I can’t, in short, say anything bad about Savage Vessels that isn’t heavily outweighed by everything it’s doing that’s rewarding and exciting.
As many players of Mutant Year Zero observed, that game was largely a puzzle game with a small shootout at the end, and Corruption 2029’s structure is very much cut from the same cloth.
It could have been longer, it could have been more substantial and dramatic. But it’s a good way to relax for a few hours.
I do enjoy Minilaw. I find its mistakes frustrating precisely because it’s otherwise a tonne of fun to play. It looks gorgeous, the sound and music are first rate, and when it works, gunning attackers down feels great.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York is essentially a collection of subplots for their own sake, largely set in stone. But they’re written with talent and confidence and I would gladly read some more.
If you’ve been waiting for a full-on simulation with all the bells and textbooks, and nothing less will satisfy you, Mechwarrior 5 isn’t going to cut it. For everyone else though, it’s bloody excellent.
It’s an accomplishment, and it’s certainly better and more original than the vast bulk of games in the physics-gimmick subgenre, but I respect it a lot more than I like it.
I can’t really recommend it beyond its being a pleasant enough child-friendly diversion, but it feels cruel even to judge it that harshly. There’s certainly a good afternoon or two of harmless fun in it. There’s a split screen mode too, with its own maps full of co-operative and competitive challenges, which I can absolutely imagine annoying my sister on.
This is a beautiful game not just about trying to help people, but about the desire to help people.
My opinion of Children Of Morta has improved, and I can see it finding a happy audience. But if I wasn’t reviewing it I doubt I’d have got there. It leads with its worst foot and you have to grind for hours to drag the other one into the dance.
I enjoyed this one, and if Supermassive Games continue on trend, I’m optimistic for the rest of the series.
RAD is a good time, and it overcame a lot of my initial reservations. I just wish it wasn’t so built on chance, and the all-too-1980s misery of playing through the same parts dozens of times to get to the bits I want.
Automachef is a great little thing when you adjust to its rhythms, and it’s entirely to blame for my abysmal lunch habits.
It’s a carefully directed, genuinely beautiful game well worth your time.
Eagle Island promises a lot, but whether it ever truly delivers I cannot say, because after two days with it I am plain done. I was never quite enjoying it as much as I wanted to, and it never quite came together even during the brief window when the plot took a turn and it looked like it was about to really open up.
I’m absolutely recommending Chinese Parents. It’s fun. It’s tremendous fun, and while I was hoping for more room to experiment or completely mess a child up (sorry Dave, it was nothing personal), I still wanted – indeed, still want – to have another go. It’s funny, it’s accessible despite all its numbers and moving parts, and there aren’t many games that get me so animated about a 9-year-old’s school test results. The design is solid too.
Even without acknowledging the unusually huge difficulties Kiro’o faced in getting it released at all, Aurion suffers a major blow but stands up as an original, memorable, and rewarding game that deserves every success.
I like the idea of Valhalla and some presentation gripes aside, I like its execution. It’s no great revelation but a pleasant surprise, and being a mundane bystander going about their day instead of the plot-critical centre of the universe is an under-explored concept.