Kotaku's Reviews
A compellingly honest look at World War 1.
After a dozen hours romping around the Skylands with Faemily, Seamusbot, Archer Rex, Bird Kirkilton and Dadcat Robot, it feels like I’ve made the game my own. This is my Skylanders.
Gears of War hasn’t changed, not really. I’m left wondering what a true metamorphosis of Gears could look like, how this series could go about defining a new generation of video games. It’s a lot to ask. Gears of War might continue as on as it has, a single revolution followed by a lifetime of refinement. It’s enough.
An occasionally frustrating open-world experience that's greater than the sum of its parts.
Color Splash is so damned imaginative and beautiful, though, so colorful and confidently funny. Even when it annoyed me, it was only fleetingly. It makes the abstract world of Mario so personable. Its gentle, playful weirdness and irreverence contrast so positively with the prevailing seriousness of fall’s big games
Arkham VR might prove to be an amusing evolutionary dead-end, a one-time theme park attraction that used the best tech available to let us pretend, however awkwardly, to stand around as Batman. It may also represent a step toward a more deeply interactive virtual reality Batman game, one that will allow us to more literally step into the impressive Batman universe that Rocksteady has built. Either way, it’s a start at best. It’s not a destination.
I like what 2K have done with this year’s MyCareer. They’ve recognised that Spike Lee’s joint was maybe too big a reach (or just the wrong man for the job), and in getting hold of talent that’s more at home with the tone and grind required for something like this, have crafted a career story that might not revolutionise the little sub-genre they’ve carved out for themselves, but is a definite improvement on 2K16's misfire.
Rise of Iron is an arrival, a remix, and a remembrance. It puts a sloppy bow on the Destiny we’ve been playing for two years, introducing a final chapter that will stretch until Bungie wipes the board clean and starts fresh with Destiny 2. It’s fun, in a funereal sort of way.
If you can handle a little (or a lot) of frustration and aren’t too hung up on visuals, Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice isn’t too bad. It manages to combine the wit and charm of the Sonic Boom animated series (your mileage may vary there) with the speed and simplicity of old school Sonic the Hedgehog in a way that doesn’t completely miss the mark.
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.