Recent reviews by Fracture

Between this, Journey, Flower, and flOw, I think that ABZU might be the best. But then again, they're all great. If you like those games, you'll like this. If you like video games to help unwind, to calm and relax you, then you'll like this. If you like audiovisual stories with an emphasis on soundtrack, you'll like this. Austin Wintory makes another great score, and the art director from Journey makes another great game.

Not very long, though, if you're unfamiliar with these games. But if you like this kind of thing, then it's definitely worth it. Other games might have more content and more story and more gameplay, but these provoke emotion like none other.

This game isn't perfect, but it's quite an experience. The game looks beautiful and is extremely detailed, and therein lies the story: a history of a family, and of life. If you don't care for walking simulators, there's a bit of variation here and there, but it remains a walking simulator in essence. Nevertheless, I found the gameplay interesting and somewhat relaxing (albeit often dark). The music is great, too. Overall, you might be disappointed to get only an hour or two of gameplay for the money, but for some like me, it just might be worth it.

The gameplay is a little bit better than the first, with some decent stealth, but the story is much worse. They didn't do a multiplayer this time, but they didn't improve the campaign all that much. There's nice set pieces, but everything feels hollow, because there's not really a point to the plot. I suppose other games have raised the bar in this respect since the first, but if you're looking for a third-person shooter with a good story, you won't find one here. If you just want more of the same from the 2013 Tomb Raider game, without multiplayer and a decent story, then go ahead. It gets a bit repetitive at times, and the puzzles aren't hard at all, but it looks nice and plays fine. Still, I didn't really care about it. It takes good elements from a lot of good games, like its predecessor, and makes something dull out of it.

It's a short game, but it makes up for it in atmosphere, gameplay, and visuals. The puzzles aren't too hard, which helps give some attention toward the world-building. It's creepy, and visually arresting, just like Playdead's predecessor, LIMBO. Both games are extremely polished, too.

INSIDE stars a little boy running from monsters, but unlike LIMBO, these monsters are human-made, be them deformed bodies or factory machines. There's a lot to pick apart in this game, and apparently there are 2 possible endings, so multiple playthroughs would be necessary to get the full experience as well as your full money's worth.

Starting this up right after Unity, I was surprised how different it felt, and I don't necessarily mean that in a good way. The controls were so light compared to Unity's. Unity's controls did feel sluggish, but this game felt like the developers took the backlash and went to the other end of the extreme. These controls felt very cheap compared to Unity's. I immediately thought this was some knock-off; this didn't feel at all like an Assassin's Creed game. But, like with Unity, once I got used to it, I liked it a bit more. Nevertheless, this feeling of cheapness still reverberated in other areas of the game.

It's odd how many things were improved--stealth (and whistle), free-running, modern day (just by a smidge, cutscenes were longer and had more of an arc to them)--and yet it still had a number of problems. Overall, Unity and Syndicate stand almost level for me when I weigh the pros and cons, but I prefer Unity. It has a better story, albeit not a great one. It has wonderful graphics and intense detail. It focused on stealth, the main feature of all the games, even if it was kind of bad sometimes. The combat isn't great either, but once you get the hang of it, it gets a bit easier and a little more fun (when its not buggy).

Anyway, more about Syndicate: I liked that it has twins for its main characters, Evie and Jacob, and that they bounced off each other well. The Rooks gang is a fun addition. The carriage riding is alright but not very necessary. My least favorite part of these games is travelling over halfway across the map to get to the next mission. The grappling hook helps climb buildings faster, but it's still as inconsistent as the parkour system, so it replaces one buggy thing with another.

The story is lighter and less serious at times, which is nice because these games act too self-serious to be as spotty, repetitive, and inattentive to its story as they are. If the goal is merely to play an assassin in the past, then just drop the sci-fi (which I would prefer not to do, actually; I want there to be a purpose, just not one so lazy) and have some fun with it. Treading water over multiple games in this middle ground leaves neither side satisfied.

The combat, like the movement, flipped 180 from Unity's. It's very fast. Maybe it's fitting for a brutal englishman/englishwoman to be pummeling their enemies with furious fists, but it seems that Ubisoft Quebec's idea of difficulty is requiring a lot more punches to kill (kind of like a bullet sponge). Also, there's fewer finishers, so that on top of more punching makes for repetitive combat. They add a bullet dodge button here, which I appreciate after many AC games where I could not escape bullets. It's more responsive fighting than I've seen from Unity, but it's less interesting.

One thing that continued from Unity is the skill tree, which I hate in both. It feels like grinding work to get the assassin fun I've been having in previous games, the ones that didn't require me to pass any superficial roadblocks. This seemed like another cheap way to pad on some more difficulty.

Overall, Syndicate improves on some things and regresses on some others, just like Unity. Due to personal preference, I wouldn't recommend it, but it's not a bad game by most standards.

It's a solid game, but it isn't really worth full price. I'd suggest getting it during a sale. The core gameplay is lifted from the series' previous installment, Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, so there's little change in that area except for a few minor additions like the Seven Years' War setting with a templar protagonist. The story sounds intriguing, but the whole moral complexity thing isn't all that well developed. The modern day storyline is moved forward just an inch, with its faceless protagonist still walking around server rooms.

I'm a little surprised that this is a standalone game, since its improvements and/or changes on the previous game are so minor that it feels more like a DLC. The game takes ~5 hours less to beat than the other main titles (but has ~5 more than Freedom Cry, Black Flag's actual DLC).

I played this after Unity, so I was in for a bit of an emotional surprise, but now I think it is more enjoyable to follow this order (despite the disparity in gameplay between the two).

This game is quite similar to the movie as the cut scenes are taken directly from the film. It also features the same type of gameplay one would find in any other LEGO videogame, so people who have enjoyed what they have made in the past would not be disappointed here. However, the game does feel a little bit like it was rushed to be put out right as the movie was released, so the gameplay may not be as inspired as other titles. However, I found this game to be very entertaining as I found the movie to be great and all the LEGO games to be great, so to put these together into a game makes sense. This game, despite not being the best, is another solid entry in Traveller's Tales collection of games.

Also, it sounds in the game as though they got all the main actors in the film to do the voices for the game, so that's a plus. The developers add to the humor of the original story with their own silly humor, making quite a funny game. Do not think from the title that a game based off a movie is destined to be subpar, because Traveller's Tale has used their winning template to make a game that people of all ages can enjoy.

Edit: After playing this game for awhile and trying to get 100%, I've found that finding and playing different levels is slightly difficult and annoying for people that are trying to complete the game entirely. Out of the 4 places to go through, it can take a while to find the specific level that you want to play. I am yet to find the place in which seems to only show up after Escape from Cuckoo Land. If you want to get to 100%, this game is not as accommodating as LEGO LOTR or LEGO Harry Potter. It is not impossible, but frustrating nonetheless.

The resolution, humor, story, and complex gameplay all seemed to improve significantly in the sequel.

It strongly reminds me of Portal, considering the creator worked on Portal, with the art and gameplay closely related, but dissapointingly scarce of the humor.

Really good storyline, with the feel of a movie, and easy gameplay that could be interpreted as too easy or very fun depending on the person.