Starfield is Bethesda’s most ambitious game yet. Did you think Fallout 76 was too barren? Too devoid of life? Well…. Starfield is still that. How about other space games though, No Man’s Sky? Remember how they made it so you could fly not only around planets and land anywhere but directly up into space, and down onto another planet - no loading screen! Well…. Starfield doesn’t do that either.

Starfield’s main focus(es) both exploration and space travel are both incredibly pointless. For the majority of the game space travel is just menus, selecting where you want to go and then a loading screen. You’re really only using the ship when you have the very few enemy encounters to fight and/or to be an in-between stage of landing on a planet, because you need to be in orbit to then go to a menu to select the landing point on the planet if you’ve not been there before.

Now onto the planets - do you like walking and/or running with an incredibly limited stamina bar across vaste open empty spaces that boil down to ‘it either has trees or just rocks’ with a couple of randomly generated structures that are a very very long distance away from you and contain pretty much nothing? No? Well that’s all there is.

There are a few main cities, which do have their own unique aesthetic and design but with no minimap and no actual map to show you around (that isn’t just a planetary height map represented by blue dots on a darker blue background), it’s pretty easy to either get lost or not know what shops exist and where they are.

The game would’ve heavily benefited from being one or two systems with densely populated planets (a couple empty, sure, for resources, I’ll allow it) and the ability to actually use your ship for more than a ‘staging’ method for fast travel.

Now, weirdly enough, I did find some enjoyment amongst the soulless game design. Despite the main story being pretty bad and having an… interesting ending. I’m unsure what it was though, maybe it’s because of how it played exactly like Fallout that I couldn’t put it down. Maybe it’s because I can see the potential there that just never really got hit. Who knows.

All I know is, I’m so glad I played via gamepass and didn’t feel heavy regret at £60 spent on something that just doesn’t live up to what it tries to do in any aspect.

This is my first time experiencing a Xenoblade game and i’m glad I started with this one. I’ve wanted to play it for a while, as it’s my partner’s favourite game of all time and after 59 hours I can see why.

There is two things that bug me about the game:
First - the combat system - it’s always jarring adapting to an ‘active’ battle system that requires shuffling through abilities while having an auto-attack by default and I found it clunky at times to get to the right one, this, coupled with cerain abilities requiring you to position yourself beside or behind an enemy to get the maximum damage from an attack were at times frustrating.
Secondly - the last third of the game is such a steep difficulty curve that if you didnt do absolutely everything in the game prior you’ll end up like me having to grind (in a game that really isn’t built for grinding) to get to the level you need to be.

Moaning aside, the story, the characters and the world are superbly detailed and developed to the point beyond most other rpgs i’ve experienced - with such detail that there’s an ‘affinity’ system not only a bond between your party but a vast majority of the NPC’s and locales in the game couple that with a whole town-building side questline it makes it hard to believe this was originally a title for the wii.

Lastly, the landscapes and score are worth playing to experience alone so damn beautifully crafted i can understand fully how this game became such a loved title - so much so that it got a ‘definitive edition’

Having played the excellent remaster of the cult favourite survival horror actioner last year, I was intrigued to check out this divisive semi-sequel/spin-off. What immediately captivated me was the Twilight Zone inspired presentation and immersive, quirky and eerie isolated tone of the game. The graphics are still solid and the grindhouse-cinematic aesthetic and performance of the game is bolstered on the Series X. The third person shooting gameplay is very solid and surprisingly I found the dodge mechanic far more responsive and effective here than on the remaster. The time loop structure admittedly can be the subject of repetition (especially as the game never proves to be outright challenging playing on Normal difficulty) and even though the short playtime means that it never get's dull, you do wish that there was just more to it overall in terms of story substance and variety. Still certainly worth checking out for fans of Wake and to build up excitement for the direct sequel.

Campaign Review

Finally arriving after the largely mediocre Halo 5: Guardians back in 2015. Infinite revels in nostalgic imagery, luscious, beautiful graphics and excels in its gunplay. However, it is hindered by autopilot inducing level engagement due to its busy work filled plot and gameplay loop. Countless 'find the power source to open a door or bridge (all in very samey locales), 'rules of three' (whether it is enemy hordes or targeting machinery to destroy). The open-world may look fantastic, but it simply is a mission in itself to traverse, with wide open spaces and a sparseness of vehicular options. New antagonists the Banished are largely generic and their leader's constant one note screaming becomes grating. Admittedly Chief's interactions with the 'Weapon' and Echo-216 do add a layer of humanity to the proceedings. Overall though Infinite is merely just fine. Its gunplay feels phenomenal and it is consistently immersive to look at, but it is severely lacking story and structure variety.

Forbidden West takes everything that made Zero Dawn so damn enjoyable and expands upon it tenfold, with more engaging side quests that feel like whole arcs, more characters and good writing for each, more weapons and traversal tools that make it a joy to get across the vast open world.

It’s also absolutely jawdroppingly gorgeous to look at - having some of the best visuals the PS5 currently has to offer. I often found myself stopping and just staring at the beauty of the landscape and then spending too much time in photo mode.

While I did thoroughly enjoy - There were times where the controls bugged me. Underwater segments are never my favourite thing in a game, Forbidden West has quite a few of them and I found myself wrestling with the navigation through these sections. I also found a few times where Aloy would just not grab onto the next ledge or completely slide off of something she’d meant to land on.

Do not get me wrong though, I absolutely cannot wait for the sequel and that conclusion to the epic story Guerrilla have laid out…

After initially playing 10 minutes and giving up on the game I decided to go back to it and finish it. I should have listened to my gut instinct and stopped at 10 minutes.

Immortals Fenyx Rising is plain and simple a Breath of the Wild clone and not in a good way, it misses everything Zelda managed to do correctly, the vaults are tedious and boring and the stamina meter is completely unnecessary and is there so the game has some kind of 'challenge' to it.

It also felt kinda cheap knowing that some sound effects and gameplay elements were directly ripped from Assassin's Creed: Odyssey.

The game wasn't long but my god did it feel like it was going on forever - not helped by the just annoying voice overs from Zeus and Prometheus trying their hardest to be funny.

I didn't mind the combat, as it was pretty much just Odyssey's combat and there were elements of a good game in there but unfortunately those elements were buried under so much mediocrity...

Bayonetta 2 takes everything fun about the first game and amplifies it - The relentless hack and slash action, the overarching and explicit campiness and overt sexual tones.

It was just a fun experience with a decently told story. Did it do much else past that? Nope.
Do I need it to have? Absolutely not.

I’m super excited to see where they take the series with the third instalment now…

Far Cry Primal tells you it’s sending you back to 10,000 BCE but feels more like it’s placed you down in a wildlife reserve with a couple of mammoths, sabretooth tigers and only some neanderthal looking npc’s.

Now, I know it’ll make some Far Cry fans hate me - but this genuinely out of the three Far Cry games I’ve played (and the two I’ve completed) is probably the most enjoyable time I’ve had in the franchise yet.

Maybe it’s because theres no cars with the weird feeling of controlling them? Maybe it’s the lack of guns and focus on melee weapons and bows / spears?

I did find the tamed animals could be irritating and get in the way all the damn time, especially when trying to loot bodies - and why do they all seem to have no health whatsoever? Every single time I was in combat they’d be dead within seconds.

However, I found the smaller world less overwhelming and made me actually want to explore it - knowing I wouldnt spend 40 hours doing the same things over and over.

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Uncharted: The Lost Legacy might genuinely be my favourite entry in the franchise. And while it’s one of the - if not the shortest in the series, it’s certainly unparalleled.

The reasoning for it being my favourite is down to one thing - the writing and characterisation of Chloe and Nadine. I’ve genuinely no idea how Naughty Dog made such excellent choices to make these characters have completely natural arcs and incredibly witty dialogue.

The back and forth banter between the two just works.

In all honesty this game is the sole reason I picked up the Legacy of Thieves Collection and if you haven’t played it, you absolutely must.

(Now please, Naughty Dog, give me an entire series based off of Chloe and Nadine’s adventures..)