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.
Ghostwire: Tokyo’s charm can’t make up for its frustrations
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.
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.
Rime's sweeping presentation fails to leave a lasting impression
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.
Abzu is gorgeous and calming but a little shallow
Quadrilateral Cowboy teaches you to use its toys, but doesn't give a lot of room to use them
Ghostbusters (2016) is a cynical bit of licensed drivel
this is the longest short game I've ever played
Shadow of the Beast's recreation leaves no room for modern ideas
Kathy Rain's story is strong enough, but slow to take hold
Severed's terrific mechanics are as universal as its moving story
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.
[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.
Far Cry Primal's lack of distractions keeps it exciting
The Witness is uplifting and frustrating
Battlefront trades complexity for accessibility
Superfans, roll out! Everyone else, on the other hand ...
'A Knight to Remember' is hampered by some significant issues, but shows promise