Scott Ellison II's Reviews
Shredders is pure, focusing on snowboarding while still being entertaining, and for that it succeeds. It’s something that’s never too demanding or too easy on you, and you can just perform tricks to your heart’s content, or work your way through the campaign. The game is available on PC and Xbox, and I do recommend you check this out on Xbox Game Pass if you have it. FoamPunch has a lot of ambition and desire to make something great, and while it does miss the mark a bit, it’s something you should still play. Shredders is a gratifying game that feels a little undercooked, even though the roster of pro-snowboarders that talk in the game sound totally baked.
Shadow Warrior 3 is not a bad time, it just isn’t as forward thinking as its predecessors. It’s a mess of ideas with a flawed execution that leads to disappointment. There’s a healthy armory of fun weapons to shoot, upgrades to acquire, and finishers that are fantastically bloody to keep you entertained. Lo Wang’s movement and world traversal is the best it’s ever been. Flying Wild Hog gets so much right, but the parts they don’t overshadow the whole experience. Shadow Warrior 3 is so staggeringly linear and short, and without any real replayability to speak of, is a game that falls on its own sword.
Firegirl: Hack ’n Splash Rescue is a gorgeous game, as the 2D sprites against 3D backdrops go really well together. The core gameplay of putting out fires and combating the various monsters is really fun, as is engaging with the metagame that drives the upgrades. But the repetition and lack of variety in the levels is very draining and tiresome. Future content patches could address these concerns, but until then I advise caution. Firegirl: Hack ’n Splash Rescue has a solid foundation, but the over-reliance on repetition and grinding is not as enjoyable as it should be.
Bright Memory: Infinite doesn’t overstay its welcome, but with a lengthy of only an hour and a half to see the credits, feels like it only just got started. And because of that, it still feels like a tech demo that should be something more – a criticism shared by its predecessor. It’s style over substance, but respectful of your time, and that’s hard to find. Bright Memory: Infinite is nothing short of impressive by FYQD-Studio, regardless of anything else. Bright Memory: Infinite’s ambition is never fully realized, but that doesn’t stop it from being a gorgeous, flashy, and entertaining game.
Call of Duty: Vanguard is not a bad game, but it feels halfhearted, with most of its heart poured into the campaign. It’s something that doesn’t live up to its potential, and could’ve been better. If you’re picking this one up, do it for the campaign and stay for the multiplayer to prepare for Warzone. The Zombies mode should be avoided until more content gets added to it in the coming months. We won’t know how Vanguard’s integration into Warzone will influence the battle royale until next month. As it stands, Call of Duty: Vanguard is good enough to get you through until next month where hopefully there’s a more to return for.
Truth Quest is aimless, offering little motivation to drive this mystery home. The short runtime makes it easy to chew, however. It does recycle a lot of content from the base game alongside the new activities, though it isn’t quite enough to keep things exciting. But if more Maneater is what you’re after, then Truth Quest has that in spades. This DLC just lacks the charm of what made Maneater so special, yet it remains fitting for the tone of the game. Maneater: Truth Quest is an inessential add-on, but there’s enough interesting things to satiate most.
Twelve Minutes is a thought-provoking, intriguing puzzler. There’s a reliance on trial-and-error, even in purposeful repetition that felt painful to deal with. This resulted in reaching points of frustration often, which made the four or so hours feel that much longer. That said, I was compelled to see it through as each new discovery was made. As bizarre as it was, the ending has a swerve I didn’t see coming that I came to enjoy. The game is at its best when either the things you make a guess about or deduce, just work out, and your loop pushes things forward. If you can endure the obtuse design of its puzzles for the unraveling narrative, Twelve Minutes might just be worth playing.
Aliens: Fireteam Elite is a lot of fun whether solo, or with friends. It feels rather disjointed not having any cutscenes or meaningful threads for any of the campaigns. The crashes, bugs, and audio flatness get in the way of its overall enjoyment and longevity. Cold Iron Studios have post-launch content lined up, and so there’s promise of these issues being fixed and there being more to do in the near future. Aliens: Fireteam Elite lacks the connective tissue and spectacle that the films are known for, yet manages to provide entertainment for mindless, late-night sessions with friends.
I was hoping for more, but I can’t say I’m disappointed with what I got. SkyDrift Infinity doesn’t try to do anything more than it claims to be. It’s a fun-for-all ages game that will take several hours to see all the content, and many more hours in order to do everything that there is to offer. SkyDrift Infinity is wonderfully engaging and enjoyable spectacle, just not an essential purchase.
While I lauded the original Contracts for its promise and revitalization for the series, turned out to be short-lived. This is a good game, marred by outdated stealth design, a continued lack of manual saving, and frustrations solved by other games many times over. This is a game that’s meant to be replayed, and should despite some drawbacks and flaws CI Games has yet to address. It’s true that Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 is a better game than its predecessor in every way, still providing thrills through a deep and rewarding sniping system enhanced by some impressive gore and ranges only real snipers have experienced, until now.
There are times where Siege Survival: Gloria Victis is clunky with its interface or systems, though it’s not enough to be a deterrent. It’s a game that lacks some polish, and could be cleaned up in patches. A lot of this game draws comparisons to This War of Mine, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it just lacks the heart that game had. Siege Survival: Gloria Victis is lean on content and low on replayability, and without more scenarios available, makes it hard to recommend fully.
MotoGP 21 requires precision, and is not very welcoming to newcomers, even with tutorials and its easiest difficulty setting. There’s a commitment to learning the game’s systems to start to feel like you’re improving. Now, there’s some sharper textures, inclusion of HDR on PC, and other graphical improvements that look great; but nothing about the visuals or gameplay feels all that new, or next-generation. MotoGP 21 is a solid, competent, but ultimately stale racer that coasts with this year’s release.
Crash Dive 2 is not the most attractive game out there, but it does have its moments. What it lacks in visuals, is made-up with its depth in gameplay. While I enjoy most of the additions and improvements here, I personally prefer the first game — though I find them to be on-par with one another. Crash Dive 2‘s best feature is its approachability, blurring between arcade and simulation, streamlining the once dormant sub-genre in clever and interesting ways.
This re-release of Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse does make me wish it was a remake like Destroy All Humans! got last year. However, it being exactly how I remember and so little changed is some great nostalgia. It’s a fun, silly, and stupid game that doesn’t last too long — kind of perfect for 2021. It’s a budget priced title that is clearly aiming to gauge interest in a potential sequel, and I’m all for it. I had a blast going back to experience being a love-stricken zombie all over again.
Stronghold: Warlords gets more right than it doesn’t. The unique East-Asian factions that this game provides is a much needed change from the medieval times we’re used to. It’s more RTS than fans of the series will bargain for, and the warlords system is interesting but has its fair share of issues. The game’s attractive pricing should sway anyone on the fence. Stronghold: Warlords is refreshing take on the Stronghold series, but doesn’t quite execute on its new ideas fully — it’s a bit outdated, but not antiquated.
It’s fair to say that RetroMania Wrestling achieves in making the sequel it wants to be by having the gameplay, pixel art, and sound that feels like it came from the SNES era for wrestling fans — albeit for those who follow more wrestling that isn’t WWE. The roster is shallow, and may not be what you want or expect, but it does have talent worthy of being here. The story mode is incomplete, and the flow of combat is often interrupted – these are the real problems. Yet, I can’t help but enjoy everything RetroMania Wrestling has to offer here, even though it doesn’t have staying power.
Without having played the original RUNE II at launch last year, I lack the understanding of the state that game was in. RUNE II: Decapitation Edition appears to be an improvement in just about every aspect. This game suffers from standard open-world problems like repetitive quest design, uneven visuals, and stiff dialogue; some of these things I suspect can’t be helped or fixed. For what issues remain, they don’t detract from the fact that I’m constantly booting up RUNE II: Decapitation Edition to begin the next quest. It can be a bit mindless, but it’s not aimless. I think it’s safe to say that RUNE II: Decapitation Edition has been saved from its own destruction by some passionate developers, and it delivers an enjoyable open-world RPG that has some rough edges, and should be given another chance at life.
While WWE 2K21 was canceled for this year, I found WWE 2K BATTLEGROUNDS to be a solid replacement. While they are not facsimiles to one another, it fills the gap nicely. I think there’s valid concerns with the microtransactions, but for the most part isn’t egregious or tacky. The game’s biggest modes are chock full of content for hours of entertainment, and even the remainder of the modes are fun to play with its stylized visuals. The longevity will lie in its multiplayer modes, and crossplay deepens the player pool. WWE 2K BATTLEGROUNDS is an ultracompetent brawler that doesn’t try to be more than it is, which is a really entertaining take on wrestling.
Crysis was a technical marvel thirteen years ago, and in some respects still is. It was the game to beat in terms of graphics and benchmarks for so many years. Crysis Remastered tries to insert itself into that conversation again, but it’s just not there yet. It’s clear that Crytek and Saber Interactive have made some mistakes here, with removing features deemed essential to the experience, cutting a level inexplicably, and making visual changes that affect the mood. It’s not a mediocre remaster, just disappointing and hamstrung in places you wouldn’t expect. Crysis Remastered is still a solid science-fiction shooter sandbox, lacking things that are supposed to be the barometer of PC gaming excellence in favor for what seems to be console compromises.
Is a dungeon still a dungeon if the majority of the levels are above ground? Well, the game doesn’t seem to need or want to answer this. When The Dungeon Of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet Of Chaos isn’t crashing or displaying incorrect text, it’s actually a challenging game that provides some well-earned laughs. The combat can be lengthy, and even sometimes frustrating, but very rewarding when you scrape by with a victory. When you divorce the conflicting ideas being humorous and a hardcore tactical RPG, while ignoring the graphical faults, there is an enjoyable game in The Dungeon Of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet Of Chaos. You just have to dig a bit deeper to find it.