Anthony Shelton's Reviews
New World’s ideas come across as very solid, but the more I’ve engaged with it, the more I see problems. Those problems have nothing to do with the foundation of New World, however. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with New World besides the economy and lack of main missions, and only the former can destroy the game. The rest of the issues can be fixed with time and enough attention to the details.
Much of the best parts of Dodgeball Academia are centered around playing dodgeball, but the story bursts with fun and positive themes, even though it does meander a little bit, and throws in a few themes that aren’t fleshed out enough.
Redfall resembles the vampires it's based on. It lacks identity, and sucks the life out of you. Every time I see a spark of potential, it's stomped out by bugs, braindead AI, and an empty world not worth exploring. I wish Arkane well in their next endeavor, because they need to let this one die.
Hindsight 20/20: Wrath of Raakshasa tries to convince you that your choices matter and that you should feel bad about some choices and good about others, but they don't matter because you don't connect with the characters or the world they inhabit. Your choices change outcomes, but many of them feel unnatural or contrived, and most are signposted making it feel like the game is trying to tell you that choices matter rather than letting you experience the impact. Tack on an awful presentation and bland combat and you have the recipe for a game that ultimately doesn't matter.
Deputy Dangle as a whole is like a good joke told too many times. It’s another wobbly physics game that doesn’t add anything significant to the sub-genre and the creative missions it has get played out because they’re too long. Combine awful PC controls, unstable framerate, uninteresting fourth grade humor, and game-breaking bugs and it becomes another indie game that should’ve only been an internal experiment.
Story can’t be the thing that carries a video game and story is all Eisenhorn: XENOS has. A character as powerful as Gregor Eisenhor, with a great voice actor in Mark Strong, and an epic story deserves more than a glorified version of a mobile game. But brainless combat and mechanics, crummy audio, and unacceptable bugs keep this game to no more than a book promotion.
Depicting the horrors of an asylum with animated pictures was a tender touch to sensitive imagery. Even the 3D animations conveyed moments with care. But the story is confusing and painfully disappointing and the translation errors make matters worse. So I can commend LKA's efforts, but I can't recommend The Town of Light.
Battlefield 2042 felt like an eternity away, but now it’s only a little over one week from release. After spending three days with other media types playing the next giant war game, I can finally say it’s ambitious but isn’t able to match the ambition so far. I say so far because while we did play online with our group and while we did have at least 4 hours with each mode (some of us had six with Breakthrough), that’s not enough to properly assess modes like Hazard Zone and Portal. I also don’t know if they’re going to start the battle pass during the early access period. So for now, check out my review-in-progress.
Shing! misses the mark of great beat 'em up by a long shot; which could have been avoided with more attention to detail. If Mass Creation put in the effort, it could have been one of the best beat 'em ups this generation. But we're stuck with something too dull to take a bigger slice of that audience.
There's no making up for a lackluster story that clearly pads the game length, unimaginative missions, or a weak combo structure, but Arslan: The Warriors of Legend could have been a much better experience had it not been marred with inexcusable framerate problems and sullied with glitches.
Lethe’s story starts off as one thing and transitions into something different. It can be difficult to follow when you’re trying to figure out who’s voice you’re reading. But the atmosphere completely makes up for it in many ways, so if you choose to ignore the story, you might find the scary elements enjoyable. It’s not a revolutionary horror game and it might not scare diehard horror fans but there’s some fun to take away from this game.
Not as clever as the Devil
Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India is a stealth game with Assassin's Creed adornment. Its story barely invites you to understand more about Arbaaz Mir and Climax Studios completely fails at telling one, but if you are desperate for a stealth game, you will be challenged and fairly compensated for your time and money.
Just Dance 2023 is a dichotomy. For all the new elements that are a fresh and welcome addition, there are just as many egregious omissions. Combine that with a second-rate song list along with Just Dance+ that is equally inadequate, and Just Dance 2023 Edition feels like dancing with the devil under the pale moonlight.
The events in Endling create sad emotions but they do not connect with how mankind is destroying the Earth. Events happen and we're supposed to feel something because they happened, but the emotions are diminished because there is no connection to the message or the characters. It held up in the short five hours of play thanks to intriguing survival mechanics, but even those were messed up by an unfortunate, frustrating tug of war between survival and story progression.
Turtle Rock added interesting content in Tunnels of Terror. Ridden Hives offer a compelling challenge, new Cleaners are somewhat worth experimenting with, No Hope is undeniably challenging, and Warped Ridden make you think twice, at least for a moment. But what's missing is purpose. Heng is useless, Ridden Hives aren't worth the risk for the reward and Warped Ridden aren't any more terrifying or game-changing. It's hard to identify Turtle Rock's aim, but there's no question it was off.
Despite the shoddy graphics and performance, and a story that could use polish in its execution, Homefront: The Revolution has a solid foundation. It's challenging and the mission variety in a pseudo open-world game is the best I've played in a while. It kept me engaged for its 22 hours. At the end, I felt satisfied. I hope to see another one with a bigger budget behind it.
Defunct combines speed and exploration in a package that's simplistic but engaging. The gravity functions lack a variety of uses but they're necessary in nearly every situation, and there's so many ways to engage with the game the way you want. It doesn't have all of its screws tightened, but what's there is packed with replay value.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge feels like it's designed from an Ninja Turtles arcade beat 'em up template, which strips it of creativity and originality and makes it feel predictable and familiar. But the fluid combat continually sucks me back in, even though that also suffers from combat designs that should've been left in the past.
Kirby Fighters 2 achieves nearly all of its glory in Story Mode, but there's still some fun in short bursts if you have friends to play with or enjoy the time trials. Skip online unless you're playing with friends. But even that risks your sanity.