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Last reviewed: Mina the Hollower · 6 days ago
Luna Abyss is a AA shooter that holds its own against some of the elite of the genre. Its enticing and ominous sci-fi world is a delight to look at artistically, even if its muddy graphics let it down on closer inspection. Its story is fine, but a slick sense of progression keeps its action and platforming interesting from start to finish.
Planet Zoo is, ironically, a relatively toothless park building game. It doesn't have the delicious chaos of the Jurassic World Evolution games or the thrills of building your own rollercoaster and then hoping it'll stay on the tracks in Planet Coaster. But it's a pleasant and charming game. There's an airy joy in creating a peaceful home for animals to live in, and the earnest conservationist slant of Planet Zoo is hard to fault.
It's a real shame that the performance here is subpar, because Dangerous Golf is fantastic fun, whether alone or with friends in the co-op and competitive modes. It has surprising depth and plenty of content; the solo and co-op tours combined provide a total of 197 levels to smash through. The satisfying gameplay is its greatest strength, however, with the short stages making it an ideal game to play when you've got a spare half-hour. Some may struggle with the controls, and its appeal may not last for too long – but it's definitely no bogey.
Hitman: Episode 3 - Marrakesh is a good addition to an already great release, and although it may not have the total freedom of Sapienza, it certainly does espionage and detail well. The constantly busy atmosphere and the variety of kills will keep dedicated assassins coming back for more. Roll on Thailand.
There Came an Echo feels like more of a proof of concept than an actual game. The voice control does work well if you have the right headset, but it only goes so far in making up for the dreary gameplay on offer. And while the story is serviceable enough and the graphics are eye-catching, they don't do enough to turn this into a compelling game. If the idea of controlling a title using only your voice really does excite you then this may be worth a look, but if not, consider commanding yourself to buy a different game.
Dead Island: Definitive Collection is by no means perfect, but it still succeeds in providing you with a substantial slice of flawed but generally fine zombie slaying action. Despite offering a graphical upgrade, though, there may not be much here to lure in those who have played these titles before – especially seeing as no real changes have been made to the core gameplay, and because newcomer Retro Revenge disappoints.
Fully deserving of a second chance, Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir is a glorious remake of a fine RPG. Its stunning art style looks better than ever, and the tale it tells is still effortlessly charming. Little niggles like its clunky inventory system keep it from being picture perfect, but it's difficult not to be left thoroughly impressed by Vanillaware's lovingly crafted fantasy – even after all of these years.
Crunchy and colourful, One Piece: Burning Blood does more than enough to grab the attention of both fans and fighting game enthusiasts alike. While some potential balancing issues dull the brawler's competitive edge and the story mode is more of a slog than it needs to be, One Piece's madcap character roster keeps things interesting. It's not quite the bountiful booty that is One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3, but Burning Blood's explosive combat is bound to leave a mark all the same.
TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan is a game that had the potential to be as superb as last year's Transformers: Devastation. Instead, due to a movie releasing this week in theatres, it's clear that Activision rushed Platinum Games to push it out quickly. What's here isn't bad, but it needed to stay in the pizza oven a little bit longer for sure.
Perfect Universe is a good collection of games, and it packs so much fun that it's worth downloading – even if you only intend to boot it up when you have friends and family around. Congrats to creator Will Sykes on a really accomplished package.
Blizzard has never been a genre trailblazer when it comes to the games that it develops, but when it does arrive fashionably late on the scene, you can be fairly certain that it's going to deliver something special. With Overwatch, the studio has delivered once again, splicing the heroes of a MOBA straight into a team-based shooter, and while the asking price may feel a little steep at first, it's the selection of characters – that are easy to learn, but difficult to master – as well as its positive recognition system that'll undoubtedly win you over.
LUMO is a surprisingly fun throwback to a genre of puzzle adventures lost to the winds of time, and also a loving nod to the career of its creator. It's an enjoyable dungeon crawler with some fiendish puzzles and punishing death traps.
Unless Lassie's got our back, then we'd never normally want to get lost down a well – but Downwell is a strong exception. This fun little freefallin' title ties you up in its gun-boot antics, and is difficult to put down once you casually drop in. The action's perhaps better suited to vertical screens, and it can be a bit obtuse – but for the price of a Big Mac, this is one deadly descent that deserves your tuppence.
Far Harbor should have be an easy sell to those who have picked the Commonwealth clean, but something terrible lurks within the fog. Serious framerate issues on PS4 make the expansion stink like the rot of a mutated fishman, killing any sense of adventure in what is otherwise an intruiging add-on. If the problem's patched, feel free to add a few points to this review's score – but until then, you should steer your ship clear of Far Harbor's foreboding coast.
While Soft Body initially strikes a nice balance of difficulty, the later levels become far too complex, which is a serious problem as being able to solve these puzzles comes down to your physical attributes. Without the necessary reflexes or hand-eye co-ordination, there's no possible way for you to progress through these levels, even if you understand what you're doing wrong and what you need to do to solve it. Fortunately, we found the game's first set of levels to be a very enjoyable challenge and a unique spin on the puzzle genre.
Shadwen is a stealth-action game in which there's no action and the stealth is completely undermined by counter-productive design choices that defy logic or reason. The whole package suffers from a distinct lack of polish and is chock full of half-baked ideas and badly implemented mechanics. It's a Frankenstein's monster of a game stitched together from the dead bits of other, better games, but ultimately it possesses the heart and soul of none of them. There's no reason to recommend Shadwen to anybody other than prospective game developers looking for a lesson in what not to do.
In the end, Rocketbirds 2: Evolution is just not much fun. It's a relatively lengthy but disappointing experience with little replay value. The controls are blunt and clumsy, the humour is often witless, and the puzzles are at times so basic that there's not a lot of satisfaction in solving them. While there is a lot of potential on the surface, Ratloop may have wanted to sit on this egg a bit longer before it hatched.