Cubed3's Reviews
Capcom has made a terrible mistake by releasing one of its flagship franchises at full price, but with half the content. Strange as it may seem, however, and even though Street Fighter V currently feels like an Early Access title, it is a worthy purchase because of three things. First, the Japanese developer is truly doing a great job at rapidly updating and fixing some of the stability problems; second, there won't be any need to spend money on any future updates, since all content (apart from some cosmetic elements) will be available for free; and, finally, the actual battles are very enjoyable - simplified without being simplistic, and, thus, catering to both casuals and pros alike.
It's hard to imagine exactly who the target audience of Gunscape would end up being. Given the messy nature of the controls and physics, it's hard to see FPS fans of any rank eager to hop on board. While the level creator does make building levels more accessible than the modding community of more polished shooters, these tools don't really make up for the lack of reward implicit in playing through the levels a player will build. For all its good ideas, solid level building, and robust variety, this ultimately fails to deliver on its core mechanics, and that alone makes it a really challenging sell.
Rough horse and camera behaviour, combined with a mostly empty Hyrule Field, aren't enough to bog down what's otherwise one of the best titles in the Zelda series - and arguably in gaming history. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD's story of the worlds of Light and Twilight and their citizens is presented in HD glory, with strong emotional threads running throughout to make sure players want to spend time with these characters and save the worlds, and expertly crafted dungeons and puzzles guide them along that path. Most will likely consider Ocarina of Time to be the high point of the series, but take away the nostalgia factor, hold these two up by their merits, and Twilight Princess gives Ocarina a run for its money, while HD improves upon that in almost every way.
The voice recognition control scheme is extremely engrossing...but only when it works, with the alternative being an aggravating contextual menu-based system that requires the mouse. The action can be fun…but it mostly feels so hand-holding and tedious that it's like working instead of playing. The only thing of value here is, undoubtedly, the story…but the whole adventure ends so fast that it's impossible to feel any connection to this otherwise well-thought-out sci-fi universe.
Trans-Galactic Tournament is by no means an outstanding MOBA. Some may loath the simplicity of the game and the lack of character building that they may be used to. However, the simplicity has the potential to lure new players into the way of MOBAs. It is a great starting point for newcomers, with a massive array of characters to play as. Conversely, therein lies the major issue: fans of the genre will gain nothing by trying out this title, as it does not add anything new to the scene. Trans-Galactic Tournament is a simplification of what already existing titles do better.
The ideas Totem Topple introduces to the genre, with its dynamic difficulty and the protection of one tower that is built upon are interesting additions to the genre and could have made for a fun and interesting tower defence. Unfortunately, the problems that the self-implemented limitations add are extremely problematic and make this a title that is very difficult to recommend to anyone due to the long downtimes in-between when the player is allowed to do something without being hit by a kill-screen for building their tower a bit too high. This is a problem expected from games in the '70s/80s, not in the 2010s...
A delicious helping of fan service and cracking character diversity and interactions between one another is the reason to own Project X Zone 2. As anyone that has played the previous entry or Namco × Capcom will be fully aware, the appeal is in so many beloved characters, new and old, from up and down the industry coming together in an ultimate all-star SRPG, with references fans of the represented series will appreciate. The repetitious and overdrawn nature of PXZ has carried over here, and it rarely feels like much strategy is involved, but even with these issues and its naturally nonsensical plot, it would be remiss to overlook PXZ2; the very fact it exists is reason enough alone to pick this dream collaboration up, if not as a decent backup to the latest Fire Emblem entries.
It may start off slow, but Shardlight quickly develops into a truly gripping adventure, filled with high levels of intrigue on the story side, complete with some thoroughly inventive puzzles, and the trademark touch of class that WadjetEye Games brings to the genre, making best use of the Adventure Game Studio engine. There can be a bit too much back-tracking early on, but the balance is right, overall, preventing frustration from creeping in, especially thanks to the areas to visit being so close together and the intelligent map system in place, meaning that it is not too tough to revisit places to find things that were initially missed. All-in-all, this is another strong addition to WadjetEye Games' line-up.
Action Henk is an odd one. Mechanically, it's spot on, and it's hard to fault the gameplay, but the issue is that as soon as the first section has been fully completed, there is is very little point in continuing to play through it again, since it proves to be just the same thing over and over again. It may look pretty, yet within about 40 minutes, this runner hits a brick wall and it suddenly becomes a real chore to play.
The Town of Light is depressing, and not just for the intended reasons. It's painful to see a project with such noble intentions squandered by such a profound misunderstanding of how to effectively utilise them. It is very possible to create an artistic work that deliberately avoids being fun while still keeping its audience engaged. This game gets as far as the first step and then just gives up…
Cities: Skylines - Snowfall adds some features that make sense and look nice, but for the price, there's just not much content here. The graphical updates are beautiful, but the content is severely lacking—those loading an existing file are likely to just dump all of their money into new pipes, while players starting anew can just build hot water pipes from the gate and might not know anything was even added. The changes make sense (excluding locking weather to certain maps) and they work well enough, but are so slight as to be almost offensive for their price tag.
Action Henk is definitely worth looking into for those who miss the long gone days and blistering speeds of, well, certain other platforming giants. While perhaps not quite as polished as it could be, with its definite lack of variety in level design and relatively short length, it's still a solid pick up for fans of those racing-like platformers. There's a lot of character built into the world, with references to other games and long-loved in-jokes. Even if it's not perfect, it's fast, it's fun, and it's a genuinely good time.
Action Henk is a fun little blast that proves to be the very epitome of 'just one more go' and possesses qualities that should appeal to fans of the Xbox classic Doritos Crash Course, Sonic the Hedgehog, and not forgetting, of course, the Trials series. The constant need to improve ensures regular returns in the short term, although the lack of the online multiplayer and level editor included in the PC version will no doubt impact on its longevity.
The biggest problem for Return to PopoloCrois: A Story of Seasons Fairytale rests in the fact that it tries to be two things, but is only going halfway with both, something that creates an experience that will leave most people longing for more. It is a problematic thing as that means many are just likely to start up their favourite Harvest Moon game instead of this if they want a farming simulator, and just about any of the hundreds of other JRPG titles if that is what they desire to play. The creation of Marvelous is by no means bad, just unfocused.
Although Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness was really the definitive version of the original game, Disgaea PC still holds up very well, particularly in a genre that isn't overflowing with competition. The graphics have aged reasonably well, and the improvements to the maps look great, even if they do make the character models look a bit flat and dull in comparison. Expecting players to rely on muscle memory for the controls is an issue, but these minor gripes aren't problems for long.
Yasai Ninja is an undercooked mess of a dish, with ideas that weren't implemented well. The entire game seemed to be against the player, from the colour palette and fighting style, right down to the annoying camera and silly AI partner. Nothing seemed to work as it should, and even the characters played as if they were being held down by weights, resulting in their sluggishness. The response time between the button press, and the resulting action was atrocious, and the story was so generic that there was no motivation to continue playing just to see how it would pan out. This title had gotten one thing right, however: the onion will make the tears pour, but for all the wrong reasons.
Gravity Rush may have been the must-play game on PS Vita but, in coming to PS4 it is now one of the top titles on that system, as well. Each platform has its selection of games everyone needs to experience, and Gravity Rush Remastered is one of those. It doesn't last too long, but from start to finish this is a joyous romp, featuring a charming set of characters in a fascinating world, with fluid, mesmerising gravity-based gameplay that controls that much better on PS4. Packed-in DLC content and fun side missions with online leader boards add to the already excellent value, so make no mistake in picking this one up and preparing for Gravity Rush 2.
After the undead Exo-based antics of Advanced Warfare, and the more recent Cthulhu-inspired 'Shadows of Evil', it feels like the zombies mode has gone back to its Nazi roots with 'Der Eisendrache'. This, combined with the four new multiplayer maps, ensure that Awakening is a solid first entry to Treyarch's planned content that should keep the armchair warriors busy until the next scheduled drop.
As a game, Tales of Symphonia is still the shining gem it once was… in regards to story, that is. The story that was so strong, the characters that became so beloved, and so much more, are all present and correct. However, as an update, this feels like it was lazily done, with only a small amount of effort put in.
King's Quest: Chapter 2 - Rubble Without a Cause presents a new environment, one that is attractive, if a little small, along with the same challenges as before, the same lovely graphics, strong morals, and goofy characteristics, along with a voice cast that is very talented, bringing a lot to the table. There have been some much needed improvements brought in for this chapter, thankfully, which bodes well for the next episode, although more emphasis could be put on actual decisions made throughout the adventure.