Resident Evil 4 Remake asks the bold question of whether you can perfect what many already consider perfection. While fairly competent at the basics, Capcom's latest remake has the least creative energy of its series revivals, leaving you wanting for much more.
Romancelvania is a great visual novel trapped inside a Metroidvania that bites off more than it can chew. Dualshockers was provided with a copy of the game for review purposes.
Dead Space Remake is damn good fun, with interesting ideas and appreciation of the greater franchise that most remakes lack. This isn’t some studio trying to massively reinvent an IP, but working to fit the best pieces together so it can grow anew. It's a fitting tribute to Visceral's best days - maybe not a perfect rendition, but few cover songs ever are.
Beyond that though, the only thing Blacktail has against it is that it calls for patient, curious players. If you’re the sort who insists on only following a dotted line and ignoring everything off to the sides, you’ll miss out on some of the best moments in Blacktail, like saving a mushroom spymaster’s best agent, or spelunking through gorgeously lit caverns. Blacktail is a game to be savored, peeling away its world a little more at a time. If you meet it halfway, you’ll be left with a breath of fresh air rarely seen in the industry these days: a well paced game that only tries to be what it wants to be and never compromises that vision. A beautiful, touching piece of work that’s bound to stick with you long after you finish it, Blacktail is a world worth getting lost in.
A bland sad protagonist with all the charisma of a rock with a frowny face, a mystery box-style narrative that only ends with more mystery boxes, a combat system that wants to be multiple entirely different games. The Callisto Protocol might function, and it’ll certainly have its launch issues patched out in due time, but in no way can I recommend it to anyone but the most morbidly curious. Everything was stacked in this game’s favor, and it still wasn’t enough. We didn’t need Dead Space 2.0 - we just needed a cohesive, focused game. Instead, it's an oddly soulless concoction of unfocused ambitions, poor planning, and inconceivably amateurish design. Whether you're winning or losing, Callisto Protocol never feels right.
Easy to learn, intuitive to play, with hours upon hours of new toys to play with, Spirits Unleashed is a real labor of love. For a franchise that’s long struggled with a consistent margin for quality, Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed goes above and beyond to answer the call. Now if someone can just convince them to incorporate some ghosts and levels from the IDW comics, then it’ll be darn-near perfect!
There’s no clearer sign that WB Montreal nailed it than this: even after I was done reviewing Gotham Knights, I’ve kept playing it. I’m resisting the urge to play it now to get this review done. That’s the best kind of feeling, and I hope it’s only the start of something even greater to come.
Saber Interactive's Evil Dead: The Game might be a bore to play solo, but is a blast online and brimming with potential for future updates. This is how they do it in Michigan!
Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong manages to suck almost all the fun out of being a vampire. Billed as an RPG, it functions more like a frustrating puzzle game. Only the most patient players will have the time for it.
The Skywalker Saga aims to be the greatest LEGO Star Wars experience of all time, only to be a middling mess. Fans will still get something out of it, but nothing here warrants all the headache behind the scenes over the last few years. Despite all odds, TT Games’ latest is a chaotic pile of bricks that never quite click together right.
Nightmare Reaper has all the makings of a fantastic retro-FPS with rogue-lite elements wonderfully smattered across. However, for all its personality, Nightmare Reaper is also an uneven mess when it strikes the wrong note. A game some will love, warts and all, but many others will walk away wanting for a tighter experience.
Terminator Resistance: Annihilation Line tries for a second encore that overstays its welcome even when it's working right. Poorly executed and uneventful, it sadly doesn't live up to the standard set by Teyon's main campaign.
Despite all its oddness though, Corpse of Discovery remains a compelling, if flawed, indie adventure game. It's a "walking sim" with gameplay, an FPS with no shooting, and almost a horror game without blood and gore.
SOMA is a spectacular adventure game stuck in the jaws of a mediocre horror game.
Venture to an alternate history full of secret societies and gumshoe detectives in Blues & Bullets.