Benjamin Maltbie
If Ghost Games can find a way to properly refine and execute their ideas, they're on track to something great. Need for Speed: Payback, however, finishes in the middle of the pack, and that's a damn shame.
MLB: The Show 18 is a refined experience that stands tall as the best baseball game currently on the market. Of all the iterations of the title, this is, to my eye, the definitive best and, I imagine, exactly what fans of the genre are looking for. Beyond that, in a similar vein to soccer or hockey games, MLB: The Show 18 is an enjoyable, competitive, multiplayer experience that can easily be enticing to non-sports fans if they simply look past the baseball veneer to see the mechanically sound, tactile, multi-faceted game below the surface; you don't need to watch or play baseball for the game to function as a more than serviceable pastime and I recommend a rental to anyone who is on the fence about getting into this genre.
EA's NHL 19 is a sports simulation, a fantasy league, a social hub, and a comforting arcade game all at once, and that is quite a thing to accomplish.
This is definitely a good soccer game. It's just not as good as it could be. It should be immediately apparent, due to a lack of modes, if this game isn't for you. For that reason, I might suggest renting the game before jumping in feet first.
Mega Man 11 is the convergence point for Mega Man and Mega Man X.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is a game that looks at the entire first-person shooter genre, past and present,
Other than laughter and the occasional satisfaction of seeing a crazy plan come together, Just Cause 4 doesn’t illicit much of an emotional response. It’s ugly, monotone, and almost feels incomplete. Even some of the character animations look lazy, as though the characters themselves are saving their energy for something. The game isn’t without its charm, certainly, but that charm doesn’t amount to much when it is marred by a plethora of other issues. Just Cause 4 approaches its potential, but doesn’t quite seize it. Considering how well the game performs at its peak, that is a real shame.
This remake is, without a doubt, the best way to experience Resident Evil 2.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a worthy entry into FromSoftware’s repertoire
Wreckfest combines the exact right elements to create something amazing. It's big, ridiculous, loud, and chaotic.
In the end, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Breakpoint never finds its groove.
Death Stranding will not be for everybody. It seems meticulously engineered for a pretty specific kind of nerd. My wife, for example, loves this game, and when she loves a game, she dumps hundreds of hours into it. Me? I merely like this game
Once you grasp the basics, EA Sports UFC 4 is a deep game that lets you engage with it on your own terms.
The game is amazing for a weekend, but for several months? For the moment, it seems unlikely. Hopefully that will change.
It’s Star Wars, though, and cool ships and enormous spectacle are part of the fun. It’s alright that the story isn’t going to win any awards because it still does its job and doesn’t actively detract from the important parts of the game. Star Wars: Squadrons is the most accessible and potentially best way to experience one of the coolest parts of Star Wars.
Overall, the people at Toys for Bob have done a wonderful job with the property, and that’s not really surprising. Their past games like Skylanders have tapped into the same lighthearted fun that Crash is known for. They demonstrated an ability to make likable characters in those titles and now they’ve taken a franchise full of likable characters and made them even more likable.
Because of the game’s appearance, it might be a hard sell to some people. I know I will have a tough timing convincing friends to play it, even though it is up their proverbial alley in terms of mechanics and genre. The fact that the game misspells “exchange” in its opening and there was seemingly no effort put into lip syncing might also lead people to worry that it is the sort of low-effort cash-in one might expect from a series with Bikini Samurais. It’s worth pushing past, though, because these aspects of the game sink into the background, save when the occasionally leering camera forces them back into the foreground.
It is undeniable that the series is growing, and it’s admirable that the developers are willing to try new things. Overall, the experience works in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. It’s not a perfect fit, yet, but there’s promise in the series future if they continue to head in a direction that has more RPG elements, and options for a direct approach. It also feels like a proof of concept that they can continue to attempt virtually any setting with a decent chance of success.
There’s a sense that Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is a game that wants to repay longtime fans for their commitment. The music and cutscenes draw from a deep well of nostalgia without relying on it. That said, fans looking for a game that advances the story might be disappointed.
To that end, Spider-Man: Miles Morales might be the best of two worlds. It is short for a video game, but that means it’s easier to fit into a busy schedule and that sort of approachability has merit. It’s also not beholden to the limited runtime of a film which means it can use storytelling techniques that are unique to the video game medium. Spider-Man: Miles Morales constantly deepens the game’s world and lore in ways that other media couldn’t.