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Review: Ride 5

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Superbikes paradise
Rs. 4,799; PS5 (reviewed), Xbox Series X|S, PC

Motorbikes don’t get as much love as cars in racing games. However, Italy-based Milestone srl is an exception in the industry where they have been consistently releasing bike racing games. Ride 5 is their latest release that aims to make the franchise bigger and better.

Ride 5 is a racing simulator that gives players a vast roster of motorbikes to ride on and more importantly, how realistic they behave. The initial lineup is over 230 motorbikes from 20 different manufacturers with the count expected to cross over 270 in the coming months with DLCs. 

Ride 4 brought impressive visuals to the fore and Ride 5 elevates it. The bikes have impeccable attention to detail. The 44 real and fictional racetracks are well-detailed and with volumetric clouds and Dynamic Weather system, it adds a layer of realism while you’re burning rubber around the track at high speed. The game works without any hiccups or stutters on the PS5 and utilises DualSense’s adaptive triggers exceptionally well with instant feedback while applying brakes or riding on a kerb, gravel or grass. 

The physics of a two-wheeler works differently than a car and you’ll soon realise how difficult it is to master if you have no experience with it. One braking or turning error and you’d fly around the track as a ragdoll. To combat this steep learning curve for a newcomer, the game comes with riding aids. This is not turning down the difficulty setting but rather a detailed and customised riding aid that lets you change different aspects of riding so you can master them, which will help to earn higher rewards. 

There are multiple game modes starting with the career that brings over 200 races segregated between primary and secondary events. The aim is to be the world’s best racer which can be monitored with the progress you make on the leaderboard. The endurance mode lets you ride the bikes for hours, test their durability and manage pit stops. Interestingly, this mode lets you save in-race if you cannot complete a race in one session. 

Playing with friends and family is possible through the conventional split-screen interface or if you’re looking to play with other Ride 5 players, there’s online multiplayer. Online races work cross-platform as well. 

Despite being evolutionary, Ride 5 is a step in the right direction with a vast motorcycle selection and different playable modes. Now all we need is a Forza Horizon-type game for bikes!

Rating

WE’RE IMPRESSED Graphics, Couch co-op
WE’D IMPROVE Difficulty for new players
THE LAST WORD Ride 5 delivers a well-packaged racing simulator for motorcycle enthusiasts

Review: Final Fantasy XVI

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The latest Final Fantasy offers brings epic lore and engaging gameplay
Rs. 4,799; PS5

Final Fantasy XVI

Final Fantasy series has garnered a loyal fan base since the introduction of the first game back in 1987. Over the years, the anthology not only experimented with the storyline but also the combat and gameplay features. The latest instalment – Final Fantasy XVI builds on the real-time combat system of its predecessor but brings story to the forefront making the game fun for long-time fans and accessible to new players.

Final Fantasy XVI takes place in a fictional region called Valisthea that houses different realms as they fight for survival against the blight and the control of mothercrystals, which is the main source of magic for all kingdoms. The whole Valisthean setup gives a Games of Thrones-ey vibe given the portrayal of complex relationships and overall a darker and mature setting. But unlike GoT, Final Fantasy XVI focuses on one – Clive Rosfield. You play as Clive who is a likable young prince of Rosaria and serves as a protector of his younger sibling Joshua but fails early on. While Clive is the game’s central character and the story revolves around him, the game does a very good job of subtly touching upon different topics like the treatment of Branded aka slaves and deep-rooted politics.

Final Fantasy XVI

Truth be told, given the vast story, it seems overwhelming to follow at first but the game has a nifty feature called the Active Time Lore comes. It is akin to X-Ray on Prime Video so you can long press the DualSense to pause the cutscene and see important information and the character background for a more immersive experience.

Complementing a great story and protagonist are side characters like Cid and Jill that are portrayed by talented actors like Ralph Ineson and Susannah Fielding. Although they are unplayable but accompany Clive on different missions to help him in fights along with Clive’s trusty pet wolf – Torgal.

Final Fantasy XVI

Combat is another area where Final Fantasy XVI shines. It brings real-time action that may initially seem like mashing buttons for a favourable outcome but it is more nuanced with the ability to earn extra damage by executing combos with melee and magic attacks and eventually staggering the enemy for more damage. The game also adds the ability to use Eikon powers which Clive accumulates over the course of the game and can be changed in real-time to suit your playstyle. Speaking of Eikons, the Eikon battles are terrific with breathtaking visuals. Players can also upgrade Clive’s moves and abilities.

Final Fantasy XVI

Final Fantasy XVI looks stunning and plays well on the powerful PS5 hardware. There were some busy scenes where you could sense a drop in frames but not a dealbreaker.

Final Fantasy XVI is a worthy addition to the franchise. While it deviates from some of the original gameplay elements but the game brings improved gameplay elements and a powerful story that will potentially bring new players to the three-decade-old franchise.

RATING

WE’RE IMPRESSED Combat, story
WE’D IMPROVE Basic RPG gameplay
THE LAST WORD Final Fantasy XVI is a strong addition to the franchise with a strong narrative and a great combat system

Review: Star Wars Jedi Survivor

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The new Star Wars game continues Cal Kestis’ galactic adventure
Prices vary; PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S

A narrative-driven Star Wars game is what many wanted and the 2019 Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order gave that to its loyal fans. Now building on the strong base laid down by the Fallen Order, the Star Wars: Jedi Survivor is the latest instalment in the Star Wars saga that continues Cal Kestis’ journey and his fight against the Empire. Playing the previous game is recommended but newcomers to the series will also fit right in as the game offers a quick recap at the start. 

It’s been five years since the events of the Fallen Order with Cal now arrested by the Empire. The arrest, however, turns out to be a ruse for the Jedi to extract more intel but the mission goes sideways and expectedly, the game wastes no time to put Cal’s combative skills and abilities to test early on. The good thing about the sequel is that it retains skills from the previous game without having Cal relearn or unlock them. 

However, some abilities and features get unlocked over the course of the game. One of these are stances and there are five stances to choose from that help you define the combat playstyle. Our favourite is the one where you can wield a lightsaber and a blaster that lets you fight enemies from a distance and the crossguard lightsaber that delivers the most damage but at the expense of speed. These different playstyles coupled with the detailed skill tree add depth to the combat, which only gets better from the previous game. A successful attack, defence or parry is satisfying but the game also punishes for dying. Death during a fight means you lose the accumulated experience points, respawn at a meditation point (save point) and the only way to get it back is to strike (and hopefully kill) the enemy who killed you in the recent fight.

The game allows customising Cal, weapons and his robot friend BD-1. Right from Cal’s appearance to BD-1’s body material and paint to the lightsaber’s colours and materials, it brings lots of customisations to make the central character look different for different players. 

Jedi Survivor takes Cal to six different planets throughout the game and each region is well-designed, elaborate and distinct that will want you to explore and discover secrets of the place, find loot boxes for customisations, new shortcuts and pathways. Traversing the regions can be done on foot or take help from some tamed animals that will allow them to fly or ride them. The game also involves a decent amount of platforming with wall runs, air dashes and double jumps.  

Our playthrough on the PS5 was relatively issues-free. We did experience one random crash and performance issues like screen tearing and graphical glitches but that did not hamper our overall playing experience. 

In conclusion, the Jedi Survivor took good things from the previous game and made it fitting for a sequel with great combat mechanics and a decent storyline. 

RATING


WE’RE IMPRESSED Combat, story

WE’D IMPROVE Performance

THE LAST WORD Jedi Survivor brings great action and story, making it a must-play for every Star Wars fan

Review: Dead Island 2

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Dead Island 2

HELL Yeah!
Prices vary; PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S

The development journey for Dead Island 2 has not been easy. Announced in 2014, the game saw multiple developer changes with Deep Silver finally settling with its own Dambuster Studios four years ago. The zombie-filled adventure is set to release later this week and we got an early copy to see if the sequel was worth the wait.  

Set in Los Angeles aka HELL-A, the flashy town is now the insane playground of flesh-eating zombies and slayers who paint the town red by killing the undead. You start as one of the immune slayers and depending on who you choose (out of the six slayers) at the start of the game, you receive some unique abilities. You cannot change the slayer once you start the game, so it’s better to go through their abilities before slaying zombies around the streets of Bel-Air or house-hunting in Beverly Hills.

Dead Island 2

Dead Island 2 is all about slaying. Sure, there’s a story and quests that you need to do to advance the game but let’s be honest, dismembering some zombies in unique ways is why everyone wants to play Dead Island. The game focuses on combat and while you get access to guns later in the game, melee combat is where Dead Island 2 shines. Scattered throughout the map, you can use almost anything to kill the biting zombies. Right from a broken piece of timber to a pipe to even Wolverine-like claws, there are a variety of weapons at your disposal that will turn them into a pulp, in a matter of seconds. The weapons, however, come with a durability bar, which can be restored at the workbench, spread throughout HELL-A.

Dead Island 2

Workbench can be used to repair weapons, mod them to enhance their effectiveness or customise curveball weapons. Some curveballs include stinky blood that can attract zombies to it, shurikens to throw at them or plain ol’ pipe bombs for instant karma. The supply of curveball items is endless but it comes with a cooldown time. However, our favourite way to slay a bunch of them is to take advantage of the environment. Pouring water on the livewire or a battery will electrocute zombies or add fuel to the fire to create an explosion. The combat possibilities are endless and it depends on how you choose to tackle the undead – with force or strategy.

You can even upgrade your playstyle with different skill cards that can be earned by completing quests or scavenging from zombies. The activated card gives different power and abilities that help in combat.  

The hellish version of Los Angeles is very well-designed. The abandoned villas to the iconic beaches and hotels show how badly riddled Los Angeles is with zombies. But it’s the gory graphics that sets Dead Island 2 apart. Zombies getting maimed, revealing of the body innards after quick strikes, beheadings and even smashed skull graphics feel a bit over-the-top but oddly satisfying.   

Having said that, we experienced some glitches in our PS5 playthrough but nothing that would hamper the playing experience. Besides, a launch day patch should fix most of the issues.

Dead Island 2

Dead Island 2 is a little different than other zombie-centric games. It does not take itself seriously, which is evident with the over-the-top action and dark humour sprinkled throughout the game. Some might even feel the gameplay is repetitive but frankly its wash, rinse, repeat formula coupled with gory graphics is what makes Dead Island 2 work.

Rating

WE’RE IMPRESSED Gory graphics, combat
WE’D IMPROVE Repetitive gameplay
THE LAST WORD Dead Island 2 will fulfil your mindless zombie-bashing itch

Review: Resident Evil 4

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A fitting refresh of the hit classic game
Prices vary; PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S

Capcom should be lauded for its decision to bring its classic games to newer gaming platforms. They started with Resident Evil 2 in 2019, Resident Evil 3 in 2020 and here we are with the latest remake – Resident Evil 4. Capcom has perfected the remake recipe to captivate fans who missed playing the original and bring new ones to its successful survival horror franchise.

Resident Evil 4 is set six years after the disastrous events at Raccoon City and with years of experience under his belt, Leon S. Kennedy is no more a rookie. He now works directly under the United States president and is tasked with locating and bringing back the president’s kidnapped daughter, Ashley Graham.

In true Resident Evil fashion, the game puts you (as Leon) right in the action to unravel the mystery and the weirdness of the European village. There are no mutated zombies to kill but Plaga-affected villagers who don’t take lightly to any trespasser. Aided by formidable bosses like the chainsaw man at the start, the game wants you to constantly evaluate your survival strategy as taking the grotesque enemies head-on can work against you sometimes.

But more often than not, fighting is the only way out, and for those moments, Resident Evil 4 offers ample ways to cull the infected villagers. Resident Evil 4 brings a decent spread of weapons that can be found or purchased along with some nifty weapon upgrades. You can also use a knife to parry but its effectiveness diminishes with every strike and can be repaired only with a visit to the merchant. Our go-to choice was a maxed-out rifle with a biosensor scope that highlights the enemy’s weakness so you can quickly kill without emptying the precious bullets.

In addition to combat, crafting and resource management are other areas of survival in the game. You can craft ammo by combining different components or improve health by mixing different types of herbs. Crafting also helps manage the inventory space in the upgradable attaché case that can be used to store weapons, ammo, gun parts and herbs.

Powered by the RE Engine, the game looks and runs fantastic on PC. The customisable settings ensure it runs smoothly with minimal framerate dips, irrespective of being played on a budget graphics card or outperforming when equipped with the latest Radeon RX 7900XT. We cranked the settings to the highest with FidelityFX Super Resolution 2 enabled and the RX 7900XT consistently delivered up to 100 fps for sustained performance.

The well-paced story keeps you busy, however, we feel, Capcom could have trimmed a chapter or two. A full playthrough along with scouring for collectables takes around 20 hours, which can vary depending on the difficulty. The game encourages replayability that can unlock weapons with infinite ammo but it’s hard work considering you have to fulfil some conditions. For players wanting more outside of the main story, there’s The Mercenaries, a timed mode to take on hordes of enemies for a high score.

Resident Evil 4 brings everything together you expect from an RE game in the form of an engaging story, combat and gameplay.

RATING 4.5/5
WE’RE IMPRESSED Gameplay, story
WE’D IMPROVE Replayability
THE LAST WORD Resident Evil 4 is a testament to why Capcom is the king of remakes. It’s a must-play for every RE and survival horror genre fan