Chandler Wood's Reviews
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is truly an incredible masterpiece. The writing and building of the world alone should be lauded as some of the best in video games. Stories weave in and out of one another surprisingly. The consequences of every decision are far reaching and unpredictable while also making complete sense once they happen. The world is organic, dangerous, and fun to explore. There is a true sense of reward and accomplishment. While minor design choices keep it from being absolutely perfect, The Witcher 3 will go down as one of the best games of this generation of consoles.
Bungie has been on trial by fans of Destiny since the release of The Dark Below, but House of Wolves has shown great strides in the evolution and support of a game that has personally held my attention for hundreds of hours, even if I have had my share of criticisms about the way certain things have been handled. It's not quite perfect, but if the improvements made in House of Wolves are any indication of the future, then I'm eager to see what kind of stuff Bungie comes up with to support and evolve Destiny next.
The Escapists holds the methodical tedium of a prison life simulator with some escape mechanics built in, rather than a thrilling game in which you plan your escape. More focus on teaching the intricacies of the mechanics in-game would have done wonders for The Escapists and actually hatching and carrying out a master plan for escaping confinement, because at its core The Escapists is a thrilling concept. Instead we get stuck going through the motions like it's The Sims: Prison Life as we realize we're two months into our sentence and no closer to being on the other side of those bars than the day we got thrown into the joint. Time to hit the showers, boys!
The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited is a long term commitment. It is a game that is meant to be played over time, with nuances to the game that you may never even encounter, depending on how you decide to play the game. Fortunately, there is no subscription fee for console players, which removes a huge barrier of entry, and though it is an MMO, it strikes a balance of being enjoyable enough to play solo as well. If you're looking for Skyrim Online, you won't quite find that depth here, but the sheer magnitude of The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited makes up for it, and there's nothing quite like running into your friends while questing across Tamriel.
The vast differences between the choices at the end of Episode Two, the introduction of two major new intriguing players, and the crucial development of some old ones kept Catch a Ride as a strong episode despite it's much more leisurely pacing. It retains much of that humor and charm and the new characters don't disappoint in this field either. While it's obviously a midpoint piece and isn't quite as strong as the first two episodes, Catch a Ride sets the stage to drive Tales From the Borderlands into what is certain to be an explosively violent, yet veraciously hilarious final half.
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter sets out to achieve a very specific goal and despite some slight missteps along the way, it largely succeeds in offering players a sense of spectral wonder through simplistic gameplay and stunning visuals, all wrapped in a well written mystery that leaves its mark.
Journey is minimalist to allow you to fill in those gaps with your own emotion and experience — to apply your personal situation and make the story your own. It's a simple beauty, but one that shines brightly and now has the opportunity to be played by millions more thanks to its stunning upgrade to PS4, with beautiful lighting and environments that impress. Whether you've played Journey before, or never had the opportunity, do yourself a favor and make your way to the top of the mountain on PS4. You may find more on the way to the peak than you expected at the outset.
King's Quest Chapter 1: A Knight to Remember is brilliant. The Odd Gentlemen have managed to modernize a classic, retaining much of what makes the originals so beloved, yet not making it feel outdated for modern gamers, even if we do have to deal with a bit of backtracking.
Goat Simulator is unapologetically absurd but fails to meaningfully give players anything to do beyond the occasional ridiculous party trick. It was a fun ride for an evening or two, but the novelty quickly wore off as I found myself fighting with poor mechanics that add nothing to the rapidly repetitive zany nature of the game. Don't get me wrong, it has its funny moments — I mean, you're a physics-centric goat that kinda, sorta wrecks some stuff and can turn into a whale — but the moments fizzle out all too quickly. It's not that it's bad. It's just really not all that good.
From the opening with Rhys hilariously attempting to zig-zag as he runs from his masked captor, to the epic Borderlands staple credits sequence set to a great soundtrack, and all the way to the jaw dropping conclusion, Escape Plan Bravo manages to cram humor, heart, and tension into one of the best episodes that they've ever created in any of their series.
There's a well written and unchanging lore here. It's campy, but it's horror and was never billed as anything else. The events on the mountain are set in motion and then wrapped around each of your decisions and characters' fates. There are certain points and choices that will cause each character to die, some in a variety of nasty and horrific ways, and something about taking the reins of a character in a horror movie is just satisfying. Instead of yelling at the screen that they made a stupid choice, you get to beat yourself up for what you did to get them killed. When the sun rises and the final survivors are tallied up, you'll realize Until Dawn isn't perfect, but no matter which choices you make, it's one hell of a ride.
These small issues can easily be ignored when it comes to appreciating just how impressive of a project Tearaway Unfolded is. What could have been a simple cash-in HD port of the handheld title was instead lovingly (paper)crafted by the developers into a vastly improved, dedicated PS4 platformer.
This is the perfect time to enter the Destiny universe, and if the changes and additions introduced in The Taken King are any indication of how Bungie's world will evolve, I'll gladly continue to bring my light to the fight against the darkness.
[T]here's little reason not to own this phenomenally remastered collection of beloved PS3 classics and rediscover the treasures on PS4.
As LEGO's first foray into toys-to-life games, they've done an impressive job utilizing the full power of their roster to create a great game that respects the properties it features, from Doctor Who to GLaDOS to Simpsons. It's lamentable then that a great LEGO adventure is fragmented by the staccato nature of reminding you what you don't have.
By taking Geralt out of his element and changing the course of what we'd expect from a stoic witcher, Hearts of Stone is a must own for anyone that's been hanging on to The Witcher 3. The story alone is enough to warrant jumping back in, but the way it integrates into the existing game just expands the already massive scope of the world. It's not perfect, and there are a few missteps in execution — most notably in the lackluster addition of runewords — but it more than makes up for its faults in the things that it does well. It leaves me feeling very excited for the next expansion, Blood and Wine, which is reportedly double in size.
You just need to buy the game and the streaming library is at your fingertips. But they've also added the offline Live mode, and gone above and beyond in creating an extremely unique way to live out your rockstar fantasies. Add in the brilliant new game mechanics that come from the reconfigured guitar controller, and combining our old love of rhythm games with the modern way we consume music, and Guitar Hero Live is the worthwhile reunion of an old favorite that we've all been waiting for.
The writing and flow, apart from the sudden cut after (spoilers), are once again top-notch, and Telltale flexes their unique ability to cast a known property in a light that feels completely different, yet retains the crucial elements that keep it rooted in the source material.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is an insanely full featured game. If code was a physical thing, this game disc would be bursting at the seams with how much Treyarch has packed onto one Blu-ray. There's a little something for everyone here. Players looking for a dark, rich narrative have the campaign. Competitive players have a whole new way to play in multiplayer. Fans of roguelikes and horde modes have Shadows of Evil. Switching between all of these modes is extremely easy too, and it never felt like I was stuck playing one thing or another. Player freedom, customization, and choice are central to every element. Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 isn't just a great Black Ops game. It isn't just a great Call of Duty game. It's a damn good game overall.
War. War never changes. And neither does the amount of time I'm willing to sink into a Fallout game.