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

Publisher Telltale Games Developers Telltale Games & Mojang

Genre Point and Click Adventure Platform Played Xbox One

Minecraft: Story Mode’s seventh installment brought forth a new chapter for Jesse and his friends. Just like its previous episodes, Access Denied, follows the method of a self-contained storyline. Where the episode differs however, is that it also attempts to introduce a larger ongoing crisis to help link the next and final episode of the series.

This episode builds upon the formula from previous episodes, where Jesse and co. travel to foreign worlds using a portal. The group chemistry emanates a dreary undertone as it’s revealed they have been travelling from world to world attempting to get back home. This idea of finding a way home is reminiscent of a sci-fi story and it’s clear that Telltale takes on this idea to flesh out well constructed self-contained stories. These stories allow Jesse and the group to feature in stories that span a multitude of different genres, it’s great.

Set in a dystopian-like world where an AI (Artificially Intelligent) machine rules supreme, Access Denied explores the age old Frankenstein-Creator relationship where players are introduced to Harper, a mysterious genius. It’s quickly found out Harper created the AI machine, PAMA. This AI-like villain sets the tone for the dystopian and bleak world they are faced with. Barron and without greenery, the world is shown to be teeming with robot-like zombies, humans and animals.

After a confrontation with PAMA it comes down to Jesse and his merry gang to take down the machine that’s hell-bent on making everyone ‘useful’ by implanting and controlling them with chips. This Minecraft take on the subgenre of a dystopian, almost Stanley Kubrick-like world shows that Telltale isn’t afraid to take the series in a different direction. While the premise comes off as an interesting direction, the execution of it ultimately results in a clichéd hero-villain story. And although Access Denied is filled with fun, humor, team work and other aspects that players have come to love from the Minecraft: Story Mode series, it does feel as if it’s lacking integrity and uniqueness.

The overall involvement of players actions is an immense factor that is lacking in Access Denied. The actions chosen by players didn’t feel as important as previous episodes while the puzzles also weren’t overly complicated. Most puzzles could be completed in a very quick fashion. This lack of player involvement makes the episode feel less like a video game and more like a TV show or Movie where the outcome is always the same regardless of audience interaction. What makes traditional Telltale games distinct is feeling the weight with every decision made by the player, holding a sense of consequence as a result of selecting to do one thing over another. This episode completely lacked in that regard.

Gameplay aside, Access Denied familiarized players with some history of the Minecraft universe with its introduction of Harper and presented an interesting new storyline that will come to fruition in the next and final episode. Some issues that existed in this particular episode can hopefully be resolved in the final episode through the inclusion of an end goal which can hopefully give it some integrity.

While some interesting characters were introduced with Harper and PAMA, it left me yearning for an episode following some kind of structure, beyond the basic idea of defeating the villain to win. The formula of a self-contained story that the series has been following is now starting to show its flaws through its use of generic hero, villain characters.

Without a general direction or end-goal a lot of the actions feel insignificant in Access Denied. The puzzles aren’t too special and exploration isn’t too prevalent either. While this episode was a letdown it does end on an intriguing proposition that will hopefully come to redeem the negatives of this episode, in the next and final chapter. If it can be skipped, I’d give this episode a miss.

The Good

• Some interesting characters introduced.
• Great direction premise with an artificially intelligent machine.
• Interesting to see team not get along so well.
• Ending made for an exciting follow up.

The Bad

• Plot was overall clichéd.
• No real end goal.
• Decisions felt insignigicant.
• Puzzles were fairly easy to complete.

The Score: 6

Developer  Space Dust Studios Publisher Deck13 Interactive

Genre Party Racer Platform Played PlayStation 4

When we talk about multiplayer racing games, Mario Kart has held its “King Of The Hill” status for as long as I have held a controller. While Obliteracers may not be strong enough to kill the king, it stands as one of the better party racing games available on the market.

Concentration is key in a game that allows for up to 16 players at the same time on the same race track. Grab your smartphone. Grab your laptop. Fire up your gaming console, and join your friends in what is sure to be a night of screaming and smack talk. Obliteracers is chaotic, frustrating, and gratifying all at the same time. The varied characters and modifications make it easy to draw you in.

A good game is determined by asking one simple question; Is it fun? Hell yes, this game is fun. And it’s challenging. Obliteracers is not a split screen, stay-in-your-lane game. Obliteracers is an orgy of sound, color, and chaos. Just because you’re a good driver, doesn’t mean an oil slick won’t send you right off the cliff. Having a machine gun turret on the top of your vehicle won’t save you from having a guided missile shoved right up your tail pipe. In a world of competitive first person shooters, it’s a breath of fresh air to have a fun and lighthearted game.

With several tracks in “career” mode to choose fun, the biggest surprise for me was that when you die in a race, you’re not necessarily finished. A set of cross hairs pop up on the screen for you to cover any racer you’re not particularly fond of. This could just be a fun gimmick, but it also gives you total control on the outcome. Various game modes will have a point leading scale, and you’ll race multiple times before it’s over. So if you notice another racer is climbing a little to high on the point scale, and the guy/girl next to them is in last place, you aim you blow the person in 2nd the hell back to 5th place where they belong. It opens up a new strategic way to race, and sometimes makes losing on purpose fun. Turning your racer game into a shooter.

The chaos can also be a little frustrating. It can get exhausting to have a game where you have no leeway at all. There’s just so much going on at the screen at one time it’s easy to lose your character in the fold. More than a few times I had trouble really tracking down my race car after re-spawning and ended up driving off the road because I didn’t know where I was. But really that’s my main complaint. Every game could stand to have more racers and tracks, but the modifications and lighthearted tone more than made up for it.

Finding great couch co-op and party games are hard to do these days. We have been  groomed to go online and play in massive online arenas. Thankfully, there still exist games that are trying to get back to light and fun gaming, without sacrificing excellent control and gameplay. Obliteracers is absolutely a game you should try out with your friends and family.

The Good

• Excellent Party Game
  
• Tight coding
  
• Tone is lighthearted
• Modifiers and co-op modes keep you on your toes.
• Multiple platforms can play together
• Death is just the beginning

The Bad

• Chaos can be too much at times
  
• Could benefit from more customization of characters
• Somewhat restricted tracks
• Online Multiplayer can be wonky

The Score: 8.0

Genre Platformer Platform Played PlayStation 4

Developer Comcept, Inti Creates Publisher Deep Silver

Mighty No. 9 feels like a generic knock-off rather than the spiritual successor it claims to be.

Mighty No. 9 follows the story of Beck, a robot who looks eerily similar to Mega Man; blue paint job and blaster included. Beck was created by Dr. White and when the entire robot populous suddenly go mad, Beck and Dr. White must work together to figure out who is behind this dastardly plot and take down the mad robot menace along the way. The basic premise of the story itself is interesting, but Mighty No. 9 fails to convert the sound premise into a coherent and entertaining story.

Mighty No. 9‘s failed narrative is mostly due to the phoned in voice acting, laughable writing and poorly produced cut scenes. Each actor throughout the campaign radiates a sense of not wanting to deliver the poorly written lines of dialogue, which does not help the bland narrative story. Characters themselves are poorly explained and after completing the story I still struggle to understand the motivation of each character or even remember their names; but I did not forget the incredibly cheesy and cringe-worthy dialogue. Mighty No. 9 is the first game I have ever heard characters shout the words “poppycock”, “cheese and biscuits” and “peas and carrots”. It becomes incredibly hard to take Mighty No. 9’s story and impending threat seriously, when such awkward lines are delivered. Even worse, each “cut-scene” (and I use the term lightly) has very little production value, with characters’ mouths refusing to move when they deliver dialogue. Mighty No. 9’s narrative is forgettable and more of a nuisance than a positive feature.

While Mighty No. 9’s narrative is worth forgetting, a spiritual successor to one of the best platforming franchises in the gaming industry must definitely deliver when it comes to platforming prowess – unfortunately this is not the case. Mighty No. 9’s platforming controls feels stiff and unresponsive for a majority of the time, which caused many deaths along the way. While deaths in a platformer are to be expected, there are dozens of times Beck would fall to his death simply because the character refused to acknowledge a ledge was able to be grabbed. While it is a simple error Mighty No. 9 produces a retro expectation for each level – run out of lives and you must restart the entire stage. Due to something as simple as the inability to detect if a ledge can be grabbed, it ended up costing me dozens of attempts at the same stage simply in order to hope that Beck would finally grab the ledge.

Adding to the frustration of the archaic stage restart model is the amount of cheap deaths throughout Mighty No. 9. These obstacles can be random pieces of the environment falling out of nowhere, precariously placed instant kill devices and falling debris. Most levels are straight forward and most enemies can simply be avoided in order to speed run through each stage, but Mighty No. 9 delivers cheap deaths consistently. Each Mighty No. 9 stage feels bland and basic, and without these obstacles sprinkled throughout each level Mighty No. 9 could easily be completed in a few hours. Instantaneous deaths can be an important tool to any platformer, perhaps to increase the difficulty of the final few stages; Mighty No. 9 instead relies of these cheap mechanics in order to simply lengthen the amount of time spent on each level. It never felt like Mighty No. 9 was testing my skills, rather halting my progress with inconsistent controls and frustratingly placed instant deaths; before asking me to attempt the entire stage once more.

Beck’s main weapon is a blaster cannon strapped to his arm and although Beck can assimilate other powers from each boss encounter, Beck’s basic weapon is usually the best form of attack. Beck can destroy enemies outright, but it is encouraged to simply damage enemies enough so Beck can assimilate them and acquire timed bonuses to attack, speed and damage resistance. The assimilation dynamic is an interesting premise, but defeating each low level grunt feels too easy and makes combat less enjoyable. Enemies never provide much challenge along the way and instead end up being a time consuming factor rather than a difficult obstacle.

Mighty No. 9’s boss encounters however provide an excellent sense of scale and challenge with thrilling battles. Like the Mega Man franchise each enemy is weak against attacks from another boss, which is where Beck’s assimilation abilities become most prevalent. Acquiring the fire form will allow Beck to have an advantage when facing off against the ice themed boss, which adds an interesting factor when deciding which boss to hunt down next. Each boss has a unique theme and attack pattern, which made experiencing each new battle exciting and challenging. I loved facing off against the variety of unique boss encounters as this is where Mighty No. 9 comes closest to reaching the spiritual successor status it claims to achieve. While the boss encounters are definitely a bright end to each stage it is unfortunate that the cheap deaths, generic platforming and laughable story provide a chore along the way.

Each stage in Mighty No. 9 is generic and it becomes difficult to tell them apart in most cases, with a bland overall visual style that is reminiscent of a Time Crisis arcade machine. Making Mighty No. 9‘s basic visual style worse is the fact each level is plagued by framerate issues that can slow the platforming action down to a snail’s pace, or simply freeze the entire level in place forcing a manual restart. Honestly Mighty No. 9’s only positive visual standpoint is the unique character design of each of Beck’s alternate forms. Each design looks fantastic and incorporates the Beck’s original character model with each boss design, creating some excellent Voltron-esque visuals.

Aside from the standard campaign in Mighty No. 9 there are an array of bonus features and modes to be unlocked, but most are bare-bones and broken. Players can unlock Boss Rush and Challenge stages that feature timed goals, but most of these miniature challenges are completed within 30 seconds or are simply copy paste challenges for each of Beck’s different forms. Mighty No. 9 also includes cooperative challenges, that for some reason can only be experienced online – with absolutely no local coop options. This wouldn’t be horrible if the online experience worked, but at least 80% of the time the process of finding an online match would break the game and force me to restart. After hours of attempting to find an online match and countless manual restarts, I have still not been able to experience any of the online multiplayer options.

Mighty No. 9 ultimately fails to produce a smooth platforming package. While the concluding boss encounters of each stage are thrilling to experience, it is a shame that what must be completed in order to reach these battles is so poorly implemented. Mighty No. 9 attempts to offer a little of everything, but instead of ensuring each feature is polished and well-presented Mighty No. 9’s array of features feels unfinished and uninteresting.

Mighty No. 9 was touted as the spiritual successor to Mega Man, but unfortunately Mighty No. 9 falls significantly short at reaching those lofty goals. Mighty No. 9 instead feels like a platformer that has lost its way. Unable to achieve the platforming mastery of retro platformers and struggling to produce unique platforming ideas.

The Good

• Thrilling and challenging boss encounters.
• Design of Beck’s alternate forms.

The Bad

• Poorly delivered voice acting, laughable writing, poor story.
• Stiff platforming.
• Basic stages littered with cheap deaths.
• Frame-rate issues, game freezing.

The Score: 4.5

Publisher Focus Home Interactive Developer Spiders

 Platform Played PC

Initially, The Technomancer had all the workings of a solid sci-fi RPG experience. There was an interesting world, a class of people who can control lightning, and a fast-paced combat system that felt like a cross between Kingdoms of Amalur’s multiple weapon system and Batman Arkham’s counter system. However, that optimism slowly decayed the further I got into The Technomancer. What starts out as a good game, becomes the definition of mediocrity: Looking past its faults there are some promising elements, but those faults keep rearing their head and detracting from the experience.

The Technomancer is set on Mars where water has become the most valuable resource. Corporations use lightning wielders called Technomancers to help wage their wars. It’s an interesting world, but I felt like I had been thrown in without being given much political context regarding the various factions and corporations. In the scope of the narrative it’s not that relevant, but the world of The Technomancer feels so developed that the backstory should have been fleshed out. Instead, the narrative sees you trying to overthrow a dictator after being chased from your homeland, while also trying to discover more about your Technomancer origins. The Technomancer storyline is more interesting of the two, but progression was often restricted by the other main plot line which failed to hold my attention. Further, there is a lack of a pay-off for big plot moments. What should be milestones in the story are seen as just another event. Furthermore, I rarely felt like the hero of the story, just someone doing everyone else’s dirty work.

The biggest downfall to the game’s narrative – and, consequently, gameplay – is that it keeps sending you back to the same few locations over and over again. Even when I left the first hub world after chapter one, the missions kept sending me back there. There wasn’t a change in enemies either; every room had exactly the same enemies every time you entered and it became tiresome quickly. Rushing through the main story will probably take about 15 hours, about 12 of which take place in two locations. The whole game is filled with quests that require you to run back and forth between the same places. Sometimes you’d travel about fifteen minutes to visit a character and be told a piece of information that sends you elsewhere, which means fighting back through the enemies you just fought through to go to the new location. The Technomancer does not hide its repetitiveness well enough.

It, perhaps, would have been more enjoyable if combat had not been so frustrating. Firstly, there are only a handful of different enemy types in the game: a few human variants with different weapons, and a few monsters. Secondly, combat feels like a game of chance. The Technomancer relies on a disruption system, wherein your attacks have a percentage chance to disrupt enemy attacks. When everything is flowing well, combat is actually quite fun. Each of the three weapon types (staff, dagger and gun, or mace and shield) are fun to use and can be switched to on the fly. I particularly enjoyed watching my character jumping around the screen using the staff, and its sound effect made it pack a punch. The lightning abilities also add some variety to combat should you choose to invest in that skill tree.

At its best, combat is fast paced as you’re wailing on enemies, using your lightning abilities and dodging their attacks. However, that all falls apart once the disruption system comes into play. You can only land about three melee attacks before they no longer hit an enemy. Suddenly, enemies are able to dodge all of your attacks. Then enemies enter into an attack animation that can only be avoided by dodging. When enemies often decide to attack all at once you’re left doing multiple dodges in a row which takes away any momentum you had. Further, if an enemy knocks you down, there’s no way to counter the three enemies that proceed to wail on you. Or you might get hit by a gun shot that comes from off-screen, disrupts your attack and sees three enemies take your life to from almost full to zero in two seconds.

Despite being a somewhat loot driven RPG, I never felt like I was getting stronger in The Technomancer. Upgrading my gear was to keep up with enemies rather than surpass them, which is a shame because I liked the crafting system and using materials to upgrade my gear. Adding to the lack of progression is the amount of combat abilities you have unlocked at the start of the game. You already have all three weapon types unlocked as well as a Technomancer power, and you don’t unlock that many more throughout. I never felt like I was growing my character and getting more powerful.

The worst part about The Technomancer is its bland visual palate, and texture pop-in issues. The Technomancer does not feel like a 2016 game. It’s full of browns and dark colours that were trending a few years ago, rather than the vibrant environments that we see in 2016. Furthermore, some of the shadows are so dark that character’s faces are mostly hidden by them at times. It’s just not a pretty game most of the time. Finally, texture pop-in is rife in the two main areas. I would have to wait when loading into them and watch as the world generated around me, the frame rate dipping to a stutter. Sometimes, character’s faces would fail to load and I’d be left talking to a black silhouette and a character missing hair.

There are plenty of other great RPGs you should play before you even think about The Technomancer. If it’s ever on sale for a good price then consider picking it up, but don’t expect a quality experience. For everything good it has going for it – an interesting world, a decent amount of content, and at times fast-paced combat – something always crops up that negates the experience. The story has little narrative pay-off, combat is a game of chance, and the environments are bland, repetitive and filled with pop-in issues. Initially, The Technomancer shows so much promise, but its flaws begin to show the further you progress.

The Good

• Interesting world and characters
• A decent amount of content for RPG fans
• Fast-paced gameplay at times

The Bad

• Little narrative pay-off
• The disruption system and repetitive combat
• Bland, repetitive environments
• Constant texture pop-in issues

The Score: 5.0

Developer Playdead Studios  Publisher Microsoft Studios

Genre Puzzle  Platform Played Xbox One

After receiving such critical acclaim for LIMBO, the next title Playdead Studios released certainly had quite the reputation to uphold. Inside is that game and despite one or two minor issues, it does a phenomenal job keeping the same level of quality and offering players a truly unique experience. It is unfair to make frequent connections between a studio’s two games if they are not part of the same franchise, but it is obvious to anyone who played LIMBO that the studio has found several development choices which they feel allows them to create a more interesting and compelling game. They are not wrong in this assumption, so while I will do my best to avoid bringing up the previous title, some comparisons may be unavoidable.

Playdead Studios has made Inside a mostly silent title, opting to avoid background music and letting players immerse themselves in the environment. There are still audio cues such as dogs barking, gun shots, or water splashing, but the overwhelming silence is noticed immediately. Anyone who has never played LIMBO may believe the lack of music or any white noise might make for an awkward experience, or that it was done out of laziness, but nothing could be farther from the truth. The result is a far more intense experience, particularly as you are given absolutely no context for your actions. You will be hunted, chased, and forced to hide from various things, and the lack of music amplifies the level of tension felt by the player. In the later stages of the game, there are certain enemies or creatures which may actually be more unsettling simply because it is a silent threat without cues pertaining to its whereabouts. To effectively remove sound in the interest of letting players formulate their own ideas and generate more tension requires far more skill than simply placing jump scares or creepy music throughout an entire game, although this is admittedly a very obscure concept to wrap one’s head around until you have experienced it firsthand.

There also happens to be no concrete plot to follow while playing Inside. Following a young boy through a relatively monochromatic landscape, no context is offered for any of your actions at any point. Once more, this is an intentional development choice, resulting in each player crafting their own unique spin on what possible motivations the young protagonist has, what the setting is, and why there are individuals attempting to stop the child. It can be slightly frustrating at times as you may wish to get an actual answer or two regarding some of the suspicions you have, but it also prevents players from potentially missing a deep-seated theme or moral simply because of an overly complex narrative. It also allows some suspension of reality while playing through the game as concepts of mind control, a malicious, aquatic boy, and large sentinel robots require players to completely ignore certain aspects of our known world. Stopping to think about things such as a child casually controlling a submersible detracts from the experience of playing Inside, but fortunately this only becomes an issue if you do legitimately stop to think about the actions occurring within the game. Running, jumping, and swimming through the title feels seamless at the time, but re-examining each of the elements highlights that the environmental changes or sudden shifts in theme are not as smooth as they initially believed. Changes to your setting prevent the puzzles from becoming stale and keep players on their toes, but trying to envision what Inside‘s landscape looks like in order to contain every set piece in the way they are presented results in a very confusing mental image.

Perhaps players are only seeing a small slice of a much larger world Playdead Studios has created, or maybe there is actually a correct way to view Inside‘s plot but the studio is having far more fun letting players experience the vague title and speculate about the events unfolding in the game. Towards the game’s finale, there is a very large deviation from what has been experienced until that point, almost shattering any kind of theory regarding the plot many will have. The most likely response anyone will have to the twist is pure bewilderment and confusion, but maybe there is a logical explanation for this as well. By the time I was finished playing through Inside, I had an idea of what I felt the story centered around and what a possible theme was, but looking back on the separate elements which worked in tandem to create the experience, I found there were still outlying features which did not fit nicely into the overall impression the game had given me. This raises an alternative option about Inside‘s plot, which is that maybe no concrete answer exists at all. Maybe all of the game’s elements have been pieced together to create a memorable experience which completely lacks any meaning or plot and we find ourselves searching for an answer simply because we have become accustomed to finding morals and themes in games.

Considering the game is based almost entirely around solving puzzles, it comes as no surprise that the variety in design and imagination required to pass them is astonishing. If you happen to be the kind of player who wants to explore every inch of a game and will intentionally travel in the wrong direction before proceeding forward, the puzzles of Inside may not feel tricky at first, but rest assured that there will undoubtedly be some that stump you for a while. Conversely, those who attempt to run forward through titles as quickly as possible will find they are being turned around and forced to retrace their steps frequently. There is a reason for each and every passageway to exist in this title, it merely requires players to determine what that purpose may be. Some puzzle solutions will be obvious but present trouble in finding necessary components while other obstacles will need creativity and experimentation to overcome. There are even instances throughout the game when you will be pressured via time or a lethal threat to complete a puzzle and locate a solution quickly. These are often the most dastardly as you must observe your surroundings while hurriedly moving through the space. Fortunately, death has very little punishment associated with it and checkpoints are incredibly frequent.

While achievements of games are rarely a topic mentioned in game reviews, the ones associated with Inside deserve a special mention here as the team clearly worked diligently to ensure even they were puzzles. Scattered throughout the game, there are collectible orbs hidden off the beaten path. Exploring the terrain thoroughly will lead you to most of them, and some environmental clues also help identify when you happen to be near one, but the description of each achievement is also subtle hint about where to locate its respective orb. Considering how large the game is, even having hints does not guarantee you will be searching in the right area, but it points you in the right direction. It is something truly special to have a puzzle game which presents a plethora of trials for the player but also uses an external game mechanic to create even more puzzles for players.

Those who enjoyed LIMBO will undoubtedly love its spiritual successor as it presents even more content and more intricate puzzles. The biggest foreseeable issue some may have with the game is its lack of direct narrative, forcing players to concoct their own reasons for the actions of each character. Unfortunately, when reflecting back on the experience, the various environments do not meld together in a way which makes this easy. I can almost guarantee you will create your own theory about the plot while playing, even if unintentionally, but you may find yourself stretching to make certain components fit. This does not detract from the significant feelings of success felt after completing a particularly tricky puzzle or the various emotions you may encounter during a playthrough, but it can certainly alter some of your sentiments after all is said and done. Overall, Inside is a marvelous title, and fans of puzzle games will be delighted as it presents another phenomenal experience which easily stands out as one of this generation’s best titles in the genre.

The Good

• Incredible variety in puzzle design
• Lack of background music enhances the setting and experience
• Requires keen observation and creative thinking

The Bad

• Title takes a very weird twist towards the end which does not fit with rest of the game
• Later reflection on the environment and events makes the experience feel more disjointed

The Score: 8.8

Developer RedLynx  Publisher Ubisoft

Genre Racing  Platform Played Xbox One

Following the sheer ridiculousness of the Awesome Level Max DLC for Trials Fusion, it was hard to imagine how RedLynx might infuse their franchise with more absurd content. Announced at E3 during the Ubisoft press conference and released the same day, Trials of the Blood Dragon manages to take inspiration from the 1980’s and ’90’s to create a ludicrous title with a science fiction plot.

The game puts the player in control of two 12 year old children named Slayter and Roxanne. These twins are the children of Rex Colt from Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, and must fight their way through Vietnam War 4 against communists, insectoids, and an unidentified commander to ensure Blood Dragons are not used for evil. Finding some semblance of plot within a Trials title is admittedly odd, as we have never been assigned a purpose for riding tracks previously, but it is delivered in a relatively noninvasive manner. The majority of story elements are explained via dialogue between the various protagonists throughout the game’s levels. Sadly, unless you turn the dialogue down or off entirely in the menu, the same lines are repeated every time you replay a track, making for a very tiresome playthrough after you have completed a track for the first time. The fact that the option exists is a positive, although unless you go searching for it, you will have no idea the option to quiet the characters even exists. Occasionally there will be plot-focused cinematics between levels, but more often than not the brief videos are completely unrelated to anything and designed to poke fun at decades past. These nonsensical clips are initially charming and endearing, but by the end of a playthrough, you will likely finding yourself tired of them as they do not serve a real purpose and simply waste time between tracks. The side effect of these videos is the sudden appreciation you find for the animated cut scenes which progress the plot in any way.

The environments you race your way through are just as varied as the ones you will find in any other Trials game, with Vietnam, space, Miami, and Hell being just a few of the locales. The scenery and attention to detail found in each track is phenomenal, although unless you happen to be a spectator, you likely will not be able to appreciate all of it. One level in particular, titled Final Reckoning, has an incredibly active background, with missiles launching, aircraft crashing into the landscape, and even a train chugging along throughout most of the track. It is nearly impossible to take note of everything that is happening over the course of that level, particularly if you are looking for a no-fault run. For this reason, watching someone play Trials of the Blood Dragon can be almost as interesting as playing it, which is a huge advantage for the title considering the complete lack of multiplayer in any form. It is a little disappointing to see that multiplayer from Trials Fusion was not carried over as an option in Trials of the Blood Dragon, as it would have added infinitely more replay value to the title. Just to complete the game, any player is looking at a minimum or three or four hours, and obtaining “A” or “A+” ranks on each track will increase that time significantly, but the inclusion of multiplayer is something which can easily double or triple the amount of time any player will put into the game.

In an attempt to encourage players to replay levels for the sake of high rankings, an “Inner Beast” is selected by the player at the very start of the game, and will evolve as scores are accumulated. This creature acts as an avatar when your friends race against your ghost on a track or look at your standing on a leaderboard. The higher your total Trials of the Blood Dragon score, the more ferocious your avatar looks. Having chosen a shark as my Inner Beast, my avatar looked like one of the Street Sharks from the 90’s cartoon of the same name by the time I had completed the game. The beastly avatars are not the only feature implemented to reward high scores, as you are given a sticker pack each time you obtain an “A” ranking on a track. Serving as a flashback to the days of collectible stickers and the books which held specific spots for each stick, these are a charming addition to the game, even when the sticker itself is a ventriloquist dummy with a shotgun in its mouth or a cell phone which has sprouted tentacles. Every illustration fits the theme of the game perfectly, and if nothing else, sheer curiosity will lead to many players attempting to unlock every sticker.

One key feature of Trials of the Blood Dragon which many fans will have noticed at the E3 press conference is the fact that the protagonists can walk around on foot and wield a gun. Obviously these are huge deviations from the traditional Trials formula, particularly when the sections which force the player to go on foot can fall victim to less than stellar platforming mechanics. The movement mechanics for pedestrian levels are simple and intuitive, but you can tell that RedLynx is not the most experienced when it comes to individual characters jumping gaps. Occasionally you will fail to jump onto a ledge or crate when you very clearly should have been able to make it or you will find a slight delay between trying to jump and watching Roxanne or Slayter actually follow through with the action. Over time and after numerous failures, you will become accustomed to the specific way the game makes you navigate levels on foot, but it can be frustrating the first few times, particularly as you race the clock or attempt a flawless run.

The gun mechanic is used both while on a bike and on foot, primarily to eliminate enemy guards before they shoot you or to open up passageways. It can be a bit tricky during the later levels to accurately shoot enemies as you speed through levels and jump across gaps on your bike, but with enough practice it becomes second nature. The enemies will begin shooting at you almost immediately after noticing you, and if you get hit once or twice, you die and have to reload the last checkpoint. The fact that everyone is in possession of automatic guns is a large part of what makes the enemies so dangerous, particularly as it is very rare you only encounter a single enemy at a time. Foot soldiers will walk through previously closed doors, stand guard on opposite sides of a room, or even be standing behind a crate which offers them protection from your own bullets. On occasion, boss battles are also encountered and require players to shoot weak points while avoiding various attacks from the behemoths. None of them are terribly difficult (as the game still emphasizes completing levels quickly), but these battles are a welcome addition and vary the gameplay enough to help Trials of the Blood Dragon feel fresh.

In addition to occasionally completing levels or segments of tracks on foot, other levels will require the use of a jetpack, minecart, remote-controlled toy car, or a monstrous lunar rover. Each of these has an incredibly unique feel, but present their own challenges. The rover will smash through almost any obstacle or portion of the track it comes in contact with, but jumping gaps in it can be difficult as it requires much more time to build up sufficient speed. The RC car is nimble, and is capable of moving while upside down, but the control scheme relies strictly on moving left or right, which is not always represented as left or right on the screen when moving vertically or across the ceiling. Generally in these levels, the platforms are colour-coded to help ease any confusion, although not every track has these aids. The minecart is incredibly bulky, requiring far more space to stop or slow down and also has a tendency to get caught on random pieces of the environment. While riding a minecart through Hell, I frequently found the cart getting stuck on light fixtures, leaving poor Roxanne hanging there helplessly. Lastly, the jetpack presents most of its challenges from one particular level in which you deliver a bomb to a specific point. On its own, the jetpack is relatively easy to use, although there were numerous instances of my character being somehow stuck inside of a wall or getting their head stuck in a grate you must fly into in order to progress. Once the bomb is tethered to the jetpack, navigating through the tunnels is easily the most infuriating thing experienced in any Trials game or DLC made prior to this. The bomb has its own physics, as does the jetpack, and the two combine for a thoroughly unpleasant level. Stating that the bomb level is more irritating than any of the “Extreme” levels unlocked by finding five secret keys is incredibly bold, yet sadly true.

The final new addition found in Trials of the Blood Dragon is a grappling hook used to swing from specific points in levels. Operated in the same twin-stick manner as the gun, it can take a bit of practice to perfect your trajectory from one of these grapple points, but it is easily the most natural addition found in the game. The ability to latch onto glowing green tubes and swing across large gaps introduces far more opportunity for creative level design but also provides new ways for Trials pros to decrease their times by precious seconds. If done correctly, you can propel yourself past several time-consuming obstacles such as hills and the developers know this. Shortcuts are generally spotted around these grapple points, although reaching them requires plenty of practice and patience. For this reason alone the grappling hook should be a returning feature in future Trials games.

Trials of the Blood Dragon succeeds in combining the ridiculous nature of their Blood Dragon spin-offs with the traditional Trials formula of physics-based racing. This stand alone title is easily the best opportunity to test out new mechanics such as guns or grappling hooks when looking to the future of the Trials franchise, but inevitably when doing this, some experiments will fall flat. The grappling hook mechanic is the best new feature and opens up many more doors for the series, but the platforming sections should remain solely within this one game. The inclusion of a plot does not do much for the game other than offer a reason for traveling to some of the most ridiculous locations the franchise has visited. Hiding the Extreme tracks in an unlockable section of the game means that only those who wish to find that challenge will have to endure them, whereas previous titles had included them in the main list of levels. A minor change such as this might be less discouraging to players who are not as skilled at the game and it may feel like a more welcoming experience to them. Fans of the Trials franchise will love the fact that there is another full game to play, although its length makes it feel more like DLC than a full release. The lack of multiplayer certainly hurts the length of time many will spend with the game, but overall it is still an enjoyable, albeit brief venture.

The Good

• Grappling hook mechanic feels like a natural evolution of the franchise
• Many of the nods to 80’s and 90’s pop culture are thoroughly entertaining
• Inner Beast and sticker album help motivate players to better their scores

The Bad

• Nonsensical video clips with no connection to the plot become tiresome quickly
• No multiplayer game modes at all
• Platforming segments are not as smooth as vehicle-based sections

The Score: 7.0