Some games are so bad that you don’t play them, you endure them. Which is how I feel after suffering through the combative, arcade-style racing game Carmageddon Max Damage (PlayStation 4, Xbox One), a game so infuriating and fundamentally flawed that it’s nearly unplayable.
While it would’ve been easy for jazz pianist Glauco Venier to record an album of solo piano instrumentals, his new album Miniatures (CD, digital) instead has him pairing his piano with percussive metal instruments for a collection of moody instrumentals that, while not perfect, is still rather intriguing.
It’s always frustrating when the core of a game is solid, but everything else about it is so flawed, sloppy, or extraneous that it ruins the whole thing. Such is the case with MXGP2 The Official Motocross Videogame (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC), which is fun when you hit the track, but draining when you’re trying to get there.
Like the Steelbook editions of The Complete First Season, The Complete Second Season, and the new The Complete Third Season (my review of which you can read here), the Game Of Thrones The Complete Fourth Season Collector’s Edition Steelbook Blu-ray is, obviously, not worth buying if you already own the previous Blu-ray edition. Even though it does have a cool Knights Watch magnet. But if you don’t own this season on Blu-ray, well, then you’re in luck, because this collection does a mostly great job of presenting these ten episodes.
Let’s get the obvious question out of the way: If you already own Game Of Thrones The Complete Third Season on Blu-ray, there’s no reason to buy the new Game Of Thrones The Complete Third Season Collector’s Edition Steelbook Blu-ray. With the exception of a House Frey sigil magnet, and smaller packaging, this new edition is basically the same as the old one. But if you love the show and don’t own the third season, or don’t own it on Blu-ray, this is the version to get.
Though platforming in first-person games can be problematic, the first-person platformer Mirror’s Edge managed to pull it off, and well. But while the same can be said for its sequel, Mirror’s Edge Catalyst (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC), the game has other problems that keep it from being anything more than just okay.
Given how so few director’s cuts are improvements, or all that different, and given how the second or third versions of movies of Blu-ray often don’t add anything you need, it’s understandable why you’d look at the Star Trek II The Wrath Of Khan Director’s Cut Blu-ray with some suspicion. But while this Blu-ray may not be worth getting if you own the previous editions (though it might be), for those who don’t own this classic Star Trek movie on Blu-ray, this is clearly the edition to get.
As someone who played miniature golf all through high school and college, let me assure the last word you should ever associate with mini golf is “dangerous.” But by adding such words as “bouncy,” “destructive,” and “ridiculous” to the things you can say about the physics-based arcade game Dangerous Golf (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC), the good people at Three Fields Entertainment have made a mini golf game that’s, well, okay, not dangerous — it’s still just a video game — but it is a lot more fun than most golf video games, mini or otherwise.
In anticipation of Dead Island 2 (PlayStation 4, Xbox One) possibly coming out this year, Deep Silver are releasing the Dead Island Definitive Collection (PlayStation 4, Xbox One) which includes 2011’s Dead Island and its 2013’s stand-alone expansion Dead Island Riptide, their respective add-ons, and a new side-scrolling arcade game called Dead Island Retro Revenge (digital versions of Dead Island: Definitive Edition and Dead Island Riptide: Definitive Edition are being also sold separately, but Dead Island Retro Revenge is only available in the Dead Island Definitive Collection).
And while neither this compilation nor these updated games are worth buying if you already own them, obviously, for those who’ve fallen behind on their zombie hunting, the Dead Island Definitive Collection is a solid though not perfect compilation.