Score: 60/100
The Climb has a really sturdy foundation built on entertaining mechanics, great feedback that keeps you moving, and deep hooks for multiplayer. At the same time, frustrations with the controls and a lack of an audience damages a lot of what Crytek has built.
ColdWood has succeeded in a handful of bold ways with Unravel. It is showing EA the value in smaller, quieter games. It also feels like another fresh take on the side-scrolling platformer. And while Unravel drove me mad a couple of times, I was mostly thrilled by its wonder and adventure.
Firewatch is special and rare.
I love that this game exists. It checks the boxes that it absolutely needs to hit.
At the very least, I happily recommend that everyone with a 3DS give it a shot. It's free to download, and you'll get an idea of whether you dig it long before you'll feel any pressure to spend money.
Telltale has put together an incredible Game of Thrones story. I've said all along in my previous reviews that I am happier with this than the television show proper, and I stand by that. I still can't wait for HBO's next season to debut, but I'm far more interested in seeing what happens with this story.
I probably can't give a higher endorsement of Fallout 4 than this: I've spent around 50 hours playing between the console and PC versions, and I don't feel like I'm anywhere near quitting.
Minecraft: Story Mode will never have the same kind of success that Minecraft does. That's OK — few things do. But what's important here is that Telltale gets what makes Minecraft tick and has translated that into something that fits its story-focused mold.
Now we have this game that will produce an effectively limitless number of Super Mario stages. I'm not great at math, but I think if you multiply timeless gameplay by countless stages, you get something that is astronomically fun. But Nintendo didn't just do the bare minimum here. It didn't just scrap together a level editor and sharing system. It has put unparalleled craft and care into every element of this game because it loves Mario as much as we do. And that propels this game into a whole other realm of greatness.
Despite the bugs and painful moments, I love the story that Telltale and I are weaving together. I'm always a sucker for characters, and I'll forgive even the weakest and dumbest plots if a storyteller delivers believable, likable (or understandably dislikable) people who I want to get to know better.
It's July, but I can't imagine that I'm going to play enough games to knock Rocket League off of my "game of the year" list. It is that much fun. It's a blast, and it's actually just as much fun to watch — which is evident by the number of popular livestreams you can watch of Rocket League on Twitch.
Code Name: STEAM has gone from an unplayable tragedy to something that's not quite as terrible. Nintendo, thankfully, addressed the biggest problem when it enabled fast-forwarding with that recent update, but it shouldn't stop with that. Intelligent Systems needs to patch in a way to get a better understanding of your surroundings. The way it's set up now, this game is like playing chess where certain pawns secretly have the powers of a queen.
This is probably the weakest episode yet, but only because of those very minor problems in the first section of the game. Don't take that as some kind of damning criticism because this is still a very good experience.
What a good game. It's really good. It's just so easy to pick up and get lost in for a few hours at a time. You can credit Techland for that success because it picked a few ideas and really got them right. The zombie-infested world is pretty and dangerous, and your character is fun to control. On top of that, the mechanics and the systems keep the core from getting boring.
The Order is thrilling and frustrating.
I really like Game of Thrones on HBO, but I'm enamored with this game. Something about having ownership of character decisions in a fantasy story that lives up to the legend of George R.R. Martin is incredible. Once again, I find myself dying to see what happens next. April may bring the next season of the TV show, but if it brings the end of the game, it'll be bittersweet.
Gat Out of Hell can stand on its own. Yes, it is undercooked, and it has problems, but the core mechanics and gameplay still work.
Give me more. Let me undo what I have done. Telltale, I need to see what happens next, and I need to make sure that I can fix it.
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker most reminds me of the old Game Boy version of Donkey Kong (often called Donkey Kong '94). Both are spinoffs of other games that focus on small stages where you need to get to the end while collecting tough-to-get items.