Even if multiplayer wasn’t buggy, Battlefield 4 would still only be a barely passable installment in all respects besides the snazzy graphics. EA and DICE played it safe by providing the same thing they did the last time around, with another phoned-in campaign and only minor alterations to the online. Methinks it’s time for a change.
Minor grievances aside, Broken Age: Act 1 is a polished four-hour journey filled with amusing and interesting characters. It’s whimsical, fun and contains a twist ending that left me begging for more. This is one of Schafer’s finest works and, if the second act is just as good, I’m certain it will be one of my games of the year.
Contrast gives the impression that it has something to say. Instead, it fumbles the words. It’s a fantastic concept with brilliant visuals, nice set pieces and decent mechanics, but the puzzles rarely get difficult and are plagued with bugs, plus the writing frames everything in a heavy-handed manner. There might be a good game underneath all of the mess, but it would take a lot more polish to enable this lackluster affair to sparkle.
My Top 5 Games of 2013. I don’t care if you disagree.
This is a weekly(ish) blog in which Tayo writes about video games, comics, movies, society and basically whatever he damn well pleases. Be warned that there might be spoilers for a piece of pop-culture you haven’t experienced yet.
Fear and Loathing in Eorzea
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn has been priority number one for me recently, at least in terms of my gaming habit. I started playing in late October, but took a break from it throughout most of November to work on other projects. Starting the week of Thanksgiving, however, I jumped back into it and really haven’t played much else.
This is a weekly(ish) blog in which Tayo writes about video games, comics, movies, society and basically whatever he damn well pleases. Be warned that there might be spoilers for a piece of pop-culture you haven’t experienced yet.
Arkham Horrors
Last week I decided to clear out my backlog, starting with the Arkham games. I managed to beat Arkham Asylum, but I’ve only played Arkham City for a couple of hours. So far, I’m kind of enjoying the series. There are problems, for sure, but overall I really dig the “Dark Knight Simulator” approach. Honestly, I can’t think of any other superhero games that managed to accomplish transporting the player into said superhero’s world and genuinely make them feel like the character.
With all the ironically big, loud and dumb games available, Thunder Wolves comes off as a tryhard. It touts mass destruction, but only a few stages allow for real obliteration, and the characters’ insipid banter is ham-fisted and devoid of wit. Sure, there’s arcade chaos, but the game is only two hours long, the co-op is local only and the glitches are the only true threat. There’s both good action and good action parodies out there, but this is neither.
2K14 is essentially what’s to be expected out of a new sports game, for better or worse: new lineups, new modes, and some alterations here and there to keep things fresh. That being said, some more spit-shining and tighter controls would have been appreciated, and better takes on old gameplay options that by now have grown stale. This is a good game, and the series continues to be tops in basketball sims, but I don’t think fans should give up their copy of 2K13 just yet.
The storytelling is really the driving force behind LP3, which is one of the strongest narratives found in a game this year. This reason alone makes the game worth playing, and the developers deserve a lot of credit for this. There are problems here, and a little more polish would definitely have helped, but I have a feeling many will look back and realize they missed out on a truly underrated game.
It’s unfortunate that The Raven continues to be held back by uninteresting, glitchy puzzles. The plot has thickened a lot in the second episode, which ends with yet another twist that caught me off guard. Perhaps the developers have saved the best puzzles for the conclusion. Something tells me they haven’t, but hopefully the writing will continue being engaging, and The Raven will end on a high-note.
Gamed Culture 