Worth Playing
HomepageWorth Playing's Reviews
Dragon Ball Xenoverse is a great game for fans of the franchise. It captures a lot of the style of the show and provides a bunch of content. The create-a-character feature adds a ton of replay value. It's not a game for anyone who's not a fan, but it doesn't try to be. It's mostly held back by a lack of polish in some critical places. With some stronger level design and some additional tweaks to the combat system, it would've been amazing. Instead, it has enough weak points that you must struggle past to reach the fun parts. The core gameplay isn't strong enough to reach anyone who isn't a fan, but DBZ fans will be quite happy with the final game, warts and all.
There's a good game in Harold. The frantic pace at which environmental manipulation can be done and its use in sabotaging the competition breathes some life into an otherwise straightforward genre. The presentation is fantastic, with excellent audio and visuals. The difficulty is appreciated, but the apparent grind is disappointing, and the controls seem better optimized for a touch-screen instead of a control pad. For fans of endless runners with a twist, Harold is worth checking out.
Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires breaks Omega Force's streak in releasing games that can change the minds of series critics. By reverting back to basics with so few modes, the title returns to something of a monotonous grind if you aren't playing as the kingdom leader. Campaigns blend into one another and have very few differentiating factors between them. The creation system is vast but not as much as the PS4 version, and the lack of modes makes the game feel quite small, even though the campaign can last countless hours. It spares Xbox One owners from dealing with a deluge of cosmetic DLC, and it doesn't have to compete with too many other Musou games on this platform. However, it is still the weakest in the series thus far and can only be recommended to lapsed fans and die-hard fans who play all of the entries.
Evolve has rare highs hidden amongst tedious lows. When the title hits its stride, it is easy to see why it was designed in this way. Hunting down and killing a Monster or successfully overwhelming Hunters through clever hit-and-run attacks is amazing. Unfortunately, far too often, the game devolves into long, boring periods of wandering around followed by brief, intense moments of excitement. It might be a realistic depiction of hunting, but it doesn't make for engaging multiplayer gameplay. Playing with friends helps alleviate some of that, but it also means Evolve isn't something you can pick up and casually play. Add in some balance issues and a general lack of content, and Evolve is a difficult game to recommend. There's a very fun core game here, but it's so buried that most players won't find it.
Zombeer is bad. The humor is scattershot and groan-inducing, while the gameplay is barely functional. The graphics spend too much time on useless animations and not enough on anything useful, while the sound is awful except for parts of the soundtrack. The short play time is the only positive thing about the game, but even that isn't enough to recommend the title to anyone.
At the end of the day, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate doesn't reinvent the wheel. It has more content, more polish, and more of the same gameplay that people love. It isn't going to convert anyone who disliked the formula, but it might bring newcomers into the fold. The series is difficult to learn but rewarding to master. The title may stick to its guns a tad too closely, but if you like Monster Hunter or Monster Hunter-style games, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate gives you exactly what you're looking for, and it does it well.
There's a lot of interesting setup in the first episode of Life is Strange, and this is a great start. There's the overarching mystery of the missing girl, but the smaller ones have the potential to open up interesting subplots later on. The time rewind mechanic is very convenient for solving simple puzzles and ensuring that the choices you make are ones you're comfortable with, but it remains to be seen how much of an impact this will all have. Like all episodic adventure titles, it's too early to tell if the entire game will be good. Based on this episode, there's enough intrigue that the wait for the second episode, which is currently scheduled for March, might be a tad unbearable.
Game of Thrones: Episode 2 - The Lost Lords is like the first episode in that it feels like a prologue to something bigger. Asher's appearance is more of an introduction to an upcoming bigger quest, and Rodrik's portion acts as a reboot of Ethan's story. Gared's tale features the least amount of progress. Only Mira's plot feels like it progresses, but the tension is kept at such a high level that the game remains intriguing and pushes things along nicely to the next episode.
It sounds like I am harping on Elite: Dangerous, but it's a fantastic game and makes one wonder why space sims have been away for so long. For all of its polish in some areas, it has obviously unrefined aspects in others. For all the aspects that let you tell a story about the game, there's little to allow you to create in a story within it. During the first few weeks, the game will absolutely demand your free time, and you will gleefully engage. It just needs a lot more to sustain itself.
Dying Light is easy to write off as a Dead Island knockoff, but it is anything but. It has a completely different feel, with intense mobility and speed mixing with far more deadly enemies. It's also more tightly designed and more fun to play and is an overall improvement over Dead Island in almost every way. It still has its flaws, and it doesn't reinvent the genre, but it's just fun. The poor mission structure and occasionally bad zombie design can lead to frustration, but the satisfaction of dropping onto a zombie's head wrench-first makes it all worth the trouble.
Kalimba is a solid puzzle platformer that is trickier than expected. The puzzles and platforming are done so well that the ability to control more than one character simultaneously doesn't feel like a gimmick. The game may have a relatively short campaign, but there are many modes and difficult goals to keep the player coming back for more. Puzzle platforming fans should flock to this sleeper title.
Swords & Soldiers remains a great real-time strategy game for the Wii U. The mechanics may have been simplified when compared to other RTS games, but the fun and challenge is still there and enjoyable. The overall presentation is on par with the other releases made after the original Wii version, and the dual control schemes handle very well, so that's a boon for the revamped multiplayer. It could've used some of the newer things, like the extra campaign DLC and online play, but at a price ($2.99) that matches the tablet versions, there isn't much to complain about. Unless you already own it on another platform, you should pick up Swords & Soldiers.
The Talos Principle can easily be called the next big puzzle game in the same vein as Portal. The story fosters some thoughtful discussion and sticks with you. The puzzles are clever and have a natural progression in difficulty, and the tools make them fun, even if none are completely new to the genre. The presentation is beautiful, and the game's overall length means you'll spend quite a bit of time on your initial playthrough. In a nutshell, you must pick up The Talos Principle.
Funk of Titans is a game that sounds fine on paper but falls apart in the execution. The endless running mechanic can make for a viable game, but the ease in which levels can be beaten, along with the lack of any incentive to replay the title, makes this a "one and done" game. The presentation is fine enough until you notice that it is also lacking in variety and wastes the potential of its novel setting. The result isn't a bad game, but instead of snagging it at the asking price of $12.49, wait until it's offered at a significant discount or as a free Games with Gold title.
Citizens of Earth is a little rough around the edges, but it definitely has heart. The great humor is balanced out by an incredibly fun combat system with a ton of variety. Some lackluster dungeon design and somewhat tedious backtracking really drag down the gameplay. For every moment of frustration, there are two cool battles or laugh-out-loud jokes. It's got some serious RPG chops, too, so if you're a fan of lighthearted RPGs, you'll enjoy Citizens of Earth.
Though imperfect, Resident Evil HD Remaster is a good update to a now-classic remake. The core game holds up rather well after more than a decade, and when compared to some of its contemporaries, it's still gripping in the action and scares. The improvements to the controls help greatly, and the various technical options ensure that just about everyone gets a near-perfect version of the remake. The compression artifacts are disappointing to see, especially when compared to the work done on the polygonal elements, and some of the sounds could have been done better. Those elements don't cripple the gameplay, and fans of survival-horror will be happy to experience this, especially if they didn't try it on the Nintendo consoles.
Like any good episodic series, the first outing for The Detail has a pretty good hook. The obvious cliffhanger is a bit predictable but leaves one curious about where things can go, and the escalation of events for other characters can open up some intriguing things later on. The gameplay might be a little short, and the choices don't make too much of a difference yet, but it's too early to tell if that will always be the case. Aside from the short play time, it's rather engaging, and while it is way too early to say whether The Detail ends up being a great adventure, the first episode will certainly whet the appetites of those who love a good police procedural.
Dragon Age: Inquisition is one of the few western RPGs on the market right now, and it's certainly one of the more robust since the release of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. If you're looking to satisfy that RPG itch on your brand-new, current-gen console, you can certainly to do so with Inquisition.
In the end, OlliOlli is quite good. It's familiar enough for genre fans to be able to pick up quickly, yet it's different enough that it feels fresh. It's challenging enough to make people work for their high scores, but not to the point where retrying the same level becomes infuriating. It features a good amount of gameplay that can be endless if you like chasing high scores, and though it is best enjoyed in short bursts, playing it in prolonged sessions doesn't hurt. Even if it doesn't cause a resurgence in the extreme sports genre, OlliOlli can stand as one of the better sports games on the PC.
From top to bottom, Fluster Cluck is dreadful. The gameplay is basic, but the uninspired map designs, weak weaponry, and confusing scoring system ruin the fun. The campaign feels like it drags along despite being so short, but the dependence on grinding to open up more levels is infuriating. Multiplayer makes things a little better, but the paltry map selection and pittance of modes saps away that fun rather quickly. The lack of online multiplayer cripples the potential audience even more. Even the presentation is weak enough to give the player the impression that this title was done as quickly as possible with no regard for quality. As it stands, Fluster Cluck is up (down?) there with Basement Crawl as one of the worst multiplayer console experiences to date. There is absolutely no reason to grab this one, especially at its rather high price point.