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Last reviewed: Mina the Hollower · 7 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.
Overall, Habroxia is a neat little arcade title with some cool ideas.
Concrete Genie is a warm, joyful experience that embraces creativity in a unique way. Painting your way through Denska is effortlessly fun, and the genies that help Ash through his adventure are delightful. While this main thrust of the game is well realised, combat feels like an afterthought, as it's stashed away right at the end. This and a couple of smaller issues hold the game back from greatness, but taken as a whole, this is definitely worth playing -- and pretty as a picture, too.
GRID is a very solid racing game that harkens back to the 2008 original in some important ways.
The problem is that while A Brave Plan has some neat ideas for this narrative-based adventure, they’re implemented poorly.
As an officially licensed instalment in a beloved franchise, Ghostbusters: The Video Game is still a resounding success ten years on. But as a third-person shooter with physics-based ghost capturing, it's a bit one-note. The atmosphere, design, and voice cast are perfect, but the combat peaks early and quickly become a bore. The main campaign is enjoyable enough that it's worth enduring the repetition, though.
While its campaign is enjoyable in the moment, Destiny 2: Shadowkeep never manages to truly shake the fact that we already went to the Moon five years ago. For better or worse, this is just more Destiny, and that's a positive for those enamoured with the franchise, but anyone who was hoping for a more dramatic overhaul of its core systems and mechanics will be left wanting. Bungie has huge plans for the future of Destiny 2, but Shadowkeep only delivers a small piece of that vision.
A clear improvement on the original, Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair is a pleasant surprise. It struggles to balance difficulty, but the end result is a robust and compelling platformer. It feels much more cohesive than its older brother and, free from the need to play to nostalgia, gives the characters and the world a better identity. It isn't perfect, but it's certainly a step in the right direction for Playtonic Games.
NHL 20 sees Franchise mode take a welcome step forward, while other areas have either remained the same or actually gone backwards. The new commentary makes it clear that different does not mean better, and all the slick new animations in the world can't hide poor AI. We feel like a broken record saying this, but the NHL series is in sore need of a comprehensive revamp.
Tropico 6 is one of PlayStation 4's best strategy games, and also one of its most unique, putting you into the shoes of a dictator rather than the standard benevolent overseer that most of these titles offer. Taking your tropical island from shacks and farms to skyscrapers and space plans is a lot fun, and there's enough variety in map design and mission objectives to mean that you'll rarely feel like you're repeating the same beats. And honestly, the music really is pretty good.
Whether playing for the first time or picking it up for old time's sake, Castle Crashers is still capable of providing simple, senseless fun.
Despite its short length, this is still very much a trip worth taking.
Code Vein is a stylish JRPG with an interesting combat system that just falls short in a few areas. Its inspirations are clearly worn on its sleeve, but it brings enough to the table to stand out on its own. This title has promise, and we think the developer could iron it out into a worthy franchise if it's given the chance to make future instalments.
Our advice? Wait for FIFA 20 to be patched before tying your laces.
The only real accolade you can award this run-of-the-mill release is that it’s inoffensive, but even then it’s almost offensively inoffensive – if you get what we mean.
It can't hold a candle to a From Software joint, but The Surge 2 will satisfy those chomping at the bit for the next take on the genre.