MONSTER HUNTER GENERATIONS ULTIMATE

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Switch exclusive.

Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate is a game published and developed by Capcom for the Nintendo Switch.

Original reviewed here:

DIFFERENCES FROM ORIGINAL

OVERALL

COMEDY NIGHT

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PC version reviewed.

Comedy Night is a comedy game published and developed by Lighthouse Games Studios for the PC.

GAMEPLAY


GRAPHICS

SOUND


VALUE FOR MONEY

OVERALL

UNCHARTED: THE LOST LEGACY REVIEW

Uncharted - with the same old new faces.

PS4 exclusive.

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is an action adventure game published by Sony and developed by Naughty Dog for the Playstation 4.

This review has some spoilers!

GAMEPLAY
Outside of the lockpicking mechanic there didn't really seem to be anything new.

Chapter 4 felt like Naughty Dog dipping their toes into the open world genre.

I mentioned it in my Uncharted 4 review that I thought co-op could have worked in the game. Obviously I understand why it wasn't and that it wouldn't really have worked, but the possibility seemed to be there. However The Lost Legacy, aside from a few brief moments, really felt like they could have used co-op. It very much seemed like Chloe and Nadine's story, rather than Uncharted 4 that was mostly still focused on Nate.

STORY
Good. Not the story telling masterpiece Uncharted 4 was, but still a solid piece. It did a good job of tying up the loose ends left too.

A lot of people didn't like Nadine in Uncharted 4, I didn't really have a problem with her as she wasn't really there to be the most in depth character. The Lost Legacy did give her much more depth though and I thought she earned her redemption - hopefully others feel the same way.

I was sure Asav's expert was going to be Chloe's father the way the story was going, Naughty Dog caught me out though and Sam showing up was a nice surprise that they kept well hidden.

I'd been hoping Charlie Cutter would appear, I know he was mentioned in Uncharted 4, but he never showed up. Assuming Naughty Dog are actually going to continue the Uncharted franchise I hope he appears again at some point.

GRAPHICS

Uncharted 4 is still the best looking game around, which means The Lost Legacy is as well.

I did think Uncharted 4 had slightly better facial animations, The Lost Legacy still has far superior animations to most other games, it just didn't look quite as good to me. There were a couple of points

SOUND
Voice acting was on point, soundtrack did its job

VALUE FOR MONEY

Around 7 hours long, halving the price to that of a normal triple A game was a nice move.

OVERALL
As a DLC/Expansion, whatever you want to call it, The Lost Legacy has to be among the best. As a standalone game it didn't quite reach the level 2, 3 or 4 but was still a very high quality game.

Even without Nate, Elena or Sully this instalment to the franchise has shown that the remaining cast is strong enough to hold it up. Most people will probably enjoy this game, regardless of their knowledge of the series and at the lower price it is worth checking out if you have a Playstation.

HELLBLADE: SENUA'S SACRIFICE REVIEW

Disturbing, unsettling and frightening - in mostly the right ways.

PC version reviewed.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a game published and developed by Ninja Theory for the Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC.

This review has some spoilers!

GAMEPLAY
The rune puzzles repeat throughout and are so very boring. You just look around the environment for 5 minutes having to find the exact match up to a given shape. It's not hugely challenging most the time but is really dull, especially since, at least at the start, that's most of what the game throws at you puzzle wise. This is made even more frustrating when the door you've been trying to unlock bugs up and doesn't open, meaning you have to quit back to the menu and then continue from the last checkpoint, which leads to you having to find the runes again and hoping that the door opens.

The combat isn't horrible but isn't amazing either. Fighting multiple enemies can be a bit frustrating, especially considering that they can spawn in behind you sometimes and the only warning being the voices. If the camera weren't so zoomed in and could adjust a bit more when multiple enemies appeared it would probably have been an improvement. There can be some satisfaction in a well timed block or letting loose with the focus and the whole system seems simple enough to get to grips with.

People did numerous tests to see how many times Senua could die before the rot mechanic would kill her, once I saw the message appear in game I searched the internet because I was worried I might end up having to play through the game again if I found it too difficult. However once you finish the game you can realise just how genius the rot mechanic was. It was there to invoke fear into the player and make them overly weary of how they were doing, but ultimately it was just there to do that, it wasn't actually there to punish the player physically but mentally.

STORY
The idea of a protagonist with psychosis is such a great idea that hasn't been explored too often throughout mainstream media really, let alone games. It seems Ninja Theory did their research on it and didn't just run through a checklist and call it a day. It's certainly where the game is at its strongest, along with the sound design.

Senua's character development is very good, certainly for a video game.

I really liked the message of psychosis not necessarily being a weakness but instead a different way of thinking. That's not to say the game certainly doesn't show downsides to it but it ultimately ends with a pretty positive message.

GRAPHICS

Most of the environments are messed up, ghastly, horrible and unwelcoming which is exactly what Ninja Theory were going for considering the story.

The motion capture was very good and the insertion of live actors had me questioning what was real and what was an in-game model.

SOUND
Very impressive sound design with the binaural sound used for the voices being very effective and it really did sound like they were right next to you at times. Voice acting and the soundtrack were both good too.

VALUE FOR MONEY

Obviously this game is about the experience rather than hours to money ratio. Most people generally seem to beat it in around 6-8 hours. It doesn't hugely seem like it has much replay-ability but the game also had a below average price at launch to try and amend this. It's certainly one of the games you buy for the experience rather than a money to hour ratio.

OVERALL
Senua's Sacrifice is a game that is pretty innovative in its exploration of themes around psychosis. It definitely deserves credit for trying out something very different and treating the subject matter with respect. Sadly however the game is let down by some of the actual gameplay with repetitive puzzles and some bugs. If you're looking for an action packed third person experience this probably won't fill that gap but if you're looking for a game with a good story this will provide one that, for me at least, made up for the at times frustrating gameplay. Absolutely get it if you like good stories.