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Alekhine's Gun feels like returning to a game that your friends thought was great on the PS2, but it was released in 2016 and on modern consoles.
Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 is a long way from being the best game in its genre. The shooting is satisfying, but that’s really about it. Almost everything else in the game, from the story to the AI to the loading times, leaves a lot to be desired.
Homefront: The Revolution started with troubled development and has obviously suffered greatly with changing teams, developers, and ultimately publishers throughout it's lifetime, an issue encountered by a great many games over the past few years. In amongst a largely broken and unoptimised game I was still able to find some fun, albeit it shortlived.
Prompto’s outing is underwhelming at best, with the gameplay being subpar to anything that has come before it, the open world being nothing more than a blank canvas that you can't really do much with, and sidequests being rather redundant in the scope. Its only saving grace is Prompto’s continued character development from a weeping man-child to someone more mature and collected, ready to face the world ahead of him.
It was clear that Star Wars Battlefront II had some issues prior to release, but I’d never have guessed that they were this big. It’s a bitter disappointment to see a game with such promise turn to the dark side.
If you are someone who bathes in the next generation of gaming and is anticipating the next big release, then you won't find anything to whet your appetite here. It's about time we let history, be history.
DreamBreak had the potential to be a lot more than it currently is. However, Aist design choices for mixing in rather quirky mini games that feel oddly out of place with the main game and with DreamBreak’s main portion of gameplay feeling heavily underwhelming, puzzles too obvious and the story feeling kind of shoehorned, it's hard to give it a thumbs up.
At this point, all that remains of Dead Rising is the name. A once interesting and promising franchise has been neutered, changed for a more palatable creation. Dead Rising 4 could have been something, anything, but instead chooses to be a “cash in” on holiday season and a further diluted formula.
When I first picked up Rogue Stormers I felt a sense of longing for games passed, just like Contra and Metal Slug, but the reality of Rogue Stormers brought those daydreams to a halt. It’s poor execution and rather clunky controls stopped me from truly investing myself and instead started to question should this type of game really make a return.
Cast of the Seven Godsends is a flat attempt at bringing the retro era of arcade games back to life, with a poor artstyle and shoddy visuals it's almost too bad to look at. The only saving grace is its gameplay design. Feeling just like Ghost N’ Goblins did back on the NES, Cast of the Seven Godsends does well in its attempt to mimic the combat and difficulty of a bygone era.
Andromeda seems to miss the point on what made the Mass Effect games great. Marred by constant bugs and framerate issues, you'll be hard pressed to find anything that will keep you in for the long haul.
A very buggy attempt at recreating Dead Island with a very overwrought approach in distancing itself from the obvious inspiration. Without a massive patch, Dying Light can't really explain why it should stand out from the crowd.
I never took any interest in Titan Quest when it hit the market and honestly, it doesn't particularly grab me now. However, I can recognise that it does a lot of things right within its genre, and for that I applaud it even more than a decade after the fact. The idea that it got this brand new expansion so long after release is a testament to the dedication of the staff involved. Even if it doesn't make me ragna-rock hard.
As an entry to dungeon crawling, Demon Gaze II certainly does improve upon its predecessors accessibility. It’s more polished and is clearly more direct in approaching its goal. While broadening the appeal for fans of Japanese RPGs, this new focus has come at a cost. It feels a little generic.
Nights of Azure 2 is undercooked despite asking for 50 of my precious Queens faces. More fleshed out experiences can be bought elsewhere but I can’t get over the simple charm of the game and it’s fun, if lacking, gameplay.
Ultimately, the most disappointing aspect of JYDGE is the game that I could see it being with just a few tweaks. As it is, it’s a game with a great aesthetic and some neatly implemented ideas that just doesn’t do enough where it matters.
Chances are you'll have a good time playing Pankapu if you pick it up, but it's very unlikely that anyone will be putting it on their list of best games ever made. It's good, not great, and slightly lets down its beautiful art style with its unremarkable gameplay.
Honestly speaking, there's nothing spectacular about Blue Reflection. It's rather modest and quaint, but that also gives it some charm. If it weren't for the performance issues, it'd be difficult to fault it very much.
It seems to be a common theme in Echo that the truly interesting parts fade, slowly losing their selves to the repeated barrage of ideas at the forefront.
Deadcore feels like something that should have come to console sooner. It’s not terrible by any means, and many will enjoy the thrill of climbing the leaderboard. The overall 'Tron meets Portal' future aesthetic was also something I enjoyed. Sadly though, it’s all just a little underwhelming.