Dustin Bailey's Reviews
Rebel Galaxy has a ton of style and an incredible atmosphere that captures the weird little subgenre of space western to wonderful effect. But its repetitive combat and focus on trucking across the galaxy means that it's not as exciting as it could be. There's a lot to like, but you've got to work for it.
I can’t give Deponia Doomsday an unequivocal recommendation. Its protagonist is a major drag and a lot of its humor is straight-up lame. But by the same token, I can’t deny that it drew me in and made me care by the end. It’s a totally solid adventure game, and if you prefer a little extra bite in your old-school adventures, then it will be right up your alley.
No Man’s Sky has very clear problems. Its mechanics are insubstantial, with the crafting and inventory management systems being a particular exercise in tedium. Yet its scale and beauty is unmatched by any other game I’ve ever seen. It does things no other game ever has. It’s tempting to call No Man’s Sky “decent, but not great,” but that undersells both the game’s successes and its failures. No Man’s Sky is incredible, awe-inspiring, and profoundly disappointing.
Hitman’s latest episode has some impressive moments, but Marrakesh feels limited compared to the sprawling, interconnected layouts of Paris and Sapienza. It’s part of an increasingly great game and still provides some solid stealth action, but don’t be surprised if you’re not coming back to this one for more than a few tries.
Darksiders II has satisfying combat, a terrific variety of puzzles, and great, consistent art design. It starts to wear out its welcome deep into its lengthy runtime, and its story fails to deliver on the original game's promises, but it's still an exciting adventure well worth embarking on. Unfortunately, this edition on PC is full of minor technical issues that prevent it from realizing its full potential. Darksiders II is worth playing, but Deathinitive Edition is not worth the upgrade.
Princess Peach: Showtime fills its short runtime with a tremendous variety of levels and transformations, elevating each with charming details and a surprising amount of spectacle. Its only real limitation is its own lack of ambition, leaving this a memorable adventure, but not one for the ages.
Obsidian's RPG fulfills its potential, but only in fits and starts. Sure, its worst moments are only ever as bad as workmanlike RPG-making, but they make the stretches between some instances of genuine greatness a little more disappointing.Dustin Bailey
A range of technical issues are holding it back at launch, but a combination of satisfying combat and likable characters has delivered the foundation of an excellent superhero game.
Richly realised systems and empowering abilities create a tremendously fun sandbox to dig into, but another toothless story ensures these flashes of brilliance never cohere, leaving Legion feeling less than the sum of its parts.
Attack on Titan is a good game, but not a great one. It does a tremendous job of adapting the anime's excellent action scenes to an exciting set of game mechanics, but struggles to extend that fun core into full-length game. Any given fifteen seconds of Attack on Titan is excellent, but those fifteen seconds are repeated again and again until they're no longer compelling.
A great way to play one of the weakest entries in the classic Resident Evil canon
WRC 5 is a completely competent, inoffensive racing game, but it lacks the features that have become standard in the genre. Whether you're a fan of simulation or arcade-style racers, there are many better alternatives out there.
Fortified is an okay action/tower defense hybrid with neato style but not much depth
Project Highrise takes obvious inspiration from a cult classic, but struggles to build compelling mechanics around a proven concept. Constructing a tower still offers its own simple pleasure, but there’s not enough depth here to keep you building a skyline’s worth of high-rises.
Competent, with enough fun weapons and silly spectacle to make it inoffensive entertainment. While a half-decade of development hell could've ended with worse results, it's tough to muster much excitement for what's here.
Bugs, repetitive side content, bad storytelling, and the unfulfilled promise of its choice and consequence system leave Dying Light 2 unable to capitalise on the strength of its excellent parkour and combat mechanics.
The Park has solid atmosphere and pretty good scares, but it also has an unremarkable heroine and an inconsequential plot. It might be a decent curiosity if you're looking purely for the video game equivalent of a haunted house, but its high price and short length make it difficult to recommend.
FIVE, at its core, is a competent action RPG with fun abilities and some original ideas. But with achingly slow opening hours, limited character progression, loads of meaningless loot, and an utter lack of difficulty, its appeal is limited.
It's a charming, lighthearted game of resource gathering and production. Unfortunately, it's only really fun when things work smoothly and easily. Figuring out mistakes and solving problems - which should be the core of a good strategy game - are built around solving pathfinding issues, and Valhalla Hills doesn't do much to make those problems more palatable.
Every addition that Snowfall makes is fun and adds a bit of variety to your city-building. But those additions are few, and even the more sweeping systems like road condition and heating don't add any long-term strategic considerations to the game. Even the new winter cities are a mostly visual change. It's tough to recommend dropping money on such an insubstantial expansion.