First Impressions Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

A new challenger approaches! And it's... all of them? That's the first thing you'll notice about Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - just how much content there is.

First Impressions: Trackmania Turbo

Vroom. Start your engines. Ready, set, go! Reverse bay park. Nitros activate. 6 point observation. Big jump ahead! Make sure your wing mirror is adjusted properly. 20th gear. Always wear a seatbelt.

These are all car terms, some more fantastical than others, showing the two ways a racing game can go - realism or arcade. Trackmania Turbo is firmly in the latter, and it loves it.

First Impressions: Snake Pass

I was going to do a snake joke but I thought that would be sssssily...

Snake Pass first came onto my radar when I saw a couple of YouTubers playing it. I've regained my appetite for bright, colourful 3D platformers in recent months and it looked excellent. I was torn between getting it on the Sssswitch or PC (as with any indie game these days). However, my choice was made for me when I was given the code by Martin (of blog fame) from the Humble Monthly for PC.

(More) First Impressions: Alien Isolation

My dad played this game in EGX a couple of years ago and we released a first impressions for it. I've finally gotten round to playing it myself and thought I'd do my own first impressions as I wasn't restricted by the impatient line at a gaming convention. So here goes!

Some spoilers ahead:

First Impressions: Red Dead Redemption

I picked up Red Dead Redemption last year for about £2, with it being on my list to play for years before, although I'd never gotten round to actually playing it. I decided to jump into it now to give some more flavour to the very RPG based games I've been playing at the moment (Horizon: Zero Dawn, Dark Souls, Pokémon Moon and The Witcher 2) and I'm glad I did, as it has impressed me so far. Here are my first impressions from around 2 hours of game time:

First Impressions: Prey: Opening Hour

Prey's had an odd development history, and I'm not talking about the planned but cancelled sequel to Prey 2006 in which this game bears resemblance in name alone (I never played the original so this didn't really affect me). No, I'm talking about how it was announced last E3 with a pretty awesome reveal trailer, gave off some great Bioshock vibes and then disappeared off the face of the planet for a bit. I then realised about a month before release that it was getting a release and that it was getting a demo. So I downloaded and played it. Then I played it again. Here are my thoughts on the enigma that is Prey's Opening Hour:

Note: spoilers of the opening hour will be present

First Impressions: Titanfall 2

A good old impulse buy of my own! I was debating this or Battlefield 1 and as I played Battlefield's beta and couldn't run it at the time (:( ) I opted for Titanfall 2, being a fan of the first one. It's developed by Respawn Entertainment as a sequel to the first Titanfall that died out quite quickly due to the lack of single player mode, not enough progression and a season pass that split the community across different versions of the game. Here are my first impressions of the single player and multiplayer on PC.

First Impressions: The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition

After completing Half-Life a couple of days ago and my thirst for a quick shooter quenched, I set my sights on the final obstacle before being able to play The Witcher 3 - it's predecessor. I'd already enjoyed The Witcher 1 (mostly) and had heard great things about its sequel. And after around 3 hours (and the prologue finished), I'm inclined to agree with them.

Some spoilers about The Witcher 1 and 2 ahead:

First Impressions: Battlefield 1

Who doesn't love a good impulse buy every so often? That's what I did with Battlefield 1, the new entry in the Battlefield series by EA. If you didn't know, it's an FPS set in WWI and actually, does a pretty good job at making a respectful representation of the horrors of The War to End All Wars. Here're my first impressions on both the single player and multiplayer as well as how my PC handles the battlefield of Battlefield

First Impressions: Clustertruck

No, that's not a misspelling, it's really about trucks. Lots of them, moving at high speed and sometimes floating. You are a person who enjoys running about on top of said trucks. Some say you have a death wish, some say your nuts but you know... You are all of these things. At least you have fun doing it though.

First Impressions: The Crew

Ah, Ubi 30, how we love you. The 4th free game in Ubisoft's birthday celebrations, The Crew was not a game I was expecting to be able to pick up due to its comparable young age compared to Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and the original Splinter Cell. But here we are, an open-world multiplayer drive-em-up with a story. Awesome.

First Impressions: Payday 2

Note: having only played offline so far, my opinions may be slightly different to the ones in the full review when it comes out. Having said that, though, I can honestly say I'm having a very fun time with Payday 2.

First Impressions: Marvel Heroes 2016

Avengers Assemble! Fantastic Four Form Up! S.H.I.E.L.D. Summon! X-Men Extricate Yourselves Over Here! Defenders Definitely Will Turn Up Eventually!

First Impressions: Saints Row: The Third

In-between catching many Pokémon in Pokémon Go, I decided to carry on with my other hobby - completing the backlog of games I have on Steam with my new PC. First was Watch_Dogs, then Dishonored (review coming soon) and now we have Saint Row: The Third, after much deliberation, I might add, as I wasn't sure which game to start with. I haven't got Saints Row 1, so that was out of the deliberations and I didn with the last one as story points would've been lost. In the end, I chose the 3rd game in the series as I've heard good things about it and it has achievements. It's really fun.

First Impressions: Doom Demo

After playing the beta and finding the multiplayer all right at best, I didn't have too high hopes for this game. However, after hearing people's glowing reviews for the single-player and the fact that this demo was free, I decided to download and play. I really enjoyed it. Here are my thoughts on the first level of Doom (which comprised the demo) #readlikehell

First Impressions: Doom Open Beta

So I played a bit of the Doom open beta over the weekend and I found it... All right to be honest. Having not really played the original Doom (got Quake and Wolfenstein instead) I don't really have to much to compare this to but overall I did have a fun time, even if it wasn't quite what I expected

First Impressions: Final Fantasy 15: Platinum Demo

I'll be honest. I haven't really paid much attention to FFXV, as it was, in my opinion, just an obstacle to Kingdom Hearts 3. That is, I didn't pay much attention until I played this demo and got transported into a Kingdom Hearts-esque RPG with great mechanics and mind-boggling graphics. Here are my experiences of the Platinum Demo, a separate prologue to the main game: 

First Impressions: Stardew Valley

Well this was unexpected. A farming, mining, dungeon battling, fishing and social hybrid. Who knew it would be so addictive? I saw it on Steam, my friend got it, said it was good, I watched a bit of a video and bought it and proceeded to play it for just over two hours. In this time I encountered many a good thing although a couple of grievances did pop up...

First Impressions: Pokkén Tournament

I'll write the post after one more game all right?! *Two hours later* Should probably start. *Two days later* Oh dear...

First Impressions: The Division Open Beta

Even though I only recently found out that The Division was actually an MMO akin to Destiny instead of a single player narrative like The Last of Us (I only saw the first trailer then it went off my radar for a bit), I decided to download the open beta to have a go and see the graphics everyone is talking about. Well, after I deleted 2 games for the 27GB anyway. These are my thoughts after around 2 hours playing the game: