Dead Island 2 is fine. In our state of gaming discourse, where anything below an eight or a nine out of ten is automatically bad, it was always going to be somewhat of a pariah. The extended development cycle featuring three separate developers certainly hasn't helped its perception, either; the expectations that come from a game in the oven for that long are on either side of an extreme, and reality rarely meets it.

The funny thing about that, though, is that if Dead Island 2 was released in 2015, I don't think it would have been as fascinating. Released a year after the overly ambitious sequel to its spiritual successor, it's almost refreshing to have a game this scaled-back. There isn't an Open World here; if you thought the original game kind of played like Borderlands, the immediacy with which you're asked to leave to the second area so soon after stepping foot in the first only cements that further. Unlike Borderlands, the appeal of this is pretty straightforward. With or without friends, you kill zombies in increasingly violent and silly ways. That's it. There's character building through a Skill Card system, but everything boils down to whacking the flesh off the undead while you drop-kick them in the head. The physics can use some fine-tuning, but the gore is a work of beauty. The question of, 'When was the last time you saw an action game try to sell itself on its gore?' is answered succinctly the first time you decide to keep hitting a zombie after you've downed it. But that question also has another answer attached to it: Dead Island 2 is decidedly low-stakes entertainment. It's aware of how silly its predecessor was, and it doesn't do anything to change that. It's just a better, more consistent thrill ride with genre enthusiasts who couldn't care less about having a prestige-worthy script attached to their games in mind. The worst that the nearly decade-long wait has done for this game is that it's fooled many into thinking that this either isn't enough or that there would be more to this. But I've been having a blast with this so far, so I really don't mind it.

Where your mileage will absolutely vary is in terms of this game's writing. I've heard many comparisons to last year's Saints Row, and while I can't personally make that connection, I can see where it comes from. From the offset, the team behind this was very open about the angle they were taking with this. You don't call Los Angeles 'Hell-A' if you're trying to tell an emotional, engaging story. It's pure camp, down to dated references and goofy caricatures you'll either find bittersweetly nostalgic or downright embarrassing to listen to. I'm finding the chatter to be less annoying than your average Borderlands character and I actually like the cast of characters in this so far. But if you were unable to play Borderlands 3 without muting the dialog, I wouldn't consider this an improvement.

If you want a throwback to what games were like a decade ago and you're going into this without expecting the world of it, this is a pretty enjoyable time. This is definitely not the bargain bin game some are making it out to be; at worst, I think it's worth waiting for it go on sale if you're curious but skeptical. If Dambusters keeps it at or above this level of quality, they might be developers to keep an eye on.

Better than I remember. The game is just charming as you would expect for Kirby. It's still not anything too crazy. Not a huge fan of the heart star sidequest. A lot of them feel either tedious or way too hard to figure out. Luckily it's optionable and I would reccomend not doing it unless you have to get the good ending and true final boss. The animal buddies are fun, but the KDL2 buddies might as well have not been included (other than maybe Kine) as they have been pretty much entirely outclassed by the new ones. But regardless, they're fun to experiment with the different abilities as each buddy changes your ability. Plus, Nago the Cat holding Kirby like a yarn ball is just the cutest thing ever lol. Some of the level design feels a bit mindless but its pretty good for the most part. Overall a decent Kirby game, but nothing amazing.

Poor man’s Halo

Brute Force had quite a bit of hype when it was coming out. A squad based multiplayer focused third-person shooter inspired by Halo exclusive to the Xbox was bound to get people talking. Too bad it’s poor man’s Halo.

Brute Force is a game that focuses on multiplayer. Its co-op nature is very prevalent with the tag-line “Dangerous alone - Deadly Together” and the ability for drop in drop out. So why is the frame rate so bad. It makes the second half of the game all but unplayable on multiplayer. Literal Microsoft PowerPoint type frame rate. It’s a multiplayer game. Completely inexcusable.

The gunplay itself is good. Guns are very loud and it feels nice to shoot enemies. Weapons are a little generic sci-fi but all have their uses. Level design is bland. Walk here, shoot guys, flip a switch. Very generic but doesn’t get in the way of the action.

Brute Force is a mid game with terrible performance. It shouldn’t have been released in this state.

4/10