Review Blog: Summer Edition

On 08/10/2013 at 10:48 PM by Casey Curran

Been putting off doing another one of these, but figured now would be a good time to post all the reviews I've been writing between now and April.

Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge

"The vanilla version of NG3 sucked from what I heard, sure, but this may be better. More characters and weapons is just what Ninja Gaiden 3 needs. And I'm sure the combat is still fun." Oh slightly younger Greenman you are so naive. This game was fucking terrible. It was so bad that I got pissed to the point where my editor told me my review unprofessionally bashed it and I had to tweak it. Rereading that, I had to agree. Fuck this game.

Buy Metal Gear Rising if you're looking for an action game. Buy Devil May Cry if you are looking for an action game and are too lame to buy Metal Gear Rising (seriously replaying MGR>>>>>>>DmC). Buy God of War: Ascension if you're a sheep. Just don't buy Ninja Gaiden 3.

Cubemen 2

I forgot I played this one until I browsed through them. Tower defense game. Meh.

Knight Storm

This is more of a time waster than a game. It's good if you need to kill a little time, but don't expect something overly fun.

Shootmania Storm

Awesome 1st person shooter. Fast paced gameplay focused more on dodging projectiles than most shooters. Highly recommended.

Monaco: What's Mine is Yours

Probably the best co-op you'll get in an indie game. Like Left 4 Dead meets Metal Gear Solid with a class based system. If you can get a group of people, you're in for an awesome night.

Black Rock Shooter

Bah

Sanctum 2

If you have a group of friends who want to play something together...you should probably get Monaco. But this is still a pretty good game. Combines tower defense and 1st person shooting well.

Mugen Souls

Worst game I played this year. So many of the mechanics didn't make sense and the story left mental scars in my head. I get cultural differences, that's why I just said Neptunia was weird. This is fucking creepy.

Jacob Jones and the Bigfoot Mystery

Like Psychonauts meets Professor Layton. Not half as interesting as either.

Class of Heroes 2

This does everything you shouldn't do to make a game challenging. It gets its challenge from tedium and restriction. Second worst game I played this year.

Grid 2

Doesn't do anything wrong, but doesn't really do much to make itself stand out. A very solid racing game for those who want a new one.

The Last of Us

My personal Game of the Year so far and second favorite game this gen. Possibly the best paced game since Resident Evil 4 while having interesting and unique gameplay. The first thing I did when I beat it was start a new game. I'm getting bored of cinematic games more and more this gen, but damn The Last of Us was so good I forgot that.

Atelier Totori Plus

Very boring JRPG. Skip it even if you're something desperate to play on Vita. There are better Vita games on this list.

Doodle Jump

A fun if overpriced Kinect game. Go for the iOS version over this.

Shin Megami Tensei 4

All you weebs mad at me for saying various terrible JRPGS suck, rejoice, there is a JRPG on this list I enjoyed. And it's the one you bought a 3DS for before you saw a screenshot. Recommended to any 3DS owner looking for a JRPG.

Star Conflict

I'm sure fans of flight sims will enjoy this. Free to play model holds it back, but still a pretty fun game.

Capsized

Chris Iozzi wrote a very good review of this game here. I have a different opinion of the game for those looking for another view on it.

Stealth Inc

Best indie game I've played this year hands down. Every Vita owner should get this game.

Bit Trip Fate

Has a good idea, but held back by a few annoying issues. There are better Bit Trip games out there.

Cyberxion

08/11/2013 at 06:47 AM

My post just up and disappeared. It wasn't anything special, so no big loss. Just me lamenting having bought Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge on the WiiU for lack of much else to play. I didn't really dig Metal Gear Rising or God of War: Ascension either, the latter of which was kinda surpising to me since I do enjoy playing the God of War games between shearings. :P

Anyway, good stuff as always, man.

Casey Curran Staff Writer

08/11/2013 at 03:19 PM

I just was saying how there's many better action games this year than Ninja Gaiden 3: RE. Just wasn't good at all.

08/11/2013 at 03:27 PM

I know. I don't disagree with you, I was just clowing on you for the sheep comment. :)

08/11/2013 at 03:30 PM

Well, I mean, it's not like there's any reason to get God of War Ascension other than you buy every God of War game.

08/11/2013 at 04:06 PM

I suppose. I bought it because I genuinely dig the series, but it just didn't click with me. I think I maybe played it for a couple of hours and then it just sat on my shelf collecting dust until I got off my morbidly obese ass and sold it. Either I'm getting burnt out on them, or the game just wasn't all that great, but whatever the case may be, I'm not exactly chomping at the bit for the next one at this point.

Alex-C25

08/11/2013 at 12:29 PM

Just for curiosity, would you recommend SMT IV to people who aren't familiar with RPGs or is it just for experienced players?

08/11/2013 at 03:20 PM

Probably not. The game isn't really that hard, but it does make you rely too much on luck for people not as familiar with JRPGs to like. Persona 4 is the Atlus game I'd recommend to those people.

Machocruz

08/11/2013 at 12:30 PM

Metal Gear Rising is highly underrated. The best action game this year so far, in my opinion. Was my GoTY until Dragon's Crown came out.

Well, technically the Brave New World expansion was the best thing I had played, but it's just that: an expansion.

And the Steam release of Spelunky is up there. It's so good. One of the best 'remakes'/upgrades of a game I've seen in a while. But it came out on Xbox last year, so it doesn't qualify for "best of the year."

08/11/2013 at 03:22 PM

MGR was my GOTY until The Last of Us came out. It's just so much damned fun, combat actually feels different than other action games and the parrying takes a lot of time to really master, but is easy to pick up once you get a good explanation of it (game doesn't really do that good of a job explaining).

I'll have to check out Spelunky.

TripOpt55

08/11/2013 at 02:18 PM

I kept checking for it after release, but somehow missed your The Last of Us review until now. Great review. Still need to pick up Stealth Inc one of these days. Seems like my kind of game.

You'd love Stealth Inc.

NSonic79

08/13/2013 at 01:41 AM

I'm going to have to read your write up on NG3:RE for I so love reading about that original Online Pass enabled game getting racked over the coals. Makes me wish I could've read the origianl first draft.

Chris Yarger Community Manager

08/14/2013 at 08:14 AM

I only played two of these games you spoke of:

NG3:RE; I liked the game, and I hated the game. It was cheap, the camera sucked, Ryu was suddenly working with a government agency and they never explained why, it was cheap, you fought a.. dinosaur?, it was cheap.

But overall, I always enjoyed the newer Gaiden games, but I think my love of the series is what kept me playing onward. If it didn't have the Ninja Gaiden tag to it, I would've absolutely hated it. Does that make sense? lol

The Last of Us;

I loved it. The story was awesome and moving, the ending was great, and I even found enjoyment in the multiplayer.

Patrick Kijek Contributing Writer

08/17/2013 at 03:30 PM

Here here on Last of Us and SMT4.

PixlBit