Ahmed Mohamed
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Writing For
Playstation Lifestyle
COGConnectedLatest Reviews
From its very first moment, Gran Turismo Sport floods the player with a melancholic symphony of sound and picture that takes you back to the racing days of old. I say racing because that’s what it’s all about, not merely waltzing past mistake-prone AI on a quest to attain the next driver level. Sport is about the sport, putting all its focus on the sheer thrill and heavy disappointment that comes about from the result of a closely contested race. It’s this undying focus on identity that makes GT Sport a welcome game in a market flooded by some overly ambitious and mediocre racing games.
The original Psychonauts released in 2005, and its zany art-style, on top of what seemed like a ridiculous story, didn’t catch my interest at the time. With the announcement of Psychonauts 2, I still had no plans to jump into Double Fine’s cult-hit franchise. It is surprising then that Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin, a virtual reality game, was the bait that has now hooked me to anything Psychonauts in the future.
RIGS: Mechanized Combat League is part of the launch lineup for the much-hyped PlayStation VR. After hammering the opposition 6-1 in the third match of RIGS’ career mode, I was worried the game’s single-player mode would be like Rocket League‘s overly easy offering. Three games later, I was furiously yelling at my non-sentient AI teammates to carry their load as we were down by the same 5-point margin in a game of Powerslam – at half time. In its multiplayer portion, RIGS succeeds as an all-out action mech game fighting human players in order to rank up and get higher skill ratings. But in its career mode, RIGS transforms into something else. An almost entirely different experience that adds the challenge of managing a squad to play off your strengths.
With The Taken King, Bungie revolutionized the very core of Destiny. The last expansion, Rise of Iron, is more of the same in most departments. Although there’s a good amount of content in the way of a cinematic campaign, a plethora of quests afterwards, and some SIVA strikes along with a couple of additions on the PvP side. But most importantly, Rise of Iron proves that Destiny is on the up and stabilizing after a rough start with the base game. A strong narrative that doesn’t completely pan out, some real fun with the new PvP mode, and the same addicting gameplay and systems make Rise of iron a successful, albeit safe, expansion.
The latest contender in the racing simulation genre, Assetto Corsa, manages to deliver consistent and sound racing controls, but everything around it is less than stellar. I compare it to the both excellent and average Gran Turismo 5 as Assetto Corsa plays well but is surrounded by antiquated menus and a drop in production value. But I expected that as the game has been out on PC for two years prior to its release on current gen home consoles so the disappointment at the very least wasn’t surprising. What is there though is good enough to hold players for a time as the car list is extensive and the plethora of modes give the game significant lasting appeal.