game itself within a few months as a phenomenon outside the norm, with record hearings on the internet and tens of millions of followers.

             ‘Fortnite’ game of survival in a wacky universe made of parachute bus, grenades disco and humorous costumes. EPIC

Platform Played PlayStation 4

Developer Disney Interactive Publisher Disney Interactive

The powers that be at Disney Interactive have been doing their best to stay current with their movies. With Disney Infinity 3.0, we have seen the launch of Star Wars, Inside Out, Zootopia and more on their toys to life platform. They also published real money slot games based on the world of Disney. These are naturally aimed at adult players who want to play casino games and try their luck on huge jackpot prizes. People who are intrigued by these games can use an online casino welcome bonus from this page that will match their deposit, doubling their money for free. Disney really tries hard to have games for people of all ages, which in our opinion, is an excellent strategy. It should be no surprise then, that their latest offering is Marvel Battleground. Which is a play set that brings all of the Disney Infinity 2.0 characters along for the ride with a fresh crop of new ones, in a very Super Smash Brothers style game that brings as much frustration as satisfaction? But is the battle across the galaxy worth your time?

I had been looking forward to this game for the wrong reason. I expected the ability to play in an online battle arena against people all over the internet. But that just isn’t the direction Disney Interactive seems to be taking. Their approach is more “build it, share it, and walk away.” The game encourages local couch co-op, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Most gamer frustration I hear comes from being sick of requiring an online internet connection to play a game. The issue I had is that this game should have been a no-brainer to incorporate online co-op or versus mode but never makes the commitment. We all know the importance of co-op and online gameplay nowadays, it’s almost essential. People like to connect, chat, and play together so how a game like this didn’t get that feature is a real failure on the developers side. Fortunately, there are plenty of games on various sites that promote online play, most notably the one we linked above. It promotes online games that you can play on your phone and these are not basic games, but while having fun with friends you can win real money. Now that’s a winner feature to have in a game.

Execution

In previous games, you synced one or two characters to your portal, threw on whatever play set crystal, and then moved on through the story or toy box mode. Marvel Battleground takes a different approach. You’ll get to a Battleground screen and see the opaque silhouettes of the key characters from 2.0 and 3.0. As you sync your characters to your portal, each character becomes it’s solid looking self or is added into the mix, and saves to your game. From there, you can select up to four characters on the fly without having to replace the characters on your portal. That mechanic alone has been sorely needed throughout the entire franchise and is a welcome addition. The problem is that only works in the arena style modes.

The story will still make you swap characters when you die like previous games. And the most interesting thing is your inability to add the Star wars, Inside Out, or Zootopia characters in the game. Settle down; I fully understand it doesn’t make any sense to mix those properties. But this is still a Disney Infinity fighting game, and as I look to my right and see Darth Maul, Finn, Luke Skywalker, Poe Dameron, Ray, and Han Solo all staring in different directions, I can’t help but feel cheated that I don’t have an additional reason to bring these guys back into circulation. I get that they have no place in the story. But you’re telling me it wouldn’t be amazing to have Luke square off against Iron Man? Han Solo against Hawkeye? Rey against Black Widow? I’m sure it was a continuity issue, but it just seems like they should have at least added a Star Wars Battleground side to the game at least.

Story

As with every play set crystal, you are treated to a story based around different aspects of the Marvel Universe. You’ll visit Wakanda, Knowhere, and other places but only ever as backdrops. There is zero exploration to be had here. You will be fighting, and fighting often. The story is relatively weak compared to how solid The Force Awakens and The Clone Wars playsets were. Two villains that you should have no trouble guessing have decided to team up and steal the only element worth stealing; Vibranium. You’ll fight your way through waves of weak enemies, stronger doppelgangers, and a few challenging boss battles as you work your way through the story to completion. Sound basic? It is.

Game Play

This game is a button masher, make no mistake about it. Where The Clone Wars encouraged layers of timed button presses and holds, Marvel Battlegrounds just wants you to beat-up the other guy before they get to you. The variation comes in the form of ranged attacks, held power moves, and the finishers that build up by collecting purple “sparks.” Much like items in SSB, power discs are dropped into the game, and add ally’s, shields, or call in air strikes. You can block, dodge roll, parry blasts, but it just all seems ridged and under cooked. Heaven help you in a four-person arena because you can’t lock onto anyone, and switching from character to character is more tedious than rewarding.

It’s not a difficulty setting issue either; it’s just the mechanics of the game. The most fun I had playing, was during the 1v1 battles because I could just focus on one character and beat them mercilessly. In 4v4 or 2v2, it’s impossible to select a character to throw an item at. The game chooses all that for you. Having played SSB in the past, currently playing Pokken Tournament, and Street Fighter V, I have certain expectations as to the fluidity of a fighting game. It doesn’t need to be free flow combat like Batman: Arkham Knight, but I shouldn’t be getting mad that I can’t cancel an action to block or choose who I shoot webbing or throw my shield at. And we aren’t talking about some small indie developer with a ten-person team. We’re talking about Disney, here. I can’t make an excuse for a company with seemingly unlimited resources.

Overall

I realize I’ve been pretty hard on this playset so far, but I didn’t just review a free version of this. I purchased it because I wanted to try it out, turned out to be one of the best game reviews ever and a lot of this is criticisms as a game editor and a fan of the franchise. I like collecting the characters. The art style of Ant-Man and Black Panther are fantastic. I can’t tell you how much fun I have re-creating battles between Hulkbuster and The Incredible Hulk. Between Spider-Man and Venom. There is a lot of lore to sift through and having the IGF figures save to the console makes those fights all the more easy to accomplish. It’s just hard not to be disappointed in the clunky fighting mechanics, lack of online gameplay, and disregard for other 3.0 content.

Marvel Battleground adds a lot of important elements in a very competitive field. But they make the main component of the game, 4v4 combat, too ridged and frustrating to enjoy. With a weak story and clunky fighting game mechanics, this is a game that will be a welcome addition to Marvel fans and Infinity collectors but is sure to be hated by fighting gamer’s looking for a new version of Super Smash Brothers.

The Good

• Up to four players
  
• IGF’s save to the game
  
• New characters!
  
• Destructible Landscapes
• Unique abilities and finishers

The Bad

• Limited Combat moves
  
• No target lock on
  
• No way to cancel attacks
  
• Weak story
• No online battle or co-0p
• Most 3.0 characters left out

Platform Played PlayStation 4

Developer Free Lives Publisher Devolver Digital

BROFORCE recaptures some of that classic platformer magic long lost by the current generation of software development. Where realistic graphics, massive installs and an internet connection are commonplace, BROFORCE hearkens back to a simpler time of campy 80’s action movies and 2D platforming.

At first glance, the art style is sure to cause hesitation for a lot of new PlayStation 4 owners. Some might think that buying a next gen console means the best graphic rendering possible, but they would be mistaken. The lack of HD realistic graphics are a big part of its charm and why it works so well.

Throughout my time playing BROFORCE I kept laughing at all of the fan service to action movies of the 80’s and 90’s. The concept is straight out of a Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger movie; America needs to assemble the finest fighting force the world has ever seen, to fight terrorism world wide!

Easily, the greatest thing about BROFORCE is that the majority of action movies that have influenced the game are represented in characters you can unlock and play as once you save a Prisoner Of War.  The team over at Free Lives don’t skimp on the “Bro’s” you unlock throughout the game. Since the worlds are fully destructible, how you save that POW is totally up to you. You can kill everyone and unlock their cage directly. Or you can shoot your way through the wall without anyone knowing you were there. The second you touch the cage, you instantly turn into whomever the game decides and If you’re wanting to find for yourselves, skip the next paragraph and try to not look at the picture below so I don’t ruin any of the surprises for you.

*MILD IN-GAME CHARACTER SPOILER’S below*

While I was playing, and just going off of memory and in no particular order, I unlocked characters inspired by; Ash (from the Evil Dead) Blade, Indiana Jones, Judge Dredd, Robo Cop, the Terminator, Rambo, Neo (The Matrix), Agent J (Will Smith, MIB), Chuck Norris (Like…every movie), and those are just off the top of my head.

RESUME READING SPOILER FREE*

The most interesting thing about the characters is that each one of them have different abilities and gravity adjustments. One of your characters may jump higher than another. Some may have a beneficial special move in certain situations. Some will have weapons and grenades while others have melee weapons and throwing knives. It is really a mixed bag because all POW’s look the same, so it isn’t until they’re set free that you find out who you’re playing as. The only issue with that mechanic is that you don’t have any control over keeping a character you want to play as. A few searches online landed me in multiple forums with a lot of the same complaints. Most people have been saying that small caveat is all that keeps this game from becoming perfect, and while I don’t necessarily agree with that sentiment,  it was a frustrating aspect of the campaign that would benefit from readjustment.

I will definitely give the BROFORCE team a lot of respect for nailing many aspects of a game style I love. But, there are a handful of issues that keep this game from being as great as it could have been. Which, is not surprising for an indie game but important for us to address all the same.

The first issue I kept having repeatedly, is the failure to jump. I can’t count the times my character just ran off a cliff, or didn’t jump over a bomb or bullet like he (This is a bro game) was supposed too, and I died several times because of it. Initially, I thought I may be hitting the action key too late, so I tried to better time my presses when I began to notice a pattern. There are so many things going on screen at the same time during different parts of the game, where certain key actions would forbid my character from jumping, like the two coding elements clashed with one another. On the fourth or fifth mission for example, a truck backs up, lets a lot of characters out of the back, and a suicide bomber jumps at you, but falls into the pit. If you try to jump during that sequence, you can’t, and there’s a quick screen flash as if the game is even trying to handle all of it at once. Now this definitely didn’t happen all the time, but enough times where I took notice and was able to notice a pattern in it.\

The second and main issue I kept having was the online component. I have yet to successfully join an online match without being riddled with rendering issues. There were moments where I could watch the three other characters play together, but no matter what button I pressed (Even trying the share button) it was like I wasn’t there. Other times the display was off centered, leaving me to stare at the bottom left corner of a screen where I can only assume the other two or three players were doing their normal thing, only I couldn’t see them, just their names represented. One of the most interesting issues I took a screenshot of, was joining a match with nothing but the background on it. No name, no character, no enemy, no option to press anything. I had to close and relaunch the application just to get back into the game because my options button didn’t let me bring up the pause menu to back out. BROFORCE is fun on its own, but spread out over the course of the weekend and again Monday evening, I still can’t find a successful online match to enjoy the full experience.

So while reading this review, take note that 98% of this is based on single player offline playtime. Not that I didn’t want to go online and destroy everything with my friends, I just wasn’t able to do so.

The totally destructible landscape, ridiculously gory deaths, campy 80’s fan service and old school feel make it easier to forgive some of the bigger issue you’ll most likely experience playing BROFORCE. Depending on your gaming historical knowledge, this is a game that will bring nostalgia to a lot of older gamer’s and movie buffs but hold enough fun for a newer audience.

The Good

• So many Bro’s to kill with
  
• Campy 80’s throwback references
  
• Old school platformer feel
  
• Destructible Landscapes

The Bad

• No Bro Control (Brotrol?)
  
• Coding issues preventing jump action
  
• Online server issues
  

The Score: 8.0

Known for providing an excellent arcade-style racing experience, the Forza Horizon series takes its third installment Down Under, allowing players to race across a variety of environments throughout Australia. Fortunately, the franchise has not lost any of its quality while making the lengthy journey to the Southern Hemisphere.

Forza Horizon 3 takes a slightly different approach than its predecessors when it comes to the overall concept of how the player interacts with the Horizon festival. Rather than being a random racer merely trying to make a name for themselves, this time you play as the person running the entire festival, who also happens to take part in all of the events. From a plot-focused point of view, this makes far more sense when it comes to showcase events, as the festival’s boss is the one racing in all of these ludicrous scenarios rather than one racer who happens to have been selected for each of the events. As more races, Bucket List challenges and “PR Stunts” (the formal name for all speed traps, drift zones, jumps, and speed zones) are completed, the festival gains more fans, and begins to expand. Across Australia, four festival sites in total will be opened and expanded, unlocking even more events to complete. Given that you are the individual making all the important decisions surrounding the festival, you actually get to choose where to open the next location for the festival when it comes time to aggressively expand.The game will offer two choices and provide a brief description of the area, in addition to providing community statistics once your choice has been made, informing you what percentage of gamers made that same choice at the same time and who from your friend’s list did the same thing. For such a small feature, the inclusion of choice and statistics makes the title feel far more connected rather than the previous two games which felt more like solo adventures until you played some online multiplayer.

On the topic of multiplayer, Forza Horizon 3 introduces online co-op play, allowing for friends or strangers to play through their festival adventures together while adding to their single player progress. Obviously this addition has made a significant improvement in the eyes of those who may not enjoy racing titles alone but thoroughly love them when playing alongside friends. While you do need to choose to play co-op from a pause menu, the way it is handled is relatively seamless. I did not find myself waiting for extended periods of time, generally only between 10 and 15 seconds to find a game, and never found there to be any connectivity or server issues. When switching back to single player, all of the progress carrying over reduces the redundancy felt by players and helps keep everyone invested in the game. While certain tracks will be repeated during events based on whether you are taking part in a championship or exhibition, not having to redo the last hour’s worth of racing simply because it was online is greatly appreciated. You can also choose whether you wish to play strictly races, games, or both when online, or you can opt to have a large free roaming session of online multiplayer.

However, there is one technical issue which plagues the multiplayer component moreso than the single player. Occasionally you will find your car lodged in an awkward position against rocks, cliffs, trees, or houses. If your vehicle is flipped over or on its side for an extended period of time, the game will reset your car automatically and you can continue on. Sadly, if your car is still upright, or the game does not deem it to be flipped over, it will not reset your vehicle. In single player, rewinding time and avoiding the collision is a simple solution, but in online multiplayer, the rewind feature does not exist. This means that if your car gets lodged in a spot which you can not maneuver out of, you will be stuck there until an event ends or someone else in the game is kind enough to hit your car out of that spot unless you happen to have discovered the manual reset option which is never actually explained or detailed in the tutorial. If you get stuck, it is possible to pause the game and press in on one of the analog sticks to reset your car, but unless you happen to be looking carefully at everything on the screen when the game is paused, you will likely never know it exists. Without the knowledge of this button, you will believe you are simply stuck until a multiplayer event finishes. Considering a large number of the games available online require hitting other vehicles, you can easily be stuck in a spot. Not having the manual reset button explained during the tutorial is a gross oversight, and results in the enjoyment being sucked from playing almost immediately when you find yourself stuck between rocks or trees in online play, spinning your wheels helplessly.

Issues with the reset button aside, the control mechanics are as solid as they have ever been in the Forza Horizon games. The various terrains will still cause cars to handle differently based on their design and tuning choices, and given the vast number of choices available for modifying a vehicle allows players to customize their cars for specific tasks or challenges. A Lamborghini Aventador will clearly never be great for taking off-road, but changing the tire pressure, tired width, suspension, or reinforcing the body with roll bars will all affect the performance of the vehicle and allow for that fine-tuning which gear heads will eagerly search for. Over time, you will also unlock body kits from various companies, allowing for complete overhauls in performance and appearance with a single option selection.

One of the biggest staples in the Horizon franchise is the music associated with the festival. Typically the focus has been electronic music, and while there is still a large emphasis on that genre, hip hop, alternative rock, and classical music are included, as well as the ability to listen to your own music through the Groove service. While this service is something you have to pay for, it is still a viable option for those who wish to listen to their own custom soundtrack in-game. Not all of the stations are available at the outset, and following the trend of running the festival, you decide which stations are unlocked in which order. This means if you happen to be a fan of hip hop, you can choose to have this station available for your listening pleasure far sooner than the classical station you may not wish to hear at all. Of course, you can always opt to turn off the radio stations altogether while playing so that you only hear the roar of your engine and the squeal of your tires.

In terms of replay value or sheer content, Forza Horizon 3 is sure to please. With more than 400 unique cars, more than 130 races and championships, Bucket List events, barn finds, 150 hidden bonus boards, online auctions for buying and selling vehicles, the ability to create your own races or Bucket List challenges, photographing every unique car via Horizon Promo mode, and online play, players can expect to easily put 40 or 50 hours into the game without thinking much of it. Even if you only plan on completing races and PR stunts until you finish expanding the festival, you will still be putting 15 or 20 hours into the game, minimum. Once you are done drooling over the gorgeous scenery and you make your way to the various showcase events, some of the moments will make you sit back in awe. There are usually several key moments during any event which pulls away from the player’s point of view, placing the camera in a more cinematic location, and slows down time for a spectacular jump. Even if some of the showcase races seem to be eerily similar to past Horizon events, seeing them in a new setting, with these moments or improved details will feel fresh. It may be a matter of adding multi-coloured smoke spewing from a fighter jet’s engines as it races across the sky, or a freight train with enough flatbed cars to allow your car to jump overtop, but players will find themselves impressed with the visuals and the grandeur of these events.

While there is a significant issue with the reset button never being explained, particularly before going online, every other aspect of Forza Horizon 3 is guaranteed to satisfy players. The sheer volume of content available will keep any racing fan’s attention for extended periods of time and the beauty of Australia’s environment encourages exploring every inch of the terrain. Cars handle exactly how you would expect, community-designed liveries are available by the thousands, and you are constantly being shown how your own performance compares to that of your friends. Online co-op play is a monumental addition to the series, and hopefully one that continues to appear in any successors within the franchise. Forza Horizon 3 has set the new standard for arcade racers, making it a necessary purchase for any fan of the genre or series.

The Good

• Phenomenal quantity of content, both single player and multiplayer
• Co-op progress carries over to single player
• Breath-taking visuals
• Cars behave differently based on surface, speed, and tuning
• Increased variety in music and cars

The Bad

• Fails to inform player of manual reset button at any point, potentially leading to infuriating online situations

The Score: 9.6

Following Joule as she ventures across Far Eden in an attempt to terraform it into a hospitable planet, ReCore combines exploration, RPG elements, and creative platforming to create a memorable experience, albeit one not without its issues.

At the outset of the adventure, Joule has a solitary robotic companion named Mack. Contained in a familiar canine body, Mack’s core offers little in the way of unique advantage over his late-game counterparts, but serves as a fantastic introduction to the mechanics of the game. Over the course of the initial dungeon-esque segment, players are informed about the different colours associated with enemies. Red, yellow, and blue robots will attempt to interrupt your progress, and to better your chances of defeating them, selecting the same colour from Joule’s gun will inflict more damage to the enemy in question. When enough damage has been dealt to an enemy, the player is faced with a decision, as there are two separate ways to dispose of an enemy, with each method yielding a different benefit. You may choose to extract the opponent’s core (the powerful, coloured orb which acts as a power source) but doing so will immobilize you temporarily as you engage in a tug-of-war with the robot, or you may simply shoot the robot until it explodes and provides you with crafting materials.

Cores are used to upgrade Joule’s robotic companions and make them stronger, but crafting materials are needed in order to product stronger parts for them. While “Prismatic” foes (i.e. bosses) require you to extract their core, and “Corebytes” (i.e. incredibly weak enemies) simply get destroyed, the vast majority of aggressive robots will force the player to choose and reward them appropriately. This balancing act is an interesting one which adds an extra layer of intricacy or strategy to combat, but nothing is more infuriating than working through a dungeon location and having to discard some of your extracted cores simply because you found stronger ones and your inventory is full. Considering how integral the core extraction mechanic is, the inventory for cores is extremely limited and could benefit greatly from allowing players to hold an additional 10 or 15 cores at any given time.

ReCore does a satisfactory job sculpting the environment of Far Eden into a believable terrain. Clearly the society has focused heavily on robotics and technology, but without human care for decades, the harsh climate of the planet has reclaimed the majority of modified land. The drifting sand, rock formations, massive pieces terraforming equipment, and buildings still in existence all fit perfectly together. Unfortunately, while there are no shortage of collectibles to hunt down, there can frequently be times when you have nothing to keep your attention for several minutes as you explore. Obviously there should not be an endless stream of items to locate, but when you are traversing large open areas in the name of reaching your next objective, it can feel like quite a lengthy and chore-like task without puzzles or items rising intermittently. Instead, you will frequently see enemy robots erupt from the sand in front of you to distract you for a few moments. After dispatching each party of robots, the already lengthy trek feels that much more painful as it has been drawn out two be two or three times as long.

When you do see puzzles or collectibles, you may or may not be able to access them at that time due to which robot companions you have with you. There are five different robot frames in the game, all of which have unique abilities, and are needed for overcoming different obstacles, and you are able to select any two of them to travel alongside you at any given time. However, there are only a couple of cores used to animate these frames, meaning you will need to change which frames are activated depending on which puzzles you are presented with. There is only one place to activate different frames, Joule’s “Crawler” (the base of operations for our protagonist). Fortunately, each companion core will gain experience and level up, even if they are not with you as you explore Far Eden. This prevents the typical RPG issue of two or three companions becoming incredibly strong, but having several others who are far lower levels than your usual party members.

Returning to previously explored areas after unlocking a new robot frame will generally result in several more dungeons and powerups becoming accessible, but you will find yourself constantly returning to your “Crawler” and having to swap out companions before finding the closest fast travel station to where you had been and travelling back to that specific puzzle. It is also a very distinct possibility that there is no fast travel station near your previous location, and you must spend another 3 or 4 four minutes travelling across the wasteland to reach it again. The game would have benefited significantly from the ability to fast travel back to the precise location from which you had recently warped to your Crawler. If the argument is made that you need the fast travel stations in order to actually travel in that manner, why is it always an option to teleport back to Joule’s Crawler regardless of where you are? That same function should be available to revert back to that location, even if it disappears after you use it once or fast travel to a different location in the world.

There is a strong enough plot presence throughout the main quest line to provide players with motivation for their actions and provide some background information, but similar to Dead Space and Bioshock, there are audio logs scattered through the world which offer far more insight into the world and events leading up to the present situation. Those who strive to locate all of them will gain some far more interesting insight into the world of ReCore than those who do not put forth the extra effort. It would have been nice if one of the log sets (and similarly, the dialogue from companion robots) had not been in a completely fictitious language which makes no sense to the player. Even with subtitles, the dialogue is expressed through foreign symbols and blocks rather than actually providing context or meaning to the jibberish being heard.

Sadly, the end-game component of ReCore is anti-climactic, and forces the player to locate more and more prismatic cores before accessing the next floor of a tower. Players who willingly searched for as many prismatic cores as possible before reaching this point may be able to complete the entire tower without ever leaving it, but the majority of individuals will likely have to exit after each floor and hunt down more cores. This process is painfully irritating due to a combination of the fast travel mechanic and the lack of information regarding items in the overworld. While each dungeon will state from the overworld map just how many of its collectibles remain hidden, you are not able to see the locations of the overworld cores unless you happen to be in that section of the map. It may seem like a minor detail, but while hunting prismatic cores, it would make the process significantly simpler if you could see the cores you had not yet collected from a fast travel station or Joule’s Crawler. Instead, you must choose a part of the world to travel to and then open up the world map from there to find out if you happen to be near any or even in the same part of the world as any you have not yet located. If the cores were never displayed on the map, this would also not be an issue, but because they do appear in some circumstances, it results in an awkward and infuriating game mechanic.

Visually, ReCore is a phenomenal game, and taking a few moments to revel in the scenery is a must. However, the desire to explore every inch of the landscape will occasionally be marred by the obnoxiously long loading times. Any time you use a fast travel station, enter a dungeon, or progress to a separate area of the overworld, a loading screen will appear and remain there for a minimum of 15 or 20 seconds. Even returning to the main menu from the pause screen results in a lengthy load time. The worst I personally experienced was during a boss fight in which I died approximately 90 seconds into the bout. In order to reload the most recent checkpoint, which had been from just outside the door leading to the boss chamber, I had to wait just over a minute to resume playing. This was an extreme example, and I never experienced anything close to a minute after that, but the average load time is roughly 25 seconds. In the end-game events which require you to travel the world collecting cores until you reach specific numbers, this can be an extremely unpleasant aspect simply due to how frequently you need to fast travel and enter dungeons.

ReCore is an enjoyable experience that fans of open world exploration will find themselves drawn to, but players will need to exercise a great deal of patience while long load times and grinding for cores take their toll. The plot is interesting enough to keep players engaged, with audio playing on occasion as Joule walks through various environments, but only those who hunt down the additional audio logs will truly appreciate what has happened on and around Far Eden. The combat mechanic is relatively simplistic, relying on colour matching to do the most damage, but limited inventory slots render exploration and collection excursions relatively short in duration so as not to waste or lose resources. The platforming segments are incredibly varied throughout ReCore, but at no point are they perplexing or require extensive amounts of thought to overcome. The gentle difficulty climb allows the game to be accessible to younger or inexperienced gamers, although those looking for a significant challenge or a thoroughly polished title may have to look elsewhere.

The Good

• Interesting plot keeps players invested in quests
• Experience gained by inactive party members
• Beautiful environment

The Bad

• Incredibly lengthy load times
• Fast travel mechanic leaves much to be desired
• Only able to swap out cores and use resources in one location

The Score: 6.4

There’s no other way I can say it: if you have not been playing Batman – The Telltale Series, you should do so immediately. Following the revelation at the end of Episode One, the success of Episode Two: Children of Arkham hinged on how much Telltale was willing to differ from the established canon. That revelation is expanded in Episode Two, and allows Telltale to do what it does best: fantastic writing, unexpected plot twists and difficult moral decisions.

Children of Arkham demonstrates Telltale Games’ willingness to tell its own story rather than getting stuck in the trap of retelling familiar comic book stories. There were twists I didn’t see coming, and familiar Bat-Lore was turned upside down. Children of Arkham is a story about family and how our personal connection may distort our view of their actions. Following Falcone’s shock reveal at the end of the previous episode, Bruce Wayne is questioning everything he knew about his family and their legacy. Is Falcone telling the truth or is it just a ploy to point the blame elsewhere?

Troy Baker delivers a fantastic performance as Bruce Wayne and Batman, drawing the player into Bruce’s confused emotional state and drawing on that to fuel Batman’s determination. In fact, all of the voice acting in Batman – The Telltale Series has been superbly captivating so far, complemented by entertaining writing.

Telltale laid the foundation of the series last episode when it questioned how far Batman was willing to go to get justice. In Episode Two, the focus shifts to Bruce Wayne’s moral compass and how he should solve issues. Should he rely on the Batman persona, or would Bruce be more suitable? Who do you trust as Bruce Wayne, and who should you be weary of? This are questions I was constantly forced to consider. Telltale is doing the character’s justice, while also allowing players to experiment with the personalities of Bruce and Batman. At times I find myself asking, what would Bruce/ Batman do, but at other times I’m able to branch away and continue to craft my own versions of them.

Children of Arkham is also about choosing how Bruce and Batman will develop relationships with key characters. It’s great to be able to decide how Bruce develops his relationships with franchise mainstays such as Commissioner Gordon, Harvey Dent, Vicki Vale and Selina Kyle. It makes me want to start a new save and to see how they will react to me should I choose a different dialogue response. The mysterious relationship between Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle was a highlight for me this episode, in part thanks to the chemistry between Baker and Bailey.

As with Episode One, the few actions sequences mostly do a great job of controlling the pacing and breaking up the dialogue. The bar fight with Selena Kyle and Bruce Wayne fending off a bunch of henchmen while an acoustic guitar jukebox track plays in the background was a standout. Telltale has mastered the quick time event sequence, and that’s especially evident in this extended sequence.

Children of Arkham feels shorter than other Telltale episodes, and is about 30 minutes shorter than Episode One clocking in at around 90 minutes. As a result, the final act feels rushed and chaotic with too many narrative elements surrounding the action sequence. In the space of what feels like five minutes, a hostage situation takes place, another huge anti-lore plot point is revealed, the titular Children of Arkham make an appearance, and a major decision has to be made (of which I regret my choice). On the one hand, it’s a great depiction of the poise Batman has to have during encounters, but it largely left me flustered.

I have no idea where Batman – The Telltale Series is heading, but I’m excited to find out what other areas of the Batman mythos Telltale is willing to alter and how certain relationships will evolve over the course of the story.

Telltale Games has developed a track record of creating excellent interactive stories, and that’s looking no different with Batman – The Telltale Series. Where Episode One laid the foundation for a unique take on the Batman universe, Episode Two demonstrates Telltale’s willingness to go through with it. Whether you’re a fan of Batman or just a fan of Telltale games, Batman – The Telltale Series is establishing itself as a must play.

The Good

• Narrative that alters well known Batman-lore
• The bar QTE sequence
• Chemistry between characters
• Telltale is allowing the player to craft their own Bruce Wayne/Batman

The Bad

• The conclusion feels rushed

The Score: 9.0

Publisher Suprise Attack Games Developers Cybernate

Genre Action Platform Played Playstation 4

Satisfaction, Frustration, Fun, Boredom. All traits of Super Mutant Alien Assault, it’s a tough one. The game exerts both great and not so great qualities. Developer’s Cybernate have certainly found their groove in the niche market of retro-inspired indie games with their fun gameplay, unique art style and soundtrack. But it’s not to say this game doesn’t have its flaws.

Super Mutant Alien Assault follows a very straightforward and stereotypical alien story. Aliens are attacking Earth and the only defenders are some droids equipped with an arsenal of weapons and power-ups. While it’s a basic premise, the game provides enough basis to create an alien feeling environment in its various levels. The actual gameplay consists of a wave-based maps wherein the player must destroy a variety of aliens that spawn as a result of the impending invasion. All aliens and levels are randomly generated on each play through, meaning the difficulty can vary from super easy to very hard depending on what is spawned.

While the gameplay is fairly basic, it’s quite fun. Levels provide some weaponry which, depending on the randomly given weapon, allows players to either lay back and destroy aliens with ease or strive to beat that last one with the most basic weapon. The game does a good job at curbing the learning difficulty by explaining each gameplay mechanic or weapon before jumping into combat. It’s important for players to pick up weapons as soon as possible from one of the vending machines and boxes to avoid being ripped apart by those pesky aliens. Droids/Players can equip both a primary and secondary weapons in addition to grenades which comes to help in those moments when there’s no hope left and ammo is scarce.

A sleuth of power ups and abilities are granted to players as they progress throughout the levels, and by all means they don’t feel important. They allow players to side-dash, double jump and use a bubble shield and while they may sound worthwhile, they don’t aid players effectively when they’re struggling to fend off hordes of aliens. The aliens in particular can vary in size and difficulty, some fly, some don’t but you can be assured the majority are annoying and it gets pretty heated when dodging and attacking multiple enemies on screen at the same time.

The combination of randomness and varying difficulty amongst weapons, abilities and enemies keeps players on the edge of their seats but ultimately summarises Super Mutant Alien Assault itself, as either genuinely fun or insanely frustrating. Amongst all the alien killing there a few objectives to complete dependent on the level, one scenario involves moving batteries from one side of the level to another in order to charge a power source and achieve light speed, while another requires players to release pressure from canisters before they explode and injure them.

Super Mutant Alien Assault art style however exerts a fresh retro impression, reminiscent of the Super NES era of video games and the sound effects and soundtrack also exert a certain unique retro flair. Both audio and visuals appropriately accompany the fast-paced side stroller.

While Super Mutant Alien Assault captures player’s attention with its fast-paced gameplay and randomness after a few play throughs it begins to feel stale and unoriginal. Once players get stuck in the mantra of losing, trying again and losing again, the incentive to keep playing diminishes. This could have been aided with some form of power up or something to encourage players to keep going. The game relies too heavily on its difficulty and randomness factor to prolong gameplay, and begins to feel static in a player’s progression. Permanent power-ups or RPG-like elements could have helped create a more balanced game and steady character progression, but that’s overthinking it

Super Mutant Alien Assault is a great combination of quick gameplay with a great art style and soundtrack. The premise is basic but enough to get you initially hooked and playing the fast-paced experience. The weaponry puts you in the position to either conquer or cower as you oppose and defend against hordes of different aliens. While it’s combination of varying difficulty, randomness, enemies and weapons exerts the game’s best qualities it is also the game’s biggest downfall as it becomes stale and unoriginal after replaying levels over and over again. With a lack of character progression and relying too heavily on difficulty to prolong the game’s life, Super Mutant Alien Assault falls short. It’s a quick fun game that may entertain you for a few rounds, but nothing more.

The Good

• Fun Fast-paced gameplay.
• Great Retro Art and sound style.
• Great apporachability, easy to play.
• Randomness makes it spontaneous, initially.

The Bad

• Power-ups don’t accomplish much.
• Game relies on randomness and difficulty to prolong the playtime.
• Lack of character progression or character accopmlishment.
• No Incentive to keep going after replaying levels.

The Score: 6

Platform Played PlayStation 4

Developer Eidos Montreal Publisher Square Enix

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is able to improve on almost every flaw its predecessor Human Revolution delivered to create one of the best adventures of 2016.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided once again places the player in the augmented shoes of Adam Jensen. Following the Aug Incident that occurred during Human Revolution, Adam Jensen has joined Interpol as part of its Task Force 29 Counter-terrorism Unit. Since the aforementioned Aug Incident, society has become strongly against those with augmentations, creating a violent segregation between the augmented and naturals. Needless to say the beacon of hope that appeared within Human Revolution has been distinguished and Mankind Divided (as the title suggests) is a darker world there the human race is at war with one another.

Mankind Divided doesn’t shy away at showing the destructive path that was left following the Aug Incident. The first mission takes players to an abandoned offshore facility that was hit mercilessly hard by the event, with large amounts of those who were unfortunately present during the Aug Incident strewn throughout the facility. Mankind Divided’s main narrative is set in motion after a bombing takes place in the city of Prague, which forces more restrictions on augmented citizens. As with previous stories within the Deus Ex there are countless twists, turns and an unstoppable power pulling the strings to ensure the world is moulded to their goal. This constant ever-present threat of the “man behind the curtain” forced my version of Adam Jensen to be constantly cautious as I never truly knew who was truly on my side.

While the narrative is an interesting adventure that produced some roaring moments, the conclusion of Mankind Divided produces a solemn whimper. This is mainly due to the fact that a majority of the narrative explored throughout the campaign is left unanswered; which in-turn makes Mankind Divided feels like the first part of an extensive story, rather than its own self-contained adventure. While I enjoyed the ride, it was unfortunate that the conclusion did not truly capitalise on delivering an impactful and satisfying conclusion to the threat throughout.

While Mankind Divided’s story is soured by a mediocre conclusion, the array of side missions available ease that pain. Each side quest in Mankind Divided provides an interesting and exciting concept, with almost every side mission producing a high quality tale that could essentially warrant its own game. These side quests range from stopping an underground drug ring that produces lethal drugs for augmented citizens, ending the reign of an ex-magician who has hypnotised a group of individual to praise him like their messiah, or hunting down a killer who is targeting augmented individuals in order to “make them whole again”.  These examples are a mere glimpse into the fantastic side adventures Mankind Divided offers.

Players will spend a majority of their time exploring the extensive hub world of Prague, which is divided into a number of sections; each densely filled with interesting characters, missions and discoveries to be made. Mankind Divided fills each location of the hub world with extra details for the player to discover. These can range from newspapers referencing events, secret areas that require exploration to discover, or hundreds of emails to be read further expanding the universe of Deus Ex. Mankind Divided’s hub world is made more interesting due to the verticality to exploration, which ranges from expansive underground sewers or the rooftops of buildings; with almost every single location housing some sort of secret or satisfying reward. After easily spending a dozen hours exploring the Prague hub world, I still feel there are secrets that I have yet to discover.

While the hub world of Prague is genuinely well constructed, Mankind Divided only sends players to a handful of different locations throughout the campaign. While each new setting produces the same vertically and freedom of exploration, it’s a shame these new areas didn’t produce the same depth and longevity as the hub world. Jensen only visits each new area for a handful of hours and these sections are usually tied to main story missions in Mankind Divided. I would have loved being able to experience the same depth of discovery Prague produced throughout every new area, but these new locations are merely available to progress the story and then forgotten. There is no option to revisit these areas after the mission has been completed and side missions are absent from each new area. While Prague feels like it has been created to offer countless hours of entertainment, each other area pales in comparison.

Mankind Divided excels at giving players an astounding amount of options when it comes to tackling combat situations. Whether players decide to finish the entire campaign without ever killing or setting off an alarm, or deciding to head in guns blazing until nobody is left standing; or even a combination of the two, Mankind Divided caters to each and every play style. This is due to the extensive array of augmentations players can utilise to succeed. While Mankind Divided offers basic augmentations, there are also a new range of augmentations that greatly alter each combat encounter. These new augmentations range from an armoured layer of defense that will soak up a lot of damage, a built in stun gun that can take down 4 enemies at once, and the option to shoot blades from your arms to produce a satisfying and vicious death upon your enemies. These new options compliment the augmentations that reappear from Human Revolution and allow an exorbitant array of options to be used when reaching your end goal. While it is extremely unlikely each augmentation will be unlocked during your first playthrough, Mankind Divided offers a New Game Plus mode to continue upgrading Jensen as you seen fit.

While the augmentations may seem ever-powerful, due to the fact each ability requires a certain amount of Jensen’s finite energy to be used Jensen never feels overpowered. Instead each battle sequence evolves into an intense game of chess, as players must make decisions on the fly that best suit the situation at hand. The verticality previously mentioned also offers a wide range of options when tackling each combat encounter, and the augmentations you decide to invest in will either limit or extend your options on the battlefield. For example, there could be a vent that will allow you to avoid all the enemies in this stage, but it requires the ability to jump higher in order to be accessed; or a locked door that will bypass your current situation, but requires a higher hacking skill; these are some of the ways your choices will determine how each situation is completed.

Combat is never an easy encounter (if you decide to go this route) as even on normal difficulty the enemy combatants will swarm your location, flush you out with EMP grenades or activate extra defenses in order to take Adam Jensen down. Mankind Divided also offers a difficulty mode that will only allow players to play with a single life, meaning if they die the adventure ends. Mankind Divided allows players the freedom to tackle each situation how they want, while also allowing players the option to control are masochistic they’d like their experience to be.

One of the biggest criticisms of Human Revolution was the obnoxious boss encounters that felt completely out of place in the Deus Ex world. Those who found these boss encounters to be a painful experience will be happy to know these situations are almost completely removed from Mankind Divided, instead most “boss encounters” are tense conversations that can greatly alter depending on your conversational decisions. These social combat situations are typically quite easy (especially if you have invested in the social augment) and most will come to a resolution regardless of your decisions, but the end result may differ. These conversational battles are interesting and tackling them in different ways produces some interesting differences depending on your attitude to the character in question.

One feature that does return from Human Revolution is the hacking mini-game, which is used to hack into emails, security systems and locked doors. While the hacking mini-game is not a revolutionary method to solving puzzles, there is enough challenge and variety to these mini-games that never made the experience boring or tedious. Depending on how much investment players have made in their hacking augmentations these challenges can be quite difficult, but success usually breeds useful rewards and extra experience point incentives.

Mankind Divided is a huge visual step in the right direction when compared to Human Revolution, with the power of next generation hardware allowing for detailed character models and a city with unique personality at every turn. Prague certainly benefits from these detailed visuals as almost every location within the hub world tells a story. Something as small as an insightful piece of graffiti on an alleyway wall showcasing the hardship augmented individuals experience on a daily basis, adds to the living and breathing world of Deus Ex. Opposed to the black and gold themes of Human Revolution, Mankind Divided produces a darker visual tone that focuses more on grey colours and dank locations that truly emphasise the bleak outlook of the world. The dark visual thematic is also emphasised with the mix of techno and classical sounds that appear throughout the soundtrack. While Human Revolution had an audio soundtrack that showcased glimpses of hope, this is not the case with Mankind Divided. The musical score is much darker than its predecessor, helping relay the message that the world has evolved since we last saw it, and not for the better.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided also contains an arcade shooter that is separate from the main campaign. Known as Breach, players are put in control of a Ripper, who is a skilled hacker. Players must tackle bite sized missions that take place within a digital world and hack nodes to obtain valuable information from large companies from around the world. Gameplay in Breach is identical to Mankind Divided, with the same augmentations and weapons available, but players will utilise their skills against digital defenses and security measures as they explore each mission. The faster and more efficient each level is completed will increase your score, with each level containing its own self-contained online leaderboard.

Breach contains an impressive array of depth, which could have warranted the mode to be released as a standalone experience. Players must utilise a finite amount of inventory and augmentation space to create their own unique loadout to tackle each mission. In order to increase your end score, modifiers can also be added to increase the difficulty or make each level easier. While most missions can be completed in five minutes or less, the most entertaining missions are called Darknet Files. In an almost Robin Hood type situation players can be tasked to find hidden information to help out those who have been wronged, with the first mission tasking the player to investigate the suspicious death of a young girl who was being treated for cancer. These situations are entirely text based but they made me feel like I was making a difference in the Deus Ex universe, helping those who have suffered at the hands of the rich and powerful. While Breach may not be a ground-breaking additional mode, it offers enough depth and interesting story content to produce a complimentary experience to the main campaign.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is an experience that will please any Deus Ex fan, and those who found issues with Human Revolution will be happy to know most of the popular issues have been amended for the better.

Mankind Divided’s narrative can be completed in about 20 hours, but for those who want to experience the array of entertaining side quests and secrets hidden through Prague will easily find themselves lost within the world of Deus Ex for over 50 hours or more. As the title suggests, Mankind Divided doesn’t shy away from tackling the hard hitting reality of the Deus Ex universe and there are many memorable story moments produced due to this fact.

No matter if you are attempting to finish the entire campaign without a single casualty, or without a single enemy left standing, Mankind Divided offers freedom of choice when outfitting your character and how you tackle each situation due to the excellent verticality built into each location. While the additional Breach arcade mode offers enough gameplay depth to provide a complimentary experience to those who want to step away from the main campaign.

While Deus Ex: Mankind Divided’s campaign may falter due to its obsession with building a bigger and better story within the Deus Ex world, this is still a supreme experience that produces one of the most encapsulating experiences of 2016 and should not be missed.

The Good

• Excellent array of side missions.
• Densely filled hub-world.
• Wide array of augmentations and weapons.
• Verticality of the environment.
• Breach gameplay mode.

The Bad

• Weak story conclusion.
• Lack of interesting additional locations.

The Score: 9.2

If you have ever played a Worms game you know what you are getting with Worms W.M.D. It is a 2D, turn-based shooter in which teams of worms use all manner of crazy weapons to explode, machine gun, clobber or fire punch enemies in order to be the last team standing. The formula largely hasn’t changed throughout the franchise’s 20 years, rather, each new game has attempted to be a refinement of the core gameplay mechanics.

Worms W.M.D is marketed as a spiritual successor to 1999’s Worms Armageddon, returning to a gorgeous hand-drawn art style that makes the game great to look at whether you’re playing or waiting for your turn. Worm classes, and water physics are gone, creating a much more balanced gameplay experience. Worms W.M.D has turned its focus back to the core mechanics of the franchise, demonstrating that after 20 years they still have staying power.

Controlling your worms is simple, all you need is jump, shoot and weapon select buttons, as well as the left stick. If you are not as familiar with the controls, increase the turn time limit, or make it shorter for a frantic, fast-paced experience. The simple controls make the game accessible for players of all skill levels, as well as the fact that skill only contributes to a little bit of success in Worms; luck contributes to the rest.

Watching someone aim a grenade throw that ends up rolling towards their own worm is hilarious. It makes successful turns fulfilling, and sees fails laughed about regularly. Worms W.M.D is best enjoyed with friends, locally or online, but if you’re playing solo the AI has been balanced well enough that it still makes human errors like failing to jump out of the way of its own explosions or narrowly missing a crucial bazooka shot.

What differentiates Worms W.M.D from its predecessors is the new vehicles, turrets, buildings and crafting system. The vehicles and turrets are the standout, adding more destructive tools for players. Each vehicle has a different weapon, for example the mech stomps on worms and the helicopter rains down machine gun fire from the sky, so I enjoyed going out of my way to jump into vehicles on the map. They are also well balanced with the other weapons so you don’t need to control the vehicles to win a match, but I wanted to anyway.

The buildings were a nice edition to map design, with worms able to hide inside them and only be visible to any other worms in the buildings. They offer a form of shelter, although buildings can be destroyed like everything else on the map. They don’t change tactics completely, but are a nice new addition to the franchise.

Crafting, on the other hand, is not as revolutionary. Materials can be gathered from crates on the map (replacing coins), or by dismantling other weapons. There are some really cool weapons that can be crafted, adding to the chaos, like a dodgy phone battery that launches a chain of electricity through worms. However, many of the upgrades you can craft for existing weapons don’t change them enough to be worth the investment, and some of the newer weapons feel too overpowered to be satisfied when using them during a match. One weapon, for example, rains asteroids on the map, destroying everything in sight. It feels like an instant win, ending games too quickly. To make the crafting system worthwhile during matches, an extended period of time has to be spent customizing the game options to fine tune what can and can’t be crafted during a match. It could be that there is already such a great variety of powerful weapons that have been balanced over years of Worms games.

My biggest complaint with Worms W.M.D is the single player offering. The 30 mission single player campaign is very light on story elements, largely existing as a series of short scenario based introductions to the new mechanics. The challenge mode, however, offers some unique puzzles utilizing worms mechanics in different ways such as using mines and oil drums to destroy an enemy worm. It made me stop and think about how the mechanics actually work.

Worms W.M.D is a great addition to the Worms franchise. The core Worms formula is at a stage where it so well refined that it would be easy to let it speak for itself. However, Worms W.M.D adds new mechanics to the formula in vehicles, turrets and buildings which should become mainstays to the franchise. The crafting system is an interesting new feature, but it needs tweaking to become a worthwhile alternative to the standard weapons available like an airstrike or holy hand grenade. With its return to a 2D hand-drawn art style, Worms W.M.D is a great redirect for the franchise.

The Good

• 2D hand-drawn art style
• Same great balanced Worms gameplay
• Vehicles, turrets and buildings add more destructive options

The Bad

• Lacking interesting single player content
• Instant win craftable weapons

The Score: 8.0

Platform Played PlayStation 4

Developer IO Interactive Publisher Square Enix

Hitman’s episodic series has not been able to consistently deliver great instalments, but Agent 47’s latest adventure to Bangkok provides one of the strongest overall packages of the series thus far. While the episode still suffers from problems the series has been unable to amend, the latest episode of Hitman produces a well-rounded chapter that kept me coming back to see everything this episode had to offer.

The highlight of Bangkok comes in the form of the targets Agent 47 is tasked to eliminate. Unlike previous episodes that dealt with targets selling secret information, stealing money from the government, or other large scale issues; Bangkok pulls back the scale of the target and instead tasked Agent 47 to eliminate someone who murdered a young female movie star and got away with it. The grounded reality of the sins Agent 47 is tasked to correct was a welcomed change and helped emphasise the assassinations taking place. The two targets in question are Jordan Cross, lead singer for the indie band The Class; and Ken Morgan, the family attorney who helped make the murder Cross committed disappear. The generic reasoning behind previous assassinations made the targets forgettable and uninteresting, but Bangkok’s emphasis on a family wanting retribution for their daughter’s murder made hunting down each target extremely satisfying.

One of the biggest problems in relation to the episodic release schedule of Hitman is the poor implementation of the overall series narrative. As with previous instalments, Bangkok once again delivers narrative content in a small cut scene that concludes the episode. The latest story details actually aim to tie together the previous events in the series and explain why we should care about the overall story. While it does seem to lay the groundwork for an overall goal moving forward, I cannot help but feel this is far too little, far too late. Hitman has spent 4 episodes spinning its wheels trying to produce an entertaining narrative, and while it seems this plot will finally be incorporated into future episodes I find myself struggling to finally gain interest.

Each Hitman installment is only as good as its destination, with the standout location of Sapienza producing the most memorable chapter so far. Bangkok easily rivals Sapienza’s preceding beauty and delivers a densely packed collection of locations and interesting options to experiment.

Episode four is set in the Himmapan luxury resort on the edge of the Chao Phraya River and the picturesque location is full of unique areas to explore. Visually Himmapan has an extensive variety of gorgeous locations, from the majestic view of the river, to the forest-like atrium in the resort and a large variety of different areas that kept me interested while exploring. While Sapienza delivered an open outdoor location, Bangkok instead produces a multitude of indoor areas that offer an abundance of interesting assassination opportunities.

Bangkok does still suffer from the same issue as previous episodes, which is the lack of authentic voice actors. While a resort is bound to have an array of different accents and many English speakers, the staff themselves still sound identical to previous NPC’s from other episodes; despite being on the other side of the country. Bangkok’s lack of diverse accents doesn’t stand out as much as Marrakesh, but it is still an issue I would love to see rectified to further emphasise Agent 47’s international adventures.

Due to Bangkok’s variety of locations packed within the resort, Agent 47 has access to a selection of interesting assassinations and a plethora of different outfits to utilise in order to reach these goals. These opportunities range from large scale carnage to reach the intended target, or more stealth based options allowing Agent 47 to watch his target suffer from nearby; or simply lure someone to a darkened room before throwing a fire axe into their chest – the choice is yours. While the selection of assassinations on offer do not rival some of the most memorable eliminations from the series, each and every assassination the player has access to conduct are extremely fun and interesting along the way. Bangkok is the first episode where I felt encouraged to explore every single assassination opportunity, simply due to the amount of fun I was having along the way.

Hitman’s fourth installment brings with it some new issues the series has not produced thus far. At least a dozen times Hitman’s audio sounded like I was playing a severely scratched CD, with audio drop outs and skips frequently occurring. On the other hand, the Bangkok episode also increased the amount of time it took to actually access the save file menu. While loading the save files is still at an increased speed in comparison to the initial episode, accessing the save file screen took double the amount of time than actually loading a save file; there was also a handful of times when access to the save file screen simply did not work.

If you have read any of my previous Hitman episodic, you will know I have been a big advocate for including a search function to Contracts Mode. After four episodes a search function has finally been added – sort of. The only way to actually use the search function is to have access to the assassination contract ID that is given once a contract had been created. While this option is certainly better than nothing, this is still not the most functional and user friendly option to searching through the thousands of contracts already created.

Hitman Episode 4 Bangkok is the first episode in the series that kept me playing for hours on end, as I wanted to explore every area and achieve every assassination available. This is a true testament to the strong overall package of the Bangkok episode, which provides an interesting location, fun assassination opportunities, and a grounded reasoning behind each elimination.

Hitman’s episodic structure is still suffering when it comes to an overarching narrative, and the latest installment brings with it some new technical issues, but Bangkok feels like a big step in the right direction for the series.

Next stop – the US of A!

The Good

• Grounded reasoning behind each assassination target.
• Varied locations of the Himmapan resort.
• Fun selection of assassination opportunities.

The Bad

• Overarching story issues continue.
• Frequent audio issues.

The Score: 8.0