Sam Machkovech


105 games reviewed
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Jun 30, 2022

Last Course also includes a series of five optional battles that revolve around chess-themed bosses, though in these, all weapons and charm-based offensive abilities are disabled. You can only defeat these bosses by keeping track of flashing-pink parts of the bosses, then repeatedly colliding with those with your parry maneuver. Miss Chalice's updated parry ability makes her a great choice for this optional boss-rush sequence, but however you face it, Studio MDHR uses this parry-only restriction to execute some of the series' most memorable boss moments (even if they're a bit easier than the standard bosses).

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Unscored - Stray
Jul 18, 2022

One early moment appears to block players' progress with a gate, but with no other direction to go, players will likely walk toward the gate, only to realize its bars are wide enough to let a cat easily pass through. It's one of the many examples of the game reminding players that they are tiny and can get through small paths, and I really appreciated when Stray's puzzles rewarded proper "just walk right through" thinking.

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Mar 11, 2014

Buy it, then buy it for all of your friends so you can play at their house.

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Apr 28, 2015

Ultimately, there's more meat on the second act's puzzle bones, especially due to a memorable final-blast puzzle, and while the game's ending was more of a whimper than a bang—and it included some cockamamie ways to tie up the plot's loose ends—I appreciated the restraint on the writers' part to not force melodrama or melancholy on what eventually transpired. This game is the story of two young people who face the ups and downs of throwing off the shackles of youth—and it's also about their family and loved ones being there the whole way through.

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Jan 16, 2014

Adjust your Grim Fandango-fueled expectations and you'll delight in Broken Age: Act One's brief glimmers of story and puzzle genius.

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Oct 21, 2014

Buy it for the kids. Rent or Twitch it for the remixes.

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Unscored - Super Time Force
May 14, 2014

Buy it, or travel in time to grab it in an eventual sale.

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Unscored - Rocket League
Jul 11, 2015

Buy it if you have four controllers for one of the best couch games of the year; wait for working online modes if you don't.

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Nov 20, 2013

You'll want to see Forza 5 push the Xbox One to its visual limits, but this is the good-but-thin game that will make you glad Microsoft relented on its no-rental policy. Try It.

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Jul 24, 2015

Try it if you have found modern platforming games to be too "soft."

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Unscored - Fallout 4
Nov 9, 2015

Don't cancel your pre-order, but don't rush to buy Fallout 4 if you didn't place an order already either.

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Unscored - Quantum Break
Apr 1, 2016

Sci-fi story lovers should buy. Everyone else should rent or try it later.

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Unscored - The Witness
Jan 25, 2016

more, everything about the game—its puzzle structure, its philosophical leanings, its mysteries—eventually comes together in pretty arresting fashion. Part of this is thanks to the game's multiple layers of puzzle-solving gameplay. We've been asked not to say more about that part. Players may need as little as an hour or as long as two weeks to figure out one of The Witness's coolest parts, but however and whenever players get to that point, it's a pretty clever one. (Some of the game's most incredible aesthetic trickery comes as a result of this part of the game, by the way. Kudos to Thekla for pulling it off.)

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Unscored - Gorogoa
Dec 12, 2017

Do you have kids? Buy and share Gorogoa as soon as you can. This game is admittedly dark and somber, but its saddest content is more of an issue of tone and confusion than outright inappropriate material, and its delightfully illustrated puzzles do not come more recommended for children. Hardcore puzzle fans, meanwhile, should do their best to take a breath while coming up with Gorogoa's solutions and admire the gorgeous story.

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Aug 19, 2016

Buy. Buy the heck out of this game.

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Unscored - Tharsis
Jan 14, 2016

e told, we took a few extra days to finish this review in hopes that we'd beat the "normal" difficulty's 10 rounds even once. As of press time, we've yet to get past round 8. That is a huge asterisk for this game's appeal; the overwhelming role of luck rarely presents a clean feeling that you've accumulated real skill or progress. As a result, you'll quite honestly need at least two dozen sessions before you come to grips with a range of successful strategies, and therefore, the feeling that this isn't just a fancy-looking exercise in just rolling dice and dying. (We're hopeful that the upcoming free "missions" mode will offer these exact kinds of progress morsels, but Choice Provisions hasn't announced when we should expect those to launch.)

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Aug 13, 2015

Spend this game's five-hour runtime catching up on a better story game you might have missed.

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Unscored - Rare Replay
Aug 3, 2015

Buy it if you're an Xbox One owner who could use a deep dive into classic, super-hard games.

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Oct 3, 2015

There's a heartfelt story here, but it's one you can watch just as easily as you can play. Try it.

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Unscored - Tomodachi Life
Jun 6, 2014

Try it if you're a tween (or a tween-at-heart). Otherwise, avoid it.

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