Review Category: Games

With the failure of Mechwarrior Tactics thanks to the remarkably shady practices of Infinite Games Publishing, having any tactical BattleTech game see release was a small miracle for fans. The fact that it was handed to Harebrained Schemes must have seemed like an act of divine intervention. Following their repeated successes in bringing the Shadowrun franchise to PC, there were few more appropriate developers for the task and the studio has struck gold once again.

The game places you in the role of a mercenary, serving one house after another in the ongoing feuds between the galaxy’s great powers. Your character’s background, who they favour and how they act toward them are all shaped by you, but these are fairly light RPG options across the game. The options themselves are often meaningful, but it is clear that the developers were prioritising a straightforward but well-told story with solid mechanics to keep the player hooked.

The turn-based combat itself is highly engaging and retains an XCOM level sense of desperation in many battles. The AI is specifically tailored to exploit weaknesses whenever possible and the potential for new reinforcements to arrive means that you can rarely remain complacent. There’s no obvious easy-win method to the game as every mech, class and pilot has a multitude of different benefits and aspects. Light mechs gain substantial advantages by moving at full speed thanks to their capacity to evade shots, while mediums offer a balance between speed and firepower. Equally, this can be offset by pilot skills or even the right series of weapons, or the terrain working against you – Especially in regards to preventing a mech from overheating and shutting down mid-battle. No matter how many times you play through the same scenario, there are any number of ways events can play out differently.

The method of attaining power and influence is also one which is certainly different from the average game, as you can alter your rewards. Money, scrap metal, upgrades or influence with a faction are all viable choices and the latter will be influenced heavily by just what you opt to do. Working for someone for free will certainly give you a substantial reputation boost in that faction’s eyes, but you can find yourself shorthanded in future battles and making new enemies as a result of this. More pressingly still, this can open up new opportunities and repercussions, and the weight of a loss is going to hit you far harder than any game. Not only will you likely lose multiple essential assets and cash, but you can end up giving a poor showing in the eyes of your employer. It’s this quality which offers the game such a heightened level of immersion and keeps you engaged.

With all this said, there are a few notable problems with the game. A particularly noted one is the animation times for many units, as the lumbering gigantic mechs tend to take their time with every action. When you end up with vast numbers of units on the field at a time, battles can rapidly turns into dragged out affairs leaving you waiting for quite some time to just give your next order. Atop of this, the story itself undergoes a few oddly abrupt turns at the last minute, which are not given the full time needed to explore or examine. It’s akin to the major issue behind Shadowrun: Hong Kong, and it disrupts what was otherwise a well-told narrative arc.

However, what truly deducts a few points from the final score is the state of the game on release. This desperately needs a few extra patches, with abrupt frame drops and visual glitches arising repeatedly in the mid to late game missions. A much more serious one is how the game can, on rare occasions, completely wipe away all of your data from saved profiles to settings; erasing hours of experience and storytelling at a time. Were it in a more optimised state this would be a far superior experience, but until then it cannot be granted a higher score.

BattleTech is a clearly ambitious and excellently executed game in terms of its concepts, balancing and mechanics. Save for a few pragmatic choices it remains extremely lore to the source material and the RNG – while often harsh – rarely oversteps its boundaries into being outright unfair. It simply needs a few more patches before it can truly live up to its potential.

BATTLETECH / DEVELOPER: HAREBRAINED SCHEMES / PUBLISHER: PARADOX INTERACTIVE / PLATFORM: PC / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

When you mention post-apocalyptic video games to most people, the likes of Fallout are what immediately comes to mind. RPGs with exploration, choices and mini-quests are plentiful in this regard, as is the survival genre it often ends up paired up with. Frostpunk seeks to take a new spin on things with a city-building and attempting to establish a new society in a world which is freezing over.

The most obvious strength of the game from the start stems from Frostpunk’s aesthetics. The contrast of the dark steampunk city with white wilderness never fails to look beautiful in its bleakness, and the artistic direction perfectly captures the industrial revolution designs which made the genre so visually engaging. Furthermore, it’s very clearly set up to be an uphill battle from the start. You are granted little more than a single generator and a few houses to begin with. Venturing forth to reclaim technology, new supplies and even building up a greater population is a perpetual risk.

The actual timetables of individual citizens are taken into account with the mechanics, with work, sleep and free time playing an essential part in keeping your city relatively stable. What’s more is that there’s no single purpose solution to many problems. The division between the infirmary and medical post is proof enough of this, but other general choices such as whether or not to utilise child labour prove to be far harder to make than you might expect.

The main problem is that Frostpunk lacks the longevity or depth of many of its contemporaries. The story itself is relatively brief, and once your city is self-sufficient there really is little else for you to do with it. Furthermore, narrative choices all too often serve as merely flavour text to the work. This isn’t true for all of them, but many such as an apparently branching societal path only offers different aesthetics to your city and nothing more. Even after this, there are only two scenarios, and that simply isn’t enough to offer any great deal of replay value.

Frostpunk never fully achieves what it strived to do, nor does it quite offer the satisfaction of a true city builder. While the aesthetic and strong core mechanics will keep players enthralled until the end, the lack of an endless mode, short campaign and the surprising shallowness of certain mechanics means it lacks the lasting appeal the genre is known for. As a result, if you are a dedicated Sim City fan or someone seeking a new take on post-apocalyptic survival this will scratch that itch, but you will likely be left wanting a more fulfilling experience by the end.

FROSTPUNK / DEVELOPER & PUBLISHER: 11 BIT STUDIOS / PLATFORM: PC / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Taking its cues from games like Streets of Rage and Double Dragon, Streets of Red adds a modern twist to old school beat em ups by including some fairly unique mechanics to bring a classic arcade formula slashing and screaming into the modern era. What would happen if the zombie apocalypse suddenly arrived during a gaming convention? We’re about to find out…

Your first task is to choose a character – four are available from the start, with a further two being unlocked by meeting certain objectives within the game. Each character has the same simple controls (never more involved than pressing a direction and a single button), although their weapons and attacks vary so each one feels different to the others. You might notice that they look a little familiar – Streets of Red contains countless references to video games and movies both new and old, and throughout the game there are plenty of visual and aural treats that will raise a smile from eagle-eyed/eared players.

SOR consists of four levels that can be tackled in any order. Your first level lasts for one “night”, your second lasts for two, and so on. So if you were to choose the sewer level first, you’ll only have to make it through one section of that particular level, but if you take it on second, you’ll have to get through two. A single playthrough will usually take around an hour, although you’ll want to make sure you’re playing on at least ‘normal’ difficulty if you want to see the true ending of the game. There’s also an “expert” mode that includes a few options that not only increase the difficulty but also increases the amount of money it costs to buy your way back in if you die.

“Buy your way back in?” The game autosaves at the start of each level, but – much like a real arcade game – if you die mid-game the only way to continue from the spot where you died is by buying your way back in, except here you’ll be using money collected from defeated enemies rather than real life cash. A rare continue token is also available, and can be incredibly useful although it takes you back to the beginning of the stage rather than immediately picking up from where you left off. If you’re out of cash and tokens, guess what? Your save file is deleted right before your eyes and you’re back to the main menu. It sounds a tad harsh, but as a homage to the early days of arcade goodness, it works perfectly.

With its branching paths containing a wide variety of different stages, enemies and bosses, littered with knowing references too many of our favourite franchises, Streets of Red was made for multiple playthroughs. The story mode supports up to four co-op players, and there are are also achievements to earn and an additional survival mode to test your skills and endurance. With its generous amount of content and incredibly addictive gameplay, here’s hoping SOR achieves all the success it truly deserves.

STREETS OF RED: DEVIL’S DARE DELUXE / DEVELOPER: SECRET BASE / PLATFORM: NINTENDO SWITCH, PS4 / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

There’s always a line between inspiration and outright copying. It’s the difference between an artist taking references and outright tracing. It’s finer than many would believe, and the likes of Ash of Gods: Redemption shows that more than most. Even a simple glance brings to mind the Banner Saga, and that doesn’t stop with the visuals.

The story follows the novels of Sergey Malitsky. A long era of peace in a fantasy setting is broken by the invasion of a reaper horde seeking to awaken their slumbering gods. Your task is to keep as many people alive as possible, including the protagonists.

The game is divided up into two segments – Travelling across the landscape while managing resources and tile based combat. Both are handled well, as the former proves to be harsh and unpredictable but never unfairly so. It constantly introduces moral decisions to keep things interesting, while avoiding easy choices. Failing to maintain your supplies will cost you troops, and carelessness will lead only to an early grave.

Melee meanwhile is handled by a grid-based combat system. While it sticks to turn-based engagements, things are kept interesting by an extremely varied number of classes and allowing losses to have genuine impact. Wounds take more than a potion to fix, and losing someone can cost you for battles to come. In some cases, those downed never recover. Equally, armour does more than merely lessen damage. It’s tough but brittle, and unless you crack it open with the right person, your attacks with do nothing. This creates an extremely engaging environment where the same tactic never works twice.

Unfortunately, Ash of Gods: Redemption stumbles in terms of storytelling, and falls flat on its face when it comes to executing an effective narrative. When the writing isn’t generic it can be cringe inducing. This is especially evident of the dialogue, which often devolves into “as you know” speeches. Worse still, it drops multiple Chekhov’s Guns, only to never use them. These seemingly aren’t even sequel bait or story building moments, they just exist and are never followed up on.

There’s no denying that Ash of Gods: Redemption was going to have an uphill battle. With so many inspirations and clear similarities to the Banner Saga, it’s difficult to decide where inspiration ends and outright imitation begins. The game still shines in its combat, musical presentation and animation style, and the survival mechanics remain a harsh but fair trial for any player. Yet, with multiple narrative shortcomings, it lacks the strong mythology to bring those elements together. RPG enthusiasts who can forgive that will still get a kick out of playing this, but otherwise you may wish to give this one a pass.

ASH OF GODS: REDEMPTION / DEVELOPER: AURUMDUST / PUBLISHER: AURUMDUST, WHISPERGAMES / PLATFORM: PC / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Having met with substantial success on consoles, Airmech has finally seen a full release on PC. Exiting its open beta after six years of testing, it has finally been deemed finished. The wait was most definitely worth it.

The game promotes itself as an action-RTS, with a bend of traditional RTS and MOBA mechanics. While you still have the usual combination of units (brawlers, scouts, artillery etc.) you now have the option of getting involved personally via a transforming airborne mech. Capable of switching between a jet and a mecha, it’s substantially more powerful than many ground units but not invincible. As such, you can use it to personally spearhead attacks and harry foes on multiple fronts.

What makes this such an act of genius is how well it offsets a number of qualities which pushes people away from RTS games. It makes micromanagement all the easier, you’re not so heavily reliant upon rock-paper-scissors battles. As such there are moments where player skill in direct engagements can overwhelm carefully placed long-term strategies or formation. Many of the scenarios from Capture the Flag to Warzone focuses on quick experiences, and there is very little wait or downtime during these. In many respects, it’s exactly what Tiberium Twilight was planned to be before it went wrong.

Along with good gameplay, AirMech is also very stable and well optimized. Even on low-end PCs, you will be lucky to ever see it fall below 60 FPS and it still offers a basic but colourful art style which makes movements easy to track even with settings set to minimal.

However, there are two notable problems. A number of units are notably weaker than others to the point of being superfluous, either filling out the same role as another or lacking the durability needed to make a difference. Equally, tactics tend to quickly devolve into quick rushes and spamming units in the right place over more complex moves. The nature of the modes offsets this somewhat, but you will find little variety in how you opponents behave.

While AirMech certainly has its shortcomings, the game is nevertheless a solid and reliable experience. It benefits from lacking the sort of skill barrier which has long driven new players away from the likes of Starcraft II and the capacity to personally get stuck in proves to be an effective equalizer. The quick nature and lack of build-up time also means that matches can quickly start and finish, making this easy to binge on from one engagement after another. As such, while it has its flaws, Airmech nevertheless still a very engaging. If you like the idea of commanding armies but previous RTS experiences drove you away from the genre, this is definitely a game for you.

AIRMECH / DEVELOPER: / PUBLISHER: / PLATFORM: PC, XBOX ONE, XBOX 360, PLAYSTATION 4 / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

There’s no denying that Rare has seen better days. Once the studio which produced classics like Goldeneye and Banjo Kazooie, the developer quickly fell from its lofty perch following Microsoft’s purchase. This is ultimately why many have been hoping that Sea of Thieves would be a return to form, and to restore the once legendary developer’s good name. Unfortunately, it falls a bit short of that mark. It’s still a fantastic adventure, but it commits a number of sins we have seen a few too many times before.

The sense of adventure and lifestyle of piracy is easily the greatest quality working in its favour. The ship to ship battle system in particular is fantastic, with few true flaws or even issues worthy of mention. It heavily emphasises teamwork and even with a full crew of four you can find yourself short in at least one area. Yet, this proves to be engaging rather than frustrating due to how frantic an experience this can be, and emulates the best qualities of Guns of Icarus.

The sense of exploration and the nature of the open world Sea of Thieves is set in only enhances the engagement of taking to the seas. While it seemed at first as if hunting for treasure on islands or exploring the land would become tedious, yet for the most part it sidesteps this issue. While there is certainly downtime between major events, the game is sure to throw something major your way every few hours. From a tense standoff and hunt by other ships in a storm to a sea monster showing up to ruin your day, it does push to have memorable hectic moments to keep you hooked. Not to mention the odd mission to find and slay undead capitains.

Even beyond this, Sea of Thieves is simply beautiful. The vibrant colours, sunsets and supernatural events all offer more than enough clean and bright visuals to keep surprising you for weeks to come.

So, where does it fall short after all this? For starters, it’s a massive world of predators. The code of conduct you can find on every tavern wall is supposed to serve as a rule of law. Unfortunately, many treat them more like guidelines if not completely ignoring them. Following the likes of DayZ and Nether, everyone you run into will desire to kill you. You will be shot, backstabbed and toyed with in order for them to take your plunder. You will be lucky to find a single situation which does not end in bloodshed, and the respawn system means you will always appear back on your ship. As such, countless enemy crews will simply camp out on the deck of your vessel, killing you over and over again purely for kicks.

Furthermore, the game has a distinct problem in supplying content or even more direct activities between the big moments. There’s simply not enough variety of smaller scale or varied objectives to keep things going between surviving storms, treasure chests and the odd kraken attack. While this is supposedly a game which “grows and evolves” this start is somewhat flawed to say the least. It’s clear that you need the experience of playing with friends to offset the slower periods between pitched battles.

Plus, atop of all this, you have the server issues which cannot go unmentioned. Having ridden the wave of hype to its very end, the servers are struggling to keep up with the influx of players. While this thankfully isn’t another Diablo 3 or SimCity situation, you will often find yourself lagging or disconnecting at the worst possible moment.

Sea of Thieves is a decent game, but it has the potential to be a truly great one. With a few extra patches and content updates this could be the pirate experience gamers have spent years begging for. As it stands though, there are simply too many flaws to give this one a higher score. By all means buy it, take to the high seas and have fun with a few friends, but just avoid anyone else like the plague.

SEA OF THIEVES / DEVELOPER: RARE / PUBLISHER: GREG MAYLES / PLATFORM: PC, XBOX ONE / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

On its surface, Treasure Adventure World seems like an extraordinary generic experience. It’s a puzzle platformer with an emphasis on exploration,  a few extremely varied locations and requires you to unlock abilities to uncover new areas. All you need is to mention Mario, and it would sound like something from the SNES era. However, the game quickly proves to be far more than just the sum of its parts. Furthermore, while its essential component mechanics are borderline archaic, it uses them so well you can often end up forgetting that little detail.

The story follows Peep, a figure who is suffering from amnesia. With one hook for a hand and a parrot at his side, it’s your job to rediscover his past and explore the island he has washed up on.

The immediate point which works in this game’s favour is scale. The initial island alone will see you running back and forth across it, finding new challenges and discoveries with every development. While part of this is down to how the Metroidvania-esque quest progress, a major factor stems from how the game stages and structures them. It opposes the Elder Scrolls style expanse in favour of something which is open but carefully layered. This avoids creasing the sense that the world is shallow for all its immensity, and the colourful nature of the NPCs only further benefits this aspect. This isn’t simply a case of a few generally palette swaps wandering about the world, as each has a distinct visual and verbal quirk to make them stand out.

The puzzles themselves rely heavily on personal ingenuity and creative thinking to overcome. While a fair number still feature the usual “use item here to overcome obstacle” logic, the combinations and use of the environment gives it more of an edge over similar experiences. The use of environmental elements in particular can often end up completely altering how you would expect to resolve a puzzle, or the various uses of a single item. As for the broader equipment, however, this isn’t simply a Zelda situation of one tool for one job. You can end up using everything from a screwdriver to an assembled diving suit to complete the tasks at hand, and as a result it rarely feels repetitive despite its length.

However, Treasure Adventure World does suffer from something of a slow burn. It can take up to three hours to really get into it, and in that time you can quite easily write it off as a simple casual timewaster. It’s only once you start to move past the introductory phase and utilise various environmental elements that it starts to truly come to life. Furthermore, the open world design and drive to utilise backtracking means that you can end up dragging out certain quests. You will rarely have the right tools for the right job to finish any series of objectives in one go, leaving you with a few dozen quests active at a time. This means that there are multiple points where it can seem as if you are making very little progress despite your efforts.

The controls themselves are unusually floaty and lack the sort of tension and precision you would hope for. This leads to more than a few frustrating segments with metal hoops quite late on, which require pinpoint accuracy to properly pull off. In of itself that wouldn’t be overly bad, but it also affects the combat. This is easily the weakest part of the overall game as, while it tries to remain inventive, Treasure Adventure World’s fights typically use extremely simple attack patterns. It’s to the point that fights against gigantic snake monsters can end up feeling like games of whack a mole.

Treasure Adventure World is a definite success for all its problems. While it does require patience early on, it nevertheless offers a brilliant variety of puzzles, challenges and new areas to explore. Any genre fan who simply enjoys wandering the land in order to find something new should definitely give this one a look.

TREASURE ADVENTURE WORLD / DEVELOPER: ROBIT GAMES / PUBLISHER: CHUCKLEFISH / PLATFORM: PC / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

Ghost of a Tale looks at first glance to be the sort of thing open betas were built for. It’s an original concept devised by an indie team which was open to the public despite a lengthy development cycle. Unfortunately, while this method spawned successes such as Sunless Sea and Subnautica, this one doesn’t quite measure up to them.

The game follows the story of Tilo, a mouse and minstrel born into a fantasy world. After being thrown in prison on an island fortress, it’s your job to escape and uncover the truth behind a centuries old conflict.

While this could have easily proved to be a by-the-numbers dungeon crawler, the game instead favours a very different approach. Enemies are not there to be openly fought so much as escaped, as you sneak about the place, evading guards and maintaining your supplies. Exploration also plays a major part in this, as you will often backtrack and return to older areas to uncover their secrets, or to resolve puzzles. This is a welcome return to a mentality we have not seen in years as it gives the location, Dwindling Heights Keep, a distinct sense of personality and atmosphere. The fact you grow to know so many major areas means that it benefits from the same quality which made Resident Evil’s Spencer Mansion such an iconic location.

The atmosphere benefits further from both stunning CGI and surprisingly strong character interactions. The game is obviously beautiful to behold and the scenery has been made specifically to foster a sense of wonder from the player. Even just a basic screenshot makes this evident, while the many figures you meet have simple, direct but very strong personalities. It’s the same sort of thing Zelda has always benefited from in its worldbuilding. It’s just a shame that, while it starts strong, it doesn’t take long for problems to arise.

What ultimately holds back Ghost of a Tale from greater successes is its unrefined status. The game is undeniably janky, both in how it handles a number of key mechanics and the bugs which arise as you play. These tend to be most evident as you try to explore through the game. The likes of maps will begin to fail you as  you move into certain areas, marking the wrong location or (in the cast of the Catacombs) the opposite of where you actually stand.

Furthermore, the open feeling of the first few hours gives way to more condensed and enclosed areas later on. Several key locales have clearly been rushed, and suffer from notable padding or glaring shortcomings. At a few points you can even end up unknowingly sequence breaking past events or stuck at a dead end. This might have been excusable if Ghost of a Tale’s story held true, but it drops the ball at the absolute last minute, stopping just before it can give the player closure to events.

Ghost of a Tale is a game many will be able to love despite its flaws, and later patches might even fix some of the bigger problems. For the most part, however, it offers a grand opening and a wealth of potential, but much of the developer’s effort was focused purely on those areas. Give it a look, but decide carefully on just what you want out of it before buying.

GHOST OF A TALE / DEVELOPER & PUBLISHER: SEITHCG / PLATFORM: PC / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

The past few years have been good to Capcom of late. Having managed to pull themselves out of something of a rut, Resident Evil 7 and Monster Hunter: World have both taken their classic franchises to new heights. Unfortunately, while there has been rumblings of a new Devil May Cry for months now, nothing definitive has come to light. In its place, the company has decided to placate fans with an HD release. Unfortunately, it’s a very mixed bag.

The series – for the most part – follows the half-demon Dante. A monster slayer for hire, Dante makes his living taking jobs dealing with the supernatural and often ending them via violent means. Effectively you’re playing Hellboy if he went the way of Deadpool.

Each of the games follows a different chapter in Dante’s life, with some Resident Evil style puzzles but less survival and far more air juggling. While certainly clunky in the earlier releases, the combat has aged surprisingly well thanks to its sheer variety of combos and multitude of weapons. The prompts, combos and reactions have translated well onto PC, while the baroque environments and massive bosses offer a level of engagement and atmosphere the DmC reboot sadly lacked. Unfortunately, while these are solid ports there’s little to say about the HD efforts put into them.

Each of the games looks their age, with blocky and angular polygons and little done to improve the texture work. The lighting is also surprisingly flat, with nothing done to truly improve the tones or textures save for a few minimal upgrades in places. Irritatingly, a number of older flaws are also evident here, with a few surprisingly glitchy camera angles holding back the combat. You can end up blindsided due to an unexpected perspective flip, and so many mechanics are still constrained by technology from seventeen years ago.

Furthermore, while each game can thankfully run at a full 60FPS and at 1080p, this comes hand in hand with a few new problems. Minor audio glitches are hardly an uncommon flaw, especially in the cutscenes of the first game, and you can often pinpoint exactly where the new speed has created problems for this release.

The Devil May Cry HD Collection is ultimately sharp, but its not without a few notable flaws. The HD upgrade itself only does just enough to satisfy the player and nothing more, while little has been done to fix inherent problems found in the originals. It’s certainly better than the Bioshock Collection and puts embarrassments like the Chrono Trigger PC port to shame, but it could have still used a lot more polish.

DEVIL MAY CRY HD COLLECTION / DEVELOPER & PUBLISHER: CAPCOM / PLATFORM: PC, PLAYSTATION 4, XBOX ONE / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW