Video Game Reviews

Spacecom
Flow Combine / 11 bit studios
Reviewed On: PC (exclusive)
Street: 09.17
Even after hours of tutorial missions and games played against the computer, it’s easy to still feel kind of lost when you’re playing Spacecom. The game’s hyper-strategic gameplay and minimalist presentation can make it a tough sell for the casual crowd. However, just because this game won’t appeal to all tastes shouldn’t be a mark against it. Spacecom’s core gameplay concepts are terrifically easy to grasp, making it something even a novice gamer could easily play. While most other Real Time Strategy games force you to grapple with an unwieldy user interface to get any work done, Spacecom’s greatest strength is in its unflinching simplicity. In a way, it’s like learning to play Chess for the first time. Once you figure out how all the pieces move, you think the game is easy, but the challenge is out-thinking your opponent. Only with sound planning and a good strategy can you hope to beat anything other than the “Trivial” AI. While Spacecom is no great leap forward in graphical quality, it’s a fantastic RTS that rewards you for honing your tactics and developing a strong strategy. It’s short and sweet, but keeps me coming back for its deep, methodical gameplay. –Henry Glasheen

Spider-Man Unlimited
Gameloft
Played on: iOS
Street Date: 9.10
Branded endless runners certainly aren’t new to the App Store – it seems for every movie or game franchise, there’s a touch-friendly, auto-running platformer available in the App Store to go along with it. Largely a collection of free-to-play games with repetitive mechanics, endless runners are one of the most divisive and proliferate genres of mobile gaming – thankfully, Spider-Man Unlimited isn’t one of these paywall-drenched snore fests, a surprisingly deep endless runner that would most assuredly be better as a paid game, but works despite the inherent flaws of Gameloft’s much-derided free-to-play mechanics and currencies. When a split in the universe causes various incarnations of Sinister Six members to start terrorizing New York, Spider-Man and his many, many alternate versions – nearly two dozen, so far – trying to stop them: throughout two issues and infinite endless runs, players control the running, jumping, and swinging Spidey with the obligatory touches and swipes one expects from descendents of Temple Run and the like. Frustrating upgrade system aside, Spider-Man Unlimited’s wide array of characters and collection of daily events make it one of the most addicting endless runners to hit the App Store, especially for comic book lovers familiar with Ben Reilly, the Fantastic Foundation, and the many other obscure references that appear in the best Spider-Man iOS game to date. –Randy Dankievitch

Styx: Master of Shadows
Cyanide Studio / Focus Home Interactive
Reviewed on: PS4
Also on: Xbox One, PC
Street: 10.07
For hardcore fans of the stealth genre, Styx is a gift from the gaming gods.  The player takes control of Styx, a goblin-like creature who has been pitted against pious humans in an effort to discover his supernatural roots.  It’s a nice change to see the world from the perspective of a creature that is usually at the end of the player’s blade, and each time I stealth-killed a guard, it felt good to be fighting as the underdog.  Not only is Styx feature a solid representation of stealth gameplay, the player has the ability to make a clone of Styx who can infiltrate unreachable areas and create distractions.  In addition to the wide-open environments and multiple plans of attack, the inclusion of a clone added some versatility to the mix.  Though Styx is an excellent pick for genre fans, those that are casual stealth gamers are going to have to endure a lot of punishment.  Where many stealth games offer the player some kind of out when confronted with multiple enemies, if you get made in Styx, you’re pretty much worm food.  For gamers looking for a properly challenging stealth game, Styx is worth picking up.   –Alex Springer