This War of Mine is survival horror game of a very different, very literal kind.
A Bird Story is a short but bittersweet tale that uses sparse interaction to great effect.
The glue holding it all together as more than just a stale repurpose of the previous games is the story.
That it only receives the slightest of graphical upticks is less a sign of laziness in porting the game to next gen so much as a testament to how well-crafted Sleeping Dogs was to begin with.
Neverending Nightmares is an apt name for an unnerving but meandering experience.
Falling Skies is a functional, unattractive, and uninspired XCOM clone.
Chuck E. Scream.
An old-fashioned game in a newfangled era, Gauntlet does too much and too little all at once.
The initial joy that comes from mashing buttons and watching Link and his cohorts slash down mindless scores of imps, goblins, lizardmen, wizards, and dragons gives way to a steadily increasingly pile of nitpicks when repeated over several hours.
Natural Doctrine takes strategy role-playing games one step forward, and several clumsy steps back.
Playing around in Bungie's galaxy for its own sake is still just so undeniable and compulsive a draw that the disappointingly threadbare "why" starts fading into the background.
This is the truer definition of a mature title. This is what happens when first-person shooters strive to be more than a vulgar display of power.
The fundamentals of Second Son are present, obviously restricted to Fetch's flashy Neon abilities, which is fine since Neon was the most free-flowing and fun of Delsin's stolen powers to begin with.
A next-gen playthrough reveals a game that doesn't break new ground, but very much tries to reach perfection with the tools Naughty Dog and the industry as a whole, really, are all very well aware of.
Valiant Hearts isn't necessarily lacking in quality or polish, just that perhaps we're looking at one game that feels like it wants to be three.
We're meant to believe that solving the mystery of the Bell Killer would redeem Ronan and allow him the peace to move on, but nothing about the game gives the impression that he deserves it.
The profiling system isn't as deep as expected, but still offers remarkably strong and subtly creepy world-building away from the main plot.
Someone will likely prove this statement wrong, but there hasn't been a game that's run this far with the storybook conceit, and if there is, it's a near-certainty it wasn't executed with this much beauty, heart, and care.
The motion controls and the touchpad get a decent, well-integrated workout, world detail is staggering, and the particle and lighting effects of Delsin's powers are breathtaking.
The graphics have received the expected uptick in resolution, but Square Enix has also given both games a decent once-over, adding additional environmental detail, effects, even facial animations for the main characters.