Includes PushSquare
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.
Megadimension Neptunia VII stumbles into the same traps that many of its peers have fallen into before, serving up lazy quests and a questionable amount of fan service. Fortunately, it makes up for these shortcomings with boundless energy and endearing characters who provide an enjoyable and light-hearted trip through alternate dimensions. While the game may have benefitted from enhancing some of its mechanics, it's by no means a bad RPG experience – just one that we feel like we've had many times before.
Street Fighter V's gameplay sits with the best that gaming has to offer. The characters are truly distinct, the presentation first rate, and the netcode is utterly sublime. A lack of single player modes at launch dulls the sheen somewhat, and is the only element preventing the title from achieving true greatness. However, with the engrossing Capcom Fighters Network, the game's set up as a fantastic online playground in which to research techniques, stalk idols, view friends' failures, or simply sit back and watch – all the while waiting for your next challenger in this deep, enthralling fighter.
This generation has seen a glut of puzzle platformers grace the PlayStation 4, but fortunately for those interested, Unravel is absolutely one that deserves attention. While it feels like more could have been done with its mechanics, the game's charming and has a great lead character. It's also sublimely presented. It's not quite the epic yarn that we were anticipating, then – but Coldwood's meticulous needlework makes it worth a look at least.
Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime is a game that may surprise many. Do not let the title's cute appearance deceive you: this is a very challenging release that demands co-operation. Underneath the outing's cuteness is a fantastic co-op experience, which is still an absolutely great game to play solo – even if it's at its very best with partner. If you've been looking for a quality title that you can play with your significant other, nothing says 'I love you' more than working together as a team, saving bunnies, and blowing up aliens.
Layers of Fear isn't shy about its influences, but if you were impressed by the P.T. demo, then how do you fancy five or so hours more? This is a tidily presented, tantalisingly tense trip through a fractured psyche – it's dark, desperate, and depraved. Bloober Team hasn't concocted the most original slice of horror in history, but it has pulled its inspirations together shrewdly – and the results are both repulsive and rousing.
Easily one of the most addictive RPGs on the PS4, Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth features an enjoyable story and a great setting for a fantastic monster raising system. Although many of its components aren't perfect and proceedings do drag at times, the process of building and perfecting a team of powerful digimon is just too rewarding to walk away from. The phrase "digimon are the champions" has never been more fitting.
If you're like this writer and enjoy even a decent police procedural game – especially in a medium where they're dishearteningly absent – Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders is a deserving title in your mystery fiction library. The video game adaptation may lack presentation value, but a strong plot, fun deductions, and a rewarding conclusion make up for it in the end.
A lot of care and effort has been poured into Arslan: The Warriors of Legend's story mode, but the narrative focus has taken attention away from other aspects of the release. Outside of the plot, things are enjoyable but unspectacular, and by and large, the title feels like the basis for a better sequel. On this occasion, Omega Force's latest is like a commanding officer with no charisma – you can find respect for it, but you wouldn't follow it blindly into battle.
Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia Marx the end of the ill-fated Chronicles series, but instead of making a final stand, Climax's latest treads water. While the visual style is pleasant and the atmosphere is strong, attempts to inject the game with innovation fall flatter than the Berlin Wall in 1990, and the title hasn't really got much to offer to fans old or new in terms of stealth or combat. There are far better Assassin's Creed games and far better platformers, so this spin-off has nowhere else to go but the gulag.
Crypt of the NecroDancer offers a groovy twist on traditional rouguelikes, and its sick beats make for some very satisfying dungeon crawling. Although the rhythm-based gameplay can make the basics very difficult to grasp, the title does a good job of teaching you everything that you need to know – and it offers more than enough content to keep you foxtrotting back for more.
Firewatch has the embers of a great narrative-driven game, but it fails to ever ignite into a furnace. Unforgivable performance issues detract from the otherwise outstanding art direction, but it's the abrupt story and unconvincing characters that really douse the hype here. Campo Santo's inaugural outing starts incredibly strongly, but your alarm bells will be ringing long before it burns out without ever really sparking into life.
Awakening is a solid start for Black Ops 3's DLC catalogue, with some moments of excellence punctuated with patches of dull dreariness. Gauntlet and Skyjacked provide excellent, fast-paced fun in most modes, while Splash could also become a favourite in time. Rise deserves no praise for its cookie-cutter style, but Der Eisendrache is easily one of the most unique and fun Zombies experiences to date, despite its occasional shortcomings. All in all, despite its slightly steep price, Awakening provides the pep pills needed to keep Treyarch's latest alive and kicking.
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 is easily one of the best entries in the series, and is arguably one of the greatest anime fighters to be released in some time. CyberConnect2's flair for creating stunning action scenarios is at its brightest in the game's superb story mode, but even when it's over, a hefty amount of content, both online and offline, and a thoroughly enjoyable, reworked combat system will see fans through well into the future. The storm may be about to pass with this final instalment, but there's no denying that it's provided one heck of a light show.
Unfortunately for Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel, its single player content is so threadbare that, more than ever, like-minded friends are essential in order to enjoy the game to its middling potential, and even then, any online sessions will most likely be scuppered by the wonky netcode. It's messy, it can look bad, and it feels incomplete, but beneath all of this is core gameplay that isn't without merit – if only for the most hardcore of Nitroplus' fighting game fans.
Not a Hero might not always play out the way that you want it to thanks to the fidelity of its controls, but don't let that stop you from enjoying the ensuing chaos and delightful characters. If pixelated explosions and wide-open stages are your sort of thing, then be sure to cast your vote for BunnyLord this coming election.