*Note: Ratings are not relative to one another or comparable. They are based solely on how well the game accomplishes what they set out to do. For instance, Sleeping Dogs is a AAA (high-budget) open-world fighting/shooter/GTA clone and can't be compared to TRAUMA, which is an interactive photo-montage and very VERY indie.
Thoughts below the break.
1.
The good: Incredible art direction and sound design. Fun to look at and worth sticking around some areas just to hear the music. Impressive range for an iPad.
The bad: Game is pretentious enough to throw off experienced gamers but requires a high enough level of game literacy to be inaccessible to casual gamers.
The ugly: design is clunky. For a puzzle game, the interface is not responsive enough and there is little to go on for some of the pairing and touch-based gestures.
2.
The good: Very engaging story and character work, with a nice balance between the character's warring emotions. Enough to keep the player coming back after each chapter. Shooting mechanics are much better than Rockstar's. Driving is also improved. For an open world game, there is good direction to keep the player on track.
The bad: The tensions built up between the character's allegiances throughout the game is poorly addressed in the final chapters. Disappointing for a game driven primarily by cut scene plot.
The ugly: For a game that relies mostly on combat, fighting mechanics are clunky and oppressive. Environmental attacks and blocks are extremely overpowered. The best strategy is just to wait to get hit - maybe true for real life fighting but boring for games.
4. Really pleasant game, though quite short (it is a prototype after all). Could easily see this turned into a full title. Mechanics are intuitive and passed along without all the excessive-text tutorials all games seem to have these days. Reminiscent of Flow or Flower in a number of ways.
5. This game shows a lot of promise in the first few chapters but never reaches its full potential. Clunky UI (the timeline only extends to the furthest key frame, you have to click an item to select it before animating, you cannot scrub through the timeline to observe animations) inhibits natural engagement while a supreme lack of difficulty progression prevents the player from growing. Overall, achieves its goal of passing on simple animation concepts but misses the mark for developing a fun and interesting game to surround it.
