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'NES Remix' is a gateway drug. It's just enough to remind us of better times and better highs. But it's not enough for sustained enjoyment. Despite the sometimes engaging final challenges and remix levels, the majority of your time is spent achieving the most minor of goals for minor rewards. You might as well just buy the full games themselves and skip a marketing ploy when you see it.
Warner Brothers has promised three pieces of story content for the 'Arkham Knight' season pass. If this little fragment of a game is what players can expect, then the pricey $40 season pass is going to be a disappointment. 'A Matter of Family' releases on July 21st for non-season pass holders at $7, but I wouldn't recommend it.
In 'Crimson Dragon' it seems, there aren't dragons, just an incredibly unwieldy turkey. We have a turkey with a fat ass, magically given the power of flight, asked to navigate through a veritable waterfall of chunky gravy without getting wet. If you do make it through, you're asked to do it again, but this time with extra salt and sugar pouring along the gravy. Finally, after retries, augmentations to the turkey – it's ass is ever-so-slightly less fat – acquired by capturing that salt and sugar, you're finally given free reign of a stage. Only the turkey never learned to fly anywhere but straight, so the boss at the center of the stage is literally doing circles around you while you barrel roll into turkey oblivion.
There's little reason to recommend 'Alphadia Genesis' to anyone. While both the Wii U and Steam are a bit lacking in JRPG content at the moment, 'Alphadia Genesis skews to close towards mediocre and frustrating to safely scratch the JRPG itch. More and more JRPGS are being released on the Steam platform every week, while the Wii U is getting a nice backlog of classic games with the Virtual Console. With so many other, better options available, 'Alphadia Genesis isn't worth your time or your money.
'Escape Dead Island' is more or less playable from a technical standpoint. I wish I could praise it more than that. It has almost no redeeming qualities, no personality to speak of, and really isn't fun at all. Many of the design decisions are inscrutable. The 'Dead Island' series is not the best zombie gaming experience out there, but the previous two titles are at least worth playing. This one is not.
I wish I had better things to say about 'Payday 2: Crimewave Edition'. On the surface it looks a lot like a less shiny 'Grand Theft Auto' with a heavy emphasis on co-op, but in the right circumstances it can be a fun experience. It has many of the common hallmarks of online games, right down to the leveling system, but there is just something about pulling off a slick bank job that is deeply satisfying. Still, until its broken multiplayer has been repaired, it's best to steer clear of this one.
Even after three months of back-and-forth with the community, Bungie is still 'Destiny's' worst enemy.
The writing team is doing a decent job with the direction and script of 'Batman: The Telltale Series', but the severely strained engine rears its ugly head at every opportunity. Telltale's formula and tech both are very familiar by now and have their flaws, which we've been able to overlook for the sake of an otherwise enjoyable story. The lag has nearly reached a critical mass, however.
My first moments with 'Pixel Gear' were satisfying, to say the least. I immediately enjoyed the simple appeal of looking around, aiming and shooting in VR, which feels like the logical evolution of the classic light gun games of years ago. Unfortunately, there just isn't much depth to be found here. Though there are four difficulty settings, the three available levels just don’t feel all that different from one another.
With a high level of difficulty and a pixelated aesthetic, 'Exile's End' is an affectionate tribute to a decidedly different era of gaming. My time with 'Exile's End' was decidedly mixed, although I must admit I'm not in the target demographic of players that really enjoy this type of experience. I admired the visual and sound design for creating some truly creepy environments, and for serving up a loving tribute to the Commodore 64/Amiga era, but I was left a bit more cold in the gameplay department. Getting lost in expansive, empty 2D maps isn't exactly my idea of a good time, and I've never been one to get terribly excited about "old-school" difficulty. With that said, fans of this sort of isolated retro experience might get a real kick out of Marvelous' take on the genre.
'Adam Wolfe' is a somewhat pretty and ultimately routine HOPA. It differs little from its predecessors in this genre, and as sheer time-wasters go it pales in comparison to so many other casual and, I dare to say it, social media games. The folks over at Madhead are clearly lovers of the HOPA but this a niche field to say the least, and 'Adam Wolfe' has little mainstream appeal.
'Battlezone' feels like a serious missed opportunity. As the successor to what many consider the original virtual reality game, I expected Rebellion's revision to be an accessible arcade battler — the sort of game that would make a great introduction to home-ready VR. Instead, this new version takes its influence from more modern inspirations, including roguelike elements and procedurally generated maps.
Where 'Lone Survivor' succeeded, 'Claire,' has trouble. It relies too much on being lost, both in terms of interaction and narrative drive. Even if it had a more interesting protagonist, the game's inconsistent ability to remain scary holds it back.
'Little King's Story' on PC is a shoddy port of a game that has not aged particularly well. The mouse and keyboard controls are a real pain, and the game is simple enough that they didn't have to be. The gameplay never excited me while I played, and even the trivial things like saving and navigating menus just exasperated me. Returning fans ought to appreciate having a PC version, (especially with so many Wiis seemingly now retired). For everybody else, I really don't have anything good to say about it, and that's surprising given how well it was received in 2009.
I had a tough time taking 'The Bunker' seriously. It was an admirable attempt at live-action psychological horror, but the John segments meander on and stumble around like the main character. It's not entirely predictable, but nor is it treading new ground.
I went looking for Michael Crichton in 'The Assembly,' but I got stuck on the lowlights. As with many ambitious projects, there is some good stock here. As VR advances, another take 'The Assembly' could realize the promise. What's here, however, just isn't thrilling.
Fans of 'Target Earth' will find a lot to like in 'Assault Suit Leynos.' It's just as rewarding as the Genesis original, and the game has never looked better. Those without a sense of nostalgia won't find as much here to appreciate though, as even on easy difficulty its extremely difficult. This is one remake that has stayed too true to the original, as it plays harsh by modern day standards.
'The Underground' is worth trying out if you’ve committed to a pass, but certainly not worth buying on its own.
'Wasteland Workshop' seems more like free update material, or additions that would have come naturally if mod support was a thing. As it stands, it’s a mix of unwieldy creature traps, mildly novel base building objects, and a few handy doodads. We’ll keep our fingers crossed for next month’s 'Far Harbor'.
To be fair, it’s tough making a convincing argument for the hidden object genre as anything more than a workplace timekiller when other browser game sites have been firewalled. Artifex Mundi has some decent puzzle work in their portfolio, but 'Enigmatis: The Ghosts of Maple Creek' was more of a chore than an engaging adventure experience.