Latest Reviews
Luftrausers
Luftrausers is a carefully engineered game with finely polished mechanics under its simple graphics. Each round is a breathless rush, every death painless enough to make restarting from scratch absolutely no hardship. Don't expect great depth or long-term thrills, but the action while it lasts is a master of both...
Open-world superhero action games are about freedom and empowerment, and in these regards, Second Son is really impressive. Seattle is a big, beautiful playground for you to stomp around in with a set of devilishly fun and powerful toys at your disposal. It plays great, and it looks even better,...
Master Reboot
Master Reboot's premise of a databank that stores the memories of the dead is a strong one, but at times its desire to dabble in horror weaken its exploration-based elements. Even so, its creepy ambiance and wide range of puzzles manage to carry the weaker segments, but an out-of-place final...
If a computer generated an elevator pitch for a game based on random, stereotypical gamer interests, it might spit out a jumble like Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z. And while that could totally still be awesome, this experience is so mired in frustration that even a few well-timed jokes can’t save...
Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes is a short but challenging game, and those willing to cast aside conventional expectations will find a lot more here than first glance might suggest. While I’m unconvinced that Kojima is quite ready to tackle more controversial narrative material, for the most part Ground...
Titanfall
Titanfall represents a potent fusion of established and modern design ideas, creating a tense and rewarding balance of power and moment-to-moment unpredictability. MOBA-like minions mix with traditional on-foot deathmatch, jetpack-powered locomotion, and giant-robot combat – each role playing its own part in the battle and coming with its own tactics...
With just two modes, generic levels, a grating aesthetic, and an interface that damages the play experience, Basement Crawl would lack anything to keep us around even if it functioned soundly. But considering its severe online problems that effectively ruin half of this barebones affair, even desperate Bomberman die-hards itching...
The Witch and the Hundred Knight has a concept that I dig: an action RPG layered high with the extra nuances the folks at NIS are known for. Sadly, very few of this puzzle’s many pieces are terribly well crafted, and they never truly fit together. There’s some fleeting enjoyment...
The Stick of Truth makes one thing abundantly clear: I never want to play another South Park video game made without Trey Parker and Matt Stone's direct, intimate involvement. With a controller in your hand, you are almost literally – gloriously – playing a 14-hour episode of South Park. There’s...
Garden Warfare respects its roots by preserving its characters and their humor and skillfully adapting their charm to a third-person shooter. A few clever twists on the standard modes give the action some fresh personality, and the co-op survival mode is a fun homage to the original games. Plus the...
Banished
As a city-building game, Banished is dazzling. It combines simple charms with transparent, complex systemic interactions, and a tough-but-fair difficulty curve. My only real criticisms of it is that it left me wanting more, such as strong overarching long-term goals, like a campaign mode. That might have pushed Banished into...
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is a wonderful fusion of the text-heavy visual novel genre with Phoenix Wright-like murder investigations and trials. Its quirky humor – made all the better by excellent writing and interesting characters – is constantly unsettled by the seriousness of the plot, making for a unique adventure...
