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The FIFA 17 demo surprised me. I think the gameplay feels a tad sluggish, but the story mode, which EA is calling The Journey, looks to be offering something genuinely different in the genre. I can see myself happily playing through the tale of Hunter’s career, and then perhaps switching back to PES 2017 as my main footy game for this season. I’m yet to see how FIFA 17 plays in the final game, though, and if the passing can be given a boost my choice might not be so simple.
I’ve also been playing the Forza Horizon 3 DEMO, definitely only the DEMO, and I can say that the DEMO is excellent. I’m having great fun and it looks gorgeous. After the lacklustre presentation in the recently released Xbox exclusive, ReCore, it’s great to see what the box is really capable of. I can’t wait to play more of the DEMO ahead of my Forza Horizon 3 review next week.
Dave Scammell, News Editor – Rive, PS4
Well this came out of nowhere. One of my favourite downloadable games of the year so far, Rive is a frenetic platformer/shoot-em-up that sees you piloting an armed-to-the-teeth spider tank and blasting your way through an AI-controlled space station. It can be rock hard (as these games tend to be) but it’s paced well enough that it’s never frustratingly so. Top stuff.
There’s more to it than that, though. There’s a hint of Metroidvania as you learn new ‘hacks’ to take control of bots and pass through previously inaccessible areas; the dialogue is a well written, super self-aware piss-take; and there are some wonderful set pieces that reference other video games by temporarily adopting their mechanics. The very obvious nod to Tetris is just excellent.
And it’s taken me completely by surprise: I haven’t seen anybody else talking about it, and I loaded it up out of sheer curiosity, rather than going in with any expectations. It may not be a game that’s remembered as well as those it so frequently references, but as a relatively cheap downloadable, Rive’s ticking all the right boxes so far.
Alice Bell, Junior Staff Writer – BioShock: The Collection, PC, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy, 3DS
This week I have mostly been playing some remasters from years ago.
I have reviewed BioShock: The Collection and surprisingly come to the conclusion that if you liked them before you’ll probably still like them, so there you go. Incidentally, BioShock Infinite is a game that games journalists are divided on, specifically whether it’s a great game, an okay game, or whether it is, in fact, the most terrible thing ever committed by a games studio, and this continues to happen despite the fact that nobody outside the industry is really aware of this internal conflict. Hopefully, once the remaster fuss has died down, we need never speak of it again.
I’m also playing the first Phoenix Wright trilogy on the 3DS, because the new one came out, and I know it’s highly regarded and people shout OBJECTION in it, that kind of thing, but I’d never played any of it, so I thought I could blitz through the older ones and get up to date. Currently I am very much enjoying it but am also astounded at the lack of any due process in the court system. It’s a f***ing shambles.
