Recent reviews by wanderingbadger

Resident Evil 2 remake is a fantastic return to what I feel made Resident Evil great, an emphasis on the survival horror rather than later entries feeling distinctly more action orientated. This remake offers some much welcomed modern gaming sensibilities that only serve to enhance and further polish the experience. The quality of life improvements are brilliant, for example maps remain red if not completely explored and items being ticked off once their use is up.

The game play is taught and tense experience though I feel they were a little stingy with the health. There are a few places where some item drops just felt as though they should have had something there. I think they could have implemented this without watering down the experience.

The graphics are gorgeously grotesque, the sound design is great and though Resi 2 did it first it kind of has a Alien Isolation vibe to it, being able to hear what could be your impending doom.

Overall a fantastic experience. Highly recommended!

Quite simply one of the greatest games of all time. A wonderfully written single player featuring the voice of Stephen Merchant.

The concept is simple and pure genius. You play as Chell and navigate each level/ puzzle using your Portal gun as well as a few other little things along the way. All the while you are accompanied by a little robot Wheatley and are hounded and hilariously mocked by the super computer GLaDOS.

The game play is about as perfect as it can get. Very simple, leaving you to instead explore the world and it's sometimes head scratching puzzles. It's charming, hilarious and never too unfair. What's more I recently got to play through the co-op mode which
I was delighted to discover was as equally engaging, though the story wasn't quite as good.

I only pray to the Steam gods that this franchise is revisited at some point. It's a game that made love puzzle games and it is an absolute joy to play.

*re-edited this review

I put in around 25 hours into a game that apparently takes around 10 hours to complete and still haven't finished collecting everything. Yes Axiom Verge is a huge game full of sharp shooting, platforming and discovery much in the spirit of games like Metroid and Castlevania. It also reminded me of a little known classic called Wolf Child.

At times Axiom Verge feels almost imposible to uncover as it is so vast and choc-full of secrets to uncover some of which require a sharp eye, others a sharp mind. Unfortunatley not all the time I put into the game was pleasent however. This was due mostly to some momentary design flaws. For example there is a particular section of the game that took me hours to figure out and it was due to a puzzle that had no particular set up. The next moment came with the seventh boss who in a sharp turn from other bosses felt like more of grind than a battle of skill. These moments set me back hours grinding what is otherwise a smooth experience to a halt.

The dificulty level also takes a sharp spike towards the end of the game which isn't especially surprising (duh) but I felt the game doesn't balance your newly acquired abilities as well as earlier in the game resulting again in battles of health grinding or even worse dreaded retreads as you replay one area over and over and OVER... sorry.

Moving on. With much of the bad stuff out the way the game truly shines in pretty much all of it Metroidvania inspired glory. For the vast majority of the game exploration is incredibly fun, there are tons of fantastic enemies to face along the way and it all revolves around a intruiging story that is reminicent of sci-fi films like the Matrix. For the most part the controls are very tight however I did run into problems playing with my 360 pad (mostly cuz the D-Pad sucks). Also I really didn't like the implementation of the dash and double jump.

I absolutley loved the breadth of power ups, weapons and abilities. This for me was the most rewarding aspect of the game I squeeled like a school girl upon finally getting the infamous flame thrower! Also the drone is amazing and in conjunction with the field disruptor lead to some awesome puzzle solving. After stumbling awarkardly through the games jagged world for hours you will eventually move through it like a 16bit God!

Over all Axiom Verge is an incrediably fun if slightly flawed platformer. It's one of the best games I have played for some time and certainly the best platformer since Shovel Knight. To think this is the work of one man blows my mind. Hats off sir, hats off.

Despite the game intially being a free mod, the amount of hardwork these guys have put into the re-imaganing of Half-Life more than justifes the price although the last 15% of the game needs to arrive asap. However I believe in supporting creatives like these guys so we get more stuff in the future.

The game itself is fantastic for the most part. Black Mesa has been lovingly recreated with fantastic detail and depth. However as it currentlty stands their are some minor issues that are a little irksome. Amongst these include the general balance of the gameplay. Some weapons feel distintctly underpowerd such as the shotgun and grenedes which can lead to unrealistic combat. The shotgun and grenedes for example feel a little weak. The biggest problem I am personaly experiencing though is with saves. Twice I have found myself replaying large portions of a game due to an unrealiable auto-save system or my latest save not appearing upon booting the game, often time the auto-save aren't particulalry well thought out either. Some are close together, some far apart and some put in silly areas. One example being the time the game auto-saved me falling to my death.

Hopefully these things will be fixed soon enough, I can not stress that despite the minor issues the game feels fresh, fantastic and relevent again. Its a testement to the imagination and hard work of the guys involved as well as the Source 2 engine.

+ Detailed and interesting world
+ Fantastic Atmosphere
+Solid game play
- Story a little convoluted
- A little short
- Could benefit from expanded upon RPG elements and gun crafting


Taking place in a post nuclear Russia’s Metro system Metro Last Light is a fantastically atmospheric and often frighten experience. The game is populated with interesting NPC that make MLL feel like a real thriving world, struggling to survive the perils that the waste land offers. You play as Artyom a key person in shaping the events of this world and thanks to moral choices you will face within the game you will shape events to come. The game is beautifully realised, the attention to environmental detail is fantastic, it's almost a shame that so much of it is played in the dark. The game play is smooth and there are some RPG lite elements in terms of gun crafting and upgrading. I would have liked this to be expanded upon. I think a key area where this game falls short is the story can seem confusing and a little convoluted at times, It took me a while to piece together what was actually going on. Artyoms Journal which you find throughout the game helps elaborate on events but I personally find looking for and reading notes can often become a chore breaking thee rhythm of play. Still it's only a minor gripe.

8/10