Joonatan Itkonen's Reviews
Mixing Wallace & Gromit with Terry Gilliam, the delightful Harold Halibut has charm and artistry to spare. It's just a shame the gameplay gets in the way of a good thing, and often left me wondering whether this would have been better as an animated special instead.
Review in Finnish | Read full review
Two years after its console debut, Forbidden West arrives on the PC with a respectable and often breathtakingly gorgeous port. The game still struggles with its linear story spread over a massive open world, but Aloy's post-apocalyptic adventure is still a wild and intoxicating vision worth experiencing.
Review in Finnish | Read full review
Played with friends, Operation Galuga delivers exactly what it promises. A frenetic and over-the-top run-and-gun experience that is perfect for couch co-op sessions. In an era of 100 hour epics and online games-as-a-service sludge, Operation Galuga feels like a breath of fresh air. It’s simple, direct, and precisely what we need right now.
Princess Peach: Showtime! is an easy game to recommend. If you’re a fan of platformers, you’ll enjoy it. (Though, let’s face it, you’re not going to grit your teeth with this like you would with Super Meat Boy or something.) If this is your introduction to the genre, you’re in for a treat. It’s a deft balancing act between familiar and innovative that is consistently engaging and, above all, fun.
Put together, and Rise of the Ronin is a happy and welcome surprise in the genre. Whatever limitations it has, mostly due to its budget, are really ignored thanks to a well written story, beautiful open world, and fantastic action.
Dragon's Dogma 2 does plenty of things right, especially when it lets players immerse themselves in the superlative open world. But the stupid save mechanics and numerous performance issues eat away at that enjoyment to the point the gameplay feels like a chore. It's still fun, but it could be so much more.
Review in Finnish | Read full review
Berserk Boy is a rare gem of an indie title. The kind that overcomes any comparison with its competitors, and stands proudly alongside them as an addition to a vast and storied genre. It reminded me why I love side-scrolling action games in the first place, and reignited a passion I had feared lost. It’s one of the best games of the year, and easily among the best additions to the genre.
For solo players, this is a tougher sell. It’s a great game, but one that requires friends to get the most out of it. If you already have a squad ready to go, you’ll find that Space Marine II delivers everything you’d want out of a game like this.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is a game without a beginning or an end, yet it's the kind of audacious, breathtaking, and superlative artistry that redefines what we expect from the genre. Square Enix has proven itself once again as a master of the RPG.
Review in Finnish | Read full review
Mario vs. Donkey Kong is still fun and inventive, but there's a sense that this probably didn't need a full Switch release. It has much more in common with mobile games, and the fantastic Mario Run proved we could have an addictive Nintendo experience on that platform as well.
Review in Finnish | Read full review
As a budget God of War, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden deserves praise for its ambitious and often deeply touching story. It's just a shame the gameplay is nowhere as fun as its inspirations. Nonetheless, this is still a worthwhile title to explore, if only to support story-driven adventure games like this.
Review in Finnish | Read full review
Infinite Wealth is like Avengers Endgame for the Like a Dragon franchise. It's full of fanservice, it's bloated, and everything is amped up to eleven. Despite this, it just works, and this emotional climax to multiple storylines from the past decade and a half hits every high you could want. I loved it.
Review in Finnish | Read full review
It’s not my favorite game of the generation, but it might be one of the most important ones, nonetheless. After all, very few other titles have inspired this much conversation or interpretation. If that isn’t the sign of a future classic, then what is?
Forza Motorsport is fine, just fine, and that's about it. It squeaks by with the same dependable racing experience that, at this point, is starting to feel stale.
Review in Finnish | Read full review
Detective Pikachu Returns is a slight but charming mystery game for younger audiences. It won't last you a long time, and the graphics are plain at best, but it's still a light and breezy time that could be much worse. Shame about that price tag, though.
Review in Finnish | Read full review
Star Ocean: The Second Story R isn't just a terrific remake of a classic title, it's a revitalization of a franchise that at some point lost its way. With gorgeous graphics, a killer soundtrack, and a charming cast, Star Ocean: The Second Story R is a brilliant return to one of the original PlayStation's great triumphs.
Review in Finnish | Read full review
The Avatar movies aren't original, to begin with, but it's still a disappointment to see their potential wasted on such a derivative Far Cry expansion. It's a visual treat to explore Pandora. What a shame the gameplay is duller than a thousand years of cryo-sleep.
Review in Finnish | Read full review
I'd love to say that Cities: Skylines 2 is everything we could have hoped it would be, but right now it's more like a blueprint of an idea rather than a finished product. I'm sure it looks amazing to the architect, but the rest of us will have to deal with the broken mechanics and lackluster performance until the promises of a better tomorrow come to pass.
Review in Finnish | Read full review
A dark and twisted vision that mixes Hayao Miyazaki, Isaac Asimov, and Fables into a spellbinding whole, Lies of P won't set the world on fire with its clumsy gameplay mechanics, but the atmosphere and story are second to none.
Review in Finnish | Read full review
Mirage is easily among the best in the series, and a welcome throwback to the first years of the franchise. If you’re a fan, you’ll be in heaven. If you’re new to the series, this is a perfect place to start the journey.