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Kao the Kangaroo is in a werid place. The story, voice acting and dialogue all suggest it's meant for kids, but the design and various elements feel dated. In the older days these experiences were the norm, but today it might not be what players expect or even want. This, along with some annoying glitches and underwhelming combat leaves Kao the Kangaroo in a rough place. It still has some good moments, they're just lost in a sea of basically making a modern Dreamcast title.
Midnight Ghost Hunt takes the fun of prop hunt and by giving it that spooky Ghostbusters twist, takes it to the next level. Whether you're hiding in a gargoyle or a saucepan, or running after them with a flamethrower going and radar spiking, there is fun to be had. The games are short sharp fun regardless of which team you're put on, something impressive as these style games often feel like one side is there to almost facilitate the fun of the opponents. Despite a few bugs and hosting issues, this is a ghostly experience everyone should believe in.
Railroad Ink Challenge is a solid experience, which lacks some features which could take it to the next level. Booting up players can try to beat their own highscores, or play the ever changing daily challenges. Lakes, Lava and more are missing but the release of the Forest and Desert DLC has helped instill some extra variety into the experience. A proper multiplayer experience would have been nice, yet the chance to just hop on, roll some dice and make networks is a pleasant experience in its own right.
Pushing past the first couple hours of clumsy stumbling around and getting to grips with the parkour mechanics and Dying Light 2 becomes a pleasure to play. Being able to take any path from A to B is extremely rewarding, and it only improves as skills and such are unlocked. Players are kept on their toes, literally – at least in game, by the stark differences between day and night. There is a serious amount of content, with side missions and areas to explore on top of the meaty main campaign. Much like the original Techland has already promised years of content and, with 3 patches already released (including a day 0 patch) there is no doubting it'll keep fans pleased and playing for hours upon hours upon hours.
With each DLC released Cities Skylines gets a bigger and more impressive game, from an already epic starting point. Now there are many available it could be daunting to new players, though for fans having a new area to dive into is a great reason to get back into crafting cities. Having the new public transport options and the two terminal types gives plenty to get invested in, just make sure you have a large flat area planned out for your airport to properly take flight!
Unfortunately, Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition is proof that nostalgia will only get you so far. It'll get you to boot up the game with rose tinted glasses, there waiting for you are the GTA experiences we have all loved from years ago. They aren't the same though. Improvements are masked by flaws, and they don't truly feel elevated close to "definitive" edition status. The CEO of Grove Street Games has promised updates and hopefully these can fix the qwirks, the bugs and the oddities, which chip away at those rose tinted glasses. We all wanted Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition to allow us to once again sink hours into those glorious games of old. Perhaps they will get there, it's been a rocky start and currently it's not the hidden package we were looking for.
Simply put, BPM: Bullets Per Minute does a good job of being more than the sum of its parts, though not enough where it transcends things. It's absolutely a game that will either hook you or break your controller before giving up. I'd suggest trying it out or possibly study a video, as it's fun but also an investment.
Overall, Mary Skelter Finale is in a rough place. It's far from accessible to newcomers, the opening can be fairly intimidating and there is a lot of stuff thrown at you at once. This makes it hard to recommend to newcomers and have the potential to fail with returning fans. Those who enjoy dungeon crawlers and put in the time are greeted with a rather interesting experience that concludes the series nicely.
Returning the franchise to the original style seems to have paid off. With brilliant, fast paced, tower defence gameplay on offer it will keep two cooping players thoroughly entertained and wanting to play just that one more level. There's a huge range of levels to play through, different modes to unlock, traps both big and small to upgrade, and so much more. The inclusion of the war scenario mode adds that wow factor of scale, without losing what makes Orcs Must Die 3 fun. There is always another wave of orcs, trolls, elementals and more ready to fight, and you'll want to defend against them time and time again!
For the money, Prinny Presents NIS Classics Volume 1: Phantom Brave / Soul Nomad is a great deal. Phantom Brave is one of their best tactical RPGs and Soul Nomad has enough to justify the experience. It's a shame the latter is a port over a remake but the gameplay itself is still decent by today's standards and including Phantom Brave makes it easier to overlook.
Greak: Memories of Azur is a great example of nice art and ideas failing due to implementation. I don't know if there is a great way to accomplish exactly what Greak: Memories of Azur was going for but this is absolutely not it. The extra characters add nothing to the core experience could be improved so many ways that it's easy to focus on what it did wrong over the positives. It makes for a rough suggestion and one many will just find lacking.
The hard thing about Trigger Witch is that it proves you can be worse than the sum of its parts. Instead of creating an experience that feels like a lot of thought and effort went into it, like Enter the Gungeon, it feels like someone had a neat idea and they just wanted to build that as far as they could go. This isn't to say you can't have fun with Trigger Witch or even that it's bad, there are just better efforts out there.
Overall, Blightbound has a good base, it just needs to expand on it more and a faster way to get there. Playing as a class you don't like until the version you do appears sucks and then leveling it can be a bit long. Certain enemies could also further the need to master each classes unique offering, so it isn't three damage dealers with one of them being responsible for healing. Given the roadmap suggests good things are coming, along with the progress we've seen thus far, but in its current state it needs a little more time to bake.
Add this in with an opening that is brutal, even more mechanics that get thrown away or ignored long term (why have the tent that heals your party cost 10,000 marbles, what Cris Tales uses for currency, when by the time you can afford it, you'd have no use for it?), spending most of your time talking to people in towns that are obvious padding and so much more. It's a shame Cris Tales simply can't live up to the charm of its art but there is no consistency on what it wants to be. Even the bosses go from a joke to making me feel like I am woefully under-leveled, back to Neptunia level in the span of 20 minutes and one level. For some the art might be enough, but if you want a good RPG, this isn't it.
As a huge fan of Disgaea, I’m simply disappointed in the direction Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny took. It went from a charming RPG that had larger than life bosses with equally impressive stats to numbers so inflated it’s legitimately hard to know what exactly your stats are. Add in auto play that will literally grind while you sleep, various mechanics that make the mechanics irrelevant and it’s literally just a pointless grind until the next pointless grind. For some that might be fun, but that simply isn’t what Disgaea is for me.
Guilty Gear Strive brings out some of the best elements of Guilty Gear Xrd and combines them with what Arc System Works learned from Dragon Ball FighterZ.
In reality, Neptunia ReVerse does what it ultimately needs to accomplish. The things that matter look nice, new modes give most players something to look forward to and it’s an experience a lot of players likely never got to see.
Another common debate in the gaming community, especially after some games going to $70, is quality versus quantity. For the longer time I’ve always favored quantity, though believe in a healthy mix of both, but Biomutant makes a compelling case for why quantity is bad.
The main thing to remember with Rust Console Edition is that you need to come in with a desire to build a life and invest the time to see that life through. This makes it hard to suggest to everyone, especially those who will want to fight a bear the second they spawn, a choice you’ll likely immediately regret but it does what it wants to quite well. The meta-game alone can feel hours, days, weeks or even months, provided you come in with an open mind.
Hood Outlaws & Legends has a solid basis to build on. By focusing specifically on the one game mode the developers have crafted a dynamic experience. While elements might feel the same no two matches are ever quite the same; thanks to the way that vaults move and players have choices of where to extract from. Matches go until the very end, with victory occasionally stolen out of what looks like a definite defeat. Visually the world is a dark shadowy one and this is awesome to stealth through, it's just a shame that by the extract stage in matches stealth goes out of the window. There are improvements to be made but with season passes already planned for the first year, it seems that Hood Outlaws & Legends should be able to entertain players for many months to come.