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For a simple experience, with multiple objectives per stage that can't be all completed at once (with a handful of exceptions), so it's good as a short-term distraction. Hitman GO is designed to be a temporary go-to for those times you're stuck in minor delays, like a doctor's appointment when you've arrived early, not the DMV or anything crazy. It'll do the trick, but aside from the lovely visual style, it's a largely forgettable experience. Not a bad one, but "oh yeah, I remember playing this" nostalgia after you've worked through the levels in the few hours it takes to shoot through.
Overall, the experience of playing The Flame in The Flood is more frustrating than nerve-wracking. I get that survival games won't be easy, but their systems should feel balanced, not bullshit. And the nodal method of traveling down river can feel futile in its own way. There's a big, bad wolf between me and any desire to play this further.
That's what is really at the core of the discussion on Snowfall—not simply if it added enough, but if it added enough for its asking price. At $13 on Steam right now, Snowfall is a difficult case to make for bang-for-your-buck, even while recognizing the amount of work I'm sure went into this expansion. Still, I'm left with a positive takeaway because Colossal Order never seems content with its already-enormous amount of moving parts. They continue to add more factors and more elements if only to show that they can juggle as many objects as you want to throw in their path. It's truly an impressive circus act, both playing and developing Skylines, and Snowfall is yet another example of Colossal Order flexing its muscles.
What this all makes for is a much tighter and more precisely balanced game than Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright, where decisions matter, even in Casual mode. The story in Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest is stronger, but still feels somewhat like filler meant to set up the true narrative to be revealed in Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation. While this feels like a vastly superior game, it also feels very much like part-two of three, in a three-part title. Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest is an excellent, challenging SRPG that requires a great deal of forethought and precision, rewarding the player for hard choices, and keeping your characters in play. While the story is stronger with more engaging characters, it still feels like another "bad ending" setting up the player to have to purchase the third campaign when it releases in March.
Overall, what we have here is your standard mixed bag. While people with patience for repetition without innovation or increased challenge, such as the audience of Cookie Clicker or Assassin's Creed, might see nothing wrong with Arslan, the truth is it could be a hell of a lot better, because the seeds of greatness are all here just waiting for something, anything, to help them sprout life.
Far Cry Primal is like lobster macaroni and cheese. Comfort food elevated by trying something different, and as a result it mostly succeeds. Taking out the guns and vehicles (unless you count the bears) and keeping the story simple were bold, smart choices for a franchise that could have easily wore out its welcome. Ironically, for a game set so far in the past, it's the past that occasionally holds back Far Cry Primal from true greatness. Nevertheless, this game is a breath of fresh air for both the franchise and first-person action games in general. Just keep an eye out for bears.
Bottom line: If you dug the original this is probably right up your alley. As I said earlier, for parents I can see this being a preferable shooter for younger teens over Halo or CoD. There's a value in that for consumers. I just wish publisher EA and developer PopCap Games put their considerable resources and talent into a game that made me want to play a game with a fuller experience.
In that sense, as a stand-alone title Fire Emblem: Fates: Birthright is not a particularly good game, though it's not a bad one either. It's an above-average tactical RPG with excellent production value and moderately good gameplay scenarios, but it feels surprisingly one-note and dissatisfying if taken on its own merits as a self-contained game.
With an overly competitive market of zombie games such as Dead Island, Dead Rising, and Telltale's The Walking Dead, Dying Light: The Following steals the show for being a well-rounded zombie action game, featuring tight combat and a knack for intense storytelling that is sure to leave you shaking at the edge of your seat. Regardless of a few underlying faults with character development and the occasional fetch quests, Dying Light: The Following is undoubtedly among the best story-mode expansions I have ever played. I can't wait to continue my exploration and see what else Techland have up their sleeves.
In a game that has a lot of fresh ideas on how to build suspense and let your mind do most of the work, it's disappointing to see frequent usage of those tautologies (it's scary because it's scary).
I understand I shouldn't expect the depth of SRPGs like Disgaea to build up a team from scratch, but I would like to feel like I was a part of the situation and not simply watching like a coach from the sidelines. Once that's a possibility, I will totally be onboard with PXZ as a series. But as enjoyable as this can be one battle each sitting, it overstays its welcome. But I'm happy it exists, and takes the concept that established characters can be played with like the Play-Doh these devs may have snacks on as children.
With an overly competitive market of zombie games such as Dead Island, Dead Rising, and Telltale’s The Walking Dead, Dying Light: The Following steals the show for being a well-rounded zombie action game, featuring tight combat and a knack for intense storytelling that is sure to leave you shaking at the edge of your seat. Regardless of a few underlying faults with character development and the occasional fetch quests, Dying Light: The Following is undoubtedly among the best story-mode expansions I have ever played. I can’t wait to continue my exploration and see what else Techland have up their sleeves.
Street Fighter V is a work-in-progress. The combat system stands as the game's strongest and most important pillar, which masks some of the minor imperfections with the graphical clipping and online performance. Having a console release now is understandably more important for the sake of the competitive community even if that comes at the cost of the single-player experience. However, asking for both a full single-player and multiplayer experience at launch should be the standard. The review score for the game will likely improve over the next three months as more content is added over the course of the year, but unfortunately, I can't grade what doesn't exist. Along with the new Hitman which will release episodically, Street Fighter V makes the case for rolling reviews as a necessary practice moving forward. So expect periodic updates to this review or as separate reviews as Street Fighter V develops over its lifespan.
And of course, the phenomenal performances of both Rich Sommer and Cissy Jones contribute the lion's share of this personal resonance. They brilliantly demonstrate emotional nuance and sensitivity, and now I selfishly want them to voice all the things together. By the ending, my heart felt so heavy not just because of the events that unfolded, but because I believed in the myth of Henry and Delilah I created over a tumultuous summer in Shoshone. Although I loved the exploration, I felt the loneliness when no voice was on the other end, wanting to joke with or occasionally comfort me.
Despite a few flaws in the storytelling and the combat system—although both move at a favorably brisk pace—Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth is still handedly the game that Digimon fans have been waiting for. Its faithful translation of an extraordinary roster of Digimon into fully-realized models lays the groundwork for future Digimon titles in this console generation. With more refinement in character interaction and less of a need to roam around in search of story triggers, this Digimon series could re-establish itself as a premiere RPG. Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth is the shot that Digimon video games have long deserved.
Although Blade & Soul is rough around the corners with its outdated quests and PvE envrionment, its strength in action-based combat and PvP shines through. Nailing a 20-hit combo on a poor fool has rarely been this satisfying outside of the fighting genre. The in-game store for microtransactions is mainly for cosmetic items and premium membership which keeps this free-to-play title away from the pay-to-win model, with Daily Dash prizes as bonuses for daily logins. While gold spammers had taken over the global chat, the new block spammer button has neutralized the situation. With NCSoft's attentive support of the title as the US release continues to catch up with the Asian release, the remaining story acts, classes, and dungeons will hopefully fill in the gaps by way of the developer's aggressive post-launch schedule. For now, Blade & Soul has a swift but cautious kick of a recommendation.
With high-quality puzzle games like The Talos Principle available, I don't understand why anybody would pay to play Attractio. Its numerous flaws and bad design decisions aren't something that can be patched at a later date. In fact, the only thing that could save this game is a complete overhaul that replaces everything but the puzzles.
The iffy puzzles and tedious backtracking in Unravel sadly cannot be fixed by switching to an easy mode as the game doesn't offer any kind of "just play the story" mode. That's a shame since the world and likability of the lead hero make the kind of adventure I love to get lost in. The price of $19.99 is fair for a campaign that lasts just under seven hours and, if you want to get all the collectibles, can probably go up to ten. I'm not giving up on Unravel, though. I think with better controls, fairer puzzles, and more leniency with the string allotment, Unravel 2: Enter the House Cat could be a real winner.
With new content coming out on a regular basis, I foresee myself being a tank jockey for a long time!
Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 is certainly the best title to the series to date, and it is fitting for such a send off, not just as an anime genre fighter but a solid fighting game in general. While mostly tooled for Naruto fans, it does make a strong run at grabbing newcomers as well. Ultimate NInja Storm 4 gives us one hell of a show, and there is no doubt the show shall continue, albeit tailored for an unknown future.