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Umurangi Generation's vibrant ambience validates the rebellion of its doomed youth culture. It also renders the player a transient witness to a surging tragedy. Umurangi Generation's key is its camera, as it allows its protagonist and its player the agency to access and capture a world beyond their control. It creates a vantage point untended since Jet Set Radio, and Umurangi Generation didn't even need skates or spray paint to get there.
Umurangi Generation's camera granted players the agency to capture a despairing world and reframe it however they pleased. Macro expands this objective across four profoundly photogenic locales and tosses in a giddying pair of roller skates. Vicious social commentary, newly material to 2020's unique ills, serves as a compliment to Umurangi Generation's existential dread and completes one of the most powerful and relevant games assigned to this cursed year.
I Dracula: Genesis is a game that knows what it is. Even with all the clutter is a good game. It's not a groundbreaking game, and it can get in the way of itself at times, but overall it's a fun time.
Riders Republic is a truly massive extreme sports game that borrows from Ubisoft's better open world pillars. A variety of events and the ability to play against massive servers in a gorgeous sandbox provide a unique thrill that few games manage.
Overall, the gameplay design for Edna & Harvey: The Breakout - Anniversary Edition is clunky on a console controller and might give too much freedom for a point and click-based game. That said, the story is good enough to push beyond those issues, the puzzles are incredibly clever as they relate to the story, though enormously difficult to overcome at times. At the end of the day, the experience might well be worth the frustration the design causes.
Volume One of Tales From Off-Peak City is an escalating procession of existential crises staged through instances of gentrification, corporatism, and pizza delivery. It's a kitschy nightmare laundered through eccentric characters and their bizarre conditions and the product is a surreal but eloquent presentation on preventable social decay. A single city block and a couple of hours is all Tales From Off-Peak City needs to tell a grotesque, distinctive story.
Culminating 8 years of Roll7's work on the series, OlliOlli World is, like its brethren, undeniably mechanically rich, rewarding players of all skill levels. But it's the joyful world and playful nature of the game that make it a triumphant skating experience akin to Tony Hawk's best.
The Legendary Edition is the most efficient way to consume the Mass Effect trilogy. Everything is presented in a nice little package, and with a little bow on top that is the original DLC. The series really benefits from being able to play the games right after each other in their natural order. Importing your saved character into the sequel gives you the full experience and allows your character's actions to, seemingly, have more weight since you see the outcomes immediately. The bond that Commander Shepard cultivates with their allies is magical. I wish I could erase my memory of this series just to be able to play this collection as it was intended. Any newcomer to the series who is on the fence should absolutely jump on it, and returning fans will certainly be happy that it was treated with tender loving care.
80's Overdrive asserts that Out Run's combination of breakneck racing and frantic traffic negotiation will fit neatly inside the progression-focused model of a modern game. It doesn't, and 80's Overdrive almost runs out of gas before it reaches a comfortable destination. All the lavish neon and thumping synthwave in the world can't help 80's Overdrive make twenty minutes last six hours.
True to its name, Defective Holiday is a capricious but endearing vacation.
Pattern's blossoming world and ethereal music, forever trapped in a constant state of flux, are pathways to understanding the ambiguous complexion of the creative process. It suggests that ideas can be transitory as it explores the rivalry between indecision and confidence. The limitations are clear, by Pattern's own admission it's a fleeing experience, but with it comes the power to articulate one of the more abstruse processes of the imagination.
Here's the thing about WILDFIRE: This game is fun. The art is excellent. The music is solidly okay. The charm and memorability is fleeting and lacks the kind of variety of gameplay experiences you might have playing other games. This game will force you to think outside of the box. However, I am unsure if most will want to complete the game twice to fully unlock everything. Playing on the Switch brings its own unique challenges, like the issues with lag and aiming with the Joy-Con joysticks. If you and your friend played this game separately, you most likely will have had the same type of experience.
Darq isn't the most difficult puzzle game out there, but it does excel in all uniqueness categories. Its greyscale art style adds to its overwhelmingly gothic vibe while providing puzzles that are difficult enough to force you to pause yet easy enough to solve. It's definitely something to check out, even if you won't be challenged to the fullest extent.
While I think Scarred Stars' story could be a bit more refined, the intensity of the gameplay and how airtight the world is by design truly helps to make this horror survival from indie developer Tuomo's Games something to look forward to in the spooky month of October.
DOOM Eternal is one of the most exhilarating first-person shooters in recent years. Hesitation is punished but fleet-footed and aggressive players who love a challenge are rewarded with the viscera of a demon bloodbath and spectacularly hellish worlds.
As always, ZeniMax has provided quality work that never ceases to amaze. If you are thinking about getting into ESO, I would highly recommend it. No matter the platform, ESO works well and continues to bring wonderful stories to fans of all types.
Spongebob: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated doesn't reinvent the wheel when it comes to platforming, and much of its gameplay feels every bit as old as its 2003 counterpart. But what Rehydrated gets right is preserving what made the original so special, while also bringing the visuals up to date in dazzling fashion.
I really enjoyed playing through Strangeland, and having left a few puzzles unturned and wanting to hear the rest of the commentary, I might circle back one more time. And while I can’t put this game in the upper echelon of adventure games I have had the pleasure to play through over the years, it nevertheless is great, and I’m happy to recommend it.
Paper Beast allows players to lose themselves inside pastel daydreams of soft shapes and delicate zoology. They could also lose patience with some tedious mechanics and suspicious tests of logic. Paper Beast is full of gratifying ingenuity, beautiful optimism, and elegant communication. And maybe an overabundance of zealous whimsy.
Airborne Kingdom is a uniquely wonderful dive into the city builder/ resource management genre. It's flying city design brings a new, fresh look at the genre. Though similar to many other games of the genre, Airborne Kingdom brings a fantastic style and story to the table.