IGN's Reviews
You could call Salt and Sanctuary a 2D mashup of Dark Souls and Castlevania, and you'd be right. But such a simple pronouncement would be a disservice to the tremendous amount of thought that's gone into Salt and Sanctuary, whether it's in the graphic style that evokes horror through the style of comic strips or in the intricate web of dungeons and castles serves as it map.
Fallout 4: Far Harbor adds a large amount of great quests and content within its gloomy but distinctive island setting. Thanks to some well-written, morally ambiguous characters, its choices are as gray as the weather, and much more interesting. Though the new companion isn’t the strongest and the supposedly ruinous radioactive fog is more annoying than threatening, all of the adventuring and new gear absolutely made it worth my while to return to Fallout 4 for Far Harbor.
Deep hero progression and a well-executed Chaos invasion round out a campaign that, while it has some flaws in set-up and pacing, fulfilled all of my deepest fantasies of seeing giant, impossible armies clashing amidst the shrieking of griffins and the glow of flaming meteors summoned from the sky. It's just a damn good time.
Though its world has some great aesthetic devices and a cool concept, ultimately all of Homefront: The Revolution's elements feel repetitive, unpolished, or downright unnecessary. Over the length of its campaign it fails to deliver a satisfying - or even fully functional - shooter experience.
Doom's single-player recalls great FPS action from a simpler time, but its multiplayer misses more than it hits.
Alien Hunters’ battles are by far the toughest, trickiest fights in Firaxis’ XCOM games to date, and the new weapons and abilities we get expand our tactical options in interesting ways. However, where XCOM 2 initially impressed me by making the equipment upgrades it doles out unpredictable, this expansion is a move that will make every subsequent game feel more similar instead of more different.
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End is a remarkable achievement in blockbuster storytelling and graphical beauty.
Ultimately, Valkyria Chronicles Remastered is a beautifully crafted and original tactical RPG. While this particular package is lacking in special features, it’s still a perfect opportunity to play a charming cult classic at a budget price.
Stellaris is filled with good ideas, and it's not difficult to see the outline of a great space strategy game where those ideas could come together. But beyond the early game, it's only compelling in bits and pieces – it turns into a largely uneventful slog after that. Paradox has developed a reputation of major upgrades to their games for years after launch, and Stellaris is going to need all that love and more to reach its potential.
The Park doesn't really bring anything new to the horror table, but honestly, that's okay. Its 90 minutes are filled with an impressive atmosphere, interesting themes, and spooky places to poke around. While some of the attractions are a bit long in the tooth, The Park provides enough tension and scares to warrant a playthrough from any horror fan.
I've enjoyed most of Battleborn's campaign during my initial playthrough, though it's mostly due to the handiwork of the insane playable characters than the drab enemies and stages. The unlocks both near (in-match leveling) and far (unlocking new characters) have kept me anticipating each new campaign level attempt, though I wish said campaign were just a bit more exciting and varied. Hopefully some time with competitive multiplayer will make my upgrades and unlocks come even faster.
Housemarque's previous games have always kept me coming back through the strength of their gameplay alone. Alienation adds a straightforward, but enjoyable power chase on top, making its finely tuned arcade action all the more alluring. Its action-RPG elements won't make it a replacement for something like Diablo 3 or Grim Dawn, but they successfully provide a structure for unending, enjoyable alien slaughter.
Hitman Episode 2: Sapienza is a fantastic follow-up to the promising first episode; huge, bursting with deadly promise, and begging for many, many playthroughs. The lack of much meaningful local voice acting is a disappointing miss, however, and that might really start undermining Hitman’s jetsetting international atmosphere in later levels if it’s not addressed.
Relatively simple in concept but complex in the possible manipulation of the market, Offworld Trading Company manages to make a type of gameplay that’s traditionally slow into something fast and exciting. It’s a tad too easy to trip yourself up before you even begin, but once it gets rolling this multiplayer-friendly cold war of capitalism forces tough, rapid-fire strategic choices.
Severed is at its best when it features short, tactical fights in its eerily beautiful dungeons, but those battles largely lose their appeal by the second half. Combat becomes tedious due to boring buffs instead of introducing new ideas in order to make battles more challenging. That blow to the combat’s longevity wouldn’t have felt so bad if exploring the bizarre world weren’t so tedious.
After two episodes, The Walking Dead: Michonne successfully developed its main character at the expense of the rest of its cast. In Episode 3, the trade-off doesn’t feel quite worth it — it’s so concerned with drawing explicit connections and tying every thread together that it isn’t that satisfying as an ending. A critical reveal redeems it somewhat, but once the episode begins to over explain that, too, the impact sadly fades.
Despite some inconsequential decision-making and visual roughness, the amount of heart, character, and unflinching honesty in 1979 Revolution’s short two-hour tale is impressive. As an Iranian-American myself, it’s incredibly refreshing to not only see this subject matter explored, but done so in a smart and sensitive way that succeeds in educating as much as entertaining.
There are a lot of good ideas in Battlefleet Gothic: Armada, and it certainly looks like a great tactical space combat game. But it struggles to build that into a coherent whole, making it tough to recommend unless you’re willing to utterly dedicate yourself to fully comprehending the inaccessible systems of its combat.
Star Fox Zero's fun stages and impressive boss fight give me lot of reasons to jump back in and play them over and over, and especially enjoyed them in co-op until I got a hang of juggling two screens myself. I've played 15 hours and I still haven't found everything. Learning to use the unintuitive controls is a difficult barrier to entry, though it comes with a payoff if you can stick with it.
Star Fox Guard is a fun action-tower defense game about managing different perspectives to put out fires as you use your resources to grow an awesome arsenal of robot-busting turrets. Its graphics are plain considering Nintendo’s artistic pedigree, but it’s still an elegant little game that can get a whole room of friends working together.