Mark Delaney's Reviews
Minimal story, frustrating design, and a revival of all the bad things of which survival horror washed its hands years ago — these all crop up in Vaccine and combine to have the game miss its mark. Instead of a love letter to bygone scares, what we get is a tiresome endeavor for anyone but the most diehard fans for old school horror. What's worse, even such fans might be turned away by Vaccine's blatant ripping off of Capcom's renowned franchise.
Zombie Vikings takes an interesting premise and a beautiful art style and squanders them alongside a bulk of other issues.
Getting on the bike and trying again and again can be fun for a while, but eventually you may find it's best to put it back in the garage and find something that doesn't break your spirit as much as your avatar's body.
No one said survival would be easy, but since it's still a game, it should ultimately be more fun than it is.
Sylvio is a lesson in not judging a game by its screenshots. While it looks like a low budget throwaway, the game's best features mostly come in how it sounds. The memorable music and legitimately unsettling EVP recordings go far to prove its legitimacy as a tool for scaring. If you've never played a horror game, don't start here as the game requires a few too many concessions from the player. If you're a genre veteran looking for something atmospheric, retro-inspired, and adding its own unique gameplay mechanics, Sylvio is worth the trip. It's a candlelit ghost story that leaves you not breathless or horrified, but disquieted, which is perhaps the most effective horror of all.
If "Ties That Bind" is any indication of the level of acting, pacing, and writing to be seen this season, fans can rest assured that The Walking Dead will remain high atop their must-play lists.
Judged against its peers, this version of the Dark Knight is only average; DC's best hero has seen far better stories but he's seen far worse, too.
Westerado is a unique case of a retro-inspired game with the depth of something modern. Dialogue, combat, and the story are all free to explore in several ways, from pacifistic runs to trigger-happy bloodbaths with plenty more in between. The game's early era mechanics will be a joy to nostalgically-driven gamers while also making enough concessions to contemporary players that remove most (but not all) frustrations. If you don't mind the pixelized art and a few gripes that come with it, it's well worth it to saddle up for Westerado.
"Guardian of Gotham" is some of Telltale's best writing to date. It masterfully paces several dangling story threads into one tightly delivered penultimate episode while also seeming to build the greater Bat-verse for future seasons. It's exciting and uniquely theirs at this point.
With better options for sale even in its own genre, it's more likely that SDB will sit in your digital library without a chance of ever actually taking up hard drive space.
"New World Order" is a slower episode that promises a lot of worthwhile story moments soon, but fails to provide many of its own. Character interactions are the best that they've been so far, but everything else is missing the drama that it needs to deliver a worthwhile standalone episode. If you've made it this far, you're likely in it for the long haul anyways, so if you just forgive Telltale for once again taking its foot off the gas pedal for its middle episode, it stands to reason that what's ahead will be both the Batman that players deserve and the Batman that players need right now.
One Hundred Ways is a stark reminder that in this new age of consoles, not all indies are darlings and not all games on the Xbox marketplace are worthy of such a home. It's a game that might have been fun in waiting rooms or in transit someplace, but in a home setting on an Xbox One, I can't think of one good reason why anybody would want to play this. It's a boring, aesthetically nauseating slog through puzzles that more often annoy than challenge.
Like all of the best first-person adventure games, or "walking sims", Virginia works better than its movie inspirations because of the inherent interactivity that comes with telling a story in this medium. It goes all in on delivering a surreal, Lynchian narrative and hits that nail of unreality on the head, all the way down to leaving you wondering what exactly you just witnessed.
In traditional Telltale fashion, "Children of Arkham" ends on a high note and I'm already anxiously awaiting the next episode.
The Turing Test delivers not just a worthwhile game but an amazing story that will sit with you long after the credits.
Anode is a highly replayable falling block puzzler whose only major flaw comes in its indifference toward advancing the genre in any way. It's a mostly been-there-done-that offering that manages to change up just enough to merit playing alongside similar titles. The limited but excellent soundtrack and local competitive modes make the overall package well worth playing if you're a fan of this type of game. Just don't expect anything groundbreaking -- pun intended, again.
There's plenty to look forward to with Batman - The Telltale Series and fans of the studio, and especially fans of the character, can rightfully get excited for the next few months ahead. Under the cowl, and just as often not, "Episode One: Realm of Shadows" is a worthy introduction to comics' greatest hero.
Rivalries will form and bonds will be tested, but in the end, Videoball does more good than harm and exists as something unlike anything else that you've played.
If you're a fan of the genre and new to the series, The Banner Saga 2 is absolutely worth your time, just make time for its predecessor first.
Prison Architect is a deep offering of gameplay elements, interconnected systems, and emergent storytelling, all of which remain addictive for fans of such micromanagement. If all this sounds like more work than fun, you're probably right; this game just isn't for you. There were times when I looked at the game in my library and became stressed at the idea of playing it some more. Controlling a population of inmates who, by the basic nature of prison, don't want to be there, can feel like a second job. More often, though, I was amazed by the game's intense level of detail to the human element of being behind bars, and I walked away from the experience with an appreciation for such a stellar genre title. If you're a fan of simulations, Prison Architect is one of the best there is.