Cubed3's Reviews
LEGO Dimensions is filled with promise, but the paywalls and the requirement to regularly interact in-game massively impact upon the final product. Thankfully, this is only the first step of a very long-term plan - there's still plenty of time for the team to balance the paywall and the amount of content per level pack. The team at TT Games has always been fantastic with its fans, happy to take on-board any criticism or suggestion. There would be nothing stopping it from patching more content in for level packs at a later date, either. The core is a solid LEGO title through and through, but it could have been so much more. Cubed3 will cover some of the key level packs very soon.
Ultimately Way of the Samurai 4 is a hard sell to anyone who is not already a fan of the series, and indeed even some fans may be put off by the radical shift in tone and humour.
Only the truly masochistic gamers out there should consider taking a look, while everyone else can comfortably move along and avoid the mess.
There's absolutely no joy in declaring this game a disaster. There are occasional fleeting moments that serve to remind that skating around a virtual skate park was once an enjoyable pastime, but these are few and far between, and even the most diehard of fans will struggle to find much to enjoy in this package. After a lifetime of flips, nollies and grinds, the Hawkman deserves far better than this.
CD Projekt Red has lived up to its word and, apparently, this is just a taster of what is yet to come. The next DLC, Blood and Wine, will come in at double the cost, but promises double the content and a whole new land to explore. Admittedly, Hearts of Stone's content is very much focused on the story it is telling, resulting in a very narrative-focused final product with lots of dialogue and cut-scenes, but that is not much of a negative considering the quality of the story that is told. It's a truly original and fantastic piece of storytelling, filled with great moments and set pieces that any fan of the series truly needs to experience.
Doom is Hollywood, and System Shock is the avant-garde cinema. The first is fast, loud and in-your-face; the second, subtle, and harder to enjoy and get into - and yet, the first remains fun even to this day. Is it due to its much simpler nature? No, it's just that some things just age better than others, and although the Enhanced Edition is a pretty decent update, it cannot erase the prototype's many flaws, especially its chore-like control scheme; a control scheme that can't be altered. To put it simply, this rightfully deserves its spot in the history of the industry, and fans of the original will surely appreciate Night Dive Studios' handling of their beloved classic, but the rest of the community are advised to reconsider spending any money on it.
This title will be showing up on many "Game of the Year" lists, and rightly so, with a memorable story, filled with truly original, smart and witty writing, set in such a fantastic universe, this is one not to miss.
It's hard to go through the bargain bin of any hole in the wall game store without seeing a plethora of sports games priced at a solid £1.99. PES 2016 sets itself apart from these throwaway titles. Although it doesn't innovate, it does everything very well. Where many games want to just make the yearly mark, PES 2016 seems to have demanded, of itself, a level of quality that many yearly instalments could really learn a lesson from. Hopefully they will, because if this indicates anything, yearly instalments can look and feel beautiful.
Dragon Quest Heroes is the shining example of taking a stale concept and adding flavour and depth to it. The sword swinging, boomerang throwing combat, with all the traditional Dragon Quest trappings, will promise satisfaction to both Dragon Quest and Dynasty Warriors fans, alike. Minstrels will sing the praises of the charming and loving heroes and creature models and designs, while eyes will feast on a banquet of beautifully coloured visuals - from the lush green landscapes, to Jessica Albert's lovely fair skin. Few will fall in battle, finding the battle against the monsters to be monotonous and grindy, but the strong and the many will prevail and remember the excellent game that is Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below.
Euclidean features all the inspiration and creativity that indie games are known for. It simply lacks the execution to be more than frustrating. Between the very slow pace of the incredibly short levels that kill the player pretty much consistently, or the fact that collision doesn't work correctly and the player can drift through other objects, there's plenty wrong with the title. There's also just not enough content to talk about in any real depth, and that's just one more unfortunate nail driven in the coffin of Euclidean.
This is an example of what video games can do that no other medium can; it wouldn't work to see these things happen on a screen or read them on a page—Life is Strange draws its power from putting choices in players' hands, and while it may not amount to a perfect experience, it is one that they are never going to forget.
Elite: Dangerous is still considered a "work in progress" and will be getting updates and new features implemented over time. In its current state, it does have nigh infinite amount of content due to the randomly-generated nature, so there is usually something to keep interest, even if players are spaced out by what feels like hours at a time. It can be immersive thanks to the methodical pacing, but in the end, it is still boring due to the exciting bits being so few and far in between, so it's is a mixed bag in terms of how experiences will vary, depending on who is playing. Elite: Dangerous has its obvious flaws, but the game itself is unique and is unlike anything else on the Xbox One, so for just being different it can be worth a shot.
To be "one of the most relaxing games ever made" was a stated design goal of Lumini, but the only thing the experience has in common with relaxation is that both end in sleep. Come to think of it, sleep is an acceptable substitute for playing the game. At least in dreams, visions of alien worlds and meaningless stories don't come with a $13 price tag and a couple of hours of monotonous gameplay.
It's honestly pretty sad how disappointing Rakoo & Friends is, because it's an absolutely stunning looking game. The animated cut-scenes are a real treat, and everything looks so fluid on both the GamePad and television. It just isn't fun, though. Playing through the same levels over and over again to the same grating music can only stay tolerable for so long.
The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 is a great example of a point-and-click adventure, but, at times, the puzzles that make up a massive portion of the game are awfully difficult to figure out and sometimes don't make much sense. This causes constant hits into brick walls when it comes to progress and makes it drag on for several hours longer than it should already do. One massive redeeming factor is how wonderfully written it is, though; two or three chuckles are guaranteed.
Armikrog is a decent game that holds great respect to the classic 90s-style cartoon humour using clay as the art form. The responsiveness of clicking interactive objects of any kind is extremely poor, and may feel like it does not work in some cases, but will work later. The puzzles are excellent and provide great use of tracking down hints and clues throughout the areas. The voice acting is pure comedic art; however, not enough is in the game to truly allow it to reach stellar results.
Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash is not the best Chibi-Robo - it is not even that great of a 2D side-scroller or platformer, either. For the most part, the experience ends up feeling shallow and generic compared to the past games and aside from a few fleeting bold moments with the bosses, there just is not much memorable about it. The world may never see another game in this franchise, and it is sad that this one will probably be remembered as "that time Nintendo tried to give Chibi-Robo a desperate change." Perhaps the timing was bad for this character, or the world just wasn't ready for him yet. Zip Lash is a well-made title, just one that fails to inspire. Skip Ltd. should have played to its strengths as a quirky Japanese game developer, instead of aiming for a homogeneous 2D platformer.
Arcana Heart 3: LOVE MAX!!!!! provides an enjoyable experience for the most part, but it's let down slightly by the storytelling side. Given the oversaturation of similarly styled fighters in the genre, it struggles to find its own identity, although fighting fans that enjoy a fast paced arcade style brawler could do much worse than picking up a copy of this. It might not stand out from the crowd, but it's very competently executed.
While it does occasionally get repetitive, the solid play mechanics and constantly evolving challenge is just reward for those that persevere with it. Plus (and this can't be stressed enough)... it has a ship that transforms into a giant mech.
It's not perfect and it has certain flaws, yet this is still an undeniable blast from start to finish and will invite gamers to come back for seconds because Platinum Games' action stamp is just pitch perfect. Hopefully the partnership between these teams will continue and consistently deliver such wonderful action games for years to come.