Cubed3's Reviews
Mordheim: City of the Damned is stacked with every odd against those who live in its ruined streets. While a fun, challenging, and sometimes all too dehumanising experience, a steep learning curve and tricky management systems can make for a meaty dish locked behind a very tough shell. Still, it's definitely more than worth the time it takes to learn its systems, and strategy and tabletop gaming fans should definitely take the time to look at this excellent adaptation.
What an absolutely fantastic game. Bethesda has nailed Fallout 4; the world, the graphics, the perk system, the story - almost everything about this game demands coming back to over and over again, where players can happily sink hundreds of hours into exploring the harsh wasteland. However, it's disappointing to see problems that have plagued other Bethesda titles are still showing their gruesome face.
Grab that nuclear-fuelled Power Armor, then, step into the acid rain, and get ready to enter a world that might not be perfect, but is certainly hard to avoid coming back to again, and again, and again.
The Peanuts Movie: Snoopy's Grand Adventure does a great job of capturing the world of Peanuts and its characters. Well-themed stages based on each character is a driving force to explore and play the game from start to finish, and is sure to bring many smiles to the faces of Peanuts fans. Besides nostalgia, there is sadly not much else to get in The Peanuts Movie: Snoopy's Grand Adventure, though. Between backtracking and stages that hardly stand a second playthrough, it ends up being just another decent platformer. It is by no means a bad title, just underwhelming. More actual challenge would be a plus to the title, if only for the hunt for the collectibles, as, currently, nothing in the game is even remotely dangerous or challenging to bypass, which adds to the overall low replay value of the stages. For Peanuts fans, young and old, a charming reunion with the characters is to be had, but everyone else might not find many redeemable qualities to get this over other platformers on the market.
Treyarch has shoehorned an almost overwhelming amount of content into Black Ops III, with two sizable co-op capable campaigns, a gothic horror-flavoured zombie mode and an e-sports-driven multiplayer component that should keep fans of the franchise occupied for quite some time. Constantly getting humiliated at the hands of superior players has never been so much fun (note to self: get good!).
Poncho needs work before anybody should consider purchasing it. There is a strong attempt with this title, since the designers do not arbitrarily drag the user by the nose and let them freely explore the world. The whole game is just completely undermined by the bugs, which can be fixed. Gamers who are curious about Poncho should approach with caution and be ready to restart their sessions frequently. When it works, it's a solid game; it is just a question of if it will work or not.
For all its crooked edges, Albert & Otto is still worth venturing into, if not for the great atmosphere alone. It is a rewarding romp, as many difficult platformers are, but the lacklustre puzzles and cumbersome shooting, both of which are definitely a priority in this game, drag it away from greatness, and leave it grasping for any semblance of stability. Hopefully, further down the line, Albert & Otto will come into its own, but this is a rocky beginning for the episodic puzzle-platformer.
The Ice Dragon feels like a great setup for a sequel, but lacking as a finale. Although it manages to wrap up some storylines, there's not enough closure and certainly not enough cathartic moments. There's plenty of building for the sequel, however, and with the numerous possible endings, it will be interesting to see how Telltale can incorporate them all into a second season. Although there have been flaws throughout, it's evident that Game of Thrones and Telltale are a good fit. Hopefully, the second season won't be as far away as the sixth book...
Animal Gods is highly representative of a major flaw in the crowd-funding model: namedropping a classic series is practically a shortcut to financial success. Still Games sold its product almost exclusively on its superficial similarity to The Legend of Zelda and the works of Team Ico, so it's not much of a surprise that it doesn't follow through with its ambitions. However, even the most cynical observer would expect more from it than this. This is a vacuous mockery of the titles that inspired it, a boring art project at best, and a $10 insult to the customer's intelligence at worst.
While SkyScrappers is a fun arcade fighter, the enjoyment only lasts a little while, due to the easy AI and the lack of an online mode. The campaign can be completed in less than three hours with all of the characters, leaving the offline couch-multiplayer as the only mode with potential to aid the longevity of the adventure. A lack of variety in the way the characters are played also hurts its durability. While it isn't a long journey, playing in short bursts is a great way to pass the time and get some enjoyment out of battering opponents with falling debris from a collapsing skyscraper. To sum it up, as Kichirou states, "I'm exactly as one dimensional as I appear and have no hidden depths. Next!"
Knight Squad may bore many who want a solid standalone game to experience, but certainly stands on its own merits by being an enjoyable multiplayer title. The mechanics work well and don't require too much reflex, as the hit-box of other players is very large, making it so any player has a fair chance at winning. Ultimately, Knight Squad is a decent arcade multiplayer game that will be amusing for a while, but quickly becomes boring after a short amount of time. King and royalty, however, should look elsewhere for a more entertaining tournament.
As questionable as some of the outside marketing practises are, Disney Infinity 3.0 stands above all its competitors in the toy-gaming genre. What cannot be questioned is that Disney has control over some of the most loved and sought after licenses. The Star Wars campaigns that are just some of the available are very well developed and - most importantly - fun.
Pulse, if nothing else, doesn't feel finished. It feels like an alpha build that got pushed out so early it may have upset Early Access customers. While it obviously has potential (it's walked away with awards, after all), it feels largely incomplete, and like it should have been pushed through play-testing a bit further. If it gets some more depth, or, at least, if the depth it has gets fixed up and becomes more cohesive, it may live up to a lot of the hype it's generated. Until then, it's a game that exemplifies that just because an idea is good, it doesn't mean the product will be.
Jackbox Party Pack 2 is decent value for five party games, even if a few of them are pretty much duds. The inclusion of Fibbage 2 is well worth it, since it is one of the most exciting and mentally straining multiplayer games on the Xbox One. It is unfortunate that there is absolutely no option to use the standard controller at all and everyone must have a mobile device with specific parameters. However, if all these conditions are met, there is a decent amount of enjoyment to get out of Jackbox Party Pack 2 that Granny or even little Timmy and Tammy can enjoy, thanks to a family filter, which limits some of the game's questions from getting too adult. Jackbox Party Pack 2 is a solid party game that pretty much has whatever the party will call for - whether it's the childish noise games of Earwax, or the mind games of Fibbage 2, there is pretty much something here for anyone to enjoy.
The enjoyment of Etrian Mystery Dungeon will be very much dependant on how much a player enjoys the core experience of repeated dungeon excursions. While every other aspect added to the game is well thought out, nothing else is particularly substantial. The city management aspect is very lightweight, the story is fairly simple, and there are little other elements beyond item and weapon management. In essence, it's a very pure experience, which might be very appealing to some players, while being far too repetitive for others.
All in all, Stella Glow is a strong story that puts a clever twist on the tactical RPG format. The pacing could be better; watching the same battle animations can get annoying, but they can be skipped or disabled entirely. There's a lot of text to get through, but much of it is voiced, and the characters are fun and engaging, as well as attractively designed. Hours can tick by with only a handful of actual battles, which might be too slow for those looking for action or a more casual adventure experience, but anyone who wants to dive in will find a lot of quality content. It's not likely to reach Final Fantasy or Xenoblade levels of RPG acclaim, but it does its own thing well, brings originality to the mix, and is sure to catch many an RPG fan's eye.
Risen 3 is one of those RPGs that could've been much better, mostly because the action (combat, mainly) gets more attention than the RPG elements, and even then, the action isn't deep or varied. The story is very basic and the characters can only be called characters in the sense that they play a particular shtick. It is not a challenging game, not unless all points are allocated to skills not related to combat. Nonetheless, the environments are beautiful, it's good to get weapons and clothing that can be used to role-play, and the core gameplay is solid. There are some decent quests, too. Just avoid the immense amount of bugs by saving often; otherwise all progress might be lost.
Bedlam is, on many points, an interesting title. It has a fascinating story, nostalgia, and fun with universe meme. The world building around the game and the inclusion of old-school titles in the setting are features truly well-worked upon. Sadly, the same can't be said about Bedlam itself.
A great return to form and on par with Black Flag for the best in the series. It's certainly not flawless, but Ubisoft have clearly taken their criticisms on board and hopefully will continue the series with this kind of quality. The combat, exploration, and parkour are highly enjoyable and the story and characters well written and compelling. Definitely worth a second chance for those driven away by Unity.
[I]t's a bright flash of enjoyment that simply won't last for long once the main campaign is completed, due to a lack of alternate features. Having a friend can certainly prolong the enjoyment, but its downfall is almost certain in the end.