Rock, Paper, Shotgun's Reviews
I wrote most of this review, then felt maybe I was being too harsh. So I took a break and went back. I wanted to enjoy it.
The question of whether Telling Lies is voyeuristic or not doesn’t necessarily have a bearing on the quality of the game — I do, in fact, think it’s good and enjoyed it. But the idea that it isn’t voyeuristic is some laugh.
RAD is a good time, and it overcame a lot of my initial reservations. I just wish it wasn’t so built on chance, and the all-too-1980s misery of playing through the same parts dozens of times to get to the bits I want.
I don’t think I played a single match that I didn’t enjoy. The game offers an immediately recognisable concept, that manages to innovate and surprise, and it’s entirely unlike anything else I’ve played before. Just like a secret clubhouse, it’s likely to lose its allure if you spend all your time there – but it’s exciting as hell to to visit in a snatched moment.
It’s a game where old-school decisions too often trump good ones. A blast from a past I never lived through, where puerile humour and “area complete” screens tease you about not being a “real player”. Ion’s tongue might be in its cheek, but I’ve got little interest in what it’s saying.
It was ridiculous, and excellent
Its entry into the cockpit-based, open-world, space-trucking genre puts this game in an arena with some heavy hitters, ambition-wise. Nevertheless, with a development team of five people and a price tag of only £24, it seems fair that it’s less of a world to live in, and more one to visit for a while. And I’ll certainly be coming back here – next time I want to pick a fight.
Don’t make the mistake I nearly made and disregard it: if you enjoy the tactical and strategic game styles it draws from, you’ll find a game that doesn’t go out of its way to innovate on either front, but one that performs a bloody lovely duet.
Brilliant though it is, [Oxygen Not Included] is an ordeal. It’s satisfying, but it’s stressful. I’d even go so far as to say – and here I risk invoking the scorn of the Legion of Geniuses, who wait in the darkness beyond the comment section – it’s a little bit too hard.
I’m still not sure if Bloodstained has made a dyed in the wool Metroidvania fan out of me, but it’s certainly the most fun I’ve had playing one in a while.
Beyond: Two Souls feels like a Frankenstein creature; a television show with interactivity jammed in for the sake of it.
Even if you don’t care about disjointed storytelling, repetitive levels or cringe-worthy jokes, I can’t recommend Youngblood.
Automachef is a great little thing when you adjust to its rhythms, and it’s entirely to blame for my abysmal lunch habits.
The main thing preventing me from enjoying A Place For The Unwilling is that currently there are dozens of little things that don’t work quite the way they’re supposed to, and while they don’t exactly stop you from playing the game, they’re still bloody annoying.
If you want a tiny, varied Deus Ex that will make you laugh, this is it.
It’s a carefully directed, genuinely beautiful game well worth your time.
So, it’s a game with two key strands that feel forced together when they don’t really work in tandem. I like both ingredients in theory, but they don’t coalesce successfully, like how a vinaigrette salad dressing will separate into oil and vinegar until you shake it up again.
5 can feel like a trade off between scale and polish at first, and although this throwback third-person shooter has some incredibly frustrating quirks, it’s still proof positive that a solid concept doesn’t need much polish to shine. Like a magnifying glass pointed at a hill full of giant bastard ants.
Eagle Island promises a lot, but whether it ever truly delivers I cannot say, because after two days with it I am plain done. I was never quite enjoying it as much as I wanted to, and it never quite came together even during the brief window when the plot took a turn and it looked like it was about to really open up.
I’m absolutely recommending Chinese Parents. It’s fun. It’s tremendous fun, and while I was hoping for more room to experiment or completely mess a child up (sorry Dave, it was nothing personal), I still wanted – indeed, still want – to have another go. It’s funny, it’s accessible despite all its numbers and moving parts, and there aren’t many games that get me so animated about a 9-year-old’s school test results. The design is solid too.