The Worst
Gungrave VR
VR can get a bad rep…and sometimes it deserves it. With clunky controls and only six missions with which to experience them, the story of Gungrave—based on a relatively obscure series from 2002 tied with a newer anime franchise—is lost in the details as well. This leaves nothing to grapple onto except a fun but short-lived arcade-style shooting mission. Unfortunately, we felt in our review that “It’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it affair, the type of game I’ll forget I even reviewed a few months from now.”
YIIK: A Postmodern RPG
YIIK: A Postmodern RPG follows a small group of message board friends as they explore a supernatural mystery in their small town. It’s got a great plot and fantastic style, so there were high hopes for this indie title. Unfortunately, high load times for, well, pretty much everything and a difficult and confusing gameplay style made for an unenjoyable experience. We felt strongly enough about it that our review said, “At first, I was bummed out that this quirky Earthbound homage wasn’t what I had hoped for. Eventually, I was just too broken by the game to even continue.
Vane
Vane’s core concept of a mysterious, empty wasteland inhabited by a shapeshifting child/crow protagonist seems interesting, but the mechanics don’t live up to their promise. What could have been a cool concept is ultimately a frustration, eventually made completely unplayable by game-breaking bugs. We said in our review that these bugs “unfortunately shine a light on the game’s overall lack of polish.”
What do you think? Did you play any better or worse games this month? Let us know in the comments below.