Cubed3's Reviews
If you don't like the price, wait for a discount. If you can't stomach a couple of problems on the technical side of things, the most serious of which being the bad netcode, wait for a patch. If you consider yourself a fun of fighting games, however, do get Street Fighter V: Champion Edition. It's a highly enjoyable title that will manage to please newcomers and veterans, and it has tons of content for those who aren't into the online aspect of it all. It's Street Fighter V as it always should be.
Rune Factory 4 Special is a near perfect farming and RPG title. The frustrating elements are outweighed by the gorgeous styled graphics, the immersiveness of the plot, and the sheer joy that comes from playing this remastered game. It raises high hopes for the upcoming fifth instalment in the series, and it can perhaps be considered a masterpiece.
Between 2033 and Last Light, Metro Redux is a must buy for fans of the genre, fans of the medium, and fans of good stories.
Between 2033 and Last Light, Metro Redux is a must buy for fans of the genre, fans of the medium, and fans of good stories.
Technical foibles aside, Darksiders Genesis provides yet another fresh take on everyone's favourite Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The isometric viewpoint is an interesting new direction, and one that isn't quite justified by the familiar hack 'n' slash action, but this is nevertheless a fun and well-designed experience that stays true to its roots despite its diminished scale. Fans of Darksiders will surely find a lot to enjoy here.
The words 'creepy' and 'moody' don't often come to mind when thinking about jigsaw puzzles, but that's the beauty of Glass Masquerade 2: Illusions. Puzzles often result in surreal imagery, and Nikita Sevalnev's soundtrack adds a chilling layer to the already ethereal atmosphere. With difficulty modes suited for both beginners and veterans of the jigsaw puzzle, Glass Masquerade 2 is a must play for anyone looking for more flavour in their puzzle games.
It may not be a terrific port, but Thronebreaker is a wildly addictive and relentlessly entertaining RPG-lite. The version of Gwent herein is the most fully realised to date, taking the core mechanics of previous versions and refining them into a malleable card game with endless potential. A beautifully written story and compelling characters make this a must-play for fans of The Witcher.
Short, sweet, and to the point, Lydia makes for a memorable and engaging hour of gameplay. Its story of abuse will prove uncomfortable, but a restrained hand ensures audiences never have to confront anything too visceral through gameplay. There isn't much in the way of replayability, but a well told story, plus an excellent visual style make Lydia a worthwhile play-through for anyone looking for something emotionally dense.
A charming and relaxing experience from start to finish, milk it for all its worth.
With the pedigree and ideas going into this, Phoenix Point should have been much, much better than it is. The cool ideas are overshadowed by ever-present bugs, glitches, and hiccups that constantly get in the way of the player. Even excusing these, the ideas and presentation come off as incredibly bland very soon into the adventure. Little customization, little options, and little reason to care about your soldiers or base, round out reasons this is in need of massive updates and overhauls if it is to be saved.
From a gameplay standpoint, Wide Ocean Big Jacket is an extremely simple game - with 'game' put between the biggest quote marks imaginable. As an experience, though, this is something else entirely. Turnfollow's tiny adventure is basically a funny, and occasionally very sweet, slice-of-life tale of four people enjoying themselves in the woods, while also dealing with some serious matters, but not in a very serious way. It's not a narrative-driven game. It is vacation in video game form - and only the good parts are included.
This is jam-packed with mini-games that can be enjoyed both against other players and alone, with enough content even for those with limited hand and/or arm mobility issues. It's the cutest party title known to mankind. This really is a game that everyone can find something to love: no compensation will be given for any arguments that multiplayer conjures up.
Too easy, too simple, and more often than not, too dull and slow, LUNA The Shadow Dust counts on its beautiful, fairy-tail, dreamy graphics, and soothing OST, a bit too much than it should. It's not a bad point-and-click adventure, sure, and those who can look past its heavy flaws will be entertained for about two to three hours, but if it weren't for its stunning hand-painted world, few would give it a second look.
Old lady Talma's melancholic tale of utter loneliness and inevitable end does provide some tasty breadcrumbs every now and then, but as a whole, this farm sim/narrative-driven title overstays its welcome, doesn't manage to be enjoyable, and ends up being a chore that just happens to include some pretty, and mildly coloured vistas, as well as a nice calm-and-then-ominous aura.
The heavy criticism towards Warcraft III: Reforged has nothing to do with the quality of the experience therein. This remains the wonderful real-time strategy that thousands of people have loved. The real problems begin when you take the changes of this remaster into consideration. The half-baked, unimpressive new engine and hit-or-miss design choices; the numerous bugs and network issues; and, finally, those mind-numbing, corporate-smelling decisions, like the fact that custom maps now belong to Blizzard, or how Reforged effectively ruins the original for those who don't even own the new game.
Big booties aside, the easiest way to sum up Atelier Ryza is: an absolutely great game framework, waiting for a game. The battles are interesting enough, the gathering okay, and the alchemy very good, but it all fails to connect on a purposeful or coherent level. With no driving narrative or reason, pretty rapidly the whole point becomes to simply battle, gather, alchemize, repeat; all of which fails to pull the player into something deep or meaningful. The is a great casual-friendly title, but it lacks any serious staying power.
The decision of picking up Harcore Mecha is going to rest purely on if this type of platformer, and its over-the-top anime tropes' appeal.
The play style adjustments in the campaign to the core gameplay loop do enough to keep things interesting
A good tactical game makes you feel dumb when loosing, Banner of the Maid makes you feel cheated, as it's less about forming a plan, and more about retrying missions to discover which exact "route" to follow. Add to this a heavy lack of balance, some annoying friendly AI, and a needlessly long length, and this makes this Chinese-born SRPG hard to recommend. Its flawless pixel art style, and sexy anime look are really the only things of any worth here.
Steins;Gate: My Darling's Embrace deserves credit for managing to retain a desire to spend more time with these characters, and runs with the humour and nerdiness in combination with the sexually natured and light-hearted narratives that Okabe ends up entwined in. It does the series justice by sticking to what makes everybody so appealing, but it is a very specific type of visual novel that doesn't get into any serious or dramatic situations. Understand what you're setting yourself up for and this is a fun alternate diversion to the original title.