What we've been playing - double-A delights, remasters and remakes
A few of the things that have us hooked this week.
8th February
Hello and welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we've been playing this week. This week, we rediscover the button-mashing charms of Ninja Gaiden 2; we also rediscover the uneasiness of an iconic survival-horror; and we delve into the game one of Dragon Age's key people made next.
What have you been playing?
Catch up with the older editions of this column in our What We've Been Playing archive.
Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, Xbox Series X
Ninja's are elegant. Graceful. Precise. Sexy. But not here - at least, not when I'm playing.
I put this in part down to my own gameplay. The Ninja Gaiden games have a slightly awkward dodge mechanic, where you block first and then flick the stick; it never quite clicked with me. I'm also enjoying button mashing with each of the game's torturous weapons, though the brutal flail and the whip-like chain sickle have proven favourites. It might not result in pretty or stylish combos, but I've found it as cathartic as it is mindless. After rage-quitting the previous game, I'm racing through this sequel and finding it, dare I say, quite easy.
But I also put that awkwardness down to the game itself. Ryu is speedy but seems to struggle with basic actions like swimming, climbing ladders, and jumping to the platform I'm actually aiming at. That's coupled with an erratic camera that never frames the action quite right, be it in claustrophobic corridors or open temple gardens. Instead, I just button-mash off the screen and hope for the best. Then there are the rubbish bosses I've beaten, mostly, first time through a repetitive dodge-hit-dodge-hit rhythm. I really expected more complexity here.
And yet I'm having a blast playing through Ninja Gaiden 2 Black. It's a game to just switch off to, whether through combat or story: hit some buttons and watch some outlandish action. Why am I fighting an electric demon on top of the Statue of Liberty? Why am I now battling hordes of werewolves in a Roman coliseum? And why am I forced to play as various vapid big booby ladies with such sizable weapons? I don't know, and I don't frankly care. Because when this all clicks into place as some sort of 80s arcade 3D throwback and limbs are exploding from enemies and blood and gore is squirting up the side of walls, I can't help but smile.
-Ed
Dead Space Remake, PS5 Pro
Having dusted off Resident Evil Village I thought I'd finally start the Silent Hill 2 remake. Small problem: I thought I'd bought Silent Hill 2 but actually hadn't. A quick glance at the price on the digital store and I noped out and looked for something else. Dead Space Remake to the rescue, thanks to it being on PlayStation Plus at some point in the past.
What a brilliant remake this is. It's obviously a straighter conversion of the original, pulling it into the modern age in terms of presentation, but I think that's all it needed. It's got atmosphere spilling out of every vent, making even the most mundane rooms feel hostile and claustrophobic. The audio work plays a key part in this, with the arrival of a monstrosity being accompanied by a change in background music perfectly pitched to get my heart rate motoring and stress level raised.
I'm not ashamed to admit that I've panicked on multiple occasions because a door I'd just walked through shut behind me. Dead Space is unnerving in the extreme, making the fact that a remake of the second game isn't looking likely all the more disappointing.
-Tom O
Eternal Strands, Xbox Series X
During a week in which EA boss Andrew Wilson and his chief financial officer appeared to suggest Dragon Age should have been a live-service, it's been a pleasure to sit down and start playing a new single-player game from a former Dragon Age developer that ticks plenty of the same boxes.
Eternal Strands is the work of ex-Dragon Age director Mike Laidlaw (who also chipped in this week with his own assessment of Wilson's comments). After years of work - including a fruitless spell at Ubisoft - it's great to see the man behind a decent chunk of BioWare's fantasy series finally ship another game.
Smaller in scope than one of BioWare's modern epics but still filled with welcoming characters and oodles of lore, there's a lot to love about this distinctly AA-sized debut from Laidlaw's new outfit Yellow Brick Games.
Much of Eternal Strands' action-oriented gameplay is built around using your magical powers - wielding telekinesis, firing out flames and frost - in a towering fantasy world. There's Breath of the Wild's climbing, and you scramble up onto the backs of towering enemies - giants, enormous dragons - to stab at them in battles that feel like something from God of War.
Once again, you're in a world where magic is treated with suspicion, and once again you're dealing with a magical place with a Veil. But there much of the similarities end - and it's heartening to see Eternal Strands make strides to establish itself and its world as its own new entity. If you're after a colourful, welcoming and a little rough-around-the-edges adventure, look no further.
-Tom P