Mikel Reparaz
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Writing For
IGN Latest Reviews
While it's not quite the absurdly violent physics spectacle that Surgeon Simulator 2013 is, I Am Bread has its own unique charms, with a darkly silly tone, a minimal but effective story, and open-ended level design that's richer than the simple premise might lead you to expect. Its clumsy controls make it disheartening at first, but it's worth it for the reward of eventually overcoming them and finding destructive new paths to toasty success. [poilib element="accentDivider"]
Bigger and tougher than it looks, Ori and the Blind Forest is a beautifully realized, brilliantly designed, and at times brutally difficult sylvan Metroidvania-style platformer with enough charm to leave a lasting impression. It's often frustrating and sometimes confusing, but its spectacular platforming, memorable world, and engrossing story wash those concerns away.
Beginning as a furtive, desperate survival-horror experience, Dying Light gradually and gratifyingly evolves into a fast, hyper-violent celebration of vertical freedom and zombie destruction. Its main story is unspectacular, but the memorable side quests and sheer fun of exploring its world do a fantastic job of offsetting that, making Dying Light one of the most engrossing open-world games – zombie-infested or otherwise – I've played in a while.
Saints Row IV is just as much silly, largely challenge-free fun in Re-Elected as it was originally, even if it doesn't look as impressive as other recent remasters. Gat out of Hell’s short but fun demonic adventure doesn’t really justify re-buying the whole thing, but the Re-Elected package is the best way to experience Saints Row IV’s power trip for the first time.
Xeodrifter's mix of old-school 2D platformer sensibilities and new-school visual effects is charming, and finding a new ability that unlocks a new area tickles the same pleasure centers that Metroid does. Even when it felt like a pale imitation because of severely deficient enemy variety, the fun of experimenting with different gun behaviors and revisiting old areas to find new secrets kept my interest buoyed beyond its short runtime. Editor’s Note: IGN’s Brian Altano contributed original music to Xeodrifter. To provide an impartial perspective, we selected a reviewer who has not worked with Brian.
Despite their seemingly miserable setting, both Metro games are in fact fun, diverse shooter-adventures, and the remastered 2033 does a good job of smoothing down the original's rougher edges at the expense of some of its brutal personality. Getting both in a single, enhanced package is a great way to discover (or rediscover) the Moscow Metro's unconventional charms.
As one of four improbably powerful heroes — Marak, a hulking warrior who wields a giant hammer and fire magic; Claire, a winged paladin with air-based spells who swings her sword in wide arcs; Alithea, a quick fighter with a spear and earth-based abilities; and Vajra, who can unleash ice spells in addition to a constant stream of arrows – your job is to defeat the monstrous armies of an evil warlord named Zane, who's trying to conquer the land of Ancaria. Most of this boils down to hammering a single button to slash at gremlins, zombies, and orc-like grimmocs, which is satisfying enough. Additionally, you have a couple of enjoyably devastating magic attacks at your disposal, and can toss mid-sized enemies at each other or "execute" prone ones just by jumping on them. And just to keep you on your toes, certain enemies even require you to use your "bash" move, which breaks shields and interrupts deadly special attacks, but is otherwise weak.
Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty is a beautiful remake that irons out nearly all of the problems and limitations of 1997’s Abe's Oddysee while bringing its best qualities to the fore. This ground-up remake looks and feels fresh enough to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with any modern 2D platformer — evidence that Abe's Oddysee really was ahead of its time.