HIGH An exceptional narrative. 

LOW Technical issues.

WTF Learning new curse words in Italian!

It’s impossible to deny that Hangar 13’s Mafia series has strong, cinematic aspirations. While many narrative-focused titles pull from popular films, there’s a distinct feeling that in the case of Mafia, the clichéd sentiment of “it feels like I’m playing through a movie” really makes sense. 

The strength of each iteration in this long-running franchise (spanning two decades and four console generations) has always been the writing, presentation, and immersive worlds. As a fan of crime films, I’ve enjoyed playing through each successive release, pointing out obvious parallels between the games and movies that inspired them. From the clear callbacks to Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas in Mafia II to the ’60s/’70s motifs in Mafia III, the series is a pastiche of the best mob movie tropes wrapped around some of the best writing videogames has to offer. 

The latest entry, Mafia: The Old Country, continues the pedigree by taking players back to the origins of the Sicilian Mafia. Set in the early 1900s, this third-person action-adventure has players controlling Enzo Favara on his rise from indentured sulfur mine worker to a bona fide member of Don Bernardo Torrisi’s crime family. His journey is one marred by bloodshed and the pursuit of vengeance, with loyalty to both the family and his closest friends tested throughout the roughly 12-hour campaign. 

Narratively, it’s almost unsurprising how well-written The Old Country is. It’s a gripping and mature tale that echoes the best mob films, especially the opening to The Godfather Part II. It hits all the major points that most crime films seem to hit, but it’s acted and told so well that I was engaged the whole time. 

Enzo himself is a fascinating character, echoing the likes of Robert De Niro’s character in Once Upon a Time in America or other notable tragic figures like Michael Corleone. There’s complexity in his journey, and the performance is strong. Other characters like Don Torrisi or his underboss, Luca, add to an already-rich story. 

This narrative is helped by excellent presentation throughout, ranging from exceptional character models to cutscene cinematography that furthers the idea that this is interactive crime drama. Cutscenes are presented with black bars above and below the screen to give a more cinematic feel. 

Those who have played earlier Mafia titles will feel right at home with the gameplay loop of the Old Country. Seen from a third-person perspective, The Old Country is a mostly linear and script-driven experience. Rather than focusing on a large, interactive open world that can be explored, the story is confined to a mission-based structure, which works. The change in structure allows for a more focused experience, with little filler slowing it down. 

The world itself is gorgeously rendered, with an amazing-looking Italian countryside. While focused on scripted sequences, there are some free-roaming areas that players can drive between or ride through on horseback. The world feels lived-in and real, and despite no gameplay incentives to explore aside from a few collectibles and bits of lore.

The snappy and responsive third-person shooting returns, with every shot feeling heavy and impactful. Snapping to cover and popping my head out to land a few hits on enemies was satisfying, and each gun has the expected pros and cons, like shotguns packing a bigger punch but being effective only at short range, while distance rifles feel unwieldy up close.

The biggest change to combat, however, is Enzo’s knife. Many missions require Enzo to use stealth, with players given the option to choke enemies out or quickly stab them to avoid detection. Knives can lose sharpness after use after silencing enemies or opening locked doors, so I appreciated this light resource management forcing me to choose when a knife was necessary.

Missions offer much variety, with some focusing on stealth and some that go loud and culminating in car chases throughout Sicily. One early highlight had me go on a collection run, picking up money that tenants across the map owed. One of the interactions tasked me with holding an unloaded gun on someone to force them to pay up, while another offered a firefight against bandits who were stealing from a farmer who’d already paid his protection money. There are plenty of great situations throughout the campaign, many mirroring iconic moments in mob films. 

My one major caveat about this otherwise-excellent experience is the presence of glitches. There was nothing game-breaking, but I noticed weird inconsistencies like enemies sliding through environments, audio cutting out abruptly in cutscenes, and NPCs clipping through objects. It’s a little immersion-breaking, but it didn’t ruin the experience.

Like the best crime films, Mafia: The Old Country succeeds thanks to a complex and dark tale of revenge and familial ties. It’s a short, yet satisfying ride, and Enzo’s tale is easily one of the best of the year. While some may lament the lack of an open world, the narrative and solid gameplay delivered by the developers makes this an offer no one should refuse. 

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Buy Mafia: The Old Country — PC — PS — XB 

Disclosures: This game is published by 2K and developed by Hangar 13. It is available on PC, XBX/S, and PS5. This copy was obtained via publisher and was reviewed on PS5. Approximately 12 hours were spent in single-player, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated M for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes and Use of Alcohol . According to the site: This is an action-adventure game in which players follow the story of Enzo Favara’s ascension through a Mafia family in 1905 Sicily. Players engage in various criminal activities (e.g., extortion, theft, murder) at the behest of the Mafia. Some missions can involve using knives, pistols, rifles, shotguns, and explosives to kill enemy rivals and bandits. Combat is accompanied by realistic gunfire and cries of pain. Blood-splatter effects occur as enemies are killed; blood pools are depicted under bodies. Players can also employ stealth takedowns (e.g., throat slitting, stabbing from behind) to kill enemies discreetly. A handful of story sequences require players to execute characters at close range in order to progress. Cutscenes also depict intense acts of violence and/or gore: characters shot in the head; a man’s throat slit at close range; a bound man in a chair beaten to death; a character’s finger sliced off. The game contains some suggestive material: women escorting men inside a brothel; a man tied to a bed by two women inside the brothel; dialogue such as “I found them still in the whorehouse an hour ago” and “Give me…more vino and all the lovely boobies.” During the course of the game, players’ character can consume alcohol and drive while under the influence. The word “f**k” is heard in the game.

Colorblind Modes: Colorblind modes are not present in the options menu.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Gamers: There are plenty of visual cues during gameplay, like indicators to let players know where enemies are around them, as well as when they are shooting. HUD elements can be adjusted in the menu. Subtitles are present and can be resized. As no audio cues are needed for gameplay, I’d say this is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: The controls cannot be remapped, but there is a diagram.

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HIGH Goro Majima finally gets his very own game!

LOW The sailing and piracy aspects fall short of expectations.

WTF Sorry, no WTF moment here. Everything in this game is completely normal.

Some time after the events of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, series favorite Goro Majima washes up shirtless and dehydrated on a small island and is promptly saved by an innocent little tyke named Noah who warily hands the tattooed weirdo a cup of water. This random act of kindness results in Majima dedicating his life to protecting the little guy from assorted bastards on the island and making sure Noah’s wish of seeing the world is granted… by becoming an actual pirate sailing around the high seas at the helm of his own pirate ship.

Typically, if a sixty-year-old man loses his memory, begins dressing up as a pirate and promises to take a random ten year old boy away from his family on an extensive adventure… well, it wouldn’t end well for them. However, the story told in Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii isn’t terrifying — it’s heartwarming! Swoon as our lovable amnesiac ex-yakuza scamp rolls around Hawaii sinking enemy ships for plunder and stabbing the living hell out of anybody who gets in his way.

Of course, pirates have enemies and Majima will have to frequently defend himself from people who think a one-eyed maniac carrying a pair of razor sharp swords will make for an easy target. This entry opts for real-time third-person combat, and while Majima might be over the hill, he’s still a nippy little bugger in combat, scooting around the battlefield faster than a greased ferret shooting down a drainpipe.

Majima has access to two battle styles — his classic ‘Mad Dog’ where he brandishes a knife and can split into doppelgangers, and the new ‘Sea Dog’ pirate-themed stance where he dual wields a pair of cutlasses, can haul people around with a grappling hook or blast them in the face with a flintlock pistol. There are often tons of enemies on the screen, but fret not — Captain Majima is more than capable of ripping through anyone.

So, realism may have left the building, but joyful antics and salty shenanigans are in plentiful supply when it comes to Pirate Yakuza.

Unsurprising to anyone familiar with the character, Majima makes for an fantastic protagonist. He’s fearless and borderline demented, but also surprisingly sharp and empathetic in story scenes — at least when he’s not summoning cursed monkey Gods to punch people in the face.

The Hawaii map from the previous game makes a return, and there’s a few islands peppered nearby that can be visited for various reasons, from Noah’s home on Rich Island to the insane pirate lair known as Madlantis, where cannon-blasting seadogs drop anchor for well-deserved R&R. There may be shark tanks.

Naturally for a Yakuza game, there are tons of side activities, substories and minigames to indulge in. I’m not going to spoil them, but the revamped baseball minigame Bang Bang Batting deserves a special shout out, transforming one of the least interesting tasks in the series into a seriously addictive spectacle. It’s great.

Customization options aren’t too shabby either. Majima’s ship can be decked out as the player prefers, from the ominous black and gold setup I went with, to something that looks like it’s been dragged straight out of a magical girl anime with laser cannons melting everything in sight. Clothing options are also incredibly extensive, from basic t-shirts and hoodies to the apocalyptic Fist of the North Star-adjacent spiked shoulder pads I rolled with.

Given that this all of this madness sounds like it’s leading up to being the best game ever made, what’s the catch? Well, the catch is that as a side entry in the series, it doesn’t feel as fully-fleshed-out as it could have been.

Take the sailing, for example. The shipborne side of things isn’t bad, exactly, but it is disappointingly safe. There’s no truly open world sailing, with various maps being chopped up into sections and accessed via quick travel. Most battles on the high sea end in the blink of an eye, and its arcadey feel robs it of authenticity.

The fact is that despite the theming it’s not a pirate simulator in any way, and things such as weather changes are minor. Anyone who’s played Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag or Sea of Thieves will know how a sudden squall and churning waves can enhance the experience, but Pirate Yakuza doesn’t even attempt to compete on that level. For such a focal point of the story, being on the ship feels much like any other bolted on minigame in the series — decent, but somewhat throwaway.

I also have to say that despite liking the story overall, corners have been cut here, too. The whimsical and generally carefree nature of the plot is great, but there’s too much filler in the midgame. It doesn’t feel offensively padded out, but expect to fight human chew toy and supposed pirate boss “Keith” far more often than is desired, or to slam the brakes on storyline progression until the player levels up Majima’s ship or progresses through the ranks of the Pirate Coliseum before being allowed to continue to the superb finale. They’re unnecessary detours.

Despite all that, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is still pretty great overall, but this was one case where the devs should have pulled out all the stops to offer something truly different and unique within the series, and it didn’t quite get there.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Buy Like a Dragon: Yakuza Pirate in Hawaii: PC – PS – XB

Disclosures: This game is developed by Ryu ga Gotoku Studio and published by Sega. It is currently available on XBO/X/S, PS4/5 and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PS5. Approximately 30 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated M and contains Blood, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, and Violence. The official description reads as follows: This is an action-adventure game in which players control an ex-yakuza (Goro Majima) stranded on an island in the Pacific. As players seek to regain Majima’s memories, they explore the island and battle enemies to become captain of a pirate ship. Players engage in melee combat, using punches, kicks, blades, and pistols to kill enemies. Fighting is highlighted by impact sounds, cries of pain, and frequent blood-splatter effects. Finishing moves can involve brief slow-motion effects and/or dramatic stabbings. Cutscenes depict further instances of violence: a character shot repeatedly; a bound man punched and kicked; a child kicked on the ground. Some female characters wear revealing outfits (e.g., low-cut tops, deep cleavage); in one background area, a man is depicted groping a woman’s chest. The word “f**k” appears in the game.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available, though elements such as the subtitles can be recolored to suit.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles can be altered and/ or resized. There are no significant auditory cues. I’d also say that the game is also fully playable without audio.

Remappable Controls: Yes, this game offers fully remappable controls.

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HIGH Escaping from jail for the first time.

LOW The final heist mission.

WTF Why does everyone in this town sleep with their eyes open?

Thief Simulator 2 is a wireframe — and by that I mean it’s an amalgam of mechanics that form the shape of something interesting, if not the substance.  Generally, Thief Simulator 2 makes good on its titular promise, offering a technical exploration of the trade complete with home invasions, safecracking and bank heists.  Upon closer examination, it fails to stretch beyond these constituent parts to truly embrace a life of larceny.

The narrative here is mostly a setup for thievery. Our unnamed protagonist has found himself in over his head with the mob, and is now staring down the wrong end of a sizable debt. Thankfully, it’s nothing some lockpicks and a solid work ethic can’t fix.  Set in modern-day suburbia, Thief Simulator 2 takes place across two semi open-world neighborhoods as our thief-on-the-run attempts to burgle his way back into the Lombardi family’s good graces.

While there are several mission types in this first-person crime spree, each is structured similarly — case the joint, sneak in, grab the loot and exfiltrate with none the wiser.  There’s an emphasis on preparation, with reconnaissance forming the cornerstone of a successful infiltration.  Early on, players are required to manually ‘mark’ residents through line of sight, revealing a chunk of their 24 hour schedule.  This is quickly obviated by the micro-camera — a handy little device which, when planted outside a residence for 24 hours, reveals every inhabitant’s full schedule, including pets. 

To streamline the pilfering are a host of tools and skills that can be unlocked and upgraded as the player progresses.  Gaining these abilities requires experience points which are awarded not only for completing missions, but also for all items stolen along the way.  I developed a form of digital kleptomania as I stuffed my backpack with every cell phone, wallet and bottle of wine I could lay hands on, chuckling as I imagined the inhabitants waking up the next morning to bare walls and empty safes.

These abilities and tools act as a kind of stage-gating to the progression.  House 112 on Madison Street just installed those fancy new ‘Level 2’ locks?  Time to steal as much stuff as I can to level up my lockpicking skills.  Someone just install out-or-reach security cameras? A fancy remote control drone can disable it, allowing me to bypass security and move on.

I appreciate Thief Simulator 2’s emphasis on planning, and the ever-expanding toolset offers an appealing carrot to keep one moving forward. However, I quickly developed a sequence that worked for virtually every main mission — plant the micro-camera, cross-reference the schedules to discern when everyone is either asleep or out, and then sneak in and sneak out.  Rarely did I feel pushed outside of this comfort zone, and I rarely had to think on my feet.  The residents seldom deviate from their daily agenda, and as long as I picked an opportune time and didn’t dilly-dally, I rarely ran into issues.

I found this ease slightly disappointing. Given the open nature of the missions and the wide array of abilities and tools, I was hoping that creative problem solving would be encouraged.  Not only is this not required, there generally isn’t opportunity for it.  Player agency, for the most part, begins and ends at whether I want to sneak in through a window, vent or front door — beyond this, most levels play out in identical fashion.

To be fair, later missions do offer stiffer challenges.  More complex homes have full security teams and increased levels of electronic surveillance and countermeasures.  These were more engaging and emphasize my favorite feature in Thief Simulator 2 — the door closing mechanic. 

For a thief, silence is golden. As such, doors must be slowly closed by holding down the button for an extended period to avoid unwanted attention.  Equally important was re-locking each door behind me, as residents and guards will become suspicious if doors are left open or unlocked.  Of all the mechanics in Thief Simulator 2, this made me feel most like a real burglar, and added a much-needed layer of tension when trying to quickly execute a robbery.

Beyond the standard residence thefts there are two other mission types. The first occurs if the player is arrested, and is by far the more successful of the pair. 

Finding themselves in a jail cell, the player must pay a fine or plan their escape.  Picking the lock of my jail cell, sneaking through the station (and course filching whatever my sticky fingers could nab) and finding a key to make my escape was the highlight of my time with Thief Simulator 2.

Unfortunately, the heist missions don’t fare as well. These complex stages completely abandon planning, which then removes much of the player’s agency in the process.  These could have served as a ‘final exam’ of sorts after cutting one’s teeth on the small scale robberies prior, but instead they’re largely trial-and-error stealth missions, requiring little more than avoiding the paths of guards.

There’s a compulsive, checklist quality to the action in Thief Simulator 2.  Once I developed a successful sequence, I found pleasure in its repetition — I dotted every “I” as I deftly picked locks on my way in, and then crossed every “T” as I shut and relocked those same doors on the way out.  However, these moments were just base mechanics and never developed beyond that — planning is as simple as planting a camera, and a successful robbery is just a matter choosing the right the time of day. I have to imagine that being a real thief is more complicated than this, and I wished Thief Simulator 2 asked more from me.

Rating: 6 out of 10

— Ryan Nalley

Disclosures: This game is developed and published by Ultimate Games. It is currently available on XBX/S, PS5, and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the XBX. Approximately 20 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated T and contains Drug Reference, Language, Use of Alcohol, and Violence.  Given the title, it’s safe to assume that Thief Simulator 2 doesn’t encourage lawful behavior, and every mission revolves around stealing or other illegal activities such as vandalism. Conflict avoidance is generally best practice in Thief Simulator 2 and as such, there’s not a significant amount of violence.  Characters can be struck with a baton or crowbar, but there is no blood or gore present. Most four-letter profanities are present throughout the game, but not excessively.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles, however this only pertains to the dialogue for the story.  Ambient dialogue in the world is not subtitled. The subtitles cannot be altered and/or resized. Outside of the glaring omission of subtitles in the game world, Thief Simulator 2 does a good job of providing visual representation of essential sounds.  I played a number of missions without sound and did not find that there were any limitations.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable. This game does not offer a full controller map diagram.  In addition to the screenshots, movement is mapped to the left stick, with camera control on the right.  The A button is used to interact with the world, while the B button is used to jump, and the X button to lock doors.  The Left Trigger is used to sprint, while the Right Trigger is used to attack. While in a vehicle, the Right Trigger controls the gas, while the Left Trigger controls braking and reversing.

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HIGH Finding the last piece of evidence that finally cracks the case.

LOW The myriad technical issues.

WTF With all the passwords left on sticky notes, this city needs better IT Security.

A first-person detective simulator featuring procedurally-generated worlds, characters and objectives, Shadows of Doubt is a dream come true for aspiring gumshoes. 

Upon first stepping into the streets of Casablanca Quarter (one of the pre-built cities a player can choose) I was immediately drawn into the world of Shadows of Doubt.  Owing no small debt to film noir, the architecture feels suitably oppressive.  Residential blocks tower over my character, their tops disappearing into a grainy haze.  It’s always dark in this city, even during the daytime.  I navigate by haloed neon-light, glowing through steam rising from a nearby sewer.  The city shakes and groans around me — an apparent earthquake.  It passes quickly and none of the other citizens seem concerned.  I move on.

Shadows of Doubt is rendered in voxels (three-dimensional pixels) but eschews the cutesy, retro aesthetic typical of the style.  Instead, it lends the world a rag-tag air — buildings, furniture, even people appear rough-hewn and cobbled together.  The city is messy in the best way, where every trash can, safe or person may hold the clue that breaks the case.  It’s good that the world looks so good, as much of my time was spent getting up close and personal with it.

There are a variety of case types — investigating murders, infidelity, corporate espionage — but most revolve around the process of collecting and linking evidence to a person and event. 

In one such case I was hired to investigate a jilted lover’s philandering partner.  Arriving at the accused’s apartment, I knock.  With no answer and a limited number of lockpicks, I sneak into an adjacent air vent, snaking through the ductwork until I reach the living room.  Inside, I waste no time opening drawers, searching for notes, emails, gifts — anything that might prove the infidelity.

Shadows of Doubt demands an engagement with the minutia of its world in such a way that it’s easy to forget its origins as procedurally generated lines of code.  Beyond a brief tutorial case that introduces the basics of evidence collection and demonstrates the title’s internal logic, there is virtually no handholding or guidance.  It’s left entirely to the player to decide which pieces of evidence are relevant, and how best to connect the dots to draw conclusions.

Exploring the unfaithful lover’s bedroom, I find a crumpled note stuffed in a drawer.  Unfolding it reveals a poem signed with initials “XY”.  Time to crack open the phone book to track down any citizens with those initials, and hopefully some answers.

Clues like this form a breadcrumb trail from one citizen to the next until the truth is uncovered.  If I hadn’t noticed that note, I may have discovered a stray fingerprint that didn’t match my employer or their spouse, or maybe an email alluding to a workplace tryst.

There were several instances where I struggled to make these connections, and given the free-form, open-world structure of Shadows of Doubt, I found myself overwhelmed by the possibilities.  Unsure of where to head next, and without a solid lead some of my cases just fizzled out.  Is it a realistic depiction of the investigative process?  Certainly.  But is it a satisfying player experience?  Not so much.  It could be that I’m just not cut out for the life of a P.I., but I would have welcomed a hint system to nudge me in the right direction.

Despite these failures, I was still compelled to press on and pick up new cases.  The act of physically exploring these spaces and connecting the smallest details, but still knowing failure was a possibility brought me into the fiction, making me an active participant in its narrative. Unfortunately, this illusion comes crashing down when it comes to executing the necessary interface steps to make these connections.

Cases are tracked on a virtual corkboard where players can pin pieces of evidence in the form of cards (people, items, fingerprints, etc.) and then literally connect them with thread.  This process is menu intensive, and I often found the various pop-up menus failing to register my inputs, or that my cursor would suddenly disappear when trying to select an inventory item.

Most of these issues can be worked around by closing and re-opening the menus, but I often felt as though my mental energy was devoted to outsmarting a stubborn UI, rather than a merciless killer.  While I’m sure many of these problems will be addressed in future patches, as it stands, my experience was significantly compromised by these bugs.  Nothing shatters the climax of a city-wide manhunt like having to reload a save because I got trapped in the security camera interface.

The other elephant in the room is the procedural generation system.  While I generally prefer more intentional authorship, I was genuinely impressed by the level of detail and nuance in each case I undertook.  However, I quickly began to notice repetition in the extraneous material.

Literally every office I explored had an identically written email about a gambling ring.  Each apartment had the same letters to old friends with indistinguishable text.  These elements are incidental and are present to give the space a lived-in feel, but for me they had the opposite effect, taking me out of the experience.

In its current state, Shadows of Doubt is a tricky title to sum up.  In many ways, it’s a remarkable and rewarding experience that demands wholesale buy-in from its players.  On the other hand, it’s immensely frustrating and ultimately disappointing, with repetitive elements and technical foibles destroying its façade. 

While difficult to describe it as a success, Shadows of Doubt is a title I won’t soon forget, and if the itch in the back of my brain is any indication, it won’t be long before I’m back on the streets, chasing down leads and catching killers.

Rating: 7 out of 10

— Ryan nalley

Disclosures: This game is developed by ColePowered Games and published by Fireshine Games.It is currently available on PC, XBS/X, and PS5. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PS5. Approximately 15 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was not completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated T and contains Blood, Mild Language, Tobacco Reference, Use of Alcohol, and Violence. The ESRB Rating Summary is as follows: This is a simulation game in which players assume the role of a detective solving murder cases. From a first-person perspective, players explore an open-world environment, gather evidence, interact with characters, and obtain gadgets and equipment. Throughout the game, players encounter and investigate cadavers/corpses of murder victims. Players can use various weapons (e.g., knives, boxcutters, batons) and their fists to engage characters in melee-style combat. Combat sometimes results in blood-splatter effects. Players’ character can purchase and consume alcohol (e.g., vodka, bourbon), resulting in a drunk effect (i.e., blurred vision, stumbling). Players’ character can also purchase tobacco products (e.g., cigarettes, cigars, tobacco), which can be held but not used/consumed. The word “bastard” appears in the game.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. While the subtitles generally cannot be altered or re-sized, certain written elements in the game world (letters, notes, etc.) can be toggled between handwriting and typeface for easier legibility. All dialogue is subtitled with the exception of some background dialogue such as a PA system in the city, televisions in the world, and other incidental dialogue of this nature.  I did not find these elements to be necessary for progression, although they do provide background information for the world. All audio cues are represented by on-screen indicators.

Remappable Controls: Yes, this game offers fully remappable controls.

The post Shadows Of Doubt Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH The investigation of the scenes is carried out with a good sense of realism.

LOW The emphasis on using assumptions to solve cases can be frustrating.

WTF The exam for case file #3 — Bloodbath — a truly WTF case.

It’s not easy to make a good true-crime game, as one needs to be as realistic as possible to articulate the variables of a full crime investigation, while also making scenarios both believable and engaging. Scene Investigators succeeds on all counts, and will keep fans of the genre glued to the screen.

The premise is simple — the player is a trainee investigator tasked with solving a series of crime cases, each presenting puzzles that require deductive reasoning, attention to detail, patience, and problem-solving abilities to uncover the truth.

Since we play as a trainee trying to become a professional investigator, the cases we solve are actually exams and not ‘real’ crime scenes. Each has as its own set of questions and our goal is to answer them correctly. These vary between things like who killed who, where was character X at Y time, who owned object Z, and so forth. Answering these not only allows us to complete the investigations, but the percentage of correct answers unlocks new crime scenes, letting us progress in the campaign.

The gameplay mechanics are intuitive, making it easy to navigate crime scenes and examine clues. We move in a first-person perspective, and interact with the objects via the mouse. We can zoom in and out, rotate 360 degrees, and even magnify specific objects to get a closer look. We also have other tools like a camera to take photos, a flashlight, and a notepad — and the player will need to jot down every clue they find!

The game offers a multitude of puzzles to solve, which correspond to various types of crime that can be committed. For example, in one of the cases we have to solve who poisoned the hostess of a birthday dinner by delving into the personal lives of the guests (searching the computer, wallet and other personal objects). In another case, to solve the disappearance of a missing child, we must be able to calculate the whereabouts of each family member at a given time using scattered clues.

What differentiates Scene Investigators from others in the genre is the emphasis on following instinct. The crime scenes don’t offer all the clues needed to fully resolve cases, and most of the evidence is innocuous. Indeed, not all the interactable objects are important to the investigation, and not all the non-interactable objects are unimportant, so part of the solution is to intuit and make assumptions to fill in any gaps. This is a nice detail, because in real life it’s rare for crimes to be solved by way of having full and complete evidence.

Similarly, Scene Investigators cannot be considered an ‘easy’ experience for people with passing interest in the material. The player must spend time studying the scene and connecting all the pieces of evidence, and in the end, trusting their gut to make a final judgment. It’s likely a player will fail over and over again, repeating the same crime scene several times until realizing the true resolution. In this sense, I feel most comfortable recommending it to lovers of the true-crime genre and for those who want to exercise their logic and problem-solving skills.

Overall, Scene Investigators is a perfect game for CSI and The Mentalist fans. It offers lovers of the genre the challenge of analyzing crime scenes with a realistic approach in a way that remains loyal to its concept while also being fairly educational. A rare trick!

Score: 7.5 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed by and published by EQ Studios. It is currently available on PC.  This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PC. Approximately 11 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: As of press time, this game was not reviewed by the ESRB. Being a true-crime game, Scene Investigators naturally contains blood and themes like violence, murders, sexual assaults and child abuse. Caution is advised for people who are sensitive to distressing topics. This game is not recommended to children.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles cannot be altered and/or resized. There are no audio cues since this game is practically silent. The game is accessible for deaf and hard of hearing people.

Remappable Controls: Yes, this game offers fully remappable controls.

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HIGH An amazing cast of colorful characters in one massive mystery.

LOW That this game did not get ported or remastered sooner!

WTF All the crazy plot twists.

Ghost Trick was originally developed for the Nintendo DS and directed by Shu Takumi, who also directed many entries in the Ace Attorney series. In Ghost Trick, players take control of a recently-deceased spirit by the name of Sissel. Players will use his supernatural powers to navigate the 2D world, solve puzzles, and uncover plenty of secrets along the way.

The game’s titular powers come from the two major aspects of play — to ‘ghost’ (players can possess an object by moving into it) and to ‘trick’ (players can manipulate the object they currently possess). These powers mean that Sissel is essentially a poltergeist, although not a powerful one.

In fact, he has a lot of limitations, including things like how far he can move between objects, or that each object has only one specific action — if any, at all. A lamp, for example, might only be able to switch on or off.

Learning how to use these powers while keeping their limits in mind is the challenge at hand, and this setup lends itself to many unique situations throughout the story. The situations also (usually) involve saving someone’s life via one of Sissel’s other abilities — going back four minutes before a person’s death and changing the past.

After saving a life, Sissel is able to communicate with these ‘former’ spirits, which leads to plenty of comical (or sometimes, gravely serious!) encounters with the large and colorful cast of characters. I always enjoyed seeing these interactions as the story went on, from the fiery young detective to her stern mentor, or some very off-putting foreign assassins. Many are flamboyant or over-the-top, but they all possess details that humanize them, and their individual stories coalesce into the greater mystery surrounding Sissel’s death.

Without spoiling anything, this story ties the entire experience together, and it’s so good that it stuck with me years after playing the original DS version. Being able to go through it again was just as enjoyable, and the many twists and turns in Sissel’s path make for a compelling narrative that many still rave about to this day.

The music also deserves a mention, with multiple tracks still playing in my head as I write this review. Not only does the remaster introduce new arrangements and one new song, but also includes the original renditions as options for those who prefer the digitized aesthetic. As a bonus, all of the artistic assets can be viewed or listened to in a gallery that becomes available after completing certain goals.

Ghost Trick is a game where every fantastic detail comes together to make something even greater than the sum of its parts — and those parts are plenty great on their own. This is an experience worth checking out for just about anyone, and with a modest price tag and a free demo, there’s absolutely no excuse to pass.

Rating: 9.5 / 10

Disclosures: This game is developed and published by Capcom. This game is available on Switch, XBO/X/S, PS4/5 and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PS4. Approximately 12 hours of play were devoted to the single player mode. There is no multiplayer mode.

Parents: This game was rated T for Teen by the ESRB due to mild language and mild violence. The official description reads: This is a puzzle-adventure game in which players “rewind” time and work to reverse murders by changing the course of events leading to each kill. Players manipulate objects such as wrecking balls and chandeliers to thwart murders’ plans. During the course of the game, characters are seen getting shot, crushed, and impaled to death. The storyline includes frequent references to murder. The words “damn” and “hell” appear in the dialogue.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. (See examples above.) Subtitles are not able to be resized or altered. Sound cues are not required for play. This title is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable. There is no control diagram. The game is mainly controlled via joystick and different selections are made using various buttons (generally displayed on-screen during gameplay).

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HIGH Terrific and zany mask customizations.

LOW Absolutely terrible teammate AI.

WTF Police assaults that last forever, easily producing hundreds of SWAT team members.

Payday 2 stands as the perfect example of a growing problem with the Nintendo Switch — that being developers porting substandard titles to the platform and then selling at a premium price, and this may just be the most egregious example.

For those who haven’t had experience with this series, Payday 2 is the sequel to 2011’s Payday: The Heist. It’s designed to be a multiplayer-centric, co-op experience where up to three teammates — with a combination of stealth and force — execute a slew of mission types to steal goods and outsmart the police. While Payday 2 can be played as a solo robber offline, the obvious aim is to loot and pillage with buddies.

There are so many problems here, it’s hard to know where to begin, but let’s start with the most obvious — the poor graphics. This Switch iteration most closely resembles the PS3 version from 2013. Even in handheld mode with a smaller screen and some squinty forgiveness, the graphics are poor. Voiceovers are likewise atrocious, with wooden dialogue and pitiful accents. Ditto for the poor gun sound effects.

The tutorials are also shoddy, leaving much relevant information unsaid. Four hours in, for instance, I learned that the ‘intimidation’ voice control used to lower the defenses of a policeman or to take a civilian hostage could also signal teammates to come and revive me. It would have been pretty useful to know this early on!

The gameplay is a convoluted mess, and executing basic functions is incredibly cumbersome in almost every instance. In addition to the standard shooting, for example, the player must deploy an item in some missions. However, the item can only be set down on certain surfaces. What should be a simple task of placing a suitcase on the floor requires far too much precision in the midst of combat, and there’s really no logic to why it only sometimes succeeds.

I also had control and interaction difficulties crop up when attempting to accomplish basic thief-oriented tasks — cutting bars, opening doors, picking up bags… None of it ever seems to work right. I like that Payday 2 requires more effort for complex tasks like lockpicking since it can be exciting to accomplish a tough challenge in the nick of time, but when it takes several tries to simply engage the lock, I’m no longer amused.

By far the most irritating part of Payday 2 is the AI, both friendly and foe. In offline mode, my partners-in-crime are the stupidest people on the planet. They never accomplish required mission parameters, and instead seem hell-bent on constantly engaging the police in firefights. This completely detracts from any sense of a crime being planned and executed with skill, and instead devolves every mission into a huge skirmish.

Making these constant shootouts worse, police summoned to crime scenes never stop spawning. Thanks to the brain-dead AI accomplices provided by the game, living players can expect to be continuously barraged by streams of enemies and gunfire while attempting to do anything. Do cops really send a hundred SWAT team members to prevent a small-time cocaine theft? This infinite stream of opponents results in missions that are far too long and monotonous — they’re more about wading hip-deep through bodies than they are about executing crafty capers.

Oh, and and don’t get me started on enemies glitching through walls en masse, nor the poor level design featuring non-intuitive maps and too much backtracking. Nothing makes me feel like a sly criminal quite like not being able to find my way out of a building. Combining all of these problems, the result are missions that should take five minutes being stretched out into at least thirty, and every quick snatch-and-grab becoming a massive standoff. Sadly, the touted ‘hostage taking’ or ‘police intimidation’ features never get to come out and play since there are simply too many spawned enemies for these aspects to occur.

All of these criticisms were present in the game back in 2013, so nothing has been done to rectify them for this re-release. At the time it was new, the general consensus was to go online with teammates in order to avoid the AI issues. Unfortunately, the Switch has no voice chat to properly coordinate heists, and there’s no community online even if there was — I’m guessing few Switch owners will be willing to drop $50 on a flawed, outdated title that hinges on multiplayer that the Switch can’t do properly.

The sad part is that with some real work put into it, Payday 2 could have been awesome on the Switch. If some of the old problems had been solved, motion controls included and the graphics updated, that would have been a great start. Instead, I’m left with poor visuals, glitching enemies, terrible AI and no way to coordinate with anyone who wants to play. As it stands, it’s extraordinarily difficult to recommend this version of Payday 2 when better versions of this broken game exist at half price on other platforms. Rating: 4.5 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed by Overkill Software and Starbreeze Studios, and published by 505 Games and Starbreeze Studios. A copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on Switch. Approximately 10 hours of play were devoted to offline mode, 5 online, and several missions were completed.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated M for Blood, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Strong Language, and Suggestive Themes. Players use pistols, machine guns, and sniper rifles to shoot and kill various human characters, including police members. Violence is highlighted by realistic gunfire, cries of pain, and large blood-splatter effects. Women are depicted in suggestive poses and/or revealing outfits. Some missions require interaction with drugs. The words “f**k,” “sh*t,” and “a*shole” appear in the dialogue.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: Audio is not required to play this game, and subtitles are provided throughout. I did not find it more difficult when playing without sound.

Remappable Controls: Controls are not remapabble.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available in the options.

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