Call of Duty Black Ops 3:
Black Ops 3 continues Call of Duty Advanced Warfare’s jet pack fueled movement system, and while it may be a major turn off for many, it is definitely an improvement on Sledgehammer’s system. The game’s movement system is extremely fluid, and controls are easier to manage this time around.
Zombies mode has a new set of characters and a really cool 1950’s map, but the included map might be hit or miss for many.
This time around, the campaign is a huge misstep for the Black Ops series. While the previous 2 campaigns linked together nicely and features memorable stories, this campaign is separate and extremely forgettable. While it has its fun moments, it falls flat due to its weak story telling ability.
Microtransactions show their ugly face in this CoD entry. The game features a loot box system for playing the game (luckily on top of normal unlocks), and many of the games coolest weapons are locked behind ridiculously high odds.
Duck Season:
What makes Duck Season so appealing is obvious from the start. It’s a fun looking Duck Hunter VR remaster with a spooky spin. And while at first this is a fun concept, clunky controls and lack of replayability hurt it.
Holding the shotgun in the actual hunting game can be difficult, and after a while it just becomes boring. The boredom doesn’t help the fact that Duck Season is supposed to be extremely replayable because of its multiple endings.
These multiple endings become stale after the initial shock value of the first playthrough too, so the game doesn’t feel like coming back for.
Dead Island:
Dead Island feels like one of those movies that’s so bad it’s good. It’s filled with bugs, gameplay issues, and has a god-awful story. But when played with friends, the number of things to do can give players plenty of incentive to keep grinding through the often times repetitive missions.
Dead Island features a fairly cool weapon crafting system, and almost forces you to use it by limiting guns and ammo throughout the game.
What may be the saving grace of this game is it’s tone. While at some points, especially the beginning of the game, feel like it’s going for a tense movie-like experience, the game eventually loosens up and doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Tower Unite (Early Access):
This friendly early access game is a bash at first, but it’s fallen into the Early Access purgatory that many fear when buying in to a game like this.
Tower Unite is a Garry’s Mod Tower style game featuring mini games, a casino, and a fully customizable apartment. While on the surface it can seem like there’s a lot too do, especially with the promises of even more mini games, Tower Unite has failed to continue to add substantial updates to keep afloat.
The Stanley Parable:
Stanley Parable is a charming, loveable, and extremely sarcastic branching path story with humor to spare. The amount of ways to “complete” Stanley’s story is mind-blowingly large, and the more you play the game the more option you have.
While it’s fair to describe it as a walking simulator, it’s easily the most entertaining walk I’ve ever been on.
