Recent reviews by Henry Burlingame

Initially, I was pretty disappointed with Catalyst, having greatly enjoyed the first installation back in 2011(!). The story is a total reboot, but surprisingly it thrusts you into the plot, immediately introducing many key players with whom the protagonist, Faith, is supposed to have long histories with. My guess is that these allegiances are fleshed out in the Exordium comic, but it was a pretty weird writing decision. The plot eventually becomes more engaging, and although it is shallow, the smooth and relaxing gameplay buttress it significantly. The characters are mostly one-dimensional, but I liked Plastic (who is absolutely the MVP of the game) and the development of Icarus' character. Dogen was probably the most complex character in the story, by far, and I would have liked more material with him.

The political criticism here is not very nuanced and not novel, but the dystopian world is beautiful to navigate. The Trotskyist ideologies embodied by Rebecca Thane are not endorsed by the plot and they are shown to be ineffective. Ultimately, any political messaging can be brushed aside as again, it is really the smooth parkour that is the true focus of the game.

Open world makes a lot of sense for the gameplay of Mirror's Edge. I actually think the common open world tropes like collectibles and mini "delivery missions" are extremely well suited for the game, because it offers a break from the main plot while allowing you to focus on the strength of the game, which is the parkour. Collectibles also provide small XP bonuses as well, so they are worth doing.

There has been significant criticism over the skill tree and the combat, but I actually enjoyed those elements. The skill tree is not overbearing and only provides nominal boosts to your power, and the combat is unique and satisfying, although it is not a focus of the gameplay. There are only really a few missions in which the combat is mandatory.

As many others have pointed out, now that the EA servers are offline, the achievements are broken. I am not a completionist by any stretch of the imagination so this does not bother me much.

The game is worth getting on sale, but I don't know if I will continue past the main story.

Very unique roguelike game in which you develop a gladiator and try and meet different victory conditions. The combat is "physics-based" and relies on accurate mouse drags to land hits. It is kind of awkward at first but gradually becomes second nature, and I would say is actually critical to the game's success because a typical turn-based kind of combat would be too simplified and rely on min-maxing to be rewarding. As it stands, each encounter is potentially fatal - if the opponent lands a couple nice strikes, you will lose too much health, which has be healed with payments to a physician, and this can derail a run.

There's a nice wide range of different combat scenarios and equipment combinations, so there is a lot of replay value. I am pretty bad at the game and I have not even come close to winning a run, but it is still very fun and engaging. The danger of these scenarios really highlights the intensity of gladiatorial combat which makes the game shine.

High on Life is principally controversial because of the divisive humour style of Rick & Morty, as this is a Justin Roiland project and is very similar to that infamous show. The gameplay is pretty easy but the gunplay is fun and the imaginative story is outlandish but intriguing. Some sequences, like the Nipulon boss fight, features some extremely novel psychedelic sections which really shows how the game is unique and innovative.

One of the most interesting and instructive simulation games out there. The premise of the game is that you are now in charge of governmental planning on infrastructure, technological research, policy and the division of energy production. Victory is achieved after reducing the extinction rate, emissions and the planet's temperature, in a way that has you maintaining political capital and ensuring the people are happy.

It is kind of complicated at first but then once you learn what works and what is important, it is a lot simpler. Half-Earth Socialism, which is based on a radical Verso book, is very instructive about what processes are most harmful to the Earth's habitability and what technologies are achievable to combat the climate crisis.

The soundtrack to this game is incredible, and the grainy visuals give this kind of solarpunk feel that is extremely emotive and aesthetic.

The game really showcases how a delicate balance has to be made when making policy. Ramping up modern energy techniques too quickly will lead to an underproduction in energy. Too many radical policy choices will leave you alienated from parliament and the people. The game showcases the importance of radical changes, while providing a roadmap to how those policies would have to be implemented.

A run is completed in about 2 hours, so it is a pretty short game. Although there are no achievements it is fun to try and evolve different approaches to solving the crisis (i.e. authoritarian/Malthusian vs. Fanonist dewesternization/ecoliberal)

Although it might seem kind of limited at first, given most encounters have little procedural randomness, the sheer number of relics, characters and die faces open the game significantly as you play more. Circadian Dice requires you to complete the same encounter with different characters to achieve stars, which in turn unlocks more features of the game.

As someone who plays a decent amount of deckbuilders, the mechanics of this game are pretty unique and can be very satisfying - such as when you have a monster triple triple attack die that just wipes the boss out. You can continue challenging yourself by going for high scores. Completionism has never been my thing but nevertheless, there a lot of features that make the game a good casual repeat.