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Unfortunately, Calvino Noir doesn't meet the expectations that come with this genre and style. From the faulty mechanics to unfair challenges, it fails to present itself as anything more than visually beautiful.
While Mad Max avoids being the disaster that the development hell storylines surrounding it suggest that it could have been, it's an absolute testament to mediocrity. Its characters and the world itself provide a great deal of intrigue, and they will keep some players interested, but there are too many flaws to consider it a solid video game.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is the epitome of stealth action. It contains not only some of the best combat mechanics available, but everything you could have wanted from a Metal Gear Solid game. Plus Kiefer Sutherland.
Volume isn't without its flaws, but the highs that it's able to hit completely squash the minor gripes players might have. One of the best pure stealth titles in recent years, Mike Bithell and his team have not only captured some of the storytelling magic that made Thomas Was Alone so special, but they also managed to capture the best parts of a genre that sees a great deal of failures.
Maybe the flurry of remastered games this generation has changed what we picture when a game has a subtitle like "Definitive Edition" attached to it. With Rare Replay, Grand Theft Auto V and Mega Man Legacy Collection feeling like works of love rather than profit, it can be disappointing to see such a straight port emerge on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Disney Infinity was a bold venture even by Disney standards, but it's one that has rapidly come into its own. 3.0 is a leap forward for the franchise, offering an exceedingly well-presented universe that's easier to explore than ever, but features enough content to easily keep devotees occupied for as long as desired.
Xeodrifter condenses the core gameplay of Metroid into an experience that blends action and strategy without much filler and that doesn't waste a moment of the player's time in the process. The controls are smooth, while the animation and sound design fits the NES-to-SNES era that Renegade Kid loves to a tee.
Spotty performance, a terribly boring aesthetic and a messy, cobbled together combat system amounts to something that had potential, but was beaten over the head with a cricket bat.
While Back To Bed is not a terrible puzzler by any stretch of the imagination, it is terribly underwhelming. There is simply so much more that could have been done to really make this a gem.
Planet of the Eyes is a short but memorable trip through a weird-worlds sci-fi alien landscape. The strange creatures and fantastic environments create a nicely bizarre landscape to platform through, and the audio logs give a concise, well-acted story of a ship worker whose only friend is the AI he created.
If you are enchanted by the prospect of Amnesia: Memories, delve right in and see how it subverts otome expectations.
The third iteration of the series on current-gen platforms, Madden NFL 16 continues its growth. There's not a myriad of changes this year, but what has been tweaked is noticeable and makes for a fantastic game of pigskin.
Some will argue that if you're going to buy one video game collection this year, it should be Rare Replay based upon sheer value.
It feels good to finally get back into Gears of War. People Can Fly experimented with Judgment, but it ultimately didn't work as well as it could with the series formula.
Evoland 2 manages to seamlessly blend an incredible number of genres into a single, wonderful experience. With only a few gameplay frustrations, it simply must be experienced, especially for gamers with eclectic tastes. The first game is completely unnecessary for enjoying the second one, but those who appreciated Evoland will love Evoland 2 as it merely expands on the ideas and concepts of the original.
The Descent is a decent addition for players who are dying to get back into the game for a bit or prolong their experience, but ultimately casual players will want to skip it, or wait for holiday sales. The silver lining here is that executive producer Mark Darrah recently stated on Twitter that they "aren't done yet" with releasing story based DLC; hopefully we have plenty more to look forward to and Bioware can prove they really do listen to fans and what they really want out of the story.
Until Dawn is gripping through its nine-odd hour running time and never lets off the gas. It's scary — although sometimes cheaply so — and does a great job illustrating the butterfly effect. What Supermassive has accomplished so early in their tenure is impressive and something all horror fans should experience.
Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls is great, but this greatness lies primarily with the tale it weaves and character interactions.
While Vogelsap likely anticipated more interest in their project, something will have to change before this mess of a multiplayer game goes from bad to an outright lie.
This is a game that transcends its name and should be spoken of in the same breath as the genre's best. In years to come people will be comparing the new cRPGs to Hong Kong, because it's easily a benchmark for what developers in the RPG arena should be looking at when designing their games.