Michael Leri
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The Casting of Frank Stone includes a few minute improvements over Supermassive Games' approach, like its handful of quicktime event-free gameplay segments and clearer look at the branching paths. But it's still just the same formula with the same pitfalls that have regularly plagued this studio’s near-annual releases in the genre. Middling writing, frequently uncanny animations, and a lack of scares make The Casting of Frank Stone another passable entry in the interactive horror/suspense genre.
Dustborn’s rhythm mini-game is just another way the game demonstrates how underdeveloped it all is. Its terribly paced narrative is married to an elementary view of authoritarianism and stars an irritating crew that never stops talking. Combat is woefully simplistic and lacks the necessary smooth controls. None of its systems fit together coherently, either, because they’re all underbaked in one way or another and, in some cases, plagued by glitches. It’s hard for Dustborn to fight the power when it’s too busy fighting with itself at every turn.
Thank Goodness You’re Here’s humor is its strongest asset, so the trade-off is worth it. Games don't usually prioritize comedy, much less nail it, and that makes developer Coal Supper's first full title that much more impressive. Like a lot of sketch comedy shows, a decent portion of the gags in Thank Goodness You're Here don’t hit their marks, but the ones that do are utterly delightful bursts of joy that are funny to both watch and partake in.
Call of Duty cycles through its lineup of villains on a yearly basis. Sometimes it's Nazis, other times it's Russian nationalists or zombies. But the most dangerous threat is one without a lust for brains or access to weapons of war; it's stagnation. And while many Call of Duty teams often switch up just enough variables to stave off monotony, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III fully submits to the annual churn. The campaign embodies this, as it rushes to a conclusion with little care for the details. COD missions usually follow a predictable yet mostly effective formula of packing together various one-off gameplay mechanics through fluctuating levels of intensity. Modern Warfare III cuts out necessary buildup and most of the variety, leading to basic stages riddled with pacing issues. Many max out at around 15 minutes, which means the usual rollercoaster of ups and downs has been stripped down to only include the descents. The spectacles are also less bombastic, and the abbreviated journey to them only further diminishes their appeal.
Insomniac Games‘ Spider-Man has butted heads with The Rhino, gone toe-to-toe with fellow half-mechanical octopod Doc Ock, and survived a near-fatal trip against Scorpion, but none of those climactic showdowns have pitted the web-slinger against his greatest enemy: himself. Peter Parker’s insecurities have been made flesh with the symbiote, a goopy alien suit that gives him incredible powers at a heavy mental cost. When Spider-Man wins, Peter Parker loses.
The Assassin’s Creed theme swells in the intro montage for Assassin’s Creed Mirage that celebrates the franchise’s 15th anniversary. Bayek readies his bow. Eivor sprints into action. Arno is there out of a contractual obligation. It’s a collection of hooded figures that has taken millions of players to a few dozen historical settings and gotten the series where it is today.
Liu Kang has spent eons crafting timelines, taking lessons from one era and applying them to the next. All of his meticulous planning has resulted in a new era, one that bends previously sacred rules in order to lead to a better tomorrow. NetherRealm Studios’ journey mirrors Liu Kang’s, and while it didn’t take eons, the studio spent an unusually long time rebooting the Mortal Kombat universe for Mortal Kombat 1. These efforts to reshape the series have led to a more freeform gameplay style where creativity and player expression rule like an empress in Outworld. But such innovation has been paired with a surprising amount of stagnation elsewhere.
Pinocchio can be a neutered Disney fable, a stunning animated adventure with a fascist Italian backdrop, or, surprisingly, a Bloodborne-like action game that makes the titular puppet more akin to someone who bears the Hunter’s Mark. The beauty of public domain works is that they are afforded a level of flexibility that franchises owned by a singular entity do not have. Lies of P lies comfortably in that third category, and while derivative in some aspects, its beautiful environments and challenging boss fights make it more than a mere puppet of FromSoftware’s finest.
Food acts as a portal to another culture that transcends language barriers. You don’t have to be fluent in Farsi to eat fesenjān or speak Spanish to enjoy paella. Venba is a cooking-based puzzle game that uses food as a means of giving players a peek into the specific experience of emigrating from India to Canada in the 1980s. It’s not a perspective many have, but even though it can lack depth and be a little too on the nose, Venba uses the multifaceted power of food to serve players a helping of humanity.
A photo can capture victory, defeat, love, hate, a dog at the beach, or a sassy cat stretching in the sunlight. It’s a medium that speaks simply but can have a strong effect. Viewfinder makes that effect literal as its photos shift and warp the real world in all sorts of ways, which the game uses as the basis for its puzzles. And even though it’s an impressive mechanic, the rest of the experience is almost as two-dimensional as an actual photo.