Overall, I'm a fan of Quantic Dream's games and the genre. In terms of playability they've improved each time, and again this is a step up from their last title, the divisive Beyond: Two Souls. This time around you play as three main characters, all of which are androids. The first, Kara, is designed to be a maid. She is bought and placed in an environment of domestic/child abuse and becomes self-aware/a deviant to save the child, Alice. They then end up seeking refuge-this is where the connection to the other main character, Markus, is made. Without giving too much away, Markus is wrongfully blamed for the death of someone and becomes the Christ like figurehead of the deviant androids. The third, Connor, is a cop whose role is to hunt deviants. With Kara the decisions are about how to escape/stay safe and how to interact with Alice. Markus' are largely about how you lead the revolution; passively or aggressively. Connor's are about making the right choices to find the deviants, his relationship with his partner, Hank, and the conflict between doing what he's programmed to do or side with his kind. Although nothing too spectacular, the story is interesting, features some surprises and should keep the player engaged with obvious links to racism and the civil rights movement, except in this case the androids are the oppressed. Because the game switches between three characters, I probably didn't feel the connection to the same level as I did with Jodie, who you never leave in Beyond: Two Souls, but the difference isn't a major one. The QTE works well and the game is lenient if you miss a couple of buttons. Graphically the game is superb, as we've come to expect from this developer. In terms of the controls, look and interact are both controlled by the right analog stick, so at times that is a frustration. The way the characters move can be a touch clunky as well. The final issue that comes to mind regarding the gameplay is that you can't skip cutscenes. You'll want to watch them on your first playthrough, but when it comes to replayability it can be an annoyance. While I do think these games would be a lot of work to develop due to their nonlinearity as well as other reasons, and perhaps the years in development reflects that, the starting RRP does seem steep to me given they don't have the replay value of many other genres. It's obviously a story-driven game and your decisions do impact the narrative in many minor and major ways up to its conclusion more so than Quantic Dream's previous games. If you like the genre and the story's themes/subject matter in any ways whatsoever, you should get something out of this. Gameplay 4/5 Graphics 5/5 Sound 4.5/5 Difficulty 4.5/5 Originality 4/5

The reboot of the famous video game heroine is here, with it being five years since the last Tomb Raider game was released-discounting the spin-off Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. This goes right back to the beginning, with a young Lara, who is lovable as the protagonist, on an exploration voyage with a crew. They get caught up in a storm though and end up on a mysterious island, and it goes from there. Playing this game I could see long time Tomb Raider fans thinking that the series has moved too far from its origins. It isn't a maze of an adventure game with puzzles to complete with the occasional animal to shoot like the older games. It has become a mixture of Prince of Persia, Uncharted and Far Cry 3-it's odd how similar some aspects of the game are to FC3 considering how close their releases were-with shooting enemies taking up a lot of the gameplay, a few relatively easy enough puzzles with a lot of climbing and platforming aspects. I haven't completed all of the side quests yet, but going through the main missions, there was only one puzzle that took me quite a while to work out. Personally I would have liked a bit more of this. To be fair though it has been moving this way since Tomb Raider: Legend. The plot, although a bit repetitive-there are a number of times where Lara has the chance to rescue someone, but then something collapses or blows up obstructing her path-is entertaining, the characters and voice acting is first class that we see in games these days. The graphics aren't top of the range, but work perfectly with the environment, that is extremely detailed, together with great character animation. There is a bit of QTE is the game that I'm not the biggest fan of and as mentioned I would of liked the implementation of more puzzle aspects, and a bit less third person shooting, but overall it is a well made game that any fan of action/adventure gaming should enjoy. I look forward to the sequel that the end of the game gives hints to. 4.5-4 Gameplay 4.5/5 Graphics 4/5 Sound 4.5/5 Difficulty 5/5 Originality 3.5/5

Australian rules football is a hard sport to recreate in a video game because of its complexities and to this day it has not been done very well. This was a fun game to play (and still is) and given the lack of AFL video games meant that I played it, but it has a lot of flaws, including being far too easy. Gameplay 2.5/5 Graphics 1.5/5 Sound 1.5/5 Difficulty 2/5 Originality 5/5

With all of the hype about this, the gameplay isn't as unique as I thought it would be. There are many similarities to the FarCry and the rebooted Tomb Raider series. There are bandit camps like the outposts in FarCry, lots of hidden items to find, similar stealth mechanics, crafting, campfires to save games, and many other similar gameplay features. In saying that, it is different enough and you don't feel like you've played it before as the story, enemies, environment/time period are the main differences and its strength. While the graphics are nice, as much of the environment is fairly barren land that you'll be traversing through, at times the world isn't very picturesque to wander through. I finished this and enjoyed the adventure and completing it was rewarding as I found it to be a challenging romp. Gameplay 4.5/5 Graphics 4/5 Sound 4.5/5 Difficulty 4.5/5 Originality 3.5/5

In terms of AFL games, apart from old games in the series, there are no other options and there is no competition. So, if a fan of the sport wants it in video game form, this is it. I said it twenty-years ago about AFL 99, and nothing has changed. It's a difficult sport to recreate as a video game and still, to this day, it hasn't been done well. In some areas the developers have made progress from previous AFL games, but all in all, there isn't a lot. There are three big issues. The main problem with this is the marking contests. At times I time the pressing of the button correctly, and seem to be in the correct position but do not spoil or mark the ball. Sometimes as a quick kick from the AI can go off screen, there isn't enough time to see the circles required to be involved in the contest. Connected to the previous issue is the camera. When you mark the ball, to be able to properly see downfield and aim for a teammate, the camera needs to be from behind the player, not the side. It ends up just being a long kick game which isn't truthful to how the sport is played. The sport has become more of a tightly congested, running game and in many ways that isn't reflected here. The third is the problem with knowing if you have the ball in congested situations. When there are many players around the ball it's difficult to know if you or the opposition have the ball so I end up just tapping the tackle/tap button because on the harder difficulties the game is punishing if they break away from a stoppage. Other minor problems include the wind and controls. It seems like every few games you have a tornado hurling around the stadium. I could accept it if you played your home games in Tasmania, but not when you're playing in Perth and at the MCG. The wind has way too much impact on the ball when shooting for goal. The controls are also more complicated than they need to be. To spoil the ball you need to hold L2, hit triangle and because you need to be a near perfect position, often hold R1 to sprint, plus the direction buttons. There is no reason why spoil couldn't just be one button. The other major control issue is that square is handball along with tap the ball along the ground. These need to be separate because often you think you have the ball only for it to tap. Gameplay 3/5 Graphics 3/5 Sound 3.5/5 Difficulty 4/5 Originality 3/5