Cyber shadow is a side-scrolling action-platformer in which you play as a ninja trying to save the last of your clan after a mad-scientist causes city-wide destruction in a last desperate attempt to save his dying daughter. Throughout Cyber Shadow’s short and sweet play time of roughly seven to ten hours, you will face many tough challenges, but I had a great time playing this game, and I think anyone with a taste for hard-but-fair games will love this game too. It presents itself as a classic-looking and -sounding game with an old-school difficulty level. In some ways, its first impression is accurate; the game gives you a set of tight controls and a few abilities to work with, and makes you master them in order to progress. You start with a limited amount of health and energy, and extra health pickups are few and far between. However, Cyber Shadow also thankfully includes a few new-school mechanics to minimize frustration and smooth out the player’s experience. First, the game spreads out its checkpoints perfectly. This isn’t to say the game floods you with them though. In fact, Cyber Shadow intelligently places its checkpoints far enough apart to give a sense of tension, without straining your endurance past its breaking point. Also, if you collect enough of the game’s currency, you’ll be able to upgrade some checkpoints, allowing them to fully restore your health and/or SP, or even give them the ability to synthesize other power-ups for you too, such as a shield or an auto-turret, to name a couple. Thanks to Mechanical Head Games’ careful execution of all these elements, we get the best of both worlds in Cyber Shadow: tough, retro-feeling difficulty, with friendly, more modern enhancements that make the game a great experience to play. And, just as Cyber Shadow’s difficulty stays true to its clear inspirations, its pixel art style and chiptune soundtrack also add to the game’s retro feel. Each section of the game has its own distinct look and sound, and the sparsely scattered cutscenes are simple but atmospheric, channeling both the minimalistic feel of 8-bit era games and classic samurai movies. Enemies and projectiles are all visually distinct from each other, and contrast well with the environment and background. Little touches like the lightning effects on certain attacks or the way your character’s headband flows behind you really show exactly how much work the developer put into the aesthetic of this game. Cyber Shadow does a lot of work with what it has, and doesn’t overstay its welcome for a second. The difficulty, while tough, never feels unfair and really helps you appreciate the game’s rock-solid movement mechanics. With a couple hidden secrets and optional challenge rooms, Cyber Shadow leaves enough optional content to make exploration worthwhile without getting stale. If you like a challenge, or are a fan of 8-bit era games, I highly recommend checking this game out.
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is a great game that you can play for a couple minutes or a couple hours. It has a plethora of cosmetic items to keep you grinding for more Kudos or crowns, but it is lacking the same variety in its mini-game types. If you have a couple friends with you in the same room, each game is quick enough to pass the controller around when you get knocked out. If you have friends online, you can play together. This is a game that is just as fun to play as it is to watch. With a fun aesthetic and a game show vibe, Fall Guys is a new and exciting take on the battle royale genre.
Broken Age is a game with great potential that ultimately falls flat due to what feels like an abrupt ending. While the artwork, dialog, voice acting, and central themes are executed extremely well, the story fails to bring it all together in the last five yards. The game does have its good points; I certainly had a decent laugh more than once at some of the jokes, and a couple of the puzzles really gave me an "aha!" moment when I finally solved them. Additionally, I appreciated the character switching mechanic, which really helped ease some frustration. While I'm not the biggest fan of point-and-click games, the earlier parts of Broken Age did keep me entertained. I would recommend this as a game for younger kids to play, as I feel like it has a good message and is a very wacky looking game. However, this one just wasn't for me.
Gameplay wise, I'd say Bloodborne is practically perfect. It is very challenging, but never in a frustrating way. Every time I died, I was able to understand exactly how I messed up. I had a really fun time trying, failing, and eventually getting better at working my way through the incredibly detailed zones in the game. While I wish the story presentation was a bit more hands on, I usually was able to figure out where I needed to go next and what I needed to do to progress. Overall, I think this game takes a bit of time to get the hang of, but once you do, you're in for a great experience. If you get stuck, try to level up and learn some of the deeper mechanics of the game, and I bet you'll have a great time if you like a bit of challenge.
Into the Breach is one of those games that, if you like the game play, will keep you playing for "just one more round." I'm not the biggest fan of either rouge-likes or strategy games, and even I was quite entertained with the time I spent playing. Unfortunately, there is next to no story to follow, which keeps me from sticking around too long. However, if that isn't a concern to you, I can see some people playing Into the Breach for a many hours. I highly recommend at least checking out this game. At worst, you'll still have a great time trying to complete a few runs.
Nier: Automata is an interesting game that I would highly recommend to anyone that wants to experience the full potential of what the video game medium has to offer. It's difficult to explain exactly what I mean by that sentence without ruining the experience, so if you have the chance to try the game out, I strongly suggest you do so. If you go in with an open mind, you may come away from Nier: Automata with a new and interesting perspective on things. But even if this game doesn't move you, I think you'll still have a good time.
Marvel's Spider-Man was a welcome surprise. After playing Rocksteady's Batman games and then seeing how other games tried to lazily copy the success of Batman's combat system, it was nice to play a game that was able to take the foundations laid by Rocksteady and make them into a system that works within Spider-Man's universe. I felt that I had an ample amount of gadgets and abilities at my disposal, which helped sell the experience of playing as a superhero. However, there are a few things this game could have done without, like the quick-time events, the hacking mini-games, and the MJ and Miles segments. I was grateful that you could at least skip the mini-games and quick-time events though. While the story and music were bare bones, not all games have to have amazing soundtracks or in-depth stories. Sometimes you just want a game that is fun to play and easy to get lost in. Spider-Man more or less scratches that itch for me, and looks amazing doing so.
Control was a blast to play. Once I started getting a hang of the combat and unlocked most of the abilities, I started craving longer and more difficult fights. I got completely **** into the game play and story. The enemy variation kept me having to constantly rethink my load out and swap around my weapon mods, so I never got bored. For a game set in a boring government building, Control has a lot of excitement and so many nooks and crannies to find. Ultimately, this game was held back by my PS4 Pro's hardware. If I had the chance, would have played it first on PC, but I still had a great time on PS4. If you're looking for a game with great game play and fun exploration, look no further. While Control had some minor flaws and room for improvement, it was still a stellar title.
Beyond: Two Souls is a game that tries to be so much more than it needs to be. There are many elements of the game that seem to be included just for the sake of being there, while adding very little to the overall experience. I appreciate what the game is trying to do, but I really felt like it got tangled up in itself. Ultimately, Beyond: Two Souls is a great premise held back by terrible controls and a story that tries to be too many things. I had high hopes in my first couple hours of playing, but my enthusiasm slowly drained over the last few hours until I was just waiting for the game to end.
