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The Evil Within 2 did something not a lot of games have been able to do -- it won me over after a disappointing start. I went from hating the main character to being fully invested in his journey. At its core, this is a creepy survival horror game with tight gameplay and enough scares to keep you on edge. Unfortunately, while improving some aspects of the original, it has lost a lot of the charm that the first game absolutely nailed in its environments and enemies. Much like its predecessor, a few minor issues have stopped it from being a masterpiece, so I guess we'll just have to settle for a great game.
High Hell can be either a fun shooter for an hour or two, in the style they used to be made, or it can be something you replay over and over as you master each level to meticulous detail to place on the leaderboards for bragging rights. How you choose to play is up to you.
The Pact was a great introduction to Harley, who was fresh, fun and menacing, and Bane was great as a smart musclehead.
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony is everything I love about the franchise: getting to know a group of interesting and crazy characters, ultimately having to watch my favourites die off in horrible ways, investigating complex crime scenes, and getting the final clue to the case to find the murderer. Oh, and of course, the lovable psychopath that is Monokuma. However, this is the third entry into a franchise that already feels like it’s retreading too much familiar ground and not doing enough new, or to move the series forward.
Ruiner ticks a lot of boxes for what I love in video games: fun gameplay with a degree to master it; an interesting story with characters I’m intrigued by; most importantly though, this art style and music -- I’m an admitted sucker for it. Fortunately, it is more than just art and music; it’s also fast-paced combat that requires thinking and reflexes with a story that belongs in the worlds it feels inspired by, which is a compliment. Ruiner is, most definitely, another kick-ass game published by Devolver Digital, where you just so happen to play as a guy wearing a mask (it's actually a helmet.)
Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul often seems more like a budget random haunted house game than a true Paranormal Activity experience, and that’s unfortunate. For fans of the franchise, you will get a kick out of the connections, but it’s not the next thing to play after the films or something necessary to get more out of the films, or even to get a true Paranormal Activity experience in VR.
Oh, and you can make all your Bat-Gadgets purple: plus ten points.
The fantastic music paired with a great colour scheme and visuals really creates an odd juxtaposition. Futurlab, however, has crafted a really interesting game out of such a simple premise, and as their first step into VR, I really think they could do something quite special one day. Velocity3R, maybe?
Exploring and learning about Tacoma's world and the crew is a lot of fun. I was always interested to learn more; to turn over every object in someone's room, to pilfer someone locker, to judge their book collection. This is the heart of Tacoma. Fullbright succeeds in what it did so well in Gone Home again, with some fantastic writing and environmental storytelling.
Full of characters I really don't care about. If every character that's been introduced in this series dies by the end, I seriously couldn't care.
Even though I thought the ending was 'meh' I loved the journey that Firewatch took me on. The great writing and performances make the game and characters enjoyable from start to finish. It's a pity though that the journey was hindered by constant frame rate issues.
Oxenfree is a really interesting, albeit short experience. It sets itself up for an interesting teen-mystery-horror tale with an emotional pull added into the mix later. It just all comes to an end too quickly and without the time to let any kind of characters grow on you, I failed to care about anyone's fate at the end game, even if I really wanted too.
Michonne's mental battles make for the most interesting part in this first episode. But with only two left and with the characters being as lackluster as they are, you're left with a lot to desire from this Telltale miniseries.