Ricky Knight
Zorya struggles to maintain a balance between both players. It usually leaves one out in the cold checking their phone to pass the time. If you and a friend are puzzle fiends, there is some charm to be found here and it’s worth a look. There are quite a number of puzzles here and content that you can keep coming back to.
It all ends up coming across as an ‘almost’ experience. Pacer is almost a successor to Wipeout, but poor track design, a lack of strong audio design, and lackluster weapons all add up to a ho-hum experience that leaves you wanting for the early Wipeout days. If you really need something to scratch that old itch, then give Pacer a whirl. If you’re looking for the next S-Class zero-g racer, you’ll likely want to dust off an older PlayStation.
It’s just too bad that, for what Moons promises, it so rarely delivers.
As it stands I finished the game without a lot of desire to repeat the journey to flesh out the many endings (34 in total). Because while there are enjoyable moments, it’s spread across a sparse and long hallway to move through. Ashwalkers has the bones of some good ideas. I’m hoping to see more from this studio as there are unique things to be found here, Nameless XIII just never really hits their mark. There are plenty of walking simulators out there that make you forget what they are. Ashwalkers, unfortunately, is not one of them.
Overall, it was hard to care for Ao and Bo’s story. The dialog was a slog. The character’s perspectives often changed too fast. And while going over their dilemmas, again and again, I found myself not wanting to play anymore. I’d rather just go out for a beer and talk to them in person and let them know life is going to be okay. High school and college are but footnotes in hopefully a long healthy story of yourself. In the end, if you find yourself at this particular time in life, it might be worth experiencing their story. But if you’re past it, you may not find much here to resonate with.
I may come back later when it’s had time to sit with the general population only to really discover its wonders. But for now, my dear reader, I’d rather forget about my ancestors lost to time and play a game like Ape Out instead.
A year later and a new package does little to boost up World War Z’s failings. If it’s on sale or you really need to kill some zombies with some friends it’s a quick way to get all the content and it’ll be brief and inoffensive enough to waste a few hours. If you’re like me and searching eagerly for the next successor to the 2008 classic, you are better served elsewhere.
Desctruction AllStars had a chance to deliver some creative car combat and it mostly set it sights on being mediocre and forgettable. Granted it’s free for PS+ users so it’s not a large barrier to get into. But down the road this is not a game worth a price of admission unless they prove they can do something better. It’ll likely be forgotten in the eventual ocean of other PS5 exclusives that release down the road.
Unfortunately though, it all adds up to a survival horror experience that is hard to recommend. You may enjoy some of the puzzles and how the game looks. But other indie games have done it better. There’s promise underneath all the cruft, and I do hope there’s another crack at this from the team, but I can’t say I enjoyed much in Fobia outside of the visuals. Fobia reminded how hard it is to pull off a tight survival horror experience. I kept waiting for something to truly surprise me or show me a twist I hadn’t seen before. Ultimately, I wanted something more.
In summary, if you’re someone who can get lost in a repetitive task, then I will say you may find yourself falling into a trance, an almost zen-like state. But maybe do so on PC if you have one available to you. I could not get into Barents Sea on the tiny screen with its muddy and bare world.