There’s a lot of potential within Mantis Burn Racing, but a lack of content really sells short the fantastic execution. A follow up with more fantastical tracks, and a lot more tracks and vehicles baked in would really be a treat, but I can’t recommend the game right now.
I can’t fault Killing Floor 2 that much for focusing on a co-op experience, and it does that very well. The gunplay and gameplay loop is great fun when you have a core group of friends with you, I just don’t see it as having value outside of that setting.
Blazblue Central Fiction sits within a strange pocket for me of being so fantastic I can’t help but recommend it. But the trajectory of this series is pretty apparent at this point, and I can’t help but feel like you’ll get an even better experience with being introduced by the previous game and jumping on the re-release this game will inevitably receive. Still, the fighting engine is a work of art and that’s the core of the game. If you won’t be bothered by piecing together the story and no English voicover, you can’t go wrong.
NASCAR Heat Revolution is going for the audience it has and long gave up convincing you that NASCAR is a worthwhile video game. Visuals aren’t acceptable on PS4 level tech, or even PS3 tech. The most disappointing part is no real damage system.
Finally, a game that celebrates a storied series like Final Fantasy. They leveraged both their own classic mechanics and characters to elevate a solid core, and then made it even better by mixing in some elements from other genres. Final Fantasy fans will surely get the most out of it, but I have no problem telling anybody that World of Final Fantasy is a good time.
Atlas Reactor shows that even if there are no new ideas anymore, there are still new ways to use the old ideas and make them interesting again. Continued support and a community will hold it up but we need some serious expansion to really make it great. Even still, what is here is very solid and worth the time of any strategy lover.
Mafia III is a case study in why open world does not always make things better. What begins as something really tight and interesting quickly spirals away from that strong core and ultimately ends up as little more than yet another sandbox game this generation.
If Games Workshop is throwing Warhammer at every wall to see what sticks, Eternal Crusade is certainly one of the splatters that has the most promise. Games of this nature inevitably evolve over time, but at worst, we've got a really good shooter here. Just don't expect it to walk you into the world properly. It wants you to shoot stuff.
Xenoblade Chronicles X is a masterclass of design that we don't often see in the JRPG genre, and easily stands besides the few heavyweights we've seen so far this generation. Once you get over the hump and understand its systems, X offers a simply huge world to seamlessly explore.
Galak-Z is a fun take on the rouge like, and as punishing as they come. Maybe you like that, maybe you don't. Stick with in and Galak-Z will reward you, but it sure isn't going to make it easy.
Submerged is...Well, it exists. It wants to stand beside games like Journey, yet missed the mark so much on why Journey worked. It puts you in a world and expects you to be amazed, but never delivers any reason to become attached or really, a world pretty enough to just become absorbed into visually. Float on.
Magnetic has potential, but fails to reach it due to how hard it tries to be Portal. If it had tried to focus ion its own gameplay and kept it as pure as Portal, they might have had something special. As of now, it exists, and that's all that can really be said about it.
Xenoblade Chronicles earned its cult status on the Wii, and the New 3DS version makes it much more widely available. Aside from a visual downgrade, the handheld port is worth your time.
Toukiden Kiwami is a solid expansion on Age of Demons, and a reasonable facsimile to Monster Hunter should the 3DS entry not be your bag. But it does need to be treated as the remaster it ultimately is, and really isn't worth it for veterans.
Helldivers is a fascinating experiment in community involvement mixed with a classic tactical shooter. It doesn't fire on all cylinders, but get a group of people together and Helldivers can be a hell of a time.
Bladestorm Nightmare is an anachronism. It tries to do a lot of things, but does nothing terribly well. The opportunity porting the game offered was pretty much squandered, as it drags most of the original games shortcomings up with it. It's not a game for the uninitiated and it's probably better left as the cult title it always was.
Unmechanical Extended on a fundamental level fails to address the shortcomings of the original game, and even though the extended episode tries it's best to do something interesting, it's against the clock and the mechanics of the game. Extended isn't worth the asking price for what it offers, especially over the original version.
Elite Dangerous is not going to be the game for everyone, and in fact most are going to be turned off by all it demands from players. The fact remains though, that the game does exactly what it wants, and does it very well. It isn't here to please everybody, but those who it is for are going to have a good time.
Samurai Warriors 4 might have followed up on the last warriors title quickly, but it does enough differently to be worth a look on it's own merits. Not really anything that will get new fans, but enough to keep the attention of existing ones.
Super Smash Bros for Nintendo 3DS is a very large game in some ways, and shockingly small in others. While there is an amazing amount of busywork, you might even feel like you've seen most of what the game has to show you within a few hours of play. As a companion, Smash 3DS works. it functions. As it's own entry though, it just feels light and without identity.