That odyssey began with a secret. Abe is a Mudokon, a race enslaved by the greedy, all-business, cigar-chomping Glukkons, who discovers their next vein of profit; Mudokon Pops, made from the Mudokons themselves. An escape sequence and a vow to be free later, Abe aims to escape RuptureFarms with as many friends as possible. Laced throughout are themes of nature vs industrialization, preservation vs turning a quick buck, conveyed with such charm and deliberate parody that it rarely feels heavy handed. Much of Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee takes place in the grim RuptureFarms, where creatures great and small go to become extinct, from Scrabs to Paramites to, if the Glukkons have their way, Mudokons. Even so, the game carefully avoids falling into dull or depressing territory, hitting frustrated determination before boredom. How does Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty! compare?

In a word, favorably. Remakes occupy a difficult territory; change too much and you lose what made the original worth remaking in the first place, change too little and the remake becomes pointless. New ‘n’ Tasty! smartly retains what the original feels like to play whilst actually mixing up a significant amount of level design. As a 2D, side-on platformer/puzzle game in the PSOne era, Abe’s Oddysee was brutally difficult. A single bullet grazing Abe’s bony backside spelled game over, alongside a distinct lack of checkpoints, meant progress was hard earned. There weren’t puzzles of the typical video game variety; push block onto switch to open door, or position mirrors to bounce light into magic gem. Instead, it tempted you with the promise of saving more Mudokons trapped in seemingly impossible situations; behind a meat grinder, a pit and two Slig guards perhaps. Even after piecing together the solution from Abe’s repertoire of skills, including running, jumping, rock throwing, talking and possession (more on that later), it has to be carried out with such timing otherwise your Mudokon friend is killed. How far back was that checkpoint again?

A remake later with New ‘n’ Tasty, not much has changed. There are now three times the Mudokons to save, many of which appear to be destined to be ground down to Mudokon Pops rather than rescued, despite my best efforts, much as it was back in the day. A potentially controversial change is the addition of a health system, allowing Abe to survive the aforementioned single bullet to the backside, but not by much. Tanking through an encounter is still not an option, but it does make for thrilling, skin-of-your-teeth escapes, with Abe leaping to safety amidst a hail of bullets. As a purist I’m conflicted, as someone who wants to have fun with the game (bizarre, I know), it’s an excellent addition.

Unchanged however, and rightly so, is Abe’s possession ability. For a reason never explained, Abe is able to force his will on a single enemy at a time, taking control of their body, mind and voice. This is mostly, but not limited to, Sligs, roaming around for once with freedom and some lethal weaponry. Exploring as an enemy is fun, behind enemy lines, scouting out the path ahead, pulling otherwise unreachable levers and shooting comrades in the back, making Abe’s life a tad easier. It’s a nifty mechanic that still hasn’t worn thin. What has worn thin though are the possession countering red orbs, zapping Abe if he has the audacity to use the game’s stand-out mechanic. At times it feels as if New ‘n’ Tasty is too quick to restrict your fun, falling back on removing possession entirely over challenging you to use it differently.

Chances are, if you’re aware of Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty!, your mind has already been made up. The feel and art design of the original have been translated superbly to the new generation, and even as a diehard fan of Abe’s Oddysee there’s little to complain about. This is how remakes should be done.

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Evolve is the latest offering from Turtle Rock Studios, and it is aptly named. It is the latest in a line of games which have spun off from other successful games, each making a successful series of their own; Half Life begets Counter Strike begets Left 4 Dead begets Evolve. The first game in what could potentially be a series, Evolve certainly has a legacy to live up to. If only it hadn’t fumbled the ball.

Set on the planet Shear in the far future, Evolve kicks off with a cinematic that does a decent job of providing story context to what is essentially a multiplayer driven game. After humans have colonized the planet, it turns out Shear’s wildlife is not totally cool with this, namely the Monsters. A couple thousand dead colonists later, and the Hunters are brought in to get the rest of them off planet ASAP. The twelve hunters are well characterized, helping out with identifying who’s who in the heat of battle, although some are inevitably less interesting than others; it’s hard to get pumped to play the bland medic Val when your friend has nabbed tough as nails Markov.

Context set, let’s get to some hunting. Smartly, before you jump online, the game asks you to rank all the different roles in order of preference, and will find a match accordingly. This smooth feeling doesn’t carry through to the actual game however, playing as either Monster or Hunter. The initial stages of playing the Monster is great, the sense of being a lone wolf outnumbered, always on the move to live long enough to evolve. Shear is brimming with wildlife, all ready to be scarfed down for your evolution needs; eat enough and you can trigger an evolution, growing in size, health and ability.

Stealth is key; getting bogged down by Hunters early impedes your ability to grow, making it far easier for you to be killed. A Monster must be careful not to scare birds too often for example, as it gives the Hunters a good idea of where you are. The problem with this setup becomes all too apparent within a few games; a lot of the time, especially on the Hunt game mode, it’s in the Monster’s best interest to just run away, as there is little to gain from fighting until they’re fully powered up, which brings us to the Hunters. Prepare to wait. The player controlling the Monster will be doing their best to stay away until they’re fully powered. Hunters can kill wildlife to stop the Monster getting at it, sure, but then why would the Monster then stay in that area if there’s nothing to eat, exacerbating the original problem. This is Evolve’s biggest problem; pacing. Hunters chase and chase and chase, all for naught until the Monster has finished getting ready and emerges from the dressing room looking for a fight. It’s frustrating, and it’s boring.

It’s a shame. Some of the Hunters are packed to the gills with personality and interesting abilities, but it’s difficult to siphon much fun from them. When the Monster does get its attack on, things get messy, and not in a good way. It’s difficult to follow the flow of battle, especially for new players; following the status of team mates and the Monster, all whilst jetpacking around and doing your job as a maelstrom rages around you is too much. Evolve demands a MOBA team style set up, with friends on mics exchanging information and buffs, if you’re to have any fun or success.

In a vacuum, Evolve is a game that had a lot of potential but is let down by a serious pacing problem and overwhelming finales. In the real world, it is a fairly competent shooter saddled with an unsettling approach to DLC, bolting on the MOBA costume DLC model to an already full priced game. Evolve is a mutation in the wrong direction.

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Welcome to Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus, where the weapons are huge and so are the chest sizes, and finishing a fight with your clothes on is an achievement. The game introduces us to a world where Japan is home to schools of skilled shinobi, each school dedicated to battling for either light or shadow. Rather than cutscenes however, the plot is largely conveyed through walls of text explaining what’s going on, which did little to pump me up for beating up gangs of baddies. They’re not completely forgettable though, engraving choice lines such as ‘I just wanted to see what elite boobs felt like’ and ‘He kneads Murakumo’s breasts’ into my mind, no matter how hard I try to scrub them away.

By the time I got to gameplay, which took far too long, Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus was not doing well. Agency was finally granted to me in the school dorm room, which to its credit has a lot of options to fiddle around with. Most notable is the option to pick one of five girls to play as, the roster changing depending on the school you pick. A particular favorite was Yozakura and her very nifty gun gauntlets, which fired mini explosions out the back that I couldn’t help but find cool. Unlocked outfits are found in the dressing room, none of which have even heard of modesty. I joke, but for those that want it the dressing room allows plenty of flexibility and customization, mixing and matching outfits that belong to one character with another character, after unlocking them first of course.

Stick with it long enough to reach the combat, and there’s two choices; Shinobi Girls’ Code and Shinobi Girl’s Heart, or story missions and character missions respectively. Shinobi Girl’s Heart missions are specific to each character, and string together a number of arena battles with a loose plot thread between them. Shinobi Girls’ Code missions, on the other hand, are each one arena battle long, and require you to play a specific character for each one, but a number of these make up a chapter. Either way, it all leads to throwing down with a bunch of faceless enemies, punctuated by boss battles against rival shinobi. Not usually one for 3D brawlers, unless the Batman Arkham games count, I was surprised to find that I had a ton of fun with Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus’ combat. The moves consist of light and heavy attacks, dodges, jumping and blocking, or parrying if you time it just right. Each character has their own move list, which grows as you level up, but one can easily get by on button mashing, and will have a great time doing so.

Keep the pace up, and the combo counter can reach into the hundreds, only breaking if you slow down, smartly encouraging constant and relentless attacks. One of the game’s touted features is clothing degradation; if you or a boss takes enough damage, pieces of clothing tear away to reveal the underwear beneath. Although clearly for perving purposes, I genuinely found it useful to keep track of my own health, which I would often forget to check. Each character also has access to Shinobi Transformations, which not only refills health and bestows a new outfit to its user, but unlocks new super moves. This leads to the usual pattern of when a character’s health is low, they transform, so the final moments of battle are almost always filled with super moves being triggered, keeping the action tense right until the end. Deep and complex it is not, but on fun it delivers.

Whether or not Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus is for you will come down to the little touches. Although there are English subtitles, all spoken dialogue is in Japanese, which I imagine is right up some people’s street. Boobs jiggle and skirts float upwards with even the slightest provocation or movement, and one particular loading screen tip advised me that ‘You can peek up skirts and blow them up by blowing into the mic’, which to be honest I found more than a little creepy. One small touch I did like was that classmates will wish you luck and welcome you back before and after missions. I’m fully aware that I’m not the target audience for this game, and story moments that I found bizarre or grating, others will love. That said, I found a lot to like in Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus’ combat, and whilst I could never be comfortable playing it on the bus, I can certainly see myself coming back to it.

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Metro 2033, the first of the two games included in the Redux, is based on the book of the same name by Dmitry Glukhovsky. Following the nuclear war of 2013 (glad that didn’t pan out), the remnants of humanity scratch out a living in the underground train stations of Moscow. Twenty years on in 2033, the player fills the shoes of Artyom, leaving his home station after making a promise to a friend, kicking off an odyssey that sees Artyom fighting through mutant creatures, otherworldly beings and deadly radiation along the way. Metro Last Light picks up a year later, with the aforementioned otherworldly Dark Ones taking centre stage as the game’s driving narrative. Each game’s plot is compelling enough, but where they excel most is in world building. The stations feel lived in, especially at the beginning of Metro 2033. Whilst essentially following a linear path from point A to B, that path oozes character. The stations are dark, damp and cramped, but are bustling too, with the player catching snippets of conversations as they make their way through the subterranean market square. Beyond them, in the train tunnels and the world above, a sense of desperation pervades throughout, having to clutch at scraps of ammo as well my favourite mechanic; wearing a gas mask just to go above ground, adding claustrophobia and hostility to the outdoors.

This was all present in the original releases, and Metro Last Light Redux loses none of the original’s power, with little visible difference from its first release. Things are different for Metro 2033 Redux’s significantly updated graphics however. Even at the time of its release in 2010, Metro 2033 wasn’t much of a looker, but, controversially, it worked for the game. The world wasn’t glamorous, and its graphics matched that tone. This isn’t blind nostalgia talking; before this review I’d not played either of the games, but after a side by side comparison I feel the original’s graphics are the better fit. At times murky and a little aged, but that’s how a post-nuclear war world should look. The Redux is nicer to look at, sure, but should Metro 2033 be a pleasant game to look at? Personal preference will decide.

The Metro Redux package comes with some nifty options not found in the originals. Play Metro 2033 and Metro Last Light and it’s not hard to see differences. The first requires the player to constantly be on the look out for supplies, since ammo and health packs are in short supply, not to mention a number of other features pushing the player to play cautiously. Metro Last Light, on the other hand, is more generous with its supplies and forgiving with its combat. Far and away the standout part of the Redux package, since the graphics don’t tickle my fancy, is the choice to play Survival or Spartan mode in each game i.e. Metro 2033 or Metro Last Light mode. If you wanted some Last Light in your Metro 2033, or vice versa, Redux has you covered. To some it may be an unnecessary addition, but the ability to be able to tailor how the game is played in such a significant way is much appreciated. What isn’t appreciated however is the control scheme overhaul in Metro 2033 Redux (except the ability to do melee stealth kills, which actually irons out a particular niggle of mine in the original). No matter if the game is played in the Metro 2033-flavoured Survival mode, if you’re using a controller the Redux uses Metro Last Light’s control layout and interface, including the immersion-breaking, and frankly unnecessary since it worked without it before, radial menu for using equipment, which is off-putting for those of us trying to lose ourselves in the game.

Whether this game gets a recommendation or not comes down to specific criteria. If you own the originals, there aren’t enough reasons to justify buying Metro Redux, but new players to the series will find a lot to love here. Personally, I’d stick with the original Metro 2033, but follow up with Metro Last Light Redux, which may sound odd, but they are what I believe to be the best version of each game. A well put together package, but one I’d hesitate to call definitive.

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Today’s fantasy world is Antaria, threatened by Emperor Zane at the head of his Ashen Empire army. The world is introduced through a slideshow of stylish hand drawn, layered pop-up book style images that paint an effective picture of the world, setting the stage for some rollicking monster slaying. Unfortunately, the tone immediately becomes muddled as the tongue-in-cheek narration begins, with attempted comic asides that fall decidedly flat. In fact, much of the dialogue sounds as if it was written by someone aspiring to be the next Joss Whedon; hip, snappy and almost always self aware, but tripping at the first hurdle by not being entertaining. Dragon Age and Divinity show how a game can be spiced up by a helping of comedic dialogue, or Conker’s Bad Fur Day if you’re going for all out laughs, but here the witty dialogue just feels forced. The tale behind Sacred 3 might be riveting, but any enthusiasm to follow it was beaten out of me. Shame.

Persevere or skip through the cutscenes however, and the gameplay could make it worthwhile. Sacred 3 is a top-down hack ‘n’ slash game, throwing hordes of enemies at the player at once. Enemies are easily identified; small ones can be mowed down but are thrown in en masse, large ones with shields have to be stunned etc. It gives the game a great pick up and play feel, and even a non-gaming friend was able to pick it up and understand how to play almost instantly. Move sets vary between character classes, but controlling each remains largely the same; attack, stun, dodge and special mana-draining moves. There’s a lot of fun to be had keeping the horde at bay, dodging blows from mini-bosses and unleashing spells at just the right moment, although the game never really moves past this. There’s a focus on co-op and, thankfully, the PC version actually features local co-op, so scores big points in that regard. Individual levels are split into parts, requiring all players to enter a glowing circle before the next part will open up (think Left 4 Dead’s safe rooms minus the loading screens), which means players are encouraged to advance together. Oddly for a game featuring levels that requires players to stick together, there’s very little in the way of interacting with others players. You can revive them and, well, that’s about it. There’s no items to trade or loot to discuss, so joining online games feel a little fruitless. Also, as a side effect of the co-op focus, pause doesn’t actually pause the game, even in single player, in case you wanted some Dark Souls in your Sacred 3. The core gameplay is fun certainly, but there’s a not a whole lot of depth in any regard, and those skipping co-op won’t miss out at all.

At the end of each level the player is able to level up, unlock new skills and upgrade equipment. Everything is bought using the same gold currency, which I thought might lead to having to make tough decisions later in the game. Not so. Skills and powers can only be upgraded upon reaching a certain level, which sounds fine in theory. Where Sacred 3 gets it wrong is how often something is unlocked to upgrade. Almost every level up was accompanied by disappointment upon discovering I still hadn’t unlocked anything worth buying, since unlocking new upgrades for an item or skill can be 10 levels apart or more. Coupled with this is an almost arbitrary unlocking of equipment, which feels as if the game has finally decided enough time has ticked over for a new weapon to be thrown the players way. Personally, I find Diablo’s and even Borderlands’ abundance of loot overwhelming, but unlocking one after two and a half hours of play is too far in the other direction. Not to mention these new weapons will go completely unused. Unlocked weapons are comparable to the starting one, and that’s before upgrading. Why swap to a new level one spear when the current one has had oodles of your time and gold poured into it? The whole upgrade and skill customization menu seems redundant, adding complexity to a system that doesn’t have the flexibility to reward it.

I mentioned in the opening paragraph that I was a new player to the series, which meant Sacred 3 could get away with dumbing down its gameplay and I would be none the wiser. What it can’t get away with is grating dialogue, arbitrarily restricted upgrade systems and the feeling that it costs a lot more than it’s worth. There’s fun to be had in the hectic brawls the game throws you into, but what else is there? Some pleasant changes of scenery? I genuinely had fun at the game’s outset, but Sacred 3 failed to entice me into coming back. There was potential, but it was fumbled at almost every turn.

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Following the death of the emperor, an empire-spanning squabble over who’s next in the chair begins. From the lowly position of bastard-born child, the player has all bets placed on them for peace to prevail, because, hey, who wouldn’t bet on a leader that can breath fire? Yes, that’s where the ‘Dragon Commander’ part of the title comes from, throwing fantasy dogfighting into an already overflowing pot of mechanics. As the Dragon Commander and would-be emperor, the game tasks you with returning the world to the peace it knew before the war, by way of violently disposing of the opposition. Better put on our strategy caps.

Divinity: Dragon Commander has a lot going on, and to its credit manages to keep its mechanics largely accessible and relevant. Much like Civilization, the overworld operates on a turn-based system, which in itself has two parts. Most familiar will be the war map, which could be mistaken for a Risk board at a quick glance. Here, units can be bought and moved around, buildings can be built, and cards, which provide a wide range of benefits, can be played. Each territory offers different benefits, such as high gold or science benefits, and in a nice touch is occupied by a certain race. If you have a good relationship with the elves for example, you have an increased pool of resources when you fight in a territory they occupy. Unfortunately, the movement around the map isn’t perfect, in that the person who moves second has a distinct advantage, as combat occurs immediately after the second person has moved. Say the first person moves a large portion of units into enemy territory; the second player can see this and direct all their units in the area to defend it, removing any possibility for strategic manoeuvring or surprise attacks. Get used to relying on overwhelming force rather than catching the opponent off guard.

Partnered with the war map is the commander’s ship, where Divinity: Dragon Commander really shines. Split into a variety of rooms, including engineering bay, the bar and royal chambers, the ship is polished to a mirror shine. Accumulating research from the war map, new units, upgrades and dragon abilities can unlocked in tech trees separated into science and dragon skills. There are generals to be found in the bar (complete with busty skeleton barmaid with fruit for breasts), advisors in the throne room, and princess in the personal quarters, all of which have something to say. During conversation, expect to have to make choices that have lasting effects. Do women deserve as much pay as men? Of course, but the money to pay them comes out of your wallet, so if you’re tight for money you might have to turn them down. It’s refreshing to play a game where choices don’t boil down to cartoonish representations of ‘good’ and ‘evil’, but shades of grey where each side of the argument has its merits. Overall, the ship is a joy to look around, thanks to small visual touches and excellent dialogue.

Finally to the meat and veg of the game, combat! Sadly, compared to the the other parts of Divinity: Dragon Commander, combat feels lacking. To win, one person must reduce the other’s resources to 0, capturing bases, upon which buildings can be constructed, as they go. Units placed on the war map contribute to the army on the battlefield, so a reliable tactic is to rush these units from the starting position to grab as many bases as possible, allowing for faster resource generation and unit production. Fail to do so, and it’s very likely the opponent will, forcing the player to play defensively as the opponent accumulates resources and builds units faster and faster. If the balance swings one way or another, it’s very difficult to tip the scales back. Worst of all are the maps with three bases, one controlled by each person and one up for grabs, around which the opening minute of fighting takes place. Imagine if one player fields fewer troops and so starts at a disadvantage, if only a slight one. They lose the opening fight for the middle, and inevitably, because one player has two bases against the other player’s one, the entire match. As a result, the game again falls into the trap of overwhelming force being the only viable tactic. At least you can transform into a dragon, right? Becoming a dragon should feel like the ultimate trump card that can tip any battle, but in practice feels a little underpowered. The player must wait an agonising two minutes at the beginning of each battle to become a dragon, and when finally playing as one it’s hard not to feel a bit useless, with fireballs barely making a dent in the enemy ranks before being torn to shreds in seconds by enemy fire. Being able to win any battle by just becoming a dragon would be silly of course, but making an impact would have been nice.

It pains me to speak critically about Divinity: Dragon Commander, because I so badly wanted to love it. The ideas behind it are superb, and for the most part they are executed well. It’s a shame the outcome of battle feels determined before the fight has even begun, whilst the matches move so fast that directing units to exploit another unit’s weakness is almost impossible. There’s a lot to love here, but it’s countered by a generous helping of frustration.

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At a glance, Light is a top down stealth game in a detached, digital world. The levels are populated by the harmless civilian white squares and patrolled by the watchful red squares, whilst you, the outsider, take on a cool blue square guise. The environment is almost blueprint in style, not only in its color but style too, even going so far as to have a grid of squares that the walls and furniture neatly fit onto. Minimalist it may be, but it must be argued the environment is damned effective. Light’s plot, about the ethics involved when a human being has become but a useful tool in the eyes of a corporation, is fairly interesting, although it is told almost exclusively through text dumps scattered through the levels. I felt I learnt far more about the world of Light in its design, not its plot. Reducing people to colored squares that are otherwise indistinguishable from one another, the world to a grid with walls and furniture neatly placed on top; I feel as if I’m in a corporate world where an individual has been replaced by a username and password. Light reminds me of what good art direction can accomplish.

Light breaks down into 12 levels, some relatively sprawling and others blink and you’ll miss them. Objectives are almost exclusively along the lines of interact (steal/place/sabotage) with object(s), then escape, but try not to get killed by red squares in the process. The tactics involved have elements of both Gunpoint and the Hitman games. From Gunpoint, Light employs a hacking element that, once a computer is hacked, allows you to control doors and cameras from anywhere in the level. There’s no reason you’d want to turn the cameras back on, but, hypothetically, if you were discovered, you could dash through a door then lock it behind you, leaving the red square guard impotently standing outside the door. In reality, I often found that hacking just unlocked the part of the level I needed to get to, but it’s a nice touch all the same. From Hitman, Light allows you to kill guards and civilians (docking points appropriately) and steal their clothes to use as a disguise, meaning guards only notice you when they’re up close, as well as the ability to stuff their bodies into cupboards to avoid detection. Do this however, and a timer begins warning of impending reinforcements, so if you’re the impatient killing type, you’d better finish up sharpish. Light thankfully allows for different play styles though, so you can kill the guards in your way to make your life easier, but satisfying no-detection pacifist runs are also a viable option. The mechanics and tactics are limited, but they’re used superbly.

Although excellent, Light isn’t flawless. I opened this review saying Light is a bit on the lean side, and by lean I mean incredibly short. At under an hour from start to finish, it’s the shortest paid game I’ve ever played. I sat down to play, finished it in the blink of an eye, then had to find something else to do with my evening. The scoring system at the end of each level suggests it’s meant to be replayed, weighing up the benefits of no kills versus pure speed for racking up points, but that can only take you so far, and certainly not more than two hours. Oddly for a game so short, I had time to feel impatient and frustrated. Light is like Hotline Miami in that, when you die, you hit a button and instantly restart. Except, when the level starts in Hotline Miami, you’ve already kicked open the door and cleared two rooms before the game’s even faded back in. Light is a stealth game, which not only requires planning and deliberate movement, but has the infuriating design that means guards aren’t in the right place to allow you to move as soon as the level starts. It may sound like no big deal, but if you’re doing a level for the tenth time and have to wait for eight seconds for a guard to move before you can start every time, I challenge you to keep your cool.

I can’t help but give Light a recommendation, but only a tentative one. It does so much so well, from the style of the levels, to the relaxed electro soundtrack, to the simple but effective mechanics, I just wish there was more of it. Much more of it. I can only hope there are some planned level packs in future or, even better, a user-friendly level editor to give it some longevity. Excellent quality, very little quantity.

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I should point out as little disclaimer that the PS Vita port is the only version I’ve played of Borderlands 2. Oh sure I own it (thanks Steam sales), but never played more than the first area of it as it crashes just when I think I might get away with it this time. In that regard, the Vita port shares some similarities with its PC version. Did you know a PS Vita can crash to desktop? I thought that was a luxury only afforded to computers, but Borderlands 2 opened my eyes. It took three attempts to get through Bloodshot Stronghold without a crash. I was ready to write the game off as unplayable, but it honestly got better, although by no means perfect.

Crashing isn’t the only technical issue, but it’s the only one that had a detrimental effect on my fun. Borderlands 2 has the longest loading time of any handheld title I’ve played, which can seem to go on for an age if you’ve just restarted after a crash. Generally though, the loading times aren’t a deal breaker, especially for as much is going on in one area of the game, although it doesn’t prevent texture pop in. No area is fully textured upon arrival, with several seconds needed for it to catch up. Detailed areas are particularly bad, such as the Crimson Raiders HQ, which not only has pop in, but causes the game to lag briefly whilst it tarts itself up. I can’t help but think that including every poster and flyer in the building from the console version was just unnecessary. Dialogue lags consistently as well, with odd occurrences during conversations involving two NPCs taking ages because they both leave huge dramatic pauses before getting on with their line. As for lag within a fire fight? Very infrequently actually. Marvelous.

As you might expect, Borderlands 2 on the PS Vita makes a number of technical compromises. Where it holds up well is in its controls, which may surprise anyone who’s kept up with the critical reaction to the game. Call me a savant, but the controls make sense to me, including the Vita’s back panel ones. Sprinting and melee attacks are assigned to the back panel, and always worked; simply flick my middle finger across the back of the Vita and I’m sprinting. Trying to melee attack multiple times in a row is awkward, although I’m not sure if there is any need to do so unless you’re in Krieg’s Buzz Axe Rampage, but then melee is assigned to the shoulder button. For the sake of comparison I played Borderlands 2 on a friend’s Xbox 360, and did notice a few touches absent from the Vita version. Driving a vehicle on the Vita feels as if it was overlooked during its porting; the vehicles can feel weightless and difficult to control with any skill. Aesthetically, they don’t feel as powerful as their console brethren either. On the 360 vehicles roar as they boost, and firing the gun feels as if it could shred a Bullymong to pieces. The Vita version is certainly lackluster in the vehicle department.

At last, to multiplayer. It’s true that nothing quite rivals the fun of four friends teaming up against the horde Left 4 Dead style, so the disappointment surrounding the Vita’s capability to handle only two players is understandable. It also means that items aimed at teams of players, such as those that raise a team’s accuracy by 20% for example, are now literally half as useful, meaning I just sold any I found. Getting into multiplayer games took multiple attempts, but once a connection is established the game runs fairly smoothly, in battle and through area transitions. Other players were quite unwilling to chat though, which personally makes co-op very dull if you can’t talk tactics or item-swapping. Playing with a friend would sort that out, but then I don’t know anyone else who owns a Vita.

If you can suffer through the issues above, you’ll find the spirit of Borderlands 2 is still in the PS Vita port. Finding an orange rarity item is still as exciting as it would be on console, as is the tactical depth if you want it. If you won’t let technical issues ruin a good time, you’ll find a lot to love in the Vita port.

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Men of War: Assault Squad 2, or MoWAS2, is a real time strategy game set during World War II. The game has a focus on realism, rewarding tactical thinking and quick reactions to unexpected attacks. To some this game is going to sound about as dry as a cracker in a desert, but there are moments of fun in there. Sort of.

Trimming away base building and resource mining, MoWAS2 boils them both down to command posts. These command posts are often what the game objectives are centered around, with objectives usually tasking you to take them or defend them. Completing these objectives rewards you with resources (just the one type) to purchase units with. Multiplayer involves more of a king of the hill scenario, where two teams fight over an uneven number of command posts, racking up points if they control the majority. They’re often the aim of the game, but command posts aren’t what the game is about.

MoWAS2 is all about unit management. Aside from artillery bombardments, they’re the only thing to spend resources on, so it’s a good thing there’s plenty to choose from. There’s an assortment of tanks, conscripts, assault squads, anti-tank teams, snipers, mine sweepers, medics, and that’s just a broad overview. In a particular squad, say an assault team, you may have a squad leader, an assault SMG unit, an assault rifle unit, medics, maybe more. Sounds overwhelming, right? That’s because it is. I could cope with managing squads, but when every person in that squad breaks down to an individual unit, things become tricky. You can direct those units individually, so you can have the machine gunner lay down suppressive as your other units flank, but now your squad is broken up, making them a pain to direct around, but also leading to scenarios where you have soldiers orphaned from their squad all over the place.

Maybe I’m nitpicking, but when there’s so many nits to pick I get irritated. Call me terrible at the game, but here’s a hilarious run-down of things I had to endure; squads breaking themselves up with no input from me, so when I click the icon for that team only one unit of ten moves; soldiers running all the way round a waist-high garden fence because I didn’t specifically tell them to climb it; tanks running over sandbags being used as cover by my troops; soldiers stopping on the way to cover because they spotted an enemy, so they stand in the open as they fire. It seems so inconsistent. If MoWAS2 is going for realism, could it be extended to the point that a soldier is a human being, and can deduce that hopping a fence is faster than the scenic route?

Getting past the niggles, the game does have points in its favor. For starters, the sheer amount of content. MoWAS2 is packed with 40 single player missions, spread across five campaigns; the British Commonwealth, the Soviet Union, the USA, Germany and Japan. There’s variety too, with some missions tasking you to push the enemy pack as you take command posts, defending against an invasion of around 50 tanks, and even a rare example of RTS stealth. In fact, stealth is not only a novelty, but a very viable tactic, especially against enemy armor. Often in RTSs you can just build your best units and steam-roll the enemy, but in MoWAS2 a single soldier with an anti-tank grenade can level the playing field, creating awesome David and Goliath moments.

There’s a good game in MoWAS2, but you absolutely have to work for it. I mentioned earlier that the Early Access was tutorial free. I’ve played the tutorial now, and it doesn’t cover enough of the basics in terms of control or tactical tips, and it really needs to. I found out how to fix tanks from a loading screen, and that was many hours in. The missions themselves have you controlling too many units at once, and having them all look near identical but doing vastly different jobs is awkward. Worst of all, I had the feeling that I was playing the game wrong despite my best efforts, which is an odd feeling to leave the player with. I want to like this game, but I’m not sure if it wants me to.

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I usually kick off with a synopsis of the game’s plot, but Insurgency doesn’t have one, being a multiplayer-only title. The game’s maps are set across a number of Middle-Eastern countries, in which the Special Forces and Insurgents fail to get on round after round. To their credit, each location looks authentic and fleshed out, although not distinctive; I don’t see any of Insurgency’s maps entering the FPS Hall of Fame. I expected to find abandoned buildings, burnt out cars and sandbags, and that’s exactly what I got. They’re perfectly fine, but crying out for something more.

Insurgency does away with the fully customized load-outs particular to Call of Duty or Battlefield, carefully honed to exploit the game’s mechanics. Instead, it has a system that’s more restricted, and tighter for it. Hop into a game, you pick your team and your class. Each side has different classes, which lets Insurgency boast it has asymmetrical gameplay, but they come across as arbitrary. What’s the difference between Support and Machine Gunner, or Sniper and Designated Marksman? Once you’ve picked a class, you’re able to customize your load-out via the intuitive, if clunky, interface. You’re allocated a number of points, and each weapon, attachment and piece of equipment has a cost. The customization is well executed, allowing for freedom, but not so much it goes off the rails.

Getting into the fight, there’s a few elements that have to be adjusted to. First, the HUD has been cut away almost completely, leaving only objective and team-mate markers, and a tiny box indicating your gun’s firing mode. Second, there is no auto-reload, so get used to the click-click-click of a gun with an empty magazine in the middle of a fire-fight. Third, there’s no indication that you’ve taken an enemy down except using your own two eyes. They might have gone down in that hail of bullets, but they could be hiding behind that car, just waiting for me to let my guard down. All of this contributes to make Insurgency one of the most realistic shooters this side of the Arma games. Stalking through a building can be incredibly tense, knowing that it could all end at any moment, but since just a couple of shots will put you out of the game for potentially a minute or more, there’s certainly a problem with flow.

The saying goes that hell is other people, which is a problem as Insurgency is multiplayer-only. Whilst small, the community playing the game seem dedicated and play well, communicating about which objective needs defending and so on. However, I did come across a few outliers, who were perfectly happy camping behind a doorway to an objective I had to destroy. An effective tactic certainly, for killing me and my fun. I had better luck in the Player vs. AI mode, which sees players team up to complete objectives as they’re assaulted by AI controlled bots. This was definitely my favourite part of the game, as the AI don’t use underhanded camping tactics, but actually provide an interesting challenge. They throw smoke grenades to cover their movements, pin you down with gunfire and their greater numbers, making you rely on your team to get through the fight. When you’re working together, those other people aren’t so bad. I have to ask though, how much mileage can you get from replaying the same game over and over?

Insurgency won’t set the world on fire, but it’s probably not trying to. It’s a niche game for a niche audience; if you want a realistic, tactical, multiplayer shooter, Insurgency will deliver. Keep in mind though, that’s all it will do; functional but bland.

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