It's an average effort with an interesting concept for a protagonist and a game that lasts for several days only because it's unnecessarily padded and punitive to a fault. Knack may be built on the blocks of charm and difficulty, but by the fourth level, those blocks topple over into a pile of excess tedium.
Rampaging through the French countryside is entertaining enough for a quick rental. Otherwise, it doesn't have much else going for it and squanders its fantastical setup with a lackluster plot, limited online options, restricted strategic choices, and neutered dragons.
Valkyrie Elysium is a disappointing, befuddled, and mistimed return for the Valkyrie series. Its Einherjar-supported combat system only takes the game so far when it’s saddled by an underwhelming story and artificially extended by crude level design. It falls into the trap of chasing trends, turning classic JRPGs into action games and copying other successful titles like Dark Souls without adding much new to the genre, when many fans would have been more than satisfied with an updated version of a standard Valkyrie game.
The happiness of Happy Home Designer is a sheen. Poke at the surface and the clients are all too delighted about whatever you design, wherever it's located, however you fill it, and no matter the effort you put into it. If you're content with looking at the game as a tool purely for self-expression or as way to reunite with Animal Crossing friends both new and old, then Happy Home Designer passes adequately. But if you're looking for any kind of challenge or doing anything other than designing spaces for everyone but yourself, you're better off popping in New Leaf instead, especially since both titles have the same asking price of $39.99. Ultimately, what's exciting about Happy Home Designer is waiting for the enhanced touch controls, yard building, and item catalog to be included in the next main entry of Animal Crossing. Otherwise, Happy Home Designer feels like a standalone expansion that's inexplicably missing the solid foundation that New Leaf should have provided.
Wizards of the Coast needs to learn about loss aversion and the concept of not fixing something that ain't broken. The mobile design model nauseatingly and frustratingly deteriorates this installment so corrosively that the next installment of Duels of the Planewalkers will need a formal reboot to win back its core audience
As a full retail release more than five months after the Xbox One's release, Kinect Sports Rivals is a tough pill to swallow.
[A]s much as Night Golf and reduced loading times are fantastic additions to the standard PGA Tour offering, I would rather have more courses, golfers, and character customization with clean next-gen graphics. Content and execution outweigh novelty modes and convenience.
Strayed Lights is ultimately frustrating because there’s a brilliant game lurking somewhere here. Upon finishing the game, I understood the story to be about conquering corruptive behavior and going on a spiritual journey inward, but it’s let down by subpar platforming and gameplay. I would even argue that the game might not have needed combat at all and could have worked better as an explorative adventure instead. Perhaps Embers might consider this for its next project.
Like the three protagonists it features, New Tales From the Borderlands is a hot mess. If you don't take the game too seriously, there's a fun, heartfelt adventure buried somewhere beneath the layers of erratic writing and misplaced humor. It's an oddball romp with a bumbling cast of characters who deserve more substance than they were given. If the original Tales From the Borderlands is ice cream, New Tales From the Borderlands is frozen yogurt. And at the end of the day, even Fran admits that frozen yogurt just isn’t as good.
EA Sports UFC 5 is the only game in town when it comes to the MMA genre, so it can be tough for fans of the series to ignore it, especially for those who are into the online ranked mode. But stagnation can be the death of a franchise. The overhauled graphics and new cut system are enough of an upgrade to satisfy some fans, but if you’re someone who enjoys the single-player modes, you’ll have pretty much the same experience by playing UFC 4 or even UFC 3 instead.
Though The Descent has the foundation of a strong side campaign, the characters aren't memorable enough and the story finishes too loosely to leave a lasting impression.
That said, Sword Coast Legends works best as a co-operative multiplayer experience with a knowledgeable and patient dungeon master either in dungeon crawls, user-created modules, or the story campaign. Its overall graphics and presentation are rough around the corners, but it's an enjoyable experience if you can convince friends to join your party. But if you're a lifelong Dungeons & Dragons fan and expect Sword Coast Legends to be the classical D&D experience it claims to be, you'll need to look elsewhere. This is one skill check it does not pass.
Though creating a zoo is pleasant and breezy, after building several zoos with all of the animals, you've pretty much experienced the lion's share of what Zoo Tycoon has to offer.
Despite numerous reasons to support Driveclub purely on concept alone, it takes a turn for the worse when scrutinized under the spotlight. It's unfortunate luck that the game had to release just a few weeks after Forza Horizon 2 which does nearly everything Driveclub does that much better. It may be an unfair comparison considering that this is its inaugural entry, but Driveclub was delayed multiple times and the standard for the hybrid racing genre is high with Burnout, DiRT, and Need for Speed. There's plenty to admire here, though, if you take Driveclub at face value and don't take things too seriously.
Ambition is both The Crew's greatest asset and greatest downfall. Somewhere buried in The Crew, beneath the bloated content and the MMO shenanigans, is a competent racer featuring the perfect road trip. But for a game whose primary strength is freedom, there should have been more objectives and more incentives to explore its world with friends, instead of copy-and-pasted skill challenges and missions tangled in a confounding plot that's hard to forget for all the wrong reasons.
Though not as successful as Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth, Digimon Survive has the workings of a cult classic mainly for Digimon fans. The story, despite a few insufferable characters, explores a darker reinterpretation of the original series to its favor, and the combat system is executed moderately well for as simple as it is. The game’s art style and music have its moments too from composer Tomoki Miyoshi and artist Uichi Ukumo. However, many plot points drag on longer than necessary, the Karma system is forced, and the UI is lackluster. Developer Hyde has a spark of a good idea here, but it might not last long enough to merit a sequel.
After being in early access on multiple platforms, Inkulinati delivers a satisfying game with an original art style in its full release. The colorful, humorous character art and animations are impressive and entertaining. A lot of effort went into creating a dense and intense combat system. However, Journey Mode becomes predictable within a few runs and could have been more innovative. The lack of online multiplayer is unfortunate too, especially for a game based on dueling. Inkulinati is a fun page-turner, but it’s still in need of several revisions.
Wizard With a Gun is a strong start for Galvanic Games, and the effort that has gone into the crafting system and elemental mechanics is well-appreciated. You can lose a lot of hours simply shaping ammo and gathering resources. However, the controls are loose, the lore could be better integrated, and the endgame is bare. Despite these issues, though, Wizard With a Gun is a competent shooter that has a lot of potential and is well worth watching as it develops over time.
The Expanse: A Telltale Series is a return to form, though that form is almost out of style. Each of the five episodes takes an average of about two hours to complete if you’re hunting for all of the collectibles, so the amount of content is on the shorter end. But if you’re looking for solid writing and characters that fit well within The Expanse universe, this adventure is another chance to revisit the series and see Camina Drummer be a badass all over again. However, the dated mechanics and the game’s choice to be a prequel impair the effort.
Fae Farm is still an enjoyable farming sim where you can easily lose track of time, spending hours crafting items, petting animals, and spelunking in dungeons. The kid-friendly tone of the game makes it easy to recommend for all audiences, though the NPCs and thereby the town of Azoria lack depth. The main quests are more interested in having you explore dungeons than actual farming, and the game has more than several areas that need improvement. Still, despite its flaws, Fae Farm fits cozily among the rest of its farming brethren.