Mehdi Zadnane
This author account hasn't been claimed yet. To claim this account, please contact the outlet owner to request access.
Writing For
Press StartLatest Reviews
Planet Coaster isn’t perfect yet, but what’s there is just incredibly fun. There’s a lot of learning to do along the way, but with all of the customisation and freedom, Frontier Developments has delivered one of the best possible successors to the Rollercoaster Tycoon franchise. However, it’s an experience that will undoubtedly grow stronger as the game develops over its lifetime, which is something the developer is arguably quite skilled at. Ready to get back into the theme park-building game? Here’s your perfect chance.
Battle mode is arguably the best thing about First Light, and it really uses the combat system and Fetch’s powers to their full potential. There are only a few difficulties for the modes but you’ll probably be spending some good time beating the high scores of your friends and of course your own. Players with a Second Son save on their system will also be able to play through these arenas as Delsin, including his full set of powers.
<img decoding="async" src="https://press-start.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/BFH_CONCLUSION.jpg" alt="BFH_CONCLUSION" /> Battlefield: Hardline offers both returning and new players a slightly more fresh take on the classic Battlefield formula. But where the game delves into new territory, it often returns to the classic formula after getting cold feet. The strongest points of Hardline are when the game tries to be something different, but the fallbacks to old ways are where the game keeps itself from being great, rather than just good.
The racing genre has arguably been one of the defining genres of gaming for many generations, wether it’s arcade-based titled or simulations, there has always been an audience for the genre that isn’t only driven to play, but driven to excel. Simulation titles have always had quite the following, with some players even making the transition from gameplay to professional drivers. Despite ranging over different types of the genre, the Forza franchise has always been Microsoft’s flagship racing simulation, and despite being introduced onto current generation platforms with Forza Motorsport 5, this year is the year that fans and casual players alike will truly be introduced into what this franchise is capable of.<img decoding="async" data-attachment-id="20909" data-permalink="https://press-start.com.au/reviews/2015/09/08/review-forza-motorsport-6/attachment/b_presentation/" data-orig-file="https://press-start.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/B_PRESENTATION.jpg" data-orig-size="2000,160" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="B_PRESENTATION" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://press-start.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/B_PRESENTATION-300x24.jpg" data-large-file="https://press-start.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/B_PRESENTATION-600x48.jpg" class="size-full wp-image-20909 alignnone" src="https://press-start.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/B_PRESENTATION.jpg" alt="B_PRESENTATION" width="2000" height="160" srcset="https://press-start.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/B_PRESENTATION.jpg 2000w, https://press-start.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/B_PRESENTATION-300x24.jpg 300w, https://press-start.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/B_PRESENTATION-600x48.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px" />The influence of Forza 6’s visuals is pretty much apparent from the opening race and onwards. Brilliantly Turn 10 chose to open up the game with one of the most visually-attractive tracks in the game which sets itself on the streets of Rio de Janeiro. The first word that would come to mind here would be the world color,...
Bound excels in presenting an engaging universe and telling a deep and imaginative story, but where it has the imagination to make the player think and awe at what they’re seeing, it simply doesn’t have as much to tell when it comes to the core gameplay. That being said, it wouldn’t be fair to call Bound a bad game, because it’s simply a flawed one when it comes to gameplay. The lack of engaging gameplay really affected my experience to a certain point, but for what it’s worth Bound’s storytelling managed to salvage what else there was and give me an immersive narrative experience.
*The following review was based on experiences with the PlayStation®4 version of Batman™: Arkham Knight. Technical remarks regarding stability, frame-rates and resolution may not be applicable to all platforms.<img decoding="async" data-attachment-id="19781" data-permalink="https://press-start.com.au/reviews/2015/06/30/review-batman-arkham-knight/attachment/banner_story_ak/" data-orig-file="https://press-start.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/BANNER_STORY_AK.jpg" data-orig-size="2000,160" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="BANNER_STORY_AK" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://press-start.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/BANNER_STORY_AK-300x24.jpg" data-large-file="https://press-start.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/BANNER_STORY_AK-600x48.jpg" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-19781" src="https://press-start.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/BANNER_STORY_AK.jpg" alt="BANNER_STORY_AK" width="2000" height="160" srcset="https://press-start.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/BANNER_STORY_AK.jpg 2000w, https://press-start.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/BANNER_STORY_AK-300x24.jpg 300w, https://press-start.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/BANNER_STORY_AK-600x48.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px" />Both Batman and the Arkham franchise don’t need much of an introduction at this point when we’re talking about most players, but the expectations have been high after Rocksteady’s masterful installments and even WB’s Origins prequel, but how does Arkham Knight fare in providing a closing chapter to the epic trilogy that shook the world of superhero games? Rocksteady delves even deeper into the Batman mythos as we are pulled through the closing chapter, which can partly even be seen as a greatest-hits selection of the history of the character throughout the comics.<img decoding="async" data-attachment-id="19786" data-permalink="https://press-start.com.au/reviews/2015/06/30/review-batman-arkham-knight/attachment/still_ak_0004_layer-13/" data-orig-file="https://press-start.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/STILL_AK_0004_Layer-13.jpg" data-orig-size="1500,400" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="STILL_AK_0004_Layer 13" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://press-start.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/STILL_AK_0004_Layer-13-300x80.jpg" data-large-file="https://press-start.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/STILL_AK_0004_Layer-13-600x160.jpg" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-19786" src="https://press-start.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/STILL_AK_0004_Layer-13.jpg" alt="STILL_AK_0004_Layer 13" width="1500" height="400" srcset="https://press-start.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/STILL_AK_0004_Layer-13.jpg 1500w, https://press-start.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/STILL_AK_0004_Layer-13-300x80.jpg 300w, https://press-start.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/STILL_AK_0004_Layer-13-600x160.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" />Arkham Knight starts of as we are introduced to Gotham City in a different way than we’re used...
One of the biggest changes to the gameplay of the franchise is the higher emphasis on combat, which to be fair is handled quite elegantly. Faith has quite an extensive move set when it comes to first person combat, which in many ways is as fluid as the actual traversal mechanics that take the spotlight. Ranging from heavy/light attacks to traversal-based attacks and shifts in movements to avoid attacks, the game offers enough variety to create mechanics that don’t interfere with the core of the game, but strengthen it in multiple aspects. The only downside is that certain combat situations can be quite disorienting when the player needs to dodge multiple attacks, but for one of the most well-executed improvements in the game that is quite a nitpick.
All things considered, the game does run reasonably well. A large-scale game like this is bound to put some stress on the console’s hardware, which creates frequent frame drops when you get closer to the city and once the sun goes down. It never wanders into an unplayable state, though, which is due to the fact that these drops do not seem to affect the user interface itself.
A complaint regarding the new additions could be the fact that a lot of the focus has been put upon expanding the single-player experience, which may have been better spent expanding the multiplayer and co-op aspects of the game, but for all of the content that’s there, this is only a minor complaint in the grand scheme of things.
Battlefield 1 is undoubtedly the breath of fresh air that both the genre and market have desperately been craving for quite some time. It’s accessible to both returning and new players, though it retains all of the roots that the franchise is known for. Maps are well-crafted, gunplay is responsive and fun and matches are as engaging as they have ever been. If you’re only buying one multiplayer shooter this fall, Battlefield 1 just might be the one.