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While it’s nice to know that players can extend their time in Shu, it’s not needed for me to give it a recommendation. As even if you only play through Shu once, it’s absolutely worth doing so. It’s a love letter to a fantastic genre, and is such a pleasant way to spend an evening. It may not be a grand adventure like Super Mario World, but I enjoyed every single second of it, and that can’t be said about most games.
We’d recommend giving Batman Arkham a pass at its $19.99 price tag if it weren’t for how amazingly cool it feels – even if for one brief moment – to feel like you’re Batman. For die-hard Batman fans, this will be worth the price of admission alone, but for everyone else, weigh out that specific moment in your decision-making process. If that sounds like something you must experience for yourself, give Batman Arkham VR a try. If you are hoping for a great-looking tech demo to show off PSVR’s capabilities with an iconic character everyone you know will recognize, give Batman Arkham VR a try. But if you’re looking for a deep, engaging experience, Batman Arkham VR is more laughable than The Joker’s smug grin.
There’s no real story, so any conclusions aren’t very meaningful. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give Until Dawn: Rush of Blood a chance. Rush of Blood is a good scare, creepy, extremely fun, and would make a great game to play around Halloween or just to show off the PlayStation VR’s capabilities.
Aragami is an interesting mix of genres. The experience is unfortunately dragged down a few notches by performance issues, though those will hopefully go away in the form of patches. With a campaign hovering around the dozen hour mark, and one which includes online Co-op, stealth fans will find their next fix in Aragami, for a reasonable asking price of $19.99/£19.99/€14.99. It’s a solid, stealth action game which should provide for an entertaining weekend full of quiet kills and stalking in the shadows.
If rumors are true that we’ll see the conclusion of King’s Quest before the end of the year, I’m concerned that it will be rushed out too quickly for its own good. Or maybe it’s just the odd numbered chapters that are the knockouts, offering great story and puzzles. Time will tell how the story concludes, but Snow Place Like Home is the weak link in the King’s Quest chain, with weak environments, terrible puzzles, and a lack of any real immersion in the narrative choices as Chapter Four gives players the cold shoulder.
It’s easy to dismiss Dragon Quest Builders as just another Minecraft clone or a Minecraft-lite, but those who do will miss out on a very creative little adventure. I never thought building in the name of saving the world could be this entertaining or keep me up so late at night. I’ve always enjoyed the crafting side of RPGs, but this takes it on to a whole new level. It’s a crafter’s paradise more than it is a builder’s, something you won’t know until you pick it up for yourself. Come for the charming Dragon Quest look and feel and, yes, the Minecraft building; stay for the questing and crafting.
That's what we all try to do day in and day out in our own lives, right?
Great strategy games are few and far between, and XCOM 2 is an absolute treat for anyone craving a challenge on every level. Marred only be a few technical presentation hiccups and slow loading times, XCOM 2 is a deep mental and emotional experience that tests each player's resolve to triumph against overwhelming odds and failure. While losing a top soldier can be a most devastating defeat, coming back from that loss and completing a mission with a group of rookies to honor that soldier's sacrifice can be an incredible accomplishment. You may still lose the war, but each campaign's small victories drive that feeling that success is possible, no matter the insurmountable odds placed before you.
With the long term in mind, Rise of Iron is a great addition to Destiny. They’ve embedded secrets, past references, and nostalgia in ways that few other games can, because few other games retain this strong of a community for years following their initial release.
While The Bunker is a rather straightforward adventure game, its FMV trappings are enough for it to stick out from the crowd. It’s proof that full-motion video doesn’t have to be campy in order to succeed, and can be just as viable as any other form of animation for the right type of game. Check it out if you’re looking to experience a solid story, and play something a bit different.
Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity is an entertaining blend of genres that breathes a palpable life into bullet hell games, taking them from a niche variety to one more accessible for casual players. The narrative and characters fall into decidedly JRPG stereotypes, but the plot does evolve into a more coherent and intriguing mystery than it first lets on.
It was nice to see EA Canada go back to the drawing board this season. The addition of The Journey, along with their already solid on-field simulation, really helps set FIFA 17 apart for the crowd. When you also throw a brand new game engine atop the growing pile of enhancements, you end up with a simulation that more than justifies its existence. They’ve really outdone themselves this year.
At this point, EA is going to have to pull off a small miracle to compete with NBA 2K17. Visual Concepts is the uncontested developer of not only basketball games, but perhaps of all sports games, period. Every year seems to improve on the last. With a continuing excellence in multiple game modes, including a toned-down but more focused career mode, quicker fantasy options, and of course the impeccable audio work, basketball games don’t get any better than this.
Every game developer has to start somewhere. Dear Esther was a valiant first step into a much bigger world. It may have been something special back in 2008, but it is definitely showing its age — especially when compared to The Chinese Room’s later releases, Esther falls dramatically short of modern expectations. If you are looking to relive the first salvo in the walking simulator renaissance, then feel free to give this a try. However, if money is truly burning a hole in your pocket, you should probably just check out Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture instead.
This review will contain spoilers for all previous episodes and the current episode of Batman The Telltale Series. For our review of Batman The Telltale Series Ep. 1: Realm of Shadows, click here.At the end there’s the promise of a new larger villain at play, who seems suspiciously like Telltale’s version Scarecrow with a slightly modified Batman Begins story, using a neurotoxin to “free” the city of Gotham. I’m just waiting for the inevitable Joker reveal, because let’s be honest, everyone who takes on the Batman mythos wants the chance to do their particular version of the Joker. At this point, while trying to honor Batman and give unexpected beats, Telltale has managed to make Batman actually feel dull. There’s a lot of potential in what they are doing, but Children of Arkham is more poorly rehearsed high school play than engrossing Batman fiction.
If you can look past the sadomasochism theme (and I won’t blame anyone who can’t as it constantly irked me the wrong way) then you’ll find a redeeming RPG. The star of Criminal Girls 2: Party Favors is its battle system, which is a fun twist on turn-based gaming. While I wish it was in a different game, for now I’ll have to stoop to spanking girls that clearly don’t enjoy it in order to experience it.
Rise of Iron seems to hold an indelible bit of content on initial playthrough, and I’m excited to see how it holds up under pressure of full release and repeated scrutiny.
While it is obvious that Rive was a well-crafted digital love letter to arcade classics of yesteryear, this is not a game that will be joining that pantheon of remarkable releases. Just because a game is hard, doesn’t mean it is gratifying. Though it certainly has moments of brilliance, these glimpses are few and far between. It also doesn’t help matters much when the borderline mean-natured presentation and combat mechanics continue to over-emphasize failures, instead of trumpeting successes. This will most likely find a small, loyal audience among the already converted and fairly neglected arcade shooter crowd. Ultimately, Rive lacks the approachability that would help it preach the shooter gospel to those not already singing in the choir.
NASCAR Heat Evolution is a thoroughly disappointing release. It’s pretty bad when PlayStation 2 games were more fully featured and fun to play than a new release in 2016. Monster Games have proven in the past that they are a talented developer, and NASCAR fans deserve a better video game than this. I’m just left wondering where everything went wrong. Dig up an old Electronic Arts NASCAR game instead, you’ll have more fun.
Unholy Heights is devilishly simple, and that will turn many off if they only play it for a few hours. It’s when the second floor is erected that the challenge becomes apparent, and that’s also when the addiction really set in for me. I left the game running in the background pretty much all day for the last couple of days, only turning around when I heard the alarm bells of heroes coming. What I really wish with this game is that it was on the Vita instead of the PS4, because as it is the perfect game to have running in the background, I’d love to take this with me everywhere I go. I’d love it to sit on my desk, much like what I did in my dark Tiny Tower days. With the pointing and clicking needed for the tower defense portion, this game just begs for a touch screen, if not a mouse. But I’ll take it as it is, and fans of either Tiny Tower or Dungeon Keeper should take a look into this one too. I can almost guarantee you’ll be as hooked as I am.