Cosmin Vasile
For all these reasons, if you have already played the game, Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning will offer nothing new, and will prove to be only a minor improvement over the original. However, if you missed the original and you are looking for an action RPG with fun combat, you might want to give it a chance.
Despite the heavy topics at its core, The Suicide of Rachel Foster in the end proves to be a bit overly melodramatic. It resembles the work of a playwriter that tried too hard to be dramatic, with overacting characters, the entire experience being a sizzle rather than a bang. But, thanks to the few moments when the tension can give you goosebumps, The Suicide of Rachel Foster is worth experiencing on a rainy afternoon, but only by the fans of the genre.
But all of these positive aspects pale in front of the technical part that is severely lacking. As such I cannot recommend Ary and The Secret of Seasons until several patches have come out fixing the annoying issues of the game.
But even these moments cannot make me forget about the technical issues, and the sacrifices made to turn the game into a live service. The lack of variety may get addressed by future free or paid updates, but you remain with the feeling that if the effort would have been invested in focusing on a single-player experience Marvel's Avengers could have been truly great. Instead, we received a mixed bag of experiences that vary from great to downright monotonous.
So although it may seem short, the game is packed with engaging action and enough content to justify its price. Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time is a must-play title for fans of the cartoons, and it should be picked up by those looking for an action game too, even if they are not familiar with one of the most famous ninjas ever to grace recent pop culture.
But it feels more like a quite short interactive experience, rather than a videogame. Metamorphosis lacks variety and cohesive gameplay, focusing too much on the story and the atmosphere. As such even the current price may seem a bit high for this unusual game. It is a surreal experiment which despite its intriguing source material, will never become a classic due to its dull inner workings.
Instead, you are presented with jumps that require ultimate precision and obstacles with errors in collision detection which force you to adopt a slow and careful approach. With more attention to details and some more polishing Skully could have been an entertaining experience. Unfortunately, it just proves to be a modest attempt to make a cute platformer.
Moreover, Darkestville Castle is a great reminder of why we love the greats. It awakes memories about the adventures of George Hobart, of the sleepless nights when we were trying to find out the solution for a difficult puzzle involving Sam and Max, about the endless discussions with friends trying to figure out together how to solve the misadventures of Guybrush Threepwood. Unfortunately for Epic LLama, Darkestville Castle will never be reminisced about as these epic experiences and will be forgotten shortly after finishing it.
Although it starts as a walking simulator, Maid of Sker turns quickly into a horror game that will remind you either of Silent Hills or Resident Evil or maybe of Outlast or Amnesia. No matter what your experience is with horror games, you will find their influence on Maid of Sker, which is not great, not terrible. It is a lukewarm experience, which rather frustrates than scares, and which due to its length and content can be recommended only after a serious discount.
Although visually charming and despite the unique atmosphere, the game world feels somehow empty. Most of the gameplay relies on the same simple ideas which are repeated from start to end. Although it requires precision from the player, Neversong does not offer the control scheme to support such a need.
Despite these issues, Destroy All Humans! keeps its charm and unique appeal. If you can overlook the obsolete mechanics and level design, the adventures of Crypto are actually fun. Thanks to the budget-friendly price tag, the game can be recommended to those who finished games like Maneater and are looking to a new dose of mayhem.
There's the only one piece of advice I can give players so that they can fully enjoy it. Death Stranding is not a shooter, is not a stealth game, and it's not a horror. If you can play the game without expectations, you're going to love it. When you don't want familiarity, you'll get innovation.
Overall, SpongeBob Squarepants Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated is a zesty and refreshing remake of a classic. It is no masterpiece by any standards, and some parts of it still feel superfluous, but it offers a fun single-player experience. The atmosphere of the game is great, mainly because the developers seem to have understood the universe which the game is based on, paying extra attention to fan favorites.
Unfortunately, the console version paints a different picture: the game's charm and strengths are overshadowed by the poor technical execution. The release of a patch that just makes things worse can be an oversight, but it is still a severe one that further damages the experience. If you are looking for an RPG that dares to implement change and has a novel approach to the genre, Tower of Time has lots of potentials, but wait until all the issues are fixed.
Despite these shortcomings, Beyond Blue is a game everyone should experience. It is ideal for younger audiences and can be the perfect family activity. The price tag is a bit steep compared to what the game offers, but after a discount Beyond Blue should be considered by everyone who wants to relax and escape into a beautiful world for a couple of hours.
Edna and Harvey: The Breakout Anniversary Edition is an ode to the classic games signed by Lucas Arts, which manages to feel fresh and up to date. The control scheme takes time to get used to, but it works. All in all, it is a successful remaster of a nonconformist game.
This is maybe one of the greatest merits of Desperados III, even when it makes you sweat and go back to the drawing board, it remains fun and never becomes a dull repetition of the same actions. Although the price tag is not of a AAA game, the content it offers makes it an experience you should not miss. If you were a fan of the original game, Desperados III is the sequel you have been waiting for since 2001.
It's true that the weird combination of first-person shooter and strategy elements do work quite well in Disintegration, they're not as fun as one would expect (if anyone can expect that). Instead of having the best of both worlds, Disintegration puts itself in the position of potentially being hated by fans of both genres. Yes, the hybrid approach does work, but it's not entertaining enough to warrant a full playthrough. Here is hoping for a better sequel though.
For those who are into card games, Monster Train is a must-play title. It's better and more complex than Slay the Spire, although I would have liked to see more bosses throughout my several playthroughs, the RNG dictates who you fight and when. Monster Train is a fresh, new take on the deck-building card game genre that will be hard to be outmatched.
Even though Greymoor adds about 20 hours of story content, depending on how many side quests you're willing to take on, the expansion keeps to the same formula. Instead of bringing meaningful changes to the world of ESO, Greymoor piggybacks on the previous installments to find new audiences. That being said, I do recommend the new expansion, just don't expect any mind-blowing improvements.