Wesley Scott
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GameSpewLatest Reviews
Rise of Iron is nothing but a stop-gap between Destiny as it is and the inevitable sequel that will hopefully overhaul the whole thing and turn it into something fun instead of something stale and facile. It’s a way for Bungie and Activision to raise some capital with a minimum of effort invested, and the bare minimum is absolutely what they’ve delivered. Don’t get me wrong, I’m addicted to Destiny again in a whole new way and if it’s your kind of thing, well, here’s a little bit more, but I’m no longer making any apologies for it. It’s a slot machine with some incredibly satisfying gunplay attached to it and, as it stands, entering its third year, it’s merely adequate. We should all hope for much better in the sequel but considering the cynical way in which the current slate of content has been handled and its runaway success in spite of it all, I won’t be holding my breath.
All that being said, all that negativity over Deus Ex: Mankind Divided‘s also-ran attitude, I still had a good time, and Mankind Divided isn’t a bad game. It’s a very large, stand-alone expansion pack for Human Revolution that has no impact on the world and offers no reward for your time invested beyond the fun you can have punching NPCs in the face at the end of a side mission just because they dared to question your actions. It’s a dull, gruff, disinterested, robotic sequel that slips into the persona of its main character like a synthetic arm into a well-fitted trenchcoat.
This is almost certainly the fanboy in me talking but I Am Setsuna deserves more. In 1995 Square brought together five top artists in the industry and gave them whatever they needed to produce the greatest game ever made. Two decades later their legacy is being used to timidly test fan nostalgia when, perhaps, another dream team left to its own devices, unfettered by the weight of a cultural and artistic behemoth is what’s really needed. God, I want another Chrono Trigger so much and I Am Setsuna comes as close as any attempt possibly could, but, of course, it’s only an echo. An imperfect reality existing only to remind me of the most beautiful dream I ever had.
The Solus Project is deserving of much more praise and explanation than I’ve given it here, but to comment on anything other than the setup without damaging your experience would be nearly impossible. The Solus Project is a game about the mystery and wonder of exploration and it deserves to be experienced tabula rasa. If you’ve ever dreamed of exploring a new world on your own and experiencing all of the mystery and terror that experience implies, The Solus Project is pure wish fulfillment of the highest quality.
Heist has five difficulty levels to choose from which is probably for the best as its difficulty can spike furiously from mission to mission, especially in boss encounters. Higher difficulties offer a penalty to the water you’ve collected for failing or aborting a mission but offer an increase to XP earned at the end. I played on a mix of difficulty levels and found “normal” to be challenging but fair with casual being where my personal tastes lie. I found anything beyond normal required a degree of strategy and patience that I’m not known for. I am certain that any player can find something here that will challenge them appropriately and Image & Form should be commended for rewarding players seeking a challenge without penalizing those just looking for a good time.
So what are we left with? The Taken King is still my favorite game to hate. God, how I hate it sometimes. In its current state if you have never played Destiny before it is more than worth the £45 investment to pick everything up and jump right in. For those who have been with it since day one and already paid that £45? Well… do you still play? If not, then what’s here probably hasn’t changed enough to make it worth the full price of admission again. It’s still Destiny. The first 10-15 hours of initial discovery are still its best but once it settles in to the loot treadmill and cranks on the dial that governs the difficulty curve it becomes painfully obvious that there are others out there that still do it better. It’s equal parts exhilaration, exhaustion, and boredom, but I’m sure I’ll still be playing it on and off for the next year.