Injustice 2 is a fun fighting game nothing more or nothing less. The variety in characters to play as is great even though I'm not a massive DC fan behind batman there was plenty for me to love in the rostor and the differences in each character makes trying each one a joy. A special mention to the ninja turtles who I love. The story mode is definitely well above average for fighting games but is a bit of a letdown in comparison to the first games which I felt was superb. The loot system is something that got be hyped in pre release but the execution is far to much of a grind for me to like it, with loot boxes being pushed a bit to high for me. Injustice 2 is a good time with friends but is not the step up I was hoping for from the first

Strikers charged is chaotic and charming at every turn. The gameplay is frantic with crazy items, fun level gimmicks and filled with characters with specific skills making each choice important. Each character would have its own duke with the ball whether they teleported forward, jumped in the air or unleashed a heavy attack along with their different stats leads to many different permutations to consider. The captain and sidekicks you chose really impacts your strategy as well as your opponents. The game is at its best in multiplayer but has single player content in the form of a tournament mode and smash bros like events. The thing that I love most however is the presentation of the characters. Each character has its own theme that plays when they score, concede multiple goals and win a match. The variety in genres used is astounding and makes me never want to skip a goal replay. The games one weakness is that it may be to chaotic for its own good as applying stratagems can be tough with the over the top items, multiple scoring mega strikes, and game changing level gimmicks such as both teams losing characters after every goal and a storm that can blow characters away. But with that being said the game always makes me smile and I would have it no other way.

My Run through FFXIV a realm reborn was full of ups and downs. The games looks beautiful on PS5 and the soundtrack stands tall among final fantasy legendary soundtracks. The locations in FF14 are enjoyable to explore with even the more genereic areas becoming great through world building and things you do in them
realm reborn is chock full with quests, events and minigames to play providing many hours of gameplay and fun activities to do with friends and members of community. The game has many classes to play around with and all the ones I toyed around with I enjoyed, with the dragoon being the class I used for majority of my game time.
The story of a realm reborn is full of fantastic world building establishing the world fantastically the story itself is one note and predictable but enjoyable. A tale necessary to set up the world perhaps for greater stories to come. Even the epilogue a realm awoken had a really interesting plot thread that gets me excited for the future.
The number of quests and the lack of variety in the campaign quests is the games weakest aspect and unfortunately make a realm reborn a chore to play at times The campaign certainly has great moments but they only encompass about 10% of the main quest the other 90% involved fetching wine cheese or fighting a certain number of enemies. Not very inspiring
The game shines in its dungeons and raids as the welcoming community of ff14 and its enjoyable combat leads to a match made in heaven as you battle iconic monsters from the ff series the highlight of my FF 14 experience for sure.
Overall I really enjoyed my time with FF14 the fantastic community makes you feel welcome at every turn and even its short comings can't bring it down. I can't wait to play heavensward in 2022 !!

Pikmin 3 is the game I wished pikmin 2 to be. the game emphasises the real time strategy elements present in the first games design, but iterates on the formula making a players skill level determine the time limit. Even for a beginner the time limit should not be much of a issue as the game is generous as the fruit to increase your time limit is plentiful. Pikmin 3 is the easiest of the 3 games as not only does it ease up on the time limit it is also a far easier game than its predecessor's, with hard mode being a breeze for a player of the other entries(There is an additonal difficulty mode unlocked after beating the game that I look forward to playing on my next playthrough). The game still appeals to hardcore players through the returning focus on completing the game in as little days as possible, as well as introducing new mechanics to widen the skill celling in comparison to the original. Multiple captains return from 2 but with most of the game spent in non time based caves and no time limit at all multi-tasking was not emphaised or not really possible in that game. The philosophy is the complete opposite in 3 as it encourages players to split up the captains into multiple squads to complete multiple tasks at once. The go here mechanic is also a brilliant addition allowing you to send captains to areas filled in on the map adding key layers to the players strategic options. Resource management becomes key as you need to know how to split your limited pikmin between each of the captains to complete tasks as efficiently as possible. There are also cases where you need multiple captains together so you can throw them to higher areas adding a risk that you may reach a dead end if you split your resources to thin wasting time. This sort of design encourages replayability as prior knowledge of the games area allows you to increase your efficiency, which I love. The game's campaign is also a good length for this design as its a bit longer than the first but far shorter than the second.
Outside of the campaign Pikmin 3 has plenty of content to satisfy players that aren't into replaying the game multiple times. Mission mode challenges players to collect treasure or kill all enemies under a time limit. This mode really emphasises the importance of multitasking as going for the pesky platinum medals require expert management of the missions limited resources. Bingo battle is an incredibly fun competitve multiplayer mode tasking players to complete a row on there bingo card before the other player to win. It's a real shame there is no online option as it would allow more people to experience it.
New to the deluxe version is side stories where you play as Olimar and Louie in mini campaigns. In essence they are a campaign of missions like mission mode but are far easier with only one or two of them being anything new. Probably the weakest part of the package but they are short and inoffensive.
Overall Pikmin 3 is almost the perfect pikmin game in my opinion. It returns to the originals design philosophy, while adding all the gameplay improvments from 2 and adding more on top of it. I just wish it was a little harder

It took a lackluster game and a 3 year redemption arc for dice to finally deliver a star wars game worthy of their studio. The campaign however is average with a pretty standard star wars story that combines normal gameplay, ships and heroes in a decently fun way. The multiplayer is real fun. Taking the battlefield classes into every generation of star wars with the fixed star card system rewarding investing time in each class as you unlock more cards as you level up, which carries over to heros and ships aswell. The tokens from the first game are gone and now heroes and specialists are usable through your performance through battle points, which rewards good play and not luck which is a massive improvement over its predecessor.The game captures the look and sound of stars wars perfectly like the previous game but they brought the gameplay to match. The gunplay is smooth and precise particularly in 3rd person and the star fighting while took a bit of getting used to is an unexpected highlight. Heroes are fun to play with unique abilities obliterating opponents but hero v hero is a bit clunky, however with 22 heros 11 on each side, all available from the start all with their own star cards to unlock adds replayability to a satisfying gameplay loop. In conclusion while it stumbled out the gate dices battlefront 2 is a great time, I'm always down to play a few matches of supremacy and recommend it to all star wars fans

Progress note ( 84% in game, 92% trophies) I must admit this was my first experience with far cry so I'm a little late to the party. I was expecting a checklist open world game which I have found stale in recent years and while that was exactly what I got, it's the execution that impressed and surprised me. The story is corny but enjoyable with zany characters like hurk and the excellent Vaas who may or may not know the definition of insanity. The main character of Jason is portrayed laughably at times but is far better than having a completely blank slate character. The open world and gameplay loop are the main attraction here however. There are lots of activities and collectibles sprinkled everywhere. The brilliance is that everything you do rewards you in some way. radio towers unlock portions of the map, guardposts act as fast travel points once you clear them and side quests/collectibles reward you with exp that you can spend on worthwhile upgrades in the skilltrees. Hunting the wildlife will also provide you with equipment upgrades like an extra holster or larger wallet and the animals won't hesitate to fight back so be careful. The gunplay while a bit finicky is solid enough to make you feel like a badass as you tear through enemies. Some of the camps have animals trapped that you can set loose some have watchtowers that you can commandeer, these scenarios along with the large arsenal of weapons creates a very fun sandbox to play with. The story missions are also varied and some stand out missions in the middle and the end elevate the campaign and keep you engaged throughout. In conclusion my ferrary through the rook islands was a great romp filled with crazy moment after crazy moment and I can't wait to give the rest of the series a go

12 years we have been waiting for a new crash, some would argue far longer than that. However what can't be argued is that is now back with a game that can stand proudly against the naughty dog games and the very best of the genre. The artstyle while not what I associate with crash is really beautiful and bring vibes of rayman legends and being compared to Rayman Legends is never a bad thing. The soundtrack is decent, not as good as the originals or many other crash games however they prove enjoyable while playing but not much beyond that (I liked how Cortex's theme was incorporated in all his levels tho). As for the gameplay it is a good as ever. The double jump is added to crash's standard moveset from the start allowing the game to be designed around it. He handles like a dream in these brilliant levels that really test your skills. This is easily the hardest game in the series but it's always fair (unless going for 100%). The game takes the level philosophy of mario where each level introduces its own gimmick and it is iterated on throughout the stage. Whether it be a pirate ship, a jaunt over rooftops above a festival or the prehistoric era every level has it's own sense of style and at it's very best tropical freeze one of the best platformers of all time comes to mind. The 4 masks also add to the gameplay variety in stages as at certain intervals you can phase objects in or out or slow down time or flip gravity. These add depth and puzzle like elements that fit's incredibly well with standard crash fair. the vehicles are massively turned down in this game as there are only 4 of them and they only appear once or twice each and only as sections of a level not a full level . The devs were confident in there platforming design and that the masks would create enough variety to keep the game fresh and I'm glad to say they nailed it. Replacing full vehicle levels are new playable characters in Tawna,Cortex and dingodile, all of which have 5 or 6 levels each. They break up the gameplay nicely as they all play very differently from crash and the good news for people who want pure crash action is that only one level with each character is required to beat the game. One thing that I didn't like however is after playing one of these characters sections you have to playthrough part of a level you already played as crash with slightly different box placement, which I personally found like a waste of time even if they are fun to bounce around in. The bosses are all well designed and fun to fight to that beating them down is fun from beginning to end. The game is packed with extra content with each level having 12 gems relics and the ridiculous perfect relics. My biggest issues with the game arise when trying to complete it however as many of the levels have dickish box placement and having to get all boxes without dying on every stage is an unnecessarily tough challenge that just made me drop 100% this game which is a shame as the trilogy nailed the completion requirements and difficulty so well that it actually enhanced the experience greatly while crash 4's hampers the experience. The remakes where the groundwork but with this game crash can scream he's back and he isn't going away again any time soon.

(Chris & Jill playthroughs) Resident evil is a game that shows it age. Whether it be through it's clunky controls or dialogue it reminds you often its core is 24 years old and yet it manages to rise above the clunk for the most part thanks to it's great design. RE is a survival horror through and through with resource management being incredibly important throughout, whether it be the ammo of your weapons to defend you from the monsters that dwell in the mansion, or just what items you bring with you in your puny 6 item slots. One frustration for me was that there was no way to discard a item without using it which would lead to me having to backtrack to a supply box to store something and then run back to finally pick up the key item. If your new this will happen constantly throughout the game and annoyed to no end by the conclusion. The combat is functional and allows you to take on the great ensemble of monsters in a satisfying but limiting way. There are also plenty of fun puzzles that within the game that hit the sweet spot of being challenging but not overly frustrating. The mystery and intrigue of what has taken place in this mansion is palpable as you are fed bread crumbs at every turn in true horror fashion. The game isn't particularly scary but there is real tension as you explore the mansion not knowing what awaits you around the corner and it is ever present, as areas evolve throughout the game so even areas you know may not be the same. The games environmental design is where it shines though, as every room is distinct to each other even if it doesn't appear that way at the start, by the end you will know this place like your own home and its impeccable design makes the backtracking and opening of new areas all the more fulfilling. The story is good but the janky acting gives it a bit more goof than would be ideal for my preference, but the cheesiness might captivate you. The 2 playthrough have tweaks like different side characters and small changes in how the plot unfolds but in general are very similar. When it's all said and done Re falls just short of being an all time classic but it's importance to the survival horror genre cannot be understated.

Re 2 is survival horror at its peak and nearly perfects it. The love and care put into the environments fills the halls of the station with a foreboding and tense atmosphere but doesn't forget to convey the personality of the world and its inhabitants before it all went to hell, with environmental storytelling and letters left behind. Managing your inventory is still key but the addition of being able to upgrade the no. of slots by finding pouches and being able to discard iraticates any frustrations I had with the original. The gameplay is smooth and tight saying goodbye to tank controls and hello to 8th gen controls. While using your arsenal of weapons never felt better the enemy is still a threat, with even the basic zombie being able to take multiple headshots before going down and the tougher enemies are real resource drainers. The resource management conundrum of whether it's worth it killing a enemy or deciding to try to run around them. and terror the creatures envoke is exactly what I want out of the genre. The puzzles return and are just as well balanced as before challenging but not frustrating. The addition of Mr X however is what makes the game special. The unkillable brute follows you around everywhere and the sounds of his footsteps instantly put you on edge. The two playable characters of Chris and Claire are really well acted and a joy to play with through this well told story. There arsenal changes, story changes and unique area make both playthroughs a must with Claire's being my preference. The only downside is the lackluster boss fights that bring the game down a little. Overall a must play game for anyone remotely interested in giving it a shot

Charming is the word that best describes astro bot. When I saw the design for the first time it looked extremely generic but they managed to convey a lovability personality through this design. The game is a linear 3d platformer in vr and it nails what all 3d platformers must nail control. Astrobot handles like a dream as he jumps hovers and punches enemies. At times your controller is given abilities like spraying water and ninja stars, which reminds me a bit of nintendo land and other early wiiu games. These give the game the variation it needs to keep from going stale. The levels are fun and varied with level themes changing level making no level look or feel the samw as the last. The soundtrack while not having many tracks is realy enjoyable listen to adn you don't get sick of any of the tracks even if you hear them every couple levels. The game also has fun bosses that while being quite easy are a lot of fun to take down. For the completionists there are 8 bots and a chameleon to find in each level. The chameleons unlock challenge levels that will moderately test you but platformer veterans will have no issue. The use of VR in a 3D platformer is inspired and the developers ring most of the potential out of the concept with having you look around corners and from a birds eye view. It's the game I have played VR and is a must play for PSVR owners.

Resident evil 3 starts off brightly with it's opening area highlighting all the strengths of peak Re2 but quickly falls off after that. The new dodge move is a fun additional mechanic but it does take the game away from survival horror towards an action game which some may not enjoy. The latter areas in RE3 are either really small or linear hallways with a few branching hallways. While RE2 was built around one main area RE3 takes you all over Racoon city and the quality of the game suffers for it as no area is truly big enough to capture the magic of RE2 minus the first area. Nemesis the Mr X stand in makes the box art but it clearly shows a misunderstanding on what made Mr X so great. Mr X was used only a handful of times so every time he showed up he was imposing and each foot step could make you shudder. Nemesis on the other hand feels like he's in half the game and while early encounters are tense by the end you will be sick of his ugly mug. What aids that is some encounters are far to easy dissipating the tension that Mr X created so well. Jill is an enjoyable protagonist and the supporting cast all fulfill their roles diligently but there are no stand outs. The length has come under fire as while it is about as long as an RE2 campaign there are 4 in Re2 compared to the one here. There are no bonus missions present here either. Overall RE3 is a game worth playing but is disappointing due to how great it starts and how averagely it ends.

RE resistance is a good time for a short time that I think would truly be great with a group of friends. The game pits survivors and a mastermind against each other both played by players. The survivors play like typical resident evil characters all having their own special abilities like hacking the masterminds cameras, temporary unlimited ammo and a aoe healing ability. The survivors need to collect key items in each area to advance with their being three areas in total per map. The Mastermind has a set of camera from which he can observe the survivors from as well as set traps such as mines, zombies and other creatures including an ultimate monster depending on which mastermind your playing. The mastermind are given a deck of card that include the above items and where you apply them creates a strategic gameplay style that was fun to mess around with. The goal of the survivours to escape all three areas by beating all the objects within the time limit and the mastermind has to stop them from doing so. The actions of each faction increases or decreases the time which means a well placed monster can change the tide quickly if the survivors aren't careful. Playing as the survivors gives you new micro sized RE areas to explore that I honestly enjoyed exploring and the structure of being able to buy stuff based on performance gave me strong COD zombies vibes which is rarely a bad thing. Been given an opportunity to play as Mr X, G and nemesis is also a treat for series fans even if there is very little depth present. Overall this game was enjoyable and not the afterthought I assumed it was but could be made into something truly worthwhile if tried again and given a bit more TLC

esident evil 4 is a truly special game. The game blends action with survival so well that it effortlessly shifts you from feeling a badass to being vary of every bullet used. At first not being able to move and shoot felt archaic but if you can get over it the feeling of tension created when deciding to move or shoot adds to the atmosphere. While the game mainly consists of exploring solving basic puzzles and dealing with the many creatures that get in your way, the game avoids tedium by giving you many different scenarios, set pieces and boss fights keeps the game feeling fresh throughout its entirety. The mystery and intrique is a mainstay of the resident evil series and resident evil 4 continues this trend by giving you many questions to answer near the beginning and by the end all of these questions will be answered in a satisfying way. The campaign is far longer than the other RE games I've played, but it never gets stale through the variety mentioned above as well as the traditional resie experience. The campaign consists of five chapters that are broken into stage sections. The game takes the RE3 approach of having multiple areas instead of one big area like RE1 and RE2 but unlike in RE3 you spend such a long time in each area that they all create their own identity and are at least half as big as previous games main areas. This allows the game to give you variety in setting but also supply enough depth in each area to make them memorable. The story and characters are also a highlight as wise cracking Leon bounces off every other character brilliantly with smartass quips and other characters enrich the world and returning characters make us wonder what is really going down here. At times you have to escort the president's daughter which sounds like it would be an horrible escort mission. But it's actually not. you have enough control over her to keep her out of trouble and her inclusion allows for unique set pieces to occur making her inclusion a beneficial one. The game also has side content including a side campaign that shows one recurring characters perspective throughout the game as well as a arcade like mode where the objective is to get as many points as possible by killing enemies. This game definitely leans into the action genre but does not forget it's roots and brings them along for the ride creating for me one of the best RE experiences so far (tied with RE2 remake) and one of the greatest games of all time.

Castle crashers is purely old school beat em up fun wrapped up in the old newgrounds style of early to late 2000's. As someone who grew up in this period and was obsessed with this game as a kid, playing this game again with a friend was hard to let it pass me by. While the game isn't quite as good as I remembered it to be it still provided me hours of fun in multiplayer (which is a must for me to recommend this game) looking at the artstyle of a bygone era and occasionally smiling at the games surprisingly crass humour. The game plays as you expect you a light and heavy attack, the ability to block and jump allowing more combos to be created. Castle crashers magic system as what sets it apart. each character has their own magic style such as poison or electricity. This creates different opportunities in combat depending on who you play. Some of the unlockable characters have even more varied magic such as bombs and metal blades. The game has a huge of variety of weapons to unlock as well as animal orbs which are creatures that can give you unique perks such as double exp and finding hidden items for you. The game is short clocking in about 5 hrs per playthrough but finishing the game with each character unlocks another character of the whooping 31 character roster. The game has plenty of replay value for those who want it and if you can get a group of friends together and are craving some beat em up action there is not many better than castle crashers.

Skyrim is a game that is far better than the sum of its parts. On paper skyrim shouldn't be as amazing as it is but here we are. The game has some issues such as glitches samey dungeon design and stilted combat but Skyrim nails the most important thing for an open world game, the world. Skyrim is a vast land full of people to see, things to do and the best lore I have ever seen in a video game. No other game has engrossed me so much in it's lore that I read hundreds of books learning about skyrim and its history. Fantasy elements run wild in skyrim allowing for encounter with demon deities that have build up present in books you can find as well as the many dragons that can swoop down at any time. There are other such events like finishing one quest you find out about a researcher that stole the work of another who has since died. I ran into him on the road with the results of her research and he tried to kill me to silence me, which caught me extremely of guard has i had never really had a scene like that before in a game . Skyrim the place is a character in itself and it was executed to near perfection. The game has a huge volume of quests but it is startling how good they are. The main questlines for each faction in particular are highlights as they introduce you to groups of new characters, facets of the world it takes place in as well as giving you the most varied quests. When your walking through towns people talk about big events that have happened such as the murder of an important person. These little lines add so much to the world of skyrim that they can't be understated. Combat is something you spend a lot of time doing in Skyrim and while I was initially unimpressed by it when I started mixing and matching using all the tools in my arsenal I came to found the combat highly enjoyable, as while each individual method of fighting has little depth using all of them is incredibly versatile. The dungeons are filled with puzzles enemies and most have some kind of quest that anchors them in the world. While they aren't amazing by any means they are enjoyable videogame junk food. There are events that happen in the world that aren't due to the actions of the player that makes skyrim feel alive. Skyrim is full of choices big and small like taking a side in the civil war which the game never lets you forget about as every character has a say. Skyrim's leveling up system is tied to how much you do a specific action which fits perfectly for such a roll driven experience as it allows you to make your the character the way you want them to be. Being able to make your a character into a thief, warrior mage or even a smith creates so many avenues for a player to go down and gives the game replayability. Skyrim in short is a flawed masterpiece that excels in so much that the warts present are almost forgotten and even though my character's journey has come to a fitting conclusion with a wife and adopted children I still find myself itching to hop back in and see what else this world has to offer