TMNT Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants wears its age as a nearly-decade-old port, and some of that is to be expected. It’s still hard to understand why any of its elements weren’t modernized to keep in line with beat ‘em ups released over the past five years, let alone the recent Shredder’s Revenge, which remains the conspicuous elephant of comparison in the room.
It's an argument for how humans have the capacity to ably control their emotions, of course, but it fails to effectively land when the surrounding gameplay is so tedious and randomized. The world of Minabo: a walk through life, as visually colorful as its characters and backdrops are, is frustratingly opaque, and its turnips often fail to reveal recognizable specks of personality on any given playthrough. As a life sim, there’s very little life to be found here, just a span of rudimentary clicks in overly long sessions which never get within spitting distance of an understanding of human relationships or a reckoning with existential dread, outside of this: life’s too short to play Minabo: a walk through life.
Art Sqool is more sketch than masterpiece.
And still, there’s the bones of something great here. A mystical underworld to explore, secrets to unearth, terrors lying in wait in the darkness. A heretofore-unseen, fully realized original Hellboy adventure is screaming to be properly told, to be freed from the trappings of this torment. Hellboy Web of Wyrd is a tragically beautiful blunder.
Though there is plentiful evidence here of worthy inspirations which should feed into a fun run ’n’ gun experience, the finished product fails to deliver. There’s style and pizazz on offer, but even an assortment of unlockable abilities and AI-controlled companions can’t enliven a game which feels this flat and underdeveloped. Mighty Goose is sure to move a few units based on its visuals alone, but they’ll be little comfort when no one can tell what’s happening on the screen.
Tactics game Element Space's port to the PlayStation 4 is something of a failure to launch, with poor presentation and stability in a crowded genre.
Mundane exploration mars the experience of Silver Chains, a haunted-house horror game which compromises a decent narrative with frustrating gameplay.
The new PlayStation 4 exclusive third-person adventure Vane is broken, ploddingly slow, and completely confused about what it's trying to do.
Hypergun tries to mix roguelite FPS gameplay, snarky humor, and a thumping electro soundtrack, but manages to catastrophically misfire on 2 out of 3.
It's everything surrounding those battles and skirmishes that makes Skull and Bones a harder sell. The simulation aspects are limited and under-baked, the questing is almost always tedious, and there are only a few main ship models to work with. Lacking the ability to dock and explore, ocean exploration feels perfunctory and artificially hampered. Better ship customization options open up eventually, and it’s initially interesting to tinker with armaments, but it’s hard not to want even more of the best boat blueprints, more gear, more detailed inclusions that would make these vessels feel authored and unique, something to elevate the vacant core routines. Skull and Bones could have been a welcoming and rare new beacon for pirate game fans but, even with seasons of promised premium content yet to come, this boat is visibly sinking.
Thymesia is a Souls-like with a few neat ideas.
It's unfortunate that Loot River feels like an Early Access product in its current state. A scarcity of content and a thoroughly unfinished, unsatisfying feel to the combat, movement, and item discovery makes this title very hard to recommend. The best action-roguelites require rock-solid fundamentals to stand on their own, and a few game-breaking bugs combined with the limited equipment and incorrect item descriptors is cause for concern. Its scant bosses range from easily exploitable to insta-kills, and a deeply unsatisfying core gameplay loop essentially asks players to take on a series of failed runs, with repeat runs betraying how little the game's procedural generation affects these randomized maps. Loot River is a frustrating experience which clearly needed more development time, but hopefully the game finds its footing post-launch.
For such a visually boisterous experience, The Artful Escape feels more like a chilly museum after closing hours.
Mini-Mech Mayhem brings simultaneous-turn strategy gaming to PlayStation VR, but it's lacking in charisma and most of its depth is based on chance.
Tigertron's echo-themed PS VR game debut Jupiter & Mars doesn't feel overly polemic or dull, but decidedly underwhelming all the same.
One Piece: World Seeker represents the anime's umpteenth blown attempt to capture its charm and imaginative creativity in a video game.
Nowhere near as dramatic as its title implies, with ungainly puzzles and a decided lack of cohesion throughout.
Re-Legion is an indie RTS for PC that wants to play with the big dogs, but still needs a considerable amount of polish before asking for full price.
The newest Nintendo Switch competitive shooter Morphies Law feels unfinished, but there's plenty of potential in its unique approach to combat.
The new action-RPG Death's Gambit is an ambitious, initially attractive 2D souls-alike, but it frequently stumbles where it should soar.