Tactics is a fantastic conversion of Xbox’s iconic franchise into a more thoughtful gameplay setting. It’s a spin-off that takes everything Gears is known for and masterfully retools it for an engrossing strategy game that we’ll likely be playing for years to come. With a Locust enemy that’s finally more imposing than General RAAM and a lovable cast of characters, it’s also a game that continues to tell an epic, cinematic story that strategy games have never had the budget to do before. This is everything you love about Gears, you just have to think a bit more.
If you want a smaller, condensed narrative within a unique cyberpunk world, Cloudpunk is an amiable adventure with a cast of creative, memorable characters. It could do with a proper map to allow players to fully discover everything throughout Nivalis’ varied districts, but as it stands, this distinctive sci-fi adventure is an awesome adventure on a budget.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake is not flawless. In fact, it’s a game that proactively attempts to guide you past its flaws every step of the way, but it is still a game I’m glad I played. It’s likely to bring the ire of hardcore fans: as someone who only has a passing knowledge of original I know for a fact where this story has massively altered. However, if you play FF7R, you will fall in love. Not with the game, and not necessarily its museum-exhibit world, but with its cast. In that sense, Final Fantasy 7 Remake is pretty darn great.
Despite some awful balancing, repetitive environments and other niggling issues, Resident Evil Resistance is a game I keep coming back to, when the arduously long wait times to find a match allow me to. It’s not an amazing game – its inclusion as a pack-in multiplayer mode for the underwhelming Resident Evil 3 speaks volumes – but goddamn is it unique. Well, it’s Fable Legends, but then Fable Legends doesn’t exist.
No matter how you look at it, Resident Evil 3 is a stark fall from grace for Capcom. With the developer firing on all cylinders ever since the return-to-form release of Resident Evil 7, this is the company’s first blunder in years.
Doom Eternal is the true return of id Software’s iconic first-person shooter series. If you thought that Doom 2016 was the ultimate return of classic FPS gameplay, look again. Compared to Eternal, 2016’s hardcore combat was just baby steps. This is the return of Doom: Long Live Doom Eternal!
Ori and the Will of the Wisps is one of the finest platformers available on consoles, let alone on just Xbox One and PC. Moon Studios has crafted a sequel that truly evolves from the original game and that will keep your attention from start to finish.
Overpass isn’t a great looker; it’s only an adequate player – if that’s an accurate descriptive. Playing it for more than half an hour at most still leave you craving for something more nuanced, interesting, and far more polished. However, this is likely to be the only experience like it for quite a while.
If you’re an Xbox gamer who has yet to experience the Kingdom Hearts story, this collection is the best way to jump in. If you’re a fan of the recent third entry that was a little confused by jumping into the deep end – trust me, no one can blame you for being confused – then you have to get this compilation.
Rebellion has returned to a good-enough sub-series with a better-than-average sequel. Better visuals, better combat and better creativity has created an enjoyable game, but it still struggles against an always-increasing sea of undead competitors. While removing local co-op leaves a sour taste, it’s not a deal-breaker, but that core feature removal isn’t replaced with any feature that feels as substantial. It’s diminishing returns.
While the rejection of these moments of Dragon Ball Z’s story is upsetting, Kakarot still plays well. It’s the Dragon Ball Z game we’ve always wanted; warts and all, Kakarot is hands-down a ballistic and powerful adaptation of one of anime’s greatest shows. Just like how CyberConnect 2’s Naruto games vastly improved by the time the fourth and final entry came around, Kakarot only requires minimal tweaking to become one of DBZ’s greatest games.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare attempts to provide everything a CoD fan could want, albeit to mixed results. Its campaign is easily the best seven-hour experience the series has ever crafted, even if it’s political meddling of true events is particularly insulting. Combined with a solid multiplayer mode that has a mostly polished set of maps and a gun unlock system free from disgusting loot boxes or microtransactions and it should be an amazing title. Unfortunately, Spec Ops is broken and lets the game down.
Shenmue 3 is an acquired taste, very acquired, but it’s everything I ever wanted it to be. As a Shenmue sequel it’s fan-pleasing perfection. As an actual game it leaves some things to be desired: combat is clunky , facial animations are unpleasing and there are numerous translation oddities. However, at the end of the day, it’s a game I’ve awaited for years and I’m far from disappointed.
Overall, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is a solid Star Wars game. A meandering narrative, weirdly-chosen protagonist, shoddy start and technical issues make it hard to recommend, especially with such technical issues on base Xbox One consoles, but it’s still a fantastic game beneath its issues.
Luigi’s Mansion 3 is an absolute treat, even if it’s fairly basic.
It’s clear that WWE 2K20 needs a lot more time in the oven. The departure of Yukes has clearly had an effect on the series’ annual development, an effect that publisher 2K should have realised and accounted for. Even with the countless bugs and crashes, there’s still a soul here that’s hard to extinguish and for all its faults, at least we know the bigger company is to blame.
Little Town Hero is a very unique RPG. It’s short, unadventurous and not that grand, but its quaintness is admirable. It’s enjoyable enough, and for a budget price-point, it certainly is worth the price of admission. For players who were hoping for a grand adventure similar to Pokémon, Game Freak isn’t aiming for that. This is a smaller experience, and it’s far from perfect, but it’s at least a refreshing entry in a crowded genre.
There is no saving Ghost Recon Breakpoint. It’s a disgustingly predatory experience wrapped around an expansive world with the soul of a corporate PowerPoint. It’s got all the features modern open world games have, but with none of the heart. If Ubisoft were aiming to make the dullest experience possible, well done, they’ve achieved their goal with flying colours.
If anything, Gears 5 proves that not only does The Coalition knows how to make a solid game in the series, but they also know how to evolve a long-running franchise.
Looking back at it, Man of Medan isn’t the awesome successor to Until Dawn we wanted, but it’s a good step to delivering that successor. While it inherits a similar structure – and it’s bizarre performance issues – it just isn’t as enthralling as what came before. Some routes are disjointed and the cast and environment aren’t as interesting as the sassy clique that fought off the Wendigos, but it’s still a strong horror experience that makes for a fantastic co-op experience. The look on your friend’s face when you accidentally kill his character is one you’ll never forget.