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For a game that has such an incredibly interesting premise, 1000 Heads Among the Trees is utterly woeful in execution. The sound is bad, the visuals are bad, and to top it off, the narrative —which is heralded as the focus— is horrendous. In the information given about the developer, there is a line that says "he generally tries to spend as much of his game development time as he can working away from his computer" and honestly, it shows.
SteamWorld Heist exudes charm and goodwill.
With so many interlocking systems, Thea: The Awakening is a bit of a Frankenstein of a game, but kudos to MuHa for bolting together everything so seamlessly and for trying something new, though it might be time for developers to put card game subsystems on ice for a few years.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is hands down the best JRPG this year — and that’s saying a lot considering how many great ones have come out in the past twelve months.
Overall, Rubble Without A Cause is a disappointment. The first chapter was great, but the tonal shift and structure found here just doesn't hit the right notes. Continuing Graham's story is still a worthwhile use of time, but one can't help but feel a tad… let down. In the end, the series has not soured, though. The closing scene sets up future events that should be intriguing. It just tripped on the rubble.
It's hard to recommend FIVE: Guardians of David to anyone. Fans of action RPGs have literally dozens of better games to choose from. Even gamers who would like to play an RPG without being assaulted by bloodshed have some excellent choices, such as the Torchlight games. Aside from the novelty of the Biblical theme and story, FIVE: Guardians of David's gameplay ignores a lot of what recent action games have added to the genre: strategic groups, tactics, character development, customization — FIVE has none of these things. Its heroes are bland and its enemies even duller.
The Bit.Trip is a must for anyone who owned any of the original games on the Wii, or heard of them and just wants to try them out. Their designs are simplistic in theory, but a riot to play. They challenge you constantly, but feature a gradual learning curve that never gets overwhelming. Every game included in this collection is fun to play in either short bursts or longer stretches. They play like a dream on the DualShock 4 and look better than ever before on the PS4 thanks to a widescreen presentation. They're also some of the best-sounding chiptune-based games out there.
Clannad is a visual novel that everyone should complete at least once in their lives.
Assassin's Creed Syndicate is one of the most successful entries in a franchise that has seen many highs and lows.
Literally every game genre has standout products and legions of imitators, but The Sims franchise has remained relatively free of copycats, at least games coming even remotely close in quality.
Lightning Returns is the antithesis of its predecessors. The confined and plodding pace of the last two games is no more and the nonsensical narrative has been lightly improved. More still, the combat is hands-down the strongest of the three games. Unfortunately, Lightning's new quest isn't without its limitations, as while the visual fidelity has improved thanks to the transition to the significantly more flexible platform, the six year old engine is showing its age and the degree past assets are used is almost criminal.
Guns Up! isn't terrible. In fact, were it not for the technical issues, checking it out would be a no-brainer.
Color Symphony 2 is reasonable in that it does what it sets out to do. Unfortunately, it doesn't excel in any particular way. The use of color is clever, if not completely original, while the puzzle and platforming design is competent at best. Nothing stands out in a way that says "you must play this." Platformer and puzzle game fans who pick this up will have a good time, but everybody else can pass on Color Symphony 2.
At every turn, FAST Racing NEO bombards players with challenging action.
The Mean Greens has a strong core concept, but wrapped around it is a game that feels a few major patches short of its potential.
Surprisingly, however, Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam dishes up an interesting take on the Mario RPG formula without wandering too far from its roots. Some may scorn the lack of drastic change in the gameplay and while it's fair to conclude it is more of the same in most parts, Paper Jam is — at its heart — a solid RPG with plentiful personality. It may not be the RPG we had sought at the beginning, but it's one that marries together most (though not all) of what makes this Mario spin-off so immediately engrossing.
Fat Princess was subversive, politically incorrect and unexpectedly complex in its strategy and depth.
When viewing the vaporized remains of what Sony has pushed out to the public, one can just make out what could have been a great game. Since the heyday of Rollercoaster Tycoon and Theme Hospital, it's not often that lite-management sims get a chance to strut their stuff. This was not originally meant to be that game, but it could have been with a change of the business model. Instead this is a title that is balanced for tedium.
It would be easy to blow off Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair as just another HD remake, but that wouldn't give it credit for how much better it plays now that it's got appropriate processing muscle behind its enemy-packed levels. Simply put, Earth Defense Force has never looked or played as good as this, and while the framerate still drops a bit when the action gets particularly intense, it's never anything but playable.
Is it so wrong to expect more from video games? Is it asking a lot for a game to have polish and substance around its cool central idea? These might seem like questions with obvious answers, but this is what we need to ask when titles come out that feel more designed to print cash than they do to sustain a player base.