Recent reviews by Struan

Saints Row 4 left me with some very mixed feelings. Having played and loved Saints Row 3, I bought this game to see if it would live up to my expectations. It did, in part. My review will contain minor spoilers, most of which can be ascertained from the trailer, however.

In terms of audio, the voice acting was very well done. Two of the voice actors from the previous game could be heard in this one, which was a pleasant surprise. Nolan North also made an appearance, but not a subtle one. During the character creation process, you get an option to choose his voice for your character, and his name appears explicitly, which was interesting. I found some of the writing in the dialogs between characters genuinely funny, and the developers have spent a lot of time thinking about how the characters interact with each other. For example, when you are accompanied by your homies, you will discover different conversations between the characters depending on who you chose to accompany you, with some quite interesting results at time. However, I didn't believe that the soundtrack behind the game, was impressive as SRIII. There were a couple of good moments, but nothing compared to the Power descent on the penthouse, from SR3.

The story itself felt a bit disjointed. I felt in a few occasions that I had no idea why I was doing this mission, in the context of the game. A lot of the side missions were a lot of fun, but didn't make any sense in terms of the story. They feel placed there as filler. Also, the concept of taking over a city in the simulation felt a bit artifical as well. If the "overlords" of this existence were smart enough to build the simulation, then they must be smart enough to prevent all the activities going on inside. I wasn't expecting the story to be fantastic, that isn't an element Saints Row is known for.

I saw a lot of fun items, especially weapons and vehicles. However, I felt that there was a lot of reuse in assets also. The map is pretty much identical to that of Saints Row III, with the exception of some Alienification. I felt a little bored spending the majority of my time in the same old city. Certainly, there are plenty of new locations, but you'll spend 90% of your time in Steelport.

So in summary, this game is a fantasticly mad sandbox, which gives you the freedom to do anything. You'll enjoy the game if you can swallow another 20 hours in Steelport.

Anno 2070 delivers a concept very similar to many real time strategies I have encountered, and I would say it stands between a future iteration of Age of Empires, and Civilisation. The game's premise lies on diplomacy and civilisation construction in the near future, and has landgrab elements behind it.

First off, first impressions of the game are dire. After installing it from Steam, you are forced through a convoluted system of using Ubisoft's own launcher to run it. Don't have a Ubisoft account? You're forced to make one, and install all their periphery software. After installing the game, it took me around half an hour to begin playing it, due to all the "required" set up protocols from Ubisoft.

The learning curve to play the game I found very steep, regardless of the fact I have played games in a similar genre. All the information for the game is written up in an interface, but I'm the sort of gamer who wants to jump into a game and start playing. Had their tutorial levels been more developed, I wouldn't have had to access this information. Another utility they provide to help is an AI character, which doesn't seem to perform much, apart from sounding fairly artificial (If you pardon the pun). I had the impression that the game's development could be a lot better.

In terms of the missions, they make sense, and are enjoyable to play, after getting past the hurdle of learning the ropes. The visuals are appealing, but not fantastic, still, effort has gone into that area. Their character progression system is rewarding, but I am dissapointed they have not provided Steam Achievements, only their Ubisoft equivalents.

So all in all, I would give this game a 67%.
Would I buy it? I already own age of empires and civilisation. There's nothing groundbreaking about this game.

A new member of the Tomb Raider franchise delivers a gripping story which takes a tangent from the traditional toughened Lara that we are used to. The character progression is evident, from a niave expeditionist to a hardened survivor. My only qualm with this approach, is the progression feels too fast. After the first kill, which is initially daunting to our character, she quickly progresses to having no problem mowing down hundreds more, without remorse.

Another interesting approach to the game, is that half the story is hidden in collectibles, which is a great filler to add to the game hours, however, if you're the type of person who likes to finish the game, then go for the collectibles, you may have difficulties understanding the ins and outs of the story.

The gameplay is brilliant, as it allows you to utilise your surroundings to your advantage. Forget the conveniently placed fuel barrels which seems to litter most action games, perhaps instead consider being able to pull down guard towers with a bow, or perhaps pulling your enemies to an unexpected death using a grappling hook. The hand to hand combat is a bit tricky to get right, and you'll be surprised how many death animations have been included in this game.

If you are considering buying this game, you're probably buying between 15 - 20 hours of gameplay for the main quest, and another 10 for finding the collectibles. The game also has a multiplayer, which could swallow up god knows how many hours. There's a level system up to 60, and presitges.

Final concusion: Buy this game, you'll be blown away