Ghostbusters is the product of a greedy publisher and a lazy developer trying to cash in on the hype of both a recent film and an established franchise. If you care at all about maintaining the integrity of the Ghostbusters IP, stay well clear of this game at all costs.
With a simple, easy-to-understand gameplay premise and a progression system that was pretty much designed to support microtransactions, I can see why ZKILLER would be an appealing mobile game. As a fully fledged PC title though, even its current $6.99 listing is too big a price to pay for a game that offers little in the way of substance and nothing in the way of compelling gameplay.
Perhaps the most disappointing thing about The Quiet Man is that it presents a world I want to know more about. I like the idea of a deaf vigilante-esque antihero doing his best to find the good in a world of darkness and violence, even if it means having to become a force of darkness and violence himself. However, in the case of The Quiet Man, that strong premise is squandered by lazy development decisions and incredibly odd artistic choices.
There are few genres as universally appealing as the spy genre, and yet somehow Safe House manages to take that genre and suck virtually all the fun out of it. There are glimmers of a good game that occasionally flash by, but no matter how desperate you are for a new strategy/spy game to play, you should steer clear of Safe House unless the idea of hand cramps induced by endless mouse-clicking somehow sounds appealing to you.
The lack of passion Dambuster Studios clearly felt when developing Homefront: The Revolution shines through in the game's lackluster story, bland gameplay, and misused setting. Even if you enjoyed the original Homefront, you're better off sitting this revolution out.
If the setting and lore of The Order: 1886 interest you at all, the game is at least worth a rental. Those hoping for a meaty, innovative experience however need not bother as the game wastes much of its potential on rehashed gameplay systems, an unsatisfyingly thin story, and a noticeable lack of long-term appeal.
I'm not going to go so far as to call Generation Zero a straight cash grab, but charging $40 for a game that was clearly rushed out the door is a hard sin to ignore. I'm not entirely sure what Avalanche's final vision for Generation Zero was, but it clearly wasn't confident enough in that vision to give the game the proper care and resources that were required.
Crackdown 3 does its best to ride on an action-packed wave of nostalgia, but in the end all it succeeds in doing is face-planting straight into a morass of tedium and frustration. Even the most stalwart Crackdown fans will likely wonder if the long wait was worth the final result.
The good news about Siegecraft Commander’s current state is that it has plenty of room (and clear directions) in which to grow, but unless there’s a pretty substantial day-one patch I’m not aware of, you should steer clear until Blowfish corrects the game’s many issues.
Disintegration at least proves that, when properly tuned, the vehicle-based gameplay that's normally presented as a one-off setpiece in most other FPS titles is capable of anchoring an entire game, especially when it's paired off with a little RTS unit management. Unfortunately, in Disintegration's case, that unique gameplay model isn't strong enough to outshine the game's lack of visual and functional polish.
It's easy to see what Camel 101 was going for as it constructed Those Who Remain's dark and foreboding world, but while the intent was noble, the execution leaves much to be desired. The game's low price point might appeal to someone who's desperate for a new game to play, but any wayward souls who come across the exit for Dormont while cruising the horror game highway should just keep on driving.
To put it politely, Shenmue III has the potential to charm existing fans of the Shenmue saga, if only in how much it painstakingly recreates the stilted beauty of its two predecessors. However, if judged on its merits alone and/or by a non-Shenmue fan, this game just feels like a whole bunch of wasted Kickstarter money. If there's one thing that Shenmue III proves, it's that bringing new fans into the fold was never Ys Net's goal.
The silver lining of The Park's poor showing is that it could lead Funcom to try harder should it attempt subsequent single-player adventures. In the meantime however, The Park is one attraction you should definitely skip out on.
A Matter of Family is an admirable attempt to bring a playable version of Batgirl into the Arkham fold but noticeable technical issues, severe narrative inconsistencies, and a main story that literally goes nowhere drag it down from the lofty heights of greatness.
If you're really, truly desperate for a new adventure-horror game in the vein of Dear Esther and you consider yourself to literally have the patience of a saint, at the very least Kholat will look and sound pretty as you play it. Anyone who doesn't want to deal with tedious gameplay, a confusing story, or frustrating progress roadblocks however should steer clear.
It wouldn't be totally fair to call Need for Speed Heat a bad game, but given the exciting high-speed material it's defined by, it is a disappointingly boring one. Small blessings like the lack of over-aggressive microtransactions and an incredibly in-depth car customization suite can't make up for gameplay and progression loops which, at best, feel routine and archaic, and at worst frustrating and obtuse.
As I said above, I'm totally ok with admitting that Mothergunship might not have been made with my specific gaming tastes in mind. But when a game tries so hard to tell me how to play and, worse, punishes me so harshly when I fail, I just can't for the life of me imagine that any sort of gamer could find long-term enjoyment out of what it offers.
As someone who was a big fan of the Assassin's Creed multiplayer template, I'm saddened to see that Murderous Pursuits basically functions as a stripped-down barebones version of that same concept. The game's Victorian contest of cat and mouse where players are always both the cat *and* the mouse is certainly a unique find amid the usual competitive fare, there's just not enough meat on its bones to keep more casual players invested over the long term.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan is, at the very least, a serviceable co-op brawler infused with plenty of fun nods for longtime TMNT fans. However, its high price-point, lack of couch co-op, and repetitive gameplay are hard to ignore, making it a game which is best bought at a drastically reduced price.
With a few tweaks and maybe a more casual-friendly difficulty level, Tharsis could be a fun strategy alternative for those who don't enjoy building large kingdoms or waging wars that take hours to complete. In its current state however, Tharsis is little more than a sadistically cruel game of digital roulette.