And for as good as it is now, it should keep getting even better as Wide Right and RiffTrax release updates with more clips and jokes. I’m going to check in regularly, but I’ll be back on day one whenever it gets new content.
Consider me a Halo fan now. I was never really looking forward to Infinite. But now that it’s here, it’s so much more than what I was expecting. And I think that whatever 343 does next will be even better, and I’ll be eagerly awaiting it.
Its playability matched with MercurySteam doing right by Samus Aran has turned me into even more of a fan of Metroid. Even beyond the context of my own affinity toward the character and world, Metroid Dread is some of the most fun I’ve had with a game in 2021. It’s a contender for game of the year.
This is a game I expect to go back to regularly throughout the life of the Switch. But when I do, it probably won’t be for the multiplayer. Those modes are fine, but cooperative play adds a bit too much stress. But as a classic WarioWare, Get It Together shines.
I have found the narrative somewhat overwhelming at times — just in terms of the amount of information the game throws at you. But Arkane has accounted for that as well with one of the best mission- and info-tracking systems in a game ever. Even if you failed to pick up on a key piece of intel, the game will tell you what you need to do next as long as you found the key piece of evidence.
The adventure isn’t Super Rush’s real flaw. I’m used to the series coming up short in that aspect at this point. Instead, this game’s issue is I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now. If I had time and a regular crew to play against, I imagine we would make an appointment to play the game together. That seems like fun, but it’s also a hassle. And the game doesn’t do much to alleviate the pains of getting a group together.
Rift Apart is a special game. And as long as Sony Interactive Entertainment has Insomniac releasing games like this for the PS5, I’m going keep showing up on day one with $70 in hand, ready for the next adventure.
This lack of variety in the style of play makes every run feel samey, and they begin to blur together. That leads to a roteness that made me want to put down the game when I was struggling with the difficulty. I like challenging games, but roguelites need to walk a fine line between familiarity and routine. Familiarity is the warm embrace of something that feels like home. Routine is boredom, and it is poison for a game like this.
The kindest thing I can say about the game is that it does make for an entertaining livestream. I broadcasted my play on Twitch, and my audience seemed to really enjoy watching me suffer. So I guess this is a great one for all those fans of masochism out there.
Hitman is a world made up entirely of Chekhov’s guns, and it’s a blast finding out how to get Agent 47 into position to pull the trigger.
It’s fine to make a game like that — for many, that’s the promise of Cyberpunk 2077. It just wasn’t the promise to me.
For video games, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 still shows us what games are capable of. You’ll find sad dads in books. Movies will have equally moving stories. Music can show us that emotions are not necessarily tied to language. But only video games can re-create skateboarding.
I’m somewhere between neophyte and sim veteran, and Microsoft Flight Simulator has won me over. It happened when I picked a flight path from a small, grass airfield in Brazil to an airport in São Paulo. It feels so good to learn the characteristics of your plane while watching the sunset give away to a purple sheet of stars. And I’m confident that most people will end up feeling the same way if they’re willing to give the game a chance.
So don’t sit this one out. Pick it up, play through it, complain about it with me, but then stick around for all of its joys.
Clubhouse Games is the kind of game that actually makes a platform for me. The Switch wouldn’t be the Switch without Zelda and Mario, but this is the kind of release that fills out a library. Clubhouse Games is something that you will look back on years from now, and get to say, “oh, yeah — I love that game!”
SnowRunner is all I want to play right now.
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.
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.
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.
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.