While it sometimes seems like gaming is full of guys in giant robot suits, fighting it out to save or take over some place, really good mech games are actually rather rare. And the same can be said for aerial dogfighting games. Which is why Strike Vector EX (PlayStation 4) makes me a little giddy. While this mech dogfighting game is far from flawless, it gets enough right to satisfy both itches.
By mixing elements of role-playing games, first-person shooters, and stealth action games within the framework of a cyberpunk story, 2011’s Deus Ex Human Revolution was basically the Ghost In The Shell game that fans of that anime had been waiting for since the movie’s 1995 debut, myself included. And though we’re still waiting for the Ghost people to get it right, we can at least enjoy the next best thing with Deus Ex Mankind Divided (Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC).
“Space…the final frontier.” And in a perfect world, the space exploration game No Man’s Sky (PlayStation 4, PC) would’ve been as fun and engaging as watching the crew of the Enterprise boldly go where no one has gone before. But thanks to some fundamental flaws and a lack of variety, No Man’s Sky is instead a dull and annoying voyage.
For more than a hundred and fifty years, it’s been illegal to judge a book by its cover, and similar snap judgements about other forms of entertainment are equally discouraged.
But while you wouldn’t be wrong to temper your expectations about the top-down, twin-stick shooter #KILLALLZOMBIES because it has an all-caps hashtag for a name, the game’s low-rent cheesiness is just one of this game’s many fundamental problems.
Having never been, I can’t tell you what it’s like to go scuba diving. But if the third-person, underwater exploration game Abzu (PlayStation 4, PC) is any indication, then I want to be like Sebastian in The Little Mermaid (or Homer Simpson in the episode “Homer Badman”) and live under the sea.
While such cable dramas as The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad strive for relative realism, network dramas like The Blacklist and Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. seem to be going more for escapism. Take the action movie-esque Blindspot, which isn’t just unrealistic, but unapologetically so. But whether you’re a fan or just someone looking for a cryptic good time, the Blindspot The Complete First Season Blu-ray and DVD is the best way to watch this gripping thriller.
As someone who gets winded just walking up a flight of stairs, I know I will never ever climb Mt. Everest in real life. Which is why I’m glad I got to check out Everest VR for the HTC Vive, which kind of, sort of, but not really simulates what it would be like to climb the great mountain. And while it succeeds in some respects, and fails in others, it’s still an interesting experience.
Batman V Superman Dawn Of Justice was not the grand slam that either DC Comics or their fans were hoping from the second chapter in DC’s cinematic universe. But for those who did enjoy the movie, the Batman V Superman Dawn Of Justice Ultimate Edition (Blu-ray, Ultra HD Blu-ray, 3D Blu-ray, DVD) is, for the most part, a good way to experience it again, as it not only includes tons of extras, but also has both the original and an interesting longer cut of the movie.
If there’s one constant in the nearly dozen Star Wars novels released since Disney reset the canon of the expanded universe, it’s that’s the best ones have been those most connected to the movies. It’s why Claudia Gray’s original trilogy-overlapping Lost Stars and Greg Rucka’s Force Awakens prequel Star Wars Before The Awakening have been the strongest, while Chuck Wendig’s “it’s post-Return Of The Jedi but where did everybody go?” Star Wars Aftermath, though entertaining, is one of the weakest. Thankfully, for the second book in his Aftermath trilogy, Star Wars Aftermath Life Debt (hardcover, digital), Wendig is bringing back some old friends for a much more exciting and satisfying adventure.