Birth. Movies. Death.'s Reviews
Like a three-legged dog or a cycloptic cat, it’s almost endearing in its jankiness.
FromSoftware's latest is typical of game sequels in that it's a refinement, not a revolution. This series' lore is so dense and so vague in its connections that there really isn't a "best" place to jump in, so newcomers might as well do so with this, the most polished game in the series. Veterans will relish the fresh challenges and twists, while reactions to the references to Soulses past will vary per player. But for all players, make no mistake: this is Dark Souls. What you get out of it is proportional to what you put in.
Mixed political messages and microtransactions aside, Rainbow Six Siege is a terrific, well-tuned multiplayer game. It's just hard to get the most out of it without friends.
Together, Mad Max and Just Cause 3 demonstrate that Avalanche is great at making games feel great. If it could just make the stories and gameplay less dull and repetitive, it'd have an all-timer on its hands. Because god damn - at its best, this game really is that much fun.
If only The Division's visual design was so memorable. While its 1:1 recreation of a slice of Manhattan is achieved with stunning accuracy, its devotion to realism is also one of the game's biggest problems. For one thing, it dictates that the overworld, while enormous and detailed, is samey and uninteresting. But worse, it makes the gamier elements stick out awkwardly, and actually renders some of them boring.
Naughty Dog has capped off its flagship series with a visually stunning, viscerally thrilling adventure, and incredibly, the studio says it will push the PS4 even harder in its next game. I can't wait to see what that looks like.
Mafia III’s compelling narrative inevitably comes crashing down the moment it starts being an open-world action game.
Despite spending a bite more than I planned to (and more to come), I feel mostly satisfied with the experience, and if Lego's three year plan works out, I like the idea that by the time it's done, my son will be almost five years old - perfect age to inherit a bunch of his man-child father's toys and play the game if he wants. If that happens, the game will be worth every penny.
I'm not sure Mass Effect: Andromeda is a bad game, but it is a colossally average game, drowning in its own feature list and quest journal.
EA's sequel gets lost in its open world.
Maybe I’ll never finish it, just so it’ll still be there for me.
Pacing issues and minor quibbles aside, I had a lovely time with Tearaway Unfolded. The variety in environments and platforming mechanics, the music, the puzzles, the gibberish speech, and the sheer exuberant fun of it all bring to mind classic platformers like Banjo-Kazooie, which is a serious compliment coming from me.
Blow didn’t just meet expectations; he avoided them entirely, delivering a game that hides deceptive depth in its colourful environment.
Darkest Dungeon ain’t for everyone. It’s complex, difficult, and appeals to a specific niche of horror fandom.
The core activity is a repetitive fetch quest, and narratively it has no satisfying conclusion or even any build-up. It's easy to get lost in Adrift's space environment, but in the end, Adrift is just as lost as you are.
No amount of extra quality assurance testing would fix the basic issues at the heart of ReCore.
When a dude in power armour stabs you dead for the sixth time, it doesn't invoke feelings of despair - or any feelings at all.
Blizzard has brought all its experience to bear on the design of Overwatch, and the finer details make it a joy to play.
If you liked XCOM: Enemy Unknown, you'll be right at home in XCOM 2. Frankly, Firaxis doesn't seem interested in bringing non-fans along for the ride - the lack of console support and the in-the-deep-end story and gameplay confirm that.
Between its graphics, its storytelling, and its character-driven gameplay, Until Dawn represents many of the things that truly excite me about this generation of gaming.