Lawrence Le's Reviews
Close to the Sun is a few steps shy of a great narrative-driven horror, but its trite gameplay expels the magic its environments worked to create.
Slick, intuitive stealth gameplay serves as Disjunction's backbone, though the supporting systems and level design could do more to lighten its burden.
New studio flukyMachine's 2D runner-style platformer is every bored student's notebook come to life, proudly embracing its own eccentricities in the visuals department. But turn the page and one will find that the gameplay lacks the same luster, living in the shadows of its influences. While it does sport more-than-serviceable gameplay, Escape Doodland is a game worth playing for its charm and simplicity, not for its depth of mechanics or level design prowess.
GARAGE: Bad Trip is a top-down twin-stick shooter that wants nothing more than to impress and excite. The sleek visuals and sublime sound design lure you in, then the fast-paced, challenging combat keeps you hooked on clearing level after level. However, missed opportunities and wasted potential take their toll on the game, limiting gameplay variety and giving rise to the game's tamer moments.
We Happy Few is an ambitious open-world survival game that does not benefit from being one. Tedious exploration courtesy of poorly-designed environments and underdeveloped survival mechanics detract from an otherwise strong main adventure. Charming presentation, colorful writing, and powerful environmental storytelling are highlights that are unfortunately eclipsed by a shallow open world.
Nine years later, Heavy Rain's flaws have only become more pronounced. Even so, strong narrative design can't be denied, and it's just enough to ease the pain caused by the game's more outrageous blunders.
The PC port stands as the definitive way to experience Beyond: Two Souls, boasting a higher frame cap, solid keyboard & mouse controls, and a remix mode. These additions, however, do nothing to remedy the poorly-aged, cliché-ridden script and inconsistent chapters you may remember, but do highlight the game's strong visuals and emphasis on variety.
In lieu of what many community theories predicted is a cute and casual adventuring experience with an adorkable cast of Grumpuses and Bugsnax. But all that being said, Bugsnax isn't without its tricks.
A deadly combination of challenging puzzles and curiosity-driven exploration, though it's the puzzle fanatic that'll walk away most satisfied.
Mosaic is the plight of the office worker reimagined for the not-to-distant dystopian future. The tedium, the soullessness, the loneliness — it's all here, presented with sleek, stylish art and simple, effective mechanics. But, the burden of virtual corporate slavery is perhaps too much to bear; the game is prone to frequent bouts of monotony that pull players out of the experience.
The sequel to FAR: Lone Sails scours off the rust and polishes the rest to an acceptable shine. It's a well-oiled machine that runs for twice as long, with a lot more adventure hiding under its hood to compensate for the series' shortcomings.
A shiny time capsule housing six years of sci-fi shooter evolution. Performance-wise, the Switch is two for three, with the Crysis remaster struggling to keep up with the sequels. If you're in it for the visuals and not just the nostalgic flavors of the previous decade, then the remastered trilogy is best experienced on more powerful hardware.
A quirky, bite-sized roguelike all about slick plays you make and highscores you break. It does a lot with relatively little, but you'll quickly find its limits.
The pinnacle of ceaseless, contextless voxel violence. It's hard to top the high-octane, improvisation combat of Paint the Town Red, but those highs don't always survive across its many modes.
The Invisible Hand is a deceptively absurd take on the corporate circus that is Wall Street day trading. It's at its best when it lets the player wreak havoc however they please, but in trying to juggle both stock market shenanigans and its satirical story, it fumbles on both fronts.
A short but sweet gem of a game dusted off and polished by Capcom for a quick nostalgia trip. Visual and auditory upgrades make this the definitive version of Onimusha: Warlords, but nothing can hide the game's aging design.
Rainbow Skies is an indie old school SRPG hiding a wealth of content behind its charming exterior. Improving upon the Rainbow Moon formula, the game doesn't skimp out on quality or quantity, featuring extensive party management, in-depth combat, a vast world to explore, and a myriad of foes to conquer. Unfortunately, the hundreds of hours of gameplay are not free from tedium and suffer from a lack of variety.
An unrefined rogue-like, but a hell of a rhythm shooter. A killer soundtrack and some striking visuals blend beautifully with frenetic shooting to produce pure adrenaline.
Röki is the heartfelt story of a family divided, and a lesson about trust, family, and strength. It preserves the magic and message of the folk tales it draws inspiration from.
A deeply personal two-hour meditation on saying goodbye that invites you to channel your lived experiences and walk alongside its characters. It's a little sparse on the details, but No Longer Home still gives players plenty to chew on.