Matt Paprocki's Reviews
Yo-Kai Watch's decidedly foreign lore doesn't trample an accessible series of lessons for children worldwide.
A throwback to the early West and early video games, with all of the nonsensical adventure it needs to be pleasing.
With its inconsequential story and addiction to inane splatter kills, Rebellion's Sniper Elite 4 doesn't subvert expectations. It doesn't have to necessarily: The appeal of shooting digital Nazis may never stagnate, and increasing the scale of each stage means more Nazis to kill and an increased potential for strategy. But a bigger scope makes the inherent problems more visible.
Although EA Vancouver planned a three-year rejuvenation of their hockey series, NHL 18 seems like it's on the downside of generational sports games. While Threes adds some zest and significant features, that's the only notable addition to the game. When the introduction menu pops up and “What's New” offers only three choices (one being a tutorial), 2017 is not a good year. NHL 18 is (as always for this series) more than competent, but for the first time in a while, it's a “wait for next year” revision.
NHL 22's various arcade modes have their charms, but it's an uneven installment that puts the focus in the wrong places.
There's not much to be excited about in PGA Tour 2K23, with poorly presented golfing on second-tier courses. It's fiercely accurate to the real sport but lacks personality and variety.
Some fun improvements make this playable – yet Madden still features too much carryover. Not just from last year, but the last decade.
EA Sports PGA Tour captures the intricate nuance of golfing. However, the systems struggle with what a user can reasonably decipher from a mere analog stick, leading to a frustrating experience. EA Sports PGA Tour is a game at odds with whether it wants to compete with rival 2K’s realism or veer closer to its own more arcade roots, and in the process, lands its first drive on this new round in the rough.
Final Vendetta looks and sounds like a mountain of games that came before it but does nothing to separate itself from those same games.
Project Cars is infatuated and enamored by cars, but only cars, not the modes or features to make them interesting.
Evolve's premise is never capitalized on, although it's strong core is notably well done. However, appeal is low in long term appeal and high in gratuitous DLC.
Adjustments and tweaks make for an improved basketball title, but one still desperate to play catch-up with 2K.
Black Ops III tries something different, but it's wrong headed approach ruins otherwise strong context.
Somewhere exists a thing which explains the basic tenants of Halo 5's story, but it's not Halo 5. Then, once vaunted multplayer is bogged down by microtransactions. For shame.
KOF’s resistance to any grand story arc defies the pressure being applied by its rivals. Minimal solo options and routine online duels don’t reinvent anything either. This isn’t laziness on SNK’s part, however. It feels more like a focus on maintaining the design philosophy that the player base has loved all along: potent character design, instantly identifiable team play, and off-the-wall plotlines.
Schrodinger's Cat is a bit of a bomb. Lively and exuberant about quantum theories as it can be, there is a lack of sustained momentum.
Project Root is an enthusiastic first attempt at a top down, twin stick from developer OPQAM, but it is a game caught in a trap of its own design.
Battlefield takes on the police state scenario embedded into modern politics and does nothing with it short of making itself appear restless.
Stunningly unique but ultimately messy, Apotheon is enthralling Greek mythology caught in the grips of unfriendly combat.
Revisited grapple systems, new physics, fake Twitter, and lots of DLC highlight another yearly WWE offering, now from 2K Sports