Ron Duwell
A Link Between Worlds does do just enough to stand on its own merits.
Bravely Default is a wonderful little game if you understand where it’s coming from.
Does Strider really do anything new? Not really.
Yoshi’s New Island is amazing from beginning to charming end. Don’t hesitate for a second to buy it folks, unless you hate smiling.
Everything Shovel Knight does, it does incredibly well. It's balanced enough so that both old-timers and newcomers can find something to enjoy, and never once does it falter in its mission of paying tribute to classics.
Misses one too many marks
Shadow of Mordor is a conventional open-world action game with very cliched mechanics, but if you approach it conventionally, it might bore you to tears. Break away from its path, experiment, and find your own fun. Tackle story missions only when you want some new abilities or a new map to toy with, and you will definitely get your $60 worth.
Platinum Games is the master of a dying art of Japanese action games, and Bayonetta 2 is a celebration of all it has achieved in its short life.
I think what works against the game more than anything is a simple matter of time. Alien is a sparse movie, carefully crafted to show us as little of the alien as possible, both to hide the alien costume and as a way to keep us in suspense. By the end of the game, you've spent more time looking at the alien than every character in the movies (I'm including Aliens 3, Resurrection, and Prometheus here) combined and somehow come away intact.
The Evil Within is by no means a perfect game. The give-and-take of this love affair with the olden days is sacrificing Resident Evil 4's perfect level design, weapon choices, and tension for The Evil Within's better graphics, a better story, and more streamlined, modern controls. It's a balancing act that still sees Resident Evil 4 coming out way on top. There's no shame in coming up short on one of the greatest games ever made though. Mikami does his inspiration justice with this game, and any fan of his from the peak of his career can't go wrong with The Evil Within.
[T]here's so much to do, and so much of it is great fun, that I don't miss those elements like I might in a game with art and writing that doesn't climb as high as Dragon Age: Inquisition does.
It delivers on everything it promises, and I'm still not having fun.
Buy this game, especially if you are like me and have a hard time enjoying the series outside of Resident Evil 4. It might even make a Resident Evil fan out of you too.
I'll give Capcom the benefit of the doubt and assume it's going to be a decent game from start to end. I don't find it quite as engaging as Revelations HD just yet, but the setup alone for a larger game has me excited for more.
Dragon Ball Xenoverse is a light-hearted fighting game that will serve fans of the anime, but the customizable avatar gives it that extra edge to set it apart as "more than just another licensed game."
My emotions towards DmC Devil May Cry are a mixed bag. It frustrated me. It made me roll my eyes. It made me tense. I would say the highs and lows were about even, but as I wrap up this review, a part of my brain is nagging me, telling me that I am not quite finished with this game yet.
I don't want to point fingers at anybody for Final Fantasy Type-0 HD because I am glad that it just exists in English at all. However, this is not the game that Square Enix has been hyping, and it should be tackled with a certain set of expectations.
Axiom Verge comes loaded with this feeling. It might have been a revelation if Happ released it within a year of when he started development, when the indie market was still fresh. Nowadays, it's just a solid game. Nothing extraordinary, making me wonder if the extraordinary $20 price, a few dollars on top of typical PSN indie releases, is worth it.
It's a solid foundation, and if Adventures of Pip proves to be as financially successful as it deserves to be, I would like to see a sequel that promotes more exploration, ala Super Mario World. Branching paths, secret exits, "expert" levels. You know the drill. Adventure of Pip is a wonderful little platformer and further proof that Kickstarter can help fund some of life's more pleasurable joys. $14.99 is a steal for one of my favorite games so far in 2015.
The King of Monsters returns to the video game scene in a massive compendium of destruction and chaos with all of his allies and enemies.