And while I don’t know if I ever felt like a genius while playing Breath of the Wild, I did feel like I was 11 years old and unlocking the magical secrets of Zelda all over again.
Games have to fit into our lives, and that's not always fair. Mass Effect: Andromeda might've worked a decade ago on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but it doesn't work in a world that is delivering games like Horizon: Zero Dawn, Nier: Automata, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. In this reality, BioWare's latest role-playing game is old, broken, and often boring. Worst of all, it's going to disappoint fans of the Mass Effect series.
I adored Heist and didn't really play much of the first Dig, but I now consider myself a fan of the SteamWorld canon. Image & Form is doing great work with this universe, and I wouldn't want to miss this sequel. Even if you're going from Metroid: Samus Returns, which is similar, directly into Dig 2, I still think you'll come away thrilled and looking in the developer's direction hoping they have something else new coming very soon.
Wolfenstein II shines whenever you can feel how resistant the people of the United States are to the idea of overthrowing their new emperor. That is effective both dramatically and as a commentary on our current politics. Machine also brought the most amazing characters, quality storytelling, and well-paced gameplay to The New Colossus. You'll want to spend time with these people and discover their fate — sometimes that will your heart and sometimes that will break it. But you'll always feel something.
We're lucky to live in a world with Shadow of the Colossus. I hope that more people get the chance to play it now and it goes on to inspire a generation of indie developers. But, more than anything, I'm just happy to play it again.
Far Cry 5 is mechanically sound and varied. You'll find something that entertains you, and Ubisoft has nailed all of the underlying elements of character and world progression. At the same time, it squanders some decent writing because it can't decide what kind of game it is.
Few online games have clicked with me as quickly as Mario Tennis Aces, and I expect it'll end up on my top 10 at the end of 2018.
Go out and get it for your Switch, PC, or whatever, and just play it.
When a game series is this good for this long, you can sometimes find yourself taking it for granted. Forza Horizon 4 once again refines its formula in a number of notable ways. But those improvements are getting diminishing returns. This is the best Forza Horizon game, and that makes it one of the best racing games ever. But that just doesn't wow me like it once did.
Assassin's Creed: Odyssey is dense, detailed, and varied. It is more dense, detailed, and varied than I considered possible for a video game before playing this. It is a stunning accomplishment, and the 500-to-1,000+ people who worked on it should feel proud. It has its problems. Combat is clunky, the menus are a slog, and leveling feels off. But those issues never made me want to stop playing. I want to keep playing right now.
That’s the heart of Hitman: giving players the power to create their own stories. And that’s as big and powerful as ever in Hitman 2. So I don’t care if it’s not the newest thing in the world. It’s still one of the most solid and rewarding games you can get. And it’s an ideal antidote to games that are more obsessed with looking immersive than playing great.
Score: 95/100
Finally, Capcom has put a lot of game into Resident Evil 2. It has four remixed campaigns — two each for the playable characters Leon and Claire. But Capcom has also revealed plans to add even more. That includes a mode that randomizes where items are as well as new player characters.
I’m here to see if Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice can click for someone who does not have the reverence for the “Soulsborne” games. If you are looking for validation of your tastes or how this game compares to Dark Souls, plenty of other reviews will cover that.
I never should have doubted Image & Form, and I hope the studio knows that my expectations are now sky high for whatever it does next.
So as long as the war between me and Noie can rage on, I'm going to keep loving Super Mario Maker 2.
When I go to give Link’s Awakening to someone else, would I recommend this version? Is this the game I want my kids to play? And yes. It is. Absolutely. Because the truth is that it does recapture its old magic. It’s just not the time machine that I thought it could be.
I really like the way the RingCon feels. I also enjoy leveling up and running through the environment. But the core mission of Ring Fit Adventure is to make you forget that you’re exercising, and I think it’s only partially successful at that.
It is the kind of achievement that is only possible when one of the best developers in the world puts all of its might into making something special. And I hope we get more just like it in the future.
The best thing I can say about New Horizons is that I think it's going to win over some players who previously bounced off the franchise. And it will do so without losing any longtime fans in the process. Those players will find more to love than ever before.