Jeff Marchiafava
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Writing For
Game InformerLatest 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.
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.
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.
When Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune and development talent from the Metroid: Prime series get together, you can expect plenty of platforming, exploration, and robot animals. Unfortunately, any hope of ReCore being the ultimate Mega Man/Metroid hybrid proves as farfetched as Joule's mechanical companions. While ReCore's gameplay foundation is mostly solid, a host of technical and design issues stand ready to hinder your progress and your enjoyment.
Few games boast the audacious style of Furi. The wildly colorful visuals and retro/sci-fi soundtrack immediately establish a world like no other, grabbing you and refusing to let go. Like a digital pied piper, Furi brought a steady stream of intrigued coworkers to my desk to watch over my shoulder while I played. Once they got a sense of the gameplay, however, they didn't stick around long. While Furi has some substance behind its style, the unforgiving difficulty takes its toll.
Yarn-based characters have been a surprising trend in recent years, thanks to playful platformers like Kirby's Epic Yarn and Yoshi's Woolly World. While Nintendo's crocheted protagonists and the worlds they inhabit are brimming with unbridled joy, Unravel strikes a bittersweet tone. With little more than a silent protagonist, a grand orchestral score, and a few excerpts of exposition, Unravel delivers style and soul, even if the puzzle mechanics are threadbare.
When some of the creators behind the 1996 point-and-click adventure game The Neverhood regrouped on Kickstarter to make a spiritual successor, fans of the cult hit happily ponied up almost one million dollars to fund the project. What they got for their money is a sterling example of an age-old adage: Don't judge a book by its cover. Armikrog's unique art style is charming enough to draw players in, but once you crack it open, you find page after page of problems and disappointment.