Ghostbusters is a massive missed opportunity and a huge setback for the franchise. The game won’t appeal to fans of twin-stick shooters or fans of Ghostbusters. Boring is the single most appropriate word to describe the game. Playing through the game from start to finish was a chore and a test of patience. Marcus is our resident Ghostbusters fanatic, and even he grudgingly could only stand to play through a single level.
Assault Suit Leynos is a solid return to a classic game series, especially for players in North America that haven't seen the series since the sequel in 1993.
Move or Die aims to ruin friendships, but along the way, you'll spend most the time laughing together, and more than likely sharing an obscenity or two.
KOF 14 stays true to the KOF formula, but the move from hand-drawn sprites to 3D character models won’t appease everyone. There is the occasional stiff looking animation, but the gameplay and pacing is currently unmatched in any other fighting game series. With a plethora of single-player and multiplayer (both offline and online) KOF 14 is the most content complete fighting game on the market.
The Turing Test will be compared to other games of similar structure, such as Portal, just by the nature of using a contraption to solving room puzzles. Although the narrative is one of the game’s main focus, and you need to be sure to complete the game to experience the entire story, the puzzles are sublime. Plentiful and varying, each set of new puzzles adds new and engagement elements to solving the puzzles, such as moving platforms, harnessing the power of magnetism, and using different types of energy spheres. On the downside, the Xbox One version of the game does have slight hitches and longer loads than I would have liked before each puzzle. I should note that while not all puzzles have a long load before them, enough did to warrant a footnote in the review.
Strike Vector EX is an enjoyable and thrilling multiplayer game when both sides are equally matched. Sure, at times you'll join a one sided match, but that's just the nature of online competitive games. The single-player narrative is serviceable, but feels like a side attraction to the main dish; which is the online multiplayer. Now excuse me, while I chase after this one pilot that consistently relies on dropping stalker mines.
Destiny: Rise of Iron continues the Destiny tradition as it moves into its third year of content. Some may see it as a step back from last year’s The Taken King as it doesn’t feature new playable subclasses, but there is much more beneath the surface to Rise of Iron. This, along with making older Strikes relevant again help elevate Destiny once again without alienating any of its core player base. While the new raid was completed only a couple hours after being released, the Hard Mode and Challenges have yet to be revealed and should offer additional content for those players looking for the ultimate challenge.
I was surprised at how much fun the career mode could be for someone who doesn’t follow the sport religiously. Monster Games has reinvigorated the series they began, and it is a solid product for someone looking for authentic NASCAR racing. It’s a shame the online multiplayer is lacking, and I would want to see what the developers could do with a more robust game engine.
Aragami sticks to its stealth roots and has earned a place with some of the greatest stealth games of all time. With a campaign that lasts over 10 hours, Aragami is already well worth a purchase. Lince Works also added a 2-player online co-op, letting you and a friend play through the entire game together. There are the occasional rough animations, and the frame rate drops a tiny bit in spots, but Aragami is a lot of fun and worth multiple playthroughs, especially if you take advantage of playing with a second player.
What you’ll get out of Harmonix Music VR depends on whether you really enjoy listening to music while shutting your mind off in various types of visualizers with different levels of interaction. The Dance and The Easel are clearly going to be the most attractive and are ideal for group settings, while the strict visualizer ones -- The Beach and The Trip -- are meant for only the person in the HMD.
Rez Infinite is a must-have game for anyone with a PSVR, but even if you don’t it is still the best way to experience a beloved classic title. The unique gameplay found in Rez Infinite is enhanced by the incredible art style, which is something that you don’t see in recently released games.
Many of the games releasing for PSVR at launch appear to be more proof of concept experiences than complete games. As I’ve mentioned, interactivity outside of the Batcave is minimal, and I’ve spent way too much time grappling to difficult vantage points than actually fighting crime. It’s like I’m more of a passenger watching the world turn right in front of eyes. More interactions would be an improvement, as well as at least doubling the length of the game. There are Riddler trophies to collect, a staple of the series if you wish to replay certain chapters of the game once completed.
SuperHyperCube is simplistic, yet it’s brilliance shines the higher your score becomes. The difficulty ramps up, the use of your power-ups are paramount and the pacing is much faster. There is only the single game mode, so what you’ll get out of the game is based on if you are interested in chasing the high scores on the leaderboards. We are currently having a team competition at SelectButton, and things cane become quite heated.
Battlezone stays faithful to the original game, offering a standout cooperative VR experience. The cooperative gameplay provides a great challenge, but playing alone can be a frustrating ordeal. The lack of competitive options is unfortunate, but the procedurally generated campaign offers plenty of unlockable weapons and different types of tanks to mess around in. Just be sure to bring a friend or more along for the ride.
Job Simulator is not a long experience, but I found it to be incredible fun messing around in the four different environments. I would recommend the game as one of the best games to showcase the PSVR hardware to friends and family. It’s highly accessible for all times of players, and I have yet to hear anyone not enjoy themselves in the world that Owlchemy Labs has created.
100ft Robot Golf is a uniquely stylized way of playing golf. I dig the use of anime, giant robots and a traditional golf game. I can’t see myself playing through the campaign more than once, even if I need to collect more medals to unlock the remaining items. The option of playing the game with PlayStation VR is a decent touch, but the game is entirely serviceable without it.
Headmaster is a simplistic game from a gameplay perspective, but also challenging to get three stars on all of the lessons. Visually the game has a very strong realistic style and has a strong use of 3D depth. The well-written and humorous dialogue is a plus, pushing Headmaster as a must-have PlayStation VR title. Frame Interactive will be adding post-launch support to the game, tweaking the game's difficulty and adding group play modes in the future.
Thumper is a thriving rhythm game that includes an incredible VR mode. That's not to say the game isn't worth it if you have no interest in virtual reality, but indie developer Drool takes the game to new heights when you find yourself enveloped in the game's 3D space. Even being mediocre when it goes to playing on the leaderboards, I keep going back to Thumper every night for just one more run.
Thumper is a thriving rhythm game that includes an incredible VR mode. That's not to say the game isn't worth it if you have no interest in virtual reality, but indie developer Drool takes the game to new heights when you find yourself enveloped in the game's 3D space. Even being mediocre when it goes to playing on the leaderboards, I keep going back to Thumper every night for just one more run.
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes is an enjoyable local multiplayer experience, and one I plan to return to during gatherings. The enjoyment comes from the frantic communication or lack of communication between The Experts and the person trying to defuse the bomb. Regardless of who we had disarming the bomb, everyone stepped away enjoying the experience and wanting to play more.