Review – Payday 2

If you have ever wanted to rob a bank but were too afraid of the consequences, then Overkill Studio’s heist simulator might just be the next best thing to let you enact your criminal fantasies. Payday 2 is one of two games under Overkill’s brand, the first being its prequel, Payday: The Heist. The core gameplay of the original Payday amounted to nothing more than fighting army after army of law enforcement. With Payday 2, Overkill promised to make a game bigger and better in every way. If Payday 2 is a safe that we play to open, what can we expect to find within? Disappointment? Promises fulfilled? You decide.

Review – The Last of Us

2013 will go down in history as a milestone for gaming. This is not only due to the plethora of well-received games that were released, but this year will also be the end of an era. With next generation consoles to be released before the year’s end, everyone is hoping the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 will end their reign with a bang. Of the two, Sony and its subsidiary, Naughty Dogs, are first to step up to the challenge with the long awaited Last of Us. But the question remains; can the people behind the critically acclaimed Crash Bandicoot and Uncharted franchises bring their magic to a new IP? And more importantly, is this the generation-defining game that we’ve all been waiting for?

Review – Borderlands 2

If its title were not a clear enough indicator, Borderlands 2 is a follow-up to Gearbox’s 2009 hit Borderlands, a loot-based first-person shooter role-playing game that touted millions of weapons ripe for collection. My initial impressions of the first Borderlands were highly positive, and I praised it for its solid gameplay mechanics, cel shaded art style, and humorous (albeit otherwise lacking) narrative. But by the 85th hour, I became privy to its flaws and repetitive nature. Was Borderlands 2, a title so similar in nature, able to remedy its predecessor’s faults?

Introducing… The Review System 2.0!

In a renewed attempt to give the fairest reviews possible, I have decided to modify my current scoring system. Instead of conglomerating every flaw and feature into one short essay culminating in a single (and inevitably biased) overall score, I will now simply list and describe what I feel are five best and worst aspects of a game. With this system readers can obtain a more personalized score by doing the following:

Review – Thomas Was Alone

If I could describe Thomas Was Alone in one word, it’d be “ingenious.” Everything from its visuals to its gameplay screams simplicity, but strung together, they form a masterpiece. But before I start gushing over this wondrous title, allow me to provide a little background. Thomas Was Alone (hereafter simply called “Thomas”) was single-handedly developed and published by Mike Bithell. On the surface, it appears to be nothing more than your typical platformer, tasking the player with moving some character(s) from one location to another. Witnessing such a simple concept blossom into a work of art is something that can only be experienced by actually playing the game. And while mere words are not enough to convey its artistic merit, I will still try my best.

Review – Resident Evil 5

If you ask any Resident Evil fan their opinion on the latest installment of their beloved franchise, they will likely tell you how far it has fallen from its roots. Some would consider the first Resident Evil game a pioneer of the survival horror genre. With scarce resources and a daunting atmosphere, the game made every encounter felt tense and nerve wracking. Resident Evil 5, released in 2009 and a good 13 years after the first game, took this formula and turned it upside down. Maybe the creators felt that the series needed to evolve. Perhaps they wanted to cater to a wider audience. Regardless of intent, this significant change was poorly received. But contrary to what the most hardcore “fans” have to say, Resident Evil 5 is far from a bad game.

Review – Lone Survivor

Although I have not written a review in a while, I can still vividly recall my month-long indie game spree, beginning with Devolver Digital’s Hotline Miami and culminating in Superflat Games’ Lone Survivor, which I will be reviewing today. Lone Survivor bills itself as a post-apocalyptic survival horror game in which the player controls an unnamed protagonist who spends his days exploring the dark hallways of his apartment complex in search of companionship amidst a “zombie” apocalypse. What distinguishes Lone Survivor from other survival horror games is twofold: everything is rendered in 2D, an aesthetic choice not typically associated with the horror genre, and it was all made by one man, Jasper Byrne. So is immersion still possible in such unconventional circumstances? Read on to find out!

Review – Hitman: Absolution

I have nothing but fond memories of the Hitman series, which was the first to turn me into a fan of the stealth genre. Having beaten Blood Money years ago, I counted down the days until I would see a sequel. Six years later, Eidos finally managed to deliver, but was it worth the wait?

Review – Mark of the Ninja

Of the two major releases I have played from Klei Entertainment (Shank and Shank 2), both felt extremely underwhelming. It was by chance that I stumbled onto Mark of the Ninja, and having noticed its surprisingly high review scores, I made my purchase with cautious optimism. It was marketed as a stealth game, standing in stark contrast with the action-packed gameplay familiar to the Shank series. If Shank was so mediocre, that had to be a good thing, right?

Review – Call of Duty: Black Ops II

For readers looking for an in-depth review of Black Ops II’s multiplayer, I am sorry to disappoint. My knowledge in that area is minimal, and as far as I am concerned, nothing has changed since the last iteration (save for some new weapons and maps). It is still a fun and solid experience rivaled only by few others, but my true qualifications as a reviewer lie mainly in single player.