The subject of this installment: the procedurally generated, action platformer Unfair Rampage: Knightfall, by indie developer Imphenzia. The game currently has a demo available on Steam, but no official release date yet.

Unfair Rampage requires players to take control of a futuristic knight who is sent back in time. The past is falling apart, literally, and the heroes of the past need to die an honorable death. It is then the player’s mission to kill the knights of the past using firearms or close melee attacks. I didn’t find much more to the story, but even without extended lore I dig this humorous sci-fi take.

Levels in Unfair Rampage are procedurally generated — the main terrain consists of randomly-stacked blocks meant to be traversed, leapt, and destroyed. Players must do so quickly, as the landscape slowly crumbles behind them. Besides the decaying terrain, players must also contend with the knights of the past, huge buzzsaws, bottomless pits, and other various hazards to avoid.

This is all presented in a cartoon style, with well-designed graphics. Imphenzia is a one-person development team, so it’s impressive what a single designer can create. Not an easy feat.

However, I can’t say much more about Unfair Rampage, because I was not able to progress very far. There are checkpoints throughout the campaign, but I couldn’t even reach the first one. While the game is designed to be a challenge, the issue wasn’t difficulty, but rather the controls.

Controls for this type of 2D play need to tight and precise, which is not what I have experienced. The knight drifts after releasing the control stick, which might be manageable if not for the imprecise jumping. In a fast-paced, crumbling world of this type, jumps need to be immediate and exact. In Unfair Rampage, my character jumps almost an entire second after I press the controller button. It was such a noticeable problem that I thought perhaps it was my wired controller having issues, but the same problems were present while utilizing the keyboard. After a dozen or so attempts, I gave up.

For me, controls are the most important part of a videogame. In Unfair Rampage: Knightfall, the controls in their current state are prohibitive to advancing in and enjoying the content. I Hope that the controls will be fine-tuned before release — if not, those digital knights of the past will miss out on dying an honorable death.

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The subject of this installment: My Beautiful Paper Smile, developed by Two Star Games and published by V Publishing.

My relationship with horror games is somewhat strained. I dislike typical ‘scary face’ caricatures because they’re overdone and weaken whatever substance their story was supposed to convey. Far worse than caricatures, however, are jumpscares. I despise them and feel they’re a cheap, ungrounded and somewhat unethical way to make a game ‘scary’.

Still, some of my favorite games belong to the horror genre – the thing is, they’re dystopian horrors that make the story and world scary rather than relying on shocks or creepy faces. With My Beautiful Paper Smile, I’d hoped that the overused plotline of citizens being forced to wear smiling masks at all times would lead to an experience of intellectual horror, but my first impressions paint a different picture.

Perhaps I should have heeded the warning posted at the very start of the game – Paper Smile occasionally uses light flashes to scare the player. Still, this 3D third-person dungeon crawler-like adventure drew me in with a black-and-white paper cut-out aesthetic.

The player starts as an unnamed character in a prison that represents a society. Its inhabitants are ‘Joyous’ – those who wear a smile mask on their faces and are restricted to only a few areas. It seems like the concept of a panopticon has heavily inspired this title, and I was interested – or at least I was until I got to the gameplay, which is dungeon exploration.

The Joyous carry a ‘life’ (similar to a torch) with them which keeps the darkness out. Most of the play area consists of walls, and a majority of exploration results in walking into dead ends and a few items. There’s not much difficulty in the exploration itself, but there are lethal enemies that relentlessly pursuit the player, and upon contact, cause a very offensive jumpscare.

While Paper Smile‘s gameplay is supported by some environmental storytelling – such as writing about death and torture on the walls – the story itself doesn’t feel substantial or distinct enough to legitimize slogging through these jumpscare dungeons. If My Beautiful Paper Smile is capable of delivering more than a quick shock, I didn’t see it.

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The subject of this installment: Railway Empire, developed by Gaming Minds Studios and published by Kalypso Media.

While it’s been almost thirty years since Sid Meier’s Railroad Tycoon first appeared on PCs, not much has changed in the niche genre of railroad and train simulation. It remains a category reserved almost exclusively for those with a passion for not only locomotives, but for delicately managing complex industry — a fine thing on its own, but disappointing for those of us who want to set up tracks and watch trains run without wanting to partake in the economics. Railway Empire, therefore, stands as a refreshing and surprising entry into a space that’s been quiet for some time.

In a nutshell, it’s a 19^th Century U.S. train simulator, and almost every nuance of the industry during this time period is featured — track design, switches, train construction, town management, building purchasing, resource allocation, and employee hiring, among others. However, in addition to the campaign it also has sandbox and free play modes. I was glad to hear that Kalypso made the decision to port it onto consoles, complete with controller-friendly menus and other accommodations.

Railway Empire is a bit more simplified than Sid Meier’s offerings, with a more streamlined process. While Railroad Tycoon punished players for overlooking a single rail line variable, Empire is a bit gentler thanks to pop-up warnings and a simulation engine that doesn’t come to a screeching halt if something goes amiss. When all the elements come together, the result looks and feels fantastic — watching trains move between cities is majestic, the environments are stunning, the weather effects are awesome, and the sounds are just as good.

Unfortunately, not everything works as it should on consoles. Strangely, certain required actions don’t register the buttons presses needed to activate them, and the same is true for other functions. This becomes hair-pullingly frustrating, as these tasks are needed to advance in the campaign.

Also, when actions finally do work, the absence of an undo function poses another logistical nightmare — there’s no way to backtrack in campaign missions, so tracks often become convoluted messes in an attempt to work around problems or mistakes. I hope Kalypso gives some serious thought to simplifying the creation mode. Point, click, drag, and click should be all there is to it. Also, some pop-up dialog boxes to suggest required actions would be welcome.

Based on watching an array of YouTube videos, the game seems to work better on PC. Using a mouse interface allows for point, click and drag options that seem more responsive than a Dual Shock. The PC menus also seem more logically laid out. That said, the YouTubers I watched still struggled with commands not being registered and the lack of an undo function.

Hopefully, Kalypso will note these criticisms and fix the campaign progression, interface, and menu issues via some future patch. Underneath the irritations lies a seemingly well-polished, robust game in an often-ignored genre. Unfortunately, in its current state it would be hard to recommend anything but the PC version of Railway Empire, and even that would come with caveats.

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The subject of this installment: Project Cars 2, developed by Slightly Mad Studios and published by Bandai Namco.

I know. I know.

Project CARS 2 came out in September of last year. What little dust Slightly Mad’s racing sim sequel kicked up has settled, and the rest of the game-playing world has moved on to bigger and better things. Monster Hunter World or Shadow of the Colossus, anyone?

But Project CARS 2 has haunted me.

I got PS4 code for CARS 2 a few days before it launched, and as I started it up, it looked promising. The opening cutscene featured slow motion cameras lingering on beautifully rendered go-karts, sports, stock and Formula One cars snaking along winding tracks in gorgeous locales while mournful music building to a crescendo established the feeling that these were more than just cars — they were beautiful machines. Push the pedal with reverence.

That instinct proved correct as I got behind the wheel of a low-end car for my first race. As the opening buzzer blared, I held down the right trigger to push ahead to the front of the pack…and instantly careened into the left embankment. I struggled with the simple act of going forward, constantly over-correcting with even the lightest tap of the thumb stick.

I’ve returned to Project CARS 2 a dozen or so times since I limped through that first race, and the experience has never gotten much friendlier. I’ve adjusted the settings, turning on Steering Assistance, Braking Assistance, Stability Control–anything to get the game to feel more accessible. And still, Project CARS 2 rebuffs me.

The opening cutscene was prescient in more ways than one. Although I don’t do it often, I turn to racing games for the feeling of going fast — for the sensation of blowing past beautiful surroundings at dangerous speeds, and for the thrill of teetering on the edge of losing control.

Project CARS 2, however, delivers an entirely different kind of fantasy. Going fast here is hazardous. Turning corners is a risk. The basic act of steering is difficult. The goal of Project Cars 2 is mastery of the vehicle via tweaking your loadout and polishing your driving habits until hairpin turns come easily.

The problem is that for the rest of us (and by that I mean those of us who aren’t willing to sink dozens of hours into gaining basic competency) Project CARS 2 will forever exist as an extension of that opening cinematic — beautiful and slow, enjoyable to watch, and impossible to play.

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The subject of this installment: Battlefield 1‘s DLC, They Shall Not Pass. Developed by DICE and published by Electronic Arts, it’s available on PS4, XBOX ONE, and PC. The code used for this article was part of a Premium Pass provided by the publisher.

Reviewing the Battlefield 1 Premium Pass is a bit of a tricky task. To begin, only one part of it — ‘They Shall Not Pass’ — is actually available. Moreover, this Pass should not be confused with the Deluxe Edition, which provides some nice goodies but not the DLC. However, purchasing the Premium provides all of the Deluxe Edition content. Is your head spinning yet? Trying to figure all this out confused the heck out of me, but the big question is whether Battlefield 1’s Premium Pass is worth the $50 price of admission.

If you’re a committed online player who loves collecting skins, dogtags, and unique weapons, and — most importantly — can see yourself playing Battlefield 1 for another year or more (i.e., the time it will likely take to release the other three DLC packs) then certainly. Campaign-centric players, however, will find literally nothing here. For those in the middle, I’d argue the Premium is still a pretty good purchase.

To explain, They Shall Not Pass is the first of four DLC packs. According to EA’s PR, each will feature a quartet of maps that bring multiplayer to literal new heights (and valleys). The trench warfare here is insane at times — smoke blocks visibility, bullets are flying everywhere, there’s mud all around, and seemingly no end in sight to the conflict. Getting surrounded by the enemy feels intensely hopeless, but being on the winning side of taking down (or defending!) a heavily guarded fort restores a good deal of morale.

Personally, I’ve always enjoyed serving as a tank gunner, and this DLC scratches that itch and then some. Two powerhouse tanks are now added to the mix, including one capable of demolishing opposing armored vehicles with a single well-placed shot. Of course, tank maps end up being a desperate scramble to defend or repair your tank when not raining grenades and explosives on the enemy to incapacitate theirs. Fair warning to my fellow tank aficionados: seeing proximal enemy mines light up as gunner will give you a heart attack.

One of the criticisms of Battlefield 1 is the absence of weapon diversity, and the Premium Pass helps this a bit by introducing a handful of new variations. As usual, they need to be unlocked or purchased before being made accessible, but all four classes receive some love with two variants each. While powerful in their own right, none are thankfully outright unstoppable.

For the fearless, there’s a new Elite Class tailor-made for Thou Shalt Not Pass called the ‘Trench Raider.’ This is a wonderful addition to the mix, featuring ridiculously powerful melee capabilities and an ability to toss med packs to buddies. Also, collectors will also celebrate access to a slew of Battlepacks upon install, consisting mainly of aforementioned dogtags, skins,and puzzle pieces. Me? My big get was a timed team XP upgrade. Shrug.

It’s also worth noting that the Premium offers a few more perks. For starters, Electronic Arts promises priority server placement for Season Pass owners (although I can’t really verify this) and early access to all new DLC releases. The Premium also keeps squads intact during online operations. As it was occasionally difficult to find a spot among a sea of locked teams, I could substantiate this one.

While there’s nothing in the Premium Pass that will entice single players or campaign-only folks to pony up the purchase price, my taste of the first DLC installment leads me to believe that it will ultimately be a must-have for anyone who intends to carry the fight forward once credits roll. However, I can’t vouch for the quality of those future installments… Time will tell if DICE and EA will ultimately deliver $50 worth of extended life to Battlefield 1. As for me, I’m on board.

See you in Marne!

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