Jeff Marchiafava
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Game Informer Latest Reviews
More than any developer, Media Molecule has been driven by a singular goal: to empower players to make and share their own games. LittleBigPlanet focused this concept on the 2D platformer, but clever players spent years devising ways to stretch and twist their creations beyond the genre’s confines. With the release of Dreams, Media Molecule obliterates those confines completely, giving players a broad and flexible suite of development tools to create whatever their hearts desire. Dreams may not strictly be a game, but the tools are easy and intuitive enough to make the creation process fun for everyone, which delivers a wealth of entertaining experiences noncreators can enjoy.
Zen Studios is best known for its plethora of pinball-based projects, but the eccentric interests of the Hungary-based developer don’t end there. Its newest title, Operencia: The Stolen Sun, is a first-person, grid-based dungeon crawler – a style of RPG established decades ago by games like Wizardry and Dungeon Master. Thankfully, Operencia features as many new and unique ideas as it does nods to the past, making it a satisfying adventure.
Turn-based strategy games have enjoyed a healthy amount of experimentation the past few years, including the enemy-stomping zaniness of Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle and the stealthy espionage angle of The Phantom Doctrine. With a focus on world-building and exploration, Mutant Year Zero also carves out its own niche in the genre, but a limited scope and bafflingly abrupt ending mar the experience.
With 2016’s episodic experiment firmly in the rearview mirror, Agent 47 is back with another full itinerary of places to go and people to execute. While Hitman 2’s globetrotting adventure suffers from the same shortcomings as its predecessor, the new locations and clever assassination opportunities remind me why I’ve remained a fan of the series all these years.
Despite the inherent focus on exotic locales, high-stakes plot twists, and stealth-driven action, spy video games are mysteriously few and far between. Phantom Doctrine tackles the underappreciated genre from a cerebral perspective, distilling its core concepts through the XCOM filter of turn-based tactical encounters and menu-driven base management. The abundance of systems takes a lot of time and experimenting to unpack, but if you’ve got the patience, the investment pays off.
In the realm of incredibly niche sim games, House Flipper certainly feels like a no-brainer. The concept of buying run-down houses, improving them, and then selling for a tidy profit has spawned countless television series, and makes for an enticing gameplay loop. Unfortunately, House Flipper has its own list of vital improvements that need addressing if it hopes to satisfy would-be interior designers.
Despite offering an endless tapestry of intriguing tales to draw from, the events of history remain criminally ignored by video games. Sure, exotic locations like ancient Egypt and decades-old wars occasionally serve as flashy backdrops for modern action, but too few games try to convey what life was really like in a historical time and place. Kingdom Come: Deliverance eschews the fantasy tropes of other open-world RPGs in favor of the real-life characters and conflicts of 15th century Bohemia. Unfortunately, the engrossing feudal adventure awaiting players is brought to its knees by a needlessly restrictive save system and a litany of game-breaking bugs.
Horizon Zero Dawn is already one of the best games of 2017 thanks to a gorgeous open world, pitch-perfect combat (against robot dinosaurs!), and an enticing mystery. Even though Horizon's ending answered all the questions surrounding Aloy's past, players still want more of the intriguing post-apocalyptic world she inhabits – and Guerrilla is all too happy to oblige. Just in time for winter, The Frozen Wilds adds a large snowy region, along with new secrets to uncover and mechanical beasts to slay. While not a massive or vital expansion, The Frozen Wilds provides a welcome reason to delve back into the hunt.
After years of plunking down change for Zen Studios' endless stream of licensed and original DLC table packs, pinball fans finally have a proper sequel to get excited about. Not only does Pinball FX 3 unify all of Zen's platforms under one umbrella, it offers a host of new modes and progression systems to keep players busy. While I have quibbles with how the competitive side of Pinball FX 3 is handled, it is still an easy upgrade to recommend to pinball fans.
Few games are harder to design and implement than those focused on competitive multiplayer. Developers must contend with all of the normal trials and tribulations, but they also have a host of multiplayer-specific headaches to worry about, including online infrastructures, gameplay balancing, thwarting would-be cheaters, and managing player retention. From a player's perspective, Friday the 13th succeeds at its first and most important goal: creating a fun and unique multiplayer experience that does justice to the storied film series and its infamous villain. However, the terrifying list of problems that accompanies the action kills much of the excitement and threatens the game's long-term outlook.