Justin McElroy
Arkham Knight is Batman perfected
From a very cynical perspective, Far Cry 4 is "more Far Cry," but it's delivered in such a sophisticated fashion that I can't really see how that's a negative. If each iteration is this smart and silly and beautiful and ridiculous, I don't see this series wearing out its welcome with me anytime soon.
Severed's terrific mechanics are as universal as its moving story
Obsidian finds a happy home in South Park
Smoke and Mirrors wants to know how far you'll go to preserve your humanity
Far Cry Primal's lack of distractions keeps it exciting
Taken as a whole, Broken Age is still a easy-to-recommend, extremely charming game with some lovely messages about growing up. But it isn't quite the landmark achievement in video game narrative I spent its year-long intermission hoping for.
Crimes and Punishments is the best Sherlock has been, but it's just short of great
Cry Wolf wraps The Wolf Among Us on a high note
A Crooked Mile is the most focused episode of Wolf Among Us yet
Battlefront trades complexity for accessibility
The Witness is uplifting and frustrating
Quadrilateral Cowboy teaches you to use its toys, but doesn't give a lot of room to use them
Chroma Squad's faults don't detract from its charm
Abzu is gorgeous and calming but a little shallow
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.
The Old Blood mostly nailed the components that made New Order good, but it doesn't quite manage to capture what made it great.
While I'm in no great rush to play it again, the appreciation I gleaned for a culture I knew practically nothing about is something I really cherish. If you can patiently plod your way through the game entwined with the story of the Iñupiat people, I suspect you'll cherish them too.
When the bizarre controls make mundane tasks impossible, Dadliest Catch is just too funny to be frustrating. When it piles on the weight of traditional video game challenges, controlling the tendrils of an uncooperative marionette becomes instantly less appealing.
D4 is so weird, strange and different that it's hard to pass up