HIGH Solving the serial killer case.

LOW The gunfights.

WTF I feel like cops shouldn’t be driving off so many ramps?

On paper, The Precinct seems like a great idea. Take the formula of a police simulator and throw in an actual narrative. Instead of patrolling the streets as a generic player-created avatar, the main character will have a name, backstory, and goals they want to achieve. It’s a great idea that’s quickly sabotaged by the way the content thoroughly underdelivers on the very aspect that’s supposed to differentiate it from others in the genre.

In The Precinct the player controls Nick Cordell Jr., a rookie cop determined to rise through the ranks of the police department where his father served as Chief — until he was murdered by persons unknown, a crime that Nick will go to any lengths to solve, if by ‘go to any lengths‘ one means ‘write a LOT of parking tickets‘.

In spite of the intense plot hook at the core of the experience, Nick will not spend much of The Precinct‘s playtime investigating his father’s murder, interacting with other characters, or really doing much to make him feel different from the generic cops that populate other police sims. Nick will be able to have a few conversations that involve a choice of responses, but those responses don’t serve any purpose or affect the plot. No, there’s no significant time spent with him as a character, exploring his feelings about the job he does, the people he works with, or the city his father died protecting. Nick is more of an idea of a character than an actual character, and it’s The Precinct‘s greatest failing that it doesn’t explore the narrative in any real way.

With such a weak script and story elements, it’s good that the police action is competently made, for the most part.

Each new day at the precinct, Nick is allowed to choose from a variety of shifts. Does the player want to write parking tickets, catch speeders, or just amble around, keeping an eye on things? Once they’re out on the streets, the player is free to wander around town, looking for trouble – which never takes long to pop up, of course — if the player goes more than a minute without a crime occurring directly in front of them, they’ll receive a ‘callout’ requesting them to respond to a nearby crime within a certain amount of time. Things are never boring on the streets of Averno City.

Responding to crimes has a solid rhythm to it. A crime occurs and the player runs or drives towards the perpetrator, tapping the ‘yell’ button. Either the crook stops and it’s a quick arrest, or they don’t and the player has to chase them down.

These on-foot chases make good use of The Precinct‘s top-down perspective, letting the player keep track of their quarry as they duck down allies or race through busy intersections. It’s genuinely thrilling stuff, and these pursuits are a pleasure to take part in.

Unfortunately, whenever The Precinct tries to get more complex in gameplay, things take a dive. See, Nick has a partner named Kelly, and he’s… not great. Not only does he insist Nick do all of the driving, he’s pretty dire at chasing suspects, which is a fairly major problem, since more than half of the random crimes that are generated involve multiple perps.

When both crooks run, there’s a pretty good chance that one of them will get away, due to Kelly’s ineptitude. What’s even more frustrating is that one of the criminals frequently surrenders while their partner flees — but there’s no way to tell Kelly to arrest the passive criminal so that I would be freed up to chase the fleeing one. I’d say roughly 60% of the time I’d have to accept that half of a criminal duo was going to get away. The other 40% were times I’d search dumpsters until I found the guy hiding in one — which is another thing Kelly is incapable of doing.

While The Precinct‘s on-foot chases are great, car chases are fairly frustrating, as the backup AI is truly terrible at supporting the player.

It’s a good concept — tail a car to charge up a support bar, then spend that bar on things like spike strips, roadblocks, or cruisers to help run the target vehicle down. In practice, none of these abilities are particularly useful. Even when the spike strips and roadblocks are dropped in a good location — which is not guaranteed — the enemy AI never has any trouble avoiding them, either by driving on a sidewalk to go around the obstacle, or simply by pulling a U-turn. I took part in countless car chases during my time with The Precinct, and the one and only time I saw a spike strip work it was because I rammed the fleeing car into it.

Like the partner AI and car chases, The Precinct‘s combat is also a mess.

From time to time on foot, a crook will take a swing at Nick, and he’ll have to subdue them. Theoretically this should involve the nightstick he carries around, but the attack and block commands are messy to the point of being unusable, especially when every physical altercation can be won by button mashing in a ‘subdue’ minigame.

Gunfighting is equally poor in its implementation. When the shooting starts, the player has to find cover and then hit the aim button. Then, a pointer appears onscreen that they have to awkwardly move around with the right thumbstick. Maybe this works better with a mouse and keyboard, but it’s an absolute disaster with a controller, and should have been swapped out for a standard lock-on system. Also, hitting enemies offers no visible feedback, which ends up making these life-or-death shootouts feel more like tapping a button to make a crook’s health bar shrink.

If it sounds like I hated The Precinct, I can say that simply isn’t the case. The foot chases are a delight, the town of Averno is an interesting location to explore, and there’s a couple of side-cases which actually ask the player to participate in finding evidence and solving a crime. These diversions are wonderful and offer a glimpse of the kind of experience that The Precinct seems to want to be — unfortunately, that potential is let down by too many poor mechanics and a plot that doesn’t do it job.

Rating: 4.5 out of 10

Buy The Precinct – PC – PS – XB

Disclosures: This game is developed by Fallen Tree Games and published by Kwalee 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 30 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode. The game was completed. The game contains no multiplayer modes.

Parents: This game was rated T by the ESRB, and it contains Blood, Drug Reference, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence. It’s a police action game, so there’s car chases and shootings a-plenty, but shooting anyone that isn’t actively trying to kill Nick causes an instant checkpoint reload, so what the game lacks in realism it makes up for with kid-friendliness. The drinking and drug use aren’t shown in a particularly positive light, as one would expect. Still, it’s a cop game, so make sure you restrict it to older teens at the youngest.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: I played almost the entire game without sound and encountered zero difficulties. All information is provided via text, which cannot be resized. The game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: No, the game’s controls are not remappable.

The post The Precinct Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Finally, a boss rush mode.

LOW Waiting on the glider to spawn.

WTF Is that big bubble thing talking to me?

Editor’s Note: This review is for the Remnant II DLC only. For the full writeup of the base game including expanded information and system explanations, please see the main review here.

I absolutely love Remnant II. I don’t think there’s another game out there quite like it, offering players challenging, mechanically interesting shoot-outs across multiple distinct and inspired alien worlds.

Gunfire Games has followed up their masterful base campaign experience with somewhat piecemeal DLCs, each usually offering around 5 hours of additional content, and each taking place in a tweaked version of a previously-visited world rather than transporting the player to somewhere new.

In the third and latest installment, The Dark Horizon, players return to N’Erud, a science fiction wasteland plagued by robots and cyber-ghosts. They’re here to face the doom of this giant constructed biome — the black hole entity known as Alepsis-Taura.

…And that’s basically the entire thrust of the story, which lacks some of the emotional resonance I found in the previous The Forgotten Kingdom DLC. But this is hardly game-killing — Remnant II is more about mood and atmosphere, and N’Erud nails the woe of a lonely, alien landscape.

In the base game, N’Erud was perhaps the least interesting area to traverse as a large, open desert with a lot of empty space between more cramped factory dungeons. Gunfire Games seems to have recognized this shortfall, taking a more radical approach to this revisit.

Here, floating islands of crop fields and mountainous cliffs are divided by seas of oozing purple poison that are still blanketed by the dark, foreboding sky that is distinctly N’Erud. There’s also a new traversal mechanic in the form of gliders to go between the floating islands — players find one, press a button, grab on, and direct their character rides air vents to get where they want.

These gliders highlight the verticality of the overworld — players will scan the horizon for outcrops to soar to — but isn’t particularly interesting and can slow down the pace, especially when in a group as each player must wait for the single glider available to respawn before following.

The other substantial change to the formula is a new upgrade system. these “Prismatic” enhancements have been added with little fanfare — there’s just suddenly a new menu and leveling system to add further buffs to stats like fire rate.

My absolute favorite new addition, however, is the boss rush mode. Quick, simple and long overdue — bosses are consistently the best parts of any run, and now with the base game and three DLCs, there are plenty to rip through. Completion of a boss rush challenge comes with equipment rewards, offering players another way to get gear beyond starting a new campaign.

Other than those change-ups, this is mostly standard fare for Gunfire’s DLC — a handful of new enemies, a couple bosses, and new equipment to further customize the player’s build. Also, I should mention that there’s a new “Warden” which class offers players the chance to bring along a robotic drone companion on their murderous adventures. I tried bringing the little guy along with me (at its most basic level, it added a small shield to my health bar) but ultimately found it to be underwhelming compared to some of the flashier tricks of other classes.

On the face of it, The Dark Horizon is Remnant II’s largest DLC yet, bringing a new leveling system and boss rush mode on top of the usual new equipment and remixed areas. In story and mechanics, though, it’s about as inspiring as a trip through the alien wasteland of N’Erud. Like the previous two DLC, it’s nice to have – and well worth the paltry $10 USD price tag – but I’m still hoping Gunfire Games has something juicier on the horizon.

Score: 7.5 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed by Gunfire Games and published by Arc Games. It’s currently available on XBX, PS5 and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PC. Approximately 8 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated M and contains Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Strong Language, and Violence. The official description reads as follows: This is a third-person action game in which players assume the role of a human survivor in a post-apocalyptic, fantasy world. Players travel between four different realms to battle demonic forces, alien creatures, and corrupted mutants in frenetic combat. Players use pistols, rifles, shotguns, and melee weapons to kill enemy forces. Battles are highlighted by realistic gunfire, cries of pain, and frequent blood-splatter effects. Some attacks on enemy creatures can result in decapitation, with large blood-splatter. One quest item players must retrieve is a severed, bloody hand, which can be examined at close range. The game depicts a topless elven female character, with an exposed breast and nipple. The words “f*k,” “sht,” and “a*shole” are heard in the game.

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.  Audio cues for enemy presence and attacks do not have a visual component onscreen. This game is not fully accessible.

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

The post Remnant II: The Dark Horizon Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH A colorful and vibrant art style.

LOW The combat system feels off.

WTF Gaining XP but not being able to spend it until finding the upgrade

The metrodvania genre has a long history, and it’s one I have an affinity for. The name is a portmanteau of two seminal titles in the genre, Metroid and Castlevania. These experiences are typically in 2D and have extensive maps that are gradually unlocked by exploring and learning new skills that open the way to previously-inaccessible places.

The sense of discovery lends a sense of reward, particularly in how the worlds often fit together, and this design style is both popular and has had a broad influence on videogames in general. There are many, many metroidvanias out there, and given the competition, sometimes being a bit too derivative can be an issue. However, a unique hook or being an exceptionally smooth experience can make one stand out. Sadly, Mars 2120 lacks either of these.

As Sergeant Anna Charlotte, players crash down onto the eponymous planet near a colony where no one appears to be alive. Instead, the facility seems to be overrun by mutants and other enemies. Once the action begins, Mars 2120 makes a decent first impression. It sports fairly attractive visuals with a clean, vibrantly-colored style and a soundtrack that does a good job of building atmosphere, though it’s typical sci-fi fare.

However, it’s not long before feelings of overfamiliarity set in, since Mars stars a female character in a metroidvania who happens to be wearing a combat suit. It’s impossible not to immediately think of Metroid, and given the general look of things, specifically Metroid Dread. This is also clear in the combat, which comes in two variations – shooting and melee.

Shooting is done with a rifle that has different states but lacks power, further let down by no discernable visual feedback. Enemies don’t react to being struck with gunfire — they just stand there or continue advancing as a tinny audio sample from the gun plays. Combos are more effective than firearms, but they’re repetitive as Anna will be doing the same combos over and over again. Additionally, most bosses maintain the same boring pattern throughout — stagger them by shooting and then use a melee combo, repeat ad nauseum. 

The other side of the expected experience is, of course, exploration, and again there’s nothing exceptional here — the environments are well-designed, with some nice graphical details such as shimmering ice in an ice cave location, but it offers the typical environmental tropes typically found in games of this type, with few exceptions. 

Ironically, Mars 2120 lacks the interconnectivity in level design that the best metroidvanias boast, yet but I still often found myself lost due to a lack of a clear indication about where to go next. There are times when Mars 2120 switches from a 2D perspective to a 3D one — which looks interesting and shakes things up — but can also lead to some confusing platforming. It already feels a bits floaty and imprecise, so this lack of clarity and direction only adds to the overall sense that this key aspect of play is unsatisfactory.

There are other issues as well. Early on, the narrative drive is absent, though this does improve later in the campaign thanks to audio logs. Additionally, the developers have chosen a perplexing level-up system, where the player accrues experience points but can’t spend them until a skill is found in the world. It turns the experience system into a pointless exercise, as I frequently racked up huge amounts of experience but couldn’t use them to customize or make choices for huge stretches of time. It was hardly different than simply finding a skill and moving on without any EXP involved, much like most metroidvanias.

All of these things (and I haven’t even mentioned the performance issues!) all add up to the fact that Mars 2120 just doesn’t have anything to make it stand out, let alone stand above the rest of the competition in this already-saturated genre.

Rating: 5 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed and published by QUByte Interactive. It is currently available on XBO/X/S, PS4/5, Switch and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the XBS. Approximately 10 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 Blood and Violence. I would definitely say that the violence depicted in Mars 2120 is on the mild side — there’s no sexual content nor any salty language. The use of violence is of the sci-fi variety and not graphic. 

Colorblind Modes: Colorblind modes are present.   

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles can be altered and resized. I did not notice any issues when playing without sound, though the game did have trouble with telegraphing enemy attacks, but it had nothing to do with audio. Also, the accessibility options for Mars 2120 were extensive. This game is fully accessible.

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

The post Mars 2120 Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Star Wars: Bounty Hunter finally has a PC port, 22 years later!

LOW The live system is still included, despite like a dozen other, more questionable changes?!

WTF When an emulator is better at remastering a game than a professional studio.

Disney might treat the original Star Wars Expanded Universe like a junk drawer these days, but boy howdy do they love to reach in for remasters every now and then. Having already handled most of the usual suspects (though I’m still waiting for a proper console port of Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight!), we’ve seen some solid remasters and re-releases. Sadly, Star Wars: Bounty Hunter (2024) is not one of the good ones.

For those too young to know about this mid-’00s actioner, Bounty Hunter is the origin story of a hardened Mandalorian named Jango Fett. The story is set parallel to the events of The Phantom Menace and he’s struggling to make ends meet before being hired by Sith Lords to kill a target. This sets Fett on a collision course with Montross, a disgraced Mandalorian who betrayed their mutual mentor and effectively doomed their whole society. So yeah, pretty typical space Western fare with some mystical Jedi nonsense on the fringes.

What’s great for Star Wars fans here is the attention to detail. The story incorporates lore from the comics, even including a relevant issue for free as an unlockable for beating the game. Jango’s actor from Attack of the Clones reprises his role to great effect, and other stellar actors like Clancy Brown and Lucille Bliss bolster the cast. The events of the tale lead right up to Jango’s recruitment as the template of the clone army of the Galactic Republic. It’s not the most profound adventure, but that’s not the point — it’s here to be a charming tie-in story for those who wanted more out of Attack of the Clones’ revelations about the Fett family.

So, about the game itself.

The original Star Wars Bounty Hunter was a linear third-person action-adventure with 3D platforming and more shootouts than a Mandalorian can shake a blaster at. While the option to manually aim is there, it’s best to rely on its lock-on system to aim both pistols while diving into the fray. In terms of movement, Fett traverses the environment by climbing and boosting across gaps horizontally and vertically with his jetpack. That said — and it can’t be overstated — the parkour and traversal elements do not hold the player’s hand, and seeing Fett fall to his death sometimes is pretty much inevitable. Initial levels are more forgiving about this, but past the halfway mark, the player will encounter some areas that are sure to test one’s patience.

Fett’s health also doesn’t regenerate, so players must rely on enemies dropping healing bacta tanks, or finding extra health packs hidden around levels. While his pistols never run dry, much of Fett’s arsenal has limited uses, requiring tactful planning. This isn’t a modern titles where the slightest player error is compensated for — try something dumb, and odds are good Fett will end up dead. Also, if players are intending to 100% the campaign, they have to take the time to manually scan every NPC in line of sight (with an otherwise useless-scanner gadget) to see if they might be an optional bounty to collect – a tricky feat in combat-laden latter stages.

Despite all of the areas that might grate on a player, it offers a unique blend of action-adventure gameplay that’s still novel. The closest spiritual successor I can think of would be WET from back in 2009, which also had cinematic flair and a dual-pistol wielding protagonist. Considering that there aren’t many games occupying the same space, the prospect of a new version with “improvements” was exciting — yet after playing, I’m not sure what Aspyr thinks “improvement” means.

Take, for instance, how equipment-swapping no longer pauses play, so in every instance of needing a specific weapon or gadget, I have to hurriedly cycle through everything with the Q&E keys or my mouse wheel while under fire — not ideal when Fett will have a dozen-ish items to shuffle through in the late game.

More egregious is how the aiming and shooting are… changed. Understand, Bounty Hunter is meant to be played with lock-on targeting. Everything is built around this. Manual aiming is exclusively used for sniping, long distance shots, and manually guiding Fett’s rockets into some poor fool’s face. But now? The emphasis is now on manually aiming all the damn time.

Those who haven’t played Bounty Hunter might wonder why this is such a big deal. Surely it can’t be that different! No, it actually pretty much snaps the combat balance like Darth Vader manhandling the neck of an Imperial officer.

When playing in lock-on, Fett can dodge roll, leap and do cool moves to avoid getting shot. When manually aiming, players can expect to taking far more damage, and it was already tough to begin with. Adding insult to injury, the lock-on system did not get the same dev time that manual did, as it kept freaking out on me, zipping 180 degrees back and forth to find a target when enemies were standing right in front of me.

Bizarrely, the anachronistic ‘lives’ system is still here, though ripping it out could’ve been a truly beneficial gameplay change. The player gets five lives with no way to earn more, and in 2024 there’s no excuse for keeping it while Aspyr was making alterations to other systems. No one would’ve blinked an eye if it mysteriously vanished.

Despite all of this, I could still stomach the frustrations if Bounty Hunter wasn’t more prone to breaking than the Millennium Falcon’s hyperdrive. I encountered so many weird animation and camera bugs that any chance of immersion was soundly shattered. it’s all quite rough, from NPCs T-posing in cutscenes to seeing how absurdly easy it is to ghost the camera through the environment. 

Not helping matters, the new lighting and rendering techniques are often distracting while they introduce new graphical glitches, with weird Z-fighting (two textures conflicting to be rendered in the same space) that stuck out every now and then. When navigating vents, sometimes the collision detection would jam the camera inside Jango’s body, making it impossible to tell whether I was moving forward or back. At one point, manually aiming my gun broke Jango’s neck mid-animation, and the list goes on…

There was a chance for something great, here. Bounty Hunter is one of those titles that’s been absolutely deserving of a once-over to really make it shine. The stages are incredibly varied, the mixture of blazing guns and bombastic jet-powered parkour is oddly rare in Star Wars gaming, and it boasts a great pulpy story.

Should people play Star Wars: Bounty Hunter? Definitely. It’s an acquired taste, but I still enjoy its high points. But should anyone play it via this remastered edition? Goodness, no. Considering how long fans have waited for this title to get a next-gen boost, there’s no excuse to release it in this state. 

Final Score: 4 out of 10 

Disclosures: This game is developed by Aspyr and published by Lucasfilm Games. It is currently available on PC, PS4/5, XBO/X/S and Switch. This copy was provided via publisher and reviewed on the PC. Six hours were dedicated to the single-player campaign, and it was not completed.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated T for Violence. It’s a Star Wars game, so nothing will get too intense but there are drug use references, and Fett is portrayed in a distinctly antihero manner given how casually he’ll kill anyone in his way. The player can even open fire on civilians! Honestly, it’s a bit weird how light the ESRB went. This is definitely something for teenagers and up, not the little ones.

Colorblind modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game features subtitles and otherwise relies almost entirely on visual prompts for how to proceed. There are no audio cues needed for gameplay. This title is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: No, the controls are not remappable, not even keyboard and mouse. The cheat console also requires navigating it like the player has a controller, which may be briefly discomforting to players used to being able to type directly with their keyboard.

The post Star Wars: Bounty Hunter (2024) Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH It’s a haunting, lonely place.

LOW We’re still revisiting old locales?

WTF I turned to stone.

Editor’s Note: This review is for the Remnant II DLC only. For the full writeup of the base game including expanded information and system explanations, please see the main review here.

*

When is a remix just a rehash? That’s the driving question to ask when approaching Remnant II’s DLC. I was unimpressed with The Awakened King, which felt like it added some odds and ends rather than anything substantial. The Forgotten Kingdom offers much the same — a few new areas of a previous realm with some slight tweaks (the jungles of Yaesha now have more purple luminescent foliage), a handful of enemies, some new bosses, one additional archetype and a slew of new items.

… And yet I liked this DLC much more than the last.

Maybe I’ve just hit the acceptance stage of grief for the fact that in its DLC so far, developer Gunfire Games seems to be foregoing the exploration of new realms and simply revisiting the old – at a $10 price point, it’s probably unfair to expect much more. But for myself, a player more interested in the world-building of the series rather than min-maxing a particular build, I also think Forgotten Kingdom is more interesting, plot-wise.

Awakened King was a denouement for the story of the Fae – the final coda on the plotline of an eternal-sleep curse and a two-faced usurper. In the DLC, The One True King woke up mad as hell, and the player had to deal with the repercussions.

Forgotten Kingdom centers on the fate of a legendary king and lost tribe of the Pan, the goat-like sentient species of the Yaesha realm who escaped the onslaught of the interdimensional aliens (and series antagonists) The Root. Yet all the player finds are the ruins of a once-mighty empire.

The plotline brings with it a palpable atmosphere of loneliness and loss. While the jungle sections are lush and there’s still the occasional appearance of The Root, the most common enemy type are stone automata from a long-past era, falling apart and sometimes missing limbs or heads. The headlining and most memorable song is more meditative than thrilling, lacking big bombastic crescendos and often punctuated by haunting acoustic strings or reeds.

NPCs to talk to are few and far between. During the journey, the player will repeatedly run into a Pan nicknamed “Walt,” an explorer who hopes to find the lost tribe as he learns more of their fate etched into ancient murals. There’s also a shattered goddess, angry and confused, who tasks the player with a main questline centered on retrieving something. With a little exploration, one can also find a human stranded for over a century who dreams of returning to a futuristic and bountiful Earth that no longer exists. Each of these characters is lost and seeking a means to be whole again.

On the mechanical side, there’s a new complement of weapons and equipment to let folks change up their playstyle. The new “Invoker” archetype is a strong addition, boasting a badass druid-like outfit and powers that feel truly elemental – for instance, the first attack unlocked creates a large tidal wave to strike multiple foes.

The level design of these new DLC areas have a thrilling (and sometimes dangerous) verticality to keep fights fresh – I remember one section hopping from tower to tower as I battled a flying gargoyle and flame-spewing pots with legs. There’s also a section that basically turned Remnant II into a platformer. Although it nearly made me scream in frustration, it was ultimately a satisfying and novel alternative to the usual shoot, dodge, and die gameplay – although there’s still plenty of that. The bosses of Forgotten Kingdom are mechanically interesting, offering patterns to memorize and dodge instead of asking the player to face hordes of enemies. They’re nice fights, though they don’t compare to highs of the base game. 

Of course, all of the new DLC sections can be integrated into a re-roll of the main adventure’s content, but one nice perk is that Forgotten Kingdom also adds new bosses to old sections of the base game, another value-add that makes me want to try another run.

Remnant II: The Forgotten Kingdom worked for me because it’s more than a rehash. Between the standalone story for the jungle realm of Yaesha and a good chunk of new booms and buffs for the more mechanically-inclined, this expansion is certainly full of good reasons to return to these realms.

Score: 7.5 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed by Gunfire Games and published by Gearbox Publishing. It is currently available on XBX, PS5 and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PC. Approximately 6 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated M and contains Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Strong Language, and Violence. The official description reads as follows: This is a third-person action game in which players assume the role of a human survivor in a post-apocalyptic, fantasy world. Players travel between four different realms to battle demonic forces, alien creatures, and corrupted mutants in frenetic combat. Players use pistols, rifles, shotguns, and melee weapons to kill enemy forces. Battles are highlighted by realistic gunfire, cries of pain, and frequent blood-splatter effects. Some attacks on enemy creatures can result in decapitation, with large blood-splatter. One quest item players must retrieve is a severed, bloody hand, which can be examined at close range. The game depicts a topless elven female character, with an exposed breast and nipple. The words “f*k,” “sht,” and “a*shole” are heard in the game.

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.  Audio cues for enemy presence and attacks do not have a visual component onscreen. This game is not fully accessible.

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

The post Remnant II: The Forgotten Kingdom Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

After a few matches of Starship Troopers: Extermination, players are bound to hear “I’m doing my part!” or “Come on you apes, you want to live forever?” over comms as fans fervently belt out their favorite quote from the ’90s sci-fi action blockbuster.

That infectious spirit pervades the game through its referential tone and masterful replication of the feeling – if not the satirical bite – of Paul Verhoeven’s classic. 

Starship Troopers: Extermination is a co-op horde shooter where servers of 16 players gear up and frag out against the bug menace. Choosing from one of three classes – a high-mobility assault, beefed-up tank, or auto-reviving support – they’ll need to coordinate a fusillade of fire to take down hundreds of nasty creatures with the gall to try and stop humanity’s fascist expansionism.

There is little room for solo bravado (especially on the harder difficulty), as anyone but the most hardened veterans will find themselves blown to pieces from some far-off specialist bug with no one around to revive them.

Matches always culminate in a desperate battle against a massive wave of enemies, mixing in some base-building mechanics, followed by a mad dash to the dropship for extraction before it takes off. These sections are the highlight, and Starship Troopers delivers an addictive cycle that I’ve easily sunk more than 20 hours into in short order. 

The game’s biggest detraction in its current state – a decidedly early Early Access state – is the dearth of content. At the moment there’s only three classes, two difficulties, one map and limited unlocks and rewards.

There are also only two modes — one where teams complete a series of successive objectives, and another where those objectives are issued concurrently with raising the infestation level unless they’re completed within a short timeframe.

While the latter may be especially delectable for tactically-minded players, it’s absolutely unplayable without teamwork. Unfortunately, the game in its current state does not facilitate that level of coordination. There is no squad VOIP – only team and local – and no squad leaders or even commanders to issue orders (although even if there were, it would still likely be a difficult proposition). Load up with some friends and see what’s possible, but joining a lobby of randoms just won’t cut it.

Aside from the dearth of early content, Starship Troopers has all the hallmarks of an early build – players will experience frame drops and chops, there are unfinished animations, and some game-breaking errors. I’ve even witnessed a few defeat states after completing the objectives and everyone safely extracting in the drop ship.

But the bones – perhaps the exoskeleton? – of Starship Troopers: Extermination is damn solid.

Offworld Industries has released a roadmap of incoming content, and once things flesh out and expand, I expect this to be a real winner.

*

This game is currently available in Early Access on PC.

The post PREVIEW Starship Troopers: Extermination appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH It’s basically Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater with guns.

LOW I couldn’t keep myself from playing it. 

WTF I wish we were getting a new Pro Skater.  

It’s rare to pick up a game and immediately think “oh hell yeah!” after only a few minutes of play. That moment where things click is magical, and I’m happy to report that Rollerdrome is that kind of game. 

Developed by Roll7 (creators of the OlliOlli series), Rollerdrome is lethal on-wheels action set in the year 2030. Corporations have taken over life as we know it and the world’s most famous sport is the eponymous Rollerdrome, a deadly game in which combatants must kill opponents in an arena while riding on rollerskates.

Taking clear inspiration from films like Norman Jewison’s Rollerball, the story deals with the rampant dystopia and obvious outcry a sport like this has caused. Rather than watching cutscenes full of exposition, players are instead fed bits of story between gameplay segments. Here, they can explore rooms that clue them in on what’s going on in the world. It’s an interesting and refreshing way to give context while also providing a good break from the combat — although I couldn’t imagine anyone wanting a break from the gameplay here. 

Played from a third-person perspective, players are introduced to the mechanics of Rollerdrome via a quick tutorial. Here they learn the basics of moving around arenas on rollerskates and how to pull off tricks. The easiest point of comparison here is the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series, which this work borrows heavily from. Not only is the button layout similar, even the mission structure feels exactly like classic Hawk — not that that it’s a bad thing.

THPS is a classic series that understood how important it was to make the simple act of moving within a game world enjoyable. Rollerdrome uses that template to deliver movement mechanics that are just as satisfying. Pulling off tricks, chaining combos, and just moving around each area is intuitive, which is something that other skating (or adjacent) titles struggle to emulate correctly. 

Now, skating is only half of the gameplay here, as each level acts as a small arena. Players have to kill every enemy present while also completing a certain number of challenges before moving on to the next area, such as collecting tokens scattered across the map, or killing a certain enemy while performing a trick. Structured like a tournament, players have to work their way up all the way to the finals, and every few levels introduce new weapon types and new enemies. 

Gunplay is as satisfying as the movement, and I was surprised by how well the camera was able to keep up with the action. The default, dual-wielding pistols pack a surprising punch in short bursts, while the unlockable grenade launcher is great for taking out giant mechs. This is paired well with the skating aspect, as performing tricks is the only way to refill ammo (which is shared among every gun), and killing enemies fills health. 

Since combat and movement coexist perfectly, Rollerdrome provides a high-octane arcade experience that feels fresh and over-the-top, complemented by a strong sense of style thanks to a gorgeous cel-shaded look that seems inspired by Moebius or ripped from comics like Heavy Metal. The bright colors and retrofuturistic aesthetic give it a unique texture, and the bold titles that appear on the screen before each arena are such a nice touch. The musical score by Electric Dragon also kicks major ass. Seriously, it’s so good that I’m listening to it while writing this review. 

Another cool feature included are the assists. Aside from accessibility options like button mapping and subtitle adjustment, there are a few options that let players tweak things like difficulty to their liking. There’s even an option to disable the challenge requirements, allowing players to breeze through the game without having to worry about completing a specific milestone before moving on. The only penalty for using these is that players won’t appear on the leaderboards, though I think it’s a fair trade-off. There are some levels that got tough, and while I didn’t mind the challenge, I did like having the option to make it easier on myself if I chose. 

I love Rollerdrome. That “hell yeah” factor hit me early, especially once I saw how it utilized the foundation built by one of my favorite franchises, yet still managed to create its own experience. Its satisfying gunplay and sense of momentum make it one of the finest sports games available, while its art style makes it stand out from the crowd. Roll7’s winning streak of incredible skating games continues.

Disclosures: This game is published by Private Divison and developed by Roll7. It is available on PS4/5 and PC. This copy was obtained via publisher for review and was reviewed on PS5. Approximately 15 hours were spent playing and the game was completed. 

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated M for Violence, Blood, and Strong Language. The game is extremely violent, as characters get shot at with different types of guns and blood is constantly being drawn. Definitely not for kids. 

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

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Gamers: Subtitles and visual cues are present. Both subtle size and color can be adjusted, as well as the option for certain important sounds to be accentuated. This game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: The controls can be remapped.

The post Rollerdrome Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH There’s a Barry Burton Mask included with the Deluxe pack.

LOW Pretty much everything else.

WTF The speed of character movement is freaking insane.

I should probably say up front that a certain amount of jank in video games rarely bothers me. I can enjoy sketchy titles if the core hook is strong, and I’ll come away unimpressed with polished work if the underlying mechanics are boring as hell. Unfortunately for Capcom in this instance, Umbrella Corps is an all-around low-rent package that’s busted through and through, with little to offer even the most ardent fans of Resident Evil or multiplayer shooters. Comprised of a startlingly barebones singleplayer mode and a frequently inept multiplayer component, it’s tough to see why the game was even released at all, though it’s obvious why the Resident Evil branding has been dropped from the title.

It’s not immediately obvious just how awful most of the experience is. The tutorial’s okay, and introduces plenty of movement options and tactics. Things like slowly sliding a shutter door open with guns at the ready in case nasties lurk on the other side, or breaking down a barrier to allow ease of movement. These are neat ideas, but they basically never come into use during play.

Then comes The Experiment, a singleplayer offering where everything falls apart rapidly. The premise is that players take control of a nameless Umbrella operative thrust into life-or-death scenarios against the undead. This mode actually shines some light on the one thing that Umbrella Corps gets half right–the guns feel pretty decent, and zombies react in a satisfying manner when shot.

Unfortunately, that’s where the praise ends. The balance of the game is completely out of whack, with enemies often spawning directly behind players or zooming up to them from out of nowhere and annihilating them before it’s possible to react. The birds are airborne bastards, swooping down out of thin air to peck at the eyes of Umbrella agents wearing protective, presumably armored masks. They can kill quickly, and shooting them off is weirdly imprecise.

The tasks during this single player are, naturally, mind-numbingly repetitive. With such heady thrills as ‘shoot zombies to collect their DNA’ or ‘stand on one spot for ages for whatever reason’, it comes off like a gaggle of minigames scraped together to flesh things out just a smidge for solo players. Enemies continually respawn, weapon ammo is arbitrarily limited during certain rounds, player deaths often feel cheap, and just when it seems that it can’t possibly get less appealing, it starts asking players to survive multiple rounds of the same nonsense with no checkpoints in between. It’s quite telling that the choice to continue after a death is automatically set to ‘No’.

But hey! The Experiment is just an inconsequential throwaway mode to keep those single player plebs happy, right? Surely the 3v3 online mode is where the real meat of the game lies? Well… kind of. There’s arguably more meat there, sure, but it’s just as rancid.

Ignoring the customization (which is adequately done given the limitations of having everyone bombing around in militarized biohazard suits) there are a grand total of two online modes. One Life mode, where death means watching an overhead map for up to several minutes at a time after being taken out, or Multi Mission, which offers those minigame objectives from the singleplayer as well as a few unique ones like killing the enemy team or protecting a certain player.

The gameplay balance in multiplayer is extremely poor–guns are comparatively weak, so many players seem to disregard half their arsenal in favor of running around like maniacs with their melee weapon waving around at all times. Zombies are included during versus play and can be set upon enemies, but they’re often inconsequential given how most players approach these matches.

Movement speed is another point of contention, in that it’s completely absurd on every conceivable level. Players seem to glide around rather than walk or run through levels, and do so at such ludicrously fast speeds I’d be surprised if everyone involved didn’t have propellers stuck up their arses. Even when crawling, they tend to zoom around like they’re speeding down an icy incline instead of pulling themselves across dirt or gravel.

The online seems to be offered via a peer-to-peer matchmaking setup, which wouldn’t be too bad had it not also been saddled with the worst netcode I’ve seen in forever. It’s so bad that players often teleport while moving, and kills can suddenly ‘snap’ into place long after they occur, leaving players dead with no idea of what just happened.

The first time I got the hint that something was seriously screwed up was during my first match–an enemy came charging in with his melee weapon, suddenly froze on the spot while three of us began unloading submachine fire into him, then he mysteriously killed both my squad members via execution moves ten seconds later. That’s right–the netcode was so bad that he’d somehow performed two brutal melee kills on my teammates while we’d been blasting away at his frozen body.

Soon after this demented example, I was assassinated half a bloody street away from my actual position after diving down a manhole into a sewer. Both players and zombies frequently judder and teleport around the arenas while the game fails to keep track of where they should be, and as crazy as it sounds, this sort of nonsense happens all the time. Probably not for long though–even now, right after release, it’s already taking longer than expected to find other players for a match, and the performance is so poor that there’s no doubt this game is destined to be forever ignored in an oversaturated market.

Umbrella Corps has a few interesting ideas up its sleeve, but that’s all it has. Whenever it attempts to put those ideas into practice, they’re shoddily executed and laughably inept for a tactical shooter that rewards almost no tactics whatsoever. There are small glimmers of what could have been with more time and care put into the final product, but those glimmers are quickly swamped by a ravenous horde of terrible design decisions and eaten alive by the sheer awfulness on display. Rating: 1.5 out of 10
Disclosures: This game is developed by Capcom Japan and published by Capcom. It is currently available on PS4 and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PC. Approximately 3 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was not completed. 4 hours of play were spent in multiplayer modes before I simply gave up on it due to long wait times and extreme lag related issues.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated M and contains intense violence, blood and gore and strong language. It’s not recommended for children, but then, it’s not really recommended for anyone.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing: There are subtitles, and indicators to help find targets, but it would undoubtedly be more difficult with the inability to hear other enemies walking around or exchanging gunfire.

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

Colorblind Modes: There are colorblind modes available in the options.

The post Umbrella Corps Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH The frosty-cool cyberpunk mood and glorious synth soundtrack

LOW Tougher than a cyborg’s titanium codpiece, and not always for the right reasons

WTF Am I wrong for wanting a mission or two during daytime?

Saying the word “cyberpunk” typically brings to mind images of hacking, transhumanism, and neon-tinged conceptions of the internet, but post-industrial techno-dystopia is fertile ground for all manner of settings, including one more typically associated with games like the Mechwarrior series. That’s where Brigador comes in, applying the bleak, deliberately distant tone of Blade Runner and the inherent cynicism of cyberpunk to a frenetic isometric shooter.

Players step into the mechanized boots of a Brigador–a mercenary tasked with liberating the world of Solo Nobre in the wake of the Great Leader’s death. There isn’t much in the way of a traditionally delivered story, with virtually no character interactions or even a plot beyond text briefings in the campaign mode. But what text it is! Dripping in carefully obtuse, impersonal corporate-speak, the briefings and unlockable lore set a great mood. And on the plus side, there’s very little to get in the way of a player blowing stuff up.

Brigadors will cause wanton carnage and destroy anything in their way for most of the game. They’ll assassinate targets, wreck orbital defenses, and stomp, crush, and barrel their way through scenery in a glorious orgy of vehicular violence. It’s reminiscent of old-school isometric shooters like Desert Strike, which delivered explosive spectacle in the years before 3D graphics and first-person viewpoints gained dominance.

To this end, Stellar Jockeys have constructed a gloriously industrial aesthetic cloaked in neon-lit darkness. Tiny civilians and soldiers mill around to be cut apart by weapon fire and exploding structures are ripe to set off chain explosions. The task won’t be easy, though, as the game is quite tough. Players are fragile, and when facing swarms of enemies, death comes quickly to reckless Brigadors. It fits the setting, if not the desire for carefree destruction.

At their fingertips, players have a wide selection of vehicles, with dozens of individual mechs, tanks, and hovering anti-gravs to choose from. Each vehicle type comes with a distinct movement style and traits.

The relatively slow mechs can crouch to reduce damage in battle, and can also deliver a powerful ground stomp that levels scenery and clears away small enemies. Tanks can barrel forward to demolish obstacles, and anti-gravs can hover and strafe.

Weapons run the gamut from powerful cannons, to fast-firing machine guns, to scenery-piercing railguns, lasers, mortars, and rockets of varying types. While campaign missions limit player selection to a range of preset choices, the skirmish-like “freelance” missions can be played with the full selection of vehicles, weapons and even pilots that provide modifications to the difficulty and other meta-game options. The campaign missions provide an interesting challenge since players will be forced to choose an unusual loadout at least once or twice, but the real soul of the game lies in being able to unlock a favorite setup and take it on a procedurally generated rampage through Solo Nobre.

Once the campaign is out of the way, finding and experimenting with various setups and unlocking more vehicles becomes the primary motivator for a hungry Brigador, but with time, some unfortunate frustrations pop up.

For example, Stellar Jockeys’s minimalist approach to user interface makes for a largely uninterrupted view, but their decision to cram nearly all critical information into the corner can be a hindrance to the action since ammo and ability management is crucial to high-level play. Also, the nighttime aesthetic of the game is wonderfully evocative, but can also make it hard to tell which direction one’s mech is facing, dulling reactions and potentially leading to unnecessary deaths.

While these kinds of minor gripes tarnish the experience slightly, they’re just small flaws in an otherwise sublime shooter. Brigador might not necessarily satisfy players looking for a new sim or a successor to a beloved series like MechCommander, but it scratches the itch for a challenging rampage game steeped in top-notch cyberpunk atmosphere. Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Disclosures: This game was developed and published by Stellar Jockeys. It is currently available on PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and was reviewed on the PC. Approximately 10 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’s rating is pending, though if rated it would contain content descriptors for violence, animated blood, and language. The game depicts a violent conflict and players will often kill civilians and other non-combatants via collateral damage. The viewpoint, aesthetic and play mechanics prevent close-up presentation of deaths, but the graphics are generally quasi-realistic. Combat is almost always between mechanized units, so most violence is shown as vehicles or landscape being destroyed.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing: The game has no voice acting and most information is delivered via text or interface elements.

Remappable Controls: All button controls can be remapped. The game does not offer controller support.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes in the game, and the art style may be difficult to decipher for players who have difficulty seeing dark objects.

The post Brigador Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Splitting an incoming bullet in two with a swift katana slice.

LOW Some challenge modes are lame.

WTF I wonder how much money Microsoft ponied up to keep this exclusive on XBO

Superhot is quick to tell players “time moves only when you move” in tutorial text and the dev’s own website. It’s a shame they’ve been clinging to that selling point so hard because it’s actually not true–time moves faster when the player moves, but it does crawl ever-so-slowly even if players stand still. What would marketing be without a little massage of the truth, though? And I guess “time moves pretty slow when you don’t move” doesn’t have the same ring to it.

Superhot debuted as a weeklong game jam project before successfully passing Steam Greenlight and getting some Kickstarter funding. After launching on PC in February, the game finally made its way to Xbox One and the million-dollar question might be: is this first-person shooter’s time element just a gimmick?

For me, no. I finished the campaign twice on PC and was more than happy to jump in again on Xbox One. If this game is pouring Kool-Aid, I’m downing the pitcher.

Superhot starts as an old-school computer chat program in which a friend hands over an .exe file for “Superhot” itself. After a few stages the boundaries begin blurring between the game and reality, with the actual, live player being set up as the in-game protagonist.

Superhot has several levels to its narrative, which I didn’t expect the first time I played. The devs could’ve easily pushed this out as a series of arcade-like stages without a plot and it would’ve worked, but the Matrix-like script kept me engaged and made progression more satisfying. At times it can be relentless with its themes, but I didn’t mind. Games that get in my head and scramble things around a bit are right up my alley.

As interesting as the story is, gameplay is where Superhot brings the heat–pun intended. This is the kind of game, like Hotline Miami, where I spend an entire stage holding my breath without realizing it. Then when the post-level replay starts, I either collapse with a deep, satisfying sigh or pump my fist in the air in victory.

Because the player and enemies alike die in a single hit, situational awareness becomes top priority. Moving makes time move faster, and so does simply turning the camera. Time spent for a gun’s recoil must be taken into account as well, and when all of these factors are combined with what appears to be traditional FPS gameplay, Superhot reveals its true nature as a puzzle game disguised as a shooter.

Fortunately, this is just the kind of puzzle game I like because every solution involves using fists, guns, swords, or thrown objects found in the environment to kill everyone in the vicinity while making it all look as cool as possible. Even the best horror games don’t cause me to gasp in surprise as much as Superhot does–the moment I think I’m planning things well only to turn my head to see a bullet unexpectedly (and slowly) whizzing by an inch away never failed to cause near-heart attack levels of anxiety.

Superhot‘s discrete, arcade-like stages keep things fresh and require no expository setup beforehand. At any given time I might be standing on top of a moving train, in an alley with a truck barreling toward me, punching someone out a window, trapped in an elevator with bat-wielding hostiles, or in any number of other scenarios.

Although the campaign only lasts about two hours, I found it to be the perfect length to establish what it does, to get me invested, and then have me on my way before ever wearing out its welcome. Upon completion, several challenge modes unlock. If the tight, fat-free campaign seems too short for some players, these modes are welcome additions to the content offered.

In a generation where social media and word-of-mouth marketing carry substantial weight, Superhot gets a “please like and subscribe” moment in at its conclusion by urging players to tell their friends about it by saying “It’s the most innovative shooter I’ve played in years!” Although both cheeky and slightly annoying, I’m almost ashamed to say that statement is true. Superhot didn’t need to point that out for me to realize it, but Superhot is everything I hoped it would be and more. Rating: 10 out of 10

Disclosures: This game was obtained via retail purchase and reviewed on the Xbox One. Approximately 5 hours were spent with the campaign and other game modes, and the campaign was completed three times. No multiplayer modes exist.

Parents: Superhot is rated Teen by the ESRB for: violence and drug references. Although nearly the entire game consists of shooting, stabbing and punching human-shaped entities, I wouldn’t consider Superhot disturbing or ultraviolent because enemies are polygonal figures and shatter when players attack them, so no blood, gore or open wounds exist.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing: Superhot contains no dialogue, so subtitles aren’t necessary to understand the plot. Audio cues for enemy location and threats makes the game more approachable and easier, so gameplay might be more difficult for hard of hearing players.

Controls: Y-axis inversion is available. No button or stick remapping or sensitivity adjustment is available.

Colorblind modes: No colorblind assistance is available.

The post Superhot Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.