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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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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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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Mar 14, 2015

Code Name: STEAM is misguided and horrifically dull

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4 / 10.0 - Crimson Dragon
Nov 17, 2013

Crimson Dragon is a total misfire

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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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5.5 / 10.0 - The Order: 1886
Feb 18, 2015

Though it nails some of the fundamentals, The Order: 1886 has been released without answering the essential question of what it offers that other games aren't already doing better.

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Dec 30, 2013

Max: The Curse of Brotherhood has good elements but inconsistent quality

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May 1, 2014

There have been many worse Spider-Man games than this. But I can't recall one that's swung so conceptually close to greatness only to let poor execution drag it back to Earth.

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6 / 10.0 - Costume Quest 2
Oct 6, 2014

Costume Quest 2 has charm, but not much imagination

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Jan 19, 2015

In Gat Out of Hell, the joke feels like it's on us

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

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Oct 8, 2015

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

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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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