Cody Maynard
Halcyon 6: Starbase Commander is a fun (and funny) game with great art and novel ideas. For a casual experience, it’s a game that offers a lot of enjoyment, but can get a little stale pretty quickly. It’s a large improvement on everything that’s good about the games I love on iOS, but it doesn’t manage to bridge that gap to a full-fledged PC game completely, leaving you hanging in a few areas wishing for a bit more depth.
Whether you're a die-hard Dragon Quest fan, or just a gamer looking to break into a crafting game with a healthy side of quests, Dragon Quest Builders offers and in-depth experience with the charming style of the franchise. While the addiction may wear off slightly after the first couple chapters, it never ceases to be a rewarding game. Humor, style, and creative freedom make this a great title.
In my honest opinion, I would say you could pass on Slain: Back from Hell—it simply isn’t a must-play. If you happen to have the extra cash, and are looking for something mildly enjoyable, then you could definitely do far worse—there are moments of pure, sidescrolling fun in this game and the art and style add to the appeal—but I wouldn’t go out of my way here. The best thing that can come from throwing some cash at this game is that the developers might be encouraged to make another game, and next time, make one with a little more depth and reward. Assuming you’re like me, with limited financial resources, and you’ve got your eye on another game, then, by all means, get that other game.
This game simply should have stayed on PC. With its confusing control scheme and burdensome cursor navigation, it was never destined for consoles. I imagine that the game's success on PC made it a pretty safe bet to make some money on consoles (and I'm sure that with the initial $40 price it did just that), but it simply doesn't port well.
Assault Suit Leynos is very much an arcade title, plain and simple. With only a handful of levels, the grueling difficulty of Classic Mode gives the game more worth. Honestly, it feels like those old arcade classics that were nearly unbeatable, eating up all of your quarters.
Grand Kingdom had me really interested in the beginning (especially with that sweet intro theme), and I enjoyed my first few hours of play. Over time, though, the game started to lose me. The story didn't hold up and made some interestingly bad choices in the way it handled single-player gameplay. Since I really enjoy offline play at times, that just didn't sit well with me. I do have to hand it to the game for its great online mechanics, its interesting class system, and its wealth of content, which a lot of games don't offer.
The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth adds more replayability to an already endlessly replayable game. The wealth of new content will keep new and seasoned players alike coming back for more. While the fresh challenges are fun and Greed Mode adds a new spin, more new ways to play with the Isaac franchise would make the Afterbirth expansion top-notch.