Rosh Kelly
Nintendo’s take on virtual reality is as whimsical and unique as you might expect, trading technical superiority for childlike wonder and imagination.
Underworld Ascendant touches on something but never really grasps it. It doesn't utilise any of the improvements from its long absence from the industry and even falls flat compared to the game it is meant to be the successor of.
Umbrella Corp is a game that should have been scrapped, not released. It may have started with the best intentions, but the end result is a game that relies on tired gameplay and a familiar name. Going back to the drawing board would have been better than what was released now.
The whole experience does work better in handheld mode, but doesn't feel as good as the tv mode should if it worked properly. In the end, even the biggest puppy dog eyes can't convince you spend another ten minutes trying to throw a couple of frisbees.
Broken Lines is a game that frustrating misses nearly every shot it tried to make. While there are aspects of fun to found, they are unfortunately buried in trenches of tedium and disappointment.
Rune II lacks the imagination, experimentation and fleshed out mechanics that would have made stomping through the Viking end times a fun experience.
Daymare 1998 is meant to be a blast from the past but all it really does is destroy your old memories of those 90s horror games you played so long ago
Space Hulk Deathwing Enhanced Edition doesn't feel enhanced. The gunplay and enemies are boring, the story isn't interesting and the crashes (on PlayStation 4) are very frustrating.
Terminator: Resistance Enhanced is not a good game. It is a perfectly average title from a decade or two ago that is somehow being released now. Despite its relatively shiny graphics, there is nothing interesting beneath the chrome.
Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey was such an interesting idea on paper but from its complex and unexplained environment to the severe lack of exciting objectives and goals to work towards, the game doesn't quite manage to entice the player to make the very best of humanity.
The Assassin's Creed 3 Remaster improved the graphics and very little else. There is a reason this game is one of the least popular in the series history and without anything done to address its previous faults, its age makes it even more unpalatable.
However fun it might look, some core parts of the game feel forgotten, abandoned or ignored. It's such a great concept and that makes it so sad it didn't even feel like a diamond in the rough.
Hellraid looks good but offers none of the originality that Techland brought to the zombie genre, focusing on all the wrong parts of Dying Light and all the most predictable parts of the fantasy universe instead.
The Station fails to captivate despite its interesting ideas and puzzles. The setting is nice, but the script and narrative couldn't quite deliver on the core concept.
The empty spaces between checkpoints are dull, and the gunfights can be repetitive without a partner in crime. But behind all of its faults, even its painfully jingoistic overtones and its overtly militaristic design hides its true entertainment value.
Surges of brilliance, but still rough around the edges
Despite its appeal to nostalgia and the phenomenal success of the first game, Super Meat Boy Forever fails to deliver its promises and ends up undermining the IP and design of the game it's based upon.
Dark Devotion looks good and clearly has a lot of imagination behind it, but the systems that keep repeating throughout the game don't do much except getting you lost, confused, or frustrated.
The Council began strong, but for whatever reason as become weaker with more or less each entry. This finale feels like the death rattle of an interesting, albeit failed experiment.
There is something enjoyable in Steel Rats, but there is a lot it doesn't get quite right. Against the other games of the season, Steel Rats just can't compete, nor can it live up to the game most people will associate it with.