With smooth gameplay, a well constructed narrative, and AI that is sufficiently intelligent; Dawn of Andromeda offers enough to overcome its learning curve and keep replays fresh. There will be a learning curve because much of the nitty-gritty of managing settlements never really grace the tutorial or hints, but after a few matches, likely leading to a few annihilations, much of the game management, must-do's, and politics fall into place. It errs a little heavy on the necessity for a strong early military, but I guess that's just the proof that it exists in the space of a hostile galaxy.
It's dated, it's camp, it's occasionally annoying, but it still has a core mechanic that very few are still trying to do, and Earth Defense Force 5 does do it well. Take on the waves of monsters and tear into them with every last weapon in your arsenal for a great bit of mindless fun. The story and your progress will crawl through the 100+ levels but the types of enemies and the difficulty will ramp up alongside you.
Sniping is a mechanic found in just about every FPS game, but it's the rarer entries into the genre, like Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2, that focus the entire gameplay loop around it. That loop is done well and the core of the game is an excellent, puzzle-like experience of picking off a target with precision and skill from a kilometer away. The game mostly falters in that, with only five missions in play at launch, and very little offered around this core loop, it all feels a little short. There is a good game here, and here's hoping the planned DLC can really reveal the best bits and offer more of that satisfying core experience.
The World War Z Aftermath next-gen update brings new visuals, fixes old audio issues, and introduces an expanded Horde Mode XL that packs more zekes on-screen than ever. The game is entirely predicated on the uninhibited good time that mowing down waves of onrushing enemies presents itself. Unfortunately, that's both where the game starts and ends. It's a rush, over and again, but when you want to look for something different, you have to go elsewhere to find it. A great gameplay loop to be sure, but a one-trick pony never the less.
Shadow run is a campy romp that doesn't take itself too seriously. Its fun to play through, but only mimics (and doesn't quite stack up to) the exceedingly excellent XCOM. There is better weapon class variety, character customization, and a few other points where it might exceed its muse, but it measures up just a shade below on most other occasions.
In the end, while the gameplay and repetition required can be frustrating, The Masterplan is very well put together from an aesthetic standpoint. It's a unique gaming experience at a price point that's low enough to forgive some of it's faults. I like the idea behind the game, I like the character interactions with stickups and traversing the world via various paths. I just don't like having no idea what's around the next corner until you actually peek, and if it's bad news it likely puts your game in a state where you're better off starting the mission all over again. The Masterplan is a good game held back by a necessity for trial and error. Give me the intel on who has the key, let me catch him on his break and leave him out cold in the bathroom stall, while I sneak in though the backdoor and use the security cams to my advantage to direct my partner past the patrolling guards. Now you've created a game deserving of the title The Masterplan. Instead I'm fumbling through the dark, my only illumination coming from past mistakes.
There's a lot going on around a game that doesn't really have a lot going on in it. At its core Soul Axiom is a first person puzzler with a minimalist look and feel and mostly underwhelming puzzles. While the game won't really draw you into its narrative or challenge your abilities, it does provide a pleasant stroll through an imaginary world. You don't have to play this game, but if you want to sit back and have someone walk you through a tale while having to pencil in a few puzzles along the way, then Wales Interactive have a story at the ready. It won't blow you away, but you should be entertained enough to appreciate the effort.
Ultimately it's not a bad game, I kept playing and I enjoyed myself. I just question whether it really should have been made. The open world is beautiful but it doesn't set the stage for a Tom Clancy adventure, and this Tom Clancy game is too repetitive to carry an open world on it's own. The gunplay itself when you do engage is solid, and there is plenty of weapons and customization options of that armament to tailor to your own style. Its weakest moments come in between missions, as traversing the landscape by anything other than a helicopter becomes a burden. However if you have a helo, taking in the Bolivian sunset and you swoop down skimming the surface of a river is reminiscent of a modern day Apocalypse Now. That is a tremendous little moment of satisfaction, but it doesn't carry a whole game.
With a length about that of a major motion picture, and a price to match, is Breached worth the cost of admission? It's a game that feels like an amazing demo for a full length title that never came to be. The building blocks are there for a better game. A more compelling narrative, or one better told could have really lifted what is on offer. Breached is good and pretty. There's just simply not much of it, and it never convinced me it was worth the grind to unlock all of its secrets.
If you are extremely patient, then Kerbal Space Program Enhanced Edition has a deep and rewarding game to offer you. But that patience isn't just tested in the tutorial or painstakingly crawling your way over the steep learning curve. It will be tested throughout your entire experience with the pacing, bugs, and even control scheme itself. Kerbal Space Program is a fantastic and unique gaming experience, and it's a valiant effort to bring this to consoles that rarely even attempt games this outside the box, but ultimately it always feels like a port, and one that would simply be better enjoyed with a mouse and keyboard. If that's not an option, there is an opportunity here to get a taste of one of the ways the PC gaming community stays weird, but be prepared to spend a long time chewing on it before you'll enjoy that taste.
We're not there yet, but on the right path. Like Osiris, I wouldn't say Warmind is an expansion worth purchasing if you haven't already done so in a Season Pass. Much of the quality of life improvements aren't locked behind Warmind's DLC paywall but are general roadmap updates open to the entire playing community. Unlike Osiris, which was completely missable, I would recommend playing Warmind if you got it. Go ahead and jump in and give it a try. There is good fun to be had with the new exotics and masterworks, a grind to keep you busy a few hours per week. The game is better and this is the first real sign that the Year 2 expansion might finally turn the corner and make Destiny 2 something like the game Destiny 1 left off with. It's such a shame that this sequel could even get as low as it did, but I really do feel it's on its way back, and the game is in a state now that its worth being a part of that ride again.
While the game itself is really quite good, the lack of gameplay options and lack of thought into porting over the control scheme make for an average experience overall. This is a port that feels very much like one done with the absolute minimal effort required, and that's just not good enough for 2019 when so many other games this year have done so much better in this same PC to console space.
This score is ultimately a reflection of both Sniper Elite 3 Ultimate Edition the game (which is excellent) and the Nintendo Switch hardware (which while also excellent, I found not up to this task when trying to play handheld). The determination here is: if you're happy to play this game with your Switch in console mode, you're in for a grand old time; if you want to keep things handheld, better to try something else.
The Long Dark sets a standard for survival games in its core gameplay loop. The tone and feel of the game is top notch and the challenge is brutal in a hostile and frozen world. Unfortunately, there is also another dimension to the game that cheapens the experience. It takes a frustrating amount of trial and error to figure out the mechanics of how you are meant to do something, even when the goal of what you are meant to do is fairly clear. There is also the missed opportunity to utilize the story mode to walk through these mechanics, instead letting the tale try to stand alone. Try to stand as it might, it instead falls rather flat with a progression and narrative that made little sense. There is a very good game in the center of an overall experience that ends up less than the sum of its parts at first glance, but one that if you are willing to put in the struggle and slog through to the other side can reward you with one of the better survival simulations there is.
The single-player and campaign modes are actually really great stuff. But like nearly all Call of Duty games, that is the content you'll breeze through within your first week playing if even for just a few hours a day. The bulk of the ride ends up being multiplayer and zombies and that is where the problems really lie. This is a game that I'm sure will eventually get the extra content, balancing, and bugs worked out along a series of patches and end up being much better than it is today. But unfortunately the buggy, laggy, unbalanced, and content-sparse game we get at launch is the only one I was given to review. And the balance of the excellent single-player with below average multiplayer ends up for an average overall experience.
Crysis Remastered released last year to mostly disappointing reviews. While the game itself isn't that much better in this trilogy, what does come to life is the evolution of the game space across iterations. What was missing from Crysis Remastered is corrected in the Crysis Remastered Trilogy, and it's not gameplay or glitches, it's context. Context to understand that no matter how you re-texture an outdated game, it might look modern on a screenshot but it will still feel outdated with your hands at the controls. It does, however deserve its place in history, and this is an opportunity to both experience that history, and move beyond into a trilogy that improves with each iteration. The end result is an average overall package by today's standards, but three games plucked from a decade or more ago should be proud to land safely average in the middle of today's pack and standards.
Ultimately, Warhammer Quest is an enjoyable experience, a fun little time waster that delivers slices of dungeon action at an easily digestible pace. But it does so at a price point for content it just doesn't justify. It feels like a game that was meant to be played a few minutes at a time on a tablet while sitting on the throne of your own household, and that's what it is, an iOS port to the PC. If you want to try the game, get it for the iPad and have a fun time. There is just no reason to buy this for PC unless it is on a massive Steam sale discount.
Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 is a game that just wasn't ready to be released. I believe there is a near future when you're going to find this one in the bargain bin or on a deep discount in a digital sale, after the numerous bugs have been patched and that multiplayer is added in, and then there will be an opportunity to enjoy a solid experience. This is not a AAA FPS but it does deliver some good moments when it works, has very good gameplay mechanics working for it, finds that balance between open world and engaging set pieces, and is presented through an interesting environment. However, the single player plot remains atrocious, there is no multiplayer, and in it's current beta state it's just not yet worth it.
Once you get past the hook in The American Dream, there is a decent VR shooting gallery to enjoy; but even that is derailed by the pacing, with the best bits too few and far between.
There is a decent survival gameplay loop at the core of Fade to Silence. It's just that everything that emanates from that core is either cheaply cropped from another game or poorly executed in this one. I just kept coming back to this feeling I was playing disjointed parts of these other games, not a unified experience of this one.