Murdered: Soul Suspect could have been a really fun detective experience, but it's actually an average point and click mystery game with higher production values. The possession mechanic is underutilized, while the game uses the demons to create a fake sense of difficulty towards the end. The story is good, but the road towards its conclusion is filled with problems.
Sniper Elite 3 is a relatively fun niche shooter experience that improves some of the faults seen in its predecessors, particularly in regards to mission design and the open nature of levels. It's still weighed down by bugs, erratic AI, and a shoddy story, but it will certainly entertain fans of the franchise and those looking for a thinking man's shooter experience.
Chariot is a pretty decent puzzle platformer with stellar visuals but it could've been much more, had it not been for the annoying enemies and the rather difficult task of escorting the coffin through the many different caves. Its design is sound but its pace is grueling and filled with trial and error. Playing with a friend alleviates this somewhat, so bring a buddy if you want to go through the game.
Lords of the Fallen is a decent role-playing experience with some innovative features but it's weighed down by the balancing problems and the technical issues. After a few updates, it might become a good and challenging RPG, but for now, it falls short.
Costume Quest 2 is a decent sequel in terms of story but lacks the necessary gameplay innovations. Environments are varied but a bit confusing and some of the new costumes are relatively fun, while others recycle abilities seen in the first two experiences. As such, while fans will certainly enjoy the "more of the same" nature of the new title, those looking for more new things might have to go elsewhere.
Game of Thrones Episode 1 acts more or less as a prologue by setting the stage for the many events that will happen in the next five chapters. It delivers a decent experience in terms of dialog but falls short when it comes to action sequences or impactful choices. The visuals in particular weigh it down, so let's hope some improvement can be made with the next few episodes.
Resident Evil HD Remaster is a decent remake of the original survival horror title, retaining the challenging puzzles and combat, while adding the new control scheme or the easy mode. Unfortunately, its overhauled aspects aren't that impressive, so don't go in with high expectations, as there are still plenty of confusing sequences, annoying door opening animations, and other relics of the past.
Game of Thrones Episode 2: The Lost Lords is a decent entry in Telltale's series, and while it takes the story to interesting directions, it still doesn't really pull off the whole presentation and still suffers from shoddy choices and poor visuals.
Evolve is a novel take on the cooperative and competitive multiplayer genre. The game is packed with interesting ideas but some work better than others. The fact that characters are locked at the beginning weighs it down by a wide margin and the erratic matchmaking also puts a damper on the whole thing.
Dragon Ball Xenoverse is a fun and pretty innovative experience for both veteran fans and newcomers. Unfortunately, it's weighed down by some elements like the wonky camera, the fickle lock-on, the dumb companion AI, or the slightly repetitive combat. Even so, you'll find things to enjoy and taking a walk down Dragon Ball memory lane is always interesting.
Shiftlings is a fun little puzzle platformer with a novel mechanic that's pulled off pretty well. Unfortunately, some stages have confusing solutions and playing with a friend can be both laughter and rage-inducing, depending on your luck. Throw in the often times where a misstep means retreading through some annoying sections and you won't always have a good time.
The performance issues on the PS4 and the iffy platforming make the game fall short of reaching the same status as its past entries. All these things may be fixed with future updates but, at least for now, the title can only be recommended to hardcore fans and those looking for a challenge.
Defragmented is a clever mix of varied RPG mechanics and hectic action-oriented shooting. While the camera needs a bit of work to use properly, you can still enjoy the great visuals and the stellar soundtrack.
King's Quest Chapter I: A Knight to Remember manages to deliver a pretty good entry in the series. Not only does it respect the huge legacy but it also brings the franchise to the present day. It offers a lot of content, and while it's generally enjoyable, there are some sequences that might leave players frustrated.
The Reckoning DLC for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare offers a decent experience. While not all of the maps manage to live up to expectations, those that do offer a great time and are certainly going to keep fans busy until Black Ops 3 rolls out in November.
Skyshine's Bedlam is a pretty good mix of turn-based strategy and rogue-like mechanics. However, the sheer difficulty at the beginning of a campaign and the randomized unit placement does make it very tough for players to survive their journey into the Wasteland. Already some patches are in development to solve some of these things, so the future of the game is looking relatively good.
Gemini: Heroes Reborn is a pretty compelling first-person adventure that manages to borrow from bigger titles like BioShock, Mirror's Edge, or PsiOps to deliver a mix that can delight gamers in general, not just fans of the Heroes universe. Its adventure isn't the lengthiest, and the replayability factor isn't all that great, but you'll certainly enjoy bending time and flinging objects with your mind in this title.
No Time To Explain Remastered definitely improves upon the original and makes for a better experience overall. The laser rifle/jetpack mechanic is still fun and its dialog is still hilarious. However, some of the levels and platforming require a huge amount of trial-and-error before getting through and this certainly weighs the game down. Even so, provided you have the skills or friends to play in the co-op mode, you can have quite a bit of fun with this title.
Traverser is an intriguing game. While it doesn't do that many great things with its gravity glove, it makes up for it with the clever story, novel premise, and the emphasis on sneaking around. However, some ambiguous moments and the presence of a few awkward boss fights weigh it down.
Grid Autosport is a pretty fun racing title, but in the pursuit of addressing every bit of feedback after Grid 2, Codemasters hasn't delivered the most cohesive experience. You still need to endure some of the disciplines that you may not like in order to progress through the career, and the two cockpit cameras feel more like a fan-made mod than something devised by the developer itself. Throw in the erratic AI and you might get annoyed quite a few times while playing Autosport.