Latest Reviews
Like most roguelikes, progress in Don't Starve oftentimes feels like a Sisyphean task. Time spent battling shadow creatures, building a farm, and ultimately an inevitable death are rewarding once they get going, but failure to recognize success robs them of meaning, and there's a long period of doldrums at the...
Blood Dragon’s playful focus on humor, nostalgia, and self-aware absurdity allows it to delve into a subject far more important than African arms races or tropical sociopaths: Video games are really, really fun. This comical, explosive shooter takes everything that makes Far Cry 3's gunplay great and dresses it in...
It’s difficult to argue that Dragon’s Dogma is a universally great game. It’s great at combat and exploration, but the quests are often boring, the fiction is turgid and its technical problems are unignorable. But it’s a very good game, and it’s so interesting that I’m inclined to forgive most...
Sacred Citadel
A dispirited attempt at marrying the best of old-school brawlers like Streets of Rage with the obsession-inducing trappings of an action-RPG, Sacred Citadel had the potential to be so much more than it is. Plagued by a ho-hum delivery and combat occasionally interrupted by redeeming boss fights, it fails to...
If you’re going to measure Deadly Premonition using traditional gaming yardsticks like graphical fidelity, gameplay challenge, and overall polish, then this Director’s Cut still comes up short of modern standards even with the fixes. Yet despite any obvious technical shortcomings, it succeeds on the strength of its story, its characters,...
Monaco: What's Yours is Mine delivers one of the purest and most enjoyable cooperative experiences I've had in quite some time. With a great atmosphere and deceptively simple mechanics, it stands out as one of the most unique and addicting games of 2013.
The Knife of Dunwall is satisfying to play, but fails to build much momentum in its story. I’m intensely curious to see where Arkane takes Daud's tale from here, as it certainly has the makings of an interesting story. So far, however, it's all set-up and no punchline. Even so,...
Defiance
As a huge science-fiction nerd and a fan of shooters, I went in really wanting to like Defiance and its new universe. Thing is, it’s just not very good. Rare well-designed quests are overshadowed by a host of others that feel phoned in, and though the fundamentals of shooting are...
Given the success NetherRealm had with Mortal Kombat, it would have been easy to clone it and swap in new characters... and yet it didn't. Instead, it kept what worked and built upon it to make Injustice: Gods Among Us an exciting, unique-feeling fighter at the beginner level, and a...
Cities in Motion 2's more realistic approach may leave it looking a little drabber than its predecessor, but its focus on dynamic cities, timetables, and ticket prices in a contemporary city in real time make it a significant improvement over its predecessor. It's stuffed with graphs and important decisions that...
Guacamelee isn’t only pretty to look at, it’s also a hell of a lot of fun to play. Its Metroidvania inspiration is undoubtedly strong, and yet it does so much to help it stand apart, not the least of which by providing gamers with a deceivingly deep combat system and...
Toki Tori 2’s incredibly slow pace and lack of any true action make it an experience that is definitely not for everyone - but kids, puzzle lovers, and fans of all things adorable are in for a truly delightful and well-crafted experience. While simple, it controls beautifully, and the sense...
