Latest Reviews
Beyond Eyes
I badly wanted Beyond Eyes to use its attractively whitewashed look and novel, visually limited ideas to tell a much more moving story whose empathetic lessons could’ve stayed with me long after the end credits rolled, but it didn’t. Only its ending taps into this potential, and it’s a shame...
Submerged
Submerged attempts to replace tension with curiosity as a motivating force, and largely succeeds even though its environmental storytelling isn’t as dense as it could’ve been. It’s an unchallenging, occasionally beautiful experience that caters to our instinct to see what’s on the other side of the mountain. In the moments...
Rare Replay is an incredible package. Its presentation is charming, the extras are amazing, and so many of the games included here are still a blast to play. Whether it’s your first time through or you’re revisiting decades later, Rare’s journey through the past 30 years of video game history...
The Magic Circle continuously surprised me with puzzles, twists, and a great hacking mechanic which gradually placed more and more creative power into my hands. As my skills grew, the possibilities continuously expanded around me, building toward a rewarding and satisfying conclusion. It’s a shame there wasn’t more to laugh...
Tembo the Badass Elephant wants you to smile, and often, I did. Its charismatic protagonist, and the joy of stomping around and wrecking shop with him never got old, though the controls and level design would sometimes do as much to dampen the fun as facilitate it. Though it doesn’t...
Dark Room is the most complicated, conflicting episode of Life Is Strange yet. It sets up a finale that could be a genuine stunner, but there’s a lot resting on its shoulders. That finale will need to even out the drastic and disappointing change in tone established in Dark Room,...
Guild of Dungeoneering is a simple but fun dungeon-crawling and card-battling game that gradually grew on me the more I played. It manages to maintain interest with randomized dungeons that usually work out well, but could really benefit from some balance tweaks and a way to put more fully developed...
Rory McIlroy PGA Tour is solid enough out on the course but it’s just lacking too many of the series’ fundamentals to make it worthwhile for golf fans. Concessions are often made when sports games straddle the gap between console generations old and new, but considering the two year wait...
God of War 3 was an impressive feat for its day, and it still impresses today in God of War 3 Remastered. Its beautiful graphics are prettier than ever, and a higher frame rate adds more fluidity to the action. The story will be confusing to newcomers, as it picks...
In Massive Chalice, it’s not just random whether your hero will hit or miss, but whether your hero will die of old age or whether they’ll be born at all. As much as I enjoyed its aggressive brand of tactical combat and interesting enemy types, there are too many unpredictable...
Whispering Willows is not without its strengths - it sounds great, is (for the most part) visually interesting, and there are a lot of good story ideas and potentially interesting puzzle concepts in play. However, thanks largely to a woefully short campaign and a lack of truly challenging puzzles, it...
Though it doesn’t exactly put the added power of the PS4 and Xbox One to full use, Payday 2: Crimewave Edition is the best-looking console version of Payday 2 you can get, and the best value on any platform for obtaining its wealth of downloadable content. It’s mildly disappointing to...
