Ship designing demands a lot from the player. Empty shell of any ship, from tiny fighter to space fortress, has to be filled according to its future role in the fleet. Every square inch of space matters: if you manage to squeeze in an extra generator, you’ll be able put a more powerful gun into pylon. [Issue#208, p.74]

Pokken Tournament has fine-tuned multiplayer and a memorable cast of characters. Unfortunately, the balance is lacking, and there could be more fighters present (remember, in other games there are literally hundreds of different Pokemons) [Issue#208, p.66]

Layers of Fear brings Pan's Labyrinth to mind – with the caveat that there’s no monsters in it. The game’s more weird than scary, and it’s very hard to die here, yet it manages to keep players in suspense. [Issue#208, p.62]

To add insult to injury, we’re towing a city with thousands of colonists, and it’s paramount to build them all kinds of morale-improvement buildings. They’re the last hope of humanity – and they will get depressed and start to rebel if they don’t get a new VR entertainment center! Too bad it’s not an option to just hurl these guys straight into the nearest star. [Issue#208, p.50]

No matter how pretty and nuanced Paris level is, when you have nothing else to play with for a whole month, you’ll get burned out. If Square Enix followed their original plan and released at least three sandbox levels at once (or, better yet, the complete game), it would’ve got a much better reception. [Issue#208, p.52]

Flame in the Flood doesn’t burden player with too many details: there simply was a flood, and now a brave girl and her dog are trying to get as far as possible downstream. Good Samaritans are all but non-existent, waters are rough and shores are rougher, so survival isn’t going to be pretty. [Issue#208, p.56]

Although in the new chapter Rufus is once again alive, well and goofs around as much as ever, don’t expect that he’ll get his “happily ever after” this time. On the other hand – who even needs that “ever after” when you’ve got a time machine? [Issue#208, p.57]

DS3 would’ve made an excellent sequel to original Dark Souls, but, as it is the trilogy finale, we expected something more than simply retreading familiar paths. On the other hand, it still has the series’ best feature – mystery. While other developers happily shove everything of interest in their games in player’s face, FromSoftware consciously conceals important details from casual observer. And for this unique approach, a lot of shortcomings can be forgiven. [Issue#208, p.44]

It’s as if you traveled to the past, changed some miniscule detail and time went along very similar but different timeline. On one hand, it’s the good old WoT prior to introduction of French tanks; on the other, now the valley on El Halouf map has a lot of vegetation instead of being a barren deathtrap, tank improvements are gained in packs, and weather has an effect on visibility. So even people who are sated with original WoT are prone to once again get that “just one more battle” syndrome. [Issue#207, p.66]

Events of the game take place sometime between 23-rd and 24-th comic volume, which violates basic premise of the series “Anyone can die” – we know that both Michonne and Pete will make it out unharmed. The second problem is Michonne herself – if you play in line with her established character, most of the time you’ll have to stare at people without saying a word. [Issue#207, p.75]

Most of the time Yarny will be traversing beautiful locales, but you’ll also have to visit a chemical waste dump and a house overflowing with cockroaches (which will tear Yarny apart like a school of piranhas). At moments like these, all charm of the game totally disappears. [Issue#207, p.76]

Not only Twilight Princess was first released ten years ago, its development began five years earlier, when game design conventions were rather different. HD-version stays faithful to the original even when it shouldn’t have – for example, if you don’t approach a ladder from a right angle, Link will ignore it. Still, there are some improvements to the interface, and a few absurdly time-consuming tasks were toned down. [Issue#207, p.62]

Two-hour campaign with pretentious tacked-on story that constantly interrupts game flow is a major source of negativity. But the thing is – the campaign is nothing more than an overlong tutorial; once you’re done with it, the real fun with challenge runs and endless mode opens up. [Issue#207, p.50]

Experiments with “add as you go” model of development (for example, it means that we won’t get arcade mode until June) may very well spell doom for the project – which is too bad, because basic mechanics and battle dynamic of SFV are almost perfect. [Issue#207, p.52]

Characters and decorations are so colorful and lively that they fall just a few inches short of Pixar standards. It’s impossible to play GW2 with a hardcore competitive mindset, but it’s a great specimen of “shooters for all family”. [Issue#207, p.64]

In contrast with most “walking simulators”, Firewatch is very indigenous. The game doesn’t make you browse endless memoirs and local legends, or spend hours pondering what deep thought the writer tried to convey in each ambiguous sentence. Instead, events in Wyoming forest unfold very naturally, like something that really can happen to a ranger. [Issue#207, p.58]

Primitive gameplay cycle of Far Cry, placed in primitive world, suddenly starts to make sense, and even story doesn’t feel as barebones and perfunctory as usual. Here, you’re not playing as a skinny frat boy who suddenly discovers a talent for killing hardened soldiers but ultimately just wants to get back to civilization – you’re a hunter who simply wants to become respectable leader of his tribe with a personal luxury cave. [Issue#207, p.46]

Unlike Phoenix Wright, Danganronpa is a fair-play detective – no one will barge in at 11-th hour with a crucial piece of evidence, so if you pay close attention, you’ll figure out the gist of “whodunit” well before the protagonist does. So if you missed western release of Danganronpa on PS Vita, now is the time to make up for it. [Issue#207, p.71]

Pieces come together to create dynamic action: if you try to complete levels as artfully as possible, Russia will be fun – much better, actually, than any of the previous Chronicles. [Issue#207, p.51]

Roster of really colorful characters speaks in game’s favor: besides usual warriors and bowmen you can play as a bard or even an artist that brings paintbrush to a swordfight. But what’s the point, when the main mechanic has aged poorly and Koei Tecmo doesn’t even try to modernize it? [Issue#207, p.69]

Three years ago, when Dragon’s Dogma first came out, we thought that its NPC AI, where your party members behave almost like real people in co-op would, will become a new RPG standard. Unfortunately, it didn’t come to pass. Well, all the better for the long-awaited PC port of the game. [Issue#206, p.76]

Jonathan Blow’s new game is not another messiah; it’s more of an experiment – a big-budget puzzle game where your only reward for overcoming difficulties is the process of puzzle-solving itself. [Issue#206, p.75]

Remaster proves that Gravity Rush became a thing on PS Vita mostly because of Vita’s game drought – for home console its gameplay and story are both rather lackluster. [Issue#206, p.74]

There are RPG elements here – as you go on, you can increase your health, energy, armor or gun power – but honestly, they should’ve been scrapped from the get go. Any resources spent on them would be better used on balancing the game or making non-cringeworthy animations. [Issue#206, p.73]

Unfortunately, Pokemon SMD doesn’t have especially catchy tunes or good graphics. Still, it’s nice that instead of taking models from previous Super Mystery Dungeon game, developers made new ones. [Issue#206, p.71]

All you need to know about Sébastien Loeb Rally EVO physics is that you can jump on piles of snow as if they were trampolines. [Issue#206, p.70]

It’s almost as if we’re watching Prince of Persia evolution again. Just a bit more, and we’ll see a fully 3D Assassin’s Creed, where our hero will finally be able to climb any roof he wants. Oh, wait… [Issue#206, p.68]

Let’s treat DoK as a group therapy session for developers who still hung over something unfinished in the old Homeworld. Now that they’ve got it out of their systems, hopefully they’ll make something to rival its fame, instead of retracing familiar steps. [Issue#206, p.66]