The Game Review Thread

[djchapsticks]

Well, the GN section has a fairly reliable book review thread and the Film forum has a very long running Movie reviews thread.

So based on a comment I saw from Swarley (and agreed with) a moment ago that P&B is generally very accurate for reviews compared to the big gaming sites, how about a review thread?

Any platform, age of games and style of review welcome. If you think you'll encourage a fellow P&Ber to pick up an underrated gem or discourage someone from parting with 40 sheets for an utter stinker, get it posted on here.

Personally, I'm playing The Last of Us now, but I'm far too early on in the game to make anything like a decent fist at a review.

[bunglebonce]

Alien Isolation, partly played.

There isn't a time clocked as far as I can tell, but I reckon I'm around four hours in, at the point of my first death from the alien.

Terrifying. Even the non-alien sections are tense.

The first time you see the alien, and the first time it stalks you... really scary. I had a nightmare about the alien stalking me after experiencing the first encounter.

I'm a fan of stealth games and this is fundamentally a stealth game. And a very good one so far. The game is linear but definitely not hand-holding, there are a variety of ways to approach matters once the action starts in earnest. There's a lean button to make sure you don't over-expose yourself. The motion-tracker is superbly balanced - you need to use it but it's a risk because the background goes out of focus, and using it too close to an enemy makes them aware of you.

You can tell so much effort has gone into the level, art and sound design. All extremely polished. The setting is really well put together, although it would be good to interact with it a little more than reading messages on terminals.

The game lets itself down with the checkpointing, which is strictly among the save-stations. I've stopped at a part where I had a few minutes of sneaking to get to a transit, then spent maybe five minutes in the next area hiding from the alien while getting my bearings, but because I died before getting to another save station I have to start back in the previous level. That's my only major criticism so far. Otherwise the pacing is good. There is the lack of polish in the cut-scenes, but it's not a huge deal.

[djchapsticks]

Spelunky

This was one of the free games on the PS Plus service this month. I've only had the PS4 for 2 months and safe to say, I've been pretty disappointed that there hasn't at least been an 'official' game give away yet, given how good the quality of PS3 instant game collection releases have been.

That being said, the main release this month, is Spelunky. A hark back to the old fashioned days of games like DigDug and Pitfall and with all the challenge in there to boot. This game is an absolute corker and one of the few games of recent years to make me feel genuinely nostalgic of the days when everything was just good old fashioned pick up and play fun.

My favourite aspect of it, is that it's a game in which you will die many, many (MANY) times, but will never get truly frustrated with due to a genius little innovative technique which marks the game's main selling point. Every time you do die, you go straight back to the very beginning and every level is completely different. You'll never, ever,play the same level twice in this game.

I love it, can easily waste an hour on it with getting truly frustrated.

8/10

[djchapsticks]

The Last of Us - Remastered

One of the main reasons I decided to switch platforms when I went next gen, was because despite having a PS3 on three separate occasions, they had all left the household by the time this came around on that system. With a lack of decent Next Gen exclusive content on the XOne, this game sort of swayed me towards a PS4....and I'm delighted it did.

This is about as complete a masterpiece as I've ever played. It really has the lot, stunning visuals, a gorgeous soundtrack, fantastically paced and gripping storyline which leaves you begging for more by the end, some of the best voice acting I've ever seen/heard and very, very tight AI. It was just a total joy to play from first minute to last. I love this game unconditionally.

Wow!

10/10

[Homer Thompson]

The Last of Us - Remastered

One of the main reasons I decided to switch platforms when I went next gen, was because despite having a PS3 on three separate occasions, they had all left the household by the time this came around on that system. With a lack of decent Next Gen exclusive content on the XOne, this game sort of swayed me towards a PS4....and I'm delighted it did.

This is about as complete a masterpiece as I've ever played. It really has the lot, stunning visuals, a gorgeous soundtrack, fantastically paced and gripping storyline which leaves you begging for more by the end, some of the best voice acting I've ever seen/heard and very, very tight AI. It was just a total joy to play from first minute to last. I love this game unconditionally.

Wow!

10/10

I think its only fair you share the love ... lend us your PS4

[The Grass Is Greener.]

The Last of Us - Remastered

One of the main reasons I decided to switch platforms when I went next gen, was because despite having a PS3 on three separate occasions, they had all left the household by the time this came around on that system. With a lack of decent Next Gen exclusive content on the XOne, this game sort of swayed me towards a PS4....and I'm delighted it did.

This is about as complete a masterpiece as I've ever played. It really has the lot, stunning visuals, a gorgeous soundtrack, fantastically paced and gripping storyline which leaves you begging for more by the end, some of the best voice acting I've ever seen/heard and very, very tight AI. It was just a total joy to play from first minute to last. I love this game unconditionally.

Wow!

10/10

I played it on PS3 and it's my favourite ever game. The story completely makes the game what it is, visually stunning as well.

10/10

[M0rtonfc]

Spelunky

This was one of the free games on the PS Plus service this month. I've only had the PS4 for 2 months and safe to say, I've been pretty disappointed that there hasn't at least been an 'official' game give away yet, given how good the quality of PS3 instant game collection releases have been.

That being said, the main release this month, is Spelunky. A hark back to the old fashioned days of games like DigDug and Pitfall and with all the challenge in there to boot. This game is an absolute corker and one of the few games of recent years to make me feel genuinely nostalgic of the days when everything was just good old fashioned pick up and play fun.

My favourite aspect of it, is that it's a game in which you will die many, many (MANY) times, but will never get truly frustrated with due to a genius little innovative technique which marks the game's main selling point. Every time you do die, you go straight back to the very beginning and every level is completely different. You'll never, ever,play the same level twice in this game.

I love it, can easily waste an hour on it with getting truly frustrated.

8/10

I agree with this, pretty annoyed that not only have we not had any decent free games for the money we are spending but the lack of demos is poor. I really thought the Sony would have been right on top of that, expected demo's for most games but it;s like 1 demo every 2 months and seems to be shite like Ice Hockey, infact, it seems to be EA Sports .

GET YER FINGER OOT SONY!

Other than that I love the fucker!

[djchapsticks]

I agree with this, pretty annoyed that not only have we not had any decent free games for the money we are spending but the lack of demos is poor. I really thought the Sony would have been right on top of that, expected demo's for most games but it;s like 1 demo every 2 months and seems to be shite like Ice Hockey, infact, it seems to be EA Sports .

GET YER FINGER OOT SONY!

Other than that I love the fucker!

This thing is, the PS4 has been out almost a year now. Surely that's time enough for them to give us say, a launch title? The PS3 has had some absolute storming games down the years as part of it's PS plus service.

[Ebanda's Handyman Services]

The Last of Us is absolutely relentless! The Clickers are the bane of my game playing life right now.

The graphics on the PS4 are incredible.

Will write a review once completed.

[SramTon]

I agree with this, pretty annoyed that not only have we not had any decent free games for the money we are spending but the lack of demos is poor. I really thought the Sony would have been right on top of that, expected demo's for most games but it;s like 1 demo every 2 months and seems to be shite like Ice Hockey, infact, it seems to be EA Sports .

GET YER FINGER OOT SONY!

Other than that I love the fucker!

I thought the lack of demos was a Sony thing (given the 360 had far more demos available than PS3), but the selection of demos on Xbox One is almost exactly the same as the PS4: EA Sports games, Lego games, Thief and PES15.

Only extra demos the Xbox One has that aren't on PS4 are: Forza Horizon 2, Dead Rising 3, Zoo Tycoon, Disney Fantasia, and Kinect Sports Rivals. There's additional EA game trials if you have EA Access.

If it's any consolation, the selection of demos available in PSN North America is even worse.

Btw, the NHL games are great once you get a handle on the controls. Plus the demo for NHL isn't on Xbox (unless you have EA Access).

[djchapsticks]

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

I'd heard plenty about this game, all good. It's from Edmund McMillen, the same guy who brought us Super Meat Boy and someone whom I felt a great deal of empathy for in the brilliant Indie Game: The Movie. I love the flash visual style and smoothness in his games, something about them are just really accessible to me.

I picked this up on the day the PS Plus games for November came out, and it's pretty much taken all of my time since then. Simple, effective, at times very disturbing little dungeon crawler with a fiendish difficulty curve and an absolute ton of unlockables.

One of the greatest compliments I can pay a game in this day and age is that if it's highly replayable, then it's a winner. The scope, variety and types of items in this, combined with the vast array of enemies and randomisation of dungeons and rooms mean that you'll never have the same game twice here and keep coming back for more. It's a hard, hard game to master as you'll have a relatively easy run through on one play, then a nightmare on the next.

Seriously, if you've picked this up and have yet to try it. Do so. I've not even looked at Steamworld or escape plan yet. This is a little gem.

8.5/10.

[jock001]

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

I'd heard plenty about this game, all good. It's from Edmund McMillen, the same guy who brought us Super Meat Boy and someone whom I felt a great deal of empathy for in the brilliant Indie Game: The Movie. I love the flash visual style and smoothness in his games, something about them are just really accessible to me.

I picked this up on the day the PS Plus games for November came out, and it's pretty much taken all of my time since then. Simple, effective, at times very disturbing little dungeon crawler with a fiendish difficulty curve and an absolute ton of unlockables.

One of the greatest compliments I can pay a game in this day and age is that if it's highly replayable, then it's a winner. The scope, variety and types of items in this, combined with the vast array of enemies and randomisation of dungeons and rooms mean that you'll never have the same game twice here and keep coming back for more. It's a hard, hard game to master as you'll have a relatively easy run through on one play, then a nightmare on the next.

Seriously, if you've picked this up and have yet to try it. Do so. I've not even looked at Steamworld or escape plan yet. This is a little gem.

8.5/10.

Is it worth 3X the original?

[djchapsticks]

Is it worth 3X the original?

I don't know, I never played the original and it was part of PS Plus picks for November. It's massive compared to the original though, apparently.

[The Naitch]

Spelunky

This was one of the free games on the PS Plus service this month. I've only had the PS4 for 2 months and safe to say, I've been pretty disappointed that there hasn't at least been an 'official' game give away yet, given how good the quality of PS3 instant game collection releases have been.

That being said, the main release this month, is Spelunky. A hark back to the old fashioned days of games like DigDug and Pitfall and with all the challenge in there to boot. This game is an absolute corker and one of the few games of recent years to make me feel genuinely nostalgic of the days when everything was just good old fashioned pick up and play fun.

My favourite aspect of it, is that it's a game in which you will die many, many (MANY) times, but will never get truly frustrated with due to a genius little innovative technique which marks the game's main selling point. Every time you do die, you go straight back to the very beginning and every level is completely different. You'll never, ever,play the same level twice in this game.

I love it, can easily waste an hour on it with getting truly frustrated.

8/10

Downloaded this when it first became available and absolutely love it.

Have been killed over 500 times and it still doesn't get boring. Most of those kills are due to the sheer pleasure I get in pissing off the shopkeeper while I nick his gear and he chases me with his shotgun.

Have made it to level 4-1 a handful of times but those early levels never lose their charm due to the point you brought up about every level being different.

[Ludo*1]

jock001, on 10 Nov 2014 - 04:19, said:

Is it worth 3X the original?

Probably not, but the original was worth the price of a £15 game the amount of time you could sink into it rather than the, what £3-5 most people paid for the original.