NASCAR Heat 2 is a huge disappointment and massive collapse of the promise given by the decent predecessor, NASCAR Heat Evolution. The game's controls are loose and worse than ever, and the problems of the first, including some patently stupid glitches and exploits, are still fully present. The game looks fine, but it does not play well at all, and represents what may be a sign that NASCAR just won't ever translate well to the video game world.
Fairy Fencer F: Advent Dark Force is a remake with very few improvements. An added ability to be evil and access a new storyline brings new content, but the game is basically unchanged from its PlayStation 3 debut. Bland, cliché, and uninspired, Fairy Fencer F is just another cog in an increasingly frustrating machine churning out the same JRPG experience over and over again. With recent releases of bigger and better games in the genre, Fairy Fencer F is one to avoid.
R.B.I. Baseball 19 is a lazy, clunky, uninspired mess of a game. The controls are overly simple and leave little control to the player. The physics are unrealistic and the players contort their bodies in Silent Hill-esque horror after each swing. The format is tired and outdated, and the game bears no resemblance to a competent baseball experience aside from the skeleton of game it presents.
Senran Kagura Estival Versus is the softcore contents of a hidden folder on a 13 year old boy's computer sprung to action, the results being a competent hack and slash bout of violence starring inappropriate, large-breasted women. The game is a total mess at its best, and is just cringeworthy at its typical worst. The Vita version of Senran Kagura Estival Versus is a competent game that has a very similar feel to the PlayStation 4 version, and the game itself is fun despite the immature themes. A portable version of this game seems unnecessary, and overall the game is not worth even a moment's time even from the most dedicated a hack-and-slash player.
Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception is a text based adventure that masquerades as a tactical RPG. There are hours upon hours of low-grade, simple cutscenes with countless lines of text that you'll be reading instead of playing a video game. There are elements of this title that shine through the darkness of boredom, but there are few who can stomach the ride finding them.
Saint Seiya Soldier's Soul is a quaint fighting game that has its small playability value robbed by a unique fatal flaw in the restart option that drags the action and frustrates the player. While the game has some interesting features, it mostly just drags through monotonous gameplay and a confusing story. Too many features are hard to understand, and while unlocking features, items, and stages reminds me of old school fighting games, the problems of Saint Seiya Soldier's Soul makes the work to unlock them simply not worth the time and effort.
Drive Girls is a hack and slash slog where you quite literally drive girls who transform into cars to fight evil bugs. It is every bit the stupid, ridiculous, freaky fun game that it sounds like, and has some guilty pleasure elements that can endear it to players even while they recognize it is a total wreck. Battles are unique, but ultimately boring, and a bad story and lackluster look makes Drive Girls a mostly forgettable mess.
Death end re;Quest is not a terrible game, but it certainly doesn't do much to stand out from a crowded and trope friendly glut of JRPG titles. The battle mode plays like a game of pool and has a lot of interesting features, but the writing is tired, the characters are overly sexualized and mentally deficient as always, and the game is set in a bland world with little detail or points of interest. Death end re;Quest is another game for fans of long dialogues leading nowhere.
Draft Day Sports: Pro Basketball 2017 is a generic simulator that is just not quite ready for the big leagues. There are plenty of great features, and a deep collection of players that show the potential expected. A series of fatal flaws and poor design throughout will frustrate you and make you want to send it back down for more development.
The Crew is a game filled with missed opportunities and unfulfilled potential. The promises hammered upon during development fell short in almost every way, with the exception of the car creation. On top of that, the story found within The Crew is embarrassing and provides more laughs than it does drama. Ubisoft took a huge swing and missed by a car length, it is time for them to put The Crew back in the garage for an overhaul.
While certainly not a terrible release, Sisters Generation doesn't stray far enough outside the box it lampoons to be considered a good game either. This game is only for dedicated fans of the series, or RPG gamers starving for a new game to fill in the gaps.
Nobunaga’s Ambition: Sphere of Influence – Ascension is a very deep, complex, and well made game with high quality experiences from the lowest to the highest level of rule in Feudal Japan. It is also a tease, showing you all of this quality without taking the time to actually explain itself. Frustrating camera controls and a total lack of guidance leave a bad taste in the mouth when the game so easily could have avoided both and been truly great.
MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death is an acceptable title dotting the grievous past of Compile Heart. A dungeon crawler with maze style gameplay, and a fairly unique and customizable battle system, MeiQ does a good job of providing some fun and interesting moments. Falling short overall in the battles, and leaving very much to desire with story, characters, dialogue, and respect for human dignity, MeiQ is a title only for the most dedicated RPG player.
Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada is a fun and heavy slasher game, where you'll mow down thousands of enemies in the spirit of war and blood letting. The game captures so much of what makes the Samurai Warriors series well loved, while bringing in a few new features and environmental adaptations that allow the game to stand on its own. Several issues with balance and presentation betray an otherwise solid game.
Regalia: Of Men and Monarchs is a mish-mash of a game that combines tactical RPG battles with a visual novel and world building elements to create a fairly new experience. There is a lot of fun lines in the dialogue and the game provides an urgent, multifaceted challenge, but is poorly paced and plagued with loading screens that take away from the polish and joy that could have been.
One Way Trip is the story of a definite and unjust death sentence, told amongst an eerily realistic dissociative drug trip backdrop that freaked my delicate mind more than once. Basic, disjointed, and tragic, this game strips away almost all functions of a game and makes you a decision maker. Plagued with crashes that can cause fatal errors, One Way Trip does have some improvements to make. With those improvements, and time, One Way Trip is sure to become a cult favorite of the PlayStation 4 age.
The Elder Scrolls Online: Orsinium is a pretty land with a dull set of tasks waiting for you to come and grind with. Large, stone-forged, and overloaded with simplicity, Orsinium does a great job of expanding a game for dedicated players while doing absolutely nothing to coax ex-players or new players into the fold. More than medi-orc-re, but less than spectacular, Orsinium seems more like a holdover expansion than an overall addition to the ESO experience.
The art and style of Prodigy Tactics may have been worth the wait, but the overall package has to be a disappointment to the very people who gave and waited so long for it's release. The gameplay is fun, but slow and repetitive to the point of monotony. The game also is riddled with lazy cut corners in displaying characters between the battles, and overall falls short of the high mark it set for itself by delaying release for years.
Construction Simulator 2 has some rough patches, but overall provides a fun and semi-realistic experience of one of the roughest and most grueling jobs out there. The game suffers from lulls in action, but when the action kicks in there is a lot to appreciate. A so-so affair throughout makes for a niche game for those looking for a casual experience.
Milanoir is a amalgam of 1970's exploitation cinema and 1980's video games that captures all the grit and violence of the former and the difficulty and frustration of the latter. The story is well written and the game flows between different action sequences and cinematic breaks that keep both gameplay and the story fresh. There are some issues with hit detection and death animations that will frustrate you at times, but the game rewards you for getting through each sequence and makes it worth the effort.