Latest Reviews
Bound By Flame has one huge strength: the harmony between its entertaining combat and role-playing systems. Granted, its weak storytelling does weigh it down, and its performance on PS4 is a bit of a bummer, but the strong core of its gameplay powers it through to transcend these flaws. Bound...
Just as its noir-inspired detective Tex Murphy is a “man out of time,” Tesla Effect is indeed a game out of time. Every aspect -- from the humor to the puzzles to the live action cutscenes -- feels beamed here straight from the ‘90s. Sometimes it’s charming, and others, it’s...
JoJo’s exhibits a flagrant disregard for rules - both visual and mechanical - and for that, I truly love it. It can, at times, seem completely alien and imbalanced, but even then, it manages such consummate showmanship, it’s difficult to fault it too harshly. It is by no means a...
Daylight
Daylight has a good foundation of scary atmosphere and interesting bits of story. All of that is squandered by the first half, where poor level design, unnecessary box-pushing puzzles, and impotent enemies deflate the scares before it even gets going. By the time I reached the more interesting second act,...
Child of Light
Every aspect of Child of Light has an unmistakably artisinal, organic feel to it. None of it feels focus-tested, or designed to appeal to the broadest possible audience; rather, it always comes off as exactly the expression its creators intended. The artwork on display is stunning, and the combat is...
Mercenary Kings is a slick old-school inspired shooter that has one foot in the past, and the other firmly planted in the present. Its high level of difficulty, catchy tunes, and pixelated graphics meld nicely with its emphasis on loot, customization, and online play. While some control issues get in...
Cold, Cold Heart is a self-contained adventure that retells the familiar Mr. Freeze origin story. That's good news and bad news, because while Freeze's motivations are some of Batman's rogue's gallery's most sympathetic, this version sadly seems to have virtually no interest in putting a new spin on it. It's...
Hitman GO
There are several good actual-stealth games for iOS (notably Republique) that offer something closer to the Hitman experience even without 47 himself around. Hitman Go, however, is a fine, challenging puzzle game that offers both a new way of plying his dark trade and many levels on which to do...
Ether One
Ether One is a fine addition to the burgeoning exploration genre, with a basic path to follow if you just want to be told a story and see a beautifully designed world, puzzles to add more meat than we usually see in its contemporaries, and enough company via voiceover to...
2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil might feel like a step back to anyone coming from the next-gen versions of FIFA 14, but for those who haven’t yet upgraded, it represents an improvement on the annual release. Meanwhile, fans looking to cheer their team on this summer will get a kick...
Trials Fusion
Trials Fusion is at once mercilessly exacting, and regularly thrilling. It allows you to exert an impressive level of control over your rider, and leverages that control to create nuanced, challenging tracks that beg to be run, and re-run until perfection is attained. The later levels lose some of the...
Lego The Hobbit won’t surprise fans of the Lego series, but the new gameplay systems add just enough complexity to keep things interesting. New events and mining opportunities make exploration of the open world almost as fun as the main missions. The storytelling presumes you already know the source material...
