Izitmee

Full of bugs, awkward design decisions, invisible platforms, patched-up graphics, ice skating, clumsy controls, a rather misplaced story and a little too much Dark Souls not to feel like a 2D copy instead of an original game. Add to this a rather impressive lack of polish (audio volumes are all over the place, keyboard customization is lost when you restart, the game forces you to play with your system's language with no option to change/reset it, the whole game is frame based so if you play at 120 FPS it will run at 2x speed, and on and on) and it quickly becomes an annoying experience ready to be uninstalled.

I hate horror games. But I knew Soma was meant to be much more than that, and I wasn't disappointed. The constant sense of oppression and fear isn't used as a mean to make a horror game, but as a mean to fully immerse you in the game, in its atmosphere, in its complex and fascinating story. Nothing else exists around you while playing Soma. That's a beautiful achievement, if a little estranging. Game philosophy apart, it ran perfectly on my rig. The graphics, the environment audio and the pacing are fantastic. The story is fascinating and told in an almost perfect way: not too much, not too little, leaving it open to interpretation and exploration. All in all the second best video game story ever told, in my opinion (first place goes to Bioshock Infinity). I don't give it a 10 just because of the lame-ish voice acting (especially for the main character), and because I think it misses some storytelling opportunity (which I won't mention to avoid spoilers).

Best wallpaper-making software ever, and you can also play with it! Mad Max has a great pace and is pure fun. Wonderful graphics, a cast of utterly insane characters that fit greatly into the Mad Max universe, a depraved mutant that accompanies you while uttering ridiculous remarks, tons of stuff to do, things to upgrade, places to discover. Most of the mechanics have already been seen, but all of them are crafted with care (except for the fighting, which emulates Batman but is not as fun - but it's still cool - and has some camera issues), and every nook of the world has something different to offer in terms of exploration, so that collecting stuff never feels boring. Plus, there is a screenshot mode that allows to apply filters, blur, move the camera around and a lot more, which in itself is a beauty to play with.

For me, This War of Mine fails to achieve its ambitions. I appreciate its intentions, but it ends being bland and not that realistic. Yes, the graphics are beautiful. And yes, the grittiness of war from a civilian's perspective (though lets not forget that there are places where wars are much worse) is sometimes present, in the stories and in some events. But the gameplay feels almost casual and severely breaks the immersivity and the overall tone. The crafting system is shallow. Time needs to be well managed but is presented in a weird way where your characters, even while running, can take up to 20 minutes to climb a couple of stairs. The save system straightforwardly ****. If you try to leave the game while playing, nothing warns you that you'll lose everything you did during the day and will have to restart it, which is exactly what happens. And then there's all the stuff that breaks realism by itself. Like your group having psychic powers and knowing everything a single member does when on a scavenge mission, even if he was alone and far away. Like a guy asking me for medicines for his father, me trading with wood instead, and all the team (thanks to their psychic powers) thinking I gave him medicine and being happy for that. Like my group being composed of 4 healthy rested people that are very hungry, and only one member being able to go out to scavenge. Like interaction icons sometimes superimposing themselves and me clicking the wrong one (which was actually below the correct one, so bug) and ending up in a fight instead than a conversation, which in a game where choices matter is kind of a deal-breaker. Things like that. Oh, and the randomized world. It's not really randomized. Simply you'll get different characters if you restart, and sometimes some areas will be inhabited by different people. In short, again I appreciate the intentions, but This War of Mine ends up being one of those zombie survival games that we already saw tons of times. And this is not me ignoring the realistic intentions behind the operation: this is me being forced to ignore them by way the game was done. I'd say that the devs put a lot of effort in making the graphics and the background atmospheric, and they did succeed there. But then the rest just falls short. Still, maybe it's just me.

I first played this game a few months ago and didn't like it at all, but only because I **** at platformers. Later I was convinced to give it another try, and woah if it blew my mind. Rogue Legacy is the Dark Souls of platformers: once you get used to its dying and rebirth routine you'll spend hours with it and love the sense of progression. A fantastic game.

Lots of reviews talk about Redshirt as an ironic critique on Facebook (given that it all plays through its equivalent Spacebook), but the game eventually pushes its imitation too far, so much that it instead becomes more like a homage to Facebook. Which is very boring and makes you think that, if the game had a point, it completely missed it. So, in the end, you just play through a UI (and while I love UIs and complex games, this one is pretty clunky, considering the importance it has to the gameplay) to achieve some goals which are all carried out via "fake social relations", as in the true FB. Which again, is very boring and rather annoying. Kudos to the developer, considering this is her first game and took her two years. But honestly I couldn't give it more than a 4.

If you manage to navigate through the lengthy and superannoying menu panels, where you can only use a combination of two keys as in the actual gameplay (advice for every gamedev in the world: don't do that ever again, it's the worse usability choice in the universe and will drive some people crazy), you will find a barebone but briefly enjoyable fighting game, where using only two keys you'll be able to jump and kick. Too bad that each fight loads very slowly, for such a barebone game. And that key controls don't seem to be implemented as well as they should, since pressing them together, which should perform special moves, often doesn't work. And that between each short round of a single fighting match (short as in "as soon as you manage to land a kick it's over") you'll have to wait for the announcer to say aaaaaallll his thing eeeeeveryyy time. Also, the one feature that seems interesting is online matchmaking, but it seems that no one plays this game so I couldn't even try that. I know I sound harsh, and actually the concept behind Divekick is quite interesting, but the overall user experience (on PC at least maybe it's better on other systems) is so terrible that it made me hyper-frustrated.

Take Burnout Paradise (also made by Criterion), change the city, add real cars instead than inspired-from-real ones, remove the wonderfully fun-to-drive motorcycles, et voilà, you have NFS Most Wanted. A game which, in the end, clones its own developer's previous efforts, but removes stuff instead than adding it (ok, real cars apart), while keeping all the faults, which are many. For example, when racing, the checkpoints are not very visible and often badly positioned, so unless you have squinted eyes that allow you to drive while focusing both on the road and on the minimap, you will often miss the right exit or turn. It's also full of little but annoying bugs. As in Burnout Paradise, you will get points by finding and destroying all billboards and gates. Too bad that half the time a destroyed billboard/gate is readily forgotten by the save/scoring system. All in all, if you have Burnout Paradise, stick to that, since it's much more fun. Otherwise, you might want to give Most Wanted a try: the driving system is arcade and fun, though it becomes quickly frustrating when you're forced to concentrate on the minimap instead than on being a cool driver.

The gameplay is great for a Magic beginner, since you won't have to get mad while trying to create the perfect deck (though this will also be a limitation for more experienced players), and is like the card game, and as such very good. The interface is nice if a little clumsy. But the real problem are the loading times (at least on the Steam version I got don't know if there are different ones). On my computer, after I start Magic I will have to look at my desktop for approximately 5 to 6 minutes. Then the loading screen appears for another minute or so. Then finally the logos fade in and you're in. Unless it gets stuck in the loading screen, in which case you'll have to restart the computer. I have other friends and it's the same for everyone. Very frustrating. If a card game requires loading times that are more than 10x the loading times of Bioshock Infinite, for example, something is very wrong.

In short words: very bad interface design, repetitive gameplay, horrible combat system. This game has no depth at all, and looks very unprofessional in all its aspects. It would deserve a 4 if it was marketed as a small cheap game, but given its AAA price, a 2 is well deserved.

If I should compare Deadlight to another game, it would definitely be the classic and unforgettable Another World. The gameplay is great and very similar - in a more modern way - and the atmosphere is just as wonderful. Definitely a worthy buy. If you read reviews of people complaining that zombies are hard to kill, it's just because they didn't understand the game. Zombies are hard to kill on purpose: you need to use your wits and the environment to dispose of them, and it's a mechanic that works perfectly, and is very forgiving (maybe even a little too much). There are also some obvious cons, mainly concerning the story, which kind of ruins the otherwise fantastic atmosphere: voice acting is quite clumsy, writing and characters are too over-the-top and stereotyped, and the finale is quite obvious since the beginning. But that said, the gameplay and graphics are so good that you won't care as long as the game goes on.

A game that is absolutely wonderful and quite long if played stealthy and possibly without killing anyone, but also rather frustrating, since while the developers pushed for a stealth approach, actual stealth mechanics are stripped to a few options, compared to the wide range of powers and gadgets aiming towards direct assaults or killing galore. The graphics are fantastic: sure they're not hyper-realistic, but they have a very personal style, which makes it way more fascinating than the usually dull AAA 3D. The story is ok: predictable but nice, though it lacks some emotional power.

Simply put, in spite of many defects, this game is magnificent. The mix of combat tactics, base management, research, and basic rpg is an almost perfect combination which still keeps me longing to play more. Sure, the interface is extremely dumbed down (while in combat, I was definitely missing a soldier's list in the UI) and has evident usability errors (for example: basic shortcuts, common to every soldier, vary depending on the soldier's additional abilities, which prevents using them quickly and is just dumb), and a deeper base and research management would've been welcome. But there's still a load of variables to account for, and they're all tied in a string of consequences that will need accurate planning. And. The fighting is awesome. Sure, there are bugs (line of sight is not always clear, and sometimes hidden enemies can be targeted more easily than ones that are almost in the open) and even more missing features in the interface. But it's still deeply tactical and terribly fun. With a better interface and bugs fixed, this game would deserve a 10++.

Deus Ex HR is made for stealth and exploration. Plain and simple. Enemy A.I. is too dull for firefights, and exploration is what rewards you most (in terms of gaming pleasure). Thus if you like shooters, don't mess with this game. But if you are looking for a more stealth/RPG/intelligent experience, this game is pure awesomeness. The environments are wide and detailed, with lots of alternate routes and hidden stuff to find. The places you visit are very different from each other, and the cities are a thing of beauty, inspired by the crowded streets and architectures of Blade Runner (as the first Deus Ex was). Story is mesmerizing and well told, and the same goes for side-quests. While playing, you really feel that there is a load of possibilities to reach a goal, to sneak around some guards, to decide the turn of the story. The way augments (the cybernetic "superpowers" you develop with experience) work is perfect. You decide which ones to grow, and you never feel like you're getting those experience points too slowly or too quickly. And it's very fascinating to go back to already-visited areas, but with the newly-gained ability to jump higher, or to fall without being hurt, and thus discover new locations. Best sci-fi game I played in a long time. If you're a completist like me, it will last for dozens of hours. I even preferred it to Mass Effect 2, both for the environments than for the additional freedom. Only reason I don't give it a 10 is because of boss fights - hard and out of contest, for a game that is best played in stealth mode - and because the ending ****: Eidos clearly wanted to trace the first Deus Ex steps, and go for a "strong" ending, but instead it just looks illogical and dumb.

The graphics are ok. The kill cam is indeed well done and fun to see, and the same goes for the sniper's aiming mechanic. Sadly, everything else fails miserably. Movement is very awkward, visually and technically. You can't jump: you can just "vault" (in a very linear way: some tall obstacles are climbable, while others, much lower, are not). Taking cover is a matter of luck. Sometimes an object will activate the "take cover" option, other times the same identical object - in a different place - will not. Which, as you can imagine, leads you wandering around the field to find the "correct" place to hide. Stealth is, simply put, horrible. As soon as you shoot, enemies are all over you, making this an "action sniper game" instead than a stealthy one. When you think you found the right tactic to kill your enemies silently, some event that renders your efforts useless is activated, since the game WANTS you to be seen, so that enemies can come running at you, and you have to snipe them before they arrive. Above all that, the areas are extremely linear. No smart places to hide and snipe. No alternative routes. Nothing. When I got Sniper V2 I already knew about the bad critiques, but I thought I might enjoy it anyway. I was SO wrong.

Probably because Quantum Conundrum's developer is Kim Swift, which was one of the minds behind the first Portal, this game actually feels like a casual version of Portal. Instead of targeted teleports and strange substances though, our weapon of choice influences ("shifts") the whole environment, making everything ultra-heavy, ultra-light, super-slow-motion, or gravity-inverted. It's actually quite fun. Like Portal, all puzzles are divided in rooms, and a sarcastic voice follows you throughout your gameplay. Unlike Portal though, this game doesn't deliver in many aspects. The atmosphere is quite bland. The story is utterly un-compelling. The sarcasm is usually nice but nothing special nor peculiar. The platform elements are annoying (as in any first-person platformer), though not terribly awkward. Anyway, considering the price range, it's a nice little game, with relatively easy but entertaining puzzles.

After playing Driver SF for a while, two main thoughts came to my mind. One, that there are so many undeveloped ideas in this game. Two, that those undeveloped ideas are in such a quantity, and so good, that even if not fully developed they merge into an awesome and addictive game. Shifting into cars is a good idea, which incredibly works very well within the Driver's world. Possessing a driver who had a passenger, and hearing them talking - while your character doesn't give s**t - is an awesome idea. But undeveloped. But still funny. Some cars respond greatly, some seem to have ice tires. But it's fun anyway. And there are so many things to do (multiplayer apart) that you'll never get bored. That said, multiplayer is a blast. Quick, intense, hilarious. All in all, even if somehow undeveloped, a wonderful game, worth an 8. If only all its concepts had been fully expanded! That would've been worth a 10+!