Joshua Kowbel's Reviews
If Verdun had adopted a free-to-play model on consoles, I could see the beauty in its unrefined animations or crudely rendered environments. But with a superior PC version on the market, it’s best to forget this PS4 port even exists.
In its fourth episode, Hitman takes a step back from global conspiracies to examine the morally gray profession of contract killing. It’s the déjà vu of another extravagant mansion, however, that made me consider Agent 47’s potential career changes.
With a solid script and fewer unrelenting jump scares than the original game, Layers of Fear: Inheritance offers closure for both the player and characters.
Kill Strain may find its following as a free-to-play game, but I expect more polish, more stability from shooters that we’re asked to play for long periods of time. I can’t accept the odd matchmaking decisions, nor the way Kill Strain sabotages teamwork by encouraging lone wolf playstyles.
The stylish visuals and streamlined combat that define Necropolis slowly succumb to repetition, laying waste to this roguelike’s longevity. If you have three friends, multiplayer is the way to go.
Dreadful from a technical, mechanical, and financial standpoint, Umbrella Corps sets a newer, lower bar for Resident Evil spinoffs. Although Operation Raccoon City met fans with lukewarm reception, Umbrella Corps leaves diehard Resident Evil supporters with no expectations at all.
Hitman retains its strong gameplay core in light of setbacks. The developers fail to capitalize on Marrakesh’s intricately rendered crowds, and performance bugs that were once corrected have returned.
With a solid gameplay framework already in place, Hitman just needed the destination to match. Sapienza may be a glamorous port city that photographers slap on postcards, but its boutiques, apartments, and inhabitants also tolerate hours of murderous fun (and guns) in the sun.
For every character's death etched in stone, The Banner Saga 2 informed me how fragile life can be. But on the battlefield or in branching, possibly deadly conversations, I want nothing more than to revisit this role-playing game's world and tug at the puppet strings again.
For fans and newcomers alike, Dark Souls III is a magnum opus of From Software design. You'll celebrate as bosses fall to your sword, gaze in wonder at the landscape's snowy hamlets and towering cathedrals, scold yourself for losing souls to a bottomless pit or eldritch beast, then grab the controller to relive the nightmare again and again.
Hitman's pioneer episode does right by the Hitman name. Dozens of challenges and user-generated assassinations offer untold hours of replay value, even when the exotic sounds and sights of Paris lose their allure.
The Guest tests an array of mental abilities throughout the three hours it lasts. But when buying into “a first-person exploration game,” you don’t expect this many plot holes.
Broforce is an ode to gamers that were raised by action movies and 16-bit consoles. Broforce looks the part and plays the part of a run 'n' gun freedom simulator featuring Rambo, Indiana Jones, and Robocop parodies. The technical defects of the PS4 version, however, give the PC original the clear advantage.
Whether you dive into its meta narrative or rehearse the executions of eight ballroom guards for the sixteenth time, Superhot invents a tactical, first-person shooter genre to call its own. Please, Superhot team, I need more.
Bombshell could have been a fine six-hour shooter, but the unfulfilling fetch quests, uninspired firearms, and meddling glitches stretch the story until – like the game's suicidal aliens – you, too, beg for death.
Punch Club provides a parody-filled look at one man ‒ your man ‒ and his rise to martial arts stardom. Managing his hunger, training regiment, and social life contains all the appeal of The Sims franchise, but punishing stat decay and RNG-heavy fights cripple Punch Club's lasting shot at fame.
Baseball Riot teases cartoonish destruction, but an over-reliance on luck and the repurposed enemies and obstacles cheapen the physics-related fun.
Resident Evil 0 HD is a relic of the period before Amnesia's helpless protagonists and Resident Evil 4's over-the-shoulder camera. But that makes Resident Evil 0 an exotic history lesson for horror developers. It takes the right sound cues, splendid visual framing, and one mechanic that most people hate (i.e., inventory management) to produce a game this timeless.
The rough-around-the-edges menus and price might pose problems for some people, but The Bug Butcher breaks convention. The cute and vivid insects put phobias to bed, and because anti-hero Harry only fires his weapons vertically, the gameplay reinvents side-scrolling shooter mindsets.
Hardware: Rivals provides exploding jeeps and tanks aplenty, but in this online-only game, the small player population will end your car combat fun before it gains traction.