Review No. 148 Pokémon: Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee - Nintendo Switch (7+)

Strong Points:
Streamlined approach to the games
Great graphics and art style
References to other games in the series and general lore
Legendaries are an event to catch again
Catch mechanics add a different style to catching Pokémon...
Small cutscenes show visual flair and small changes in gameplay show creativity
Pokémon in the overworld means you can pick Pokémon you want
Customising appearance of Trainer and Partner Pokémon is nice
Rideable Pokémon help to speed the game up (and have some nice visual gags)
Pokémon Go comparability is well implemented
Catch combos reward perseverance...
Master Trainers offer a tough endgame...
Shiny catching is improved and visual
Pokémon Box and secret techniques being taught to partner are efficient...

Weak Points:
Unreliable motion controls
Barebones co-op
Removal of many conveniences and well-established features
Some lag in areas such as Viridian Forest doesn’t bode well for the sequels
...although they don’t offer a lot of depth
A slight jump in animation between walking and running (allows rideable Pokémon to get out of Pokéball)
... although catching every Pokémon in sight so as to transfer removes the special bond between trainer and Pokémon
Partner Pokémon becomes an unstoppable machine by the end, and you are pushed towards not changing your team
...albeit a slightly tedious one
...Although the need to go through multiple menus isn't
Actual Pokémon battles against legendary Pokémon and minibosses feel tacked on

Nitpicks:
Eevee gets more costumes than Pikachu

Review No. 147 Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection - PS4 (16+)

Strong Points:
Strong characters
Humour
Stunning graphics, detail and animation
Great set pieces
Intriguing story...
Great use of parkour, especially in the latter two games...
Nice gunplay
Throwing grenades back mechanic adds a touch more strategy... (Uncharted 3)
Brilliant voice acting
Great value for money (the collection)

Weak Points:
...That sometimes feels too quick or too long
Jet-ski levels (Uncharted 1)
...Although the objects used can be quite samey (Uncharted 1)
...Until you throw a grenade at a wall (Uncharted 3)
Sometimes feels like there's little point to any of this
Some large difficulty spikes
Detailed environments but lack of climbable objects (Uncharted 2/3)
Boss fights (Uncharted 1/2)
The villains don't get quite the attention of the heroes

Review No. 146 Bioshock 2 Remastered - PC (18+)

Strong Points:
Great expansion of the world
Awesome voice acting
Interesting story concept - communism instead of capitalism
Sense of time running out
Gunplay was mostly great...
Plasmids were also fun...
Choices
Hacking was sped up a lot
Reduced sense of dread made sense in terms of story...

Weak Points:
Crashes
Slow start
Hard mode goes against the game design
...Felt the Rivet Gun wasn't different enough to justify
...Although not very different from the first game
...But removed some of the atmosphere
Removal of choice at one point felt odd

Note: this is a review of The Bioshock Collection rerelease version and won't include multiplayer or Minerva's Den (might come separately)

Also, some spoilers ahead:

Review No. 145 Mr Shifty - PC (12+)

Strong Points:
Great art style
Tongue-in-cheek humour without resorting to vulgarity
Teleport (Shifting) technique
One hit deaths add suspense...
Can pull off great moves
A large array of items at your disposal
Slow-Mo
Shift Meter adds risk and reward
A short, easily digestible game...
Satisfying combat

Weak Points:
...But can also lead to frustration
A few oddly placed checkpoints
Removing the ability to teleport to make the game artificially harder
...Which still suffers pacing problems
A tower block doesn't make for the most interesting environments

Review No. 144 Grand Theft Auto IV - PC (18+)

Strong Points:
Strong voice performances
Great animation for cutscenes...
Variety of missions
Niko is well rounded and complete
Strong supporting cast
Great story
Gunplay is tight and versatile
Lots of cars to drive around in, with them behaving mostly like they should
Niko actually questions what's being asked of him...
The detail of the world and dialogue
Plenty of references
Detail of world - being able to skip tolls if you are in an ambulance with sirens on

Weak Points:
...Even with the occasional glitch or pop-in
Seems confused as to whether Niko is the main character or just a vehicle for the player to see the city
...Although doesn't necessarily do anything about it
Dark and gritty city fits the mood but isn't particularly fun to drive around
Constantly jumping between islands can get repetitive
The chronology of the game doesn't necessarily fit with the amount of time you play it for
Constant phone calls
No checkpoints in missions
No quicksave option
Tolls and bottlenecked traffic slow travel down
Some interesting physics with the cars

Some spoilers ahead:

Review No. 143 Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth By Sleep - A Fragmentary Passage - PS4 (12+)

Strong Points:
Beautiful graphics
An interesting development on Aqua's character
Smooth and fluid gameplay
Good pacing
Brilliant soundtrack
Helps to explain odd plot holes from the previous games
And sets up Kingdom Hearts 3 nicely
Customisation surprisingly works
Good voice acting
The animation in cutscenes is top notch
You can straight away see Aqua's power

Weak Points:
Some gameplay elements such as the clock gears were little more than gimmicks
Yearned for more
Ice ramps aren't properly explained and a slight change in environment will affect them

Some spoilers ahead:

Review No. 142 Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep Final Mix - PS3 (12+)

Strong Points:
Great battle system
Intricate deck building...
A large adventure which demands to be seen as a whole rather than three stories
The Final Mix adds even more story and battles
A nice selection of worlds
Great voice acting from most...
Helps to fill in gaps from the wider KH narrative
Music is brilliant
Mirage Arena is a fun experience
Lots of little collectables...

Weak Points:
...which is slightly at ends with the original portable design of quick play sessions
...Although the three main characters could do with a bit more expression
The three stories mean the overarching narrative isn't filled in until the end, so remember to read up on what you've done before
Slightly barren worlds
Not enough Unversed bosses
...Which aren't really explained as to why they are there
Music sometimes loops too often - Cinderalla's World especially
D-Link takes too long to load

PS4 photo due to sharing option

Review No. 141 Bloodborne - PS4 (16+)

Strong Points:
Makes you keep going back for more
Satisfaction of winning
Intricate level design with plenty of shortcuts
Enemy design
No hand-holding encourages experimentation
Tight controls
More aggressive than Souls series
Great world building...

Weak Points:
Voice acting at ends with the polished game
Can be overwhelming without help
No hand-holding can quickly remove options from the game
Some bosses are plain cruel
...Doesn't constitute a great story

Review No. 140 Red Dead Redemption - PS3 (18+)

Strong Points:
Great atmosphere and world building
Likeable hero
Varied cast
The language of the Wild West
Horse riding
Shooting gameplay...
Funny
Lots to do
Great voice acting
Classic Rockstar realism and graphics

Weak Points:
Pacing issues
A lot of the same story trends
...Even if it turns into a bit of an auto-lock sometimes
The amount of people you kill is at ends with the story
Run too fast and you can miss story elements

Review No. 139 The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition - PC (18+)

Strong Points:
References to the original game
Great graphics
Lots of customisation
Lore and story
Great voice acting
Choices in the game have far-reaching consequences
A brilliant array of characters
Dandelion's journal
Great combat when it works...
Preparation is key

Weak Points:
Some frame rate drops in battle
... although a sometimes clunky battle system
Certain difficulty spikes
Some choices are hidden behind dialogue I wouldn't have linked together
Can miss quests if not careful
Stealth
Preparation is key

Some spoilers ahead:

Review No. 138 Bravely Default (12+) - 3DS

Strong Points:
A mix of old and new
Great voice acting
Rebuilding Norende was a good past-time
Lots of jobs
Intuitive battle system
Great variety of weapons
Specials are cool to see
Great music
Classic story with some modern themes
Funny
Great cast of characters
Good pacing, for the first half at least

Weak Points:
SP was an unneeded cash-grab
Can't see everything on the map, especially if the menu's up
Voices and mouths don't always match
Some character costumes reduce the dramatic effect of dialogue
Sometimes requires 'cheesing' the battle or be ready for a long fight

Spoilers ahead:

Review No. 137 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Nintendo Switch (12+)

Strong Points:
Climbing
Awesome art style
Can play for a short time or a long time
Varied weapons
Surprisingly deep story with dark aspects
Great characters
Good voice acting...
Lots of collectables
Not just a checklist
Map gives just enough information
Will always being contributing to some sort of upgrade
Boss designs
Shrines give varied challenges
Can take any challenge from any angle
Finding a secret is a great feeling
Just enough direction is given
Massive, varied world - while still realistic
Remixed versions of the Hyrule theme
The physics of the world

Weak Points:
No ability to write notes next to your stamps
No ability to keep recipes written down outside of taking a photo
Not enough space in the camera mode
No ability to transfer photos taken to Switch's storage outside of capturing a smaller version
...For the most part
Divine Beast Naboris's puzzles were difficult to picture
The combat's not always as fluid as I would have liked
Can sometimes feel overwhelming

Some spoilers ahead:

Review No. 136 Wolfenstein: The New Order - PC (18+)

Strong Points:
Involving story
Great voice acting
Subtitles for the Scottish voices
Good graphics and art style
Lots of guns
Satisfying gameplay
Collectables
Perk system - upgrades what you use not what you think you'll use
Varied levels
Good length of game
Slower paced levels in headquarters allow you to breath
Some great characters...

Weak Points:
Start each level with either no weapons or random assortment
The final boss is cheap and overpowered (in Uber)
Blazkowic's face just looks confused all the time
Maybe a tad too much gore
...Some annoying characters
Wire cutter puzzles can be too sensitive
Journal entries

Some spoilers ahead:

Review No. 134 Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Nintendo Switch (3+)

Strong Points:
Works excellently in all Switch modes
Even more characters and karts
Boo and Feather are nice item editions
Purple boost and two item slots are incorporated well
Battle mode has been remade!
Mario Kart on the go is where it's meant to be
Crisp graphics and animations
Online works well

Weak Points:
At least another cup would have been nice (especially for previous DLC owners)
The ability to compare kart setups is still not here
No Mission Mode yet

Review No. 133 Life is Strange - PC (16+)

Strong Points:
Superb voice acting
Nice art style
Choices that matter, and impact across all episodes
You can see how your choices stack up against others at the end of each chapter
Time travelling mechanics allow for interesting puzzles...
...As well as the chance to correct mistakes
Believable characters who are developed over time
Some surprising twists and turns
Great soundtrack

Weak Points:
Lip sync issues lose immersion
Art style sometimes comes in the way of detail
The pace can be slow
Not all questions are answered
This all happened in a week?

Note: as this game is episodic in nature I will also be giving mini-reviews and ratings to each episode as well as more general points

Spoilers ahead!:

Review No. 132 Rocket League - PS4 (7+)

Strong Points:
Original gameplay idea
Lots of collectables
Microtransactions aren't needed to play the game...
Movement feels good
Skill based instead of power-up based gameplay
The AI is usually competent
Addictive
Crisp graphics
Variety of game modes
Two camera types
Good music...

Weak Points:
Some difficulty spikes
Difficult to find some game modes
Still, a huge amount of content locked behind paying
Season mode lacks replayability
No local split-screen multiplayer
...If a little repetitive
The handbrake turns can get some getting used to...
...As can aerial shots
Rocket Labs is only available online

Review No. 131 Abzü - PC (7+)

Strong Points:
Amazing art style
Relaxing
Superb orchestration
The water
Fish AI
Good story
Great set pieces

Weak Points:
The mine sections, later on, broke the original atmosphere a bit
Some control and camera issues
Your character doesn't always do what you want it too
Grabbing hold of a fish sometimes doesn't work
Lack of animations when interacting with certain objects

Some spoilers ahead:

Review No. 130 Horizon: Zero Dawn - PS4 (16+)

Strong Points:
Beautiful, varied world design
Awesome combat
Intriguing story with unexpected philosophical depth
Great voice acting
Varied weapons for most play styles
In-depth characters
Great connection between old and new
Bursting with energy
Multiple routes when climbing
Nothing is blocked off - free to specialise or go Jack-Of-All-Trades
Astounding graphics
Photo mode
Ability to find tracks without the Focus (mostly)
Lots of collectables and extras
Interesting change to the 'Tower' quests in open-world games

Weak Points:
Lip-sync problems
Repetition of dialogue
Difficult to estimate how much an attack may damage you
Frustrating having to find that one climbing point
A journal keeping details of the story would be nice
Tutorial quests have to be equipped to progress
The map is packed and could be overwhelming
Can't attack animals in villages - breaks the immersion

Spoilers ahead:

Review No. 129 Spec Ops: The Line - PC (18+)

Strong Points:
Tactical gameplay
Interesting take on the shooter genre
Good voice acting
Intel fills in more of the world
Team AI can do things on their own...
Humour
A mature, complex story
Title screen degenerates as you do
Context-specific speaking parts
Loading screens

Weak Points:
Odd pacing
Difficulty spikes
Can be confusing in terms of story and what is a choice
Searching for intel becomes a bit out of character with the game later on
...but they sometimes take a long time to complete an order
You won't feel good while playing

Major spoilers ahead:

Review No. 128 Bioshock Remastered Edition - PC (18+)

Strong Points:
Amazing, claustrophobic atmosphere
Great graphics
Superb world
Nice use of music
Great voice-acting
Lots of gameplay additions keep things fresh
Hacking is a fun mini-game
Researching is a nice addition...
Genuinely unsettling
Good pace
Interesting story
Grey morals
Vita-chambers make sure you can beat the game...
Twists and turns

Weak Points:
Some bugs
Some sections go on for a bit too long (if collecting everything)
You'll run out of Plasmid/tonic space quickly
Some ammo types are too rare, some too common
Can't aim Trap Bolt very easily
Ending throws as much as possible at you - can be overwhelming
The Remastered edition doesn't give much in the way of graphics customisability
...Although does become a bit of a chore
Big Daddy fights end up being a case of wearing them down
...Although can make the game a game of attrition

Some spoilers ahead: