Justin Oneil's Reviews
For those of you who are Star Trek fans it's probably the best game based on this license ever made.
Nex Machina is yet another classic game from Housemarque and I feel it is the pinnacle of the twin stick shooter that every game that follows it needs to strive to match.
Giant Sparrow had me worried about What Remains of Edith Finch with how quiet the game was for several years but I see now they were just working on nailing every little inch of this game. The story of Edith and her family is going to be one I remember for a long time. The characters, house, music, voice acting, and narrative all came together beautifully and I encourage anyone that is a fan of story games to play this game and do it knowing as little as possible.
While I've seen this kind of word building game on PlayStation before I did enjoy my time with Spellspire at least for awhile. In short bursts it can be fun but if you sit down for any length of time and play through it the lack of gameplay variety will quickly have it feeling stale.
Puzzle Showdown 4K won't disappoint those who enjoy putting puzzles together as it is packed with plenty of them and options to vary them up. For those who don't like puzzles there really is no point for you to pick this game up though. It's a relaxing game to wind down to and kill some time but it can also bring some nice competition if you play it with family or friends.
So while Skylar and Plux: Adventure on Clover Island didn't turn out to be a great game liked I had hoped it is a good first try by Right Nice Games and something they could build on in the future. If you're in the mood for a solid 3D plaformer it's worth checking out. Just don't expect it to surprise you with originality or last you very long.
Overall Black & White: Bushido stands out for its visual style and cool hiding gameplay mechanic but the lack of modes and almost current none existent online player base will limit the audience for this game. If you however are looking for a fun new local multiplayer game to play with friends I highly recommend it.
VR Invaders: Complete Edition is a ton of fun with tight responsive controls and great graphics and audio. It runs into the same problem many other VR games have right now though and that is that it’s short and doesn’t have a lot of content. It only lasted me around two hours before I kind of got bored with it but in that two hours I had a lot of fun with it. If what is here sounds worth it to you and you don’t mind the short length I highly recommend it.
Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 succeeds as a sniping game but fails at most everything else it set out to be.
I like the puzzles in Symphony of the Machine but it doesn't really do enough to differentiate itself from many other puzzle games out there. The lack of any real story, frustrating controls, and the short run time are also hard to overlook especially given the price and some of the other games you could pick up instead. If you're a big fan of puzzle games you might find what is here worth it otherwise you might want to wait for a sale.
After playing all nine games I would say as a whole that HeroCade is worth the price of admission. Not all of the games are fun or really make sense in VR but some of the others like Dreadhalls and 405 Road Rage made the game worth playing to me.
Combining two different but similar puzzle games was risky but Sega managed to pull it off to create a fantastic puzzle package. Puyo Puyo Tetris has something for you whether you are a fan of just Tetris, Puyo Puyo or looking for a twist like the Fusion Mode. The sheer amount of content you get in this budget priced package is astounding and is not to be missed by anyone who calls themselves a fan of puzzle games.
For an on rails, arcade shooter Mortal Blitz is fun and worth playing even if you have to wait for a sale to do so.
Out of Grim Fandango, Day of the Tentacle, and Full Throttle I think Full Throttle Remastered is my favorite of these classic LucasArts games. Everything here is so good even all these years later whether it be the story, characters, soundtrack or setting. Even in 2017 I think it is one of the best point and click adventure games you can possibly play. Fans of this genre would be doing themselves a disservice if they don't go on this motorcycle ride with Ben.
Despite my grievances with the unfair difficulty of Rain World I did enjoy my time with it but not as much I had hoped to. It's massive, interestingly, designed world begs me to explore it but the unfairness of it all pushes me away. Rain World has so many things going for it like an awesome enemy AI system, great animation, huge world and more but the other lesser done well things like the way too slow movement speed and the moments of unfairness keep it from being truly great. I do think it is worth checking out though and judging for yourself as it is unlike most other games out there.
I’m pretty happy that in the first few months of 2017 we have seen a couple games, Snake Pass included, try to bring back that magic that so many late 90’s 3D platformers had. Snake Pass has such a charming main character like those games of old and fun and colorful worlds as well. I never thought playing as a snake could be so much fun but Sumo Digital has proven that it can be. Yes I wish it was longer and the camera needs work but what Sumo Digital has put forth here is a strong foundation to build on and I hope I get to go on more journeys with Noodle and Doodle in the future.
Fated: The Silent Oath is a great first try for Frima Studios at creating an immersive, story driven game in Virtual Reality. They managed to create a world with characters I cared about and even came up with some interesting gameplay mechanics like the whole nodding your head. It's disappointing that it is over quite too fast but hopefully they can do another chapter or more of this game as I'd definitely like to see my viking family again.
While Leave the Nest doesn't do much to stand out from the endless runner crowd it is fun and it's really the only endless runner game on PlayStation VR right now. It has plenty of things to work towards unlocking and the online leaderboards give you a reason to go back and do another run. It's relatively cheap so if you are looking for a fun new game to take turns and play with your family or friends this is worth looking at.
I really was disappointed in just how every area of Troll and I just seemed to fail to even be half way decent. The whole idea was interesting but the far out of date visuals, bad and frustrating game design, boring story and all the glitches just make this game hard to recommend to anyone especially given the price.
Horizon: Zero Dawn is a testament to the hard work and passion of every individual at Guerrilla Games.