Freedom Planet clearly takes great inspiration from many Sega Megadrive games, most notably Sonic The Hedgehog which the bulk of its gameplay elements seem to mimic. It also evokes memories of Treasure’s fantastic platform shooter Gunstar Heroes with much of its design and there are even elements of Capcom’s Mega Man X series, so there’s a little bit of Super Nintendo love in there somewhere too. The 90s nostalgia doesn’t stop there either, Freedom Planet’s art style and story is reminiscent of early 90s cartoons such as Bucky ‘O Hare with its tale of anthropomorphic freedom fighters taking on a militaristic threat to the galaxy, this time in the form of intergalactic overlord Brevon, an insectoid tyrant with dreams of absolute, intergalactic domination. This cartoon like feel is further captured in the way the story is told as it follows the three protagonists, Lilac (an anthropomorphic dragon), Carol (an anthropomorphic cat) and Milla (an anthropomorphic rabbit) who are portrayed as innocent, adolescent characters finding themselves thrust into a dangerous war that their sense of right forces them to engage.

The gameplay of Freedom Planet flows beautifully. Much like the Sonic series it pays homage to, much of the game involves racing around levels collecting gems and smashing your way through enemies at high speeds. Level designs are colourful and large ranging from a lush rainforest shrouding trap filled Aztec ruins to a bustling Chinese styled city in the middle of a celebratory festival, each level boasts new and interesting mechanics to get to grips with and a nice variety of enemies to fight. Boss battles too are cleverly thought out, a joy to look at and offer a significant, fast paced challenge that really gets the adrenaline pumping. The games three protagonists control somewhat differently, Lilac feels very much like a Sonic character with her ability to pinball around levels whereas Carol feels more like a Mega Man character with her ability to wall jump, she also has a Chun Li style kick attack that gives her more of a fighter like feel, Carol also has a motorbike that she can use upon finding gas cans scattered about the various levels, making her much faster than before and changing up her abilities slightly. Milla is a little more unique, she has the ability to create energy cubes that she can throw as projectiles, she can also create a small energy shield and has the ability to flap her ears to execute a type of double jump. Of the three main characters Lilac definitely feels like her play style fits the flow of the game best.

The soundtrack to Freedom Planet is definitely deserving of a mention, the music is absolutely phenomenal and with a whopping two hour OST (no small feat for such a small Indie project) you’re going to hear a number of great tunes that you’ll want to listen to again and again that really set the tone for every stage and situation. The voice acting is also great for such a small title, some of the actors are noticeably better than others, however the bulk of the voice acting is top notch, Lilac, Carol and Milla sound especially convincing and carry the tone of the story across well.

All in all for £10.99 (the games price on Steam as of the time of this review) you really can’t go wrong with Galaxy Trail’s Freedom Planet, especially if, like me, you’re a retro, platform fanatic who grew up during the Sega Megadrive era. If this sounds like you then this nostalgic trip down memory lane is definitely a game worth looking into.

– Bard

The game starts nice enough

So we come to the final part of Booker and Elizabeth story. Burial at sea gives three for the price of one by concluding Bioshock infinite, Burial at Sea a few gaps in the original Bioshock story line. So don’t play this unless you want all those games spoiled. It starts simply enough, you in Paris, playing as Elizabeth, you know this as within a few seconds an artist shows you a portrait of you with your name on it, and also most NPC talks to you by name.

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You know it Paris cause there an artist…

…and accordions….

…and freaky clowns….

…and a silly dog, all we need is a guy on a bike with onions and we have every French cliché in one section

But within a short space of time your back in rapture shortly after the event of the previous game. And running into another familiar face in the form of atlas. And due to another convoluted set of actions you end up working for him. I cant say any more about the story without spoiling it. But I can say its good and does give a proper conclusion to what was started in infinite.

Atlas, way and more of a dick in this game.

Gameplay wise, its wants to be played as a stealth game, but it can be run a gunned if you really want to. Enemy’s now have icons above their head showing their alert status, similar to Dishonoured, allowing you to sneak around quite effectively. You can also do sneak attacks on unaware enemys (although you could do that somewhat in the first games). Dispite this being tacked on it does work quite well and i managed to make my way around the levels pretty easly.

The bars fill up as guards become more aware of you

You also get some new tools and toys the add to the new gameplay. The crossbow returns, this time loaded with tranquilliser darts (but it can also take different types) which allows you to quietly take down enemy’s from a distance. You also have a chance to retrieve the arrows off fallen enemy’s so it actually quite hard to run out of ammo, I rarely had to re-buy new darts, which is a nice touch.

Every game should have crossbows in it

There are a couple new plasmids, one I found useful, one I barely used. The first is the peeping tom plasmid and basically ties in with the whole stealth system. Just using it allows you to see enemy’s through the walls, and holding it allows you to turn invisible. Initially it does not last to long, but soon after you get an upgrade (which are now found in canisters instead of being brought, this does mean if you miss one and go to a different level you lose it forever), this allow you to see enemy’s and remain invisible indefinitely using no eve as long as you don’t move. This does make the game a bit of a cakewalk but allows you to be a proper stealth predator. It very similar to the gene tonic you get from researching Houdini splicers from the first game.

The peeping tom plasmid really helps with stealth

Plasmids are now upgraded using canisters

there is the new lock picking game. It pretty simple. A cutaway shows you the inside of the lock, your pick moves randomly across all the pins, the goal is to hit the blue or the white pins, doing so will unlock the door, and if you hit a blue pin you’ll get a noise maker arrow for your crossbow. A red pin will set an alarm off alerting enemy’s to your position, but nicely the door will still unlock meaning you cant waist lock picks and get stuck.

The new mini games is one of the better lockpicking game I’ve played

Combat is pretty similar to the previous game, there are no more of the silly pneumo-lines from the episode 1 that turned rapture into Columbia. you also some across a few places where enemy will fight each other representing the start of rapture civil war. A few guns return from the previous episode, but I found myself sneaking my way through most combat and not having to run and gun. but overall it still fun and a lot of the environments and really interesting to fight over.

overall, Episode 2 is an excellent ending to the bioshock series (and it does semi end the series). if you’ve played the other part then I would differently purchase this.

First thing I need to say about Burial at Sea, is you need to have completed Bioshock: infinite. If you don’t, prepare to have key plot points ruined by the DLC. BaS is set the day of the new years eve attack by Atlas and his rebels. As such you have the opportunity to explore parts of rapture before the fall. you get to see what the city like and hear the residents talking about life, while at the same time feeling slightly creeped out by the fact no-one bats an eye to the little sisters and big daddy’s wandering around. It’s a nice touch, giving you an atmosphere as to how life was in the original game and mirrors the opening to BS:I, a calm before the storm. This section takes about the first hour of the game, the end of which you’ll meet an old ‘Friend’ form BS1 before being plunged into the the combat heavy section.

Not a good day to be in Rapture

Seems familiar

Little sisters make a creepy return

Cohen, still obsessed with rabbits and proof that he was mad before splicing

Combat is identical to BS:I, Vigor’s and Salts have been renamed Plasmids and Eve to keep in theme with the Rapture setting, of which you’ll have Possession and Devil Kiss right from the start. later on you’ll pick a few old favorites form BS:I and a new one call Old Man Winter. weapon selection is also similar, with a pistol, Tommy gun, carbine and shotgun. you also get to play with the new Radar Range, this is rapture answer to mcrowave ovens and and excellent at crowd control. it a pity you get it so late in the game as you don’t really have a chance to use it before the final showdown. Elizabeth reprises her role as combat support, throwing you health and eve as needed during combat, and the skyline system makes a return, although Rapture cramped conditions don’t really lends themselves using it the same as BS:I.

Splicers look in a worst state then in the first Bioshock

Old weapons return, but with an art-deco edge.

You still get the opportunity to do gruesome finishing moves, Elizabeth doesn’t mind this time.

Elizabeth still has her lock-picking ability.

The storyline is good, and fits reasonably well with the BS1 and BS:I storyline, however unless you’ve played both, you may find some of the references hard to get. The ending is also something I was not expecting and generally surprise me, just like the BS:I ending. The only thing I would like to have seen more was for the renaming of weapons and plasmids/vigors to match BS1, given that a lot of these had counterparts in the first game this would not have been a hard thing to do and would have tied in nicely with the series. My only major grip with the DLC as a whole is it is very short, on my first play through it took me less then 3 hours to complete, and that was with getting stuck on a puzzle, and I do feel £11.99 is a bit overpriced for such a game. considering you payed a similar price for the dishonored DLC and they gave you double the playtime. So my advice, either buy the season pass or wait for a sale before getting the game.

First up, it’s a better the Blade of Dunwall. The levels overall (with the exception of the first) feel bigger. The last level of Blade was a real disappointment, it felt confusing and linear compared to the first two, but I can happily report that Brigmore does not have this issue. Incidentally, it would be worth getting Blade if you don’t already own it, as you can import your save from the previous DLC, including all your upgrades and cash. The only problem I had with this, was that I finished Blade with the low Chaos ending. When I tried to import the save into Brigmore, the game said I had ended with Blade with high chaos. I can only assume the Blade bases it’s ending on your actions in the first two levels of the DLC, but Brigmore bases it’s import on your actions for all three levels. This means that if you, like me, decided on the last level to just take everyone down and have some fun, you’re going to have to be more careful in Brigmore. One thing I can say, even with a high chaos import, it is still possible to get the low chaos ending.

The games gives you three levels. The first takes you back to Coldridge, the prison where Corvo was incarcerated, and sees you mounting a prison rescue. This is the smallest of the levels in the DLC, and perhaps the one with the smallest amount of scope, but it still a good level overall. Interestingly, there is no assassination to do in this level, instead you are breaking someone out, this is a nice brake from the rest of the game.

Level two, takes you to a once wealthy part of the city that has fallen on hard times due to the plague. It is now the battle grounds between two gangs, you can either avoid them, or after getting so far through the main story quest they will become friendly to you.  this is by the far the best level of the DLC, not least because it fool you with its size, once you think you’ve completed it, you still got another large part of the level to do. This brings me onto my biggest criticism of the game, I’ll be quite vague, to prevent spoiling. You are given a choice, which cant be bypassed, as it part of the main quest line. The choice at first seem a morale one, and their is quite clearly a good and bad way to complete this, however, taking the morally right side will cause consequences that will result in a high chaos rating. there is no way to counter this, despite the situation being set up in such a way it sounds as if you could avert it. So if you want to be a low chaos player, you’ve got to stick with the morally wrong option.

This bring us onto the final level, infiltrating a manor. You start in the grounds, have to scout out the area, before finding your own way in. If you every played the Thief series of games, you can easily see the influence on the design, especially at the end. I can’t say too much without spoiling the game, but i will say its a fitting final level for both DLC pack, and after finishing it, i Imminently wanted to play it again!

Weapon wise, you get all the toys from the Blade, their are some useful upgrades. The one that stands out is the upgrade for the chokedust, this make enemy’s forget they’ve been chasing you and return back to the normal routes (assuming they don’t see you). This very useful for when you find yourself in a situration of being attacked by multiple guards, and has turned chokeduct from being pepper you throw in someone face into something useful.

Character wise, Daud characterisation is excellent, I felt I knew a lot about him just from his simple comments he makes, he sounds like someone you could a have some smalltalk with in a pub over a pint (although I probably wound not leave my drink alone with him) I get the feeling he cares about his assassins, and is prepared to have some banter with them. Early on, he overhears two of his assassins discussing turning him in, his response is a simple ‘I promise I’ll come quietly’. This says all i need to know about Daud, despite the threat to his leadership, he simply turns the situation into a joke. I get the feeling that Daud is world weary, the assassination of the empress has been a big strain for him, and hes looking for redemption before moving on. There is one final moment for Daud, a picture of him performing an action that is both symbolic, and is his way of atonement for his actions. I cant say what it is without spoiling it, but if you play and get the low chaos ending you’ll know what I mean.

So, should you buy The Brigmore Witches? Well in my view it depends, if you have all the previous DLC, then yes, get it, you wont be disappointed. if you don’t own Blade of Dunwall, Buy it and play that first. if you don’t own Dishonored at all, I would wait, I would not be surprise if we don’t see a game of the year edition out for Christmas. Overall, i would recommend buying this game.

Our Rating: