Jackson Bostian
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COGConnected Latest Reviews
It’s been more than five years since DrinkBox Studios first released Guacamelee!. When it released, the game was a great success, earning stellar reviews from critics. Its story, art, and gameplay were all praised for being fresh and exciting. But again, five years have gone by. The gaming climate is different now. Does Guacamelee! 2 stand as tall as its predecessor? I’m not going to beat around the bush here. The answer is yes.
Racing games are everywhere, and they have been since the early days of gaming. As a result, every racing game has to find some way to sell itself as something new, fresh, and interesting. Whether they sell themselves on style and personality, on multiplayer, on realism and graphics, or on being one of Microsoft’s only worthwhile exclusives, it’s imperative that games stand apart, else they fall into the swaths of other unremarkable titles. This week, I had a chance to check out Milestone S.r.l’s latest installment in their Ride series: Ride 3.
Life is a stressful experience for pretty much everyone. It’s the reason for the massive scale and longevity of the entertainment industry, athletics, and, of course, games. There’s a wonderful sort of catharsis in channeling your stresses into a virtual world and leaving them there when you finally decide to turn it off. Sometimes, those games are artistic thought experiments, meant to make you think about the universe and existence. Sometimes, though, it’s just fun to blow stuff up and feel like a superhero. Strange Brigade is an example of the latter: an unpretentious action game where you can mow down hordes of enemies with a big dumb grin on your face. Strange Brigade even manages to make you laugh while you do it. The game’s humorous writing and satisfying gameplay, combined with its excellent multiplayer-conducive design, make for a thoroughly entertaining experience both in single and multiplayer.
I won’t spoil anything but suffice it to say that the game seems to have a clear political stance on the idea of healthcare as a privatized industry. As Alex regains his memory, though, the simulation begins to fail. This becomes worse each day as the androids begin to malfunction, furniture becomes misplaced and appears to be rendered improperly, and the walls even threaten to fall apart. None of these issues appear in the puzzles, however, which leads me to one of the major issues I have with this game: It’s two games.