Lee Mehr's Reviews
Some reservations about The Forgotten City's game design keep it from attaining Legion-dary status among the new wave of time loop games, but its exceptional narrative ensures I won't forget it either.
The accumulation of so many elements to crow about – characters, polish, creativity, art design, combative pacing, and so on – made it an experience I couldn't put down.
Paper Cult threw Samurai Jack's aesthetic, Tarantino's offbeat writing, and Hotline Miami's lurid violence into a vat; to its credit, that confection is still a mixture I admire at a distance. It’s the closer inspection that reveals several bad roots.
Ironically, Night Book makes a better argument for replaying than ever starting it.
Despite some technical issues, Sea of Thieves: A Pirate's Life may have been one of the best crossovers I've ever seen.
The guided tour quickly becomes overbearing and the initial drive to document any magical wildlife never recovers.
Variable State's sophomore effort reaches a boring destination due to uneven writing and game design austerity.
The 9th-gen upgrade treatment doesn't remove any of its tougher fleas, but A Plague Tale: Innocence remains one harrowing ride.
Studio Fizbin's first foray into the first-person narrative adventure sub-genre is their most uncreative work thus far.
More of a developer's victory lap, The de Vespe Conspiracy is a more-of-the-same expansion that doesn't quite reach the heights of the original's better questlines.
I thought the book was better.
It's sad when Warrior Boy's most notable gem is that I managed to complete it.
Mechanically rewarding, visually sumptuous, & aurally satisfying to an insane degree.
It gleefully harnesses the silly and chaotic to such operatic excesses that I can't help but indulge in the beautiful carnage.
King of Seas is akin to a reputably strong pirate now maligned with scurvy. You can easily see how this pirate game could be a great success, but so many deleterious design issues turn it into something cursed.
Dry Twice is another example that sexual faux pas and double entendres aren’t as impressive in modern gaming without the writing and gameplay to carry them. Until that changes, I think these new entries will always feel like sloppy seconds.
Certain issues are tough to dodge, but Knockout City's nuanced foundation still shows promise.
The scale of its ambition makes the radioactive leak all the more widespread.
"Style over substance" is a reflexively-bandied phrase that's diminished in meaning over time. Although I partly agree to its usage here to highlight certain gameplay flaws, I don't think that should tarnish Narita Boy's immense successes. Studio Koba designed what they knew best – reverent 80s nostalgia, inspired techno-spirituality, beautiful 2D art, & more – with a sincerity rarely seen today.
Hitchhiker ultimately feels like an unengaging road trip you can steer clear of playing.