Cubed3's Reviews
The slightly mixed quality is only a small blight on Lost Judgment's otherwise stellar quality. It oozes style and has content that will keep players playing for potentially hundreds of hours. The story is a masterpiece of twists and turns, highlighting many issues within society. If the original game is the marker, this meets it with pride. An excellent crime thriller action game with lots of comedy and referential moments that make this one to remember.
The levels in Yupitergrad don't drag and the challenge gets pretty hard to surmount, but if players stick with it, the game is incredibly awarding and satisfying. It's not a short VR experience, but a decent length dieselpunk sci-fi adventure with a fun cel-shaded cosmonaut aesthetic that makes it truly unique. This is a must-buy for PS VR owners!
It's no exaggeration to call Unavowed one of the most replayable point-and-click adventures the genre has seen. Topped off by excellent atmosphere, a tight script, and great performances, Unavowed might just be Wadjet Eye Games' best work.
As someone who repeatedly had the Witcher series suggested by other reviewers and then digging in the heels and refusing to try it, what was missed was one of the best games created on a modern console. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt deserves all the plaudits it receives, and in its new next gen update, there really is no better way to experience it. Although lacking in new content, the quality-of-life features and sheer beauty of the whole thing make this well worth a revisit.
Ixion perhaps could be used as an example of flying so high... and then missing the mark and falling pretty far down. There is so much to recommend and enjoy about the game, especially if only checking the first few hours. But the more you play, the flaws, difficulty, unravelling story, and pretty much everything else frustrates to such a degree that many players are not going to finish the game, either due to the difficulty, or simply not wanting to do the same thing for five hours and hoping their ship doesn't blow up randomly.
Pokémon Scarlet is as fun as the franchise has always been, no one can deny that. The new Pokémon creatures are endearing and the series still manages to create new and fun ways to get the player invested in their Pokémon training and catching sessions. As with Pokémon Legends Arceus before it, however, this is all marred by a level of technical mastery that is downright inexcusable. Not only is the game still not quite up to the level of something like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, released over five years ago on the same system, but it is, at least at time of writing, riddled with visual glitches and performance issues. It looks downright unfinished at times. This is simply intolerable. Therefore, it is impossible to give this a better score in good conscience as a point has to be made once and for all that things need to change going forward.
An intriguing story, interesting battle system, and signature art style is usually a good combo, and Soul Hackers 2 is no exception. It is easy to get lost in the story or side-quests and enjoy battling a variety of demons. For anybody enjoying Atlus' other turn-based titles, this is definitely a must-have.
Forgive Me Father offers an evening or two of fast, somewhat fun, but mostly simplistic and repetitive FPS action, served along a paper-thin pseudo-Lovecraftian tale that few will care about. Once these one or two evenings are done, there's no reason to keep on playing this nice, but otherwise forgettable shooter.
Judgment is by far one of the better entries in the Yakuza franchise. It is a gritty detective story, with a killer in it that is legitimately scary, thanks to the performances. The Dragon Engine getting a boost from the new generation of consoles shows how Judgment was meant to be played, with extremely short load times and buttery smooth 60 frames per second that is unwavering. Judgment may be second to Yakuza: Like a Dragon, but being second to the best is a great place to be.
This has been one enjoyable ride and it is great to see how well Sonic has fared in his latest outing. Exploration is fun, running around an island and going from grind rail to grind rail. The variety of challenges and collectibles are balanced, and combat has evolved via the new Cyloop ability, although this does get a little repetitive by the end of the game. There is never really a dull moment to be had, and there is plenty of content to power through. This is a game that every Sonic fan needs to play. Hopefully Sonic Team and SEGA follow up with a direct sequel as they have the formula nailed just right.
In the end, there are too many substantial knocks against the game to really recommend it at large. For a very specific type of gamer who wants a super deep, complex series of systems to dive into and a world free-form exploration system, they will enjoy this game; but the majority of players will be put off by the unnecessary complexity at so many levels, the lack of a clear progression, and many other small knocks that really take out what could have been cool.
Falling Out sadly falls under that underwhelming "okay" category of games that thousands of indies belong to. It's a nice rogue-lite exploration/platformer that can be played by two (in fact, it is fun only when played by two), but despite it having no real flaws to talk about, there's nothing about it that stands out either. It's… okay.
Pokémon Violet offers a ton of familiar and enhanced fun, but the lack of polish and outright unacceptable performance let it down as one of Nintendo's most iconic franchises. The open-world setting and gameplay additions hint at an exciting future for the Pokémon franchise, but the state this was released in too often overshadows that. Before it's been patched up and optimised, it's tough to recommend.
Gungrave G.O.R.E.'s gameplay won't be for everyone and most gamers who never played the last few games on PlayStation 2 will be lost. The constant combat can wear some people down and the sound of guns blazing becomes white noise after several minutes. Replay value is high - Grave's stats and abilities can be upgraded and there is more than just Grave to play as. Gungrave G.O.R.E. is definitely an acquired taste, but gamers who do have a taste for this brand of carnage will be in for a feast. This is the biggest and longest entry in the series, easily clocking past the 15-hour range. It borders on being excessive with how many stages there are, but this may be the final Gungrave, and it's great to carry that coffin again.
While building a Mars colony is a neat theme for a city builder, how that was executed in Per Aspera is underwhelming. Lots of time is wasted on simply waiting, and when you get to issue some orders there's not much in the way of thinking very hard about them. It's… okay, but that won't suffice.
Don't wait for a bargain bin sale. Don't accept it as a gift. Succubus With Guns is one more trashy "NSFW" game, like the thousands of others that can be found on Steam. It's a boring, repetitive, and sloppily crafted third-person shooter, where players shoot wave after wave of enemies, getting sleepier by the minute. The breast physics are hilarious for like a second.
A great stride for interactivity, The Devil in Me propels many aspects of the Dark Pictures Anthology forward, while retaining the choice-based storytelling that made Supermassive Games so popular. The setting, visuals and atmosphere are thick with horror and the story is full of curiosity and terrible darkness. This reviewer was so tense during the game he had to take breaks every few chapters... It's a masterful way to end off this set of games. Fans of horror media, add this to your library!
Today, much like mullets, the FMV is a niche prospect, but it is growing in popularity again. It's becoming a better fit for purpose in tandem with improvements in technology and streaming services, allowing for some more interesting and convenient delivery methods for the medium, blurring the lines of what a passive and interactive piece of media can be. The Gallery presents a compelling story, with some good tension, interesting concepts and even some decent jokes smattered in there, but it's the core concept of how the details shift through the two timelines that is its most compelling aspect. The marriage of content and the medium. Certainly, it would be recommended for an evening in with friends, which is a fair metric to judge it by.
It's hard to get invested with what Ankora: Lost Days has in store. The story and the characters junior ranger Mûn will meet are just… there, the visuals are bright and colourful, but in the end totally forgettable, and the gameplay is all about wasting time while trying to find the necessary resources that can help the little heroine craft the tools that will help her keep on exploring, with fun not being a part of the equation.
Sonic Frontiers is an amazing experience that Sonic fans will eat up. There is so much to do across the title, supported by one of the most interesting Sonic stories in a long time. The new combat and exploration focus opens up Sonic's move set into an almost sandbox environment to play with, which just feels so right. Obviously, there are a few tiny rough edges as expected with such a game, but with a couple of patches this could easily be the best Sonic game out there. Highly recommended!