Effiecient
HIGH Tight platforming
LOW The combat isn’t as good as the platforming.
WTF Why can’t I skip these cutscenes?
Effie Review
Author: AJ Small
Gnosia Review
This Game Is Sus
HIGH The believable personality types.
LOW Being voted out when I knew who the real Gnosian was.
WTF Dear localization team, Beluga Whales and Dolphins are not the same.
Element Space Review
MassCom X-Effect
HIGH The game mostly works!
LOW It mostly works.
WTF Sure, don’t explain what those meters do until the end of the game.
>Observer_ System Redux Review
Hauer Puts Up The Metal, One Last Time
HIGH The first time connecting to a victim.
LOW The ‘dedicated to Rutger Hauer’ message on boot-up.
WTF Those Fire Sword minigames could be their own release.
Empire Of Sin Review
My Empire Of Dirt
HIGH Interlocking systems that generate drama.
LOW Deep-seated anxiety on whether a gang likes me.
WTF A mortician gangster — handy!
Oceanhorn 2 Review
Oceanhorn On Main
HIGH A surprising glow up…
LOW Boss battles.
WTF That dungeon under the city is huge.
AJ’s Top Ten of 2020
This is my fourth year of doing a Top Ten list for Gamecritics. If you are interested in my recommends from previous years, then please go check out 2017, 2018, and 2019. Honestly, my opening piece from each of these entries is feeling more and more like a prophecy of doom, with 2020 actually beating 2019 for terribleness. Well done.
Enlisted Preview
Enlisted is a bold attempt at tackling a bloated genre. The World War II shooter has more entries than I can count, but even bolder than trying to crack this style is that it’s also entering the similarly-crowded online-only field.
DayZ Review
Zombies For Days
HIGH Meeting up with my buds to look at a tent.
LOW Forgetting which teddy I put the matches in.
WTF “I think my thing is cannibalism, guys.”
Gears 5 Review
Gears Got Political, Huh?
HIGH The Gears series coming to terms with what it is.
LOW Ranked matches remain toxic. Fahz.
WTF Marcus has an unlockable ‘They f***ed up my tomatoes’ voice line