Splintered Joystick Redesign

Splintered Joystick is getting redesigned from the ground up! The truth be told is I have reached a point where I am tired of simply covering one subject. I plan to explore new life ventures and am going to revamp the content of this blog. Just know that for now, Splintered Joystick as it stands is going to change its content drastically.I am redesigning the direction and content of this blog to reflect where I wish to go creatively to include a far broader scope of topics. 

This is not the end of Splintered Joystick, only the end of its current incarnation focusing only on video games. The time for evolution is at hand! The blog is still going to get updates, but simply reviewing video games is no longer going to be the sole function of Splintered Joystick. I am crafting my first album, and have other literary projects which I may use the site as a launching pad for. Stay tuned!

Gravel: A Mediocre Arcade Racer

Despite a shiny coat of 4K paint, Gravel for the Xbox One and PC leaves a great deal to be desired as a solid racing title.This arcade-style off-road racer disfavors traditional racing mechanics for high-speed octane drag racing across wide open tracks in exotic locales. Basically imagine a third-party SEGA Rally release, with less polish and you get Gravel. The casual driving controls are simple to pick up, but there is little to no competitive depth to Gravel's gameplay! Its mechanics are passable, but no innovation or originality is present here! The marketplace has now become saturated with far superior racing titles such as Forza Motorsport 7 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and in such a market Gravel had an uphill battle from the very start.

The single-player mode is thoroughly barebones, revolving around a fictional racing TV show named "Off Road Masters". The announcer is annoying as hell to listen to, like a cheese grater slicing through your eardrums, and the "boss battle" races are uninspired to the core. The graphics in Gravel are above average, this titles strongest point. Yet again compared to the masterpieces such as Forza and Mario Kart, Gravel still falls flat in comparison. Not to mention the hideous Smash Up events, where mystery boxes randomly loot the racetracks and you have to drive through specific color-coded ticks or suffer reductions in both speed and performance. Its racing mechanics turned into a random clusterfuck, and it sucks a ton of fun out of the experience!

At around 50 vehicles Gravel's auto roster isn't tremendous yet it is authorized, and there are no less than a couple of rides that once in a while fly up in rally amusements, including a modest bunch of Dakar-reproduced SUVs and pick-ups, a Porsche I haven't found in a hustling diversion since EA's 2002 rough terrain driver Shox, and a notable Toyota that strangely vanished from the Dirt arrangement after 2011. They look sufficiently decent clad in their most unmistakable attires (like the acclaimed Castrol Celica, or the similarly notorious 555 Impreza) however less so in Gravel's extensive variety of bland substitute paint occupations. 

Beside new autos these additional wraps are one of the keys opens proportioned out as we advance yet I never felt any want to utilize them. The driving progression system is very numb with the accessible driving mechanics exchanged on the grounds that there's neither a good feeling of weight nor the arcade-reproduced trickiness of the ever-overlooked SEGA Rally Revo. Gravel falls in an unfortunate middle, too mediocre to stand on its own merits. Disposing of the bits of help conveys back some profundity to the dealing with, in spite of the fact that there still doesn't feel like there's much contrast or exciting unlockables to make your time in Gravel feel worthy of investment or replaying the game.

There are more granular tuning alternatives which apparently identify with particular taking care of qualities yet they appear to be strange in this kind of racer. Rock's lighting is, for the most part, great, from the radiating desert sun to the delicate red shine of taillights at night. Standing water has a tendency to have a pleasant gleam to it, as well, in spite of the fact that the genuine water impacts in Gravel are generally frustrating. Go ahead, people; Colin McRae Rally 3 had raindrops that crawled over the windscreen more than 15 damn years back.

Overall, Gravel is not the worst racing game ever made, but it is for certain a mediocre game that delivers little for its $40 asking price! Simply put, there are far superior racing games that are worth your time and money over a barebones off-road racer!

Final Verdict:
Graphics: 9/10
Gameplay: 4/10
Sound: 5/10
Replay Value: 4/10
Overall: 4/10 (Mediocre)

Q.U.B.E 2 Preview

Q.U.B.E 2 is one of the most innovative platformer puzzle games to get released in years! You play as archeologist Amelia Cross, a survivor of a crashed ship who awakens mysteriously in a room inside a monolithic alien structure.As Amelia, you find you're equipped with strange gloves that can manipulate the environment around you with ease.

 The brilliance of Q.U.B.E is that every single object can become manipulated to further your goals in-game! Its like Portal 2 on a massively expanded scale! See a wall that is in your way? Remove it and create a bridge! See an enemy who is raining fire down upon you from below? Pull his support beams out from under him and destroy him with his own weapons! Q.U.B.E allows the player to play the game as they see fit, to adapt the environment to solve puzzles in any way they chose!

The puzzles in Q.U.B.E are simple to understand but difficult to master! Pacing is near flawless, allowing players to navigate the stunning environments with ease. The game acts as a kindly mentor, ensuring that the player never feels lost or is getting their hand held too often. When you stumble, the game gently allows the player to solve the puzzle in whatever way they chose, because every object is destructible and manipulate. Q.U.B.E takes the innovations of Portal and improves on them, and if that is not the makings of an incredible gaming experience, I don't know what is!