Wccftech's Reviews
FlatOut 4 is a frequently irritating game that's held down by incredible amounts of grind, it has some saving graces with a variety of game modes and track types, but they don't do enough to balance out against the negatives like AI, physics and more.
It took 13 years for Kate Walker to come back, but it might have been better for Syberia fans if she never did. Syberia 3 is a disappointing adventure game that retained nothing of the best features of the previous entries in the series, introducing so many changes that simply don't work as intended or are marred by poor design choices, making it a worthy purchase only for the most die-hard Kate Walker fans.
Solid core mechanics are not enough to make Die by the Blade the compelling spiritual sequel of the Bushido Blade series fans have been waiting for a long time. Bland character design, clunky animations, horrendously slow progression system, extreme lack of content and mediocre visuals are only some of the issues that mar an experience that is very difficult to recommend to anyone in its current state.
With the clunky interface and gameplay, combined with the price and lack of content, it's impossible to recommend Life in Bunker now. Does it have potential? Most certainly, but for now, it's unrealised potential.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has a sprinkling of that classic Rocksteady charm, delivering polished visuals, fluid traversal and combat, and some snappy repartee, but the whole experience is bogged down by dreary, repetitive mission design, empty live service elements, and a feel-bad story that’s mean-spirited to the point of feeling oddly resentful. Perhaps most damning, not even the thing promised in the game’s title – fighting and dispatching the Justice League – ends up being particularly fun or memorable. Those who really want to see what becomes of the Arkhamverse may not be able to resist picking this up, but I suggest waiting for a steep discount before subjecting yourself to this tedious team-up.
The Settlers: New Allies isn't quite the return to Settlers that fans of the franchise would want. Shallow across all areas, with basic city-building and very basic strategy elements, held together by an average narrative. It's not a bad game, but it's also not good.
Wanted: Dead feels like a callback to the worst games of the Xbox/PS2 era. The game has a distinct lack of polish when it comes to its enemy design, and, combined with the horrid voice acting and confusing storyline that's only explained through supplementary material, it feels like the ultimate case of wasted potential that could've become something better had the developers put a bit more thought into it.
The best thing you can say about New Tales from the Borderlands is that it makes you appreciate just how good the folks at Telltale Games were at what they did. While Gearbox’s latest is more technically impressive than Telltale’s series, stale, irritating characters, a slapdash plot, and choices that don’t feel like they matter turn the game’s brief runtime into a slog. These Tales are new, but they’re definitely not improved.
While Kirby’s Dream Buffet offers some fleeting fun and excitement, a lack of multiplayer options, laggy online action, poor splitscreen performance, and an inflated price tag combine to sour what could have been a tasty multiplayer snack.
Expedition Zero is an interesting game with some good ideas and exceptional atmosphere use. Still, the positives are let down by several bugs, issues around areas of the game feeling unfinished and other frustrations. There's certainly a chance you'll have some good moments with the game, but I can only imagine these moments will be outweighed by other less fun and more annoying moments.
Necromunda: Hired Gun has a certain grungy charm and offers up some clever ideas, but unrefined core mechanics, messy level design, and a shameful lack of polish ultimately add up to Necro-no-fun-da. Hardcore Games Workshop fanatics might still find something to enjoy here, but I recommend you don't hire this gun at anything but a steep discount.
Terminator: Resistance Enhanced is not a good game. It is a perfectly average title from a decade or two ago that is somehow being released now. Despite its relatively shiny graphics, there is nothing interesting beneath the chrome.
PixelJunk Raiders has a unique vibe and some interesting ideas, including smart implementation of Stadia's State Share feature, but it isn't anywhere near as fleshed out or polished as it needs to be. Cheapo presentation, clunky combat, unbalanced roguelike mechanics, and a lack of variety combine to extinguish the game's promise. PixelJunk Raiders may stand out like a minor oasis on the desolate Stadia release calendar, but there's a much wider, more vibrant world of roguelike-flavored games out there to explore.
The Falconeer doesn't do anything glaringly wrong, and yet, the overall experience doesn't really click. The game looks lovely, controls well, and offers surprising depth considering it was created by a single developer, but an uninvolving world, repetitive missions, and combat that isn't as visceral as it should be grounds its potential. Like many flights, The Falconeer is kind of exciting when you first take off, but by landing time you just want the experience to be over.
WWE 2K Battlegrounds is clearly a rush job, but the game's simple, fundamentally sound action can be a real breath of fresh air at times. Unfortunately, that air is tainted by overbearing microtransactions that feel particularly crass given the game's cartoony, kid-friendly aesthetic. Battlegrounds could have been a contender if 2K had truly believed in the game, but once again, the publisher only seems to be interested in wrestling open fans' wallets.
Peaky Blinders: Mastermind is an average game at best. It features interesting puzzles and a decent enough art style, but the story feels shallow, offering nothing major to draw you in. It does feel like Peaky Blinders at face value and the puzzles, with the time-travel mechanics allowing you to create the perfect plan, makes you feel like you are part of one of Tommy Shelby's schemes, but this is still mostly superficial. It's short and inoffensive but, at the same time, it doesn't do anything to make it feel more than 'average'.
Despite some interesting mechanics that make the game feel like a true adaptation of a tabletop RPG, The Dark Eye: Book of Heroes is a cRPG that needed a lot more time in the oven. With some technical issues to boot, it is really impossible to recommend the game in its current state to any type of RPG enthusiast, as there are classic and modern games that offer much better experiences.
I don't hate The Elder Scrolls: Blades, at least conceptually. Bethesda's lightweight F2P Elder Scrolls game has all the hallmarks of the franchise but delivers them all in such a hollow way that it loses everything that makes the franchise beloved. You might find some enjoyment in the game, as I have done, but you will inevitably become weary of the dungeons, frustrated with the timers, and on Nintendo Switch, you will find the performance to be at times unbearable. Fans of The Elder Scrolls deserve better than this, but it's all they will get until The Elder Scrolls VI launches years from now.
The Resident Evil multiplayer curse continues. Resident Evil Resistance presents some promising ideas, and messing with people as the Mastermind has its moments, but unsatisfying action, clunky level design, a lack of content, and manipulative microtransactions snuff out the game's potential. Sadly, trying to wring more than a few minutes of fun from Resident Evil Resistance is futile.
The Suicide of Rachel Foster tackles challenging subject matter and bravely invites comparisons to recent indie favorites, but all the ambition in the world can't make up for an unengaging story, clunky gameplay, and some unfortunate tone-deaf moments. If you loved Gone Home or Firewatch, you're better off just playing them again – Rachel Foster is a ghostly shadow of those classics.