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F1 2019 | PS4 | Review

30/8/2019

 
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​Let me start with a confession, chums: yours truly finds Formula One rather dull. Long gone are the days of charismatic icons like Arton Senna, Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell (yes, yes, that last one is definitely a joke... honest). It’s because of this that I’ve failed to play a video game concerning the sport since good old F1 World Grand-Prix 2 on the mighty N64, so, can F1 2019 change my opinion? Or will the song remain the same? Ladies and gentlemen: start your engines!

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​by Rob
​Holt

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@acousticmagic

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Developer: Codemasters
Publisher: Codemasters
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC
Players: 1 - 20
From our first moments on the track, it was impossible not to be in awe of Codemaster’s audiovisual class. Whether it’s the sounds of screeching rubber, the crowd volume swelling as you turn into the home straight, or the light gleaming off one’s helmet; everything comes together to create true realism, in a way few sports games manage. 

The audio really helps to put you in the cockpit, with the throaty punch of the engine roaring and gears shifting thrilling at every corner, chicane and straight. What we really appreciate, mind, is the pre and post-race commentary. That’s right, during races you’re left to your own devices - albeit with a little chinwag here and there with your team in the pits. This means that when the commentary team do offer up their opinions, everything is in time and makes sense, contrary to almost every other sports game out there.

Graphically, Codemasters take authenticity to a whole other level yet again. Every track is gloriously, accurately rendered; the classic season opener Albert Park is recognisable from a mile off, for example. Everything is absolutely spot-on: lighting, textures and colours all creating a level of realism that most simulation games dream off. We’ve particularly enjoyed watching the way the tires and wheels revolve, which just serves to illustrate the level of exemplary work from Codies.
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“Now, now, our Bob,” I hear thee say “graphics don’t mean a thing if the gameplay don’t swing.” Wise words, comrades, wise words. We’re pleased to announce that the game plays an absolute dream. Every car feels different, and heck, even laps feel different as the tires degrade and corners have to be taken more cautiously (car assist options like racing lines and breaking assistance helped out a lot in our early stages). There's a true meditative pleasure in getting into the groove of a track, following its preferred racing line, breaking and accelerating at the perfect times. It’s sheer ozone-destroying bliss (and this is using a pad, so just imagine the fun of a wheel and pedals).  

F1 2019 also boasts options so hearty you’ll be dining out for many a moon. There’s a wealth of single-player options: Career, Championship, Grand Prix, Time Trial and plenty of online malarkey too (more on that later). Firstly, Grand Prix is the exhibition match equivalent: pick a track and a car and off you go for a one-off race. Time Trial is also shockingly self explanatory, but no less addictive for it - the last time we enjoyed them this much was about 1998, trying to take advantage of that ruddy Koopa Troopa Beach shortcut…

​
Championship, on the other hand, possesses a little more intrigue than its straightforward name suggests. There are the obligatory run-throughs of the F1 and F2 championships, sure, but Championship mode also contains a “Legends” challenge mode that sees you take control of Prost or Senna, over the course of some sumptuous short-burst scenarios. We opted for Senna, thoroughly enjoying smashing Prost in vintage motorcades on the classic Monaco circuit. More sports games need to feature these kinds of hark backs to the past - just imagine if EA could get a Matt Le Tissier goal scenario mode in FIFA 20.
Trust us when we say that career mode will give you your money’s worth on its own.
But alas, we digress. Those wanting to truly get sucked into F1 2019 should head straight to Career mode, the fleshiest part of the game. Here you’ll progress through the ranks from F2 champ to F1 beast and everything in between - and what a ride it is.

The F2 season sees you tussle with rivals Devon Butler and Lukas Weber, interactive cutscenes and all, although they do tail off once you make the step up to F1 and select a team to join, which is where the real game begins. You’ll have chats with your agent, interviews with journalists, qualifying and racing to do. We just grazed over the depth on offer here - there’s so much to tweak and trial car wise for simulation fans - as it all seemed a bit much for our arcade-y tendencies, but trust us when we say that career mode will give you your money’s worth on its own.


If all that isn’t enough for you then we recommend you venture online. Those familiar with Codemasters’ racing games will feel at home here; there are weekly events, leagues, and more. There’s also a focus on the esports side of F1, with videos from global events and competitions to enter, too. ​
So, to the chequered flag we head, one hand off the wheel in triumph. F1 2019 is an undeniably high quality racing game, full of thrill-n-spills. Sure, the acting and storylines of career mode are corny rubbish of the highest order, and the potential for hardcore simulation mostly left us cold, but the overall racing and package is so fully formed that we can’t help but leave impressed. Add to that the recently announced ​update including the latest season of F2 and you've got a lot of longevity. If you’re a fan of the sport you should already have this, but if you’re not, you should probably still consider taking it for a spin.

Pros

  • Exhilarating racing
  • Deep, long-lasting Career Mode
  • Codemasters’ usual audiovisual class is present
  • Assists, racing lines and shorter laps available for those new or lacking in time
  • Prost vs. Senna legends challenges
 
Cons
​
  • Some of the story elements and voice acting in career are truly awful
  • Dense amount of car tweaking options can be overwhelming
  • Unlikely to lure casuals to the sport

8/10
0 Comments

The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors | Nintendo Switch | Review

29/8/2019

 
The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors review - Pass the Controller

While some of us at PTC Towers were only wee lads back in the 1990s, the decade's pedigree can't be denied its role in propelling console gaming to the heights it has reached today, spawning influential games left and right.

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​​by James
Michael
​Parry

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​@james_parry

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​Developer: ININ/Taito
Publisher: Strictly Limited Games
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 

Players: 1-2

One of my all time favourites, the Streets of Rage series - which will soon return for a belated fourth outing - was among those to popularise the beat-'em-up genre back in those days on the Sega MegaDrive (or Genesis, if you must). 

But where does The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors come in, we hear you cry? Well, it seems clear its original incarnation, Ninja Warriors on the SNES, was influenced by that very franchise, and those similarities continue through to its latest incarnation. 

Unfortunately, even for a asking price of £16.99, discounted on release (or £25.99 boxed later this month), this release offers only a brief stint of excitement over its eight stages (each ending with a customary, overpowered boss), clocking in at just an hour or two of face-slashing action.

Of course, there are ninjas involved, which immediately makes it better, but even during its short tenure enemies become overly repetitive quickly, with early level bosses being doubled up and introduced as foils a couple of levels from the end, and the screen often being filled with pairs of identical enemies determined to take you down.
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​Standard baddies go down in a single hit, making them often more of an inconvenience, whereas the aforementioned bosses suddenly ramp up the difficulty at every turn, with only a couple employing interesting tactics and none having any real semblance of character.

Though you have three playable ninjas to choose from, each has the same screen-wiping special attack and a handful of moves to deal damage with. The designs are cool enough but there's little to make the play styles feel different compared to the variety seen in, say, Streets of Rage 2.
The Ninja Saviors: Rise of the Warriors - fight!
There’s a two-player co-op mode on offer, but only accessible locally, and you can also begin to feel like a bit of a spare part if you're a newbie and your co-pilot is a veteran. You can opt for a harder difficulty if you do find yourselves sailing through, which opens up two new characters to try out, but bizarrely only in solo play...

In typical arcade fashion, you're offered only one life and therefore a single try to get through the game without being taken down. If you decide to continue after dying you'll get going again from a fairly recent screen, but the game stops counting your time, and with no in-game scoring system to speak of there's now just pride to play for.

If a nostalgia hit is what you're looking for, The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors could scratch an itch. It’s a well-made if slightly one-note adventure that won't kill a huge amount of time.

Pros

  • Technically sound and well ported
  • A few interesting enemy encounters
  • Ninjas!

Cons
​
  • Incredibly short
  • Overpriced for what you get
  • Fairly derivative

5/10
0 Comments

Subdivision Infinity DX | Nintendo Switch | Review

16/8/2019

 
Subdivision Infinity DX review on Pass the Controller - attack!

The trouble with space is that it's mostly empty. Venturing into the unknown in a tiny spaceship in Subdivision Infinity DX, you feel that sense of scale immediately, as enemy ships, gun turrets and collectables flicker as pixels in the distance - particularly in handheld mode.
James Michael Parry

by James Michael Parry

Twitter @james_parry

​@james_parry

Subdivision Infinity DX
Developer: MistFly Games and Blowfish Studios
Publisher: Crescent Moon Games
Platforms: Steam, Nintendo Switch
Players: 1

While almost certainly what developers MistFly Games and Blowfish Studios were going for, it can make things a little difficult to pick out at first. What you do get though is a space adventure you can jump into with both feet from the word go.

With a pokey little starter ship and some tutorial missions awaiting you, you’re introduced to your avatar - a fairly standard-looking white guy - and have a little text-based chat with AV-2, your friendly(?) robot “guy in the chair” who sends you on your missions and often updates you in the field.

Before long you’ll have started to build your supply of coins, used to upgrade your ship, but sadly the better ships and upgrades are level locked. This makes even the early missions quite challenging without taking the time to replay stages in order to make the most of the upgrades you can purchase early on.

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There are five star systems to explore, each with a few standard missions and a couple of exploration missions which have a very strong emphasis on the exploration, as you might expect, opting not to give you much in the way of direction of objectives. It’s here you’ll do the bulk of your grinding, uncovering hidden crates of supplies and taking down enemies.

​Battles can be a bit frantic, feeling like aerial dogfights as enemy ships whip past and force you to turn around in pursuit. Even your starting lasers lock on once you’re in range, simplifying the often tricky 360-degree targeting system, but enemies seem to have pinpoint accuracy from the word go, meaning you’ll find yourself running for cover (and eventual health regeneration) frequently. Manoeuvrability isn’t a problem, fortunately, with a boost for a bit of added speed and tight controls, once you’ve adjusted the sensitivity to your preference.

Subdivision Infinity DX review on Pass the Controller - exploring space
Subdivision Infinity DX as a whole doesn’t offer a huge amount of variety, and with limited progression and customisation on offer, at least early on, momentum can start to drain fairly quickly. If you absolutely need a space shooter to play on the go, though, Subdivinity offers a taste of the sort of experience you might expect from something like Everspace at a fraction of the cost. What you’ll miss out on is the depth, variety and graphical polish - though it’s a step up from something like Event Horizon or Vostok Inc. - and experience the odd bit of slowdown when things get busy. It all depends what you’re looking for in a space adventure.

Pros

  • Controls are fairly straightforward, once you get used to them
  • Simple presentation lets you jump right in
  • Flying around and dogfighting in outer space

Cons
​
  • Graphics and production values don’t really impress
  • Little variety in the formulaic gameplay
  • Often difficult to make things out playing in handheld mode

6/10​
0 Comments

Hamsterdam | Nintendo Switch | Review

8/8/2019

 
Hamsterdam review on Pass the Controller - attack!

It's a well-known fact that there simply aren't enough hamsters in games these days. Fortunately for the sake of humanity, Hamsterdam is here to put the world to rights. Self-styled as an arcade brawler in which you'll become a "Hamster-fu master" patrolling a charming iteration of (you guessed it) Amsterdam, the game seeks to overpower you with cuteness from the word go.

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​by James Michael Parry

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​
​@james_parry

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Developer: Muse Games
Publisher: Muse Games
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Steam, Android, iOS, Mac
Players: 1

Your hero, Pimm, must take on the fowl tyrant Marlo (a particularly angry-looking chinchilla) and free the fair city of Hamsterdam from the Vermin gang. If that all seems a bit silly, then you're underestimating just how much a cute fighting hamster who occasionally wears oven mitts can get away with.

The anime artstyle is sublime, giving a suitably over-the-top feel to match the game's tone and keeping things fairly family friendly for youngsters, too. You'll find three reasonably chunky worlds (or areas of the town) comprised of linear levels, which - like most brawlers - are a series of gradually escalating battles.

Gameplay keeps things simple, opting to shun complex combos or multiple stat meters, mostly restricting your attacks to a single button and the odd flick of the left stick. ​You'll build up a single KO bar to unleash a devastating, enemy health-depleting attack that’s complete with its own modest animation which helps to maintain a consistent pacing.​

Hamsterdam’s challenge becomes timing your attacks and counters to avoid damage and down foes as quickly as possible, doing so with finesse to grab the extremely satisfying 3-star clear rating. Numerous extra objectives are dangled for a bit of extra challenge on each level, which reward you with seeds to spend at the in-game shop and deck Pimm out in new threads. As well as the aforementioned oven gloves, there's also headwear and jackets which either make the game easier or harder depending on what you fancy. 
Mini-bosses and bosses shake up the gameplay with a more side-scrolling approach to action, featuring a few QTEs for good measure. This succeeds in effectively mixing things up, but robs you of some of the satisfaction of taking down the game's beefiest villains. As a result, the difficulty curve also feels a little spikey, since these sections require completely different timing and skills, but after a few determined attempts it’s possible to power through.

Fortunately, the experience remains on the entertaining side of challenging even at those sticky moments, and it's impossible not to fall in love with Pimm and her adorable, increasingly impractical outfit choices. At the price point (less than £10, whatever your platform of choice), Hamsterdam poses great value for money and is an absolute joy.

Pros

  • Enough charm and style to fill a hamster’s cheeks
  • Easy to pick up and play
  • Overall quality means cute isn’t a crutch

Cons
​
  • Bosses shift gameplay and cause difficulty spikes
  • Targeting one specific enemy can be tough
  • It’s over too soon! More Hamster-fu, pls

9/10​
0 Comments

Wolfenstein: Youngblood | Xbox One | Review

4/8/2019

 
Wolfenstein: Youngblood | Xbox One | Review - Pass the Controller

When Wolfenstein: The New Order came out in 2014, conventional wisdom said multiplayer was king. The hottest games were Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Destiny, yet Wolfenstein came back and blew the doors off with a gripping singleplayer narrative.

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by James
Michael
Parry

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@James_Parry

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Developer: MachineGames
Publisher: Bethesda
Softworks
Platforms: Xbox One,
PlayStation 4, Switch, PC
Players: 1 - 2
Five years later, singleplayer is going strong and this latest installment has a lot more to compete against in order to win people's time and attention. In a misguided effort, it seems that Machine Games and Arkane took some notes from big daddy Bethesda and ushered Youngblood a step towards how the latest Fallout ended up in response.

While there is a story - the game focuses on two sisters tracking down war hero, previous protagonist and their dad, BJ Blaskowitz, following his disappearance - this isn't the cutscene-heavy, emotionally impactful experience fans of The New Colossus might be used to.

The girls quip merrily as they (repeatedly) explore fairly copy and paste areas of Neu-Paris. Products of a post-Hitler, alternative-history USA, their oddly arrested development makes them feel like bit parts from Dude, Where's My Car? rather than well-rounded characters you care about, but their schtick is enough to raise a smile.

You'll pick one of the siblings to control and level up, bagging yourself an underwhelming 2% base damage increase per level along with various other buffs unlocked with skill points, but most feel insignificant in combat.

​Shootouts in general though are an element which feel punchy and satisfying. Killing Nazis is an easy win for feel-good factor of course, but the way the gunplay is crafted reminds us why Machine Games, alongside Bethesda stablemates id Software, are arguably the standard-bearers for solid first-person shooting right now.

​Youngblood
has an extremely fun opening level, headed up with a well thought-out cutscene to introduce you to the cast, but it quickly runs out of steam as you begin to carry out Division 2/Destiny 2/Anthem-esque disposable missions, criss-crossing the same areas over and over.
Enemies respawn as well, bringing more of a Borderlands vibe, minus the loot, to exploration and quickly making you lament rather than fear running into varying sizes of Nazi. There's a sprinkle of variety in suicide dogs and endoskeletons straight out of The Terminator, but the Panzerhunde and other imposing enemies lack that flash of panic we felt the last time we came toe-to-toe with them.

There is something different about this particular release which doesn't often change where AAA titles are concerned, and that’s the price. Unlike the last Wolfenstein, you can pick up Youngblood for a mere £25, or £30 for the Deluxe Edition.

With the latter, you'll get a Buddy Pass which lets you invite a friend - as many as you want, but only one at a time. Your friend's progress is saved and will carry over to the main game if they decide to pick it up, at which point they’ll also be credited with achievements, though we struggled to get it to work smoothly during our playtime.
Arguably the main draw of Youngblood is as a Wolfenstein game with co-op, and on that front (when working without issue) it largely delivers. There's a few key things missing, like easy-to-use level maps, waypoints or pings beyond one enemy at a time, and a more significant reason to take on foes cooperatively.

Otherwise, there seems to be less here even than a lower price point would lead you to expect. The story and weight of earlier games is mostly absent, the level design feels increasingly generic the more side missions you complete, and even new features, like the RPG-lite elements, leave us wanting more.

Perhaps there are some elements, like the Buddy Pass itself, which will go on to be greater than the showing they had here, but for now there's not much more to say than Youngblood is quite good; we just wanted more.

Pros


  • Features all the sharp, weighty gunplay you’d expect
  • Killing Nazis, via some nice executions and takedowns to boot
  • Buddy Pass is a nice inclusion

Cons

  • Repetitive levels filled with missions lacking in imagination
  • Story feels watered down and content stretched
  • Even at a reduced price, it feels spare on the whole

7/10
0 Comments


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