Reviews

36 Crazyfists – Lanterns – Review

September 25, 2017

As bleak as things can get on Lanterns, ultimately it ends up sounding hopeful.

Comeback Kid – Outsider – Review

September 1, 2017

Comeback Kid manages to outdo their previous work yet again.

Yakuza Kiwami – Review

August 29, 2017

Yakuza Kiwami (“Extreme”) lets gamers experience the wacky fun of the original Yakuza in a remake with modern graphics and gameplay polish.

Superhot – Review

August 1, 2017

Rather than run headfirst into a firefight, you’ll think multiple steps ahead and carefully consider where your enemies will intersect with your bullet.

Nex Machina – Review

June 29, 2017

Nex Machina infuses the classic Robotron twin stick formula with breakneck speed, adds in the wild voxel-based visual style of Resogun and sharpens it to a razor edge.

The Surge – Review

May 26, 2017

Developer Deck13 — creators of 2014’s Lords of the Fallen — bring the Souls sensibility to a grim, mechanized future.

Sweat Lodge – Tokens For Hell – Review

April 25, 2017

It’s their swan song, as everyone involved has already decided to put the band on hiatus and go raise kids or pursue other projects.

Snake Pass – Review

April 5, 2017

Charming, accomplished and fun, Snake Pass is a quietly ambitious puzzle platformer that nods to a bygone era but exhibits gamemaking acumen that is distinctly modern day.

This time around the fascinating semi-open world structure of the original has been fleshed out and augmented with the combat know-how of developer Platinum Games, which means it looks and plays great.

Monster Movie – Keep The Voices Distant – Review

March 24, 2017

Everything here is just as long as it needs to be, from the beautifully somber title track to the engrossing, multi-part closer “Dead in the Water.”

Iron Reagan – Crossover Ministry – Review

March 15, 2017

Like a magic bullet blasting you right back to the heyday of D.R.I. and Sui-cyco-style crossover metal, the aptly titled Crossover Ministry from Iron Reagan has all you want from the forgotten genre.

c.Kostra – Now I Feel It – Review

January 31, 2017

Heavily distorted vocals push, pull and mold these ten tracks into beautiful miniature soundscapes that sound fresh and innovative while still managing to be accessible and distinct.

True Widow – Avvolgere – Review

December 30, 2016

2016 may have dropkicked all our hopes and dreams, but it also gave us this killer album, so it might be a wash.

Pain – Coming Home – Review

November 11, 2016

Combining everything from industrial to country to metal to classic rock, Tägtgren is just endearingly weird — in the Les Claypool or Devin Townsend mold — when he’s in Pain mode.

Dean Ween Group – The Deaner Album – Review

November 7, 2016

Mickey Melchiondo’s new offering, The Deaner Album, with his band the Dean Ween Group, sounds like, surprise, a Ween record.

Wovenwar – Honor Is Dead – Review

November 4, 2016

Wovenwar sounds unshackled here, free to create a melodic metalcore sound that feels natural rather than predictably soft/heavy, good cop/bad cop.

Gears of War 4 – Review

November 4, 2016

One would think, considering how many imitators came out of the woodwork, that something would have come along in the last decade that improved upon the Gears formula. But if Gears of War 4 proves anything, it’s that there’s no substitute for the real thing.