Cubed3's Reviews
The story is interesting and giving the FPS nature of Battlezone: Combat Commander, it feels much more 'personal' given the unique hybrid aspect of the game. The strategy elements and the FPS parts do not stack up to modern conventions, but are sufficient enough to work. The real appeal is the fact that this is a hybrid of two very different genres and, while not perfect, considering its 20 year age, it is worth checking out of if this mixture sounds appealing, as the story is indeed fun to experience.
Designed for short bursts and with more than enough content to justify its incredibly generous price tag, Grid Mania offers a unique puzzle experience with plenty of challenge to go around. The four game modes aren't as distinct as they perhaps could or should be, but the core design is strong enough to keep each mode from feeling derivative of one another. As the difficulty gradually curves up and critical thought becomes a more frequent demand, Grad Mania establishes itself as a highly satisfying puzzler that still manages to be quite relaxing at its hardest.
The highest compliment that can be said about Pop-Up Pilgrims is that it is not broken. At best, this is an extremely uninteresting and dull game. It plays like some kind of first-year student project that is only slightly elevated by some competent, yet generic art assets. VR is capable of so much more, yet here is a perfect example of a gross misuse of the platform.
At the end of the day, it's a fun game with pretty visuals, an interesting battle system, enjoyable characters (that are well-acted), and a must-have for fans of classic JRPGs of the SNES era.
Zwei: The Arges Adventure is a rare and enjoyable title, especially for anyone familiar with Falcom's output. The core fundamentals, such as controls and playability, aren't always ideal, and the rough frame-rate is a nuisance. The final result is a title that's buoyed by its charm and creativity. This a rambunctious collection of minor details that still manages a strong sense of coherency. However, it's tough to excuse the messy combat. The way it ties into healing and levelling is clever, but there isn't enough finesse. It's as if the system was designed by a team that hasn't yet found its footing in an ever-evolving genre. To sum it all up, this isn't a classic, but it's still worth experiencing.
Another example of that latest trend of videogames with "high artistic quality," Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is not something brand new, unique, and meaningful, but something boring, boring, boring that uses big words to say things that aren't that interesting. Oh, and it has Sting in it…
It fails to retain any lasting attention, and amounts to something that is fun, but ultimately disappointing.
Caveman Warriors is a fun, if straightforward, beat 'em up. The game's aesthetics and design pay homage to titles of old, and although it has a cartoonish exterior, underneath it is a challenging yet enjoyable brawler.
Quite simply, Rise and Fall is a must-buy expansion for any Civilization VI owner. The fundamental core of the experience has, of course, not been radically changed - however it didn't need to. Rather, what has been added is a refinement that encourages strategic development and thinking and gives a constant treadmill of challenges to overcome in order to create the greatest civilisation. The loyalty mechanic accompanies this all nicely by again increasing the difficulty curve by just the right amount to avoid annoyance. The disappointment about the global emergencies does not detract from the experience enough to consider Rise and Fall anything other than a triumph.
There are many games that Past Cure draws from and it's a pale imitation of them all. Less Heavy Rain and more Light Drizzle. Less Evil Within and more Crap Within. The developers were ambitious, but overambitious, and they have delivered an absolute turkey. Completely unenjoyable and comes with very few redeeming features. It's an awful, awful game.
The Longest Five Minutes is an interesting take on a nostalgia trip, but by splitting the game into the individual memories it does a huge disservice to its RPG nature. If only these memories had been fleshed out, giving the main characters a little depth, some side quests, some hidden quests… anything to make it feel like the games it is monkeying, instead of being such simple little, objective-based stages. There are moments that shine, but they are marred by the numerous issues and make this Nintendo Switch release somewhat of a disappointment.
From thrilling boss fights to elegant environments, coupled with a comprehensive control scheme and a well laid out progression system, Mulaka is a joy to play from start to finish.
Despite still being mired with an unhealthy assortment of technical hiccups and a paper thin narrative that feels like a rejected Call of Duty plot line, there is still fun to be mined out of Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 but it's entirely dependent on an individual's tolerance of the occasional glitch.
While Circuit Breakers attempts to revisit the glory days of the top-down twin-stick shooters, it does not purely reflect the fun and insanity of those older games. Frustration creeps in when the barrage of enemies grows completely out of control, while killing them all requires burning all the ammo and breaking down the weapon. As far as the weapon variety goes, the machine gun, shotgun, laser, and rocket launcher offer different dimensions to the combat in terms of visuals, but they still play out the same way: run, aim, and shoot. It does have four-player couch co-op, which is fun for a few hours, and that's really the only way to play this game, although the fun will quickly run out.
This new DLC, Stellaris: Apocalypse, and the major update to the base game, overhaul some serious systems, but the root problem of the title still remains. It simply is too grindy, too 'bureaucratic,' and simply takes too long to do anything interesting.
Apex Construct is a perfect example of just how far VR games have come and shows that VR gaming isn't just a gimmick. It's clearly going to be the next step for gaming. However, it also shows some of the glaring issues still being faced with the technology. The controls are still difficult, with the system of teleporting rather immersion-breaking and the wand-style controllers still not quite fitting the bill. Regardless of its flaws, this is one of the best VR experiences currently available and a must experience.
The Final Station might be lacking in some departments, but what it does well, it does well.
Judging purely on the current state of Street Fighter V, with the new additions and inclusion of the season 1 and 2 characters in the Arcade Edition, it is most certainly one of the must-own fighters on the market right now. The arcade mode is enough to warrant anyone picking this up, even if it has arrived far too late. The FM changes are unfortunate, but the biggest peeve is that Arcade Edition itself is an extremely limited package, since everything here, barring the previous DLC characters, are free updates for owners of the original. The least Capcom could have done is put a few extra costumes and stages in there because, otherwise, the only reason to pick this up is if you don't already have SFV and want a cheap way of buying it and the first two character packs. SFV will have plenty more years in it, but being so tight and not turning this release into a current ultimate edition is disappointing, even if it's not surprising.
Boring when playing solo, and just 'good' when playing with a bunch of friends, Aperion Cyberstorm is just a few steps above mediocre, but not enough to be recommended. Yes, not a single flaw truly stands out, but, sadly, none of the positives do, either.
Ultimately, while Typoman: Revised has a solid system to base a game around, it ends up feeling like a missed opportunity thanks to its short length, clunky platforming moments, and unintuitive puzzles, but at least has some great achievements and an engaging antonym mini-game.