TomRoller

The most creative level design since Psychonauts gets paired with cringe-inducing cast of extraordinarily unlikeable protagonists. Characters have little to offer beyond vapid quips and non-stop obnoxious banter. All attempts at emotional moments have a subtlety of a hippopotamus and depth of a puddle. Once Hazelight ups their writing to the same level as the rest of the team, we're in for a timeless classic. It Takes Two ain't it.

Trey and Matt did it again. With a hefty help from Obsidian, they attack one's diaphragm with a hurricane of crude jokes delivered by pretty much everyone who means anything in the South Park universe. Yes, the combat mechanics does not leap beyond Paper Mario and the game interface is a bit too crude (although to a great extent by design). Admittedly, these are all nitpicks so that I don't only sing praise. But all in all I wished that the game would just go on and on. All components click in place: be it writing, gameplay, visuals, audio and quest design. A fan of the franchise could have hardly wish for anything more true-to-the-source.

Three quarters into the game, three questions come to mind. Will one ever be able to re-sell a digital copy? How does an anemic, lobotomized Uncharted clone earn 85 on Metacritic? And where did the actual tombs and raiding go? One will never know. What stays for sure is poor writing, bland characters, clunky controls, dull levels and unremarkable gunplay. All the frosting can't quite obscure a dud.

Rockstar mimics successful formula of the original series but eventually fails to capture the charm of the original. Gameplay suffers from shoddy controls and boring levels that offer few tactical choices during shoot-outs. Checkpoints repeatedly put you against a swarm of enemies with barely one cover around . The result is a static encounter or frequent death, the latter resulting in tedious backtracking. If there are cutscenes tied to the checkpoint, you will see them again and again without chance to skip. Gone is the noir atmosphere and well-penned Marlowesque monologues. New Max is a boring character chasing McGuffins that are difficult to care about. Cutscenes try to evoke the comics-inspired look of the original. The ambitious effort falls short due to poor editing that creates comics panes with random placement at random angles, full of busy effects and senseless dialogue excerpts. An interesting idea ends up feeling pretentious and artificial. Despite the sub-par lighting of its in-house Rage engine Rockstar did a good job in making the game visually appealing. The art-direction is tight, cutscenes impress with high-quality mo-cap and Euphoria animation engine makes enemy reaction to your bullets nothing short of spectacular. Sadly, the work of programmers, artists and animators has been sabotaged by design and narrative teams. The result is a mediocre shooter that did not manage to replicate the original recipe. If you are not familiar with game's predecessors, give it a chance after price drop. Fans of Max Payne and Rockstar's previous work may find themselves thinking that despite the stellar reviews of his clothes this emperor is walking around bare naked. Collapse

Rockstar mimics successful formula of the original series but eventually fails to capture the charm of the original. Gameplay suffers from shoddy controls and boring levels that offer few tactical choices during shoot-outs. Checkpoints repeatedly put you against a swarm of enemies with barely one cover around . The result is a static encounter or frequent death, the latter resulting in tedious backtracking. If there are cutscenes tied to the checkpoint, you will see them again and again without chance to skip. Gone is the noir atmosphere and well-penned Marlowesque monologues. New Max is a boring character chasing McGuffins that are difficult to care about. Cutscenes try to evoke the comics-inspired look of the original. The ambitious effort falls short due to poor editing that creates comics panes with random placement at random angles, full of busy effects and senseless dialogue excerpts. An interesting idea ends up feeling pretentious and artificial. Despite the sub-par lighting of its in-house Rage engine Rockstar did a good job in making the game visually appealing. The art-direction is tight, cutscenes impress with high-quality mo-cap and Euphoria animation engine makes enemy reaction to your bullets nothing short of spectacular. Sadly, the work of programmers, artists and animators has been sabotaged by design and narrative teams. The result is a mediocre shooter that did not manage to replicate the original recipe. If you are not familiar with game's predecessors, give it a chance after price drop. Fans of Max Payne and Rockstar's previous work may find themselves thinking that despite the stellar reviews of his clothes this emperor is walking around bare naked.