Jason Rodriguez's Reviews
Rainbow Six Siege starts out strong owing to tactical gameplay and frantic moments. Sadly, the grind becomes tedious down the line. Worse, there's a lack of incentives to keep you excited for the endgame.
Unfinished, buggy, and broken, Icarus should not have released at this stage. With mind-numbing repetition and baffling design decisions, it's a survival game that's more frustrating than challenging.
Far Cry 6 Vaas: Insanity provides a deeper and more nuanced look at a troubled character. Unfortunately, it has a fairly restrictive rogue-lite system if you're pressed for time. Worse, there's not a lot to look forward to after your initial clear.
With a strong narrative and exceptional investigation mechanics, Sherlock Holmes Chapter One manages to one-up its predecessors. Sadly, it also doesn't reach its full potential, though we can hope that future titles are more in-depth.
In many ways, The Dark Pictures: House of Ashes is significantly better than its predecessors. One can even say that it's the most thrilling and action-packed offering from Supermassive Games. Unfortunately, it's also plagued by technical and design issues, as well as a borderline ridiculous twist.
Far Cry 6 is grand in size, scale, and scope. It will make you marvel at its sights, all while enjoying the frantic action. Likewise, I definitely appreciated it due to a shared culture and history with Latin American countries. Unfortunately, it's also bogged down by crashes due to screenshots and atrocious AI combatants. The former can get fixed via a combination of graphics settings, but the latter will require more than a prayer to the Virgen Maria.
Astria Ascending is filled with countless features and mechanics to add more flavor to an adventure that can last dozens of hours. However, it does have some noticeable issues that can sour the experience. The poor narrative and progression can become too tedious, and some characters will feel useless down the line.
Even with some refreshing concepts related to investigations, Gamedec stumbles owing to uninteresting plot points, bland characterization, unclear systems, and pesky bugs.
Outside of some annoying crashes and mishaps, Deathloop remains a stellar game with a brilliant premise, refreshing mechanics, and delightful characters. You'll repeat the same day and retread the same paths over and over. But, replayability is enhanced given how you'll discover new secrets and abilities to help you progress.
King's Bounty II offers numerous options to keep you playing its 40-hour campaign. Unfortunately, it suffers from questionable design, janky movement while exploring, and confusing alignment system outcomes. It can be a treat for long-time fans, but it's also rough around the edges.
Humankind is ambitious in size, scale, and scope, allowing you to try out multiple combinations of cultures as you progress through various eras. However, it's also hampered by limitations in certain mechanics and systems that don't mesh well with the overall gameplay.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla: The Siege of Paris lets you meet a robust cast of historical characters. Unfortunately, many of its features and mechanics feel severely lacking. The concepts that it tries to introduce are either poorly implemented or limited in comparison to other games.
Tribes of Midgard has a lot of interesting concepts, from Norse Mythology inspirations to facets from other genres. Unfortunately, it's dragged down by poor pacing and rushing just to complete objectives. It's better if you have friends who also enjoy it. Unfortunately, as a solo player, you'll start wondering if there's anything else to look forward to.
Grime is a stellar offering that stands ahead of the pack in both the Souls-like and Metroidvania subgenres. Its challenging combat and platforming mechanics add unique quirks that make for a refreshing experience. It does have a few notable flaws, but you'll have a great time in its bizarre world.
Eldest Souls will punish you with its difficulty, but you're going to love it thanks to refreshing combat mechanics and ridiculously frantic boss fights. However, you might encounter a few issues due to visual miscues, and replayability is solely dependent on how much you wish to rerun tougher encounters.
With a combination of multiple features and mechanics from different genres, as well as a setting that's steeped in mystery, Chernobylite attempts to be the jack-of-all-trades. Unfortunately, a mediocre combat system, repetitive mission structure, and dull gameplay loop lead to questionable results.
Overall, F1 2021 still provides an unrivaled and amazing racing experience thanks to its MyTeam and Career modes, as well as a multitude of options to help fine-tune your racing style. Unfortunately, it's marred by a disappointing and disjointed Braking Point flagship story. Moreover, the improvements and changes to existing modes aren't as impactful as I had hoped. As such, if F1 2021 isn't as compelling if you extensively played last year's offering.
Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights does have a few issues. Overall, though, it more than delivers thanks to vibrant visuals, top-notch Metroidvania platforming, and challenging Souls-like combat.
Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 still manages to offer a decent romp with its blend of stealth and action. Unfortunately, it relies too much on "long shot contracts" as opposed to the sandbox-oriented exploration of its predecessor. Likewise, given a multitude of challenges in each level, the autosave system becomes noticeably restrictive.
Ambitious in size, scale, and scope, Edge of Eternity offers a somewhat enjoyable romp that could last you over 40 hours. Sadly, it's also very rough around the edges, and poor pacing can be detrimental to your experience.