The Pillars of the Earth tells a gripping story of personal and political drama, but its slow pace may not make it a good fit for everyone.
Shadow Blade Reload is a fun game, but it’s not an interesting game. It has several things going for it, like the striking visuals, quick gameplay, and the level editor. But mostly it falters as the distracting voice acting and low-level difficulty hold the game back enough that it can’t be considered all that impressive of a title.
Riders Republic has some great moments – namely its dozens upon dozens of races – but all of that is cut down by an impressively obnoxious script, unskippable dialogue, and predetermined soundtracks that play ad nauseam
Neverending Nightmares is a very personal look at what it's like to feel trapped by mental illnesses, a look that is gruesome and scary. Though the game excels with great sound and art design, creating truly scary moments, its boring gameplay loop makes it a hard to sit through.
This is a shame because there's a fun game here – it's just trapped in a hollow shell. Its final sin is having a miserable story hardly even worth bringing up. It's boring and bad; we can leave it at that. There's room for games that want to recapture some old glory – to remind you how cool games used to be – but to do that, you have to add something new to the conversation. Neon White is a great example of a game that did this right. Bomb Rush isn't interested in adding anything new. It just wants to have the same conversations we've been having for years. Jet Set Radio was cool. Go play that instead.
Even if Playgrounds' single-player mode lacks the unbridled merriment that makes multiplayer so enjoyable, finally getting the upper hand in a tournament is rewarding and exciting in its own way. But even at its best, Playgrounds doesn't offer enough variety to keep you engaged for long.
The Town of Light examines mental illnesses and the hospitals meant to treat them in the early 1900s, but ultimately fails to stick the landing.
If you've never played Death Stranding, I think you should. Whether it's the original release or the new Director's Cut, the game is worth experiencing. Not to say it's perfect by any means (read Game Informer's review for a second opinion). But there's nothing like Death Stranding. And there may never be again; I struggle to think Sony or any other publisher will ever let Kojima be this free a second time – at least not with this kind of budget. That's what makes Death Stranding worth experiencing. Gravity Gloves, race tracks, and cargo catapults are just icing on the cake.