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Battle Axe might be an excellent arcade game, but that’s a flaw as well as a feature. Extended play sessions, like those you find in Infinite Mode, can quickly wear out their welcome. You can only blow apart so many orcs before you start yearning for more. Maybe the gameplay loop doesn’t escape that cabinets and coins territory, but it doesn’t need to. The action that’s available is nothing short of exemplary. Fluid pixel art animation, tight controls, retro music and audio, and an intense challenge all elevate this game beyond ordinary nostalgia. If you’re looking for your next arcade game, you absolutely can’t miss Battle Axe.
NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139… is the perfect way for fans of Automata to experience the original and for newcomers to engage with the franchise. With updated combat and visuals, Replicant can proudly sit amongst greats in the genre, however, the hypersexualized representation of Kainé remains and deters from an incredible experience.
Overall, World Splitter is a really great and challenging puzzler that may look easy but will leave you scratching your head more often than not. The unique double map and physics mechanics are some of those things that really make World Splitter stand out. The cute and simplistic style is very aesthetically pleasing and helps keep you from screaming at the top of your lungs when you take one step too many at the very end of a map. Challenge your brain and spatial awareness if you dare.
Overall I’m really enjoying Pac-Man 99. It’s a great pick-up and play title for when you have just a couple of minutes and are looking for something to do. The gameplay is fast-paced, competitive, and surprisingly addicting. If you have a Nintendo Switch Online subscription, there’s no reason not to give the game a shot.
I Saw Black Clouds is awful. The story is stupid and confusing. Halfway through the game, you’ll be treated with this bizarre twist completely negating the first half of the story, and then the final half is a rushed mess that ruins anything the first half of the story had built up. The filming is brutally amateurish. I can’t help but think this mess could have been saved by a director who had a better understanding of camera angles, movement and so on. The only redeeming quality is that when you replay the game, you can skip any scenes you’ve previously watched – this will allow you to experience alternative scenes faster. Ultimately, there really is nothing here worth recommending. I Saw Black Clouds so you don’t have to. You’re welcome.
I should mention that Traffic Jams does have a multiplayer component, but it isn’t very appealing. Up to four non-VR players can join you via their cellphones, but their roles are limited and frankly, I don’t see this being a popular way to play. Traffic Jams is, at it’s core, a single-player experience but even then, it is a rather thin one. While there are some fun and clever ideas here, and a few hours of genuine fun to be had, there’s just too much sameness to the experience to keep you coming back. But if nothing else, Traffic Jams’ arm-flailing madness could be a decent way to do a daily 30 minute workout if you’re looking for a change from your usual fitness routine.
The barebones story of this game is that you were some great warrior fighting some evil necromancers, but they hit you with a spell to erase your memory and powers. Now you have to fight to get it back. I’m not going to condemn a story just for its concept, but for Demon Skin, it’s as unoriginal as it sounds.
On a PS5 the game looks great, plays well, and loads up quickly. However, none of that can overcome the uninspired level design and lack of enemy variety. So despite the technical improvements, the game has not become more fun to play. The two DLCs add characters whose power sets are too similar. The main saving grace here is that the campaign stories are interesting enough to warrant a playthrough in solo mode. Unless there is some major gameplay tweaking Marvel Avengers doesn’t look like it will assemble to become an ongoing gaming service. To sum it up, I came for the gameplay but only stayed because of the story.
Abe’s weird little world is a bit darker than I was expecting, but it works, after a fashion. The curious juxtaposition of the art design and the narrative makes a strange, yet compelling, impression on the player. The gameplay can trip you up if you’re not used to that stiffer 90s PC platforming style, but you eventually find those muscles. I ran into a few nasty roadblocks, but I never got impossibly stuck. More than the mechanical hurdles, my biggest hurdles were conceptual. Returning to this world, this flavor of frustration and satisfaction, won’t be for everybody. If you’re looking for a portal into an oft-forgotten slice of gaming history, Oddworld: Soulstorm will open that for you. This is an elevated, modernized window into puzzle platformers of the recent past. A little patience and a little perseverance will introduce you to a strange new world.
SaGa Frontier Remastered is a nostalgic trip back to the 90s that encapsulates the best and worst of retro JRPG design. There’s a ton of fun to be had here, but don’t be afraid to pull up a walkthrough if you’re stuck–and it is very easy to get stuck.
Disco Elysium: The Final Cut is everything the 2019 classic was and more. If you’re a fan of the original, you need to double-dip to experience the incredible work this cast of voice actors has put together. If you’ve never heard of Disco Elysium before, I envy you. I wish I could play this again for the first time. Be warned that you may run into a few bugs here and there, but it seems like every other day, ZA/UM is squashing more of them. And if you’re still here reading this review, it’s time to turn the world off and put your dancing shoes on.
Stitchy in Tooki Trouble is a lovely introduction to the genre for younger gamers. Although the title lacks challenge for those more experienced, the passion for the product is evident and will communicate with youths. There are a few missed opportunities but it successfully achieves its goal of being an accessible platformer.
The pace of the game is slow, there isn’t a whole lot of depth to be found anywhere in Paradise Lost, and it’s not without its frame rate drops and bugs either. Don’t get me wrong, there are certainly some diamonds to be found in the rough here, but they’re few and far between. What Paradise Lost does deliver on is a minimally interactive experience as more of a walking simulator than an alternate history first-player adventure game. And it does look and sound exactly as you’d expect if you were to find yourself as a 12-year-old boy, trapped in a desolate Nazi bunker. Overall there’s just a lot of potential left untapped and that’s really its biggest problem.
Overall, this game may lack the polish to make it a hallmark VR experience, but it excels where it matters most: blasting demons. Playing Doom 3 in VR is a real hoot.
Cozy Grove is an adorable little time-waster, but depending on your play style, the level of commitment this game requires might not work for you. The core gameplay loop is fun for the most part but after playing for a couple of days every task feels the same as the last, making the whole experience fairly repetitive. The game offers a cute and relaxing experience for the right player and for anyone with an interest in life sim games like Animal Crossing or the Sims, I definitely recommend it. However, if you aren’t already a fan of this genre, Cozy Grove likely won’t change your opinion on it.
If you can look past all of the issues plaguing Arkham Horror: Mother’s Embrace, there are certainly worse games to spend a weekend with. Especially if you’re a fan of Lovecraftian horror, but steer clear of it if you’re somebody that asks of your 2021 gaming experiences to at least feel like you’re playing something made in the past fifteen years. Granted, I’ll be curious to see if this receives a sequel, as I do believe this series could become a sleeper hit. Stay tuned.
Even though Clea 2 is very challenging, it is not impossible to beat nor is it scary enough to act as nightmare fuel. A great continuation for those who are looking for more of Clea, the sequel does not have a story that could stand on its own. However, it rightfully belongs in the horror genre with its heavy and tense atmosphere and clever use of sounds in a dark setting. Even though the plot isn’t memorable, Clea 2 is a quiet thrill that can be mastered and replayed over and over again.
I still commend the studio for its bravery and innovation. Before Your Eyes is unique enough to try out if you are interested. It’s just that although the game is backed by many wonderful talents, it lacked that little “umph” to turn it into something truly memorable.
What we have here are two stories told with mixed results. The grim, gorgeous sci-fi saga fell flat for me. I couldn’t get invested in this last leg of the human race turning to tribalism and violence in the face of adversity. I’m pretty bored with ‘special soldier saves the day’ stories. But the loot cycle was a different matter. This tale of frustration, anticipation, determination, and joy was immediately compelling. I dug into the mechanical guts early and easily. The combat is varied, breathless, and brutal. The character progression is a decent mix of stats and skills, there’s a ton of customization to mess around with, and the difficulty scaling is perfectly fluid. I can tolerate a lot of nonsense in exchange for a good gameplay loop. But if you’re hoping for a package as good as the prize, you might be disappointed. So long as you’re prepared to dig a little for that glittering pearl, there’s a ton of fun to be had with Outriders.
It Takes Two is a dazzling adventure filled with more mechanics than you can shake a stick at. Working together throughout the mesmerizing set of levels is compelling and full of hearty chuckles, but sadly the story falls short of that bar with inconsistent tone and a lack of perceptible character growth along the way. It’s still well worth your time and energy, just don’t expect to be as emotionally invested in the journey as you might have been with Hazelight’s past work.