Destructoid
HomepageDestructoid's Reviews
Depending on your luck with the randomly placed key-cards and robot AI (whether you get the T-800 chasing after you or the Furby with one droopy eyelid that doesn't blink anymore) it will take somewhere in the neighborhood of an hour or two. And when it ends, it ends. As soon as you escape the police station it goes straight into a white dissolve and a logo splash screen. No epilogue, no wrap up, not even a voice over.
I can't recommend this Season Pass to anyone. Even if you haven't played the game yet and would be able to use these new utilities while completing the story, it's a bad sell. These DLC items make Just Cause 3 a brainless and straightforward snoozefest. Traversal becomes less exhilarating and liberating camps because way too easy, and since those are the only two real mechanics, why even bother at that point?
No Man's Sky isn't quite what I thought it would be. It's a fun sandbox game that's full of wonder, until it isn't. Unlike other similar titles, the magic fades over time, because 18 billion planets (sorry, 18 quintillion) don't matter if it feels like there's only truly 20 unique ones. I wouldn't recommend No Man's Sky if you don't like getting lost -- but for those of you who do, wander away.
I can’t recommend this to all but the most diehard of genre fans. Even then, the art style may be lost on people who aren’t old enough to remember MS-DOS or a ZX Spectrum. That seems to be the most unique feature of the game.
Blade Ballet can be a lot of fun in the right setting, but even then it won't set the world on fire. It won't supplant Samurai Gunn or TowerFall as a go-to indie party combat game, but it does a fine job supplementing those titles for a raucous evening. Add it to the list of stuff to bust out when friends are around, but don't even bother going in solo.
I enjoyed my time with this game. It's kid friendly, but there's a good level of challenge throughout, and getting 100% on everything would require a lot of practice. I think the composition mode could even be used as a sneaky way to teach kids a little bit about musical theory, since it incorporates an actual music staff. It's a simple game, but it does exactly what it sets out to do and it has a cute, clean aesthetic that serves it well.
Keeping in mind that this experience is $25, Everest VR does nothing but disappoint. While it looks astounding, it's at its best when it isn't trying to immerse the player with "gameplay" segments that only serve to take away from what it's trying to accomplish. If it were much cheaper, or at least longer, it would be a great way to demonstrate VR for someone uninitiated with it. As it stands, it's a lot of money for a paltry few broken moments.
An abrupt ending that doesn't have much of a climax and some moments of fist-clenching frustration keep Human: Fall Flat from the upper echelons of puzzle gaming, but it's still something I plan on going back to with friends. Plus, it lets you draw on your character, leading to the butt you see in all of the screenshots. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who thought this was hilarious. This one was for you, Laura!
This game is one of the best story-focused titles I’ve played in a long time, and I feel better for it.
Kill Strain has a lot of cool ideas, but many of them don't translate when mired by the sluggish pacing of each round. I think it definitely needs some further optimization, but the uneven fun factor between the Merc and Mutant camps may take longer to iron out.
None of these faults make Adventures of Mana a particularly bad game. It's just a primitive action RPG that, in many ways, seems outmoded in this day and age. While it may hold some appeal for nostalgic Game Boy fans, I wish Square Enix had gone to the trouble of remaking the game in a less perfunctory way. As it stands, this one's difficult to recommend to all but the most ardent RPG enthusiasts.
I did enjoy being in the water, but I can't help but feel the beautiful visuals and music were jamming pictures of places and emotions in my face instead of earnestly telling a compelling story. There's an unshakeable air of falsity about Abzû. As a treat to the senses, however, it's hard to beat.
Batman: A Telltale Games Series: Realm of Shadows is a nice setup. It's not as strong as some of Telltale's other work, but it manages to honor the legacy of the series and throw in a few curveballs to keep things interesting (thank God there's no Joker yet).
I'm still not particularly impressed with Covert Ops' storytelling ability, but Mission Pack 2 contains concise objectives, maintains a strong sense of pacing throughout, and sports an impressive voice cast. At this point I feel like I can recommend the bundle to those of you who powered through StarCraft II's campaign and were left wanting more.
And that's why they call it Death Road to Canada. It can be too harsh for its own good, and folks who are tired of roguelikes will struggle to embrace that part of the design, but it's still one of the better road-trip games I've played thanks to its cheerful personality, amusing writing, and all-around charm.
Perhaps Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII's most lasting achievement will be once again proving that strategy games can work on consoles. And though it doesn't quite make the case for console strategy ever really being as good as PC-based efforts, the game is worth trying for anyone who can let their historical curiosity overcome their need for visual and interface flair.
Grand Kingdom is unlike any other tactical-RPG on the market that I know of. For $40, you're getting an adventure that can last you weeks if not months, though you may tire of it before you see everything it has to offer.
If all these caveats sound fine, I think you'll like Chambara. Like many focused dueling games before it, it does one thing, and it does it pretty well.
For whatever it is worth (and the value of Fallout 4's Season Pass is still very dubious) Vault-Tec Workshop is the best of the Workshop packs.
This is the Police presents situations that aren’t deep enough to invoke social commentary, yet it still takes the opportunity to arbitrarily throw them out in the open. It’s missing key storytelling elements that allow for that kind of messaging, and in the mundane yet slur-sprinkled missions those ideas fall apart. However with its interesting gameplay mechanics, pretty packaging, and plans for a sandbox mode it has a lot of future promise which I hope they deliver on.