DualShockers
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There is fun to be had here, a good deal perhaps, especially for fans of visual novels. The beautiful visuals, compelling dark atmosphere and interesting story and dialogue are all strong reasons to give this a go. Be aware though that the jarring combat breaks up the flow of the game and sends the fun factor plummeting. It’s unfortunate that it would be so much easier to recommend as a simple visual novel.
Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 is a very solid 2D platforming experience. It has great controls, great level design, great characters, and interesting dialogue that keep the player engaged. The lack of an autosave feature and clutter on the top screen are annoying, but 2D platformer fans who can get past these issues will really enjoy this game. I am eager to see were this franchise goes next — this series has a lot of potential in a variety of genres.
Some people will have problems with Darkest Dungeon. It can (at times) be excruciatingly hard, to the point where you might consider quitting due to a frustrating experience. However, if you stick with it you will find an immensely hard, but still fair and rewarding experience unlike anything that has been released before it. All RPG fans and lovers of difficult games should definitely give Darkest Dungeon a look on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita if they haven't already. This game is not for everyone, but those who can handle the difficulty will love this game immensely.
At the end of the day, Destiny: Rise of Iron is more of the same. If you are new to the series, there has never been a better time to jump on board, especially at the premium for the base game with all expansions. Fans of the series will fall prey to the Destiny itch that has kept them hooked for hours on end. However, those who have felt burned or quickly lost interest after The Taken King can easily wait for Destiny 2 – there isn’t much new to draw you in.
All in all, the battle system of God Eater 2: Rage Burst is much more refined and smooth compared to Resurrection. Furthermore, your AI companions are actually dependable in an intense fight. These points coupled with the deep weapon customization and interesting characters makes God Eater 2: Rage Burst successful in making its mark in the growing genre of monster hunting games. Now if only they took more chances when making it stand out among the game’s previous entries…
Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice is a very fun game. It will receive a lot of hate for simply being a Sonic Boom title, but you can tell Sanzaru Games was determined to deliver a quality 2D Sonic game. While not without a few major problems, Sonic fans and fans of the show will definitely enjoy this game for what it is. If one can get past the fact that Sonic Boom now has more titles in it than the Sonic Adventure series, they can find this very engaging and enjoyable handheld experience with this game.
Lichtspeer won’t have the mass appeal of the AAA games coming out this Fall, but it is more than worthy of your time. With a fun and over the top aesthetic mixed with simplistic game design, Lichtspeer is pure arcade bliss with all the hooks I’ve been looking for in an indie title.
I wanted to enjoy Virginia, but the nonsense ending left me annoyed and puzzled as to its meaning. Even playing a second time, I still am not sure what really happened. Some aspects I understand, such as a scenario in which the player character ascends to her bosses rank and basically becomes him down to both the smoking and tossing a file to the person at your desk. I had someone else play for any insight, but the continual edits and metaphysics left them confused as well. There may be something there for others, but for me it was simply a good mystery gone wrong, and not one I enjoyed upon completion.
I very much enjoyed all of my time with Jazzpunk. Slowly understanding that a character from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas had made its way into the tropical resort level was one of my favorite realizations while playing. Jazzpunk knows its all about the joke and never spends too much time on one singular scenario. Due to the speed of which these are thrown at you though, you may lose your place or forget what exactly you were supposed to do and how to do it. Despite that I still find it recommendable to almost anyone who can appreciate absurdist humor and a irreverence for logic when it comes to comedy.
With that said, Harmonia is wonderful story that suffers from a not so wonderful cast. The second half of the story does well in capturing the readers attention and offers a strong conclusion. Fans will appreciate Key’s newest story, but I’m left with wanting more.
Even so, what game is here is rather enjoyable. The fast combat is refreshingly different, there’s tons of character development and dialogue, the visuals are gorgeous and there’s plenty of fan service, which is a plus in my book. That said fan service had to be censored is a tragedy (if expected), but genre fans should still find enough for a pretty good time.
Through the majority of its running time, The Bunker provides a tense ride that those looking for brisk horror experience may genuinely enjoy, though repeated trips back into its post-apocalyptic world may not be quite as fresh or horrific as the first time.
While I enjoy the arcade flavor of gameplay with high score chases and B-movie acting, all three Dead Rising games are not suited for the current generation. Zombies are played out, well beyond their shelf life and now devoid of any interesting storytelling. Beyond the zombie genre, the loading times and hard save system can’t help but show this series’ age. Some off-the-wall characters keep things engaging, as does the curiosity of seeing what weapons are most effective against crowds, but overall they are best left as fond memories than contemporary experiences.
Forza Horizon 3 is an unstoppable force of adventure and fun. Throughout my hours and hours of gameplay, I explored desserts, beaches, and festive cities, demolished my fair-share of farms, and blasted Beethoven over the speaker system, all with a goofy smile on my face. This isn’t a game to be missed by Xbox One or PC players, regardless if you are new to the genre or a Motorsport pro. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to the Outback.
Developer The Chinese Room is capable of capturing many highs and lows of human emotion through both their sound design and storytelling. With that said, Dear Esther: Landmark Edition feels more like a lukewarm experiment — a legacy precursor that paved the way to their more successful titles - an experience that is both significant, while also being entirely out-of-date by modern genre standards. Dear Esther was the baby step that aided in the creation of the genre — while you have to learn to walk before you can run, Dear Esther’s modern competitors have been sprinting for years.
Brennan Dyal lives in Baltimore, and actually likes it. When he's not playing games, he's disappointing his teammates on the basketball court, or going to Popeye's in disguise so they don't ask "Weren't you just here yesterday?"
While not without a few minor sound problems, Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 is the definitive evolution of the Pac-Man series, adding enough new mechanics while improving the main game so much that the title is worth a purchase from any arcade game or Pac-Man fan. While some series veterans might not be a fan of the radical changes to this game’s gameplay, Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 shows that there is still a lot of life and innovation to be found in this 36 year old series. This game was truly the power pellet that the entire series needed, and now that it has been rejuvenated, I wouldn’t be surprised if Pac-Man sticks around for another 36 years.
Though it may not quite hold up anymore as the prettiest or most innovative title nowadays, Resident Evil 4‘s current-gen ports are still suitable releases for one of the best games in the last decade, and make returning to Resident Evil 4 for the second (or third or fourth or fifth time) just as rewarding as that memorable first experience.
Despite that problem, and the overall roughness of Verdun, I still find myself enjoying it. I can’t stand to play it for more than an hour or two per night due to the default match length currently being thirty-minutes. Sometimes it can be a very boring or frustrating game — one where I die much more often than not and barely get to engage with the enemy. Other times I can pull off a long distance shot to take down an enemy or make it through the enemy trench unscathed. Those moments are great, but it doesn’t make the lack of a large player count or the lack of teaching its mechanics any easier to deal with. Verdun is at its core a good game, but one that is hard to recommend beyond a niche audience who enjoy punishing and somewhat accurate World War I shooters.
However, for those with just a little bit of patience, Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past is an immensely rewarding title that will occupy you for many, many hours on end. It may take a while to get going, but those willing to hear its tale told will not be disappointed.