Cubed3's Reviews
The original version was fantastic, and the additional content in this new edition makes it a definitive purchase for skateboarding game fans that are up for a huge amount of challenge. With smooth, stylish graphics and gameplay, it may well attract people who are interested in small developments like this, even if they have no skateboarding game experience. Add in the ability to play with some friends, and OlliOlli2: XL Edition is an unmissable package.
Teslagrad has potential. For a fledgling independent studio's first game, it shows promise. The art is beautiful, and the story compelling and novel in its conveyance, but the level design severely limits enjoyment. One can hope that Rain Games takes what it learned from feedback on its freshman effort and apply it to future games.
Ultimately, The Magic Circle relies on its pure intrigue to sustain the player throughout. It draws on decades of gaming history, offering a short, but poignant, commentary on the state of games today, whilst still managing to deliver something altogether quite different. Occasionally, the game requires your willing patience, but once a couple of hours have been sunk into this fantastic abstract meta game, you'll likely revel in its charm and inventiveness.
Far Cry 4 may just be more of the same from Far Cry 3, but, in the best possible way. Ubisoft took what was great about the third game, and improved it in almost every way, making this one of the most refreshing, fun and addictive open-world titles available. With solid fundamental mechanics, a superb open gameworld, multiplayer to come back for, and some fantastic DLC, this psychotic voyage through a deadly paradise is worth setting a course for.
Following the original title, this is one of the most bitterly disappointing games in a long, long time. It has been practically ruined by the horrific development hell it went through and the end product is a great example as to what can happen. Every time it seems Homefront: The Revolution is about to start getting good, its mountain of ugly issues re-emerges, reminding of the frustrating mess it truly is.
While the minimalistic and allegorical storyline isn't a traditional one, Yarny's fairytale-ish adventure will surely touch the hearts of most people, and the audio-visuals will leave them breathless, since they aren't fantastic just when compared to the indie gaming world, but fantastic, period. Unfortunately, and although Unravel has a couple of good things going for it, the element of gameplay didn't receive the same love as the rest of the package, as it constantly goes from fun to boring, and from boring to irritating.
Though at times frustrating and stressful, Life Goes On: Done to Death is an equally rewarding experience. The cutesy art style and humorous deaths mislead those who choose to play the game, but at the same time, it also entices them into playing through and figuring out what clicks about it. The deaths may be numerous and quite brutal, yet a strong sense of accomplishment fills the players with joy and relief, once a tricky section has been beaten.
Megamagic is surprisingly deep and enjoyable after its noticeably slow start. The gameplay itself only improves as more diverse spells and playstyles become available, and the story is engaging enough to keep you invested in it through the roughly ten hours it'll take to complete.
Is Battle Worlds: Kronos wholly original? No. Is it fun despite that? With a real person, yes. It's far too generic for its own good, but it does manage to take the turn-based strategy formula and advance it just enough it for a modern audience.
With a bit of refinement to how songs are turned into stages, and with a bit of touching up to the layout problems that conflict with subconscious expectations, Melody's Escape could genuinely be one of those phenomenal indie games that take the world by storm. Although it functions exceedingly well and is a great joy to play, a few flaws seriously hinder the experience. Either it quickly becomes apparent that the stages consist of mashing random keys to the beat of player-provided songs, or frustration results from the many misses that occur because of conflicting information.
A unique experience is to be found in Not a Hero. The elective journey through waves of opposition just proves how fun a small title can be and the added content provided a little extra for those who are yet to pick up the title on other platforms. While it has a few minor faults, they don't overshadow the experience, and it is a thoroughly commendable run and gun platformer.
Besides its lack of a unique angle of its own and a heavy "sandbox" approach, Project CARS will please those into sim-racers, since it is, undoubtedly, the most beautiful and realistic one ever made. Unfortunately, and despite adding lots of great, classic to modern, racing cars, as well as a few new tracks to try them out, Game of the Year Edition still hasn't ironed out some problems, like the extremely annoying controls and AI.
Kumoon would make an excellent training program for better physics in gaming. Everything else seems bland and uninspired, and leaves the game a collection of objectives that are somewhat fun to complete, but not for too long. Kumoon: Ballistic Physics Puzzle is simply a long exercise in tedium. Even if the puzzles were more varied, it may not make up for how boring the rest of the experience is.
Why have simple videogames like Pac-Man and Tetris stood the test of time, while other, more innovating titles have been disappointing at best? The answer is because the potential of these otherwise great ideas has been thrown out of the window and High Strangeness is such a failure. The notion of mixing Zelda-esque puzzle-solving, with the ability to go from an 8-bit world to a 16-bit one could rock the indie community if it was used correctly, but, unfortunately, it wasn't.
It's hard going back to the real world after a few hours with Doom. It will feel slow and mundane when compared to the experience of being an over the top, badass action hero, who destroys Hell one demon at a time; half the time with his cool arsenal of weapons, the other half with his hands! Sure, it won't create a revolution like the 1993 original, and some of its aspects (like the multiplayer) are flawed, but id Software's newest creation deserves carrying its heavy name, and is one of the few triple-A titles worthy of a full price-tag.
Deathsmiles isn't bad by any means, but it also isn't good, either. The aesthetic itself has plenty of charm and sets itself up to be a memorable experience, but the core gameplay just isn't complex enough to warrant long play sessions. It's a fun experience in very small bursts and the bosses are certainly engaging, but the bullet-hell doesn't manage to expand or change the genre in a meaningful way. It's a cookie cutter shoot 'em up that leaves a lot to be desired and doesn't offer anything in return.
Croixleur Sigma will offer players a fun experience for a short while. The content in here is overall good and entertaining while it lasts, offering a fun and entertaining arcade experience. But due to a lack of actual challenge or changing objectives throughout the game, it will barely last three hours in the eye of the average gamer. There are some entertaining modes for enthusiasts of the genre, but they will not save the game from the content drought, no matter how fun the actual content therein is. It is a title worth getting if you can accept that it will not last long. However, if you're looking for more bang for your buck, there are far better titles out there.
Even with an occasional twist on the well-established formula for match-three games, Azkend 2 never really comes up with anything to distinguish itself. It feels like a budget iOS title, and maybe that's because that's what it originally was.
Overfall is a good game - better than most first attempts at game development. It provides simple laughs, but still decent storytelling. Its strength does not lie in its role-playing aspects, though. It would've been a more tactical game if it allowed for mixing and matching through customisation of characters' skills and passive traits, and unique armour would've done much to alleviate the boredom of looking at generic character models. It does have good replay value with a few unlockable weapons, trinkets, and companions, though. If you want to play a simple blend between role-playing and the randomness of roguelikes, give it a try.
Final Fantasy IX can best be described as the most "complete" entry in the series to date; it is as whimsical as it is dark, and as nostalgic as it is its own identity, telling many individual stories that create laughs and pull on the heartstrings. Previous criticisms in the slow battle system and inability to reduce or disable random encounters are now accounted for with optional additions to gameplay, but the port does suffer in other departments - namely blurry backgrounds and slight lag in menus. The sheer love that has been poured into FFIX as a whole is on show for all to see, though, and is still evident to this very day. It is no wonder fans have been calling for Hiroyuki Ito to craft another entry in the series again, but whatever the future holds, there may never be a Final Fantasy title that will ever match up to the greatness of Final Fantasy IX.