Splash Cars, a game where you bring color to a colorless world by driving around and leaving a trail of color behind you wherever you go, sounds like a good time and looks like one too; however, this de BLob-like with cars plays its entire hand way too fast and never does anything to keep things exciting or interesting after level one. You may be able to get a bit of mindless enjoyment from it for a half hour or so, but unless you like repetitive grinds, Splash Cars will disappoint you faster than Vin Diesel in a stock Mercury Tracer.
Super Dungeon Maker is the Legend of Zelda Maker you've all been waiting for...kind of; the foundation is strong, but, being the Early Access title it is, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. Thankfully, as I've already stated, the foundation is strong--the core gameplay feels good, the art is fantastic, and while the tools your currently have are limited, using said tools to create dungeons is easy and intuitive whether using a controller or a mouse and keyboard. It may not have much content right now (and what user-created levels exist are not great), but the future looks bright and, if you jump in now knowing what to expect with a game that's in Early Access, I think you'll have a good time.
Young Souls has a lot of potential and might be a great game, but it spends so much of its opening hour talking your ear off that it's impossible to know how good the game is or what you'll spend the majority of your time doing, unless the whole game really just is, story story story, smidgen of gameplay, story story story. For this type of opening to work, the story has to be really good and Young Souls's story is not really good. It's not even kinda good. It's actually kinda bad, with forced foul language that feels out of place in a game that looks like it would be great for kids (and great for playing with kids if you're a parent). It's not all bad. What I did get to play, I liked, and I wasn't so turned off to put the game down for good, so here's to hoping the next hour is more gameplay than story because I'd love nothing more than to love Young Souls.
If you want to watch a video of someone sucking at The King of Fighters XV while talking about how they suck at The King of Fighters XV then this is the King of Fighters XV video for you! That said, if you're interested in hearing what someone who hasn't played a fighter in years thinks of The King of Fighters XV and if the game is accessible and welcoming for new players, this is also the video for you. Either way, I hope find at least some enjoyment from my suckiness, even if it's not the most informative of enjoyments.
Spanning three chapters of five levels each across beautiful environments thanks to its simple but striking cartoony aesthetic, Agent Intercept puts you in the wheels of a transforming car tasked with taking down the evil organization, CLAW. In Fast and the Furious fashion, you’ll do a lot of drifting, mixed with over-the-top action, and a story so generic, you’ll forget it as you hear it. With only three buttons required for playing–one for moving left and right, one for boosting, and the last for gadgeting–anyone can feel like an action star, and the music goes a long way in bringing out those 60s spy vibes.
There are many explosions and high scores to chase, requiring combos you do not break, all of it culminating in a showdown between you and a giant mechanized scorpion. The gameplay loop is fun, but not without its faults. Boosting is a crucial mechanic , but the only way to gain boost is by letting your boost meter fill up on its own, or through pickups scattered across each level. You don’t get boost from drifting, stunts, or taking down enemies. This leads to a lot of down time where you’re not boosting and not boosting is not fun. The game is incredibly slow at normal speed, especially in boat form, feeling more like a stroll through the countryside than a high-octane adventure. You also need to be boosting as much as possible in order to keep your combo alive, so it’s not only important for making the game more enjoyable, but for completing certain objectives as well. If boost was rewarded for more actions, or the pickups were more plentiful, the gameplay loop would be a lot more satisfying.
On this episode of Attack the Backlog, I return to the world of Ratchet & Clank with Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando. I went in with the highest of expectations and left with the saddest of realizations: I, maybe, don't like Ratchet & Clank. I loved the original game when I played it so many years ago and loved the reboot/remake, but, until now, those were the only Ratchet & Clank games I've played. Going Commando was my return to a series I thought I'd continue loving; however, what I found was a game more interested in quantity over quality. This hasn't killed my interest in playing other Ratchet & Clank games, mind you, but it has stunted the growth of any potential excitement in playing more games in the series. At least for the time being.
Wife Quest makes a good first impression with better-than-expected visuals, but throws it all away with average-at-best gameplay, a grating sense of humor, and an excessive amount of girl-on-girl action. It does get better over time with the addition of new abilities and items, but it only gets better and never good, remaining an average-at-best game throughout. Unless you want to beat countable monster girls into groaning submission or enjoy yourself an easy achievement or two, your time will be better spent playing something else.
The Shadow Warrior series has been around for a while, but I've never put more than a few minutes into any of them until now, so if you're looking to find out how this one differs from the others, I can't help you. With that out of the way, I liked Shadow Warrior 3. I liked it so much I went back and finished it after recording this episode. It may be full of terrible humor and relatively repetitive gameplay, but it feels good and doesn't overstay its welcome, providing a solid, fast-paced shooting experience that feels good on controller, but likely excels on mouse and keyboard. In many ways, it plays like how I wish Serious Sam played; you have a good amount of tools and abilities at your disposal--dashing, a grappling hook, a chi blast, and finishers--and, while the non-shooting bits are hit or miss, the majority of firefights are a good time and, really, what more do you need?
Aztech Forgotten Gods is a mess. There are glimpses of quality there--the movement is fun and some of the art is alright--but it's all sandwiched between two thick pieces of janky, ugly, buggy, and surprisingly talky bread. I wanted to enjoy Aztech Forgotten Gods so much, but when it looks worse than Jak & Daxter, is boring to play 90% of the time, and features objectives that involve nothing but talking to characters, only to follow said objectives with more objectives of talking to the same character, it makes it hard to feel anything other than disappointment. Some things could be fixed in future patches, but too much of the core design is bad and, because of that, there's no way I could ever recommend giving Aztech Forgotten Gods any of your time.
I'm not going to lie. I kind of hated Explosive Candy World when I first started it. It's not that it took time for me to "get it," but that it looked like crap and didn't bother telling me anything about how it played or what I was supposed to do; talk about a terrible first impression. That said, once I figured things out after a minute or two, all I had was fun on top of fun on top of more fun. Explosive Candy World is incredibly simple and looks horrible, but it knows how to deliver a good time, so who cares if it looks like ass when it's such a blast.
Marc Kusnierz |