Rating of
4/5
Poly Bridge
From Clever Designs to ‘Just Send It’ Solutions
Poly Bridge doesn’t really offer a traditional story, and that’s noticeable but not necessarily a dealbreaker. The game is purely focused on its bridge building mechanics and puzzle solving, which works for a casual, pick-up-and-play experience. That said, it feels like a missed opportunity. Some light narrative or progression flavor could have added extra charm and motivation as you move through the worlds. As it stands, there’s nothing tying the levels together beyond increasing difficulty.
Presentation
The presentation is simple but effective, leaning into a colorful, cartoon-like style that fits the casual nature of the game. The visuals are clean and easy to read, which is important when you’re carefully planning out …
Rating of
4/5
Spiritfarer
Don’t Let the Everdoor Hit You as You Leave
“Spiritfarer” is the third genre-bending title by the French-Canadian Indie studio, Thunder Lotus Games. I’ve been tricked into playing their two previous games and didn’t particularly enjoy either one, and I was similarly tricked into buying “Spiritfarer,” as I simply looked at the rave reviews from critics and players alike, without paying attention to who made it. Usually I’m willing to go with a baseball analogy and give a studio “three strikes” before they become anathema to me, so “Spiritfarer” was Thunder Lotus’ last chance to convince me they have any talent. And while it isn’t quite a home run, “Spiritfarer” is definitely Thunder Lotus’ best effort, in spite of its flaws.
Presentation
Thunder …
Rating of
4.5/5
Baldur's Gate 3
Baldur’s Gate 3 stands out as one of the best Dungeons & Dragons video game adaptations ever made, delivering exceptional storytelling that constantly pulls you deeper into its world. What makes it truly special is the sheer number of choices available. There are countless decision points that shape your journey, allowing for a wide variety of playstyles and outcomes. Every playthrough feels personal, with meaningful consequences tied to your actions.
Beyond its narrative depth, the game is packed with secrets waiting to be uncovered and features a large cast of memorable characters and party members. The world itself is beautifully crafted, rich in detail, and a joy to explore. It also represents a massive leap forward from the …
Rating of
4/5
Sackboy: A Big Adventure
A Delightfully Crafted Adventure, But Occasionally Unraveled
While Sackboy: A Big Adventure doesn’t aim to deliver a deeply complex narrative, it succeeds in setting up a lighthearted and charming journey that fits the series’ identity. Sackboy’s quest to stop Vex and save Craftworld is simple, but it provides just enough to carry players through its imaginative levels. The story acts more as a whimsical backdrop than a driving force, letting the gameplay take center stage, which ultimately works in its favor.
Presentation
The transition from a 2D platformer to a fully 3D platformer ended up being better than I expected, preserving the look and feel that defines the LittleBigPlanet aesthetic. Every level is stitched together with bright and fun props, and the costume designs are …
Rating of
4/5
Pampas & Selene: The Maze of Demons
A Retro Loveletter for These Modern Times
The only things I knew about this game going forward came from my MJ local co-op partner in crime and so I knew this was a kind of homage to a somewhat obscure (at least in America) 2D platforming game called “The Maze of Galious”. It turns out there is a very dedicated game developer (looks at other review), named Francisco Téllez de Meneses aka Fran, who likes to turn old games into something new, updated and - surprisingly - very fun. While I didn't know much about his game going in, it turns out turning retro classics into a modern retro updated (including adding co-op where there was none before) game makes for something that is both nostalgic and yet made for these more modern times.
Looks and Stuff: The game utilized the …
Rating of
3.5/5
Mario vs. Donkey Kong
“Donkey Kong Classics” on the NES was the first game I ever ‘finished.’ The fact that the entire game was just three screens (that repeated indefinitely for high-score chasing) went a long way toward that momentous feat in my gaming career, as running out of lives and getting booted back to the beginning by a Game Over screen never felt like a massive loss of progress.
Flash forward to the early 2000s, and I was fiddling around with a huge collection of ROMs I had acquired, and seeing a Game Boy port of “Donkey Kong” – typically dubbed “Donkey Kong ‘94” by fans – I decided to see if the greenscale brick offered a faithful recreation of my first gaming conquest.
It did not.
Instead of a faithful recreation of …
Rating of
2.5/5
LEGO The Hobbit
“LEGO: The Hobbit” (“LTH”) is one of many, many parody games blending the world of LEGO building toys with popular media. The studio behind this series is Traveler’s Tales, once a stand-alone publisher in its own right after its founding in 1987, but currently a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Games, hence the ability to churn out endless spoofs of movies for which Warner Bros. already owns the IP rights. Released in 2014, shortly before the release of the third and final entry in Peter Jackson’s unnecessarily-bloated “The Hobbit” trilogy of films, “LTH” was supposed to deliver a fully-featured send-up of Jackson’s overly-pretentious adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s debut light novel (plus a butt-load of extraneous …
Rating of
3.5/5
The Outer Worlds
It's Not the Best Choice, It's The Outer Worlds
Obsidian Entertainment will forever and always be tied to Fallout: New Vegas - still the most ambitious and memorable of the series. But people looking at that through rose-colored glasses may forget the game was an even buggier mess than Fallout 3 when it was released. Obsidian has made other great games - I'm particularly a fan of South Park: The Stick of Truth (a fun and damn funny licensed game), along with solid early sequels in Knights of the Old Republic 2 and Neverwinter Nights 2. They also made Pillars of Eternity (and its sequel), Tyranny and Avowed - but as I haven't played those I have no opinion. What I have played here, is The Outer Worlds - a space exploration/FPS games about a long-distant Earth colony dominated by …
Rating of
4.5/5
Apotheon
Sing, O Muse, the tale of Nikandreos!
Apotheon, released in 2015, has been on my radar for years. It was highly recommended by a friend of mine who, like me, studied classics at the university. I have spent much of my life in the ancient world, majoring in it as an undergraduate, earning a master’s degree in the field, and teaching Latin for the past eighteen years. Just looking at the game, I was intrigued, given its unique visual style and inspiration. Its title, for those who know Greek, is a significant hint at the plot and apotheosis of its main character. It’s unfortunate that it has taken me so long to play it, but I am finally glad that I did, removing it from my backlog.
Story (5 out of 5)
Apotheon is set in ancient Greece in the village of Dion. You, the …
Rating of
2/5
Iron Harvest
During high school, I was introduced to RTS games through Blizzard’s “Warcraft II”. Immediately, I was hooked. “Command and Conquer,” “Starcraft,” “Age of Empires,” and “Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds” all became enjoyable franchises that I played for many hours into my college years. During those years, PC gaming was synonymous with RTS for me. A return to playing games on consoles like the Gamecube and Wii diverted my attention from the genre, and when I was introduced to Steam, I spent little time playing RTSes. I did try to have our co-op group play an open-source RTS, Zero-K, but that was a disaster.
The RTS that I have historically played all have single-player campaign modes. Multiplayer is possible, …
