How many hours of entertainment do you expect to get from a full-price video game? With many critics claiming that Star Wars Battlefront is light on content, that’s a question you should probably ask yourself before blowing fifty big ones on EA’s latest shooter. It’s a decent game that’s surprisingly accessible, but you may be bored even before Episode VII rolls around this time next month.
That’s the general consensus, anyway – as our review round-up shows, its yet to receive a review score higher than 8.5 with most reviews around the 7/10 mark. Not a bad score by any means, but it’s not hard to imagine that EA was hoping for a waft of 9/10s and even a few 10/10s.
Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash on Wii U is another that suffers from limited content – the core game is sound enough, but with just one stadium and restrictive online features it’s hard to justify the price tag. God is a Geek described it as a “budget game being sold at full price†before giving it a miserable 4.5/10. IGN followed suit, giving it an equally mediocre 4.8. “Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash is a bare-bones, lacklustre [sic] addition to Mario’s sporting adventures†was their verdict.
The Metro meanwhile reports that if you treat it as a HD remake of the N64’s Mario Tennis then some of its flaws can be overlooked. They gave it 7/10.
Animal Crossing amiibo Festival also hits Wii U this week, leaving just December’s Xenoblade Chronicles X to fly the flag for Wii U this winter. Sadly, amiibo Festival‘s review scores have been nothing short of abysmal. “It’s a blatant attempt to get you to buy more Amiibo, and it’s not even a good one at that†said GamesBeat before dishing out a dire 33/100.
Nintendo Enthusiast gave it an even lower score – 2.5/10. “I can win by pressing the “a” button for 45 minutes straight†claimed their reviewer.
It’s not all doom and gloom on the Nintendo front though – New Style Boutique 2 – Fashion Forward on 3DS is apparently pretty good. Guys? Hello?
High Moon’s Deadpool from 2013 gets a dusting off this week too. It’s a ridiculous £44.99 in digital form and not much cheaper at retail (currently £39.85 on Amazon). Although it does include all DLC, we understand that it didn’t see much support after release – just a few costumes and a couple of challenge maps. We gave the original 6/10. “Chances are high that Deadpool’s first proper video game foray will be remembered for being amusing rather than amazing†we said, which seems about right.
With the sixth and final episode of Game of Thrones – A Telltale Games Series out now (GameSpot thought it was great, while IGN found it merely “okayâ€) the Season Pass Disc heads to retail for around £25 on PS4, PS3, Xbox One and 360. It would make a nice Christmas present for a Game of Thrones fan, that.
Other digital releases for this week include The Crew: Wild Run Edition (Complete Edition also available for a tenner more), the DLC loaded Resident Evil Revelations 2 Deluxe Edition and two new PS Vita releases – mobile conversion Pixel Hunter (£7.39) and Pirate Solitaire (£3.99).
We were expecting to see Super Star Wars on PSN (PS4 and PS Vita) as well but it’s a total no-show. Well, kind of – US gamers are enjoying the SNES classic right now (which comes bundled with the limited edition Darth Vader PS4) but it looks like we’ll have to wait. Incidentally, it’s $9.99 on the US PSN store. We’re hoping that won’t equate to £9.99 over here.
We’ll finish off this round-up with the current Xbox One freebie Knight Squad, a curious mixture of Bomberman and Gauntlet. A quick play would suggest that there’s not much here for the single-player gamer, but there’s multiplayer frolics aplenty for those with more than one controller. We’re hoping to get the gang together this weekend so we can give it the review treatment.
Next week: Three Fourths Home: Extended Edition (Xbox One), Monster High: New Ghoul in School (Multi), Fireman Sam: To The Rescue (3DS), Pure Hold’em World Poker Championships (PS4), Tiny Troopers Joint Ops (PS4) and maybe Super Star Wars (PS4/PS Vita).