One of the first products to come out as part of the PlayStation 4’s big indie push is Contrast. Created by Compulsion Games, this is a puzzle platformer that forces you to think of shadows in a different light (no pun intended). While it definitely looks cool and has an interesting gameplay hook on paper, some glaring production issues put me off fairly quickly.
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There is a sense of unadulterated joy that Rayman Legends creates that few other games of this generation have. It’s that type of feeling that you felt playing your first Super Mario game where traversing every level is an opportunity to overcome a challenge while exploring every nook and cranny for the next cool thing. Despite the fact that I’ve been playing platformers for decades, this recaptures that magic through a plethora of fresh ideas and solid platforming action is executed to perfection.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was a bit of a write-off. Sure, it sucks that we as gamers got a sub-par experience due to the turmoil between Activision and former studio heads at Infinity Ward, but there’s nothing anyone can do about that now. With Ghosts, now is an opportune time to make good on their last misstep while proving that they can continue to deliver the goods even without many of the staff that originally established the franchise. On one hand, I think they’ve done just that by providing an experience that is on par with their past efforts. However, the innovations we saw in Black Ops II are sorely absent here, while Infinity Ward’s new ideas do little to liven up a stagnant formula.
From the makers of Super Stardust HD comes Resogun. This PlayStation 4 launch title is clearly building off the foundation of its spiritual predecessor and Geometry Wars, but that’s not a bad thing. Featuring a distinctive art style and gameplay that is a bit more involved than your traditional dual-stick shooter, Resogun makes a great first impression.
Super Mario 3D Land is a very tough act to follow. To this day, I have fond memories of how it perfectly blended the 2D sensibilities of classic Mario within its 3D environments. I would go as far as saying that it’s better than any of the Super Mario Galaxy games. Are the cat suit and 4-player co-op enough to propel Super Mario 3D World above its predecessor? On their own, no. However, combined with the plethora of brilliant new ideas and a remarkable level of polish, this convincingly earns its place as one of the best Mario games ever made.
NBA 2K14 and I got off on the wrong foot. Upon first booting up the game, I was immediately thrown into a quick match between the Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs while the game installs in the background. This took a good 30 minutes to complete. It’s odd being forced to play as the Miami Heat in a game where there’s only background music, but I guess I’ll take that over waiting a half hour for it to install. Once I completed that, I thought I’d finally get to play some hoops in its MyCareer mode. Instead, I largely sat through what seemed like hours of exposition that played out through a barrage of painful cutscenes.
As much as I love the first and third iterations of the franchise, Contra as a whole has way more misses than hits. The franchise has struggled to find new ways to freshen up the formula, especially when it haphazardly forayed into 3D. As a spiritual successor to Contra, Hard Corps: Uprising gives the series an anime twist thanks to the handy work of Arc System Works, who are best known for Guilty Gear and BlazBlue.
What was supposed to be an extreme sports adventure on Rook Island goes horribly wrong when you and your friends are captured by pirates. Some are killed, others are missing, and you barely escape their clutches. Now it’s up to you to free the rest of your friends and get the heck out of there. While the main objective in Far Cry 3 is clear throughout, it’s easy to get sidetracked by the plethora of other experiences to be had. By the time you’ve wrapped up your work, you may have poured in dozens of awesome hours into this expansive open world.
While I generally like Disney Infinity, I don’t have any particular attachment to the source material these Play Sets draw from. However, that all changed with the release of the Toy Story Play Set. I hold those fantastic films close to my heart and have been anxiously awaiting to experience the franchise within the game. In hindsight, I’m not really sure what I was expecting from a Toy Story Play Set, I can’t help but feel a bit disappointed with the final product.
It’s easy to be dismissive of Call of Duty: Black Ops II on the Wii U for reasons beyond its quality. Over the past few years, tens of millions of gamers have already established a home for Activision’s shooter on the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. Meanwhile, Wii-only gamers have been stuck with gimped ports. While the Wii U now has the horsepower to render the full experience, the tiny install base for the console means that virtually nobody is playing this game online. When I played my first team deathmatch, the game said there was only 1,806 other players with me, which is laughably low compared to the hundreds of thousands of gamers who play CoD on other platforms at any given time.
Activision can’t control those variables. They could have chosen to back away from the platform completely to concentrate on more profitable platforms, which I personally wouldn’t blame them for. Or they could have put in a half-hearted effort towards porting this over to save on costs. Instead, they’ve made an honest effort to provide the authentic CoD experience to Wii U owners that want it, even if there aren’t that many on the platform.
In Third Person 