Category Archives: Reviews

iReview – NEED FOR SPEED – What Once Was Bare is Now Complete

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NEED FOR SPEED (2015)

Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Ghost Games
Platform: Xbox One
Availability: Xbox One, PS4, PC

Calling Electronic Arts‘ Need For Speed 2015 edition a “reboot” is kind of a misnomer. The annual series is not a continuity, in name or form. Each iteration stands alone, and doesn’t share anything that the previous release showcased. Each game is different, with different play styles being highlighted each year.

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The Underground pair (’03 and ’04) showcased an open city focused on street racing and car modifications. Most Wanted (’05), open country, was about out-running cops. Carbon (’06), urban setting, was about crew and drifting. ProStreet (’07) went away from the street racing and focused on closed courses – to mixed reviews. NFS Undercover (’08) brought back the story lines and open city, where we play an undercover cop chasing down street racers, trying to recapture the Underground glory days. This is also where the series would shift between different developers each year.

NFS Shift (’09) and Shift 2 (2011) brought back the closed course circuit races, highlighting pure racing and drifting, and focused on authenticity, with the returning dash-cam. Hot Pursuit (2010) brought back the open city and cop-centered chases. At this point Criterion, known for their Burnout series, took the helm as developer, and takedowns and crashes became a key point in the series for alternating years.

NEED FOR SPEED WAS SLIGHTLY LIMITED AT ITS OUTSET

NFS The Run (2011) switched to the Frostbite Engine and focused on a break-neck story as the player sped across the United States in a cannon-ball run. Featuring a mix of highway and city races, and big action pieces, with a story, and cut-scenes. Then the series switched back to their roots with another Most Wanted (2012) and Rivals (2013). Again, focusing on chasing or being chased, and taking down opponents.

EA then took a year off in 2014, after Rivals was released, to ‘refocus’ their brand, to figure out what Need For Speed really meant. To ‘reboot’. But calling it a reboot seems odd. Anyways, as it turns out, what Need For Speed really means is: Speed, Style, Crew, Build, and Outlaw; the pillars of the series. Mash them all together and you have Need For Speed (2015). And then just add a gorgeous new engine, and tack on Live-Action cutscenes, composited over real-time CG backgrounds. Now you’re set.

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As its first “true” next-gen NFS game, EA‘s Need For Speed 2015 was slightly limited at its outset, its catalogue of cars left a lot to be desired when you compare it to Forza Horizons 2, and it hosted an online city with not a lot of online options. AND its actual races were not that diverse. You have your time trials where you drift around corners. You have your points-focused drift races, where you drift around corners to earn points. There’s the group races, checkpoint or free roam, where you face off against anywhere from one to four opponents, and drift around corners. And then you have group drift races, where, as a pack, you tackle the hills, and drift around corners to earn points. The closer you remain as a group, the higher the point multiplier.

Then the cops show up, sometimes even during the races, where you’re asked to escape. Each race, as you progress through the story becomes a little bit more difficult. But as long as you have the right car for the race (checkpoint or drift) then you actually remain fairly competitive throughout. Minor upgrades to your engine parts is all it takes.

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So, repeat that a hundred times, and that’s the scope of the game. There are collectibles thrown around the map as well, vistas, doughnut spots to ruin your expensive tires, and car parts.

The map is fairly large, comparable to other NFS open-city games. There’s not a lot of traffic, and you may come across a handful of other online racers competing in a race of their own, or running away from cops. Similar to NFS Rivals, NFS 2015 hosts an online-only world, filled with leaderboard tracking and friend suggested races. Having only a small grouping of other online players in your world is a nice feature, but I’m glad its limited as the online world is persistent. So when you’re competing in a race, you’ll likely see another player drive by, or through your race. The game takes place primarily at night, on rain-slick roads, so corners or other traffic isn’t always easy to see. Some parts of the city, oddly, as you drive through may suddenly be lit by the dawning sun, and these instances are sudden and jarring, like opening the door of a dark lit, blinds-closed room, into the morning sun. Like we’ve been racing all night, and suddenly realize that it’s morning, and should probably get some sleep. Not like we have a job or anything.

YOU WON’T FIND ANY TIME-LAPSE VIDEOS OF NFS’ DAY AND NIGHT CYCLE

Aside from the jarring sunrise, visually the game is absolutely stunning. A lot of love has gone into the cars and designs, and effects. The rain slick roads, reflections, and lighting at night are all life-like. The city has a lot of destructible elements, and some that are frustratingly not, which as a result will have you looking at the slow-motion spectacle that is you crashing your car. The city streets and buildings are nicely textured, but the buildings especially are somewhat plain to look at. But the developers at Ghost Games probably aren’t expecting you to be looking at the low-poly box buildings for long.

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As mentioned, the game’s story focuses on the 5 pillars that define Need For Speed, and you play a part in a small group of racers waiting to be noticed by the 5 real-world motorsport and street racing icons, who each represent one pillar. As you race through the story, and earn reputation in each focus, you then get to face off against each icon. The final races have you facing off against all the story characters and each Icon to become the Ultimate Icon. Happy ending. Fin.

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There’s been a lot of bemoaning about the story in Need For Speed, and how it’s told through terribly acted Live-Action cutscenes. Everyone is super hyped, or super jealous, and they live out of trailers, or auto work-shops, listening to Dead Mou5, and drinking Monster. It’s terribly cliché, but it doesn’t actually detract or distract from the game.

The game is still fun. Sure it feels like all the races are exactly the same. And there are some gripes about the loose handling, or that in designing the game in Frostbite, the developers have turned the vehicles into four million pound bricks that can hardly take a jump. The lack of interesting things in the city did make the trips between each race kind of tedious, and instead, I found myself just transporting to the start line, as the loading times were minimal.

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Since its release last November, the game has seen some free love from EA and Ghost Games. They’ve made some of the Icon cars playable, added a race tournament, they’ve bolstered the player’s vehicle garage from 5 to 10 store-able vehicles, added Drag style races, and some Roadster vehicles, as well as improved some of the online functionality, adding the ability to challenge other racers on the fly, or invite them to take part in the campaign races. They’ve also added a photographer mode to capture your vehicle, and your beautifully hand-crafted artistic wraps, in-game. Almost like they knew they were releasing the game less than full. Extra effort has been put into the online functionality and competitive racing scene.

Now, after release, the game feels complete, and a better positioned contender for your harddrive’s storage or internet’s bandwidth than in November. Not to mention, at a lower price point.

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In the Achievement department, the game is very generous. Most are story related, and will be unlocked by just completing all the races. Every new DLC addition adds new achievements as well, to encourage people to come back, as these are overly generous in Gamerscore numbers.

Notable Achievements
Choo Choo! (Complete the drift train mission with the Risky Devil crew) – 30G

Wrap It Up (Download a Shared Wrap) – 80G
Filter Addict (Take a snapshot with a filter in the Snapshot Pro Mode) – 80G

See? Super generous.

-iRogan

 

Revisted iReview – SHADOW COMPLEX REMASTERED

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SHADOW COMPLEX REMASTERED

Publisher: Microsoft Game Studio and Epic Games
Developer: Chair Entertainment and Epic Games
Platform: Xbox One
Availability: Xbox 360, Windows, Xbox One, PS4

I played the original release of ChAIR’s Shadow Complex back in 2009 as an Xbox 360 Arcade title. The title at the time  broke the mold as far as 2D side-scroller action games were considered. The world is actually fully three-dimensional but the player can only move on the 2D plane. Mixing up the genres, the player can shoot in the 3RD dimension as some enemies will be in the background. Luckily the game’s shooting mechanic are pretty forgiving in these instances, knowing that the enemies are actually in the background, and will assist the player when aiming. Now Epic Games has remastered it and released it for the PC, Xbox One, and PS4 in the summer.

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The game is a 3rd-person action platformer and follows Jason Flemming and his new girlfriend Claire. They’re out on a camping expedition and stumble across some caves that lead to a hidden underground base filled with enemy soldiers and futuristic technology. Claire is captured and we are tasked with navigating the complex to save her and uncover the story behind the massive complex.

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The whole game takes place in the underground facility, and mountainous region directly above. As the player progresses through the game, we start to get access to some of the future tech, starting with a jump pack to allow us to double jump, then grenades, and assault rifle. We then find an advanced suit, a foam gun, missile launcher and hook shot. The player’s flashlight will highlight objectives and colour-coated hidden areas. Each weapon allows the player to advance into new areas:the gun can shoot through yellow grates or floor panels, grenades can blast through green walls or rocks, the foam gun can freeze or explode purple paneling, and the missile launcher explodes through red blast shields. Each unlock is staggered throughout the facility while exploring, but will also encourage re-treading the map and exploration later one when everything is unlocked to find all the game’s many collectible collectibles. The hidden key cards are required to unlock the suit’s last upgrade – however this is not required to complete the game.

The gameplay and visuals really stood out at the time, for a 360 Arcade title, and it still stands up today. The remastering has brought brighter colours, and some better lighting and textures – Jason’s face especially. Claire has not seen that same upgrades though -maybe it’s true that men age more gracefully. The facility textures have been upgraded too, but with that, the land above in the mountains have not seen the same attention. There are still some hiccups in frame rate when a cut-scene initiates or in an especially large area with a large number of enemies.

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The game has a diverse set of enemies from the foot and rocket + shield soldiers and special ops with a hook shot of their own. Then there are some mechanized walkers and a few spider tank bosses, and a huge bi-pedal boss with a shield.

*spoilers ahead*

The bulk of the story is only revealed at the end. The whole time in the facility we get the impression that this base is meant as a staging ground for something bigger, but our main focus is tracking down Claire and escaping. When we finally get the chance to do so, Jason lets Claire escape and we go back to shut the operation down. The final section concludes with a large airship leaving the base as we confront the leader, and find out that they’re going to invade San Francisco. Having unlocked all the suit’s perks and weapons, we attempt to survive the final stage while taking down the airship with some programmable nuclear warheads and shooting them at the airship – that the base has active warheads, and the player is able to initiate their launch notwithstanding.

The COBRA-esk villain approaches Jason threateningly, and in turn ends up with a bullet in his head thanks to our returning friend, Claire. Turns out she’s NSA and used us as a cover to infiltrate the base. She killed the boss in an attempt to save us from killing him in cold blood. Are you kidding me? The game tallied it up for me: I killed 798 soldiers to save you and the world! But thank-you Claire, my conscience is clean. I’ll sleep easier.

“LUCKILY THERE ARE PLENTY MORE FISH IN THE SEA”

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The controls are smooth and intuitive, and aside from a few visual glitches the Remastered Edition is just as fun as I remember the original being. My only gripe is some inconsistencies in the enemy AI. In some of the larger stages, enemies off-screen will see the player without being provoked and start shooting immediately, before we can even see them, but other cases the player can walk up to enemies completely unaware, and do a stealth take down.

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The game should be lauded for its gameplay: it’s built around the idea that you can infiltrate the facility with minimal weapons and perks a la Metal Gear Solid, so there are a lot of sneaky paths and creative ways to attack each section. Or you can go in guns blazing, removing every foe in your path. Choose your own adventure.

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The remastered edition also brings with it a slew on new achievements encouraging playing the game in creative ways, collecting all the collectibles, and killing the bosses in different ways.

–For those that like remastered games, 2D Metroid/Castlevania/Mega-Man Games, or those that wished they could abandon the princess half-way through the story.

Notable Achievements
Status Update: Single (Complete the game by abandoning Claire to her fate) – 30G
Hook, Line, and Sinker (Kill an enemy with the Hookshot) – 20G

-iRogan

 

 

iReview – VALIANT HEARTS: THE GREAT WAR – Hand Drawn War

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War makes men mad.

Valiant Hearts: The Great War

Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Montpellier
Platform: Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, Ps3, PC, iOS, Android
Reviewed On: Xbox One

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I don’t know a lot about World War I other than it might be the focus of EA’s next Battlefield game. I do know that it hasn’t been the focal setting of many games, whereas World War II has been heavily played out. The developers at Ubisoft Montpellier strove to change this fact – those behind Rayman Legends and Child of Light – and have brought us an artistic title that takes place in 1914 as Germany declares War on Russia.

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Valiant Hearts is a game about War, but not a War game. The story follows the path of four characters: the Frenchman Emile, his German son-in-law Karl, American soldier Freddie, and a Belgian nurse named Anna. The main focus of the story is Karl, as he is deported from France, separated from his wife Marie and child, and then drafted into the German army. Marie’s father, and Karl’s father-in-law Emile is drafted into the French army. What follows is a tale of Karl and Emile fighting the war on opposing sides, crossing paths occasionally, and trying to survive. Freddie, an American soldier who volunteered to join the French army fights alongside Emile, and they all cross paths with Anna, a Belgian student / battlefield nurse, and Walt, a Doberman Pinscher dog, throughout the tale.

The game is broken up into 4 different parts, and each part consisting of 6-7 chapters, each following the path of the different characters interwoven through the different stages of the war. The tale concludes in 1917.

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VALIANT HEARTS IS A GAME ABOUT WAR
BUT NOT A WAR GAME

Valiant Hearts is a 2D animated puzzle based game. Before progressing through each chapter, the character we’re playing needs to complete certain objectives. These puzzles generally involve obtaining certain items needed for that situation and delivered to the correct people or used to open a new stage. There is little to no dialogue in the game, and the NPCs in the game will just display a picture of the object or action required. In the wartime segments of the game, the player has to survive gunfire segments from enemy soldiers or planes, bombing runs, and stealth levels where the player has to avoid the patrols of enemy soldiers, by hiding in shadowed areas.

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Some of these segments are really when done, for example when running through the fields at night during a bombing run, to avoid enemy signs, you need to run when the sky is dark. When the bombs hit, they will light up the stage, so you need to make sure you’re hidden.

There is no gunplay during the game, but there are times the player needs to use a melee attack to knock out an unsuspecting guard. The player will need to punch through debris that may be blocking the path or throw dynamite to clear areas or throw an object to break a window. Each character that we play also has different traits. Emile has a shovel, and can dig through soft dirt to avoid gunfire or planted explosives, Freddie carries shears to cut through barb-wire barricades, and Anna is able to treat injuries, which is done through quick-time events.

CARTOONY, BUT NOT-FOR-KIDS CARTOONY

Another example is a stage where we’re stuck inside a house that has been the focus of a chemical attack. We’re wearing a gas mask, but inside, all that’s visible is the green smog. We need to find windows and smash them to help vent the gas so that we can see then next area.

The dog, Walt, is also utilized throughout the campaign. He can be commanded to fetch objects or activate switches. The enemy soldiers ignore him, so he’s utilized to grab items behind enemy lines.

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The art is all hand drawn and animated and cartoony, but not-for-kids cartoony, and it’s evident that Ubisoft has put a lot of love into the art and design of this game, and invested time to tell a tale about survival, sacrifice, and friendship. The game is inspired by real letters written during the events of World War 1 and throughout the game the player unlocks facts about the history of the War, and collectibles with their own unique history.

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The campaign is a fairly lengthy affair, for a game of its type, and it does play a bit slow. Some of the wartime segments are completed through trial and error, but the puzzles are fairly straight forward. The game even has a hint system in place if you get stuck at a certain segment for too long. As well, the narration between chapters can be a bit dry, but that comes with telling a sombre tale of War.

Perfect for those that like illustrated games, World War narratives, or playing fetch with the dog.

 

On the achievement front, the game is very generous. There are some story related ones that can’t be missed, and some for collectibles. The others are for completing a segment perfectly or going beyond the call of duty, and these are almost too generous, considering the difficulty of the game. The issue is the XBOX One’s default 1000G per game regardless of their triple A or indie status. Some of these achievement are miss-able, and you’ll need to restart that chapter.

Notable Achievements
Brothers’ Keeper (Save your entire platoon during the battle of Somme) – 70G
King of the Hill 145 (Shoot the German flag with the cannon at Vimy’s Ridge) – 55G

-iRogan

 

 

iReview: MIDDLE-EARTH: SHADOW OF MORDOR – Like Assassin’s Creed But Different

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This would be the definition of a late review, but that’s only because I review ‘em as I play ‘em.

Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor

Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Developer: Monolith Productions
Platform: Xbox One, PS4, PC
Reviewed On: Xbox One

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When you first start playing Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor and takeoff traversing the world, climbing up towers or cliff faces, you might consider you’re actually playing an Assassin’s Creed title. Or when you discover an enemy group and initiate the gruesome dance of death, you might even think you’re playing a medieval Batman title, by Rocksteady. But you’re actually not, however alike they may look or feel.

Monolith Productions has taken these two great franchises, and lifted the foundation mechanics from both, and used them as the two pillars for their game: Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor. It’s a good thing too, because when you strip those away, what’s left is a dull revenge story.

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Shadow of Mordor takes place between the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. We play Tallion, who is a ranger that dies at the outset of the story. A great start for any game. Tallion watches as his whole family gets murdered by the Black Hand of Sauron. We are then introduced to Celebrimbor, an Elf Lord who also died by the hands of Sauron, only he was cursed to remain undead. Celebrimbor’s spirit merges with Tallion’s body allowing him to remain alive but dead or dead but alive? Together they try to avenge the death of their loved ones.

What follows is a fairly lengthy campaign that see’s Tallion meet and help other locals and leaders fight the ever-increasing shadow of the Dark Lord, and his army of Orcs. Some small bands are just trying to save their captured friends and family, some bigger missions involve infiltrating Orc strongholds and eliminating key enemies.

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It’s obvious that a lot of research into the world of Middle Earth was done, as the two maps are very believable. The character designs from Tallion to the humans, the Elf Lords, and Orcs are all fully realized, are unique, and fit right in. The garrisons and strong holds, enemy camps, and even the wild animals and goblins all play a part. There are a couple key enemy camps throughout the two large maps, that are usually commanded by a Warchief, and then there are the smaller camps run by Orc Captains. Littered around the world are small bands of orcs who are controlling the human slaves. These three tiers of enemies can make stealth a little bit tricky if it’s a mission requirement, but otherwise, they don’t really care too much about your presence if you’re just running through the area. They feign interest for a bit, and chase you, but give up quite quickly.

Traversal of the world comes very naturally to Tallion, as he is a Ranger after all. He can run and vault over obstructions in his path fairly smoothly, and has the ability to climb sheer walls and cliff sides. He can also jump off any height without injury. His abilities don’t have the same fluidity of an Assassin’s Creed title, but the world is not nearly as detailed.

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Equipped with a sword, a dagger and a bow, and a weird ghost who embodies him, Tallion is quite adept in the art of killing Orcs. With the swordplay, attack and deflect is a lot like a Batman title, press attack in the direction of an enemy, and press block, when they start to attack you, and then watch Tallion flow seamlessly through each action. Again, not nearly as complex or smooth as the perfected Batman titles but it’s sufficient. The attacks and execution kills are brutal, with lots of blood and gore, and limbs flying. With the bow, you can slow down time and shoot “light” arrows or do a short transport to the enemy in your sight. These abilities is what Calebrimbor bring to the table when he inherited your body. You can also brainwash Orcs you have caught and hold hostage, taking over their weak mind, and having them fight for you.

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The fights can get quite hairy quite quick when you’re infiltrating a stronghold, and the enemy has raised the alarm. You will become very quickly surrounded, and the Spear or Archer Orcs will not hesitate to attack you from a distance when you’re trying your best to keep your head attached among the melee sort. It will get intense quick, and you’ll likely die quite often.

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Dying in Shadow of Mordor can be frustrating, but you don’t really lose much ground, aside from the current mission you were on, if you were in one. Otherwise, you just respawn at the nearest Tower and resume your attack. This is where the Nemesis system comes into play, and it is the best feature of the game. The enemy AI will remember if they’ve killed you.

Coming across an enemy who has ended your turn will call you out, and some may taunt you, saying they’ve killed you once, another time shouldn’t be too hard. Some might be more fearful of you since you’ve returned. Each Captain or Warchief will get a little focused introduction with their name when they hit the battlefield near you, and the Nemesis system makes these encounter memorable. Even dying multiple times to the same Orc will raise them in rank in the Orc Rule. They’ll start as a Low Captain and slowly progress towards Elite ranks and then Warchief.

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The Nemesis system also allows you to get more information about each Captain and Warchief – their fears and strengths.

When you brand a Captain, you can start internal wars by calling out other Captains and helping them win their way to the top and challenge a Warchief. This system works really well during a difficult mission, as you can call on your followers in the heat of a battle to help your side.

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Throughout, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor is a solid game. It looks good on the Xbox One, and plays smooth. The story missions are nothing worth writing about and Tallion as a Ranger is not wholly interesting. The two character’s revenge stories are tied into one, and we learn the story of Celebrimbor as we progress. Some of the side missions tell a little bit more story involving Golum and the One Ring, and a Hunter story arc takes us into caves to fight goblins and cave trolls. But the combat and stealth is satisfying, and having brain-washed orcs fight your battles is a fun spectacle.

Achievements in this game are nice and diverse. There are the collection types, and regular campaign missions achievement, which are commonplace, as well as being rewarded for trying out each gameplay mechanic. The interesting ones are where they take the Nemesis system into account, and the interesting ways you can use your branded Orcs to fight your war.

For those who like Middle Earth, Assassin’s Creed, or thought it would be cool to play as a Ranger, like Aragorn, descendant of Isildur and rightful heir to the thrones of Arnor and Gondor, but figured a no name dead guy would suffice.

Notable Achievments

The Spirit of Mordor (Start a Riot by commanding a Warchief to attack another Warchief) – 20G
Stinking Rebels (Brand 5 Bodyguards of a Warchief turning them against him in combat) – 20G

 

 

iReview – PNEUMA: BREATH OF LIFE

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Pneuma: Breath of Life

Publisher: Deco Digital and Bevel Studios
Developer: Deco Digital and Bevel Studios
Platform: Xbox One, PS4, PC
Reviewed On: Xbox One

Mind the stairs, and don’t trip over your own feet.

Pnuema started out less a game, and more of a tech demo, even going so far as to show us how to pronounce it’s title name: /’ nju:ma /. The purpose of developing it was to show off the Unreal 4 Engine, and test positional-oriented rendering, developed by a small team of 6 twenty-something year old’s, who worked throughout the day to put it together, and then worked all night at their regular jobs to fund their project. And, thanks to some very clever positional-based puzzles, a well written, witty narrative, brilliantly voiced by our game’s lead, the end product is a very smart, good looking game.

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We start the game in a black void. The narrator of the adventure, our character, becomes self-aware, and begins to wonder where they are. He then utters some famous words, along the lines of “let there be light” and suddenly a door opens up ahead. We take control, and walk forward into a plain white hallway. The voice in our head, upon the realizing he has just created light, and quite possibly the whole world we just stumbled into, obviously thinks he is now a god. This is where the game shines, in its writing. Our god-like narrator begins to list the laws of physics that are keeping him grounded, and while moving around watching the world beautifully build itself around us, begins to realize that he is not in fact moving, but the world is moving around him. And then begins to add colour and warmth to his surroundings.

IT’S PRONOUNCED NJU:MA

At this point, if you decide to walk backwards, you’ll see all the changes become undone, and the world revert back to its pale empty space. This kind of evolution and realization follows us through the whole game, and creates a good sense of progression.

I really liked the voice actor who plays the narrator, his wonder and excitement regarding his new world and his ability to create. Reminds me a lot of Wheatly from Portal 2. His high level thinking and his god-like status slowly begins to wear away though, as we start to come across puzzles. Why would a God like me be forced to do these menial tasks? There are a lot of philosophical questions and points that the narrator raises during the campaign, as he tries to figure out why things are the way they are, what it’s like to be alive in this world, and are we playing the game, or is the game playing us.

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The puzzles start off pretty easy to grasp, and graduate to fairly moderate, none of them too hard to handle, but you may get a bit queasy when the game starts to rotate the game world, leaving you a little turned around.

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“ARE YOU GOING TO OPEN THE DOOR? AT ANY TIME?

The puzzles are position and focused based. There are eye markers placed around each level, and these will control walls or floor tiles, or doors. When looking at the object marker, it may move as you walk closer, or when you walk away – no explanation as to why this is happening. But these are only affected when looking at them. The camera has to see the eye. For example, when looking at a door marker, the doors may only open as you walk away facing them. Do that for a distance until they open fully, turn around so your eye and the eye marker no longer make contact, and then walk backwards through the open door. Afterwards our narrator will chime in, confirming what we did, and coming to the conclusion that what we did was correct. That’s the easy stuff.

The puzzles get a little more difficult as your progress. Standing on certain pedestals in one area, and rotating the camera will rotate the whole room, and leaving you feeling a little woozy. In the next area, tiles on the floor need to be turned on or off by viewing them at one colour and looking away and coming back to change the colour. These puzzles require time and patience, as one slip up with the camera, and you will have to start all over again.

The puzzles in each area follow a similar mechanic, but don’t feel repetitive or tedious. They are short however, and the game as a whole, is not long, only a few hours, without any real reason to play again.

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Pneuma: The Breath of Life is very pretty, brightly coloured, and beautifully textured with smooth marble or bumpy stone, and fill with lush fauna and bright skies. At times, it does feel like a visual tech demo, showing off the capabilities of the Unreal Engine on a console. It’s just a shame that since all of the puzzles are visual and position based, so we spend a lot of time avoiding eye contact with the markers, and instead spend it looking at our feet.

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The achievements are very generous: 8/11 of them are for just completing each chapter totalling 850G, and then the 3 remaining are for extra puzzles, these being easily missed.

For those that liked Portal, The Stanley Parable, or looking at your feet.

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT
There’s a puzzle for you (Complete the Game) – 150G