July 4th 'Spin-off' Special

It’s every American’s favourite birthday, July 4th, and our resident American host has chosen ‘spin-off’ games for today’s theme. Crian, Adam, Antoine, and Phil discuss a variety of games that have broken free from the shackles of their oppressive feature titles. Is it a case of who dares, wins… or… if it’s not broken, don’t fix it? Antoine: Pokemon Snap Who can resist the need to throw things at cute cuddly creatures for your own perverse pleasure? With the recent release of New Pokemon Snap on Switch, Antoine reminisces about the joyful days of the original N64 Pokemon Snap. Phil: Until Dawn: Rush of Blood Until Dawn and it’s sequel are PS4 titles designed to get your blood pumping in a homage to 90s style slasher films; however, the original butterfly system gave way to a roller-coaster VR experience. But, how effectively did the spin-off embrace its potential? Adam: Metal Gear Survive 1998’s Metal Gear Solid returned in a variety of sequels which were designed to test the players ability to sneak and stealth their way through sticky situations. Who can go wrong by throwing in a parallel dimension with zombies and tower defences? Apparently, Konami can, with this underperforming title. Crian: Dragon Quest Builders 2 Returning to last weeks publisher, Square Enix, Crian discusses this sandbox hack-and-slash spin-off which received positive reviews from most critics. So, where did the game improve and how successful were the changes?