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Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments delivers a good system for finding clues and solving murders with a complex clues and deductions system, plenty of puzzles to be had, and good mysteries to boot. The gameplay can be a bit repetitive at times, however if your willing to overlook that, it can turn into quite a mystery game. The visuals and art are sure to impress, and you can expect hours of content from this title, all with a unique moral system to track how you compare to others who play the game.
Neverending Nightmares revels in tension and survives through conservation of its primal resource. Unfolding it exposes a weird paradox; a game that actively campaigns against a traditional desire to play it, and yet seeks to capture attention all the same. What Neverending Nightmares sacrifices in playability, however, it gains raw and relatable emotion.
Sprawling, addictive, and finding a potent balance between suspense and fun, Wasteland 2 fits great in any PC gamer's collection.
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is an impassioned monument to its prestigious foundations. A product-of-assembly depiction makes for an idle assessment, but it's difficult not to look at Ethan Carter and see narrative guidance from Twain and Vern, Lovecraft's proclivity for the destructive supernatural, and Chandler's pulpy detective fiction. The tale Ethan Carter ultimately aches to tell isn't as complex or natural as its influences, but it finds ample success in directing a curious story through an interactive ensemble.
All in all, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor is a beautiful third-person action title that has deep role-playing game elements embedded firmly into it. You also get enormously detailed and deep environments, with unique enemies to populate it. This is simply a superb game.
Super Smash Bros. 3DS is a wonderful addition to the series featuring great cameos, a return to strong fighting mechanics, and best of all, a viable, portable Smash Bros. experience. Though the game will soon be released on the Wii U, the 3DS version is the way to go for the various single player modes and unlockable content (though the multiplayer mode is great here as well). Fans of the series should pick this game up as waiting for the Wii U version may be a difficult task.
This title is a blast. The whole "festival" thing just works. It sets a fun vibe without coming off as silly or childish. The racing is serious business, but there are plenty of ways to play that aren't so ardently competitive. The simple act of choosing a car from the garage and aimlessly driving in no particular direction is one of the more enjoyable things I've done on my new Xbox so far. A dizzyingly long list of events to complete seems is counterbalanced with the truncated Road Trip campaign. Online Freeroam offers plenty of stuff to do, and can be a great time with the right cast of characters. And the audiovisual package is a stunning piece of work that can take you by surprise with its majesty every now and again. Horizon 2 is a very good racing game with strong principles, entertaining modes, a ton of events, and an envious catalog of vehicles.
Overall this game does what it set out to do, and it does it well, giving both veterans of the series and new players a chance to experience some of the original magic of Total Annihilation, while keeping it fresh and extensive enough to create new battles and new war stories on a galactic scale to tell around the Real-Time Strategy campfire.
Slight changes to the visuals and overall presentation paired with slightly frustrating teammate AI yield roughly the same experience as FIFA 14. Of the new features, none are significantly impactful on the core gameplay experience. If you are a diehard FIFA fanatic, you will not be disappointed. And if you are new to the series, FIFA 15 is not a bad entry point.
Hyrule Warriors delivers a wonderful Legend of Zelda action game with a large cast of familiar characters, identifiable worlds, a great upgrade/leveling system and endless amounts of action. It's far from a perfect game, especially in regards to controls and repetitiveness, but it's much better than expected. It has certainly raised the bar for the Dynasty Warriors series in regards to design.
Final Fantasy: Theatrhythm Curtain Call is a fun little game that tries to mix in some pseudo-RPG elements into a rhythm game, which sort of works and sort of doesn't. Some of the design decisions, such as having to unlock the settings or the ability to unlock DLC, as well as what seems to be every button in the game seem a bit counter-intuitive, though that may give you a sense of progression in a weird way. Fans of the Final Fantasy games (especially the soundtracks) will enjoy this game, fans of Rhythm games can enjoy this game, and fans of both may thoroughly enjoy this game, especially longtime fans who have played many of the games and have a fondness towards the soundtracks.
Destiny isn't a perfect game, but it's a perfect gaming experience. The girth of the planets, the endless exploration, a fun co-op element and a strong PvP structure has this series on the right track. I can't wait to see what else the future expansions have in store for the overall body of work.
NHL 15 may not be as feature rich as its last generation predecessor. But what it does offer is the most visually striking hockey experience available. The strong core gameplay for which the series has been lauded returns with slight tweaks to the physics. Everything looks great, plays well and feels like the NHL hockey I love. Even the tricky teammate AI can be addressed via settings tweaks. Where NHL 15 disappoints, however, is in the trimmed features and modes. NHL 14's fully featured practice mode is now just a single skater on ice who gets to practice his shootout skills only. And that kind of change just seems silly. I mean, we're talking about practice, man. Practice. Not a game. Practice. Ultimately, I prefer a solid core gameplay experience to a wealth of modes built around dodgy game mechanics. And with EA's announced content update schedule, fans can expect to find more reasons to return to the title in the coming months.
Dead Rising 3's inability to operate without consistently crashing wasn't a simple technical shortcoming, but rather a comprehensive failure that came to damage and define every aspect of its experience. Looking back on my time with Dead Rising 3, I'm not thinking of open-world mayhem under the stress of a cataclysmic time crunch, but rather the ugly and sudden halt of everything I found enjoyable in the intended game.
Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is a combination of two wholly unique franchises which takes place fairly smoothly primarily thanks to the already-fantastical nature of the story. Of course it’s ridiculous, but the story is actually quite fun, and it’s compelling and unpredictable enough to captivate those with a bit of patience and willingness to accept it for what it is. Best of all, the gameplay from both series is represented well, set against the backdrop of a truly great presentation. Whether you choose to label it a cash-in or a shameless celebration, it’s collaborative love from Level-5 and Capcom that you probably won’t want to miss.
Crown of the Old Iron King is a showcase of Dark Souls II's aggressive enemy encounter design. It folds a few other cards in favor of its ace, but such is the endearing nature and defining risk of inspired post-game content. Applied to Dark Souls II, Iron King stands as a thoughtful one-off that fits neatly alongside Sunken King.
One of the best gaming purchases you will make all year.
EA Tiburon did a fantastic job with making the right adjustments for this year's Madden title. Improved defense and a more balanced offense makes for a fun football experience. Connected Franchise, Skills Trainer and Ultimate Team are just icing on a nearly perfect cake. The Gauntlet is the ice cream with the cake – take it or leave it.
CounterSpy revels in the consistency of its chaos. When its directed assemblage of menacing systems are behaving with candid sincerity, CounterSpy is an exciting model of action and reaction. When its pieces collude together in a remorseless coincidence, CounterSpy feels like it's coming apart at the seams. Drawing inspiration from a satirical appreciation of the Cold War, it's fair for CounterSpy to teeter on the edge of principled oblivion. Finding value in its eccentricity, however, controls whether you can hang on or fall off.
The Last Tinker's worldly charm belongs with the colorful and carefree platformers it longs to emulate. Most everything else, on the other hand, feels less poised to be a big time contender and more like a flyweight absently swinging at everything in the way. A heart of gold surrounded by endless color makes it all easier to swallow, but you're left wondering what could have been had The Last Tinker's gameplay come on as strong as its presentation.