DarkZero's Reviews
Whilst it may not initially be obvious, open world games have dramatically evolved in the last 5 years. I was once happy with mindless collectatons, but I've grown to want more. The best open world games nowadays are an expansion of the form, but Mad Max is highly regressive in far too many areas to be meaningful. Everything I experienced during my time with the game felt like it came five years too late to the open world party. Those with any interest in the genre will have already trod similar ground long before. We've seen all these tricks done dozens of times – so much so that all the props that were once cleverly hidden away are now clear to see.
Even though there are a few moments where the game is quite satisfactory, you're always wishing for more than it ever truly delivers.
Overall, Shantae: Risky's Revenge is a nice throwback, even if it's not really that old, with a single glaring problem – being 'Metroidvania' style comes with some responsibilities that this title just couldn't hold up its end of the bargain for.
The premise nicely informs the sturdy-if-unspectacular gameplay framework, Malachi Rector is a well realised and fascinating character and the story is smart, but those sound fundamentals are in constant battle against jittery Sims-esque character models, wildly inconsistent art and a slew of mild technical issues.
[I]t's difficult to recommend now, and, given the wait between releases in the Live franchise, you're left knowing that NBA Live 14 should stay on the bench. Sorry kid – maybe next year.
It's a shame that Daylight has turned out to be fairly average, because the title has the atmosphere, the creepily produced audio, some promising ideas, and initial jump scares, but the overall package is brought down by issues with gameplay, its focus on random design, clichéd story and unoptimised performance.
The game isn't bad, it's just not great, and I was expecting a little bit more than a generic western fantasy RPG with competent combat from the studio that brought us the tantalising Of Orcs and Men.
Despite a strong first impression, The Swapper is a much worse game than I previously thought. Despite being impressed by its visuals and attention to detail, I hadn't first realized how short and lacking in substance it was, and I always begrudge video games like that being released in the first place.
In the end, it's worth a curious glance while keeping its technical failings in mind, or a decent distraction for younger children to play with.
Life with Destiny continues to be a vast range of meaningless numbers set up in a small but complex maze that breaks players will to fight before a way out is found. The core gunplay mechanic may be genre leading, but the wrapper that surrounds it continues to be irreparably broken.
This is not the game survival horror purists have been waiting for and not one I can recommend even with its positives. Developer Osome Studios does have the chance to clean up White Night's fundamental design structures and make it more accessible instead of down right annoying in a potential sequel I doubt we will see come to fruition.
Overall, Omega Quintet has all the competent trappings of a modern RPG, but it has a lot of things working against it, from the annoying characters to the repetitive (and often poorly translated) dialog.
Astor: Blade of the Monolith has a certain charm and fun element to it, but the game's simplistic combat and repetitive foes take away from the overall excitement.
Alone in the Dark is a game that gets 60% right, and the rest is a mixture of poor or frustrating gameplay mechanics.
More interesting abilities and skill trees that don't boil down to just controlling enemy movements or taking them out from a distance would go a long way – maybe the ability to create shadows to cross gaps or manipulate light, which could be used for combat and exploration.
Fallen Leaf was clearly aiming to put storytelling and exceptional visuals as its main targets with Fort Solis. They easily achieved the latter.
The campaign does offer interesting and thrilling combat scenarios at times.
It is hard to ignore Gun Jam's lack of content in its current state, as it feels like the game should be in Early Access now rather than fully released.
Waves of Steel is a fun little indie game that has a simple, arcade campaign that does not last overall long across its 30+ missions.The best thing the game does is its ability to allow anyone to pick up and play, even if it means adjusting a few of the accessibility options to play it.
All of All of these details come together to form a fairly lifeless game – one with all the fixings and foundation of another epic showcase but without any of the polish or love that is so evident in the team's previous undertaking.