IGN's Reviews
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.
The Banner Saga 2 doesn't change much of the experience that made the original such a well-loved surprise two years ago, and that's a good thing. The improvements may be small, but they're also substantial: the new combat units, the introduction of a second caravan story to follow, and the obstacles in the battlefield add up nicely. While beautifully written and populated with memorable characters and twists, the story does slightly suffer from a case of the "middle episodes" that may leave you eager for more. On the bright side, we know that more is on the way in a third and final installment.
Wasteland Workshop adds some neat new cosmetic window dressing to Fallout’s settlement-building systems, but the piecemeal additions didn't include enough new gameplay applications to hold my interest. The traps and creature-capture mechanics are briefly enjoyable but not fully fleshed out, which quickly makes them deteriorate into disappointments.
Chronos is a challenging, calculated adventure through intricate dungeons and relentless enemies that demand your best attention. Where it falls short as an RPG, Chronos redeems itself by offering beautiful environments and a sense of scale that probably can’t exist without virtual reality. It’d be worth playing regardless of the hardware it’s tied to, but the sense of presence the Oculus Rift allows you to have inside of Chronos’ varied dimensions is something I definitely recommend you feel for yourself.
Hyper Light Drifter is a gorgeous, trendy hunk of stylish old-school sensibilities mated with the iconic hues of pixelated indie charm. It's a return to simpler control schemes, building on sound mechanical fundamentals rather than trying to wow with new ways of interaction within each and every checkpoint. Though its wordless storytelling took some of the thrill out of completing the campaign, Hyper Light Drifter is a joy to play, (and replay in the new game plus mode) its mechanical excellence and stylish veneer.
Ratchet and Clank is a culmination of everything Insomniac has done with the series over the past 14 years. It takes the characters that we fell in love with long ago, and sets them off on their most gorgeous quest yet. The deep and rewarding weapon system, beautiful and varied worlds, and charming-as-heck story make it an adventure that anyone with a PlayStation 4 should strap in for.
Dead Star has the basics of combat and ship balance right, to the point that even losses have their fun moments. Its primary shortcoming is that it allows too great an advantage for pre-made groups, which is especially a problem considering the wonky matchmaker.
There’s some charm to Lucky’s Tale’s simplicity. It’s not exciting, but it’s finely polished. Old-fashioned 3D platforming is still fun, especially some of the boss battles, which require more precise jumping and dodging than any of the more slowly paced levels. It’s just not remarkable, especially as a showcase for VR.
Enter the Gungeon's design is quite sophisticated for a game about shooting bullets at anthropomorphized bullets with guns; it uses elements of one genre in the context of another, enhancing its most enjoyable elements. Despite there being so many more moving parts than in a typical arcade shooter, it somehow feels more immediate and focused on getting you into the action and keeping you there. And where other similar games can run out of novelty within a few hours, Enter the Gungeon is still surprising me with new implements of destruction after 50 hours of play.