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"Horizon Zero Dawn" reminded me very much of a deftly engineered Hollywood movie. I wasn't especially surprised by its plot twists, but that didn't mean I didn't generally enjoy it. Let's see if it develops into a franchise with worthwhile staying power.
‘Nioh’ is game of complex fighting systems. Only the hardcore need apply.
As the credits rolled, I felt glad to be done with it.
‘Gravity Rush 2′ is a gorgeously animated, exuberant game
"Final Fantasy XV" is at its best when treated as an act of tourism. It's gratingly intrusive when it tries to keep you busy, and transcendentally comforting when it settles for just keeping you company.
"The Last Guardian" is all about a collection of small and large gestures that expand, enrich, and end a relationship. Although I experienced some camera-angle issues during my playthrough — it was easily lost in Trico's plumage — I'd like nothing more than to experience the game again. I'm left wondering, as I often do after encountering a great work of art, how it all came together.
A fun combination of hacker fantasy and feel-good teen movie
“Dishonored 2” is one of those games that seems ripe for YouTube or Twitch. It offers an excellent platform for high-level players to strut their stuff. Alas, because it is a decent but inessential sequel, I will not be revisiting the game to perfect my technique.
“Infinite Warfare” is arguably the most imaginative and wide-ranging game in the series, and yet every new idea it tries feels hamstrung by the conventions that have made the series so successful. There are a few interludes of space dogfights, but these feel strangely similar to on-foot levels, but with fighter ships that can come to a full halt and hover before zipping off again to chase a new enemy vessel.
If you go into “Titanfall 2” looking for nothing other than sensory-stirring action and pitch-perfect controls, you won’t be disappointed.
When the missions come together, they can be thrillingly indulgent. More often than not, though, they stick to a basic pattern: infiltrate a building, carefully pick off the guys with the sentry signs above their heads to prevent calls for reinforcements, and kill your way to your goal.
It’s a gratifying to play for a few hours, and the overlay of experience points and weapon upgrades offer formulaic but still effective reasons to keep coming back. Yet, all of it feels like it’s speeding further away from its source material.
It’s the best of the horror bunch.
Story is still very important. But I am saying that under VR’s heavy-ish headset, it’s easy to become bored and impatient when a game plods on.
Four things prevent “Here They Lie” from being completely creditable. It’s unrelentingly depressing. You never feel you’ve triumphed against anything. And although you make the occasional moral choice, it’s less a game than an experience. It’s also the most nausea-inducing VR offering I’ve ever played. The developers care more about affecting your mind and controlling your emotions than they do about your physical ability to complete their slice of grim fantasy.
Sorry all of you “Pokemon Go” players, “Gears of War 4” is my social game of the season.
‘Paper Mario: Color Splash’ makes a game of dragging the past into the present
The latest in the series is proof that ‘Destiny’ will never end
Too many diversions lead to too much wasted time
The Turing Test” achieves a rare harmony of gameplay and narrative. It should make one think about the flexibility of the mind and what it means to consider one’s species the apex of creation.