At its core, obviously, Star Wars Zero Company is very firmly in the lineage of XCOM, so if you like that, you’re pretty much guaranteed to like this too. But by giving so much attention to the story and giving you a lot more freedom in how you approach its missions, Zero Company shows that even if it’s built on a formula, it’s not beholden to it, and that flexibility makes the game all the more enjoyable.
It’s neither a great 3D platformer nor a great word game. But, at the very least, it’s good enough at both halves of that equation that I have no problem saying that I enjoyed it.
Even if The Sinking City 2 is a terrible follow-up to the first Sinking City, it’s a pretty solid entry into the survival horror genre. It’s full of monsters and creepy hallways and limited ammo and a constant sense of mounting dread. It’s a whole lot closer to Resident Evil or Silent Hill than anything Frogwares have ever done before.
I don’t think I’ve played many games that are as close to being fun and interesting as Magin: The Rat Project Stories without quite making the jump to actually being fun and interesting.
But who wants modern when Agent 64 shows how much it can be to jump in a time machine and pretend it’s still 1997? This is how homages to the past should be done – without pretense or winking, and a health dose of fun sprinkled liberally throughout.
Is it better to be a broken game or a boring one? That’s the question I find myself asking after playing Case Solved: The London Files because, improbably, it manages to be both.
I can see why this would appeal to anyone who hews more closely to the Sonic side of the spectrum. Demon Tides is bright and frenetic and brimming with things to do, so if you want a whole world to blast around in while you do your platforming thing, it’s definitely worth investigating.
It’s a 2.5D platformer that…plays exactly how you’d expect a 2.5D platformer to play.
These are pleasant games with a delightful story and narrator, and you wouldn’t want to harsh that vibe too much with insane puzzles or unbeatable enemies. But at the same time, the world of 3D platformers is much more competitive in the world outside of VR, and against that harsher competition, Moss: The Forgotten Relic doesn’t feel like it stands up quite as well.
It’s <I>fine</i> at everything without being great at anything. The world, the characters, the combat, the weapons – everything here is done well enough to be acceptable, but not so well that you’ll find anything about the game all that compelling.
There’s no denying that Thick As Thieves is fun for what it is. It’s the kind of game where you’ll experience everything it has to offer and you’ll come away wanting more – and even if we don’t get it, the price here probably makes this bite-sized offering too good to pass up.
There’s not a whole lot of adventure to be found here. There’s no plot, no story, no conflict – just you and the open road. While I get that sometimes people like just aimlessly driving around without any purpose, as a game it’s not quite so compelling.
I don’t know that it’ll make anyone forget about Balatro or anything, but I’d still say that if you’re fond of that game and you want something similar (but not too similar), then Black Jacket is definitely worth investigating.
It’s a solidly above-average metroidvania that looks like it could’ve come out at any point in the last forty years or so, and it plays pretty much as you’d expect it to. If you pick it up, I can’t imagine you’d be too disappointed in it (though I have one or two nitpicks that I’ll get to shortly) but I also don’t know that there’s anything that makes it stand out in a crowded field.
It’s a game about cartography – as you hopefully guessed from the name – that dresses itself up in all the usual cozy accoutrements and that is always trying to remind you of how much fun you’re having, even if you’re not.
It’s got its world-building down pat, but the developers forgot to make the world fun to play in at the same time.
I don’t know if we’re likely to see another Arkham game any time soon, but as long as we get something as inventive and as fun as LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, I’m perfectly prepared to wait a lot longer.
Even if Rune Dice isn’t quite at the very top of the genre, it’s definitely in the upper tier. For me, the key measure of success for a roguelike deckbuilder is how often you reach the end of a run and say to yourself, “Okay, just one more, but that’s it!” – and there have been several nights where I’ve found myself getting to bed a little too late because I was sure I had one good run of dice just around the corner. If that’s not success, I don’t know what is.
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is, more than anything else, a weird, somewhat experimental game. There’s a plot, of course, and some familiar faces that pop up here and there, but if you’re expecting your standard Nintendo 2D platformer (as reductionist as that phrase is), this definitely isn’t that.
If you’re a fan of classic 3D platformers, Dracamar evokes those in all the right ways. It may feel like a lost oddity from another continent and generation, but as far as I’m concerned, that’s all part of its charm.