Game Reviews
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The Animation Initiative: Mass Effect Andromeda Review
Mass Effect – These two words are enough to make thousands of people smile. The original trilogy brought to us a wonderful and engaging world of interplanetary and interspecies sociopolitical strife, where each choice felt like a tough decision. It mattered how you interacted with the people around you, and it influenced how they would react to you. Mass Effect 2, especially, was storytelling at its best. Right from the beginning where you witness Normandy being blown to smithereens, it engrosses and sucks you in, with its world and its diverse characters. Mass Effect 3‘s ending disappointed a little, but that never stopped the game from being an amazing journey. Now, Andromeda does not need any introduction, which is both fortunate and unfortunate. Everyone has seen the memes ...
Shifting Tides – Torment: Tides Of Numenera Review
At the heart of Torment: Tides Of Numenera is a singular question, “What does one life matter?” Backed by Kickstarter, with an initial goal of $900K, which was met in under 6 hours, and then went on to reach over 4 million dollars, Torment: Tides Of Numenera is the spiritual successor to 1999’s cult classic isometric RPG, Planescape: Torment, which is widely regarded as one of the best RPGs of all time, and stands among the likes of Neverwinter Nights, Baldur’s Gate and Knights Of The Old Republic. So, yeah, expectations were high. As with Planescape, the world of Numenera is a mix of sci-fi and fantasy themes. Set 1 billion years in the future, you are in the Ninth World, with many civilizations having risen and fallen in the past. With very little knowledge of th...
Streets Of Rage & Hilarious Perversions: Yakuza 0 Review
My main experience with games heavily influenced by Japanese culture and beliefs have either been JRPGs like Nioh, Valkyria Chronicles, a little bit of Final Fantasy, and some adventure games from Sony’s Japan Studio, like The Last Guardian. And while these games do have strong Japanese references in them, none of them are grounded in a more real world setting, filled with weirdness and absurdity that can only come from a place that has been nuked twice. Yakuza jəˈkuːzə/ Noun A powerful Japanese criminal organization. a member of the Yakuza; a Japanese gangster or racketeer. plural noun: yakuza And here we have Yakuza 0, sequel to the long running Yakuza series, that tells the tale of two protagonists in 1988’s crime riddled Japan. And as you unravel this tale of corrupt and power hungry c...
Not So Fantastic Four: Ghost Recon Wildlands Review
Ubisoft has its fair share of open world games, and for the most part they do a great job of making those open worlds enjoyable to explore, while giving you tons of activities to keep you hooked to the game. And Ghost Recon Wildlands is a definitely a good open world game. It’s not without its faults, many of which have been repeated in past Ubisoft games. However, the game is fun, looks absolutely fantastic, and might be the biggest, most dynamic open world game Ubisoft has made yet. Set in Bolivia, the you play as one of four Ghosts, while the other three can either be AI controlled or or controlled by up to three other players to play the game cooperatively. Your mission is to take down the narco hierarchy in Bolivia, primarily the Santa Blanca cartel, by eliminating its leaders and fin...
Glorious Basterd: Sniper Elite 4 Review
Sniper Elite 4 follows up directly the aftermath of the events in Sniper Elite III, and continues the adventures of Karl Fairburne. Set in Italy in 1943, you are sent to find out about a Nazi ‘super weapon’ of sorts, and then go on to tactically eliminate high ranking Nazi officers by any means necessary. I usually preferred relieving them of their testicles in a fatal manner. Oh, and it looks damn cool in slow-motion X-Ray vision. Sniper Elite 4 retains the unique style of the series, and cranks everything up to ten. The game sure does look great, specially the huge landscapes and gorgeous vistas. Italy looks absolutely fantastic, and there’s a lot of variety across missions to keep you hooked to the very end. The levels are bigger than ever, and as you sit atop a bombed...
There’s Only Shame In Defeat: For Honor Review
From the very onset, For Honor makes one thing absolutely clear. It is not a hack and slash game, but it’s a fighting game. You may run around in open arenas killing random brutes that act as cannon fodder, swinging big weapons and feeling like a warrior-god-among-men. But what For Honor really is about is its one-on-one multiplayer combat, and is intense, calculated, and very methodical. Before we get into the meat of the game, which is its multiplayer, lets talk a bit about it’s single-player campaign. The plot here is pretty throwaway, as three warring factions squabble over land and resources, and just keep brutally murdering each other. However, the campaign is fairly enjoyable, and has some great set-piece moments, that look incredible and are really fun to play through. ...
Mechanical Squids & Tamagotchi: Dark Train Review
Dark Train is Paperash’s unique take on modern adventure puzzle games. And don’t let the term adventure game dissuade you. What Paperash has created in Dark Train is a wonderful setting, great visual aesthetics, and clever challenging puzzles. Oh, and did I mention the mechanical squid? You play as the mechanical Squid Ann 2.35f, in control of the Dark Train. The train consists a creation of the inventor D. W. Tagrezbung, which needs to be delivered to a client. Without getting too deep into the story, and spoiling anything, I’ll say that the story is actually really interesting, specially for a modern adventure game. The game tells its story visually via the environment. There’s no written text or dialogue. The fact that Paperash has managed to convey a compelling ...
Transcending The Medium: A Transistor Review
Awe-inspiring, jaw dropping and absolutely mesmerizing, Transistor is all of that and so much more. A game that genuinely struck a chord with me and impressed me so much that it left me craving for more after I had finished it. It draws you in on an emotional level that makes you empathise with Red and, the events that have unfolded around her and are about to unfold. And just like Red, I was left speechless with the beauty of it all. Transistor is a sci-fi action RPG game developed and published by Supergiant Games, famous for their previous, critically acclaimed title ‘Bastion’. The game is set in a very cyberpunk futuristic city known as Cloudbank that is run by Administrators to keep the world safe and to satisfy people by letting them decide on things such as the weather c...
Ki Is Stamina, & Stamina Is Key: Nioh Review
Imagine the brutal difficulty and calculated combat of the Souls-Borne games, with the gratifying loot grind from Diablo, or more recent titles like The Division and Destiny, and you have Nioh, the latest game by Team Ninja. But Nioh is so much more than the sum of the games it takes inspirations from. Its mechanics go much deeper, and demand a lot more focus and attention from the player. Before we go into the depths of Nioh’s incredible combat system, let’s discuss the story a little bit. You play as William Adams, who’s based on a real life character of the same name, and the game is set during a fictionalized version of the Sengoku period, a period of immense strife and turmoil in Japan during the 1600s. The story is based on an unfinished script by Akira Kurosawa, a ...
Say My Name: Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue Review
Yes they massacred the title, but Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue comes with more than enough content to justify it’s lengthy and girthy name. It’s a collection of three parts, 0.2 Birth By Sleep – A Fragmentary PAssage, Dream Drop Distance, & Back Cover. I’ll say this off the bat, if you’ve not been keeping up with the Kingdom Hearts games, you’ll be left quite lost and confused with the happenings in the game. A Fragmentary Passage A Fragmentary Passage takes place after the events of Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, and continues the journey of Aqua. It’s a small three- hour experience, which despite it’s short length, is rewarding and offers a glimpse of what we can expect in Kingdom Hearts 3. First off, it’s running o...
Welcome To The Madhouse – Resident Evil VII Biohazard Review
Resident Evil has been synonymous with the horror genre for over a decade now, and while some of the recent entries in the franchise have less than lived up to expectations, the name itself has made a reputation for itself that is highly regarded. Resident Evil VII takes inspirations from the best game in the series, and strips it down to the basics. What we have here is a horrifying effort to escape with a loved one from a seemingly haunted house. But, before I get ahead of myself, let me talk about the story first. You play as Ethan, who’s looking for his wife, Mia, who had been presumably dead or missing for almost three years. A cryptic message from Mia leads Ethan all the way to the fictional town of Dulvey, Louisiana, and eventually to the Baker Family house, the evil residents...
Can Ya Dig It, Sucka?! A Shovel Knight Review
An ode to the games of yesteryear, a beautiful love letter to 2D platforming genre and a mesmerizing 8-bit masterpiece that was made possible with the help of a community willing to take a risk. The game I’m talking about is the amazing “Shovel Knight”. The game that shines amongst its peers and makes it as one of the best 8-bit 2D platformers to have come out in recent times. Shovel Knight is a kickstarted 2D platformer with 8-bit visuals developed by Yacht Club Games. It took the gaming industry by surprise, because nobody expected it to do what it did; it provided a very solid gaming experience all-around. Taking inspiration from the best games of the NES era like Zelda II, Duck Tales, and Castlevania. Shovel Knight bundles these together to make a masterpiece that pays homage to its pr...