I like The Alters. It sells its premise in a way I wish more science fiction games would. We need more of them. But the watering down of its gameplay elements makes it hard to recommend. If you’re willing to slog through tedium and gameplay filler there is a wonderfully fun story to experience. I’m debating if I want to push through a second time and see how my journey plays out.
I enjoyed my time with Shotgun Cop Man but, where I couldn’t stop replaying My Friend Pedro, I don’t see myself returning to this one. Shotgun Cop Man is frantic, fun, and funny. It is also repetitive, irritating, and doesn’t separate itself from the pack. What it does have is enough charm and sharp gameplay to make itself a worthy pickup.
So it’s probably pretty weird that I am going to recommend this game with one big fat caveat. If you’re a fan of the genre, there are a lot of cool and original things happening in MainFrames. If you’re not already comfortable in the space it’s probably not going to work as shining introduction to the world of indie platformers.
The story is engaging and filled with noir goodness, the gameplay added to the feeling I was a memory hacking detective, and the visuals felt straight out of one of my favorite 80s movies. But the absolutely relentless and aggressive lights and patterns that invade the game a few hours in made it a hard game to finish. Because of this I still recommend it, but with a large and bold asterisk.
For the rest of us who have been playing crafting and survival games for 10+ years, there is nothing in this game for us. For almost everything this game does well, there are other more complex games that do it just as well or better. I can tell lots of love was put into Summer in Mara, but there are some tweaks that need to be made to support the audience they seem to be going for.
Considering the largely uncharted waters (sorry) of the shark simulator genre, it is hard to fault Maneater for its flaws. On the other hand, open world design has been a staple of gaming for over a decade and it is a shame to see such repetitive quest design.
As much as I’m willing to sacrifice depth in gameplay for a satisfying story, I should never feel frustrated as much as I did while playing this.
The Complex is an interesting experiment that sometimes yields the fruits of its labor. More often, though, it reveals precisely why developers stopped using live-action video as a means to tell an interactive story. With a minuscule budget and equally small ambitions for its narrative and characters, The Complex just doesn’t replace the gaping whole that TellTale left behind.
Solar Panic: Utter Distress feels like it wants to be The Stanley Parable for the Rick and Morty generation but it comes across more as a desperate attempt to get a laugh no matter how random and ridiculous you need to get.
So what does all this mean for Shenmue? Well, I think fans are going to enjoy this one, but I don’t think this is going to introduce a new generation of gamers to the series.
I hate to speak for a community but I’m sure this game may meet the demands they ask for in Need For Speed. For anyone else looking to get into racing but don’t want the difficulty associated with Forza or Asetto Corsa, I would still recommend picking up the recent remaster of Burnout Paradise. If you’re not already a Need For Speed fan, I say skip Heat and wait for EA to remember Burnout exists.
It may not be the flashiest, prettiest, or most obvious choice for meeting your RPG crave, but trust me, The Outer Worlds is a can’t miss gem of not just 2019, but the entire generation.
It’s rare a competitive game can give you the exhilaration of beating your friends without the bitterness of losing to them. It’s competition at its friendliest and most fun.
If they can sort the performance issues out, this might be a decent game to play on Switch, but only if you really enjoy button-mashing action/adventure. I just can’t see a reason to pick it up on PC or traditional home consoles when there are so many better alternatives.
I really don’t know who this game is for, aside from already devoted fans of the franchise. I’m sure there are plenty of Utawarerumono fans out there, but this game didn’t seem to make any attempt at pulling in new ones.
I had some pretty violent mood swings while playing Metal Wolf Chaos XD. I laughed, I smiled, I grimaced, and I yelled in frustration. At the end of the day, a lot of this comes down to simply playing a 15 year old game. Few of them age well and most of them coast on nostalgia.
There were enough hidden stories and lore to keep me interested as I went along. Stories of daemons and gods and cults are always fascinating and I could feel the mystery around me as I crept through dark streets and skulked through humming, misty caves. It’s just a shame it was held back by its shallow content and repetitive gameplay.