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LocoCycle offers a simple fun arcade experience set against a wild and fairly humorous story. It's not going to pass any "next gen" Litmus test as far as graphics and gameplay goes, but it's enjoyable nonetheless.
Fighter Within has plenty of shortcomings, but more importantly, I'm having a lot of fun.
While not perfect, or particularly next-gen beautiful, Tiny Brains does offer up some intellectually stimulating puzzles. The addition of co-op definitely makes it a solid purchase.
Zoo Tycoon is engaging, rewarding, and fun, just don't burn yourself out on it too quickly. It isn't so much for the hardcore sim manager, but for those not looking for a tremendous amount of depth, there's a lot to like with what Frontier offers.
Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag is a damn good game that has little flaws attached to it, which is impressive for a launch title. Not all the visuals were completely next-gen, but Montreal really was thinking about how a next generation game should be and act when they were creating Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag. You can see it in so many elements of the game, but not all of the elements are quite there yet. If they can expand from this mold then the next Assassin's Creed should be a helluva title. 'If' being the word in that sentence.
In a raw battle between pros and cons, the pros for Max: The Curse of Brotherhood win the day, but the cons deliver ample opportunity for frustration. At the end of the day, this is a good addition to your digital collection.
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is really quite good on the PC, both in the presentation and gameplay departments, though a strange departure from the Metal Gear Solid series. In the end, it's a fun game that hopefully will carry some of its elements into future MGS titles.
Definitely the best version of Tomb Raider and it shows exactly what the new generation of consoles has in store for us in the very near future.
Bravely Default: Where the Fairy Flies is a bit of a return to form, albeit hopefully the rule rather than the exception when it comes to Square-Enix’s future. It is surprisingly adept at fusing classic RPG ingredients with novel refinements, and plus, it wields a story which at first appears traditional but eventually grows horns and attacks you. Its shameless implementation of 90s-era mechanics and design does mean that participants will need to have a love for conventional JRPGs—and perhaps a bit of patience to endure the homogeneity of the first part of the game—but beyond that, Bravely Default is a great experience.
A sort of diamond in the rough perhaps, in that Daedalic did a fine job with many aspects of Blackguards, yet a handful of problems, certainly some more crucial than others, and yet all patchable, keep the overall experience stunted.
Playing and enjoying Octodad: Dadliest Catch seems to require an active narcotic influence; however, thanks to deliberately obtuse controls and a conscious sense of humor, even the most capable operator will inevitably render their invertebrate avatar a hilarious mess of tentacles and destruction. In a game like this there's careful line between frustration and elation, and Octodad walks it (or slides down, falls along, slithers against - whatever) with appreciable balance.
It’s my understanding that previous One Piece video games have established a positive reputation both among the series’ fans and the gaming community. If that’s the case, it’ll be better for both parties to ignore this title and hope outsiders will do the same in hopes of preserving that standard.
Expressed in modest trappings, Nidhogg quietly aims to recast the mold of a competitive fighting game. A deliberate lo-fi aesthetic and input limited to the absolute basics cleverly mask engagement as hardcore and contemplative as any of its peers. By opening its boundaries past the usual static fighting arena, Nidhogg transforms from another one-on-one fighter into something more akin to a goal-oriented sport. It's a fighting game simplified without feeling dumb, a multi-staged combat arena with no particular advantages, and as much a battle of wits as an all-out brawler. Nidhogg is an almost-perfect competitive game.
Jazzpunk projects exactly what its eccentric name implies; a hilarious adventure with an unwieldy rhythm and paradoxically predictable narrative-uncertainty, all of which draws fuel from a seemingly endless source of energy. Jazzpunk may share its mission with the likes of Incredible Crisis or LSD: Dream Emulator, but as the titular flag bearer for its invented style, it's now the standard. Jazzpunk is so jazzpunk.
You might be tempted to overlook Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, but if you did, you'd be missing out on an excellent platforming title with tons of style and polish. While it's true that it doesn't explore a lot of new territory, iteration within a genre is only bad to the extent which creativity and permutation are not applied. In other words, if it's fun and feels fresh enough, it was worth the effort—and Tropical Freeze is every bit as enjoyable as its Wii predecessor.
You will find some joy in the action and some sort of satisfaction in killing tons of enemies, but if you're looking for something with any rich substance to it at all, Strider may not be enough of a good experience for you. The game's gameplay structure and design is too unstable to make Strider great. Having said that, the nostalgia might be enough to hook you, and the $14.99 price tag might help all the flaws that Strider brings.
Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare is a skeleton made of borrowed ideas, but its bones are wrapped in a body of earnest tomfoolery and relentless positivity. It functions best as a sanctuary for disenfranchised shooter players, the equivalent of a safe place where it's OK to be weird and goofy amidst the tension of a competitive game. The most interesting thing about Garden Warfare is there may be enough of an affected crowd to actually make it all work.
A great game as is, although it has a few very patchable issues that could really put it over the top.
The perfect way to play Resident Evil 4 requires a time machine back to its time and place in 2005. For many of us this arrangement is impossible, and Resident Evil 4 Ultimate HD Edition defaults as the best way to enjoy a modern classic. The entire package aches for better consistency between its original modes and suite of upgrades, but these are minor complaints; from a historical standpoint or modern approach, Resident Evil 4 remains one of the finest ways to survive horror.
Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy succeeds as a wonderful finale to the Layton series and the strongest title in the prequel trilogy. If you've enjoyed any of the previous games, this will certainly satisfy your puzzle solving needs. Though it's not necessary to play the previous titles in the trilogy, it's recommended as this game pulls together events from the previous two titles. All-in-all, the Layton series has been and will always be a wonderful break from some of the more established gaming formulas. Recommended.