Dennis Scimeca's Reviews
Toy Soldiers: War Chest is a delightful take on tower defense
Maiden of Black Water is decidedly an example of a game where genre experience and fandom has everything to do with its appeal. Games like this are fan service at this point, and Maiden of Black Water strikes all the correct notes.
The new, ocean-based mechanics breathe some fresh life into Beyond Earth, but perhaps not as much as the new diplomacy and affinity systems introduced by Rising Tide.
I also can't be upset about how hostile The Witness often felt, because the game taught me a lesson that was worth the pain—about how intimate puzzle games are. I think they represent a more direct relationship between creator and participant than most genres, and that's an aspect of puzzle games that I've never really appreciated before.
The game doesn't shine unless you have real communication among teams, which is tough to find with random players. I can't see myself sticking around to learn all the different Battleborn and embrace what this game is ultimately about without a group of friends to play it with.
If skill challenge is your motivation, Guitar Hero Live will demand much more of you by default. If you're looking for a party game consider the regulars on your guest list and their level of frustration tolerance.
I enjoyed Quantum Break in the same way I enjoy Marvel superhero movies. They're fun to watch while I kick back and eat some popcorn. But when I go to see The Avengers I don't have a control pad in my hands, and there's where Quantum Break gets confusing for me. Sussing out the relative importance of the two halves of Quantum Break messed with my head as much as trying to sort through all the story's causality loops.
Guardians is a disappointingly uneven experience
Hyrule Warriors is not easy. I had to turn the difficulty all the way down on more than one occasion to get through the game in a timely fashion. That's a relationship I am used to with so-called "core games," or games aimed not at casual players, but traditional gamers who want some good, old-fashioned punishment through game difficulty.
You always play as part of a cover band in a Rock Band game, but in the main games you're part of a really good cover band that knows how to mimic the songs they're playing. In Rock Band VR, you sound like a cover band that sounds like a cover band, which isn't nearly as satisfying unless you're enamored enough with the VR technology and experience to not care what the song sounds like as long as you're having fun.
New Ratchet & Clank game captures all of the fun of the original
I had expected Tales from the Borderlands to be just a side story, something inconsequential in the grand scheme of the Borderlands franchise, but there are events within Tales from the Borderlands that will have substantive effects on the Borderlands universe should they bleed over into any further games set on Pandora.
Far Cry Primal takes the series in a strange and satisfying direction
[I]f you're deciding whether or not to buy Rock Band for the very first time, I wish I could convey just how much I wish the instruments had been this high-quality and the song library this deep when I first started playing Rock Band eight years ago.
If you are a first-person shooter fan generally, and if you enjoy team-based FPS play specifically, not at least trying Overwatch feels criminal. Blizzard always imparts a deep sense of holistic quality into its games, and Overwatch is no exception.
Doom's triumphant return to hell makes old school the new hotness
The Division sets a new standard of excellence for shared-world shooters
Get ready to lose hours of your life to Civilization: Beyond Earth
For existing fans, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker checks all the boxes as to why they love Nintendo. For the kids this game might be gifted to for Christmas, Treasure Tracker provides an adorable demonstration of what Nintendo is all about. And for that, I think this is one of the strongest titles Nintendo has released in 2014. It's a must-have for Wii U owners.
Splatoon proves Nintendo has the chops for online shooters