An incongruously designed mess that should be avoided at all costs. Awful framerate, poor storytelling, and monotonous mazes make Dollhouse one of the worst games in decades.
Cris Tales is a mediocre JRPG-inspired indie that neither captures the strong characters nor the interwoven mechanics that make the genre so appealing.
So where does it all land? Like I said at the beginning, it landed me at “interesting.” I genuinely have an incredible time with the gameplay, especially when I’m playing co-op. I think the different character abilities that come with the classes are all really well designed and work beautifully to create different combinations in combat, both within a single character class and with other players. The fun I have with the core gameplay, though, does not lessen the frustration and issues I have with the difficulty balancing, consistent network issues, and the ultimately poor story—which has a disappointing ending that could have been so much more. What we’re left with is a game that feels tragically half-finished, because it was halfway to greatness.
Live A Live takes too long to settle into its RPG groove, making it a missed opportunity on too many fronts.
Surprising no one, Babylon’s Fall’s live service trappings are its biggest failing. The way it handles loot, crafting, and customization could just as well exist in a self-contained single player experience with appropriate tweaks.
Mad Streets is an okay physics-driven party game/beat ’em up. Its health bars and mechanics, which gleam more from traditional fighting games, are a step in the right direction.
The best compliment one can bestow upon Yuoni is that its existence won’t be recalled 20 years from now as an insult to the genre.
Supermassive Games fails to understand that they can’t direct their art with such indignation. Rather than letting consumers enjoy their titles in sometimes unintended ways, they’ve come to limit the gameplay experience as a means of controlling the community. In the process, they have damned the conversations that could have risen, with House of Ashes acting as yet another middling product, free of the soul that leaves a lasting impression.
Into the Frey.
In Sound Mind encapsulates what it means to be greater than the sum of one’s parts–its disparate elements coalescing to form a simultaneously unsettling and campy horror title.
Killing raiders and building deathtraps has never felt so satisfying, but does the fun last?
Not your grandpa's Ninja Gaiden, for better or worse.
Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series successfully updates two solid platformers for modern audiences.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga still has some of the Lego charm, but it's a step back for the series.
Scarlet Nexus' accomplished combat and world are hamstrung by a shockingly low budget that oozes nearly every corner of the experience from its cinematics to its levels to even enemy composition at times. That said, action JRPG fans should be able to latch onto enough to walk away satisfied. .
Sniper Elite V2 Remastered is an inconsistent remaster and stealth action experience, but those slow motion executions are as satisfying as ever. Its arcade-like scoring system with short missions also encourages improving previous runs.
Soul Hackers 2 is still a blast to play. It replicates many of the best Shin Megami Tensei fundamentals such as demon fusion and a combat system that heavily relies on buffs, debuffs, and elemental weaknesses.
Tales of Arise lacks the grandiosity and polish befitting of the 25th anniversary. That isn’t to say it’s a bad game. Far from it in fact–but this franchise deserves better now that it’s in the mainstream spotlight.
A solid spin-off that capitalizes on the studio's strengths, but ultimately relies on its formula too much. Add in half-baked detective mechanics and Judgment doesn't realize its concept's potential.
Mundaun's lack of polish isn't undone by its startlingly unnerving atmosphere. Gamers without an appreciation for the slow moments in games will find themselves befuddled. Everyone else might find a hidden gem.