Recent reviews by Fuller FM

Two Point Hospital is the spiritual successor to 1997 classic Theme Hospital, having been developed by some of the original developers. As a fan of building and management simulators who played TH way back then, TPH was always going to appeal to me.

PROS
+ TPH retains (and builds on) some of the great British humour the original game was admired for, though it is also far less mean-spirited. While patients don't get Bloaty Head anymore, you'll still encounter plenty of equally amusing diseases to diagnose and cure.
+ The music is upbeat and relaxing at the same time, but it's the radio DJs (terminally self-centred Ricky, paranoid rocker Harrison, and haughty geriatric Sir Nigel) who REALLY shine between tracks.
+ The graphics and claymation figures (think Wallace & Gromit) are colourful, charming, and easy on the eye. You can also customise your hospital, at least to some extent.
+ The management aspect of this game is very strong. While it's a balancing act to keep staff and patients happy while curing diseases and making money, in terms of difficulty, it doesn't exactly require a medical degree.
+ Costing £25 at the time of writing this review, this game offers loads of value for money. The various DLCs are reasonably-priced and should offer enough playability once you've completed the vanilla game.
+ As you progress through the main game, you'll be introduced to new diseases gradually enough to (hopefully) maintain your interest. Mind you...

CONS
- If you want to collect all the mission stars, bear in mind that later missions will require A LOT of time and patience. Don't be surprised if you're stuck at the same hospital for hours trying to get that third star.
- Save the odd scenario where there's a major twist, most missions are fairly similar, making that grinding aspect a bit more pronounced.
- I found some parts of the user interface to be clunky, though not massively so.

This is more than just a remake. In Two Point Hospital, the old Bullfrog devs have brought Theme Hospital kicking and screaming into the 2010s and delivered one of my favourite PC games of the decade. I LOVE IT.

In Neighbours From Hell (and its imaginatively-named sequel, Neighbours From Hell 2), you play the role of Woody - a crafty, young-ish man who pranks his elderly neighbour on reality TV and later on holiday. I enjoyed playing the demos as a teenager but only got round to completing the full games 15 years later as an adult.

PROS
+ These are clever puzzle games that require you to set up traps for the neighbour without getting caught by him or his mum (or alerting his pets). Stringing pranks together will anger your neighbour even more and could send him into meltdown.
+ There's some good slapstick humour to be found, even if some of it gets a little predictable.
+ While there are few characters in the original game, NFH2 adds some fresh faces. I particularly liked the (ahem) rather buxom Olga, whom Woody can use to subject the neighbour to even more pain.
+ Despite their age, the games still run well on Windows 10 and are reasonably cheap (particularly during a Steam sale).

CONS
- While I like the Wallace & Gromit-style claymation, the animations are rather choppy, even by 2003's standards.
- The soundtrack isn't amazing and can be repetitive, but you can easily switch it off.
- Both games are quite short. I completed the first title in seven hours, and the sequel in barely four. Once you've achieved all the maximum scores, there's no real incentive to continue playing.

So yeah... Neighbours From Hell 1 & 2 have my recommendation. If you want a couple of cheap but mildly challenging puzzle games to while away a few hours, I'd give these a look.

Based loosely on Jules Verne's magnum opus, 80 Days is a beautifully-crafted interactive fiction adventure game. Playing as Jean Passepartout - the French valet of English gent Phileas Fogg - you'll travel around the world in as many days as you like, in as many ways as you like. I first played this on mobile, but the PC version is just as enjoyable.

PROS
+ There's an abundance of unique and diverse characters, machines, vehicles and other methods of transport. This is the 19th century, but certainly not as you know it!
+ While planning your route around the world in advance (i.e. striking a good balance between travelling quickly, safely and cheaply) could be the key to a successful trip, there will always be a twist in store to keep you on your toes.
+ The story is excellently written by Meg Jayanth, with incredible detail helping you to visualise your journey. You'll come across a good mix of comedy, drama, mystery and even tragedy.
+ While I won't spoil anything for obvious reasons, there are some truly captivating plot twists, and more endings than just basic success and failure with regards to Fogg's bet.
+ Every playthrough has randomised routes, markets and storylines, increasing replayability. Even after 10 trips around the world, there is still so much I have yet to explore.
+ 80 Days is cheap, runs silky smooth, and requires very little disk space, which just makes the game's breadth even more remarkable.

CONS
- The art style was not my cup of tea (I especially would've liked to have seen more variety in how the characters look), but that's purely personal taste.
- While an 80-day playthrough can be completed in 2 to 3 hours, 80 Days feels more suited to short coffee-break-style bursts, like a mobile game. That's not too surprising considering its roots, but I was hoping to see more significant differences between the mobile and PC versions.

In short, I'd say that 80 Days is one of the most charming and inventive games out there on Steam. It really is must-play (and must-play-again), especially if you've a keen interest in history and/or geography.

This is a nice little FREE indie game for fans of 'Life Is Strange' (played it, loved it) and/or 'What Remains of Edith Finch' (on my wish list). It's short, but sweet.

PROS
+ There is an interesting and well-written story about a broken friendship that needs to be pieced together as you explore Marie's Room.
+ Being a cat lover (I've got two of them), one particular part of the story really hit home for me.
+ You can complete this game in one sitting. It should take an hour for most people, but I finished it in a little over 45 minutes.
+ The scenery and the gentle indie soundtrack have clear LIS vibes.
+ The voice acting for Kelsey (your character, and Marie's friend) is sincere and well-executed.
+ The game is (and I have to stress this again) FREE. Mind you, even if had been put on sale for a few pounds, I could justify buying it.

CONS
- I noticed a couple of grammatical errors, but as English isn't the developers' native language, I can forgive them.
- I would've liked the story to have been a little bit longer. Yeah, to be honest, I'm just nitpicking at this point.

If you can find a spare hour, then absolutely play this game. Be warned, though, because it'll probably leave you wanting more!

Dontnod's Life Is Strange was one of the most surprisingly good video games I've played in recent years. This prequel is made by a different company, but it stays truthful to the original game and delivers a great back story.

PROS
+ Character development is strong again, especially with protagonist Chloe, who starts out as an angry, self-centred teenager but matures more over the course of the story. Most other original characters are fleshed out more, and newer ones are generally well-developed also.
+ Rachel - Chloe's new best friend - is a fantastic deuteragonist with excellent voice-acting, though she is criminally underused in Ep. 3.
+ Character animations and lip-synching are vastly improved, in comparison to the original game. Visually, the game is stunning.
+ The narrative is generally strong and rather more focussed compared to the first game.
+ We have yet another beautiful soundtrack to listen to. Daughter recorded most of the music and retain some of the indie-folk vibe from the original game, but bands such as Wolf Alice also provide more Chloe-appropriate rock.
+ All three main episodes are of a decent length. Each episode should take around 2-and-a-half hours if you really want to explore the game thoroughly.
+ Much like with the first game, there are plenty of hard-hitting (and sometimes even unsettling) moments covering difficult subjects.
+ Decisions (both minor and major) seem to have more of an impact on how the story develops. Again, there is one story-defining choice to make at the end. Both endings seem perfectly logical to me, and choosing which one to go for will definitely be the hardest decision you make in this franchise.

CONS
- Though Deck Nine certainly did their best to stay faithful to Dontnod's original story, there were still a lot of anachronisms and inconsistencies that slipped through the net.
- Speaking of inconsistencies, Chloe writes graffiti with either her right hand or her left hand, with no obvious preference. However, when another character reveals to her that they are ambidextrous, Chloe does not disclose her two-handedness. Maybe I'm being a bit picky there...
- The 'Backtalk' conversation options designed to help Chloe get her own way provided a promising mechanic, but in truth, it's probably harder to screw things up than 'win'. If made harder and more prevalent, I would have been more satisfied.
- I felt my decisions regarding Chloe and stepdad David made little difference, and that their 'tempestuous' relationship seemed rather flat.
- Three chapters is not a lot for an episodic video game. Yes, we will get a special episode featuring young Max in 2018, but this game is all too brief in comparison to Life Is Strange.
- Further to that, a lot of questions are left unanswered. I know Deck Nine don't want to fill in all the blanks for us, but as this is supposed to be our last venture into Arcadia Bay, I would have liked more closure.

In summary, Before The Storm retains the flawed charm of the original Life Is Strange, and is arguably a better game in many aspects. Would I recommend it? "HELLA YES!"

I got this game for free after voting in the Golden Joystick Awards in 2016. While I'm not particularly into third-person shooters, I quite enjoyed this gift.

PROS
+ The storyline is powerful with some thought-provoking and often harrowing twists. Major decisions are genuinely challenging.
+ Fantastic character development with strong voice acting.
+ Gameplay is good, and the AI provides a reasonable challenge.
+ The Dubai setting and architecture looks great, not to mention realistic. The sandstorm mechanic is done well also.
+ Great soundtrack, featuring a handful of 60s/70s classics.
+ Good variety of weapons, from firearms to grenades.

CONS
- I played through the story twice (on the lowest two difficulty levels) to get the multiple endings. After that, though, the game offers little replayability, and it sounds like multiplayer is to be avoided.
- Speaking of difficulty, I saw little difference between those first two settings when it came to AI strength.
- Cutscenes are rendered very poorly, which is a shame, considering the game itself looks graphically sharp.
- Movement can be clunky, as can the controls.
- If you're the squeamish sort, this is a game to be avoided.

The pros outweigh the cons for me. Even five years after its release, and even though it was a commercial failure, it is still a quality game for fans of TPS games or even just story-driven titles.

As someone who absolutely loves football, I thought I'd try this - a football game made by an accomplished indie developer who admits he couldn't give a stuff about the sport. Here's my take on it.

PROS
+ It has a 'Sensible Soccer' feel about it, which is never a bad thing for an arcade football game.
+ I like that this game doesn't take itself seriously, and doesn't pretend to be completely truthful to real-life football. If only all referees - sorry, umpires - kissed players after they scored!
+ The 'three strikes (fouls) and you're out' rule is a cool addition, as is 'doing' more than one goal if you score from a longer distance.
+ Dan Marshall got the offside rule absolutely spot on, in my opinion.
+ It's cheap. I'd recommend spending a few spare quid on this, with the proviso that you know exactly what you'll be getting into.

CONS
- Much like with the 'Dan & Ben' games, I found the humour to be VERY hit-and-miss. Indeed, the good stuff can start to grate after a couple of hours.
- The storyline is somewhat naff, even by FIFA 17 'The Journey' standards. And if you want to complete it, set the number of enemy teams as low as possible to avoid monotonous repetition of the same old matches. I stupidly went in the opposite direction, as I thought at first that I'd still be playing this game weeks later.
- The rubber-band difficulty setting. The enemy team is either unplayable (when losing) or just incapable of playing (when winning). There's no middle ground. While dynamic difficulty is a nice concept on paper, it's not exactly enjoyable when you squander a six-goal lead because the AI start playing on fast-forward and do a couple of lucky goals from distance.
- Why can't you alter the direction of your tackles? Unless I was breathing down the enemy's neck, 80% of my tackles would end with my 'kickman' sliding literally anywhere other than towards the opponent.
- And don't get me started on the goalkeepers, erm I mean 'gold-keepers'. I wasn't expecting Buffon-like gold-keeping in this game, but I was hoping that they'd be somewhat competent. A lot of matches seem to come down to which team has the least inept gold-keeper.
- Did Skrillex do the music for this? The EDM is so loud and migraine-inducing, even at half volume.
- You need a mouse to navigate the menus, but also a keyboard/controller for the gameplay itself. For some users, that's not ideal.
- No multiplayer, therefore not much playability once you've completed the story.

I got about two hours' enjoyment out of this game before the novelty wore off. Behold The Kickmen is NOT a terrible game, and I don't regret buying it (certainly not at such a low price), but it just hasn't grabbed my imagination. Sorry about that.

Though I really am not a horror game enthusiast, I bought this game heavily discounted just before it was pulled from sale. At £3, it was certainly value for money, even if it wasn't a game I particularly loved.

PROS
+ The setting is realistic and beautiful, even for a game first released in 2010.
+ The game is well-paced, with each episode potentially lasting 2-3 hours, depending on the difficulty setting and your ability. I competed the main game on Hard difficulty in around 15 hours.
+ There aren't many weapons, but I find that to be better than having an unwieldy arsenal at my disposal.
+ Enemies can sneak up on you in large numbers from all angles, so you have to keep on your toes at all times and use your weapons wisely.
+ I liked that Alan could only sprint for a few seconds at a time before running out of breath. After all, he's an unfit 30-something writer, not Paavo Nurmi (Finnish reference for a Finnish-developed game).
+ I quite enjoyed the 'Twilight Zone' homages.
+ The soundtrack gets a huge thumbs-up from me.

CONS
- The story itself was quite difficult to follow, and the ending asked more questions than it answered. (Bear in mind that I haven't yet played the two DLC episodes.)
- The voice acting is okay, but lip-synching is dreadful, especially in cutscenes.
- The characters are poorly developed and difficult to like. For instance, Alice (Alan's wife) comes across as little more than outdated eye candy, rather than a strong independent female character like those we're more used to seeing in modern games.
- Gameplay can get quite repetitive, and maybe a little too easy once you hoover up all the ammo and figure out the best strategy for killing your enemies.
- The clichés. So many clichés.
- For a dark game such as this, all the 'product placement' seemed excessive and... well, out of place.

In summary, Alan Wake is a decent enough game to get stuck into and see through until the end, even though it's quite old and not really my cup of tea. I would recommend buying this if it returns to Steam, with the proviso that it isn't priced at any more than £10.

Life Is Strange is not the sort of game that I would usually play... but I'm so glad that I gave it a go.

PROS
+ The setting is stunning and authentic - it really did feel like I was in Oregon.
+ The indie-folk soundtrack is gorgeous.
+ Supporting characters are very diverse with their own unique personalities, although there are a few obvious stereotypes.
+ I enjoyed the character development, especially with regards to Chloe, whose voice-acting was superb.
+ The game deals with difficult issues (e.g. drug abuse, depression, LGBT) in an honest, believable way.
+ I really like the time-reversing mechanic, and that it has its limits.
+ I found a lot of the major choices genuinely challenging (apart from one decision in Ep.3 that is very obvious unless you hate animals).
+ Some moments are particularly hard-hitting (I'm talking about the climaxes to Ep.2 and Ep.3 in particular).
+ I have never been so emotionally drained by the conclusion of a video game as I have been by this one. I felt that the ending I chose rounded off the story beautifully.

CONS
- Lip-synching is poor and some character animations, especially in confrontational situations, feel wooden.
- The script could've been more convincing, and some of the vocabulary used in this game is 'hella' cringeworthy (and perhaps more suited to 1993 than 2013).
- More could have been made of certain sub-plots, and I expected some actions to have more serious consequences.
- While Max is, on the whole, a very likeable protagonist, a lot of her remarks come across as snide or insincere.
- The game often felt too slow-paced, especially in later episodes.
- Some of the mini-games were repetitive, boring and/or frustrating.
- I felt that Ep.3 and Ep.4 were sub-standard compared to the previous two, while the final episode was utterly torturous and, at times, unenjoyable... until the very end.
- The second ending (i.e. the one I didn't choose) seemed like a total anti-climax to me. I can understand why so many players were polarised over this.

In summary, this is a very flawed game... but I loved it and am looking forward to seeing what Dontnod come up with next.