PCGamesN's Reviews
The Journey Down: Chapter Two was worth the two year wait. It's comfortingly traditional if you pine for the old days, but not laden down with overly elaborate multi-layered puzzles that'll keep you bashing your head against the wall for hours. It's an adventure game for the times where you want to just relax, and maybe feel a little cleverer than you really are. Here's to hoping we're not looking at another long wait for the finale.
It's a strange series of lives, each one containing many of the same events and conversations, but each offering some sort of fulfilment, separate from the rest. They build up, and put together like jigsaw pieces, they flesh out the denizens of this nation of birds. I came for the promise of pigeon romance, but I stayed for the surreal world these fowl reside in.
As Clem, we survived from one day to the next, fighting against the futility of it all, trying to find our own way absent a clear objective. Where Season One was the story of a man becoming an adoptive father, learning that he would do anything to keep his ward safe, Season Two is more personal. It's about growing up, deciding who Clem is. But no matter who that turns out to be, one thing is consistent: she's still a survivor.
All these problems could be fixed in the coming months - the bugs can be patched out, quests can be rewritten and made more varied and lively, crafting can be balanced to make it worthwhile, and the number of dynamic events can be increased. Something can be done, too, to encourage team play. But, until then, there is no reason to start playing.
I have no doubt that some folk will dismiss Sacred 3 because it bears no resemblance to the previous core games in the series. But that's not why it should be avoided by most. It's simply not fun to play. The writing is abysmal, the combat is all sizzle and no steak, and, for a rather short game, it regurgitates a hell of a lot. It never rises above mediocrity, but often sinks below it.
It's a rare misstep, however, and despite it, Amid the Ruins is another phenomenal episode, building up to a finale where I can honestly say I don't have a clue what's going to happen. All I do know is that it can't be good. I hadn't noticed it until now, but Clem's journey has been mirroring Lee's from Season 1. And like her adoptive father, she may very well find herself being judged come the finale. I'm not looking forward to it.
When I play Divinity: Original Sin, I'm back in my parents' study, gleefully skipping homework as I explore the vast city of Athkatla. I'm overstaying my welcome at a friend's house, chatting to Lord British. And it's not because the game is buying me with nostalgia, but because it's able to evoke the same feelings: that delight from doing something crazy and watching it work, the surprise when an inanimate object starts talking to me and sends me on a portal-hopping quest across the world. There's whimsy and excitement, and those things have become rare commodities. Yet Divinity: Original Sin is full of them.
It's not just a great, surprisingly insightful game. It's also true to the literary genre that inspired it and Bill Willingham's Fables comics. The moments of reflection that Cry Wolf offers aren't just in regards to Bigby. The very real issues of invisible, disenfranchised people and the inability or simple lack of interest that administrations have in protecting them is central to the game. That's why I'm left feeling uncomfortable, but desperately wishing for a second season.
New or returning player - it doesn't really matter. This is Company of Heroes 2 at its best, a standalone that focuses on the series' core: man and machine duking it out across Europe. Those seeking a narrative will find plenty of stories in the tense battles amid crumbling towns and dark forests, so the campaign isn't missed at all. There's no fluff, and while there are lots of maps and loadouts to consider, one can still jump into an entertaining, dramatic battle right off the bat.
Distant Worlds: Universe is an exceedingly complex, infinitely rewarding space strategy game. It's made me more excited about the genre than any other game of its kind since Galactic Civilizations II. All of those numbers and systems that hold the simulation together create these dramatic stories, ones about gallant captains constantly pushing back the frontier, races under the thumb of pirates rising up and taking back their independence and wars between empires that spread throughout the galaxy like wildfire.
Beginning as a universally relatable fantasy about overcoming red tape, The Fall winds up as a game about identity and civil rights without ever talking too much or treading too clumsily. The fact that this is the first episode of a larger game only makes its climax more thrilling. Just as there's a sense that your powwers are building as you play through The Fall, there's a feeling that developer Over the Moon's powers are building too. We like who they're becoming.
By the end, most of its sights and systems will be all too familiar. But between its uniquely provincial setting and dedication to undergrowth stealth, there's more than enough novel in Sir that you'll gladly be the rabbit in its lights at least one time through.
It is Open World: The Game, and as such, struggles to find an identity of its own beyond its entertaining hacking hook and the inspired multiplayer. But those two elements make up a sizeable portion of the game. There are moments of genuine brilliance buried in the game that elevates it above mediocrity, but its reliance on increasingly tired design does it a disservice.
In Sheep's Clothing is a bit short and not as shocking as previous episodes, but it is darkly unsettling and deftly sets the scene for the closing of this horrific case. And we're left with one final cliffhanger. Standing in a room, surrounded by enemies. The question is: who's getting out?
At number 5, we're still seeing iteration rather than revolution. Everything that's great about Tropico 5 is built on the same foundation that all the previous games have built on. That's a solid foundation, of course, but it's become a bit too familiar. There aren't any surprises to be found here. But just as familiarity can breed contempt, it can also provide comfort. Returning to Tropico remains a delight, and the drive to plonk down one more hotel, oversee one more year and win yet another election continues to make it the sort of game that can swallow hour after hour.
With its awful characters, inconsistent voice acting and combat hampered by problematic enemies, what little there is to enjoy is whittled away. It's something to be tasted when absolutely starved for RPGs and could provide enough sword and sorcery shenanigans to tide one over until something more appetizing comes along, but it's unlikely to prove fulfilling.
The journey through Drangleic needs to be experienced. It's a marriage of phenomenal world design and impressively tight mechanics. And then it probably needs to be experienced all over again through New Game +. It's undoubtedly bloody hard work, but that just makes every sliver of success precious. Hurrah for Dark Souls II.
I never expected Smite to worm its way into my roster of games I keep playing after review. It's a small number because there isn't enough time in the day for more, but Smite's going in there. It will likely be my go-to MOBA, at least until Heroes of the Storm. There are still almost 40 characters I've barely played, many not at all, and I confess that I might even chuck in a bit of money so I can grab some of the ridiculous god skins. Catwoman Bastet, Sith Lord Sun Wukong: they are absurd and I must own them.
Warlock II might take place in a silly universe where narrators like to impersonate Sean Connery and kingdoms are ruled by regal rats or chatting skeletons, but Ino-Co has taken its construction very seriously. It's exactly what a sequel should be, keeping the spirit of the original but improving every aspect.
Zenimax have a lot of work ahead of them to turn TESO around.