gameranx's Reviews
With a clean, gorgeous new look, the Final Fantasy X games are good enough to hold up despite a number of surface elements not really aging well.
[T]he slow start and uneven technical performance don't stop "A House Divided" from adding new life to Telltale's The Walking Dead. The gripping, uncompromising episode expertly blends potent character moments with gut-wrenching loss, presenting enough narrative progression in this two-hour trip for two full episodes.
This may or may not be Professor Layton’s last ride, no one has said anything definitively either way, (as of press time rumours are swirling about this being the last Layton game proper) but it’s a great one to go out on.
South Park: The Stick of Truth may as well be an achievement. The soul of the show is captured perfectly with its visuals, consistently funny writing and ridiculous scenarios. It also happens to be damn fun to play. After the 13 hours it took me to complete it, all I've been able to think about since is going back to it to find every lost collectible and missed achievement. If you've ever enjoyed South Park, then you absolutely need to own this game.
If Lords of Shadow 2 were a film, I'd say it's well constructed in every way aside from editing. Unfortunately, editing is as crucial to a movie being watchable as its visibility. So for this game, it's all well and good that it's pieces are of quality, but they are arranged so carelessly and without regard to flow that struggle is more about staying awake than merely making progress. This subfranchise's muted tone — another non-flaw out of context — doesn't help that cause.
It's a vibrant shooter with finely tuned characters that play very well off each other, providing for an almost party-like experience that should be fun for almost anyone. This new direction for the series is mostly a welcome success, but fans of traditional tower defense games or those from Dungeon Defenders and Orcs Must Die! may bemoan the lack of strong strategic placement and plotting.
Overall, Thief is a great play. The script flaws, while annoying, are forgivable in light of the many hours of quality gameplay. It's not perfect but it's an enjoyable challenge that will go down as one of the better gaming experiences of 2014.
With Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Retro Studios has shown once again it could take just about any beloved Nintendo property and turn it into a unique, nostalgia inducing machine of pure fun.
I hated Lightning Returns, but I also love it. Its greatness nearly ruined by bad packaging.
Together with the Brave/Default mechanic, wealth of character customization, and overall streamlined approach, Bravely Default manages to maintain that classic JRPG feel while modernizing outdated conventions.
If you're a huge fan of last-gen's Tomb Raider reboot, you should probably pick this up. The same goes if you have yet to play it. If, like me, you played Tomb Raider the first time round and enjoyed it, there's not really enough here to justify another, full price purchase, however. This is for superfans and newcomers only – casual veterans need not apply. Now, where did I put my waterproof face cream?
Stoic had me hooked within the first five minutes through the visual and sound design alone. The hand-drawn art style is reminiscent of animated feature films, and in conjunction with a soundtrack composed by Austin Wintory (of Journey fame), The Banner Saga presents a melancholic, unforgettable atmosphere which will grip you immediately. It's a shame more couldn't have been done to give the battles more complexity, but the choices you're forced to make throughout the adventure, and the sheer beauty of the world, more than make up for a lack of strategic depth. In fact, I could've played The Banner Saga on aesthetic direction and risk management alone—both are that engaging.
[T]he core experience, the flying around and shooting things, feels just about airtight. It's intuitive and uncomplicated, and WoWP accommodates all the input devices, from mouse and keyboard to stick to gamepad, with all appearing to my hands to be equally viable depending on each player's personal proclivities.
Those few aesthetic points aside, X Rebirth is a deeply flawed game. Riddled with bugs, poor design choices, weak core mechanics, and a shallow world, X Rebirth is not a game that I can recommend.
Ryse: Son of Rome is a bloody, gorgeous adventure. It's a shame then that there's so much squandered potential. Its short length and the lack of variety bury what good the game has to offer. I wouldn't be averse to a sequel if they can flesh out the experience and tell a purely human story, but as Ryse stands it's hard to recommend at full price.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds is a very enjoyable game. It’s a treat to play.
Skylanders Swap Force – like all of the games in this series – can be without a doubt an expensive hobby, but it's a fun one if you're either a kid or like collecting toys or both, and if you don't mind playing through the game with only three characters, it's also a rewarding way to pass the time with just the basic starter set.
Although this review has felt rather negative towards the campaign, there's a lot to like there, too — for the first half at least. And once you're done with that you can always jump into the always brilliant online arena. As far as launch games for new consoles go, Killzone: Shadow Fall isn't bad by any means. Just don't expect anything revolutionary outside of dust particles in shafts of light and you'll be fine.
As an Xbox One launch title, Dead Rising 3 is competent enough but is held back by mediocre boss fights and poor controls and while the sheer number of zombies onscreen at any time can run to an impressive amount – often hundreds – there's little reason to believe that this game couldn't have been released five years ago. If Dead Rising 3 is any indication; early "next-gen" titles have done little to evolve over their predecessors.
It isn't exactly the best thing going on the PS4 thus far (that would be Need for Speed Rivals), but you certainly owe it to yourself to download Resogun and play a round or 12 before bedtime. You'll get lost in it, I promise.