Justin McElroy


44 games reviewed
67.8 average score
70 median score
32.5% of games recommended
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Sep 19, 2022

Return to Monkey Island is yet another game in the Monkey Island franchise that makes only a slight effort to reflect the ever-shifting gaming landscape, while confidently clinging to the DNA that made it so beloved in the first place. And if you’re looking for the secret to creating an enduring franchise, you could do a lot worse than that.

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Unscored - Ghostwire: Tokyo
Mar 21, 2022

Ghostwire: Tokyo’s charm can’t make up for its frustrations

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Feb 10, 2022

There's a sweet spot in the middle of each run where you're powerful, but only just powerful enough to barely survive each new wave. In the final third of each run, though, things start to feel perplexingly staid.

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5.5 / 10.0 - Agents of Mayhem
Aug 15, 2017

You can swap between the three agents you bring into the field instantly, letting you chain their different special attacks together for maximum impact. There are some clever choices here too. Derby star Daisy, for example, has to cool off her minigun by dashing through enemies, which turns a typically boring weapon cooldown mechanic into a renewable power resource.Remember those great characters? Well, practically all their dialogue is bland beyond belief. Much of the writing in Agents of Mayhem is “joke adjacent,” meaning it's delivered with the tone, pacing and structure of a joke, but is not, in actuality, funny in any way.This has likely started to feel like a litany of sins rather than cogent critique, but it's the best way I have of illustrating Agent of Mayhem's failings. It is not felled by any one thing, but is rather undone by a thousand little cuts. Agents of Mayhem heaps theoretical fun on you. Characters, powers, upgrades, tons of missions — it's desperate to for the player to just have fun. It's a noble impulse, but one that it's depressingly incapable of consistently delivering on.

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6.5 / 10.0 - RiME
May 25, 2017

Rime's sweeping presentation fails to leave a lasting impression

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7.5 / 10.0 - Night in the Woods
Mar 3, 2017

Night in the Woods isn't perfect. I'm not perfect. You're not perfect. Life isn't perfect. But as the game itself tries to espouse, if you've got the patience, you may find that there is true beauty in that revelation.

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7.5 / 10.0 - Abzu
Aug 2, 2016

Abzu is gorgeous and calming but a little shallow

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Jul 25, 2016

Quadrilateral Cowboy teaches you to use its toys, but doesn't give a lot of room to use them

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2 / 10.0 - Ghostbusters
Jul 12, 2016

Ghostbusters (2016) is a cynical bit of licensed drivel

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this is the longest short game I've ever played

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May 16, 2016

Shadow of the Beast's recreation leaves no room for modern ideas

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6.5 / 10.0 - Kathy Rain
May 10, 2016

Kathy Rain's story is strong enough, but slow to take hold

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9 / 10.0 - Severed
Apr 26, 2016

Severed's terrific mechanics are as universal as its moving story

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6.5 / 10.0 - ADR1FT
Mar 31, 2016

As a simulation of being marooned in space, Adrift is peerless. The sense of weightlessness, the sense of scale, just being in the world are all astonishing. But it's impossible to divorce the immersion from its mechanical failures, which sours what otherwise could have been a new high bar for narrative-centric games.

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Unscored - ADR1FT (VR)
Mar 31, 2016

[F]or players with a strong stomach and a sense of adventure — not to mention large wallets — though, this is likely the best way to play the game.

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8.5 / 10.0 - Far Cry Primal
Feb 22, 2016

Far Cry Primal's lack of distractions keeps it exciting

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8 / 10.0 - The Witness
Jan 25, 2016

The Witness is uplifting and frustrating

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Nov 17, 2015

Battlefront trades complexity for accessibility

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Oct 8, 2015

Superfans, roll out! Everyone else, on the other hand ...

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'A Knight to Remember' is hampered by some significant issues, but shows promise

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