Nick Herber's Reviews
BlazBlue: Central Fiction is an excellent addition to the long-running 2D fighting franchise. The complex combat systems are back, rewarding players willing to put the time into mastering the game's mechanics. If this is indeed the final chapter in the series, it is going out on an incredibly high note.
Batman: The Telltale Series - Episode 3: New World Order continues an interesting trend that the first two episodes established. That trend is this: Bruce Wayne and not Batman is the real star of the series, and you know what? I am absolutely alright with this. This episode gets off to a slower start than the first two chapters, but it still consistently delivers a quality story that concludes strong and sets up the last couple of chapters wonderfully.
What happens when you take an already excellent strategy title, tweaking the little things while adding a new layer of depth? You wind up with an outstanding game that is more of an enhanced game than a true sequel, but no matter what you call it Nobunaga's Ambition: Sphere of Influence - Ascension is an excellent strategy game that once again proves that they can exist on consoles as well as PC's.
Through the Woods nails creepy atmosphere and has an interesting story that draws on Norse mythology - something that gives it a unique feeling. However, sometimes finicky mechanics and some other rough edges dampen the experience and hold the game back from ever reaching its potential. That is a shame because Through the Woods presents several missed opportunities where the development team executed on some things very well, while other less effective aspects of the presentation hurt the experience as a whole.
Dark, gritty and willing to take chances, Trillion: God of Destruction is an interesting strategy/RPG hybrid that sometimes struggles to find an identity but still serves up a memorable experience. Trillion won't be for everyone, but fans of JRPG or strategy games should give this one a chance.
Titanfall 2 does exactly what you would hope it would, by offering improvement in almost every aspect of the game. The presentation is top-notch, the campaign mode is cleverly done and the multiplayer finds better pacing with more options that should keep the community engaged for some time to come.
When first firing up Super Dungeon Bros, I was immediately reminded of Gauntlet, one of my favorite old arcade games of all time. This looks like a more cartoonish, playful and possibly even more entertaining version of that formula. The problem is, once you strip away the charmingly cute exterior, Super Dungeon Bros is a decidedly average experience that does a few things right but has a few things wrong with it as well.
New Retro Arcade: Neon is a cool experience, but like any software that serves as a framework, you're going to get out of it what you put in. The interface is not terribly user-friendly and it will require some research to get the hang of customizing your own personal arcade, but the end results are pretty satisfying. If you're not comfortable with this modification aspect of the title or don't want to sink some time into it, then New Retro Arcade: Neon is probably not for you since as a plug-and-play game it is rather lacking overall.
A King's Tale: Final Fantasy XV is an entertaining little title that came as a pre-order bonus for Final Fantasy XV via Gamestop. For a freebie title, I actually have to say I came away pretty impressed at this throwback 16-bit style brawler that provides an hour or two of beat-'em-up fun.
A good but not great episode, Batman: The Telltale Series - Episode 4: Guardian of Gotham is not quite as strong as the last couple, but it sets up the stage for a climactic finish and does suffer from some of the usual problems that other penultimate episodes in Telltale Games' titles experience.
SUPERHOT VR is a creative game that makes you think about that next move - and then allows you to carry it out in fantastic fashion due to its movement / time-freeze mechanic. Adding the Oculus to mix is just a perfect fit, with great controls and crisp visuals that throw you right into the action.
Final Fantasy XV should be less divisive than the previous XIII titles with fans. It helps that this release in the fabled series gets off to a strong enough start that you are properly invested by the end to overlook most of the flaws encountered along the way. If it is true that an experience is more about the journey than the end, then Final Fantasy XV is the video game representation of that saying.
The Unspoken is arguably the best example of how much fun a game on the Oculus Touch can be. With a little more single player content, this would easily be my favorite Rift title so far. As it stands, it is still highly entertaining and makes some of the best use of the Touch controllers so far.
Batman: The Telltale Series - Episode 5: City of Light concludes one of the better series by Telltale Games, even if it is the rare instance where the earlier episodes were stronger than the last ones. The final chapter was enjoyable, but reminded me again that it generally worked best when operating as Bruce Wayne and not Batman himself.
Fantastic Contraption is a very interesting idea, where you basically manipulate parts to build contraptions that meet a certain goal. There is a tremendous amount of creativity that comes into play here, and the Oculus Touch controllers are fantastic as you manipulate different objects. Unfortunately the limited number of options to work with does limit the appeal somewhat, sometimes making a game of limitless possibilities surprisingly repetitive in places.
Pinball FX 2 VR is a perfect example of how virtual reality can take an already excellent experience and make it even more fun. I have been a huge fan of the different Zen Studios pinball games in the past, having played them on a variety of differing platforms: PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Vita... you get the idea. Essentially, the tables are pretty much the same regardless of platform. Here on the Oculus however, we have something different and even more engaging.
Chronos deserves some serious credit here, as it is one of the most fully fleshed out experiences in virtual reality I have experienced so far. You can spend more than a dozen hours with this title and the magical world it creates for you, which is far more than most VR titles I have had the chance to play on the Oculus Rift so far. It also helps that the overall gaming experience is a good one worth spending that time o
EVE: Valkyrie makes an outstanding initial impression. With polished controls, slick visuals and plenty of lore and world building from the EVE universe, this title takes a solid space combat game and elevates it with its visual immersion.
The first episode in this new series lays some really solid foundation for our upcoming story, though there are some curious design choices along the way that I can see rubbing fans of the long-running series wrong at the same time.
AirMech: Command is one of those titles that simply uses the Oculus Rift very well to add some immersion to what is a really solid game in and of itself. Instead of the often gimmicky focus on first-person scares or novelty controls, AirMech: Command is a solid game on its own merits.