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While Dear Esther is visually captivating, it amounts to a little more than a countryside slog in every other aspect.
Gears of War 4 is probably the best Gears campaign so far, but it's saddled with uninteresting robotic enemies, a multiplayer suite that makes no concessions to casual players, and a loot treadmill that pushes microtransactions too aggressively.
EA have refined and near perfected the soccer simulation, but also experimented with some bold ideas that work well and breathe new life into this veteran series.
It is a legitimately scary game, but the bugs, bad design choices, bland story, and obnoxious enemies overshadow that. It is hard to tell how much is the game scaring you, and how much is just frustration.
Four Sided Fantasy has a fantastic central mechanic, but it doesn't do anything with the mechanic. When later levels become glitchy and the game never really impresses in any other area, there's little to keep you in this fantasy.
Scarlet Curiosity is a good, if short, RPG-Brawler that makes decent use of the setting that ZUN has created for the Touhou series. However, repeated enemies, generic looking stages, and the inability to block attacks from the beginning are a bit grating and prevent the game from reaching its full potential.
Aragami has an interesting style and has truly captured the essence of the stealth genre. However, it has too many elements that hold it back from being a great game.
Crush Your Enemies tries to go for a simplified RTS route with its gameplay and falls flat. Combine that with hit and miss humor, and you have a strategy game that really only makes sense on mobile.
The Colorado Episode sets the example by which future episodes should be judged by. Combining a larger map with some extra complexity and the satisfaction of finally learning some of the ensuing plot that finally ties in 47, the episode is hopefully a promise of things to come.
If you're willing to look past some flaws, Claire mixes wonderful atmosphere with great writing to create a 2D indie horror game that I found scarier than many major efforts.
Continuing from the first episode, Batman: The Telltale Series is still impressive and making me want to see more of Telltale's version of Batman. There's some nagging tech issues along the way, but as the episode kept going I was forgetting all about them.
The Metronomicon has a few faults, but nothing that stops it from being my favorite rhythm RPG mash-up to date. With a killer soundtrack, some fun mechanics, and quite a lot of content, The Metronomicon is a beat worth getting down to.
Ember is just a flickering spark slowly dying out in the wind; the good ideas put into the game are buried under questionable and derivative design choices.
While Clustertruck may hit some speed bumps here and there, there's nothing quite like it when it cuts loose.
Klang's strengths are also its shortcomings. The dynamic, varied gameplay is immediately exciting and unique, but it also serves to obfuscate the experience. It's an enjoyable journey, but ultimately, Klang could benefit from a bit more focus.
Love it or hate it, Rise of Iron offers more Destiny with almost no real changes or fixes to the problems that have plagued the release since launch.
MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death is in a weird situation where it's neither hard enough for DRPG veterans nor easy enough for newcomers to the genre. Combined with the lack of gameplay depth and a short playtime, it's hard to recommend unless you really must play every DRPG that hits Vita.
If you haven’t played any of the Dead Rising games, this is still the best one, and this gorgeous remaster is the best place to start.
An interesting idea that has flashes of brilliance, but is hampered by baffling and counterintuitive design decisions.
The Uncertain's first episode has an interesting premise, but ultimately goes nowhere. It has some smart puzzles in its 4 hour run time, but it also has some awful moments and seems like it's scared of trying to stand on its own. Hopefully a second episode can correct some of this.