Recent reviews by Synchronicity

Call of Duty's multiplayer stopped being relevant to me after Modern Warfare 2. That said, I have fun with the campaign. I enjoy the over-the-top silliness and the expert scripting and animation. It itches my military porn cravings. I was super happy with Black Ops 2 for introducing something new to the series and I was hoping Ghosts would be continuing that streak. Unfortunately, this game is the pinnacle of terrible. With the exception of bugs (which is rare in a CoD game but Ghosts is rife with them) the campaign is poorly paced, has a terrible aesthetic, has a really barebones plot with a meaningless narrative, and lacks any of the surprises or suspense that previous CoD games featured. It introduces a sordid world that is so unbelievable as to warrant complete disinterest in everything you do in the game. I appreciated a few rather stunning levels and there is a greater degree of world-building than previous CoD games, but at least those games had cool characters. This game has you stuck with your dumb brother and a useless dog that, yes, you will be forced to save at the cost of life or limb. At least the Extinction mode is pretty interesting. Sadly the multiplayer is about as bad as it gets. All of the guns perform and sound the same and the maps are tinier than ever. It's such a waste of time when you have something like Battlefield to play.

It's surprisingly polished and offers a fun campaign for fans of the Saints Row series. Unfortunately, the open-world aspects kinda suck. They're 90% reused from Saints Row 3 save for some of the flair stripped out in favour of neon lights and a retro sci-fi look. You have superpowers, changing this game from GTA to something like Prototype. There's an overabundance of gamification, like collecting random baubles littered throughout the gameworld or completing the same activity for the billionth time. Skip all of the side quests. That said, I had fun and I'm a huge SR fan so if you are too wait for a sale and nab it.

This game really surprised me like none other. The writing is solid, the gameplay is astounding in the variety of options available to you, and the the dialogue trees are hilarious. There are some fun plot twists and turns, you can turn into a dragon, you can read character's minds, the world is huge and detailed, the aesthetic is beautiful, there is a lot of loot and dungeoneering to accomplish, and none of it feels repetitive at all. The most surprising thing about this game is how well paced it is. You never feel like you've reached a lull as the game steadily introduces new features to satiate interest without overwhelming you with feature creep. It's a delicate balance, one that took the developers awhile to get with this re-release of Ego Draconis. But it's a must have for any RPG fan.

It's a complicated game with a steep learning curve but if you've ever played any of Paradox's excellent turn-based/real-time grand strategy games, Victoria II is a must buy. I appreciate the more real-time elements present (like income) than in Europa Universalis III. It's also very polished and the UI is much more approachable. The AI also makes more sense, though you will struggle with endless revolutions no matter what you do. This game is terribly addicting.