The final nail in 'Slender: The Arrival's coffin is the simple fact that it's been uprezzed and cleaned up for the wrong gen, a generation where Hideo Kojima/Guillermo Del Toro's 'P.T.' has many of the same ideas, executed with maturity and expert dread, where progression isn't dependent on escaping the horror, but being forced to walk up and let it terrorize you face to face, and most importantly, it's an experience that's 100% free. 'Slender' offering something a similarly unique experience, but undoubtedly lesser, predicated on the success of successive, telegraphed jump scares and repetitive exploration can't hope to compete, and couldn't even if 'P.T.' wasn't in the picture. The result is a game that feels, pun unintended, thin on content.
'Paperbound' feels like a game on the wrong platform. As a Vita game, or a mobile title, something to play on the go when you have a half hour to kill waiting for something bigger to download, 'Paperbound's simplicity would be a boon, a perfect slice of hectic mayhem to pull out of your pocket on a whim. As a PS4 game, though, it just feels thin, a delicious bite that makes one pine for the satisfying main course that doesn't come. Still, it's hard to be immune to its charms in the moment. There's nothing to dislike about 'Paperbound' aside from the fact that there's not more of it. That's the best kind of problem to have.
Dark Souls II comes to current gen with a vengeance.
In I Am Bread, both the joke and the game carry on far too long.
This isn't just a nostalgic copy of the games of the medium's youth, but also a fever dream of what the 8-bit era was capable of.
Nostalgia is its own genre of film, TV, and music these days, which isn't necessarily a good or bad thing, with enough creativity employed. 'Shovel Knight', however, is a better kind of nostalgia, the kind that proves there's still plenty of life in a concept rather than trying to remind an audience the concept was good once. 'Shovel Knight' isn't an attempt to remind us of better games; it IS the better game.
The 'Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron Pinball' table does its job as far as tying back to its source material, and its got just enough going on to be a passable, welcome addition to the collection, but one can't deny there's more that could've been done to make this one a hell of a lot more super. Still, the fact that every new commercial for the film the happens I end up wanting to play this means the game has done its job well
The part of the game that matters is an impressive romp for anyone whose inner adolescent is looking for a cheap, satisfying, bloody thrill.
This 8-bit throwback perfectly emulates the era, for better and for worse.
Kerbal Space Program is a monumental, exhilarating, and frustrating gaming achievement worthy of admiration.
Invisible, Inc. has the right tools and the right talent, but it's not quite the flawless caper it almost was.
Even the zombie material, which is still painfully boring and overdone conceptually, manages a few surprises.
Schrodinger's Cat is smarter than the average platformer, but still a pretty average platformer.
Hatred isn't fun, interesting, or titillating enough to command your time or attention.
Neon Struct is a retro stealth experience that is a bit too retro for its own good.
The comedic lengths the game goes to make the series's trademark wanton cruelty palatable is impressive.
Clumsy controls make The Masterplan more gawky than graceful.
In Her Story, an old game mechanic has been put to captivating new use.
Even with all the gadgets, all the exhilaration of success, its greatest achievement is in making it feel like it just might not be enough.
While remastering Ninja Theory's take on 'Devil May Cry' on current gen consoles felt like giving an underappreciated reinvention the platform it deserved, re-releasing 'Devil May Cry 4' on them is a sobering mirror, showing what the series should be leaving behind as we move forward. It's the kind of throwback that's more important for educational purposes than anything, a rough sketch homage where the series is capable of wild, vibrant ambition. There are those who still prefer the ain't-broke-don't-fix-it approach of the game, and more power to them. They will be pleased by the TLC, But the reboot showed the way forward. The fandom should follow suit.