Endzone: A World Apart shows a ton of promise, especially for those looking for an in-depth city builder and simulation management game. There's a literal TON of ways to manage your settlement, depending on the map and game at hand. The world, a broken ruin of what was before, is ripe for your taking as you work to keep your settlement alive and growing amidst the debris. Endzone is a fun yet complex game. It reminds me of the old Settlers titles, where the game's complexities grow as you get further and further into the layers of what's contained within. But that is also potentially one of its failure points – the sheer volume of stuff to manage and control can be daunting, much like how it probably would be if we were to find ourselves in a similar scenario within real life.
Spark of Madness adds some great new variety to Dead by Daylight. I thoroughly enjoyed using the Doctor as I hunted down survivors and Feng, once leveled up, makes a great addition to any survivor team. Considering how generally creepy the Doctor is, I think Spark of Madness does an excellent job in padding out Dead by Daylight.
I wanted to enjoy this game, I honestly did. However, The One We Found suffers from a case of "no polish." There's a lot of good ideas and gameplay in theory, but the practical aspect falls short of expectations. If this had received some more time to fix the overall buggy experience and improve upon some of the clunky control aspects and elements, I feel this review would be in a much different tone entirely.
Truthfully I do like some of the core mechanics of the game. I've done small-scale farming in real life and understood the requirements that kind of profession and lifestyle places on you. A lot of things in this game remind me of those days, but there's a lot that breaks the simulation and realism. The odd vehicle controls, random issues when driving that will instantly slow you down, and the need to continually open that damn tablet really deter me from the game. Otherwise, it does perfectly capture the tedium of the farming life reasonably well even if your character seemingly never has to sleep.
I'm having a hard time directly recommending this game. Classic fans are going to love the HD remaster, but newcomers, especially ones to the RTS genre, are going to be in for a tough time. It's got a deceptively tough learning curve, and it's not very forgiving, but it's also a challenging and engaging game. Plus, who doesn't love being the Roman Empire and rolling over your enemies? If you're looking to reclaim some classic glory, go with this Praetorians, but otherwise, this might be one to miss. I should mention that during my time with the game, I never saw any multiplayer games active.
Even though Breach & Clear: Deadline released on PC initially last year, the visuals don't hold up on Xbox One and PlayStation 4. It's not a huge issue in these type of games, especially as long as the narrative and RPG elements were strong, but I felt like those pieces were just not enough to carry the game all the way through. It's not terrible, and I do enjoy many aspects of the game, but at the same time, I wouldn't exact anyone to rush home eagerly to play it either.
Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 has some good moments when you focus on the sniping aspect set in the open world environment. It's a shame it suffers from several bugs and feels a little misguided. I couldn't find myself invested in the main character or the plight of anyone around me, but rather I was just interested in the game's excellent array of weaponry and ability to kill everyone. Maybe that's a bad sign, but to my defense, hunting down collectibles gets old.
The Nintendo Switch lacks in titles that fit a gaming niche as the one Wasteland 2 fills. Yes, there are RPGs on the system, but the mixture between the tactical combat gameplay and the extensive RPG story is a small category of games. Given how much possibility Wasteland 2: Director's Cut has, I think it's a solid title. What detracts from the game are the gameplay issues, awkward camera controls, and the unfortunate visuals. Players willing to put the time in and overlook these flaws will find an intensely rich game, but I'm just not sure everyone is willing to do that on a system that continues to gain new titles.
Andromeda is not a terrible game, but it's not what could have been. I applaud BioWare for what they've done with the game and their willingness to accept the original trilogy "as is" while branching out into a wildly different territory. The introduction of the Kett, the mystery surrounding the Remnant, and the new combat system makes this game a fun experience in its own right. Tossing in the extra baggage of tedious/pointless quests, annoying glitches (hopefully fixed by the first major patch), and a general empty feeling makes me wonder about what might have been.
Tengami's visuals and soundtrack are really well done, but overall it was lacking in substance. I would have liked to see more perplexing puzzles and a developed narrative. That being said, I still enjoyed the ethereal atmosphere and spent most of my time admiring the world around me. Thanks to the short playtime, I didn't end up as frustrated as I could have been. You may want to try out Tengami purely for the art and music, which is what it's really all about.
The Falconeer is an exciting flight sim/air combat game set in a water world that stopped growing somewhere during the Victorian/Industrial era.
The Signifier is a relatively solid interactive experience where you dive deeply into the ideas of self, psychology, technology, and the eventually marrying of the two and the potential ramifications. The mindscape, and some of the creepy factors within, are the best parts of the game and something I recommend anyone see at least once, given how it's presented. But, I also wonder if there's enough meat to the average gamer. It's an intriguing enough story with some twists, but there's only so much to do.
Zombie Army 4: Dead War is a solid if kind of empty title simultaneously. The cooperative experience is great, and I've enjoyed killing my combined favorite type of faceless enemy (Nazis AND zombies!). Still, without that co-op experience with someone else, it didn't feel as enjoyable on my own. That being said, if you and a few friends are down to shoot up some zombies and get some ridiculous kill cam shots afterward, this might be your title.
Having tried the game with both a controller and keyboard, I do recommend using a gamepad. It makes the game that much more enjoyable. That being said, this is an arcade-style racing game. It's got some definite good points, and it's insanely fast for those that want speed, but I'm more concerned about replayability. I know there's an online component, but I did not have much luck in finding matches. I'm hoping that the online community picks up, as the game isn't bad by any means. I am just concerned that it's easy to run out of things to do once you beaten the single-player modes and fully upgraded your vehicle.
I feel like Starship Corporation has some lofty goals and I applaud the developers behind it. I think a better approach would have been an early smaller, more laser-sighted focus on fewer items to strengthen those out before expanding fully. The game's tutorial is beneficial, but there's still a somewhat steep learning curve behind it, and there's just so much at any given point. If players can get past that and overlook some clunky UI aspects, they'll enjoy Starship Corporation immensely for its depth.
Post Human W.A.R., as I noted, feels like "RTS-lite" and is even reminiscent of a board game sprung to life on my PC. The points system, grid maps, and vibrant nature of the games has me imagining pulling everything out of a box and setting it up on my kitchen table. The general simplicity has a high-level draw, and it offers an appeal of fun for anyone looking to get into something that's not overly violent and has a budding online community to play against. While I think some of the chat features need to be revamped, it's definitely a game newer RTS players could get into. My only real complaint is the lack of heavy substance; since the campaign feels quick and the focus of the game seems to be primarily directed towards online, those looking for a deeper single-player experience may feel left out.
Oriental Empires is a solidly built empire strategy game, but I feel it falls short in some key categories.
The meat of Fictorum lies in the magic casting system and the game's ridiculously, dangerously fun physics. Blowing up buildings and bridges or sending enemies soaring into the sky is just an absolute treat. Throw in a fun story to follow along with on the map screen, and some crazy spells and the game can become quite enjoyable. The only huge concern I might have is the overall challenge of the game and how easy it can be to die. I've jumped onto house debris and managed to die before sliding off since the game interpreted it as me being hit by an object. It can get frustrating to die over and over, but thankfully the game experience is new each time.
ELEX is a game that suffers from its lofty ambition. It aims for admittedly high goals that are worth aspiring to, but it seemed to have forgotten some key things along the way. The sheer expanse of the world, rich backstory, and a mind-boggling amount of things to see/do in the game are fantastic, but the game suffers from technical issues, absurdly challenging gameplay at times, and a buffet scenario where you just have too much to choose from. The technical issues alone can be frustrating, but when you combine those with incessant deaths at the hands of minor enemies the game starts to really drive the point home that you should play on easy. Be warned though: you'll still face a hard time.
Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada is at least a somewhat fresh take on the Warriors system. It's still enjoyable and it offers some new elements, even if the overall affair is what we've come to expect from these games. Some major added benefits though include the game's more polished graphics and ability to render even more enemies on screen. It makes some of those battles truly feel gigantic.