Ubisoft Game Reviews
Review Just Dance 2015 (PlayStation 4)
Because I’m happy
Another year brings another instalment into Ubisoft’s multiplatform dance juggernaut, predictably entitled Just Dance 2015 this time. The aim of the game is as simple as it gets: you have to replicate the dance moves that the on-screen silhouette dancers perform in time with the music and as accurately as you can. The ethos is...
Review Watch Dogs: Bad Blood (PlayStation 4)
Dreadlock screen
Watch Dogs was a solid sandbox title that was let down by a shallow story and a weak cast of characters, and even though it featured a number of well designed missions and some great combat, a severe lack of personality kept proceedings from being truly memorable. Flash forward, and we have the game's first expansion: Bad Blood...
Review Trials Fusion: Empire of the Sky (PlayStation 4)
Looking up
If there was one thing wrong with Trials Fusion, it was that there wasn’t enough chances to fall tens of thousands of feet to your death. The fans have spoken: sometimes smashing your 120MPH bike into a brick wall just doesn’t feel dangerous enough. Don’t worry, though, as Ubisoft has heard your cries for a little more distance from...
Review Trials Fusion: Riders of the Rustlands (PlayStation 4)
Feeling rusty
Trials Fusion was one of the must-have games on the PlayStation 4 when it came out, and its first batch of downloadable content should be something of an event for the million or so people who invested in it. However, what could have been an exciting new set of levels ends up being underwhelming, spinning its wheels over a set of ideas...
Review Might & Magic: Duel of Champions - Forgotten Wars (PlayStation 3)
Pay £7.99 for tagline
You’d be forgiven for thinking that Might & Magic: Duel of Champions - Forgotten Wars is some kind of trading card video game, but that’s short-sighted. No, it’s an investment opportunity of a lifetime – a chance to hand out huge amounts of money in return for digital versions of cards that your other half probably...
Review Child of Light (PlayStation Vita)
Summer child
It took longer and was more brutal than a rap battle between J.R.R. Tolkien and George R.R. Martin, but Child of Light has finally made it to the PlayStation Vita. Those of you who have been desperately waiting to see what all the fuss was about can, after almost three months, join Aurora on her rather poetic quest to save the world...
Review Valiant Hearts: The Great War (PlayStation 4)
Dog day afternoon
There are hundreds upon hundreds of games about war. Yet despite the subject matter’s ubiquity, there is a distinct lack of variety in the way it’s handled: you shoot people, you sneak behind people so you can stab them in the back, or you slaughter countless people with the press of a single button. These gleeful and...
Review Watch Dogs (PlayStation 4)
Push square to hack
Ever since its announcement and reveal back at E3 2012, Ubisoft's Watch Dogs has ironically been held under close inspection. A sandbox adventure with a focus on hacking, it's an ambitious game that's chocked full of ideas and mechanics taken from some of the publisher's other properties and various open world titles. If you took...
Review Assassin's Creed Liberation HD (PlayStation 3)
Assassin's speed
Retelling the rather erratic adventures of Aveline de Grandpré, Assassin's Creed Liberation HD leaps onto the PlayStation 3 after its moderate success on Sony's handheld console – and visually, it's just about what you'd expect. The game's events are now witnessed through a much clearer lens, with some drastically improved...
Review Just Dance 2014 (PlayStation 4)
It takes Move to tango
Ubisoft’s colossal Just Dance series has become a common name among party gamers and rhythm fans. The gameplay essentially boils down to you mirroring a brightly coloured avatar in order to pull shapes to popular songs across a variety of genres. Compatible with up to four players, the franchise scores you by tracking your...
Review Rocksmith 2014 Edition (PlayStation 3)
It's a long way to the top (if you wanna rock 'n' roll)
Let's cut to the chase: Rocksmith 2014 Edition will not miraculously teach you how to play guitar like Slash in 24 hours. Learning the guitar or bass takes years of dedicated practice, repetition, self-motivation, and real technique. That doesn't necessarily mean that Rocksmith is useless –...
Review Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (PlayStation 3)
Nautical but nice
There’s more treasure to plunder in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag than in an entire sunken Spanish fleet. Ubisoft’s seafaring sequel represents another colossal endeavour for the ambitious organisation, leaving you free to sail the colourful Caribbean Sea in search of fame, fortune, and more grog than an honest mariner...
Review Rayman Legends (PlayStation 3)
A symphony written in gameplay
With Rayman Origins setting a new standard for everyone's favourite French hero, and rubbing shoulders with the leaders in the platforming genre, Michel Ancel's long overdue sequel has a lot to live up to. Fortunately, Rayman Legends is a tremendously fun and brilliantly designed title that is the very definition of a...
Review The Smurfs 2: The Video Game (PlayStation 3)
Feeling blue
One may assume that the business of producing low-budget movie tie-ins died with the untimely self-destruction of THQ, but Ubisoft has boldly picked up the slack with The Smurfs 2: The Video Game, and, as is normally the case with these sorts of releases, the results aren't particularly positive. The evil Gargamel and his two...
Review Spartacus Legends (PlayStation 3)
Are you not entertained?
Ubisoft’s first foray into the free-to-play market on consoles arrives in the form of Spartacus Legends, a one-on-one fighter that pits upgradable gladiators against each other both online and offline. It’s an historical premise that slots wonderfully into the genre, but does its freemium nature take away from the...
Review Cloudberry Kingdom (PlayStation 3)
Hop, skip, and jetpack
Cloudberry Kingdom sounds a bit like one of those free-to-play cutesy-looking titles that you’d usually find on Facebook – probably having something to do with trading fruit to friends while maintaining a happy little kingdom full of poorly illustrated, smiling animals. Thankfully, hidden under the game’s somewhat...
Review Call of Juarez: Gunslinger (PlayStation 3)
Once upon a time
Ditching the divisive Call of Juarez: The Cartel's modern-day setting, and sauntering into the Wild West once again, Call of Juarez: Gunslinger is a real return to form for Techland's underrated series. Boasting over-the-top arcade action, stripped back weapons of yore, and a Tarantino-inspired visual style, this downloadable...
Review Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (PlayStation 3)
Boom for your buck
Most first-person shooters settle for a few additional maps, a handful of new weapons, and a couple of bonus missions in their post-release period. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, however, blows that tradition out of the water, delivering a compelling standalone experience that's both out of the ordinary in delivery and subject matter...
Review Far Cry 3 (PlayStation 3)
Insane in the membrane
Far Cry 3 will find you questioning your sanity, your loyalty, and your will to survive. This tropical adventure gone violent provides the perfect distraction for you to whittle away your winter nights with – and days, too. It offers an exhilarating journey that you'll struggle to put down, and will linger long in the memory...
Review Assassin's Creed III (PlayStation 3)
Talkin' 'bout a Revolution
The Assassin's Creed franchise has taken us to a lot of places – Jerusalem, Istanbul and much of Italy for some — but it's only in the fifth mainline entry and PS Vita spin-off Assassin's Creed III: Liberation that Ubisoft has ventured to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean and breached North American shores. Neatly...
Review Assassin's Creed III: Liberation (PlayStation Vita)
Aveline in chains
You can’t fault Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation’s ambition. Ubisoft Sofia’s sprawling PlayStation Vita exclusive not only faithfully repurposes the free-roaming elimination escapades of its console counterparts, but through the corrupt recollections of mysterious protagonist Aveline de Grandpré it also attempts to imbue...
Review Babel Rising (PlayStation 3)
Playing God
One of the video game medium’s greatest assets is its ability to convey power. Whether you’re taking control of a superhero or an everyman with regenerating health, the industry rarely fails in its pursuit to provide you with unreasonable strength. But while potent protagonists are nothing new – almost all would succumb to the...
Review Mad Riders (PlayStation 3)
You drive me crazy
A title like Mad Riders conjures up all sorts of wild possibilities. Alas, you might be disappointed to discover that this game does not, in fact, involve racing rollerskate-wearing elephants down rainbow highways, nor does it include oversized hammers to swipe at foes. It's actually a rocket-powered ATV racer, the promised...
Review Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier (PlayStation 3)
Ghost squad
If you're expecting to sneak about undetected for the entirety of Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, prepare to be disappointed. While there are many clandestine moments throughout, Future Soldier plays closer to the rulebook established by the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare titles. Levels start out with stealth at the forefront but...
Review Rayman 3 HD (PlayStation 3)
'Armless fun
With his goofy haircut, non-existent limbs and a nose that threatens to eclipse the remainder of his face, Rayman's popularity is pretty surprising. After being sidelined in favour of screaming leporids for the last few years, the Glade of Dream's number one hero burst back in vogue after the exceptional Rayman Origins. Taking advantage...
Review I Am Alive (PlayStation 3)
Survivor
I Am Alive's road to release was as troubled as the journey of its protagonist Adam. Originally announced at E3 back in 2008, the project was passed between numerous developers before settling in East Asia at Ubisoft Shanghai. During its transitional years the game's changed a lot, switching distribution platforms from physical to digital...
Review Rayman Origins (PlayStation Vita)
A portable platforming masterpiece
When the original Rayman was released in 1995, it was lauded for its lush and vibrant visuals, and it didn't hurt that the game featured some incredible level designs either. But after jumping aboard the 3D platformer bandwagon for the better part of a decade, the series recently took a trip back to its 2D roots...
Review Dungeon Hunter: Alliance (PlayStation Vita)
An ill-suited alliance
The popular dungeon crawler Dungeon Hunter: Alliance, previously seen on PlayStation 3, iOS, and Android platforms, slashes its way onto PS Vita with a few new features at a surprisingly inflated cost. The concept is simple: travel from map to map killing enemies in order to level up and snatch up loot to improve your...
Review Lumines Electronic Symphony (PlayStation Vita)
Brain and eye candy
Lumines Electronic Symphony seems simplistic, but it still offers a challenge for even the best puzzlers out there. As blocks fall, you’ll have to rotate falling cubes to build blocks of the same colour into a four-by-four square; once that square is built, more blocks can be combined onto the initial block until a bar passes...
Review Driver: San Francisco (PlayStation 3)
Dreamy
Driver: San Francisco is eccentric but brilliant, carving a slapstick narrative around its complex mechanics. The game's prominent gameplay feature, 'Shift', not only introduces a new way to play, but also opens a window into developer Reflections' creativity, offering objectives that are not only extremely enjoyable but also wilfully...
