Aaron Riccio Avatar Image

Aaron Riccio


Favorite Games:
  • Chrono Trigger
  • Virtue's Last Reward
  • The Stanley Parable

245 games reviewed
64.9 average score
70 median score
44.9% of games recommended

Aaron Riccio's Reviews

Aaron Riccio's been arguing over the merits of video games since discovering the merits of 1990's Miracle Piano Teaching System straight through to recent kerfluffles over the value of so-called walking simulators. His sweet spot is the intersection between puzzle, action, and adventure games, though he realistically tries to play just about everything, and is an ardent supporter of any artists attempting to break new ground.
Jul 9, 2019

The similarities between SolSeraph and ActRaiser are unmistakable, but it's a joyless facsimile that lacks a single spark of innovation.

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Jun 12, 2019

This is a rare adventure game in which the journey is actually more of a reward than the destination.

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Jun 5, 2019

Even the few inventive stretches of the game are ultimately driven into the ground by a punishing sense of repetition.

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May 26, 2019

The game's first few acts are its finest, particularly for their strong sense of physicality.

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May 3, 2019

The game is clearly geared toward young players, so expect a lightweight experience.

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Apr 18, 2019

This VR title boasts an endearingly goofy premise, but it's one that's executed in bumpy fashion.

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The game doesn't rely on narrative reasons to entice the player, leaning instead on endorphin-releasing gameplay hooks.

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Feb 21, 2019

By the time New Dawn reaches its rushed third act, it's broken down entirely.

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At its best, the game leaves you by your lonesome to get to know the “deep blue” sky as intimately as possible.

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Dec 11, 2018

It doesn’t matter how cool an individual set piece looks if all the smaller scenes leading up to it are marred by unresponsive vehicles, dumb AI, and shoddy physics.

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Nov 28, 2018

There’s little to love about Darksiders III, even for longtime fans.

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Nov 16, 2018

Battlefield V‘s failure to communicate, whether the emotional disconnect of each War Story or the difficulty of organizing your fellow soldiers in a Grand Operation, is the crippling problem that holds the game back from greatness.

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Nov 9, 2018

Mizuguchi has made strong, confident choices with his approach to Tetris, the Zone ability most prominent among them, but he’s done so uncompromisingly. And that’s an effect that’s as likely to leave tetrominos burned into your retinas as it is to simply leave you feeling cold and alone.

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Apart from the fact that combat is resolved by placing cards into rows as opposed to moving units across a map, there's little difference between Thronebreaker and similarly hand-drawn, resource-gathering, unit-upgrading games like Heroes of Might and Magic and The Banner Saga. If anything, Thronebreaker offers a deeper strategic experience, given the distinct feel of these custom-crafted battles, with their special victory conditions and unique cards.

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Before you know it, Starlink turns playing with toys into something that feels an awful lot like work.

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Oct 10, 2018

Super Mario Party has enough rough and baffling components such that the "Super" tucked into the title feels a bit undeserved, but it shows a developer operating with the best of intentions, attempting to offer up a party for every sort of player.

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Aug 21, 2018

Super-charged in almost every way, Guacamelee! 2 makes its predecessor look like a backyard wrestling match.

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Aug 15, 2018

WarioWare Gold slightly redeems itself only after you've suffered through the feeble punchlines of the Story mode and have unlocked Challenge mode, which puts bizarre roadblocks in front of the player that affect your interactions with the microgames.

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Aug 6, 2018

Motion Twin's Dead Cells is a game designed for those who don't particularly like roguelikes.

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The Switch delivers Captain Toad in a higher-resolution format, and with better gyroscopic controls.

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