Nate Crowley
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Writing For
Rock Paper ShotgunLatest Reviews
Watch Dogs Legion is a literal and figurative riot once its 'play as anyone' mechanic gets in gear. But while it makes a commendable stab at tackling real world bleakness, it's trying to be a more earnest game than its open world cockney murder playground allows.
This won't necessarily be true for other players, of course. But you could well see those tweets as a sort of diagnostic for whether it's worth you buying this game. If you read them and think "ah, yes... that's the sort of emotionally laden sea stuff I like to think about," then the odds are Beyond Blue'll be worth it for you, despite all its drawbacks. And if that is the case, just be prepared to relax and click on a lot of sealife while it gets to its point.
A tightly designed, well polished beginner's ARPG, with more than enough fun to justify the price for veteran click-stabbers, too.
So, in conclusion. This is 100% a Gears Of War game, that also happens to be a top flight strategy effort. Arguably the best of its kind on the market, in fact, despite a bit of trouser trouble. It's a spectacular thing to play through, and it'd be more than enough to merit the fifty quid price tag if it deleted itself on completion. Thankfully, however, the replay value is much greater than you'd expect. There's the randomised side missions, for a start. And even for the linear-ish story missions, the massive spread of subclasses and squad compositions allow for way more playstyles than you can feasibly test out in one run. Plus you can play them on "veteran" mode after one completion, offering a new suite of game rule modifiers to present you with fresh challenges. It's the first game in ages that gave me the urge to start a second playthrough in the same session as my first completion, which says a lot.
To conclude, I’d like to offer you a glimpse into the true meaning of friendship, as Matthew and I were taught it under the benevolent guidance of Brute-a-lot 3. Playing as the beastmaster robot, FL4K, I got to choose an alien pet to follow me through the game. Needless to say, I chose the massive ant thing, and over the time we spent in Pandora and beyond, that ant became incredibly special to me. Say what you will about Borderlands 3, it introduced me to one hell of an ant:
With Age Of Wonders: Planetfall (and I’m using its full name to underline the fact that its title doesn’t do any favours in dispelling the ‘generic SF’ vibe), I found the opposite - a glimmering space crystal, including some great story elements, buried under a patina of lowest-common-denominator grime. A lovely bone, full of marrow, specially formulated for growing ogres. Don’t make the mistake I nearly made and disregard it: if you enjoy the tactical and strategic game styles it draws from, you’ll find a game that doesn’t go out of its way to innovate on either front, but one that performs a bloody lovely duet.
Ghoastus: Actually, that quote is from Hans Gruber in the (non-Roman) film Die Hard, and I’m pretty sure he pulled it out of his arse. But if there’s one thing Ghoastus can appreciate, it’s a rhetorical flourish. Hail Imperator, Ghoastus’ favourite game of 2019 so far! Ave!
Ultimately, I wouldn’t go into criticism this detailed if I didn’t think this was a game worthy of it. Anno 1800 could have been any one of a hundred shades of mediocre, and I would have had a much lighter, breezier time talking about it. But whether I end up adding it to my list of perennial must-plays, or retiring it in despair at the whimsical capering of Captain Bumeggs, it’s an undisputed heavyweight, and an experience I’d recommend to anyone.
As a result, Fallout 76 feels like an atavistic reprisal of a late-2000s MMO. Worse yet, with its low server populations and absence of human NPCs, it’s as if it’s designed to feel like a dying late-2000s MMO. The whole play experience seems set up to make you feel as if you’ve arrived just after the fun is over. Indeed, the game’s opening, where you wake up having missed the start of Reclamation Day, and must trudge to the vault’s exit alone through drifts of spent confetti, couldn’t set the tone more succinctly. The party’s over before it’s even started.