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Kinect Sports Rivals answers the question "What has Rare been up to?". Sadly, the game falls short of the mark on almost every category, with the biggest hit being on fun. With three of the six included events ranging from unpleasant to unplayable, you get dragged through dialogue I'd never, ever want to hear again.
It's a fun little game with some gorgeous visual and musical style, but it fails to evoke the emotional core that similar games like Journey and Flower were able to. The challenging gameplay and the musical score may be enough for some players, but those in search of more depth will need to look elsewhere.
In the end, EA Sports UFC is still a winner, but by split decision. Some of the omissions like cut and leg stoppages, and the odd bug here and there, make for a debut that is certainly better than EA Sports MMA. Here's the hitch though – somehow despite itself the game is ridiculously fun. Although very ambitious, this title still could have used a little more time in the gym. I look forward to the sequel though – the second fight is almost always better than the first.
Murdered: Soul Suspect is what you get when you create a point-and-click adventure game through the lens of a modern console game. It's not perfect, but it's a mystery worth solving.
A Realm Reborn fits well into the scene of MMORPG's today while still retaining its identity as a Final Fantasy entry. Even so, while it does have a few genuinely novel features, it fails to add much to an already stagnant genre. If you like MMO's and are looking for that next fix, then I suggest A Realm Reborn over its competitors, but if you have the means, then I'd say you should pick up the PC version of the game.
With hundreds of puzzles to keep you occupied for hours, Pushmo World is a wonderful experience, if only a bit familiar.
As a general rule – when your game's release date is just a year after the first, but you've more than doubled the amount of content, you might want to rethink that timeframe. The team has been hard at work on these issues, and there have been frequent updates since release, each nailing down small portions of bugs and balance issues, but it's hard to make a second first impression. Despite the technical issues, NeocoreGames ultimately delivers more of what we fell in love with in the first Van Helsing title. Hopefully they take a little more time to iron things out to conclude this very compelling trilogy.
The good news is that fans can now play a new Worms game on their new consoles; the bad news is that Worms Battlegrounds does almost nothing to advance the series and so makes it hard to justify yet another Worms entry to begin with.
Watch Dogs represents a step into a scary real-world future. It raises social and governmental questions around a person's right to privacy. It delivers combat, stealth, story, and an incredible amount of side content to bring the whole world to life. I'm amazed at what the team at Ubisoft has delivered here, and I'm glad that they treated the hacker world with more respect and attention to detail than any other game or movie to date. I'm hopeful that Watch Dogs becomes a franchise because it is the best sandbox title I've ever played.
Tropico 5 is a stop-gap measure, another coat of paint on a series designed for a specific audience that's looking for a specific experience. The freshly streamlined interface may court some new blood, but a lackluster campaign and a failure to branch out from the micromanagement-heavy core sim experience makes this a tough sell for outsiders to the genre.
Always Sometimes Monsters is one of those independent, cult-classic-to-be, games that fans of narrative storytelling should really give a chance. Whatever flaws it may have are obvious and avoidable, and at no point did I encounter something game-breaking that soured my time. There are plenty of paths to choose from, feelings to explore, and surprise consequences that will make you give yourself a high-five or scream at you monitor. The Vagabond Dog boys have made a solid start.
I'm surprised at just how much MachineGames has done to bring the Wolfenstein franchise into a new generation. Balanced gameplay, a memorable story, characters with depth, and more than two dozen hours of content scratch a shooter itch that has been long dormant. Wolfenstein: The New Order delivers an experience well beyond my expectations, elevating this venerable series not only into a new generation, but raising the bar for story-driven shooters as a whole. Well done, MachineGames, well done indeed.
Consisting of two very well designed maps and one recycled and repurposed yet still very enjoyable map, Expedition will certainly bring the faithful back to the table for more. Unfortunately, Titanfall still feels a little thin, mostly because a lack of maps was never really its problem. Respawn would do well to examine other FPS expansion packs to see that gamers will likely expect more from paid content than a handful of new maps with no additional features.
If you're looking for a whimsical and accessible racing game to play with your friends and family, Mario Kart 8 is one of the best. Just don't expect any additional content outside of the most basic modes.
Super Time Force blew me away. This is a must-own for Xbox One owners, so don't waste any…TIME…buying it.
Coming into the release of MLB 14: The Show, it was clear that this is the king of baseball games. Not only is it the king but no other game is coming anywhere near it's level of greatness for quite some time. Thankfully, Sony San Diego does not take that lightly as they have continued to build on an already fantastic product. There is no doubt that some of their additions fell a bit short, but those are the risks you can take when you are the uncontested king. The graphical enhancements in the PS4 version of MLB 14: The Show are undeniable and true proof of how far we can go with visuals this generation. Whether it is in graphics or gameplay, MLB: The Show continues to rule the sports game world.
Ultimately Spider's follow up to Mars: War Logs is a far better effort than its predecessor. You can't help but appreciate the effort put forth, as well as the fantastic concepts and new approach to storytelling. Bound by Flame provides engaging mechanics and choices that actually matter, if you can stomach the horrible voice work.
So here we are at the end of a very long review for a very big game, and the question of whether or not The Elder Scrolls Online has captured the magic of its single single contemporaries still remains to be answered. I think the framework is there, but there are some painful missteps that are holding it back. MMOs are a constantly evolving ecospace, so it's possible we'll get there, but for now I'll cautiously say…maybe.
While a lot of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 fails to impress, there is a decent amount of potential to be had in this Beenox product. It is clear that Beenox is a talented developer, but being forced into developing a movie-game that has a predetermined release date is a near impossible situation for anyone. Here's to hoping that brighter futures are in front of Beenox. If not, there will most certainly be a new Amazing Spider-Man heading our way in a few years.
After eight months in Steam Early Access, Sir, You Are Being Hunted is out of beta. Unfortunately, it still feels a little under-baked. There isn't enough content or complexity here to warrant Sir's length on a single playthrough, let alone on multiple playthroughs. Sir, You Are Being Hunted has a delightful sense of humor, but it's just not enough to carry the rest of the experience.