AWARDS SEASON: BEST GAME OF THE YEAR 2014

Overall winner

Dark Souls II

Honourable mentions

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

DRAGON AGE: INQUISITION (2014) REVIEW

Don't judge a book by its cover.

PC version reviewed.

Dragon Age: Inquisition is an RPG published by EA Games and developed by BioWare for the Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC.

GAMEPLAY
Big worlds that look pretty cool when you first arrive, but once you really go into them you find they're boring and bland, filled with terrible quests and tiresome enemies. People often compare this game to a dead MMO, and I know that's been banded around a lot, but those people are right.

Combat is so very dull

The ballroom level was awesome

STORY
It wasn't terrible, but the characters weren't as strong as those in Mass Effect, and the main story was a bit boring really

GRAPHICS

The game does look nice

SOUND
Alright, I'll admit that the soundtrack was pretty good.

VALUE FOR MONEY

The game should take around 30 hours to beat, and that's possibly a minimum, however so much of that time is spent walking across the world or completing some really boring objectives. It certainly feels like quantity over quality.

OVERALL
While Dragon Age: Inquisition has some nice ideas, I can't really bring myself to recommend the game. The game is just so boring and frustrating in some sections. I'm really left to hope that BioWare don't continue the formula they used for this game and go back to how they did Mass Effect 2. This game fails to really standout and for that I can only call it average.

FAR CRY 4 (2014) REVIEW

More of the same - but worse.

PC version reviewed.

Far Cry 4 is an open-world first person shooter published by Ubisoft and developed by Ubisoft Montreal for the Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC.

GAMEPLAY
Elephants are nice, same for climbing hooks

Nothing else very different from FC3

Far Cry 4 wastes its Himalayan setting basing almost every mission in mountain valleys, rather than the mountains themselves. Meanwhile Far Cry 3 took full advantage of its island setting, allowing you to traverse almost anywhere on the island in a variety of ways. I can't state enough how frustrating it is to look at all the mountains around you only to find you are allowed up there just a handful of times for linear missions.

Horror like segment was a nice change up

STORY
Unlikable characters, Pagan Min is the only decent one, hidden ending is the best.

GRAPHICS
Looks nice.

SOUND
Whilst Far Cry 3 has some really memorable pieces such as Falling into a Dream or Further, Far Cry 4 doesn't really have any memorable pieces. I thought the soundtrack was pretty forgettable and a step down from its predecessor.

VALUE FOR MONEY
Around 20 hours

OVERALL
Far Cry 4 fails to take any significant strides forward from its precursor and would still have been the inferior game back in 2012, let alone two years later. I'd advise checking out Far Cry 3 if you're looking to leap into the Far Cry franchise.

FOOTBALL MANAGER 2015

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version reviewed.

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LORDS OF THE FALLEN

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PC version .

The Surge is a RPG published by Square Enix and developed by Deck13 for the Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC.

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MONK'S CIPHER DLC

ANCIENT LABYRINTH EXPANSION

THE LEGEND OF KORRA REVIEW

Short but sweet.

PC version reviewed.

The Legend of Korra is a beat 'em up game published by Activision and developed by Platinum Games for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, Playstation 3, Playstation 4 and PC.

If you told me that an Avatar game was being produced by Platinum Games then I sure would have been over the moon with happiness. Of course Platinum are the successor of Clover Games and many of the key people in the company worked on Okami, which whilst being also being my favourite game ever, is the closest I think we've ever come to an Avatar game. Imagine Okami with an Avatar coat of paint over it... It would certainly be one incredible experience.

Sadly, this game is not really an action adventure/open world puzzle game like Okami that sadly only exists as a great dream of mine. Instead The Legend of Korra is a short beat em' up game. It's a pretty short and sweet experience and must be approached with this in mind, otherwise you may be setting yourself up for disappointment.

GAMEPLAY
The game is fun. Combat is very satisfying and each element offers a different approach such as water being good from range and earth being good in close quarters. It doesn't have any major depth to it but it is pretty fluid, learning and racking up combos whilst wiping out waves of enemies was consistently satisfying and fun for the games short run time - and being fun is the most important thing a game can be.

The quick-time events were actually well used I thought, if you really believe such a thing is possible. I may not like the game very much but Kingdoms of Amalur had a QTE system where you only really had to do them to finish enemies, which instead of being annoying, actually made it really satisfying when you got the chance to end enemies by smashing buttons. The Legend of Korra does a similar thing where most of the QTEs are just there to give you an outlet to hammer out any frustration when finishing an enemy, or to make stunning an enemy feel that much more rewarding.

However the level design is a bit lacking, most of them just comprise of having to defeat enemies whilst confined into an arena by magical walls. The Naga sections were a bit mediocre too, especially the last one that didn't seem to work exactly as intended - you had to take out three machines whilst also surviving their attacks, however sometimes you'd run in front of the machines and still get hit by their attacks as the game raced to push you back behind them.

The Pro-bending league is a neat little addition that will probably take an extra hour or two to beat. It probably has even little depth to it than the story but it's pretty entertaining and gets a bit challenging later on - but there is a lot of satisfaction to be had in making round winning blocks and beating some of the tougher teams after a close game.

STORY
It's not as good as the TV show but I don't think anyone would be expecting that - after reading other reviews it seems some people were... Coming back to visit this point I guess I do understand the complaint. With the actual TV show having such strong characters and well thought out story lines I can understand that some people would perhaps be a bit put-off by this game lacking much of a compelling story or the same charm.

But then again, perhaps an argument could be made that, if you want a good story, you just watch the TV show. Of course that isn't such a great excuse in this age where games can rival movies and TV in the story department but what this game does is allow for the people who want to know how it feels to be the Avatar and smack people around with fire, earth, air and water to get a feel for it in a way that, whilst could certainly be improved upon, would never be possible in the form of TV.

Does it deal with some of the interesting aspects the TV show explores like how it can impact someone mentally to be the Avatar? No, it doesn't. It doesn't even try to explore anything in depth. The story is just there to get you from A to B. For some people that won't be enough and this won't be a game for them. For others that will be fine. For me the gameplay was fun and rewarding, whilst being able to pull off many of the moves seen in the show that made me wish for a game based in the Avatar universe was fulfilling enough for me.

GRAPHICS

The characters looked fine, even if perhaps some the enemies began looking a bit repetitive.  I always enjoy cell-shaded graphics though. The cutscenes in the game aren't animated to the same quality of the show however they still look fine.

SOUND
The voice actors from the show reprise their voice roles so that's nice. The music from the show is well used too.

VALUE FOR MONEY

It's worth considering that this game is usually about 1/3rd of a AAA title's price. So vast amounts of content shouldn't be expected. The story only takes around 3 hours to complete on Normal, which is too short really. Add in a couple more hours to complete the Pro-bending league and you're probably around 5 hours, which is still pretty lacking. However of course it does seem like the game has been designed with replay-ability in mind, you don't unlock the Avatar state until very late on, you can keep on doing levels until you've scored platinum in each one, then of course there are harder difficulties too - extreme mode really does seem like a different game to normal.

OVERALL
Despite its short comings in, well being so short, and having largely dull level design the game is really fun. Platinum rarely disappoint when it comes to combat and whilst it may not be the deepest system they've ever devised it is just really fun to use the elements. It's a solid experience, probably one of the best TV/movie tie-in games, easily the best game in the Avatar series and should at least please fans of the TV series, like myself. I'll just have to keep dreaming of the true potential this franchise has, especially in the hands of such talented developers as Platinum Games - just imagine a fully fledged game by them. It has the potential to be the greatest.

DAMNED

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version reviewed.

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MIDDLE-EARTH: SHADOW OF MORDOR

The best LotR game in a while.

PC version reviewed.

GAMEPLAY


STORY
World feels very boring and inispisred, aside from the orcs, which is a real shame and begs the question how it was even possible set in one of, if not, the best fantasy world ever. Instead it's just a generic open world.

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BAYONETTA 2

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Switch version .

Bayonetta 2 is a game published by Nintendo and developed by PlatinumGames for the Wii U and Nintendo Switch.

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DESTINY

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PS3 version reviewed.

Destiny is a game published by Activision and developed by Bungie for the Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

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THE DARK BELOW EXPANSION


HOUSE OF WOLVES EXPANSION


THE TAKEN KING EXPANSION

MARIO KART 8 REVIEW

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Switch version reviewed.

Mario Kart 8 is a racing game published and developed by Nintendo for the Wii U and Nintendo Switch.

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WATCH DOGS

Interesting idea hampered by some odd design decisions.

PC version reviewed.

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SIR, YOU ARE BEING HUNTED (2014) REVIEW

Survival, with more tea.

PC exclusive.

Sir, You Are Being Hunted is a stealth survival game published and developed by Big Robot for the PC.

GAMEPLAY
Single player satisfying for the first few hours, although the experience may begin to dwindle on some, as the game won't change too much throughout.

The game at times can actually be a bit creepy, something plenty of these survival games somehow seem to fail at doing sometimes.

Multiplayer is pretty dumbed down from single player, and certainly doesn't hold up so well. While messing around with friends could be fun for a couple of games, the ability to only travel across a much smaller world space certainly reduces a lot of the fun from single player.

STORY
There are small tidbits here and there, nothing really to praise or critise the game for though. All you really need to know is that these small bits are not really important to the gameplay.

GRAPHICS
While perhaps not the best looking game visually, when considering the small team behind the game it would be harsh to call out the graphics too much. I was somewhat impressed with some of the designs for each robot and the way they moved around seemed satisfying.

SOUND
There isn't really much music wise, SFX the game seems alright.

VALUE FOR MONEY
Single player could take around 4 hours, the tuned down multiplayer could add a few too.

OVERALL
While it's more unique setting and fun first few hours make Sir, You Are Being Hunted appealing, the game does wear on you a bit quickly. The game is perhaps not worth full price to some people, but it's probably worth checking out when on sale for people interested.

GOAT SIMULATOR

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version reviewed.

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INFAMOUS: SECOND SUN REVIEW

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PS4 exclusive.

Infamous: Second Son is an open-world action game published by Sony and developed by Sucker Punch Productions for the Playstation 4.

GAMEPLAY

No real day and night cycle, only rotated through missions.

Open world was a bit samey and boring. Side missions weren’t great, a lot of stuff seemed to be repeated or recycled through the game, such as the secret agents or karma things such as busting drug deals or attacking sign holding people. It just didn’t feel that alive with civilians doing pretty much nothing aside from getting injured and providing you with an opportunity to heal them, there were only cars for traffic and they couldn’t even hurt you – although there were some enemy helicopters and a few missions that had trucks. Any boats were immobile and you couldn’t even swim in the game.

The open world itself didn’t feel very alive either and almost seemed a bit check boxy, in the regard that it was all rather standard with enemy bases to capture and some parts like the spray painting felt a bit gimmicky, although some of the environments being destructible seemed cool.

No way to switch between the four different powers was an odd design choice, especially since the d-pad buttons were mostly unused (Down did something that seemed to be irrelevant). The game did do a good job of making you feel pretty cool at times though.

Bridge boss halfway through expected you to use your new neon power and the cutscene afterwards implies you did – even if you didn’t. This was rather disappointed, especially considering how the game seemingly goads you into not using it. There’s not even a trophy and for a game that talks about giving you impactful choices it seemed pretty weak.

STORY
Delsin and Reggie’s brotherly relationship was well written. Augustine was a good villain too. The actual story itself though wasn’t that brilliant and almost feels like it had some potential wasted – it also felt a little rushed at the end.

GRAPHICS
Good graphics, the final boss looked really good, the final couple of bosses (Eugene and Augustine were both pretty fun battles too)

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OVERALL
It is funny looking back at the Sly Cooper series and thinking that Assassin’s Creed possibly took some inspiration from it because Sucker Punch have gone full circle and taken inspiration from a lot of Ubisoft’s open world quirks. Second Son is a solid game but isn’t really anything too great. If you’re looking to expand your Playstation library, or aren’t burnt out by the Ubisoft open world formula it is probably worth a shot. However I don’t think you’d be missing out on too much if you passed this game up.

DARK SOULS II

A step forward and a step back.

PC version .

Dark Souls II is a RPG published by Bandai Namco and developed by FromSoftware for the Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC.

GAMEPLAY
Smoother gameplay, more weapons and items to change the way you approach the game

The lack of a interconnected world like the original was a shame. Being able to see locations from others was cool and even cooler when you could find how some of them actually linked together. Instead some of Dark Souls II's levels almost stick together awkwardly, such as taking an elevator up  from a poison filled windmill to a lava filled castle with a sea of molten rock surrounding it as far as the eye could see was pretty jarring.

Being able to get invaded while hollow was a bad idea. I understand you could just play offline if you didn't want to get invaded but then you can miss out on some online features like messages. Restricting invasions to when you were human was a better way to do it.

More punishing than the previous game but more so in an unfair way. Your health pool being depleted further and further the more you die was a bad change because it feels like its just trying to make things more difficult rather than challenging. One of the main points of the original was being able to die over and over with the real punishment being potentially not learning from your mistakes, rather than death being a bad thing.

The problem of manufactured difficulty shows up in a few areas of this game and by that I really do mean the areas you explore. Two particular sections in the Iron Keep and Shrine of Amana just felt like they were punishing the player for simply being there. Loads of enemies with annoying moves with the potential to take you down easily made them frustrating, pair this with the degrading health pool and the fact that for whatever reason the invulnerability players got when interacting with levers, doors or fog walls was removed led to some easy frustration to cheap and annoying deaths.

So not only is it more annoying to get to bosses but some of the bosses certainly felt worse than the previous game. There are more bosses in this game than the original and perhaps it does feel a bit like quantity over quality with some of them hardly even feeling like bosses, failing to evoke that thrill or sense of awe that some of the original did. Perhaps my least favourite boss in the game, the Ancient Dragon, was a fight that hardly relied on skill but instead on the luck of which moves he would decide to use. You would go in hoping that he would try and breath fire at you or stamp on you rather than him flying up and spraying the ground with flames, which could even be a one shot move. So I knew what to do, I just had to hope he would use his other moves more often than the fire move. For a series that's supposed to be so renowned for learning to beat bosses through skill this fight felt more like a lottery draw.

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CROWN OF THE SUNKEN KING EXPANSION
Slumbering Dragon was a great fight but the other two felt pretty average or even frustrating, especially the trio one.

CROWN OF THE OLD IRON KING EXPANSION
Pretty unique location that was fun to explore, one of three bosses was almost just a reskin but Sir Alonne and the Fume Knight were both good bosses, with the Fume Knight being one of, if not the hardest in the series. Although the potential run back if you were defeated by Sir Alonne or the Blue Smelter Demon were really horrible,

The level design of Brume Tower was probably the most well designed throughout the whole game. It was fun descending through the tower and finding all the rooms but the biggest thing I liked about it was how there were some really nicely done traps that could punish both you and the enemy. I have perticular praise for one room in perticular that was filled with enemies and a shrine to buff them, all in the way of a doorway to progress. Fighting against the enemies in the room is very difficult and running to the lever to open the door was also very risky. However if you were thinking outside the box there were some non-aggressive NPCs wandering around with explosive barrels, easily going off if they came into contact with fire. Now seemingly there were trap doors for you to fall into this pit and face despair against the enemies but if you were clever about it you could guide the explosive barrel NPCs into the trap instead, falling into the room and eliminating all the enemies without you even having to step foot down there. It was great to see that work and felt so rewarding for thinking outside the box.

CROWN OF THE IVORY KING EXPANSION
Two interesting boss fights with the other one basically being the same as one of the others but with two enemies instead of one