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

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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.

CRASH BANDICOOT: N-SANE TRILOGY REVIEW

The platformer renaissance continues.

PS4 version reviewed.

Crash Bandicoot: N-Sane Trilogy is a platformer published Activision, developed by Naughty Dog and remastered by Vicarious Visions for the Playstation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC.

Original reviewed here: https://theunorthodoxnetwork.blogspot.co.uk/1998/11/crash-bandicoot-warped-review.html

DIFFERENCES FROM ORIGINAL
The High Road was a level notorious for being difficult in the original game and it seems to be even harder in the remaster as the hit boxes seem to be a little bit off, meaning you can't always land as precisely as you'd like which is really important for a level where one slightly miscalculated jump means going back to a checkpoint or even game over. The first game suffered from this problem the most however the second and third also occasionally seemed to struggle with it too.

The problem with these dodgy hitboxes is that whilst the original Crash was a hard game it wasn't as hard as the remaster. The collision on certain objects just isn't very good which creates an artificial challenge rather than a fair one. Many failures will lead to you thinking that you're being treated unfairly and it's because you are. Sometimes failing will just be down to back luck, rather than you really putting a foot wrong.

Unlike regular games the graphics are possibly one of the most important part of remasters. The game looks fine and has certainly been brought up to today's standard.

The soundtrack has been redone to sound much crisper and clearer than the original game. The difference between the Neo Cortex battle theme from the first game is perhaps the best example - it now sounds much more climatic and epic too.

LOST TREASURES (STORMY ASCENT) DLC
Stormy Ascent is only one level but I thought it was a nice gesture to recreate a level that was scrapped from the original game, for being too hard, especially as the DLC was free for a limited time - although it does seem that the content was already on the disc. The new shortcut to travel between the starting and final island was a nice little touch and I thought the new level was okay. It wasn't as difficult as the High Road but it certainly wasn't easy and would probably be up there with the tougher levels. People who enjoyed the game will probably like this small additional helping.

FUTURE TENSE DLC

OVERALL

If you're a fan of platformers or want a dose of nostalgia this game is worth picking up. Whilst people who have never played the game before could well still enjoy it there might be the chance they or even veterans feel it might be a bit dated now, or even find it frustrating at times with the dodgy hitboxes. With the updated visuals and good price it's still probably worth a go though.

SKYLAR & PLUX: ADVENTURE ON CLOVER ISLAND REVIEW

Ratchet & Clank - budget edition.

PC version reviewed.

Skylar & Plux: Adventure on Clover Island is a platformer published Grip Digital and developed by Right Nice Games for the Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC.

GAMEPLAY
The jet pack and swing shot are straight out of Ratchet & Clank, the movable platforms are right out of Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty and you can slow time like in Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time, not to mention some of the puzzles such as the laser guiding one had also been in Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal. These things work okay in the game but I can't help but really feel that perhaps it would have been nice if this game tried bringing something new to the table.

The gadgets work well enough, even if working through levels doesn't feel quite as smooth as Ratchet & Clank. The few levels there are though seem decently designed to test out all your gadgets and provide a solid linear structure to jump and dodge through.

Sometimes you wouldn't quite land on some platforms and you would be dragged off, this was especially common in the Clover Mountain level. The rocket enemies could be a bit annoying as well, where if you dodged their rocket it could still carry on further for a bit and come back to knock you off a platform.

Perhaps it would have been nicer to have a bit more enemy variety, as you only come up against three different enemies throughout the game (Four if you count the boss). Speaking of boss fights, the one in the game was quite good, where you did have to use your brain and test some of the powers you had gained, it would have been nicer if there were more bosses though.

It seems the PC version was a port of the Xbox One version because despite me playing on keyboard and mouse sometimes the button prompts would appear as the Xbox icons. I wouldn't usually mention things like that if it all seemed fine but there seemed to be a problem where the camera wouldn't move until you pressed a specific key, which would then trigger the game into realising that you were playing on a keyboard and mouse.

STORY
If anything it was quite nice to see that they did actually put some effort into it, rather than just throwing you into the world with no real explanations - they even put in a few plot twists too.

GRAPHICS

It looks fine. The levels are nicely coloured, the characters look alright. It bugged me that Skylar didn't have a tail though.

SOUND
The music was pretty good. I liked the touch of the main hub area theme changing, when you got near the entrance to an area, from the hub theme to a remix of it with the other areas theme.

Some of the voice acting was a bit poor at times, not that I was expecting AAA quality or anything. I'd have said it annoyed me that Skylar didn't speak but after hearing the only other female character in the game I think it was possibly the right choice not to.

VALUE FOR MONEY

Ignoring the collectibles you could probably finish this game in around 2 hours but if you throw in all the content you'll probably be at around 5 hours. In fact, with all the Ratchet & Clank comparisons you can make with this game it's very similar to Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty, where the game just feels too short.

OVERALL
Despite being a generally solid experience the length of the game lets it down. Due to how little content the game offers I can't recommend it at full price, even for a big fan of 3D platformers like myself. The game is however probably worth checking out when on sale, as the little content it does provide is quite fun. It's just a shame the game couldn't really quite shake that feeling of being a demo to something bigger.

THE SURGE

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PC version .

The Surge is a RPG published by Focus Home Interactive and developed by Deck13 for the Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC.

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