Jedi: Survivor is a strong entry in the modern Star Wars canon, part of a new subsect of adventures in this universe finding ways to be sci-fi fantasy without ignoring the innate horror and banal evils inherent in the premise. The story paints an impressively dire picture of the new status quo in the galaxy, and it weaves in elegantly with the interactivity of the game, tying it directly into the fact that Cal is still powerful but only one Jedi in a galaxy that fell even when there was an entire army of them.
The game’s dedication to graphical fidelity feels like a blinder to thinking outside the box in every other regard. It can’t help but feel like intensive overcompensation for inconsistent, tension-less stealth, one-note combat, level design that doesn’t reward exploration, generically fleshy enemies, upgrades that don’t reward experimentation, and ineffective jump scares, from enemies that get cheap hits in on Jacob every single time, regardless of how well-prepared the player is. Much has been made of the fact that this was meant as the heir apparent to beloved survival horror series Dead Space, a game that, 12 years later, can still induce goosebumps just from its terrifying attract sequence. By contrast, if not for its graphics, The Callisto Protocol feels like a relic from 1998, undone creatively even by the decaying likes of Shadow Man.
Imagine a roller coaster that stops for maintenance every 30 feet and doesn't allow you to exit, even after you've already been around the track a few dozen times.
Worst of all, unlocking the new monsters involves trekking through the tedious campaign over and over again, grinding for experience.
The game is our best example that we can play a movie. The fact that the movie in question is a leaden, unimaginative waste is almost incidental.
Despite some glorious and gruesome horror imagery, Agony doesn't have much else to offer.
Hello Neighbor seems inviting at the outset, but its clumsy, obtuse approach to stealth will have you searching for the exit.
Hatred isn't fun, interesting, or titillating enough to command your time or attention.
Gollum just feels so shockingly old hat—a disheartening collection of mechanics that, at best, bring to mind one of the lesser pre-2013 Tomb Raider games and, at worst, suggest leftovers from the N64 bargain bin. Every success involves wrestling the loose controls, unhelpful camera, and iffy collision detection into submission against an ever-increasing wave of bugs and glitches, only some of which have been fixed by the game’s Day One patch.
The fallout of that ending makes what had been a wafer-thin murder mystery with a gimmick into an exercise in psychological sadism, where the player is nauseatingly complicit. Despite the immense pool of talent giving their all to breathe life into these characters, Twelve Minutes is a game thoroughly lacking in humanity, in any sense of the word.
The blandness of the gameplay might have been somewhat forgivable if the game's narrative didn't suffer from an identity crisis.
Everything truly good in Marvel's Avengers is compromised by its mercenary feature set.
All that's cool about flying a mech has been executed in the most leaden, user-unfriendly, nonsensical manner possible.
Battlefront II is actually a rather fitting sequel to its immediate predecessor, which was itself a fun, visually phenomenal but woefully shallow and convoluted experience. Everything that was right with the original game is exactly as it was before. Everything that wasn't, however, has mutated into something more craven and significantly uglier.
The Capcom game's flippant approach to its pedigree is evident right from the beginning of its Story Mode.
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.
There's a good game buried here, and when they finally plant the headstone, the cause of death will be chiseled as "trying too hard."
Rockstar's remastered trilogy is, appropriately, an absolute car wreck of creative neglect.
Though VR co-op is a nice touch, Bravo Team brings nothing else new to the table.
Drawn to Death has a big imagination, but it does not play well with others.