Jed Pressgrove's Reviews
It's interested only in presenting a near-pornographic level of human despair in a warped attempt at edifying players.
The cluelessness-as-heroism and over-the-top fighting don't fulfill or complement the infectiously positive tone.
The tiring exposition of the writing and the lack of visual coherence to the storytelling are obvious from the start.
The game fails to satisfy the natural urge to explore a three-dimensional realm of seemingly endless possibilities.
Creators like Chmielarz need an obvious symbol of false hope to sell (not articulate) their trendy nihilism that, if anything, should vanish.
Neither the artificial screen glare nor actress Viva Seifert's performance lend credibility to the game's lady-psychopath clichés.
There's little of that symbiosis here, as The Evil Within's more serious tone and greater reliance on non-interactive cutscenes leaves the player disengaged from the rollercoaster of action.
In a nod to the post-credits gimmick of comic book blockbusters, A Bird Story reveals itself as foreplay for Gao's next game. This shameless preview raises the question of why anyone should take the game's human-animal bonding as anything more than a tease. Earlier in the game, the boy and the bird are launched into space for a close-up of the moon, a shoehorned reference to Gao's To the Moon. Despite its well-meaning qualities, A Bird Story doesn't have the maturity or confidence to inspire much more than crying and buying.
Throughout, you may be gripped by the feeling that you've seen all that there is to see in the fighting game genre.
The art of a game, however distinctive, matters little if it isn't accompanied by functionality.
You know your beloved action franchise is in a state of mediocrity when it struggles to kinetically and strategically compete with games that it helped give birth to.
Street Fighter V feels more like an irritatingly incomplete service than a game that cares about its legacy.
If only the developer's care could have graced the poorly drawn cutscenes that lack the vitality of those in 1988's Ninja Gaiden. These sequences don't communicate the emotional sincerity needed to fulfill the potential of a story that humanizes its white-man villain while calling attention to the contemporary impact of his racism.
What hurts the game the most isn't the lack of follow through on its initial critical gumption, but rather a lack of compelling drama in its later levels.
The world design and storytelling often fail to match the high standards set by the game's ambitious ancestors.
Though visually sumptuous, the game doesn't do much to strike a bolder, more mature path within a tired series.
Capcom's second collection of Mega Man games mostly showcases a series in its death throes.
Like the first Splatoon, Nintendo's sequel to their smash hit isn't your average multiplayer online shooter.
Dragon Quest VIII‘s almost random plot and character moments carry complex emotional weight.
It doesn't ever completely shy away from using filler material after successfully building so much momentum.