The game is as confused as its protagonist, and it's hard not to wish that the studio could have conquered its inner conflict and found its wings.
Super Mario 3D World isn't some perfect fix for the aging game maker, but it is Nintendo's tomorrow.
Maybe a better name would be Sonic The Spine Mammal.
Abstracted through pixels, text, and the lens of science fiction, God Will Be Watching is a fantasy that captures a very real, disturbing hint of apocalyptic reality.
The Talos Principle is what it is, though, and inflexible puzzles don't dim the inquisitive light shining inside this game. Croteam has made something rewarding and ultimately knowable but also something that inspires reflection on what isn't.
The chapters are so long, they become tedious, even on the surprisingly vicious "Normal" difficulty setting. The challenge of the game could be a draw, but when coupled with the nonsensical morass of Knack's fantasy, there's no good reason to keep pushing forward. Without a clear center, Cerny's game feels as hollow and vulnerable as its hero, a pile of disparate parts all too ready to crumble at a moment's notice.
Beyond its mechanical parts, The New Order is a relief because it's a reminder that profundity doesn't necessarily need to be linked to big, universe-shattering ideas.
Had it gone with a more crafted experience, zeroing in on a consistent tone and a series of clearly defined challenges, CounterSpy could have been more Three Days Of The Condor rather than This Means War. All it needed to do was remember the 7 Ps, one of the British military's enduring adages: Proper prior planning prevents piss poor performance.
An episodic Resident Evil premieres with great characters and gray rooms
But each cleansing of the palimpsest leaves the material beneath pulpy and weak, and Resident Evil was weak in the first place. The soap opera pleasures of this installment can be replicated in the next, but there are only so many times the series can get away with having action that's only serviceable set in a place that's entirely forgettable.
The game also sings because it's never a slave to the perceived merits of tradition. It would have been all too easy to, say, shove in some little floating Shovel Knight heads, making you collect pointless extra lives for no reason other than that's how things were done back in the good old days. Yacht Club Games is smarter than that, and their game is, too.
Murdered: Soul Suspect takes the clever premise of a ghost detective, and sabotages it with a protagonist as thin and dull as his ethereal specter.
The Evil Within is almost pitiable in its need to recapture the fresh tension and anxiety of Mikami's best work.
Assassin's Creed Unity is a gaudy monument to game design by focus-testing rather than creative vision.
The Saints go straight to hell, both literally and metaphorically, in Saints Row IV standalone expansion, Gat Out of Hell.
It calls up any real experience of anxiety lickety split. But the threat's easy to escape and even easier to forget. The difference between a great idea and a great story is subtle, but important.
Batman: The Telltale Series squanders its potential with a messy story obsessed with retreading older Batman tales.
Most of the time, the game works, and some of it can be amusing if not nourishing. It's just stupid. Very, very stupid.
EA Sports UFC has failed to create something as immediately entertaining as it is rewardingly complex.
[Alien Isolation] is a remarkable work fueled by fearful tension and exhausting stress.