Ubisoft Game Reviews
Review Watch Dogs Legion - The Dullest Ubisoft Open-Worlder Yet
Dear Old Blighty
Watch Dogs Legion could, and probably should, be so much better than this. Following two entries that introduced and refined the open-world hacking concept across the PlayStation 4 generation, Ubisoft has stagnated in an effort to heavily promote a new feature it hasn't managed to capitalise on. The result is an experience that...
Review The Division 2: Warlords of New York - Glitchy Expansion Is More of the Same
Press F to pay respects
It's been quite the fall from grace for The Division 2. After launching a year ago to widespread praise, the looter shooter all but disappeared off the face of the earth over the summer months as developer Massive Entertainment struggled to keep fans engaged with lacking content drops and controversial patches. Three minor...
All-in-one
Ghost Recon: Breakpoint is a difficult game to review. Sometimes it's great fun, sometimes it's an incredibly banal but weirdly addictive grind. Other times it's a buggy mess. Our enjoyment of Breakpoint has fluctuated so much over the review period that we had to sit down and carefully consider whether we actually think it's worth...
Death from above
With this third and final episode in Assassin's Creed Odyssey's The Fate of Atlantis saga, the story of Alexios or Kassandra comes full circle. Judgment of Atlantis ties everything together more effectively than we thought it would, and although we can't say the same for the modern day stuff -- more on that later -- this is a...
See you in hell
After being left slightly disappointed by Assassin's Creed Odyssey: The Fate of Atlantis - Episode 1, we needed Episode 2 to show us that the Eagle Bearer's journey through the underworld was only going to get better. The first episode was beautiful but ultimately a bit boring, and while Episode 2 does still plod along at times, it's...
Sinking feeling
After the fantastical greatness of Assassin's Creed Origins: Curse of the Pharaohs, we had high hopes for The Fate of Atlantis -- a chance for the developers of Assassin's Creed Odyssey to let their imagination run wild. While Odyssey already features a number of mythological elements, this DLC saga promises even more creativity...
Review Space Junkies - Arena Shooters Have Met Their VR Match
Now it's time to get junky
You don’t need us to tell you that maintaining a consistent player base in multiplayer-only PlayStation VR games continues to be a struggle for any studio that claims to be up to the task. Some have lowered the barriers to entry by adopting free-to-play models or by opening the doors to non-VR players too, but the fact...
The revolution begins again
From gliding through the sandy deserts of Origins to basking in the ostentatious ancient Greek environments of Odyssey, the last few Assassin’s Creed instalments have not failed to astound players with their mind-blowing finesse. That said, regardless of how far the series has progressed (undoubtedly for the better),...
Review The Division 2 - With a Few Tweaks, This Could Be Something Special
Land of the free hit
The Division 2 is a good, solid looter shooter. At points, it's a fantastic looter shooter, but at the time of writing, it has just a handful of notable issues holding it back. Ideally, a game releases with no problems whatsoever, but in this age of live services, regular content updates, and feedback-based patches, expectations...
Blood on the sand
The third and final instalment in Assassin's Creed Odyssey's Legacy of the First Blade series, Episode 3: Bloodline ties everything together quite well. After Episode 2: Shadow Heritage ended with your hero controversially starting a family, this next chapter opens on a sweet note as your character attempts to live out a quieter...
Review Trials Rising - Addictive Vehicular Platforming with Some Issues
The rise and fall
What do you do when you practically perfect a franchise on your first attempt? That’s the dilemma that Helsinki-based developer RedLynx has faced for some time now, with Trials HD taking the world by storm on Xbox 360. Ten years later, the Finnish firm is still making egregiously addictive vehicular platformers – but how does...
Review Far Cry: New Dawn - Yeah, It's Okay
Jesus take the wheel
It's a cliche, but Far Cry: New Dawn is the video game equivalent of popcorn. Bits of it taste great, but most of it is just there to be consumed, free of expectation. You shovel it into your mouth and admittedly it can be difficult to stop until the bag is empty, but you'll barely remember eating it once you've sat down and had...
Review For Honor - Medieval Brawler Comes Out Swinging
'Tis but a scratch
Republished on Wednesday 30th January 2019: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of February's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. The back and forth of a mano-a-mano sword fight rarely gets encapsulated effectively in video game form, and even the likes of Nioh or Dark...
Unfair in love
Adding another several hours of content and continuing the story that started in Episode 1, Assassin's Creed Odyssey: Legacy of the First Blade - Episode 2: Shadow Heritage (good lord!) is a solid follow-up. New quests, a new ability, and a couple of new legendary weapons await, but once again, don't go into this DLC expecting any...
Review Steep - Chill Open World Winter Sports
Peak performer
Extreme sports of the wintry variety clearly aren't for the faint-hearted, and anyone that partakes in snowy slopes that have more in common with the vertical than the horizontal need their head examined. Not only is it dangerous but it also happens to be bloody expensive to boot, which means that most of us will only ever be exposed...
Review Assassin's Creed Odyssey: Legacy of the First Blade - Episode 1: Hunted - Off to a Good Start
To the point
Assassin's Creed Odyssey: Legacy of the First Blade - Episode 1: Hunted (there's no way in heck we're writing that again) is the first chapter of downloadable content for Odyssey -- a game that's already fit to burst with... Everything. Fortunately, Hunted does enough to stand out as its own little slice of adventure, ensuring that it...
Review Rayman - An 'Armless PSone Platforming Treat
Ray-manifestation of UbiArt
Even twenty years ago, any love felt towards PSone Rayman's luscious art style could quickly turn into hate due to its spikily relentless difficulty barrier, but a cathartic sense of satisfaction could also be found by perseverant gamers who endured to conquer all eighteen of its levels. As a December 1995 EU launch...
Review Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six - Not a PS Classic, But Interesting Nonetheless
Back to basics
Believe it or not, but there was a time when the Tom Clancy game franchise that haemorrhaged titles in the 2000s was actually less popular than the legendary novelist himself. Even by the late 90s, only a handful of games based on his books had come out – most of them Hunt for the Red October submarine sims. That all changed in...
Review Starlink: Battle for Atlas - A Decent Space Romp Cluttered with Plastic
Toys that aren't so lively
The toys-to-life fad that fuelled the likes of Disney Infinity, Lego Dimensions, and Skylanders died out years ago, didn’t it? Apparently not, because here we are in 2018 with a brand new product line on the market. Starlink: Battle for Atlas, from French behemoth Ubisoft, releases alongside a slew of physical space...
Review Assassin's Creed Odyssey - A Masterclass in Open World Design
Kraken good fun
After the deserved success of Assassin's Creed Origins, someone at Ubisoft must have decided to replay The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Bayek's Egyptian adventure had already borrowed heavily from CD Projekt Red's masterpiece, but Assassin's Creed Odyssey doubles down on every role-playing mechanic that it can. The result is an open world...
Orthanc was a Ubisoft tower?
Transference is one of those games that’s best experienced knowing as little about what awaits you as possible. As such, we intend to remain as vague as possible when it comes to discussing narrative threads and consequences, while still giving you a good idea of how the experience adds up as a whole. Although, with...
Review Far Cry 5: Lost on Mars (PS4)
Spaced out
Far Cry 5, like a few of Ubisoft's high profile releases, has come with the promise of a weird and wonderful DLC schedule that takes the base game and places it in increasingly strange scenarios. Lost on Mars is the latest bizarre excursion for the open world shooter, and it's probably about what you're expecting. It doesn't take itself...
Déjà crew
One of the elements that was universally praised about The Crew was its open world. While developer Ivory Tower’s abbreviated version of the USA was a wonderfully put together slice of Americana, the surrounding game, ultimately let things down with its Fast & Furious-inspired story, and disappointing opponent AI. With The Crew...
Review Far Cry 3: Classic Edition (PS4)
The definition of insanity
We have to say, it's rather pleasant to play Far Cry 3 again. There's a simplicity to it that we appreciate -- the wildlife is present but less malicious, the main antagonist is still wonderfully unstable, and the Rook Islands still make for an enjoyable, picturesque backdrop. That we are playing this entry through again...
Review Far Cry 5: Hours of Darkness (PS4)
Hell or high whatever
In the two months since its release, the general consensus surrounding Far Cry 5 has settled on it being a solid experience but also one that didn’t bring anything new to the table. In the hope of finding something fresh, series fans have been placing their bets on the game’s post-launch DLC to satisfy those needs. The...
Review Trials Fusion (PlayStation 4)
Motorcycle menagerie
Republished on Wednesday 30th May 2018: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of June's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. There aren’t nearly enough motorcycle games that let you play a round of tennis with a penguin, of that we can all agree. Alas, until some clever...
Everybody loves Rayman
Republished on Wednesday 25th April 2018: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of May's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. After spending far too much time in the shadow of the Raving Rabbids, Rayman made a triumphant return to consoles in Rayman Origins. While...
Review TrackMania: Turbo (PS4)
Round the bend
Republished on Wednesday 28th March 2018: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of April's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. Despite the brand debuting well over a decade ago, TrackMania: Turbo marks the arcade racer's first release on a PlayStation platform. A favourite on the...
Daddy issues
If an AI were to create a game based on popular Google search terms for video games, Far Cry 5 would likely be the result. Whether that's a good or a bad thing largely depends on what you expect from Far Cry at this point, and probably games in general. Because Far Cry 5 isn't a bad game – in fact, it's an awful lot of good old...
Review Assassin's Creed Origins: Curse of the Pharaohs (PS4)
More of a blessing than a curse
Following on from the enjoyable, if a little boring The Hidden Ones, Curse of the Pharaohs is Assassin's Creed Origins' second expansion, and it's a lot more ambitious. Once again, protagonist Bayek -- now getting on in years -- is informed of ill happenings off in a different part of Egypt. This time, he's...
