"Polarized" is otherwise so linearly story-driven that the puzzle play of its dream sequence feels a little out of place.
Far Cry 4, for all the action it includes, for all the things it lets you do, proves woefully unengaged.
Nevertheless, these new elements have been seamlessly integrated into the recognizable LittleBigPlanet foundation, and as a consequence never feel like the source of drastic change. What they offer instead is rejuvenation: a jolt of exhilaration—of imagination—from a series whose novelty had perhaps begun to wane.
This sort of ridiculousness proves a good fit with Call Of Duty's metamorphosis. The removal of any meaningful ideology—however toxic it was when present—has diminished Call Of Duty to the level of pure fancy. It is, in other words, free to be silly.
Is any of this scary? Often, yes, insofar as I remained terrified of being killed and forced to replay the 30 minutes since the last save point. Mostly, it's just annoying.
So much of Bound by Flame induces boredom or irritation that it seemed the best recourse to seek out a style of play that facilitated, if not outright enjoyment, at least an absence of hostility. Well, better that an aggravating game permit you to play around its points of aggravation than to force you to suffer them in earnest. In the case of Bound by Flame, I merrily sheared away until nothing remained.
inFamous: Second Son shows what the PS4 is capable of, and nothing more
Austerity, in Strider, has many benefits. But it also amplifies flaws—and this one may be too much.
As an action-adventure game, Tomb Raider needs to have you spend eight to ten hours shooting people in the face. That the developer at least tries to address this dissonance in earnest is perhaps commendable—so few games strive to account for the expected incongruities that even the ambition distinguishes the effort. And yet their attempt makes their failure more pronounced.