Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two - Episode 3: Jailhouse Block throws the gang into its mid-season low point, as the group embark on a prison-breakout with the help of the mysterious inmate, Prisoner X. While Prisoner X adds a great new complexity to the overall adventure, and drops important exposition, she is a welcome addition to the gang. Unfortunately, most of the good stuff does not occur until beyond the midpoint of this episode, as the beginning stages suffer due to a "warden" and prison "hierarchy" that makes no sense.
Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two - Episode 4: Below the Bedrock heightens the sense of urgency, thanks to Romeo's shape-shifting powers that have granted him complete control of Beacontown.
Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two - Episode 5: Above and Beyond reaches its epic conclusion as the great battle between Jesse and the evil Admin, Romeo, threatens to tear Beacontown apart. Featuring a shorter experience than previous episodes, this is also the most finely tuned one in terms of pacing, as the excitement ramps up from the opening credits right through to the eventual ending. While the decision-making in earlier episodes seems very watered down in retrospect, the final few choices mean that the next Minecraft season will need to answer plenty of questions, if Telltale does indeed go down that path.
Episode 2: Giant Consequences seems to steady the ship for Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two, as the Admin's gigantic boss fight at the beginning sets the stage for the subsequent episodes.
Episode 1: Hero in Residence is a slow start to the new season of Minecraft: Story Mode, as Jesse tries to ready Beacontown for the Founding Day celebrations. Fortunately, this early section of the game is quite fun to interact with, and the various characters create various types of "mini-games" to accomplish. Unfortunately, once Jesse and Petra jump into the mines to start their adventure, the story takes a bit of a downward turn, becoming a little bit cumbersome to complete due to the dullness of Jack's character.
Tiny Barbarian DX is a great throwback adventure that tries to blend the best of both worlds, with clever platforming stages and challenging bosses that threaten to destroy many Joy-Cons. Fortunately, the game is very forgiving, by offering unlimited lives and constant checkpoints on nearly every single screen. With shiny diamonds to find, coins to collect, and food to regain health, the campaign is heavily reliant on its point-based system to extend the longevity of this game's playability. If bragging rights for high scores doesn't sound interesting, though, then playing through the campaign once is enough to fill in that longing void for the 8-bit and 16-bit games of old.
Telltale's version of Guardians of the Galaxy may not have made the best first impression upon debut, but towards the end of the season the story had finally managed to get going in a positive way. While it may have been too little too late, the ramifications it has for a potential season two should be reason enough to get into this season. The decision-making was extremely one-sided and lacked any sense of moral urgency and quandaries. While it still suffers from the same clunky control scheme, the character development between each of the Guardians is a fascinating rollercoaster to experience. In addition, battling Thanos was a terrific way to open up the series. Moreover, the soundtrack greatly helps in setting the tone and furthering the adventure with its catchy tunes.
Caveman Warriors is a cutesy-looking title that is devilishly difficult as a single-player experience. Though still fun to play through, the large wave of enemies can sometimes be a little insurmountable, while the boss fights can vary from easy to defeat to unfairly difficult. However, playing it in local multiplayer seems to be the way to go, as it is more fun to work together in a team and knock away the enemies. It retains the difficulty, though, as dying is for good - until a checkpoint is reached by the surviving members. Unfortunately, the game suffers due to the animation glitches and that dreadful boss glitch that centres on the Cavernator's second encounter. Despite this, Caveman Warriors is still a game that is worth checking out.
Although the game is forgiving by banishing cheap deaths to extend gameplay, it doesn't make the puzzles any easier to figure out. Thinking outside the box for illogical solutions to logical puzzles is the way to go, yet it can be frustrating and grating at times.
While it has all the makings of a long-lasting space adventure, Morphite lacks any real emotion in the story it tries to tell, while lacking the denizens to populate the various planets found within. Everything feels quite empty and lifeless, made further haunting by Myrah's need to scan everything on the planet while breaking into temples to steal the rare Morphites that turn out to be…not so rare. This feels more like a concept piece for a brand new title, and it's hard to justify this as a purchase for what it offers currently. The story is bland, the procedural worlds are even blander, and the side-quests are completely broken and poorly maintained.
The Universal Classics pack of for Pinball FX3 delivers on three charming film-based tables of the '70s and '80s with Back to the Future, Jaws and E.T. With booming soundtracks to complement the tables, each stage captures the essence of their based-films perfectly. From the magical moments of E.T. to the heart-stopping moments of Jaws, there is a lot to do in each during that great chase for the top of the score leaderboards. While some tables are easier than others, it certainly does not make the experience any less fun, as this pack is a great way to begin the table collections for Pinball FX3.
While the story can be slow-going due to the sluggish gameplay and technical limitations causes graphical headaches, this is a great way to introduce new people to the wonderful story.
After the up-and-down rollercoaster that has been this season of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, Episode 5: Don't Stop Believin' has managed to tie together an emotionally-investing story.
Although the base story surrounding the Eternity Forge and Hala seemed like it was ready to finally conclude, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series - Episode Four: Who Needs You does its best to drag out that narrative thread. By diverting the story into a seemingly minor "cave escape" sequence, it surprisingly delivers plenty of emotions and ends up becoming quite an important episode in the scheme of things. The same old menial gameplay features here, though, with some uninspiring sequences to endure in order to get to the meaty parts of this character-driven story.
DiRT 4 is a racer that purists need to get. Simply put, the rally driving is incredible to control, as every little movement can derail control of the car.
Infinite Minigolf is a whimsical take on minigolf that has all the charm that only Zen Studios can bring.
WRC 7 is a commendable rally game that does little to advance the sport on the video game platform. However, that's not to say that it has to be revolutionary to be good. It does provide plenty of adrenaline, filled tracks that span all the real world major events, with plenty of differing conditions and surfaces that are sure to be challenging to master.
Mantis Burn Racing: Battle Cars is a must-have add-on for enthusiastic fans of the original game. If the act of simply racing opponents is beginning to get a bit stale, then throw some machine guns and destructive mines into the mix to turn each race into a total bloodbath. "King of the Track" is a total blast (pun intended) to play and each race can last a while. "Survival" mode is the quicker of the two, as most matches can end in no time. This pack is pure mayhem and a heap of fun to play.
Rock of Ages 2: Bigger & Boulder is a satirical take on historical and mythological figures, and blends them into this weird and wacky tower defence game. Although the tutorial may do a poor job in explaining the mechanics of the game, this is still easy to pick up and understand. However, be prepared for some ruthless beginnings while messing about with the various obstacles to better understand what works. This game is not to be taken too seriously in terms of story and aesthetics, and it is great for a laugh or two, as they serve as a precursor to the amount of tears that come from some clunky boulder mechanics and some awfully hard AI opponents. Go off- or online with two players and have heaps of fun in what is sure to be a great way to pass the time in a not-so-serious environment of pure mayhem and carnage.
Episode Three: More Than a Feeling furthers the intriguing story and takes it to new grounds, thanks in part to the carryovers from the previous episodes' decisions and the heart-breaking story centring on Gamora.