Steven Impson
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The progress of gameplay and story can feel a little directionless at times if you’re used to games pushing you to meet specific quests to push forward a narrative. Atelier Sophie doesn’t tell you what to do, but instead encourages you to just go about collecting, synthesising and talking to people, allowing the story to just happen as you go about your business. You get some general advice on how to trigger the next story event, but often it is vague enough to be of little use. I found this jarring at first, but once settled in to the idea of just going about things at my own pace I realised that events just progressed along. It’s nice not feeling under pressure, letting you discover and progress without the stress of objective arrows and progress bars.
This lack of variety in environments and enemy encounters sadly came to define my experience with The Surge. A science-fiction setting holds so many possibilities for environments and enemy variety, but The Surge falls back on minor variations on similar themes throughout the game. Combat is mechanically sound – while the enemies you fight won’t be particularly interesting, the choices you need to make about targeting, battle style, and taking up risky opportunities for gear advancement keep the combat engaging in the moment.
It’s unfortunate that pervasive online requirements and microtransactions sully what is otherwise a chilled out, holiday vibe in The Crew Motorfest, but I had a good time regardless. Hanging out on O’ahu, learning about various car cultures and driving some awesome-feeling vehicles over varied terrain and event types is just damned good fun.
That said, once you’ve managed to understand the process of Conversion, Digivolution and devolution, training your Digimon to their Ultimate forms can be incredibly rewarding. Seeing your old favourites in all their modern 3D glory is wonderful. It’s a shame that the story takes so long to become engaging, especially since the title itself places such importance on the story, but if you think you’ll enjoy training Digimon enough to persevere through the initially slow narrative there is a lot of fun to be had with Cyber Sleuth.
Duck Detective: The Secret Salami sets out to be a quick, breezy mystery and at this it excels. It’s full of fascinating characters with interesting relationships, set in a world brimming with detail to inform your investigation and when at its best makes you truly feel like a detective on the case. While I feel it’s fill-in-the-blanks system could be a smidge more helpful, that’s a small blemish on an otherwise excellent little mystery title that’s well worth settling in with one afternoon with a cup o’ joe and a sleuthing mind.
Endearing characters, a deep battle system, and a buck-wild storyline had me hooked right to the end. With it’s new epilogue chapter, graphical enhancements, new challenges and difficulty options for newcomers and veterans alike, Xenoblade Chronicles is a fantastic way to discover a classic of a past era.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Lost Crown. It took me a little under 18 hours to finish the game with quite a bit of exploring off the beaten track along the way – and the next day all I wanted to do was pick the game back up get to more exploring. It’s got compelling exploration, great feeling movement, engaging combat and satisfying puzzles. Genuine innovation in the genre and smartly integrated accessibility features make The Lost Crown a game I heartily recommend.
The Zodiac Age is the best way to play an often overlooked entry in the Final Fantasy series - its story and mechanics make it feel almost like a spin-off rather than a numbered sequel. I loved playing through Final Fantasy XII and seeing the beginnings of a new direction for the series. In 2017 we are far enough divorced from what was expected of a Final Fantasy title in 2006 that we can really appreciate how XII shook up a series steeped in tradition, giving us a uniquely interesting RPG that still holds up today.
Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake is a delicious serve of JRPG comfort food. It’s got depth that kept me experimenting with new party setups, challenging enough situations to really test them, and an overall story that’s keeps things interesting from start to finish with a beautiful visual style and music to match.
I struggle to think of a positive experience over the thirteen-odd hours I spent playing this game. Gollum is uninspired and dated and The Lord of the Rings fans deserve better than this.