Cubed3's Reviews
The Count Lucanor is as average as it gets.
A handful of issues, some much more annoying than others, do not negate how solid of an action RPG Middle-earth: Shadow of War is. A tremendous achievement for the team at Monolith Productions, this is an exciting, if not sometimes slow, and too often unfair, title that manages to be as impressively fun as it is big. While those issues will definitely find their way into your grinding teeth and clenching hands at least a few times throughout the experience, Middle-earth: Shadow of War has more than enough merit to keep drawing you back in.
Azure Striker Gunvolt: Striker Pack contains the high points of Inti Creates' oeuvre. The sequel included is easily the headliner of the two, bursting with content and generally being the much better designed title. The action is really addictive with playability being very tight and responsive. It's hard to let go of the game because it feels so good to play it. To find any big flaws in these would entail mostly petty nitpicks as they stand to be exemplary entries in the run and gun genre. Them being on Nintendo Switch only means that the action does not have to stay at home.
WRC 7 is, much like its predecessor, a step in the right direction but is still just falling short of the mark when compared to others in its class, such as DIRT 4 and Project CARS 2.
The wait is over; the pinnacle of 3D adventures has arrived in the form of Super Mario Odyssey. It beggars belief just how much Nintendo has packed into this latest outing, without compromising the core Mario goodness of the past. Just as with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the Mario series has now reached a special new level of greatness that will be hard to surpass in the future. The Nintendo Switch is fast becoming the hottest platform, crammed full of sublime quality gaming experiences like this fantastic new escapade.
What we are looking here is one hell of a hardcore, post-apocalyptic, larger-than-life, sandbox RPG gem - a gem that's very rough around the edges, but a gem nonetheless. Unfortunately, it's currently inside the bowels of a large, sluggish, and sickeningly smelly beast: its battle system. Therefore, unless ELEX gets an extremely strong patch treatment, think a lot before a purchase.
It's not going to hold the attention for the average gamer for longer than an evening or a weekend, but considering its budget price, it's a compelling creation. Players with a more specialist interest in speedrunning, and those interested in intense and quite hardcore arcade experiences, will certainly appreciate it. Its rapid pace and intense gameplay gets the adrenaline going, though enemies aren't all that smart, and in terms of level design and objective variance, there's not too much to marvel at. While its aesthetic and style feels distinct and is helped by the pleasingly crunchy blend of music, which further ups the intensity factor, the gameplay itself is a little needlessly repetitive; for example, it's a shame that the end of a level is only ever triggered by killing every enemy. In addition, considering the titles that the developers have made prior to this one, it would be fair to say that High Hell is somewhat disappointingly bare.
Of all of Cities: Skylines' DLC, Concerts adds the least to the experience. Perhaps the price tag went into audio licensing, but Colossal Order and Paradox should have come up with more content to package with these songs to justify making this a paid DLC. As it stands, barring a huge price cut or sale, or just requiring the full Cities experience, there's no reason to pick up this DLC.
Danger Zone is a deeply shallow game that feels cheaply made. It doesn't even run smoothly, which is really unfortunate since the visuals look very simplistic and stock and shouldn't tax the Xbox One at all. Load times that last as long as a play cycle, and the sensory deprivation from the complete lack of music, give the impression that this is a work-in-progress - a very poor presentation for a very poor game.
The real issue with The Evil Within 2 is that it has tried to marry too many foreign gameplay elements to the genre, whilst not addressing a lot of technical annoyances that, if remedied, would have provided enough refreshment to the third-person horror experience alone. Whereas Resident Evil 7 shifted the perspective into first-person, and re-discovered its core emphasis - much to its advantage - The Evil Within 2 has expanded mechanically without really acting on the criticism of the first game. The controls are sluggish, the camera doesn't react fast enough, and it has the habit of limiting player perspective in an obnoxious way. Even though this experience is quite different to the original, and far more compelling and successful, it's disappointing that the abstract mind games it pulls couldn't be left to speak for themselves. All the same, this is a solid survival horror title, although in the end it borrows just a bit too much from Resident Evil 4.
There are few worlds more exciting to explore than the one in ELEX. Each location is intelligently crafted and filled with valuables items. The factions are clever and have their own nuances, and working for them is beneficial in a number of ways. Growing from a chump that gets knocked down by a slight breeze to the mightiest warrior takes quite a long time, but it's very fulfilling. However, while players can get accustomed to the combat, it never becomes enjoyable. The glitches, minor as they are, still detract from the experience. That being said, it is impossible to imagine an impeccably polished open world RPG. For this game, Piranha Bytes focused entirely on its strengths, and the results are very impressive.
As a shooter JYDGE isn't something special, yet strengthening your own Judge Dredd/RoboCop hybrid by doing side-quests and unlocking additional toys to play with can be quite the addicting experience for the few hours that this will last.
Let Them Come is an amusing distraction that is not terribly deep or even all that interesting; at best it is inoffensive. What saves this for complete disaster is the very meticulous sprite art, design, and the overall aesthetics. A very special mention must be given to the music, which is an unbelievably tense and brooding synth score that really puts the user in the deranged mind set of the blood lusting soldier. The gameplay is that of a shallow mobile affair, complete with a long list of upgrades and supplies that are balanced to encourage the grind. This sort of title is great for on-the-go casual play, but on the big screen it's just not going to hold interest for long.
The Wii version of Rogue Trooper had much better controls, the graphics fit the animations and is still the best way to play out the Quartz Zone Massacre. Rogue Trooper Redux on Switch is an unpolished mess with technical issues and looks horrible docked and in portable mode. The new model's rigs cause extensive clipping and makes character anatomy do all sorts bizarre contortions and twists that are just painful to look at. The limits of old hardware made the developers be creative with their modelling and consider more carefully how they would be rigged. All of that is thrown out the window in favour of technical advancements... not artistic advancements. While it is playable, expect a very sloppy version of what was already a run of the mill third-person shooter.
Garden Tale could have been an enjoyable, if not wholly unremarkable, title, but with its poor writing, its terrible combat, and worst of all, its mostly pointless gimmick, this results in a bad game. Perhaps you'll be able to find a reason to soldier to the end, but in all honesty, it's probably easier to find something else to play. In a genre filled with so many lovely titles, Garden Tale just feels like it's trying too hard and falling every couple of feet.
The sum of these additions helps Everspace to feel more complete, but ultimately only offers more padding. That's okay, though, since this is such an affordable piece of DLC.
The LEGO Ninjago Movie Video Game is a by the numbers release that feels like it may have been rushed to completion as a side project of Tt while it worked on the upcoming LEGO Marvel Superheroes 2 (which can't come soon enough!) and is certainly a little smaller in comparison to its other recent games - with a small story and even the 100% completion clocking in at under 10 hours for most players. That being said, it's still well worth the price tag. The story is funny, the levels well designed and the extra features enough to keep players coming back to get to that 100% without getting burnt out. Best of all, it exhibits some improvements and innovations to the Tt formula that will hopefully be seen in future titles.
Like the original title, Nights of Azure 2 never shines in any particular segment, but remains an okay game on many levels. Some elements, such as combat fluidity, are noticeable improved, whereas changes to the Servan system and repetitive level design hurt. The darker story is interesting, but the heavily sexualized elements play a very strange role of being omnipresent, but never actually delved into. It is a game that is fun to play through, but is not going to be memorable in the future.
Sky Force Anniversary is a good game marred by some ridiculous grinding and unrealistic expectations.
Story and the characters are right there, and there are some adorable yuri moments that will make fans blush, but that is all the quality that there's to be found in Touhou Kobuto V: Burst Battle, as the gameplay is sluggish and too simple for a modern 3D fighter. It is easy to take such gameplay for granted, but Burst Battle shows the danger of doing that. It could have done decent as a shorter visual novel, but sadly the action part cannot be saved by a couple of adorable moments and pretty art.