OF THE GAME WAS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.

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I have fond memories of being a teenage Car Guy the early 2000s. Going to car shows, reading car magazines, watching Fast & Furious movies and of course – playing the heck out of whatever racing games I could get my hands on. Some of the most memorable times were in front of Gran Turismo, utterly failing license tests in 2 and wondering if games would ever look better than Gran Turismo 3. It’s been a while since then, but playing Gran Turismo 7 has rekindled the same enthusiasm for cars that I had all that way back. The passion the developers have for cars and car history is infectious, and it’s hard not to catch the enthusiasm while playing through this intricately detailed driving simulation.

Gran Turismo 7 is eager to take any little bit of enthusiasm you have about cars and nurture it. More than just a driving simulation, GT7 wants to be a car enthusiast club and an interactive car museum. Playing through the game you’ll work your way through different styles of car from different areas of the world, learn about how the industry developed from its very beginnings and how different companies pushed the envelope in their own ways. I found the whole process super interesting and I’ve definitely come to appreciate more kinds of cars and the sheer effort that goes into developing and designing these machines over decades. GT7 teaches you all this in a way that is friendly and approachable whether you’re a die-hard car fan or totally new to the scene.

The main event so to speak, the actual driving of the cars, is pretty incredible. I can’t necessarily speak to realism since there’s not a lot of cross over between cars I’ve driven and cars available here, but the sheer level of detail Polyphony have captured in this simulation is impressive. The way your tires react differently in wet conditions, the way a turbocharger affects specific RPM ranges of your engine, even the different grip levels of different kinds of tires is noticeable. The sheer amount of factors you can tweak in your car and the environment is massive, and the fact that even a fair-weather car-guy like myself started to understand the differences when I made those tweaks is testament to how friendly and helpful this game at helping you learn.

One of the aspects that is difficult to replicate in driving simulations is the tactile feel. Past games have tried to replicate road surfaces through controller rumble for example, but Gran Turismo 7’s use of the DualSense haptic features really elevates the experience in a way I didn’t expect to appreciate as much as I did. I found myself unconsciously reacting to my tires slipping on a wet road as I felt the accelerator trigger slipping under my fingers and the way different sides of the controller gave haptic feedback depending on the road surface under each tire – they sound frivolous individually but add up to really feeling how your car drives more than I expected. I was amazed at how informative the haptic feedback was to my driving.

You’ll need every intuitive sense you have to wrangle some of these cars. Even the more tame, lower powered vehicles require patience and learning to get around a track. I found myself having an adjustment period for every new car I drove. It was a challenge, but it also makes every corner you get around without spinning out feel like a little victory. Thankfully, GT7 is super generous with the assists available so you can tailor the driving experience to exactly what you need to get the most out of it. You can start from one of three presets, and then drill into the specifics from there to get your experience exactly as you like. I found I really benefitted from on-track racing line and braking guides, but turned off the auto-accelerate and auto-brake options and this created a great balance of approachability and challenge for my needs. You can change these assist options at nearly any time. The game does softly encourage you sometimes to see if you might have outgrown some of the assists you’re using – but never forces the matter nor punishes you for your choices.

The World Map is where you’ll find most of the game’s ways to play. You can buy used or new cars, tune them to your heart’s content (with friendly advice from the mechanic so you can understand what each modification will do), enter races, or even take your car to one of hundreds of ‘Scapes’ for a photoshoot. The amount of content on offer is almost overwhelming – but thankfully the Café in the middle of the map provides some direction in what to do next if you’re unsure. Acting like a campaign of sorts, the friendly person at the Café will give you a series of Menu Books which act as gentle objectives to progress through the game with a gradual difficulty curve.

The objectives are usually about collecting cars through purchases or winning them in races, but over the course of the game will introduce you to all the core features available. It takes you through things in a logical way, encouraging you to get familiar with a particular type of car or part of the world for a while before moving on. I found the feeling of catching up with a friend at a cafe to talk about what I’d done, show off my cars and have him ramble on about history a lovely way to add a personal touch to what could have just been a sterile list of objectives.

Gran Turismo games have always pushed the envelope of what is technically possible on their respective consoles, and 7 is no exception. Every car is meticulously modelled inside and out down to the shape of the air-con vents and the tiny logos moulded into the headlight covers. Dynamic weather and time of day can change even during races, changing the driving conditions on the road as well as having an effect on visibility. There are two options for graphics modes in gameplay on PS5 – one which gets you a target 60 frames per second, and another that adds Ray Tracing at 30 frames per second. Both modes look fantastic so it’s down to how much you value more frames to decide which way you’ll prefer. I never noticed dips from the 60fps target, the driving experience was silky smooth. The game switches into the quality mode for non-gameplay scenes so you can appreciate the highest possible graphical detail where smoothness isn’t the biggest concern.

If there’s one thing that bothers me about GT7, it’s that your progress in the main game mode requires an internet connection at all times. The internet requirement enables some cool features like open lobbies at tracks to chat and have casual races, but being locked out of everything aside from quick race style events if your internet drops out sucks, to put it bluntly. I found if I dropped connection mid race the game wouldn’t save my progress, and I’d have to do the race over again. It stops you gaming the system by playing around with save files and the fact you can buy in-game currency on the PlayStation Store surely factors into it too – while it doesn’t ruin the game for me it’s a factor I think everyone should be aware of when looking at the game.

The post Gran Turismo 7 Review – Approachable Simulation appeared first on Press Start.

Since the release of Demon’s Souls in 2009, FromSoftware’s titles have blown up from cult followings to some of the most pivotal cornerstones we have in the industry today, influencing hundreds of games, and even creating its own sub-genre in the process. There’s a palpable and emphatic excitement present in the lead up to the release of a new From game, and never has this consensus been more apparent than with Elden Ring. It some ways, Elden Ring is a celebration of all that came before – a culmination of everything people love about Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro – while also elevating a well established formula to new heights with an open-world design philosophy similar to that of Breath of the Wild. The end result is one of From’s best experiences yet, positively dripping with creativity, attention to detail, and a sense of journey that will undoubtedly leave Elden Ring as one of the most talked about open-world games of this generation.

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Elden Ring is set in The Lands Between, a once prosperous and peaceful land that has since been plunged into chaos and desolation after a war suitably dubbed: The Shattering. The Elden Ring, now broken into pieces is held by six demigods, each of them corrupted by the very power of their Great Runes. It falls to you as The Tarnished to journey across The Lands Between, and fell these once great heroes so that you can rebuild the Elden Ring, become the Elden Lord and restore order and harmony to The Lands Between. If it sounds similar to Dark Souls III, that’s because it is, but where Elden Ring differentiates itself is in its setting, world concept, and characters.

Elden Ring’s founding world concept is the brainchild of a collaborative effort between Hidetaka Miyazaki and George R. R. Martin. While I’m not too familiar with Martin’s work on Game of Thrones, it’s clear to me where he’s had an impact on the way this world has been built and on the rules that it abides by. This is still a FromSoftware experience through and through though, you’ll meet an eclectic cast of superbly written characters, each cemented firmly into the world by their backstories and motivations. Whether it be the joyous and jolly Alexander, a sentient warrior pot, or the ever enigmatic Patches, there’s a little something here for everyone to gravitate towards. Likewise, the environmental storytelling on display here is as good as it’s always been, and every landscape effortlessly paints a picture of what we once was. No where is this sense of world and place more apparent than when exploring one of the many regions of The Lands Between.

Where Elden Ring separates itself the most from its predecessors, is in its structure and the way you progress through its world. After a short tutorial area, you’re dropped into Limgrave, a vertically varied landscape of lush greenery, and ruins, all of it punctuated by the mighty Stormveil Castle towering overhead. From this point, you’re free to explore to your heart’s content, with only the Sites of Grace – the new Bonfires – to nudge you in the right direction via an indicator on the map. While it’s easy to get lost exploring and sidetracked by all the optional content you can engage with, Elden Ring’s open world is at its best when you’re stumbling across things, spotting structures in the distance and thinking “What’s that?”, only to be rewarded with something upon further investigation.

These optional objectives can range from small-scale dungeons and enemy patrols, to overworld boss fights and new Sites of Grace to expand your fast travel options. Each region is densely packed with things to do, and none of them feel like bloat or wasted space, not once did I ever feel like I had to engage with them to progress the main quest. What’s more telling, perhaps, is the fact that I had to rip myself away from Limgrave to move onto the next area – a testament to the quality of these optional activities.

While you can fast travel to the different Sites of Grace you’ve unlocked across The Lands Between, your main means of exploration is via your spectral horse, Torrent. After progressing through the early areas of Limgrave, you’ll be given an item that allows you to summon Torrent at the press of a button. While mounted, you can double jump and make use of geysers to propel yourself up into the sky, making traversal that little bit more seamless. You can also engage in horseback combat, which more often than not feels clunky and lacks the impact of regular combat. Fortunately, the situations that require you to use Torrent to gain an advantage are far outweighed by those that don’t, but it’s still an awkward blemish on an otherwise polished combat system.

As you’re exploring a region for the first time, you’re almost always slowly moving towards that area’s Legacy Dungeon, an intricately designed exploration area that retains From’s expert level design that intertwines its own pathways and loops back on itself in unexpected ways. A special mention should go out to The Academy of Raya Lucaria, in the second area, Liurnia of the Lakes. Without spoiling too much, it’s a school ravaged by its knowledge-maddened alumni, with a thick fog that envelopes every aspect of its outside environments. It’s a dungeon that screams Bloodborne in its concept and design, and it’s a true wonder to explore as you ascend it’s gilded halls. All of these Legacy Dungeons are bolstered by some of From’s best boss fights yet, that will test your skills, and always seem to up the ante as you move forward, providing a challenging yet satisfying difficulty curve. Some are previous concepts taken further, classic one on ones, or wholly new ideas, and a vast majority of them – especially the end game ones – are thrilling to surmount.

Now for the elephant in the room – difficulty. While I wouldn’t say Elden Ring is the hardest of FromSoftware’s world renowned challenges, it definitely isn’t the easiest either. It is however, the most accessible. It’s clear that there’s a concerted effort here to explain systems and mechanics to newer players who mightn’t have much experience with other titles of this Ilk. Similarly, the non-linear design means that if you get truly stuck on a particular boss, you can leave, level up your character, upgrade your weapons, increase your Flask charges, and come back more powerful than before. There’s also the inclusion of Stakes of Marika, which will typically spawn you closer to your death location, making the inevitable trips back to the boss room relatively painless. Still though, this won’t trivialize encounters, so if you haven’t been one for smashing your head against a brick wall until the cracks start showing, Elden Ring won’t be the FromSoftware game to change that.

Then we get to the RPG elements present in Elden Ring, and they mostly behave how they have in past games. You’ll start out by creating your character with From’s most extensive customizer yet, and you’ll be prompted to pick a background for your base stats. While this doesn’t necessarily reflect what your build will look like by the end of the game, it sets a trajectory for what to focus on in the early game. Whether it be a full strength build with focus on wielding colossal great-swords and hammers, or a combined dexterity magic build that allows you to weave sorceries into your combat flow, there’s a lot to pick and choose from in Elden Ring.

The Weapon Arts system from Dark Souls III has also been reworked into Ashes of War. Each weapon comes with its own intrinsic Ashes of War, which behaves the same as Weapon Arts – powerful attacks or buffs at the cost of FP. The major improvement in this system, though, is that Ashes of War can be assigned to different weapons, as long as the archetype matches. Certain Ashes of War will also let you assign elemental affinities to your weapons, further deepening customization and build crafting. It’s a brilliantly free-flowing system that allows for deeper player choice, and creates a more meaningful bond with your weapons.

As if that wasn’t enough to begin with, Elden Ring also introduces Rune Arcs and Spirit Summoning. The latter allows you to summon AI spirits to fight with you during boss fights at the cost of FP, and these spirits can also be upgraded to bolster their HP and damage output. There’s all kinds of spirits with different strengths, so you’ll often have a suite you pick and choose from depending on the occasion. Rune Arcs are most comparable to Embers or Human Effigies from past games, but are far more rare, and introduce an interesting risk/reward system in the way they’re implemented. Every time you defeat the demigod of any given region, you’ll receive their Great Rune, which can be activated at a Divine Tower in their area.

You can only have one Great Rune equipped at any given time, and their bonuses are only active when a Rune Arc is used. These aren’t small bonuses. The first Great Rune, for example, boosts all of your attributes, effectively increasing your character’s level by 40 until your next death. Due to how rare Rune Arcs are, there’s a lot of deliberation to be had in regards to when you use these so you don’t waste them. The boost they provide might be all you need to bring that boss down, but make one mistake, and it’s gone. This system is less of a necessity and more of a bonus buff to use sparingly, but its inclusion is welcome nonetheless.

Lastly, there’s the return of player summoning, and invasions. PVP diehards will be glad to here that the addition of anti-cheat software on the PC version should hopefully result in less compromises. On the co-operative side, things are a bit mixed. While it all works good, players can only be summoned from Summoning Pools, pre-determined spots on the map that define the explorable area when a co-op session is active. All of the dungeons are fully playable in co-op, but if you were hoping to explore the overworld with friends in limitless fashion, you might find that the implementation here is restrictive. While I can understand trying to retain the somber and isolating experience of exploring The Lands Between by yourself, I can’t help but wonder what a more freeing and open co-op experience would’ve brought to the table.

I played Elden Ring on PC, and across the almost 60 hours I spent with it, I’m pleased to report that it’s a mostly polished experience. It’s goes without saying that this game is absolutely gorgeous, maybe not to the same capacity as another big triple A title to come out this month, but still had my jaw on the floor with some sweeping vistas and landscapes to take in at every turn. I’ve already spoken about how excellent I think Liurnia of the Lakes is, but that shouldn’t taken away from the crimson covered lands of Caelid or the golden sky perpetually hanging over the top of Altus Plateau. I did experience a few hiccups on PC, though, namely some stuttering and a couple crashes due to the anti-cheat software. I’m sure this will be ironed out by launch, though, and at the end of the day they were minor stumbles in a broadly polished experience, which is impressive considering how large the game world is.

THE PS5 EXPERIENCE

Whilst the majority of our time with Elden Ring was spent on PC, we did get to also play the game on PS5. There’s two modes, one that prioritizes framerate and one that prioritizes quality. As you’d expect, the framerate mode is closer to 60FPS whilst quality mode maxes out at 30FPS. Both see drops in frames, but you’ll absolutely want to go with the framerate mode to provide the most stable performance as possible. There was a noticeable amount of pop-in with the world loading in as you look around occasionally, but on the whole it is a stable experience and does not detract from the fantastic experience that Elden Ring is.

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Playing Cyberpunk 2077 on Xbox Series X, when I came across a couple of downed enemies in an early mission lying on the ground with their arms and legs in a weird standing position, it dawned on me that CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 will forever have a dash of that Bethesda-style jank.

Characters and NPCs that walk into walls, cars that behave erratically or explode into the stratosphere when physics go a little haywire. Basically the sorts of things we see in games like Skyrim and Fallout 4. Cyberpunk 2077 is never going to be perfect or that sort of experience where you can see and feel the polish in every little thing; from how a room is arranged through to how characters animate and react in cinematic sequences.

This is a good realisation to make because the size, scope, and grandeur of Night City is nothing to sneeze at – it’ll always have glitches here and there. In terms of size and detail though, Night City is a monumental achievement. And one that still feels on the cutting edge of where in-game visuals are headed.

Even now, a year and change after the game’s initial (and very rough) debut, it’s the star of the show. A bustling future metropolis that is simply put, breath-taking. If its look, feel, and lore you can find just about everywhere grabs you, well, Cyberpunk 2077 is an immersive feast. Again, it’s not perfect by any means, but it is an experience to savour. Especially now.

And that’s because the next-gen patch finally optimises the game for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X (reviewed here). With the results definitely giving off a “this is what it should have been” vibe. On next-gen consoles this is basically a soft reboot, gone are the countless game breaking bugs and never-ending list of quest glitches. Gone is the shitty 20-fps level performance. Now there’s a Performance Mode, and it’s a game changer in its own right. And with SSD storage the loading times are minimal too. It might not maintain a steady 60-fps at all times, but for the most part it’s pretty much always up there, even during combat. 

The fact that you can go from V’s apartment down to a bustling intersection without a loading screen or seeing texture pop-in is remarkable too. There’s a ray-tracing mode capped at 30-fps for those wanting that true next-gen feel, but being limited to ray-traced shadows it doesn’t live up to what’s possible on PC. Granted, we’re talking about a GeForce RTX 3090 powered rig where you enable a whole suite of game changing ray-tracing effects.

Really though, this update brings the console release up to the performance standard experienced by many on the PC front – especially with just how smooth it is to get around town. When coupled with the level of detail and the much needed bump in NPCs roaming the streets, it feels every bit like the next-gen experience we all expected it to be. In fact, it’s so good on Xbox Series X that I went right back to what I did when I played on PC back in 2020; I walked from job to job, no vehicle, no matter if the destination was a few hundred metres or a couple of kilometres. 

It’s here where I found a number of awesome, yet subtle, additions; the ability to pet animals, watch traffic behave more like traffic, see more diverse characters go about their day or evening, check out a lot more billboards the launch version didn’t have, and watch as NPCs busted out umbrellas when it started to rain. With everything here making Cyberpunk 2077 feel alive in a way the launch version did not.

Outside of impressive console performance, which is reason enough to call this a substantial update, there’s all of the other goodness that comes with Cyberpunk 2077’s Patch 1.5. If you haven’t played the game since launch or have held off until now, the difference is massive.

There’s the giant mountain of bug fixes that sort out all manner of quest-related issues and open-world glitches and bugs. There’s the arrival of player customisation, the ability to buy new apartments, the revamped enemy AI and skill-tree system, better driving physics, the aforementioned new traffic simulation.

Really though it’s the effect of the improved enemy AI and much better skill-trees that is probably the most profound. In a lot of ways it makes Cyberpunk 2077 feel like the RPG it wasn’t at launch, where weapon and character stats and skills and upgrades and cyberware actually matter and become a core part of the combat experience. Having all of that there but in the midst of a shooting gallery at launch was something of a letdown. Fast forward to 2022 and the combat, both melee and projectile-based is fast, tense, and incredible.

Netrunner and stealth builds feel better catered for too.

In terms of fundamental changes players expected, well, this next-gen Cyberpunk 2077 falls short. There’s still no proper policing system and the whole completing gigs and jobs for the various gangs of Night City is still very-much a static to-do list. Faction rewards have been added, but there’s very little in the way of making a true impact on how Night City operates. Finite things to see and do with not a lot that feels emergent. Put it this way, you can cause destruction to anyone and everyone, run a block or too, and still be in the good books with cops and gangs everywhere.

Coming back to the idea that Cyberpunk 2077 will probably never be perfect, not that such a thing exists, is a nice reality check. Based on the stunning beauty and scope of Night City there’s always going to be a big list of things that I’d want to do. I want to be able to buy food from vendors, visit specific clothing stores picking out outfits off the rack, engage with NPCs in a way that makes their lives important. Join one gang and stick it to the others with a turf war.

The good news is that Patch 1.5 can also be viewed as a clean slate in terms of DLC, new features, and planned expansions. Based on the 14-months it took to get here though, it’s anyone’s guess as to where Cyberpunk 2077 is headed. That said, expanding what you can see and do in Night City is still an exciting prospect. Which might be a good as an endorsement one can give. There’s still that feeling of awe, even after all of the blowback and the poor state of the game on consoles in 2020. 

In addition to Night City you’ve also got the expansive cinematic story chock full of ambitious story beats and wonderful side stories. CD Projekt Red’s bread and butter, and with a 5-hour trial available on PS5 and Xbox Series X there’s no reason not to jump into what is an amazing first few hours of narrative action. Even though the mainline Johnny Silverhand story feels a little too linear and eventually becomes completely detached from the idea of creating your own story within the world, there’s still plenty of brilliantly quests featuring Judy, Panam, River, Rogue, and many others to discover.

There’s memorable characters to find and crazy discoveries too. From a sentient vending machine through to Skippy the smart gun. When Cyberpunk 2077 launched in December of 2020, a lot of press made it clear that the game – for the most part – impressed on PC. On PlayStation 4 and Xbox One though, the memes and jaw-dropping videos and clips came thick and fast. For all of the wrong reasons.

To call its launch-day stability and performance on consoles terrible is something of an understatement, and something that won’t be forgotten anytime soon. A videogame cautionary tale for the ages. Thanks to the impressive next-gen update, that’s what it’ll become. A tale, a story. Cyberpunk 2077 is now something you’d want to fire up on PS5 or Xbox Series X. Come for the incredible Night City and stay for the engaging (if messy) story, the intense combat, the improved exploration and immersion, and the newfound focus on open-world RPG action.

The post Cyberpunk 2077 PS5/Xbox Series X Review – A Great Foundation appeared first on Press Start.

At the risk of alienating anyone reading this review before we’ve even gotten to the juicy bits – it took close to four years and as many restarts for me to finally invest in 2017’s Horizon Zero Dawn enough to finish it. I remain incredibly impressed and grateful that the open-world video game equivalent of Dino-Riders managed to make its way into the stable of PlayStation’s blockbuster AAA exclusives, but there was no denying that this new IP from Killzone developer Guerrilla Games was an ambitious proof-of-concept more than a formula perfected.

Enter Horizon Forbidden West, a sequel that doesn’t just perfect the formula laid out by its predecessor but sets a whole new benchmark for all open world video games to come.

Picking up six months after the events of Horizon Zero Dawn this new journey finds our hero Aloy and her fellow Nora, Varl, setting out West of their homeland to a new territory in search of a backup of GAIA, the AI that can help them fix the dying world (if you haven’t played the first game or it’s been a while I’d urge a quick refresher before jumping into this). That goal quickly reveals itself to be more involved than expected though when the warring Tenakth tribes of the Forbidden West, mysteries surrounding an old world corporation called Far Zenith and a poisonous red blight on the plant life all work to complicate the mission.

To say that Forbidden West’s narrative ups the ante from the groundwork that Horizon Zero Dawn laid would be a severe understatement. The sequel manages to dig deep below surfaces that the original only scratched to find an abundant wellspring of lore and world building that had me enamoured from beginning to end. The tough part is talking about any of it – there are simply too many crucial narrative beats and revelations that would be a shame to spoil, suffice it to say that Guerrilla has again done an extraordinary job of exploring a vast range of themes in this fantastical world. This is a game that tackles ideas of purpose and legacy, religion and government, freedom of information, colonisation, race, technology, loss, pride and so much more and deftly delivers them in magnitudes both grandiose and miniscule.

One of Forbidden West’s biggest successes, and one that reveals itself almost immediately, is a far more convincing cast of characters that are better written, better rendered and animated and more pivotal to Aloy’s journey than ever. Gone are the original game’s stale and stilted conversations and in their place some of the most jaw-dropping character models and motion capture I’ve ever seen running in real time. This is coupled with top notch writing, supporting a very wise commitment to the game’s cast of secondary characters.

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Some of the best moments in Forbidden West come from Aloy’s interactions with others, the completely new world and deeper development of side characters naturally resulting in more engagement and exploration of her own thoughts and emotions. Every new human settlement is full of engaging and well-rounded stories that add depth to both Aloy and the world around her. Even the things that would be considered filler, the stuff in the open world that would typically be content for content’s sake, is often neatly woven into the world state or feeds into minor narrative beats which makes careful exploration a much more compelling prospect.

The newfound sense of companionship in Forbidden West’s narrative is bolstered by the structure of its open world as well, which begins with a base of operations for Aloy and her steadily-growing party. Grounding what eventually becomes a branching set of objectives in a central location that grows and changes as players achieve goals in the world makes a marked impact on the sense of progression through the game’s story and allows a ton of time for Aloy to have those meaningful and well-written conversations with her companions that I’ve already praised so much. Between the base and the other major settlements in the game there’s a far greater sense of place that was missing in the lonely wandering of the previous game’s world and its comparatively soulless centres of population.

Similarly, where Zero Dawn made dungeons and unique gameplay experiences out of the ruins of scientific bases and sprawling landmarks, Forbidden West gives players plenty of opportunity to explore smaller slices of the world as we know it now. Overgrown and dilapidated homesteads and town squares from the pre-apocalypse routinely become miniature puzzle sequences that flex the potential in Aloy’s new abilities and gear like the Pullcaster. 

The Forbidden West itself, which stretches from parts of Utah to the coast of San Francisco, is packed with a tremendous variety of biomes and more traversal opportunities than ever. Alongside new tools, Aloy’s range of movement has been expanded to include scaling many cliff faces even without defined handholds and – more excitingly – the ability to freely explore underwater. The feeling of immense verticality that Zero Dawn hinted at finally comes to fruition here and the underwater sections especially are used to great effect to add variety in both enemy encounters and exploration, with plenty of exciting secrets to find in out-of-reach places. And when you do reach those heights, sometimes even heights that Aloy can’t access alone, it’s nice to finally have an easy way of returning to solid ground with the brand-new paraglider Shieldwing.

If there’s one thing about Horizon Zero Dawn that I think everyone can agree on, it’s that combat against its catalogue of machines was the absolute highlight. Facing down its robotic facsimiles of recognisable dinosaurs and animals, each with their own strengths, weaknesses and valuable mechanical components remains one of the most unique thrills in gaming and Guerrilla has predictably identified this as one of the key areas to double down its efforts for the sequel. The catalogue of 40+ machines contains a staggering number of new types that are all just as unique and fun to wrestle with as the returning models, and thanks to the game’s added vertical depth includes quite a few more recreations of fearsome air and sea creatures. Where else but here could you see robotic takes on aquatic dinosaurs, kangaroos, baboons and elephants co-existing in a post-apocalyptic California but here?

Not content just to add more machine types and call it a day though, Guerrilla’s expanded Aloy’s combat abilities and arsenal of gear to a ridiculous degree. Not only are there some shockingly fun new weapons to wield like the often-explosive throwing spikes or the catch-and-return shredder gauntlets but familiar bow and sling types have been given vastly more variation that includes new damage types and firing modes. Aloy’s weapons as well as her gorgeously-rendered outfits can be upgraded and moulded to suit a multitude of playstyles, and a quick trip to the dyer in most settlements even allows for some basic colour customisation which I’ll admit I spent way too much time collecting resources for when I should have been saving the world.

Combat against humans still pales in comparison to machines, but there’s still a marked improvement here over what was in Zero Dawn. Straight off the bat one of the Forbidden West’s new tribes, the Tenakth, has mysteriously gained the ability to override machines themselves and so frequently rock up on the backs of machines like Ravagers and Tremortusks where they can prove mighty formidable. Melee combat with Aloy’s spear is also a far sight better than before, with her moveset and acrobatics greatly expanded on top of a new Resonator Blast finisher that can really turn the tide against man and metal alike. 

This is all helped along by slight, but thorough and meaningful improvements to the game’s UI. Aloy’s focus has seen some clever streamlining, helping to declutter the original game’s cluttered on-screen HUD by giving it two functions – a button press will quickly highlight any materials, handholds and other handy info in the immediate vicinity while a long press brings up the traditional scanning interface. Scanning machines or humans is a lot easier too, you’re able to quickly tab between each of an enemy’s parts to inspect them as well as a tag any desired part to keep it highlighted during combat. Small changes like this throughout gameplay and in menu screens really bring the game’s systems together to a much more cohesive whole than in Zero Dawn without radically changing the experience that fans loved.

Of bigger impact is the way each player’s gameplay style can uniquely develop and evolve with the game’s new progression systems. For starters you’ll net Skill Points much more frequently, but you’ve got no less than six separate trees to pour them into, and most skills across these categories have multiple levels to obtain to increase their effects. These range from increasing Aloy’s core strengths or opening up new tactical and stealth options to adding new secondary fire modes to the many different types of weapons available to her.

There are also the all-new Valor Surges which open up after you’ve unlocked the skills around them. Valor Surges are powerful buffs and abilities that Aloy can activate that bolster her in combat, from increased damage to special shielding and cloaking. This all adds up to a ridiculous degree of freedom in player builds that, combined with the enormous number of new machines and all of their intricacies, means that you’ll constantly be finding and trying new strategies while enjoying a power climb that moves at a cracking pace.

Add to all that the plethora of unique weapons and outfits available (all of which look incredibly cool, just quietly) that feel much more specialised this time around and can be enhanced and customised to further augment your playstyle and Horizon Forbidden West feels much more like a proper RPG than the original did. The added depth doesn’t come at the expense of playability either thanks to the way that most of these systems are better integrated into gameplay.

Despite the reservations I had initially about needing to retreat to a workbench to craft anything outside of ammo and traps and to apply gear upgrades, I almost instantly fell into what is a clearly intentional gameplay loop. Falling short of materials for an upgrade, creating a “job” to track my progress in obtaining them, hunting down the right machine and carefully removing the components I need before returning to make use of the spoils feels incredibly Monster Hunter-esque in a way that makes total sense for this franchise. Aloy’s new “stash” is a total godsend too, removing the original game’s annoying inventory micromanagement by simply whisking away excess resources for her to collect at any settlement or camp as needed. 

There are truly far more new additions to the core mechanics of combat, exploration and progression than I can comfortably explain in one review, but they’re each as meaningful as the next and slot ever-so-comfortably into the established framework. And whether Aloy is scrambling against scores of machines, doing some impromptu farming astride the boar-like Bristlebacks, restoring neon soaked nightlife to Las Vegas or diving for coral-covered shipwrecks there’s one thing that can’t be understated and that’s the game’s sheer visual splendour. 

Every inch of the Forbidden West is lush, vibrant, brimming with detail and full of life. Huge human settlements atop dilapidated satellite dishes in Utah teem with people, all living out their lives, some of them even contributing to a chorus of song that can be heard across the plains. Meanwhile, farther West in San Francisco coastal tribes settle in sand-covered villages where tropical weather regularly whips up into storms of rain and wind – much like the Northern settlements are occasionally battered by blizzards that always seem to stir just as Aloy is facing down a particularly nasty machine out on the deadly precipices of mountains. It’s all, every field and forest, every decaying ruin of a museum or residential street, every peak and trough a best-in-class showcase of both technical and artistic talent.

Even stripped of what it brings to the table in narrative or gameplay there is undeniable value in Horizon Forbidden West as pure spectacle. “Graphics aren’t everything” is a valid and nuanced argument, sure, but a game like this almost makes me believe that graphics can be everything, if that’s what you’re looking for and if they look as good as they do here. There is no shortage of creativity, care or commitment in every new area. Just when it seems like the well of surprises has run dry it spills over again as Aloy enters yet another innocuous-seeming crevice in another innocuous-seeming wall only to be treated to unmitigated wonder and beauty.

No matter which generation of PlayStation you’re on the sheer amount of time and attention put into every detail means you’re still getting some of the most incredible-looking characters, environments, weather, animation and cinematography in gaming right now, but as far as the PS5-specific experience goes there are numerous impactful improvements here, beginning with the options boost in visual quality. I had trepidations going in about how Forbidden West’s position as a cross-generation title would affect or potentially “hold back” the version that many likely splurged on shiny new consoles for, but Guerrilla has done a fantastic job of putting together a game that caters to both the strengths of the new hardware and the limitation of the old.

The biggest benefit you’ll see when exploring the Forbidden West on a PS5 is a level of detail that’s impossibly impressive with what is probably the most CG-like texture and asset work that I’ve ever seen, and all of it drawing out into the game’s vast distances with no perceptible loading in or scaling. Everything is just there, all at once and in its highest-possible quality as though it was carefully placed and optimised for a handcrafted cutscene, only it makes up an entire open world. In fact, Guerrilla has revealed in prior media releases it was able to apply the “cinematic” character lighting usually reserved for cutscenes to the entire game on PS5. The result isn’t technically realistic as nobody walks around with multiple invisible spotlights on them in the real world, but it adds greatly to the overall visual and gameplay experience by giving characters increased visibility and tangibility within the world.

If you’re playing on a PS5 you’ll get the option of two graphical modes – a Fidelity mode that aims for a 4K output at 30fps and a Performance mode that drops the resolution in favour of 60fps targeted performance. When I did eventually play through Horizon Zero Dawn I did so on the PS5 with that game’s 60fps patch and so I figured I’d be doing the same here, but I actually found the deficit in detail in the Performance mode large enough to be distracting and ended up switching over to Fidelity for most of the game. That and the lack of any recognisably modern visual features like ray-tracing in either mode, coupled with some occasionally jarring lighting changes and last-gen-looking shadows definitely underlines the game’s PS4 roots but none of it takes away from the immense quality of the art on display.

Of course there are other, recognisable PS5-exclusive features as well. Lightning-fast load times when booting the game from the menu or its Activity cards, or when fast travelling are a given (you’re even afforded the option to shorten the artificially-inflated load screens if you don’t care about missing the tooltips). There’s the requisite Tempest 3D Audio tech to heighten the powerful audio mix and soaring, cinematic soundtrack that ranks among some of the most empowering backing score in a game like this. 

Along with this comes the expected DualSense haptics and adaptive trigger support – though these actually rank as some of my favourite implementations yet with comprehensive feedback that isn’t overdone or intrusive and includes a ton of minor details that interact with the game in fun ways. The first time I realised that standing under a trickle of rainwater from a nearby ledge would result in realistic splashing of water on Aloy and the feeling of each individual droplet on the DualSense controller I was reminded of the powerful potential that Sony’s ambitious hardware holds. Thankfully for anyone averse to these things you’re able to tweak and customise it all or turn it off entirely.

That’s thanks to another stand-out consideration in Horizon Forbidden West, which is its raft of accessibility and difficulty options, many of which allow players to alter the gameplay experience at shockingly granular levels. I’d likely double the length of this review just describing the hugely positive effect these options had on my experience, so I’ve spun that discussion off into another piece which you can read more about in a piece coming later this week, but suffice it to say that Guerrilla has gone above and beyond in a lot of ways.

That’s the crux of it, really. In almost every way, Guerrilla has re-thought, refined and redoubled on everything that was good or bad about Horizon Zero Dawn while pushing nearly every boundary imaginable in how an open world video game can look and feel. Above all else, this is a game that consistently surprised me. Whether it was the escalating story beats that had me thinking “surely this is as wild as it gets” before getting even more wild or the frequent unexpected finds when I was out exploring the Forbidden West, from opening to end credits I simply never felt like I’d seen it all. Even after playing for 60-odd hours and getting the platinum trophy there is still so much out there for me to do, so much beauty to witness and so many more mysteries to uncover.

RELATED: BARGAIN GUIDE – HORIZON FORBIDDEN WEST

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In this, the month of Elden Ring, the discussion around the difficulty in games was always bound to resurface. Little did we realise, it’s a burden that Sloclap is prepared to shoulder alongside From, as chatter is sure to be borne courtesy of Sifu, the studio’s brutal, hand-to-hand kung fu tale that exists as a natural extension of their debut title, Absolver. 

Much like From’s back catalogue, Sifu is an exercise in attrition and mastery. In seeking revenge against the quintet who murdered your family, you’re guaranteed to fail a lot. But there’s learning to be found in the stumbling, as attack patterns once alien to you become all-too-familiar and you rise again to overcome the odds. After eight years of pursuit, our stoic protagonist has tailed the gang to a nameless slice of metropolitan China to enact his revenge.

In Sifu’s world, the pursuit of revenge carries a heavy price as every death you endure sees you reanimated in place only several years older thanks to a powerful family talisman. It’s a tremendously clever mechanic that introduces us to the idea of mysticism and magic within Sifu’s universe while turning the closing moments of any life into a pressure cooker of desperate, hand-to-hand blows. A death counter on-screen, which is added to with each demise, indicates how many lives you’re throwing away per death until the talisman exhausts its magic and you meet your ultimate end. 

Many waste their entire lives grinding axes from their past, and it’s a message that is at the heart of Sifu. It’s unbearably sad to see someone running in place and literally throw the years away over something so dark and all-consuming.

The first level, The Squats, sees you tear through apartment blocks in suburbia searching for Fajar, a botanist for the drug cartel and the man who cut your throat the night of your family’s murder. Your revenge plot begins at the ripe age of twenty and should you exact vengeance on the machete-wielding, green-thumbed wildman, you’ll be able to pursue your second target at the Club at the age you triumphed at. There’s a motivating factor here that encourages a return trip to levels to better your standing heading into subsequent stages. It felt insurmountable at first—and I still haven’t beat Sifu entirely—but improving from dealing the deathblow to Fajar well into my sixties and on my last legs to losing only five years at the hands of The Squats felt like a victory on its own. 

The game is so unforgiving, and that’s especially true of the game’s bosses, so you’ll certainly need to keep your youth intact if you’re going to go the distance.

Although it’s incredibly stylised, Sifu’s core promise is an authentic and punishingly difficult kung fu experience and it delivers on that promise entirely. With over one hundred unique attacks to learn, master, and utilise in the heat of battle, Sifu’s system isn’t one that’ll see button-mashers prosper. Chaining together precise combos and breaking an opponent’s structure—which acts similarly to posture in Sekiro—to render them vulnerable to the killing blow really is the name of the game. There’s a real depth to the systems at hand, and it’s unsurprising given the team’s previous work with Absolver which had keen attention to detail. I eventually found that a defensive approach, using the parries and dodges on offer to study the patterns and move sets of the decent variety of enemies, worked best. Your wuguan, or kung fu school, serves as an interstitial space to practice your competency, consult the world’s lore and secrets through a detective board, and unlock abilities. 

Unless they’re unlocked permanently—which occurs when an ability is unlocked five tiers beyond its base level, which can be cumulative across lives—abilities will reset with each new life. While there’s one or two that are undoubtedly powerful, like the charged backfist, I wouldn’t say any of the abilities will particularly save the day if you’re struggling to grasp the core tenets of kung fu. The only tangible head starts Sifu dangles in front of you are the shortcuts that open up as a result of gathered intel, or found access cards. Being able to ultimately bypass gruelling arenas to b-line for the stage’s boss is a reprieve, but it’s one that only comes from besting said arenas first. 

While combat is at the forefront, the level design is another of Sifu’s strong suits. It’s entirely complementary of the environmental artists, and designers in general, that, even after several repeat journeys, none of the game’s levels have grown tiresome. The game is truly gorgeous and feels like it’s drawing on a lot of the genre’s innovators—including a corridor scene that draws heavy inspiration from Oldboy, as well as a nightclub that wouldn’t be out of place in John Wick. The rhythmic choreography is magnificently realised and Sifu’s clean, fluid animation goes a long way to honouring the swift brutality of kung fu.

Sifu is one of the few games that I feel could have really benefited from the DualSense’s advanced haptic responses. While it cements the revenge-thriller’s mood seconds in as the bleak evening’s downpour heard through the controller’s speaker, accompanied by a subtle pitter-pattering through the rumblings, it doesn’t really do enough with the controller’s more decadent features. For a game so focused on countering, timing, and stamina, Sifu could have done some cool things with the triggers. I could forgive underdeveloped concepts in that regard, but for no attempt at all to be made is a bit of a shame. 

I imagine it has a bit to do with the studio’s size, but it’s a great shame that Sifu, for all of the iconography included throughout menus and the world itself, doesn’t feature any Chinese localisation at all. Granted, the game isn’t terribly dialogue-heavy, but to not include a culturally-authentic performance is a bit of a shame even if it is coming after launch. 

A lot of Absolver’s ideas around melee and close-range combat were groundbreaking, and it feels like they’ve been refined here thanks in large part to Sloclap’s preparedness to step back from an online experience and focus primarily on a tight, focused linear single-player game. When it comes to profile, I think Sifu is in the box seat to be this year’s Returnal. It’s polished and boasts confidence far beyond its team’s pedigree, but it nails what it sets out to do. Even though it’s a game most people won’t beat, Sifu is an absolute must-play with a surfeit of style.  

The post Sifu Review – I Know Kung Fu appeared first on Press Start.

Although Skate is a franchise on the mend thanks to the revitalising powers of an EA realising the potential their dormant IP holds, OlliOlli has been the last decade’s most enduring skating franchise. Although it maintains the series’ accessible and fun control scheme, OlliOlli World enjoys a totally rad coat of paint that serves to completely reinvent the game’s visual identity and attitude in fitting with what most stereotypically think of when they consider skater culture.

There’s plenty of lingo, baggy shorts, big grinds, and even bigger slams. And although the game can be hard to a hazardous degree, especially if you’re trying to clock every level’s toughest challenges, OlliOlli World doesn’t demand it of you. In fact, you’re able to experience as difficult a game as you choose as the pass mark, in most cases, is simply beating the level. In that sense, and coupled with its easy-to-pick-up controls, OlliOlli World pretty deliberately feels carefree and a perfect representation of that cruisy, laid-back skateboarding ethos that’s all-inclusive, non-competitive, and promotes growth at a steady pace. 

The point of OlliOlli World is to determine whether you, through your gnashing and shredding mastery, and with the help of a ragtag group of friends, are capable of easing Chiffon into retirement by taking over her nebulous, and apparently godlike, role as a ‘Skate Wizard’ of Radlandia. It’s an absurd premise that serves as a pretty outlandish backdrop for the game’s main event: good old-fashioned skating. 

Impressing the other, positively cartoonish, deities of Radlandia’s handful of regions is a towering task and requires you to skate through somewhere in the range of fifty levels that do certainly get tougher as the journey nears its end. Like previous entries, OlliOlli World’s levels play out in a side-scrolling fashion and require a certain aptitude for rhythm to chain together combos throughout the many obstacles you’ll face. The level design is layered, offering multiple paths that often lead to ‘gnarly routes’ that house the tougher tasks doled out by Mike, the brick shithouse dullard of the group. As they always have, OlliOlli’s controls borrow from the Skate playbook more than Tony Hawk’s. A controlled flick of the right stick determines the flip trick, grab, or grind you’ll pull off, while triggers control your skater’s rotation—a must for keeping those combos alive, along with wall rides and manuals. Quarter pipes are a new addition to OlliOlli World and, while they’re great for catching air and changing lanes, they create a certain unreadability to the level and, through constantly switching between left and right movement, makes the way forward harder to anticipate. 

Straying from the main course is a great way to unearth the side quests on offer, most of which involve tracking down the strangest of people who call Radlandia home. Although reaching them can be tricky, there’s a certain, disarming charm that comes from chatting with a buff, roided out seagull. 

While joining the Skate Wizard ranks and reaching Gnarvana is your skater’s ultimate goal, it serves as a bit of an endgame for those who reach it. Players who vibe with the chill, aimless act of skating can opt into the Gnarvana Portal and enjoy levels generated by certain parameters, like difficulty and length, by the player. It’s ultimately pointless and doesn’t quite hit like proper user-created levels might, but serves as a good means of practice. Each generated instance is given a postcode that players can share, creating a kind of competitive aspect to an otherwise meaningless aside. 

The Gnarvana League, on the other hand, could be the beginnings of a more durable reason to return to OlliOlli after the credits roll. Although it’s in its infancy and feels rather bare-bones, existing only as a daily challenge at the moment with a rudimentary ranking system, I feel as though it could evolve into something pretty cool. Being able to watch the table-topping runs through a replay is a good way to learn a trick or two. 

OlliOlli is like a rainbow-coloured fruit, now rich in colour and personality having shed its pixel art rind. As far as reinventions go, it’s hard to fault the game’s new direction. It’s a gorgeous hand-drawn approach that feels like it’s pulled from the pages of some coming of age, summery graphic novel—almost as if Bryan Lee O’Malley tried his hand at an Adventure Time, except it’s full of backwards caps and anthropomorphic ice-cream cones. The game’s soundtrack, a curated selection of warm and welcoming house music, fits the mood like a glove, including ‘Darling Gardens’ from Melbourne’s own Midflite. 

I’d go so far as to call OlliOlli World a feel-good game and it’s one that’ll catch a lot of people off guard, despite the franchise’s more than confident beginnings. I hope, through a bit of post-launch support, it continues to grow, especially when it comes to the lighter competitive aspects of Gnarvana. 

THE XBOX SERIES X VERSION WAS PLAYED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW. A DIGITAL COPY OF THE GAME WERE PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.

The post OlliOlli World Review – Skate Or Die appeared first on Press Start.

The fact that Dying Light 2 Stay Human is even finished feels like a miracle. The game felt like it was in development hell for so long that I’d thought it’d ironically gone the same way as Dead Island 2. Now, almost six years after Dying Light, Dying Light 2 Stay Human has not only seen the light but come out swinging. And while its primary new focus – its story – falls flat, everything else about Dying Light 2 is a triumph.

Dying Light 2 takes place sometime after the events of the original. You play as Aiden, an infected survivor in a world infected by a new virus variant from the original game. Aiden is lucky – he has some kind of resistance to the virus – allowing him to remain human under the right conditions. The game follows him on a quest to find his sister in the oddly non-specific “City”, while also looking to shed light on events in his past that could explain his immunity. It’s a more personal story than Dying Light ever was, but such a story comes with a significant caveat.

That caveat is pretty damning – the overarching plot of Dying Light 2 just isn’t engaging. So many times, I’d find myself quite bluntly uninterested in Aiden’s personal quest to find his sister. It’s a shame, given that this is the most significant area that the game is trying to improve upon, but it falls flat. Techland has gone on record to say that there’s so much dialogue in this game, presumably to illustrate how seriously they’re taking the story. But given how meandering the plot is, I can’t help but wonder – what’s the point?

Much like how I felt about Dying Light, the ho-hum plot is mitigated by a core gameplay loop that is the strongest that the developer has ever put out. At its core, Dying Light 2 is a first-person open-world game. The core difference between Dying Light and its contemporaries is the parkour mechanics, which dovetail beautifully with the zombie chase mechanics. Thanks to these mechanics, Aiden can run, jump, and climb across almost any surface in the game world. They’re well developed when compared to the original Dying Light.

Dying Light 2 also replaces the City of Harran and the countryside of its expansion with a completely new setting in “The City”, a non-specific European locale that’s split into two distinct regions. The first region feels similar to Harran in the original Dying Light. The second region feels more unique and more akin to a proper city – tall skyscrapers and the like create a true concrete jungle where Dying Light 2 really finds its stride.

Tools such as the grappling hook and UV light return from previous games, but the paraglider is brand new. Perfectly adapted for the new setting, it allows you to use wind currents to glide from building to building. Throwing the paraglider into the mix with the parkour mechanics gives you a lot of flexibility in how you reach your locations, bolstering Dying Light 2’s already robust traversal mechanics.

Combat has also been tweaked but still feels satisfying. There are no more guns in abundant supply, so most action is relegated to rudimentary bows and crafted melee weapons. Single-use shotguns are craftable too, but otherwise, you’ll be beating zombies senseless with your creations. Combat in Dying Light 2 feels just right – the weight and heft of your weapons feel appropriate. Quite simply, it’ll never get old to send a zombie flying with a heavy weapon.

Yes, weapons have durability and will eventually break, but resources are so numerous that it nary becomes an issue in the game. But yes, the rumours are true; the weapons in Dying Light 2 can’t be repaired – so don’t go getting attached to anything.

Weapons can be bolstered with modifications carried over from Dying Light that make them behave differently, too. Some add poisoning effects, others are given more physical blowback, and some even freeze enemies in place. It’s rather goofy but feels like a nice callback to the cheeky tone Dead Island and Dying Light had.

With a game of this breadth and size, you’d expect to see the quality of the quests falter. The main quests are filled with some fantastic and tense gameplay moments, though the final act did grow tiresome and felt like it should’ve wrapped up a few battles earlier. Similarly, while there are many side quests on offer, none of them feel like throwaways, with production values (often but not always) on par with the main ones.

Putting quests aside, there’s also a heap of activities to distract you in the City. While these peppering across the map feels a little dated, the sheer variety here really saves things. There are climbing puzzles in the form of radio towers, water towers, and windmills. There are even quarantined areas that you enter from the top, descending deeper and deeper as you open shortcuts like a small self-contained rogue-like dungeon.

The most notable are the electricity stations and water towers. Both allow you to reroute resources to a settlement. Electricity stations, in particular, are fun puzzles that require you to connect two power sources with a cable, having to find the shortest distance between them to join them. Completing either of these locations will allow you to alter the world – rerouting to the military faction creates more traps and weapons in the open world. In contrast, the other faction places more components in the world to facilitate your parkour. Think more jump pads, ziplines, and air vents for your glider.

I’ve never quite seen an open-world game reward the player by changing the world they exist in so much, and while it doesn’t quite have the far-reaching consequences you’d expect on a story level, on a gameplay level, it’s a nice touch to be able to mould the City in the way that best suits your play style.

The day-night cycle in the original game was both unique and integral, so it only feels fitting that it be improved upon here. Where you’d previously have darted for a safe house at the first sign of night, Dying Light 2 makes an earnest effort to incentivise you to stay out. Chases themselves are now tiered similar to wanted levels in Grand Theft Auto, giving a better idea of when to bail yourself out. New indoor locales are also better explored at night – as the infected won’t be inside them at night but rather on the streets. Finally, some missions can only be completed at night.

While I enjoyed the nights of Dying Light, there was little reason to stay around for too long when the sun disappeared. Dying Light 2 does a great job of rectifying that issue rather well.

That being said, there are still a few things Dying Light 2 doesn’t get right. I’ve already detailed how the story is lacking, but the dialogue system it borrows from games like Mass Effect, and later Assassin’s Creed games lack any meaningful sense of consequence. Typically, tough choices rarely branch out too much and are often met with responses that almost always can be reduced to “that’s annoying to me, but I understand why you did it!” and the story just moving on. I understand what the team was aiming for here, but it feels glaringly inconsequential with how it’s presented here.

Much has been said about just how much content there is in the game. I’d estimate my first run easily took around twenty or so hours to finish. Doing absolutely everything the game offers could easily balloon that time to over a hundred or so hours. But I struggle to see just how someone could pull the much talked about five hundred or so hours out of Dying Light 2. Thankfully, if you’re really keen to know how the story progresses, joining another players game in co-op would let you do so without having to play the game all over again (as it’s just not worth it, honestly, to do it all again yourself)

From a presentation standpoint, Dying Light 2 offers three visual options. Resolution and quality options feel like a bit of a sore point where – they feel like they run at the same level of fidelity and performance as the original Dying Light did on base hardware of last generations consoles. My personal choice – performance mode – runs flawlessly. Everything looks crisp with some breathtaking locales and buttery smooth framerates that allow Dying Light 2 to put it’s best step forward both figuratively and literally. It just lends itself better to the game’s fast platforming and pacing.

The original score is similarly uneven. Sometimes it sounds like the media it’s doing a great job of emulating – with grim orchestral pieces akin to John Murphy’s work on films like 28 Days Later. There’s enough dark synth here to similarly give the game a futuristic yet desolate feeling that it’s gunning for. But the upbeat ones feel remarkably out of place – so many of these tracks feel like they were made for a different game.

The voice work is similarly mixed, and I was surprised to find Aiden’s voice actor wasn’t the same as Kyle’s from the original game. Surprisingly, Rosario Dawson steals the show here as Lawan. While I’ve made it quite clear how much I didn’t enjoy the story, every scene she was in was bizarrely compelling to watch. She does well here, even if the script sometimes gets a bit tawdry.

It might sound like I’m being harsh on Dying Light 2, but at the end of the day, it’s a fairly remarkable game and infinitely more enjoyable than Dying Light. It’s easily, without a doubt, greater than the sum of its parts.

THE PLAYSTATION 5  AND XBOX SERIES X VERSIONS WERE PLAYED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW. DIGITAL COPIES OF THE GAMES WERE PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.

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Uncharted 4 and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy were two of my favourite games of the last generation. Uncharted 4 took the cinematics and set pieces of the PS3 trilogy to a whole new level, which is impressive looking back considering it was on the base PS4. On the other hand, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy pushed Nathan Drake to the side, and still managed to deliver and incredible gripping story, that was shorter, but very well crafted.

To be totally honest, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves is one of the harder “remastered” collections that I’ve had to review. Uncharted 4 in particular is one of very few games that I have given a 10 and it’s very impressive looking back to know that this game was running on a base PS4.

It’s very clear that this is Sony taking advantage of the Uncharted movie, which with the likes of Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg will no doubt bring newcomers to the gaming franchise. On one hand, $80 does seem like quite a lot of money for a game that’s available for free to any PlayStation Plus subscriber on PS5 as well as an expansion, but if you’ve not played these games, then you’ll definitely be satisfied, and even more so, if you pickup a cheap pre-owned copy of Uncharted 4 and pay the $15 upgrade free (unfortunately you can’t upgrade from the PlayStation Plus version). If you do purchase the game digitally or upgrade, you can get a free ticket to the Uncharted Movie which makes the upgrade fee sting a little bit less.

If you haven’t played these games before, and you are coming off the movie. it’s absolutely safe to say that both of these games are accessible to any gamer and the epic set pieces that you see play out in the movie will feel very familiar once you boot up the game, with some very impressive visuals and additive gunplay to boot. I do also recommend picking up the Uncharted: Nathan Drake Collection as well, which are the PS4 versions of the PS3 Trilogy (yep, it’s confusing at this point).

Unlike the likes of Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut or Death Stranding Director’s Cut, there isn’t any new content on offer here. What you’re getting is two games that looked great, looking better than ever with a plethora of visuals options on offer.

Both games have three visual modes. Fidelity Mode runs at 4K at 30FPS, Performance Mode runs at 1440P and 60FPS and there’s also a Performance+ Mode which runs at 120FPS. I played most of my replays with the game utilising Performance Mode, but there’s no doubt that these games look absolutely stunning at 4K. I still wish that I didn’t have to choose, especially when this is an early PS4 game.

Aside from that, there’s obviously extremely fast loading, which is useful for jumping around chapters after you’ve finished the game, and also getting back into the action when dying (which will happen a lot). Then you’ve got the standard PS5 features such as 3D audio and the game utilises the DualSense controller for adaptive triggers and such. I’m sure both of these things improve the immersion, but these game were very enjoyable without those back on the PS4.

If you’re looking for my in-depth thoughts on both Uncharted 4 and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, you can go back to my original reviews HERE and HERE. I absolutely adore both of these games and if you haven’t played them, I definitely recommend it. Unless you see the Uncharted movie and have an absolute hankering to replay these games, I can’t see a whole lot of people replaying them both, even with the visual niceties, but it is worth checking out the visuals on PS5.

Thankfully, you can easily pull your PS4 saves over for both games and trophies will automatically pop based on what you’d unlocked on the PS4 version. This makes messing around in these games a lot more accessible, even if you’re not wanting to replay them both from start to finish

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Rainbow Six was my first introduction to the world of Tom Clancy. Subsequently, it’s also the Tom Clancy franchise I’ve more closely aligned to since the original game hit the Nintendo 64 back in 1998. That being said, the Rainbow Six games always had you tackling a terrorist threat backed by a story of political intrigue. Never would I have expected to be fighting aliens in a Rainbow Six game, let alone a Tom Clancy one. But, differences aside, Rainbow Six Extraction is a surprisingly well-put-together experience that I enjoyed much more than I ever had imagined.

Keen players of Rainbow Six Siege would be familiar with the Outbreak event, which Extraction follows on from. Several years after the events of Siege, a meteorite falls in New Mexico, bringing with it a slew of deaths caused by a deadly pathogen, eventually discovered to be a parasite. Extraction has members of Team Rainbow entering areas ravaged by the parasitic outbreak, now called the Archaen, to collect intel on this new threat and save the locals. The plot is a nice bit of set dressing for the world of Rainbow Six though it ultimately plays little role in the game overall.

Rainbow Six Extraction takes the core concept of Rainbow Six Siege, flipping it from a competitive experience to a cooperative one. A purely PvE experience, you’ll tackle a set of objectives (called “incursions”) in groups of up to three people. Each of the areas you’ll be infiltrating is infested by the Archaens, and objectives are more than just killing them. Sometimes you’ll have to lure them back to a specific area. Other times you’ll have to cross an interdimensional portal to defeat a powerful boss. It’s kookier than you’d expect for either Rainbow Six or Tom Clancy, but it is something different.

There are around twelve or so objective types. They’re on such regular rotation that things rarely get as tedious as you’d expect them to.

After selecting an area to infiltrate, the game creates an incursion for you. Each incursion is divided into three phases of increasing intensity, with a specific objective being assigned to each stage. The further into an incursion, the better the rewards, but the more difficult the approach. After each phase, you can choose to progress to the next one or “cut your losses” and extract. Extracting yields the most points, but going deeper is almost always tempting to promise more points. It’s risk-reward in its purest form, and it’s addictive enough that I rarely extracted when I should have.

When I talk about risk, it’s more than just losing your progress or points. Each of your operators you take into an incursion is at risk of being injured or missing in action. If you get downed and aren’t rescued by your teammates, your character will be lost in that area until you revisit it. The next time you play it, one of the three objectives in the incursion will be a rescue mission of sorts that’ll add them back to your roster.

The kicker is that each of your characters’ won’t count towards your rank until they’re rescued. So, losing your best operator means will impact your team’s level more than if you lose one you’ve barely played with. Sometimes, it might even be more strategic to leave your partner behind during a mission as the risk of leaving the objective for rescue might be greater than the reward. It’s these on-the-fly changes in objectives and priorities where Rainbow Six Extraction really shines.

Thankfully, failure to rescue someone doesn’t mean they’re gone forever. While it could be a fun temporary twist, Permadeath isn’t a feature of Rainbow Six Extraction. Failure to rescue someone from their parasitic prison means they’ll still return to you, but with less experience points. It feels like a reasonably balanced way to punish sloppy plays without being needlessly cruel to the player. It’s so reasonable, in fact, that I’d want to jump straight back into a map to rescue an operator as soon as I lost them and try it all again.

Repetition and procedurally generated elements of games often leave me feeling short-changed or bored as things begin to repeat endlessly. Extraction does a great job at remedying this, drawing from a wide pool of variables – be it the Archaen you’ll encounter or the objectives themselves – to offer a unique incursion every time. It’s the type of repetition that fosters addiction, and it’s the reason I always kept Extraction feeling fresh, whether I was succeeding or failing.

The Archaen themselves add a lot of spice to the proceedings. Amongst all the types, they’ll alert the others and nearby nests to produce more if you’re seen. These moments, though seemingly impossible, are survivable but will often leave you crippled in some way or another. The enemy variety here is excellent – some will melee you, others take shots at you. Some might even explode when damaged, though they can damage fortifications you might set up too. Like mentioned previously, some even mimic other operators (like Sledge) in boss battle-like encounters.

When you bring together all the things that Rainbow Six Extraction does, it feels different from other PvE experiences on the market. So many of them are wave-based, action-packed thrillers that rarely require a true sense of strategy. Extraction feels more strategic in its approach. You can attempt to speed run the levels, but you’ll often be met with failure or severe crippling to the point where you’ll rarely make it to the end of an incursion scot-free. Stealth is the name of the game here, as pulling off takedowns and headshots literally clears a path through the player-slowing sludge the parasite creates, allowing you to move without hindrance through the maps.

In terms of progression, I previously eluded how the game handles your rank. The stronger your roster, the stronger your rank. Successful extractions with bigger groups also multiply the points you bring back with you. Being an entirely PvE experience, Extraction’s progression and rewards aren’t merely cosmetic. You’ll unlock new gadgets, new weapons, and other improvements that give the game an almost rogue-like sense of progression. There are still cosmetic customisations, some of which can be bought with real money, but nothing feels egregiously grindy. I’d often find myself trying “just one more” incursion to see what I’d get next. However, the lack of grind does make me wonder what will happen when players get to the end of the very achievable progression tree.

Enter the Maelstrom Protocol. Rainbow Six Extraction’s endgame mode remixes more or less everything, offering weekly assignments with specific operators that are more challenging than previous engagements. At the time of writing, it was difficult to grasp what Maelstrom Protocol looks like beyond its first week. Still, it has the potential to lengthen the replayability and replay value of Extraction well beyond what was initially expected.

While Rainbow Six Extraction does so much right, there are a few niggles I experienced during my time with the game. Less seriously, we often encountered a glitch where holding a button to revive a teammate wouldn’t work correctly. Whether this resulted from a congested connection or a simple glitch has yet to be seen. More subjectively, Extraction doesn’t really put its best foot forward when playing solo either. Perhaps this is a moot point given that this game is ostensibly designed for multiplayer, but it is worth mentioning for anyone who wants to tackle it all by themselves.

From a presentation standpoint, Extraction doesn’t break much new ground, if any. From a technical perspective, Extraction is a very dark affair. However, it uses this darkness to offer some moody lighting which is disappointingly not quite as good as it could be due to a distinct lack of HDR. That being said, the artistic direction and musical score are both fantastic. The parasite and its surroundings feel genuinely alien, and wading through these dark and infested worlds for the first time is a true treat.

All in all, we could argue about just how Tom Clancy or Rainbow Six the experience Extraction offers is, but at the end of the day it’s a remarkably strong if not modest PvE experience.

THE PLAYSTATION 5 VERSION WAS PLAYED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW. A DIGITAL COPY OF THE GAME WAS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.

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The sci-fi fantasy of zero gravity dogfights between over-engineered fighter ships in nothingness of space has always been an alluring one, and its a thrill that video games have sought to capture since their very inception. Chorus takes the modern idea of spaceship combat and attempts to fuse it with a tale of cults, cosmic horror and personal redemption to somewhat successful results.

In a galaxy under the threat of the Circle – an intergalactic cult that wears its intentions on its gold-hewn sleeves and its critical power cells on the outsides of all its best ships – a former Circle warrior turned defector named Nara takes up her old vessel to face her past deeds and prevent the cult’s ‘cleansing’. Chorus takes players on a journey through a number of distinct sectors where Nara will need to earn the trust of the residents and resistance, building a network of allies to assist her in taking down a foe that’s backed by the mysterious powers of a faceless and ancient force.

For a game full of side characters and citizens in need, cutthroat pirates and sinister cults, Chorus feels alarmingly lonely. Part of that comes from the way that most of its key players are never seen save for the ships they get around in, which might have worked if their rides were more memorable. It’s also in part an issue of perspective, where your own experience – also confined to a pulled-back view of your ship – makes the spaces around you feel like model representations of places more than a living, breathing world. Enemies especially amount to little more than the UI markers attached to them that tell you where and how alive they are.

It’s not that an indie-scale spaceship shooter needs to have a terribly deep or detailed world or ridiculous production values, but it’s clear that Chorus is trying to tell a story with nuance and depth and in these attempts it constantly comes up against itself. The writing simply doesn’t shine well enough to make the format work, exacerbated by stilted dialogue and characters whose motivations swing wildly from one direction to another with little context. Nara and Forsaken’s joint personal journeys feel hamfisted and betrayed by angsty exchanges and frequent tonal shifts. 

It’s disappointing because the dual-protagonist concept does work quite well when it works and gives the game a nice point-of-difference to the many other titles it cribs from. There are lessons taken from games like Returnal and Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice informing Nara’s design and arc here, but it misunderstands the important qualities of those stories and draws only from their most surface-level ideas.

That said, the symbiosis of Forsaken’s engineering and Nara’s spiritual awakenings does make for a nice twist on other spaceship combat experiences. Controlling Forsaken can get awkward in the heat of the moment, but once you get the hang of it you’ll be boosting and drifting through tight spaces like a champ. Throw in some light puzzles that use Nara’s abilities to detect points of interest and teleport short distances and you end up with a handful of genuinely cool sequences.

Combat itself makes good use of both Forsaken’s trifecta of weapon types and Nara’s Rites, offering up enemy ships that have set attack patterns and weaknesses that need to be countered with the right tools. Certain ships will shield themselves from the front for example, meaning players will need to use the Rite of the Hunt to quickly teleport behind them and unleash a barrage of missiles to break through their tough armour. The strategic play is solid, but basic skirmishes are let down by messy controls, a lack of lock-on and the constant need to dip out of the action to recharge your shields thanks to often unavoidable barrages of fire from unseen foes.

Chorus excels in its tighter, more focussed moments. Moments where the pair are tearing through the insides of huge ships, or navigating otherworldly structures touched by cosmic horrors and the sins of her past. Some of the touchstone battles across its 10-12 hour campaign can be exhilarating in spite of the awkward controls, tasking players to fly through enormous warships and blow them up from the inside out or square off against multi-stage ‘bosses’ that make effective use of Nara’s unique Rites.

These moments are too few and far between though, sandwiched amidst dull fetch quests and inane conversations with featureless NPCs in open space. When Chorus isn’t forcing you to fly dozens of kilometres to each arbitrary new mission point and listen to its one-dimensional characters prattle on about things you won’t care about, it’s drawing on open-world game tropes that died off a generation ago like escort and tailing sequences.

There are some very basic RPG elements such as weapon and armour enhancements and mods, and proficiencies that grow through use, but they muddy the allure of Chorus’ skill-based action. The game even seems to recognise this as it force-feeds you upgrades at set intervals to keep pace with its difficulty curve. There just aren’t enough opportunities for players to form their own strategies and masteries given the game’s arcade-y combat and enemies with clearly-defined weaknesses. Compared to a game like Everspace 2 with its hefty loot and levelling systems, what’s here feels too much like an afterthought.

Chorus does offer up a handsome slice of space to explore though, the handful of expansive sectors available to navigate through packed with impressive vistas and intriguing points of interest. Ancient structures birthed by old and terrible beings are among the most interesting places to behold. As mentioned it is betrayed somewhat by perspective, as the many ships and human habitats you visit tend to lack personality or detail purely because of their scale. The overall presentation is decent though, and the few cutscenes where we get to see Nara are quite nicely rendered and acted. There’s even a rudimentary photo mode to snap those gorgeous views of space or heated combat moments.

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Hyper Light Drifter stands out as one of my favourite games from the last generation thanks to a tremendous feat in world-building paired with its soul-crushing Soulslike combat. Heart Machine’s sophomore release Solar Ash might be set within the same universe, but the two are poles apart. Solar Ash is a far more serene, explorative exercise and places far less emphasis on being a dealer of death in a world where it’s still very present.

Far from the Drifter’s world, Rei’s is being threatened by an irresistible black hole known as the Ultravoid. It’s her job as a Voidrunner to venture beyond the event horizon to activate an experimental technological escape rope known as the Starseed to render the force inert and save her planet from its terrible fate. Where Hyper Light Drifter tucked a lot of its narrative into the far corners of its world, Solar Ash tells a more straightforward story that similarly tells a personal, touching story about finding hope in a hopeless place and, especially once the story executes its major turn, it pays off all of the mystery it spends its formative hours setting up.

In what feels like an homage to Jet Set Radio, Rei spends much of the game figure-skating on solar ash clouds. It’s a great means of getting around the game’s desolate landscape and is really the central pillar of the moment-to-moment gameplay. Rei is also armed for melee combat but, aside from a short-range swing and a grappling hook to bridge gaps, her move set is limited so it feels more like a means of self-defense than a proficiency of hers. Her cloud-dancing is as graceful as you’d imagine, and combined with her percussive combat, there’s a real rhythm to the game’s core loop. In addition to the general fodder, each of the world’s fragments has a colossal guardian of its own, known as Remnants. Though it’s a fools’ errand to wake them by purging the map’s far reaches of the corrupting ooze, the subsequent boss battles are balletic and, thanks to their sheer scale, riff off of Shadow of the Colossus in a lot of ways. 

Gracefully gliding across these colossi and chaining all of the hit markers together before the monster’s skin superheats, an arm wrestle of speed and precision, serves as the spectacle of each biome. Though each death blow feels regrettable in the game’s context, the journey demands it and I couldn’t help but ride the tension of every battle knowing full well Solar Ash was building to something special. It takes all of Rei’s tools—mobility and brutality combined—to topple the beasts. Unlike Hyper Light Drifter, there was no real need to learn patterns and apply knowledge to each repeat effort, it’s a game that’s very much about living in its moments.  

The inner workings of the Ultravoid are split up into six fragments, all ripe for exploration. While Rei’s skating remains constant throughout, I do applaud the effortless introduction of new elements that emerge the further we plunge into the void, whether they’re complementary like rails for Rei to grind on or hazardous like the expansive pools of acid that attempt to derail her suicide mission. Hyper Light Drifter didn’t hold back when it came to challenging players and it feels like Solar Ash got a bit lost in this regard as it pursued some measure of accessibility. It’s tricky in points and, through predetermined story beats, the game does deduct hit points from Rei, but when there’s no real consequence to dying it never feels like it matters a whole lot. 

Though the immense gravity of the Ultravoid threatens to tear Rei’s planet to pieces, its presence is felt in-game as parts of the world are held in stasis. I remember being floored as I entered Mirrorsea, a collapsed coastal civilisation where its sea has formed a towering pillar that acts as a bridge between areas. Not only is it a striking image, but skating it in defiance of what we expect from physics while looking down on the world beneath made for one of the game’s most memorable moments.  

Solar Ash doesn’t get bogged down as much as I felt Hyper Light Drifter did at times in terms of collecting trinkets. It could be because the narrative is presented more plainly, but it felt as though everything Rei searched for—her fallen Voidrunners’ suits and data logs—tied directly into her plight. Each of the game’s regions has a small story thread that, once uncovered fully, builds out the game’s world even more and creates a great sense of place. Most of it isn’t more than a stone’s throw from the beaten path, given the world isn’t overwhelmingly big, so it wouldn’t be inconvenient to seek out these secrets and pad out the game’s handful of hours.

Solar Ash, being set in the same universe as Hyper Light Drifter, feels as though it nails the right amount of connectivity with its kin project. If there’s a connective tissue that binds the stories together then it was lost on me. But there’s a familiarity that stems from the game’s iconography and colour palette that is unmistakable. It’s the same but different, it’s the explosion of colour, style, and grand design that places it so confidently, without any other hint of association, in the same time and place of Hyper Light Drifter. It’s a beautiful game and it’s helped along by a score that, once again, nails the ethereal mood of the world. And while Disasterpeace didn’t handle the score, his fingerprints are all over it, and more specifically, his work on the emergent audio is next level.   

Despite being a deeply personal game for the people who made it, I feel like its ideas and concepts are so accessible that you’re bound to take something out of the experience. There’s a particular line from the game’s climax that has been doing the rounds in my mind since I rolled the credits and Solar Ash’s impact on me is profound. It’s an achingly beautiful piece of art that I’ll remember for some time.  

The post Solar Ash Review – Achingly Beautiful appeared first on Press Start.

My fellow GTA fans must be feeling like the “What Year Is It?” Jumanji meme today. Firstly, because it’s like we’re all laying virginal eyes on the cities of Liberty, Vice and the grand state of San Andreas again. Secondly, because these three iconic games seem to be hot button topics once more. Controversy, it seems, doesn’t have a used-by-date.

Fortunately, what’s being energetically debated isn’t too big a deal – nobody’s thinking of the children and yanking this Definitive Edition from store shelves. A hacker hasn’t discovered a Hot Coffee 2.0. [Edit: hilariously, this has come to pass since publishing the original in-progress review – Rockstar has reuploaded a sanitized version to servers]

That said, everybody seems to have a fiery opinion on a few other things. The rights of unofficial, currently being litigated modders is one. What’s to be visually and aurally expected from a “definitive” product being the other.

Frankly, we’re just going to have let the Ken Rosenbergs of the world figure out the former in court. I’d much rather spend what little space I have today dissecting the latter. More specifically: you’re getting an honest, opening hours appraisal from a middle-aged-cheese who lived and breathed these titles on day of release.

Grand Theft Auto III Definitive Edition

Straight off the (practically useless melee weapon that is the) bat, I can admit to feeling a sandbox load-in “wow” moment. 2001-me would’ve never dared to hope for this sort of to-the-horizon draw distance, object crispness, readable sign textures, dynamic lighting or frames per second.

If you gave him that back then, it’d be like handing fairy floss to a caveman. His mind would have exploded.

This will be taken for granted and lost on you younger gaming brethren, but watching stuff reflect off the duco of one’s Banshee is way more impressive than it should be. Grove Street Games has also massaged in some extra polygons here and there to make the car models less boxier than I recall. Don’t expect too much from that statement. I’m talking small degrees. Like transitioning from 1980s DUPLO to a modern LEGO set.

Like that first inhale of SPANK, I became hooked on the admittedly simplistic campaign of being a voiceless (and at the time nameless) criminal errand boy. While it’d be weird to call this “My First Mob Job” experience quaint, that’s exactly what it feels like now. Mission difficulty and complexity is low, to the point where over half the game feels like an extended tutorial mission.

Part of that is due to a lack of modern systems, though GSG has made a valiant effort to update that old, borderline unusable aiming system. You’re now getting a weapon wheel that slows time to allow tactical gun swaps, lock on aiming with better target outlining and free/strafe aiming that’s like a rudimentary version of how GTA V gets down. The downside: some heavy weapons still arbitrarily root you to the ground and throw you into a gun-less first-person mode.

While we’re on cameras: it feels amazing to have San Andreas-like free cam as you’re driving around Liberty. GTA III had this bloody awful “press a shoulder to look 90 degrees” solution that’s now gone the way of the dodo. (Note: I’m not referencing The Dodo here – that piece of crap, non-flying plane still features.)

Is combat and driving vastly improved? Absolutely. Is it frustration free? Certainly not. Weapons are still incredibly short range, they sound like coughing typewriters, you have to tactically reload them by awkwardly flicking about the weapon wheel and “directional” drive-bys require a press of a face button. I’m still having way more fun than the OG version, but absolute newbies to these games had best curb their enthusiasm. There’s still some residual jank to forgive.

This is particularly true in the frame rate stakes (on PS5 at least). Early on, I had to swap from Fidelity to Performance mode to escape some jarring hitches. Even then I wasn’t free of the occasional chug when the screen was (literally) exploding in a heated car race, vigilante mission or desperate five star last stand.

All of that — along with the odd floating car glitch — is pretty isolated, intermittent stuff that won’t really impede your grand thieving or autoing. However, GTG’s “new and enhanced” rain effect probably will — it’s distracting and sometimes clips weirdly through covered areas. Patch, please.

Last but not least, I would like to praise be to the person who thought to shoehorn a map into the pause screen. Back in the day, we had to unfold a physical paper one. Like some sort of clueless, Clark Griswold tourist.

GTA: Vice City Definitive Edition

Vice City is the entry in this trilogy that I have the fondest memories of. That lush, neon soaked ’80s aesthetic, the brilliant soundtrack, helis, motorcycles and an actual voiced protagonist (!!!) who waded into sexy, Scarface-esque adventures.

Mercifully, the look and feel of the era in question has not only been preserved, but chromatically enhanced. I love that GSG has gone a little nuts with the coloured lighting – cars, streets and peds wearing just as garishly coloured clothing get bathed in hot pinks and electric blues. But, once again, those low-level frame rate issues persist (though definitely not as bad as it is in GTA III).

Vice City is also noticeably more cutscene heavy compared to the previous title, which serves to bring these “improved” player models into more regular and closer proximity. Honestly, the results are pretty up and down. While polys have been added and textures have been improved – most notably in the now-fingered hands and slightly more expressive faces – more work was needed.

It’s also obvious that not all digital actors were recreated equal here. Main characters and secondary mission-giving folk look ok, albeit cartoonish – kinda like a bunch of Disney Infinity figurines come to life with criminal intent. However, the faces of tertiary characters, scene extras and peds can look like they’ve been run through some sort of Mii updater algorithm.

Interestingly, while old details can be depressingly lost on the textures wrapped around humanoids, a lot of the store signs look sharp as hell, but probably shouldn’t be. Now that we can actually read stuff, a number of typos are clear as day. The fact that they’re mostly in Comic Sans doesn’t really add much to the visual feast either.

Here’s a loose list of some other random things I took note of. Vice City is a larger playspace, so the trilogy-wide inclusion of a “restart mission” function saves a lot of backtracking hassle. I had a false memory that Tommy could swim a little – he (and Claude Speed) really, really can’t. So don’t get your hopes up there.

Basically, the biggest stand out thing for me is the alterations to the soundtrack. I’ve played the mobile versions and endured some painful cuts already, but it’s sad to know that my hope for the reinstatement of some key tracks has been in vain. Which piece of music you’ll miss is going to be subjective. But yeah, I think we can all agree that this package loses something iconic with the removal of Michael Jackson’s work.

Before we move on, I should say that I hit a number of weird bugs on the mean streets of VC. Genuinely amusing stuff like AI cars accelerating to ludicrous speeds, and one time a poor ped spawned inside a bridge instead of on top of it. Nothing truly game-breaking, but it sure wasn’t immersion-enhancing.

GTA: SAN ANDREAS DEFINITIVE EDITION

Let me be clear on this from the outset, the off the beaten track / wilderness areas in San Andreas Definitive look pretty amazing. Rockstar has done a noticeable amount of work on the old trees and lower lying vegetations. That aforementioned increase in draw distance can be fully appreciated so much more outside of those urban box factories.

Some other things I immediately appreciated include the GTA V-style drive-by targeting. It’s a shame that GTA III and Vice City don’t share in said upgrade, though I daresay it’d be so effective in those games it’d destroy all challenge.

In no time at all, I renewed my vows and fell in love with the Boyz n the Hood love letter that is CJ’s story. Since playing this as an adolescent, I’ve managed to visit LA a bunch of times and now have a better appreciation of the tone Rockstar managed to capture in its Los Santos.

It’s great to get back to some RPG-lite elements that really should have featured in every subsequent sequel. Being able to get buff in the gym (or big-boned in your local Cluckin’ Bell) is such a cool little cosmetic wrinkle.

Much like it happened 17 years ago, I got fully invested in the Respect system that gives you prop boosts based on your hairstyle, tattoos and clothing. I also caught myself going out of my way to be rolling in a self-modified whip that boosts sex appeal stat. A player’s gotta play, after all.

Mind you, after meeting one of CJ’s early prospective girlfriends – Denise Robinson– I felt less than amorous. Sadly, she’s become a victim of the aforementioned “tertiary characters neglect”. Her endearing, bad-ass bitch style has been replaced by a bug-eyed, expression lacking stranger. Heart container: broken.

As for downsides, there are a few. I don’t know who pulled the wrong lever during this reissuing, but for some reason the actor characters in a cutscene can get run over or beaten up by marauding AI who are not in the scene. It happened to me once, and caused a mission fail. I’ve also had mates comment on similar incidents as well.

THE PACKAGE SUMMED UP

I’m a diehard fan of the GTA series, but I’m of two minds about this up and down port to the Unreal 4 Engine. The initial wow-factor of the visual upgrade is undeniable, but the more you play it, the more cracks appear in that pretty veneer. Some of those are legacy fissures that have not been repaired. Others are eyesore imperfections wrought by a new team of less-than-master craftspeople.

Make no mistake: every game in this package remains a touchstone moment in gaming. These are time capsules which deserve to be experienced by a new audience, and I still think there’s more than enough merit for an open-minded modern gamer to do so. Likewise, they should obviously be revisited by older fans who yearn for a version that plays and looks like what they remember (or rather the visuals their brains half-filled in with imagination). There are reasons why these masterpieces were money-earning behemoths on the best-selling console gaming ever saw (PS2). Those reasons mostly persist in Definitive Edition, despite it being a tepid celebration of yesteryear.

If you do partake, know that you’ll have fun while also being nagged by a thought more persistent than any 6-star level SWAT team — this could have been done better. These GTAs not getting the full reverence they’re owed, ultimately, feels a little criminal

THE PS5 VERSION OF THIS GAME HAS BEEN TESTED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW.

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