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In its final third, Candleman pulled me into the story, gameplay, and setting all at once. It was finally a full fledged, dynamic, puzzle-platformer rather than a simplistic maze. While the story's end left some questions on the table, I thought the overall message was an important and beautiful one: sometimes what you think is your light/salvation is actually your darkness/demise. And sometimes, the light we seek has always been inside us. At first, playing Candleman will be an unsatisfying, slow-paced act of just going through the motions, but if you stick around, you'll discover some magic by the end.
Detective Gallo has most of the telltale signs that this would be a great point-and-click adventure—on paper, anyway. The cartoonish art style, the dark sarcasm, (most of) the puzzles, and the unpredictable story all heavily suggest this game has the makings of a hit. It's unfortunate that a few bad eggs spoil the experience a smidge.
With that, we're back where we started. VROOM KABOOM has big ideas, but I don't think it's a matter of execution. I think these ideas are just disparate enough that it makes putting them together naturally problematic. It's sort of like the opposite of peanut butter and chocolate. Putting a gun on a car is a pretty good idea, but trying to drive three cars while managing a card deck, paying attention to what the opponent is doing, and accomplishing objectives is just too much. I would happily play a Mad Max-inspired tower defense, or a competitive, on-rails car combat game, but both at the same time is not a great fit.
While H1Z1: Battle Royale doesn't do anything particularly special yet, it sets up a solid foundation that can be expanded with future events and additions, a la Fortnite. It earns its battle royale name, but never tries to stand above the rest of the crowd, instead opting to play it safe with the basics. Without knowing if or when PUBG might come to PS4, H1Z1: Battle Royale gives players an ample replacement if they'd rather not get into Fortnite. Daybreak just needs to start hosting some interesting events and updates in order to keep players hooked and interested going forward. I wouldn't say no to a little bit of work on those visuals either. Until then, I think I'll just go watch the movie that inspired this whole gaming trend.
Zoink has been branching out on their styling a little bit. Both the recently released Fe and upcoming VR game Ghost Giant are a bit of a departure, but their flat, cardboard-styled worlds and laugh-out-loud writing are what I will always know the studio for. Flipping Death is Zoink continuing to polish that formula and correct the balance of compelling gameplay and dialogue. It's visually striking, earns its laughs, and gives plenty of reasons to re-explore both the living and dead sides of Penny Doewood's little town. It might still lean a little heavily on its dialogue, but it never does so in a way that feels like it takes away from the game being played. You might just find Zoink's latest to be worth dying for.
This is an average game wrapped up in an abysmal marketing choice. Avoid for now, just be sure to give it a second look if it hits an amount you're willing to pay.
Anamorphine is a good experience hiding inside of a rough package.
State of Mind has some interesting ideas about the future. Those ideas are presented in a mostly by-the-numbers point-and-click 3D adventure game wrapper, and there's nothing wrong with that. There's an almost believable look and feel to the various environments Richard and Adam find themselves in, though the low-poly character models don't always work as well as intended. Still, for those who just can't get enough of futuristic adventure point-and-click games, State of Mind is worth the virtual trip.
All in all, Phantom Doctrine is good tactical action game with a great spy culture motif. It's perfect for people who like their spy stories grounded in reality, but also appreciate the subtle approach to world dominating super criminals introduced by modern Bond films like Spectre. CreativeForge succeeds at taking lessons from its previous game, Hard West, and updating the formula. Even if that formula is ultimately a less elegant, less original version of the most popular game in the genre.
I genuinely appreciated what We Happy Few was trying to accomplish. Its unique perspective to storytelling and compelling setting kept frustrations at bay for far longer than they had any right to. I even think that the game has the potential to course-correct though their future DLC. However, this doesn't change the fact that the game has serious issues that make this full retail release feel more like a second round of Early Access. I cannot in good conscience encourage anyone to purchase the game in its current state. It would be best to revisit the game in a few months to see if things have improved. Now if you will excuse me, I have to pop a pill and pray to God that my entire memory of this game will just go away.
I'll be the first to admit, the last couple of seasons of The Walking Dead weren't nearly as strong as the first. Finally, it seems, Telltale Games has figured out how to send the series off with a bang. It's still in the early days, but this first episode will have fans chomping at the bit to see how their choices affect others, and of course if Clementine and AJ will make it out alive. The Walking Dead: The Final Season is a great start, and is hopefully a sign that fans will receive the finale the series deserves.
Uninspired music jams, slow loading and rendering of tracks can all become tiresome, taking away from what generally is a wonderful world filled with color.
Its obvious caricatures aside, Overcooked 2 manages, above all else, to feel like working an actual busy restaurant job – you slave away for what feels like an eternity of non-stop, fast-paced work, certain you're always miles behind where you should be, but then you count the tips at the end of the night and think “You know what? Not too bad.” In that respect and many others, Overcooked 2 is a delightful follow-up where each consecutive levels feels either completely satisfying or enticingly challenging.
Maybe that means I should get back to the grindstone, clear up those PS4 trophies, and then tackle the Journey to Olympus DLC that is included in the PS4 and Switch releases.
Dead Cells may not shift the genre's trajectory or implement roguelike mechanics in any new or inventive way, but it remains a consistently exciting and thrilling experience, even when you've seen that rapier for the fourth or fifth time. It's one of those games that's a joy to play, but even more importantly, a joy to watch because it teaches you the fundamental truth about roguelikes (and maybe life as a whole): let go. Once you learn to let go—or in Dead Cells's case, once you learn to let go of life—you'll find that it's about the experience of the moment, about that run right now. It's kind of like Bukowski's epitaph: If you don't try as hard, you'll enjoy Dead Cells much more. Because its in this nonchalance that the game's systems, however trite, slowly mend together in what can only be described as the perfect run. Before you forgot to dodge.
If you were to look up the word “consistent” in the dictionary, there should be annotation referencing the Madden franchise. EA has cranked out solid installments year-after-year, and this iteration is no exception. They've made strides forward on many fronts, including more realistic controls, new ways to interact with lineups in franchise mode, and several additional Ultimate Team experiences. Sure, there still might be the occasional physics quirk, but Madden NFL 19 still cements itself as the premier football simulation on console.
Castaway Paradise has potential, and it'll be interesting to see if the developer updates it with new content in the future. While it's nowhere near as in-depth as Stardew Valley or Animal Crossing, it is still a very relaxing and entertaining little adventure. Its unique visuals are simplistic but colorful, and the characters you get to meet are entertaining. If you don't happen to have a Nintendo console with which to play Animal Crossing, then Castaway Paradise makes a reasonable substitute.
Despite those hiccups, however, The Banner Saga 3 is good. Really good. Anyone who has played the first two will undoubtedly be picking this game up anyways, but for those who are unfamiliar with the series and curious as to how it all ends: do yourself a favor and pick up the trilogy whenever you get a chance. It's not often that games are made with the kind of style and substance that The Banner Saga 3 has been, and, much like a good book, it's nearly impossible to put down until it all comes to a close, where, inevitably, you'll feel like a small piece of you was left with it in exchange for something new, the way all great stories make us feel.
Airheart will appeal to those who enjoy learning a game's systems by trial and error. The bizarre-sounding concept of skyfishing is ridiculous when first seen, but quickly feels almost natural.
When all is said and done, the handful of people sitting in the middle of the Venn diagram marked "doesn't own a PC" and "wants a hardcore train simulation" still deserve a game that isn't buggy, runs well, respects their time as a user, and one that provides more for their money than this one does. On the upside, the trains are so detailed here that if anything happens to the driver on my local route during my commute, I'm pretty confident that I could take over and nobody would be late for work. I can't promise strudel, though.