Paste Magazine
HomepagePaste Magazine's Reviews
I have nothing against those games, but it is wonderful to see something play with their vocabulary to make something fresh. While many games of its ilk rely on the broad strokes of fantasy, Black Book dares to be particular. It is all the richer for it.
It doesn't skimp on challenging action or a satisfying story, but it also doesn't expect us to devote dozens of hours to it. You can reach the end of the story in less than eight hours-roughly as long as the original Legend of Zelda. Its end is neither sudden and unexpected, nor long and drawn-out. If only we can all embrace our own end as gracefully as Death's Door does.
The way characters move and express in combat never gets old, even as everything around it quickly does. I can see the massive amount of love and care put into one element of the game, which conveniently is the most visible one for observers. But once I pick up the controller, it becomes clear that level of detail is only surface deep.
Moving the point-of-view from a lauded white celebrity to a Japanese man out of his depth is a bold move, and one that shows the glaring flaws in the court system and the inherent racist sentiment that guides it. There's not a single case that feels like a throwaway-each serves as a chapter in Naruhodo's path to understanding his own drive for his profession, and carts the player along a grand adventure that overcomes the somewhat static nature present in the original trilogy. It's an absolute must play for any mystery fan out there.
While it is exciting to see an attempt at a more robust story mode in a Formula 1 game, EA and Codemasters need to match the graphics and plots featured in other AAA games in order for it to be worth playing. Hopefully Formula 1 games will take this into account and offer a better looking and more detailed story mode in the future.
But the lack of significant choices coupled with the game's awkward structure makes it challenging to get immersed into it. There are three solid experiences contained in Last Stop, and if separated into their own games they could probably all carry the impact they were intended to. Together, though, they come across as competing for the player's attention without adding up to a singular whole.
My biggest problem with Mario Golf: Super Rush is that it rarely reaches a point where it's consistently entertaining. It all feels too safe, and too conservative. It feels like a by-the-books Mario sports game. It doesn't seem like it can support the hours spent with friends that you expect from the series. It's simply a shell of moustaches and rainbows to remind me of the fun times that were once had.
The Wild at Heart is a heartfelt exploration game that makes you feel as if you are seeing the world through young eyes. The game follows Wake and Kirby as they cling to their innocence and a need for something greater than their lonely and difficult upbringings, and it is refreshing and bittersweet to follow them throughout this journey. With characters, environments and music that embody a battle between the joys and fears of childhood, The Wild at Heart is a perfect reminder of how our view of the world continues to grow and change.
It almost feels like the ending gets further away the closer you get to it. Maybe that's fitting for a game about time travel. Scarlet Nexus' strange structure has somehow bent the laws governing time to its will.
Lena Raine's fabulous soundtrack also must be commented on, which glistens with life but feels airy and sparse as if to mimic the gaps in color you have to fill over the course of the game. Despite being a pretty "wholesome" game, it doesn't mince words and never presents a simple solution to serious issues. I'm really happy I played Chicory-it's one I truly needed to play, and I hope a lot of people get something out of it too.
It really does take two to tango, and I truly enjoyed cracking codes, stopping aggressors and breaking down mainframes alongside my partner. The tasks make for a unique and unpredictable experience, emphasizing the importance of critical thinking and how well you work under pressure. If you and a friend are looking for a quick game to play, Operation: Tango is worth a shot.
If you loved VII Remake, it's hard to imagine you not enjoying this episode. But if you haven't been able to find a PS5 or don't want to pay extra for it, you're not missing out on too much, either. Episode Intermission feels like a nice, bite-sized snack to munch on while waiting for the next main course with the second part, providing just enough new wrinkles and story elements to feel fresh while not doing anything crazy enough to warrant it as essential.
It's a maximal game with big wacky characters and a killer shotgun. This is a game about friendship and games about friendship fucking rule. Rift Apart is better than action figures.
The murder mystery experience that unfolds throughout the Famicom Detective Club games is a strong reminder of the importance of a well-written and nuanced story. Remasters can easily hold up when based on beloved characters or franchises. To have a 30-year-old visual novel presented to an entirely new generation and be well received by new players is a testament to the game's storyline.
I wanted to love Biomutant. I was rooting for Biomutant. I wanted to embrace this game, and it just wouldn't let me.
It's inexpensive to boot and simple to keep up with, making it markedly less of a chore to log into, have fun with for an hour or two, and hop back out of unlike most service games. It's got a fun style and look to it that makes it all the more inviting, and solid enough mechanics to master that I feel satisfied coming back to practice. Straight up, it's also just fun as hell to play something that isn't so grim or serious, making Knockout City a success in my eyes.
There's a joy to knowing that if you take a photograph of the flamingo on the right side of the car, you won't have time to get a photograph of the rhino on the left projectile shitting against a concrete restraining wall. Even if you advance the film, and knock your grandfather back into the club car's bench seat as you clamber over him as fast as your little limbs can. There's joy in begging your family to go on the ride just one more time while you've still got film and daylight left.
undefined.For all the game's problems, though, it provides some truly excellent moments that I'll remember for a long time. I shouldn't be shocked that a major AAA game like Village would fall into AAA traps, but there's something special about Village that felt like it could escape the franchise's own sordid past and deliver something as revolutionary-if not more-than RE7. But, like all things camp, maybe we'll reevaluate the game's banality in a decade or two; Village might be a cult oddity in good time.
I'm cynical because the assumption that Housemarque has made here is that AAA games are a genre unto themselves, one whose form is based on cinematic regurgitation, excess, and the speed of disposability. And what sucks is they're slowly being proven right. Prestige television came early to this console generation, and I'm sure for many it will happily pass the time and then it will pass away into memory because memories are short, and there's always a next big thing, and then a bigger next big thing.
. is peerless in many ways, but also the same old story-an auteur nearly swallowed by the industry manages to get out his masterpiece after the smash success of his more palatable work. I, for one, am happy it happened.