Fittingly, a game that is about getting cake is really more of a snack than a meal; you won't find a robust narrative in the Story Mode of Kirby Battle Royale. Like a pastry, the game is mostly empty calories and air. But it's still satisfying, even if it isn't filling, and makes for a happy addition to my 3DS library.
But for what it is, Back 4 Blood proves that what made Left 4 Dead good is still a lot of fun, even if this new iteration doesn't make use of every innovative convention to spring up since the series' original release. And there's something to be said for aging gracefully and not shoehorning in everything at once. As the old plastic surgery adage goes, sometimes it's best not to remake but maintain.
Far Cry never felt like just a shooter or just another open world game to me, but rather, a combination of many genres that offered balance between the cozier, more relaxing parts of the game and the high stakes, overstimulating pace of the main storyline. I guess maybe that's why, as I approached this review in the wake of Far Cry 5, I oddly felt the need to pin it to a single identity. I'm disappointed to see the series scale back at the expense of other features but New Dawn does a fine job of reinforcing that creative decision and offers some small hope that the writing may continue to improve. If outposts are your favorite part of the series, then you'll likely enjoy Far Cry New Dawn.
That being said, Life is Strange 2 boldly covers subject matter that so often is tiptoed around or completely ignored in entertainment, and it's refreshing to see the studio address topics like racism and police brutality head-on. While I'd like to see some technical aspects polished up (the facial animations still lack a decent range of expression, for example), Episode 1 is a solid start on this new saga in the series. I look forward to seeing what becomes of the Diaz brothers as they continue to head towards Mexico over the course of the next four episodes.
And until then, the game is still solid enough to be worth a playthrough, especially at its price point and if you're a fan of VR. While I'm still not sure splitting the games into chapters was necessary, it works to provide a bit of a break between lengthy sections spent meandering through airspace, which helps ensure the game's main gimmick doesn't become too stale. Downward Spiral: Horus Station is drifting in the right direction, even if it sometimes loses its grip.
The story, mechanics, lore and aesthetic are all fantastic, but some simple tweaks, like improvements to the mission notes, would balance the crafting and survival aspects enough to make them less of an impediment to completion. That being said, whatever effort you put in to finish Smoke and Sacrifice will be worth it. It's flawed, but it's a step in the right direction for survival crafting games, and I hope to see others in its genre take the same initiative towards aesthetic and narrative in the future.
As a spin-off and follow-up to Saints Row 4, Agents of Mayhem is an imperfect start that wields enormous potential. The agent-switch mechanism is so effective in encouraging player strategy that I'm not willing to write it off yet. But if there's anything to learn from Volition's past, it's that the pressure to reinvent and outdo itself is still very much on, and even more so now with Agents of Mayhem's future.
Battleborn is a lot of fun but how popular it will be remains to be seen. Releasing it during roughly the same window as DOOM and Overwatch was poor timing on their part. I plan to keep playing it, but given the game's retreading of Borderlands with an added MOBA spin, I don't expect my friends to join me.
The Frozen Wilds is a fine example of quality post-release content
It's not a terribly long game, but neither should it be. Kill It With Fire's short gameplay matches its light tone, and keeps the premise from wearing out its welcome. Despite its low stakes, it is high spirited, and about as complicated and deep as it needs to be. If you've ever wanted to upend furniture and mow down a hedge maze just to get a spider, you'll feel personally targeted by this one. It's revenge fantasy chicken soup for the arachnophobic soul.
Ultimately, it delivers exactly what I desire from games in its genre: a brain busting experience that challenges the limits of my creative problem solving skills without exhausting them.
My trip through the The World Next Door might have been short, but it was still worth the journey. I look forward to seeing how Rose City Games expands on it in the future.
These days, with all the focus on online multiplayer, it's not as easy to find a satisfying couch co-op game, especially one that can be enjoyable across several age groups. Playing such a good one reminds me of how much more spirited a game feels when you can feed off the other players' energy in person. Overcooked 2 should be cherished, even if it's exhausting and threatens to tear your family apart.
In other words, slow your roll, Tumbleseed.
Ultimately the game provides too much nostalgic satisfaction for me to be upset by its conventions, no matter how punishing or familiar they may be. Style may not always offer substance, but in the case of Cuphead, I'm satisfied.
It's very effective at reinforcing the material and committing the facts to memory. The game is a bit too short (the big reveal is never given a chance to really build to its full effect), and I feel it ended a bit abruptly, but after the credits as the events came to a close, I was intrigued by the hint at a later installment. In A Case of Distrust, the verdict is in: guilty of being an enjoyable game.
Overall, Thief is a great play. The script flaws, while annoying, are forgivable in light of the many hours of quality gameplay. It's not perfect but it's an enjoyable challenge that will go down as one of the better gaming experiences of 2014.
Obsidian is on to something good with The Outer Worlds. The writing has an irresistible humanity, and the factions, skill system, and dynamic companion interactivity offer a beautifully complicated depth that makes me mourn the loss of Fallout 4 all over again. With it, I don't have to miss Fallout: New Vegas anymore—I can just enjoy what its core features have become. So far, this new horizon looks promising.
Runner3 adeptly balances pleasure and pain
Monster Prom is ridiculously fun and laugh out loud funny; I've been cackling like Edna Crabapple with almost every panel. I plan to play it a lot more even though I'm done with my review, which is basically the biggest compliment I can give a game these days. Whether you're a fan of dating stimula—er, simulators—or not, I highly recommend it.