Chris Carter
- Skies of Arcadia
- Demon's Souls
- Devil May Cry 3
For all my complaints, Bound is an interesting beast. The way it incorporates its animation style has been rarely, if ever done so well. It's well worth experiencing in some fashion, just maybe not at full price.
No Man's Sky isn't quite what I thought it would be. It's a fun sandbox game that's full of wonder, until it isn't. Unlike other similar titles, the magic fades over time, because 18 billion planets (sorry, 18 quintillion) don't matter if it feels like there's only truly 20 unique ones. I wouldn't recommend No Man's Sky if you don't like getting lost -- but for those of you who do, wander away.
Kill Strain has a lot of cool ideas, but many of them don't translate when mired by the sluggish pacing of each round. I think it definitely needs some further optimization, but the uneven fun factor between the Merc and Mutant camps may take longer to iron out.
Burnout meets mini golf, forcing the player to deal with all sorts of crazy destructive situations like china shops.
I don't even know if I'd necessarily recommend ABZÛ even if I did enjoy it.
Batman: A Telltale Games Series: Realm of Shadows is a nice setup. It's not as strong as some of Telltale's other work, but it manages to honor the legacy of the series and throw in a few curveballs to keep things interesting (thank God there's no Joker yet).
I'm still not particularly impressed with Covert Ops' storytelling ability, but Mission Pack 2 contains concise objectives, maintains a strong sense of pacing throughout, and sports an impressive voice cast. At this point I feel like I can recommend the bundle to those of you who powered through StarCraft II's campaign and were left wanting more.
If all these caveats sound fine, I think you'll like Chambara. Like many focused dueling games before it, it does one thing, and it does it pretty well.
If you have time to dig into the indie fighting scene, Night In-Birth Exe:Late should suit your needs just fine.
I actually quite like the adherence to nostalgia, as Square is only giving fans with they want after years of complaints that projects like Final Fantasy XIII strayed too far. But by the same token of goodwill, it plays it a little too safe in regards to its at times predictable story, and doesn't really do anything new that moves the genre forward in any way. Still, if old school is what you want, you'll get it.
In its unrelenting toughness, Furi will really call to a specific type of gamer.
Can you play Necropolis by yourself? Only if you're really dedicated to the idea of running the same series of floors over and over with the intention of making progress. Without company, the initial dungeons begin to blend together a bit, and restarting isn't so much a pain from a pure skill-based roguelike standpoint, but a crisis of variety.
At this point, I'm starting to grow tired of the cast that's been there since World at War (I still want to see more of Goldblum and company from Black Ops III's packed-in map), but the voice actors still give it their all and sell it all these years later. Dempsey is one of Steve Blum's best bit roles to date. Still, if you aren't keen on zombies (and many of you aren't, after nearly 10 years of it), you can probably stay away from Descent.
Mystery Castle as some clever ideas and gets pretty good later on.
If you even remotely enjoyed Limbo, you'll feel right at home with Inside.
Despite its sparkling surface, Song of the Deep could use a bit more polish. That said, it hits more than it misses, and I can easily see myself coming back to its sprawling world every few years or so. With more development time in the form of a sequel (possibly using another mythos and setting), it could be something really special. For now what we've got is absolutely still worth playing.
Again, 7th Dragon III Code: VFD isn't a game you want to get into if you aren't the type of person who puts a lot of time into party preparations. If you want a rich, engrossing story with unique characters that grow over time, turn around and walk away now, as this is very much a niche dungeon crawler that will only speak to specific members of the community. But for those people, it's a good enough RPG respite in the sense that it actually allows you to play a role in the way you see fit.
BoxBoxBoy! has a simplistic elegance to it. You can look at one screenshot or watch several seconds of video and understand what it's trying to convey. For that reason, it never really dives into new territory in any significant way, but it does everything so well that you won't really notice it. I'd love to see another iteration that takes the formula even further (BoxGirl?), and I hope this series continues to thrive on 3DS, which has fostered so many new and great IPs for Nintendo.
LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens still feels limited in nature, but it's a better, more pointed effort than Marvel's Avengers, which was all over the place. It might feel a little more stretched if you didn't go bonkers over Abrams' film, but if you're really anxious to hang out with Finn and the gang again, this is a good opportunity.
Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness is a weird game in that it's a by-the-books RPG one minute, and a completely new feeling the next. Any future iterations after this one will be a tough sell, but if this is where its journey ends, it had a good run.