Kotaku's Reviews
Class campaigns, artifact weapons, and level-scaling make Legion feel like an entirely different game. Lots of waiting on timers.
I began ReCore having a marvelous time. By the end, I had begun to resent it. It wasn't that I felt rushed; I allowed myself extra days to play. It was just that the game is such a heart-sinker. It was created by people whose work I've greatly respected, but ReCore just doesn't feel ready for all of us to be playing it.
Spirit of Justice also excels at everything Phoenix Wright has done so well over the years. The music is great, the character animations are superb, and the localization is very good, handled deftly as always by longtime Phoenix Wright editor Janet Hsu and her team of pun lovers.
When all was said and done, I felt very pleased. Working through puzzles (and even brute forcing a few) occasionally made my head pound, but Pan-Pan made it very clear to me that challenges are temporary. But if you keep trying, push hard enough, and persevere? There’s a wonderful world waiting for you.
Despite its various shortcomings, Mankind Divided remains a worthy sequel to Human Revolution and one of the clearest signs yet that the immersive sim has returned to the top of the gaming heap. Whatever disappointment I felt about the limited narrative scope has been offset by the many surprises hidden in its wonderfully winding city hub.
It's actually very good! A smartly-designed and surprisingly-strategic shooter best played in co-op.
First I didn't like it, then I did.
Starbound is full of whimsy, surprise, and strange little interactions. It’s a universe unto itself, just begging to be explored.
Abzu is a lovely, pleasant game, one well worth experiencing for yourself. It unfolds in unexpected directions, a relaxing exploration in a beautiful and mysterious world.
Though Quadrilateral Cowboy is quasi-futuristic, the skills it imbues the player with are, by comparison, banal. But in asking the player to perform meaningful mental labor to accomplish the task at hand, the banal becomes surprisingly gratifying. And even if it doesn’t quite live up to its potential, Quadrilateral Cowboy made me feel like a hacker for a while. That’s pretty damn cool.
The narrow focus of Near Death is appealing. Its designers succeed in presenting a refreshingly simple game about a straightforward struggle to live. They simply pit you against the cold, and they have erected an arduous and interesting interactive obstacle course you must overcome to survive.
Oddball design decisions aside, I Am Setsuna is a lovely little tale and a game that’s well worth your time. At ~20 hours, it never feels dull or grindy, and in fact it felt like a perfect length for what the game wants to achieve.
7th Dragon III Code: VFD takes all my favorite features of a Japanese role-playing games and wraps them in a very pretty package.
In short, if you liked BoxBoy, you’ll really like BoxBoxBoy. If you didn’t play BoxBoy, I don’t know what you’re waiting for. BoxBoxBoxBoy? Might be a bit too much.
A hero sandwich that's way too heavy on the bread.
With all of its filler, both good and bad, Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens still feels like it should have waited for a few more movies. As I set about scouring the game's levels for special bricks, mini-kits and other goodies fans of the extended franchise obsess over, I keep thinking about what a great third of a trilogy game this will make once Star Wars Episode IX arrives in 2019.
No other game can f*** with your head quite this much
You won’t struggle playing Planet Robobot. You’ll smile. The people who made it knew just what they were doing, and they’ve made one of the 3DS’ most delightful games.
Catalyst is at its fleet-footed best when it barrels forward and sticks to the rooftops, but it never manages to fully shake the cookie-cutter corporate nonsense its rebellious heroes claim to despise.
The sense of scale that VR provides a game like this is remarkable. The comfort with which you can play this game is an example for other VR developers to follow. Yes, it is good and satisfying and even spectacular to play a traditional third-person action adventure in virtual reality.