It's a playable Saturday morning cartoon: silly, janky but for a brief period of time, a fun distraction.
The New Colossus crafts a world that can deliver exciting action and human drama. The messy gunfights give way to something much larger. The New Colossus examines violence, resistance, and the necessity of revolution. It's bloody and occasionally silly but never stupid or crass.
Fire Emblem Warriors lacks charm but compensates with spectacle.
It's delightful and fun and worth the effort it'll take to clear.
Tacoma ultimately succeeds as a piece of emotional storytelling. Every moment spent with the crew is spellbinding, as their strengths and struggles play out in painful detail. The experience is sometimes frustrating, but Tacoma leaves a lasting impression.
Sonic Mania clearly articulates Sonic's true appeal: Sonic is pure joy, a spinning ball of fun blazing a trail towards the next adventure.
I do not regret my time with A New Frontier, but the emotional core at the center of the series seems rotten. There are seeds of greatness here, but A New Frontier never gave them the necessary time to grow.
The combat, although robust, tends to frustrate and the story, although impeccable in presentation, doesn't quite feel as sweeping and romantic as previous titles on the 3DS.
Ben's story of highway justice holds up well and provides a suitable adventure game experience. It's not the cream of the crop and players might forget it in time. But in the moment? There's nothing better than the open road.
The parts are significantly greater than the whole. There's fun to be had but it doesn't come easily. And if I never have to collect another shiny again, it'll be far too soon.
Wildlands' gameplay is too chaotic to call back to Tom Clancy classics like Rainbow Six or the series' earlier titles. Its politics are too vapid to compete with the Splinter Cell series' pulpy yet prescient narratives. Wildlands wants to be everything. It succeeds at being nothing.
Nioh is one of the most memorable and competent action games in a long time. There's a genuine speed to combat, and the mixture of stances, magic, and other options turns any battle into a violent crescendo of action. It rockets players from challenge to challenge, remaining consistently exciting throughout.
Resident Evil 7 can occasionally frustrate with excessive boss fights and patronizing puzzles, but it’s still a scary and violent blast of survival horror that paints a bright future for the franchise. Bloody, tense, and exciting throughout, Resident Evil 7 is exactly what the series needed. Full of dread and brimming with anxiety, the series that started it all has finally found itself after decades of wandering. Welcome home, Resident Evil. We missed you.
Ultimately, Read Only Memories provides a clumsy but resonant experience. What it lacks in thematic substance or technical challenge, it makes up for in emotional content, a lush setting, and memorable characters. It’s a story worth experiencing in spite of its occasional frustrations. Come for the robots. Stay for the soul.
The edges are rough but the core is solid. Dishonored 2 may not redefine the formula set by its predecessor, but it is still one hell of a game. The game stumbles but always manages to recover. Like a bumbling assassin that somehow gets the kill, Dishonored 2 manages to succeed in the face of almost unassailable odds.
Bold enthusiasm for a game often summons skeptic or contrarians. Pay them no heed. Titanfall 2 is impressive. Its influence will ripple through video games in the same way that titles like Half Life or Halo managed in their time. Beautiful and bold, Titanfall 2 is the pinnacle of first person shooters.
A compellingly honest look at World War 1.
When all was said and done, I felt very pleased. Working through puzzles (and even brute forcing a few) occasionally made my head pound, but Pan-Pan made it very clear to me that challenges are temporary. But if you keep trying, push hard enough, and persevere? There’s a wonderful world waiting for you.
Day of the Tentacle Remastered is a well-polished time capsule