GameGrin's Reviews
Pillars of Eternity brings back the best of a venerable genre with only a few of its flaws.
A charming platformer to match those in the indie game hall of fame blow-for-blow, Oblitus is an experience that mixes pleasure with pain and can be in parts both utterly punishing and wonderfully rewarding.
While highly derivative of The Legend of Zelda series, Oceanhorn is a beautiful and expertly-crafted game that will delight fans of the genre.
Though held back by brevity and lukewarm writing, Tormentum sports truly inspired art direction that always pleases the eye.
As we reach the halfway mark in this season it's hard to imagine the main characters surviving for a second one. With the story ramping up and the plot chugging along, all the pieces are moving into place. As ever, a fantastic homage to the franchise and an event better game in its own right.
The writing is pretty bad, but the puzzles are improved and it has great set pieces.
A new campaign for those looking for a bit more longevity out of the series, with some nice new features. However, for those looking for something largely different out of the series, you might be best looking elsewhere.
A good idea, which comes out as a bore due to repetition. Could further development improve this game further?
The titan of the RTS genre is back, made all pretty, and still as playable and enthralling as ever. This is one that deserves to be in your library.
Shelter 2, in spite of a lack of dialogue, managed to create a hauntingly beautiful experience. Due to its extremely short length and virtually zero replayability, I cannot recommend the experience unless it undergoes a severe price drop.
Deathtrap is a game that has all the functional workings of a tower defense game and depth of an RPG, which makes for a surprisingly good combination. For such a low price it's hard to go wrong with a game like this, while most tower defense games tend to get boring after a few hours, Deathtrap keeps you wanting more and more action. There were very few aspects of the game that I did not like and those were easy enough to forget about because of how entertaining the rest of the game is. I would highly recommend Deathtrap to any fan of tower defense games as it is a fresh take on the genre.
The Escapists is a "deeper than appears" puzzler that will take some getting into, but the pay-off is worth it.
Cities: Skylines is a great, solid city builder and while it could still use a bit of polishing off, I will be spending hours playing around with it. A lot of hard work has clearly gone into focusing on small details to make a real complex, challenging and fun experience.
Harold is a beautiful game, but that's not enough to make up for sloppy design and maddeningly difficult gameplay.
Apotheon manages to be a truly unique entry into what's a decidedly overcrowded genre. With its polished design, excellent sense of story and beautiful aesthetic, fans of the platformer genre would be remiss to skip over it, despite its at times clumsy combat controls.
The Order: 1886 is a visually stunning technical achievement, held back by mediocre gameplay. Fortunately for Ready At Dawn they've achieved on setting the bar high in visuals, and have laid out the groundwork for what could well be one of the best PlayStation exclusive franchises.
Total War: Attila is a triumphant return for the kings of PC battlefield strategy, and hopefully will usher in a new era of incredible Total War titles.
I've had a lot of fun playing Evolve; it's well-balanced, satisfying and wonderfully tense at times. Some elements of the game don't quite match up to the core concept, the maps and the progression system in particular, but it's not enough to hinder the appeal. I hate myself for saying it, but I can see why Turtle Rock has taken the super-DLC route for Evolve. They're going to have a lot of hooked gamers by the end of February, and more than a few that'll be willing to part with yet more cash. That, I think it's safe to say, will be the most important measure of Evolve's success.
The story is certainly starting to pick up the pace and the player is left wondering who among their current crop of characters will live to see the end. Much like the A Song of Ice and Fire series and A Game of Thrones, nothing is completely certain. A must for fans of either, Telltale are hitting their stride with this series.
I'm sure that once all five episodes are out, the game will be a great one, deserving of the highest scores. But right now the generic, unlikeable characters mar what could have been pretty perfect.