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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Though I do have to knock it quite a bit for failing on the presentation, as that is a rather large part of a game like this, the story that Batman: The Telltale Series has to tell is strong enough to carry it through the technical hiccups. Telltale clearly understood Batman as a beloved character and then used that to turn it on its head and fan or not, this is worth a look.
Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3 doesn’t really welcome newcomers into the amazing crossover battles that the game can offer, and doesn’t have any new content to really tempt a double dip from an old fan, but the visual update and just being made available again is fantastic. It’s great to welcome another fighting franchise to the current generation if you’re looking for something to play with friends, but perhaps the PS3 version can be busted out for the same experience until Infinite comes out.
Even though firmly rooted in last generation sensibilities for the genre, Tales of Berseria takes something as old and trite as the revenge plot and refreshes it with a gorgeously realized world, filled with three dimensional characters and conflicts and fun combat. Does it break new ground? No, but it knows how to make something engaging from the treaded paths.
Berserk and the Band of the Hawk is the definition of phoned in, as even compared to other Warriors titles the combat is bare and they do little to nothing to mechanically bring you into the world of the game. Limited maps take away the extra juggling the series needs to keep interest and the result is just a pretty boring time.
Digimon World: Next Order is a different breed of RPG in a pretty stagnant genre, and for what it tries and does to bring this old favourite to modern times, I have to commend it somewhat. But what it does is in places archaic, or not explained well enough to be managed properly without a guide.
Atelier Feris: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey is sometimes charming, but frequently feels a bit vapid in execution. The core of Alchemy is done well, but the things around it don’t hold up. I can praise it for telling a more personal journey, but not much else.
As a showcase for the Nintendo Switch Hardware, Fast RMX is a gorgeous visual showcase and adapts as easily as the Switch itself to however you and some friends might want to play it, at least as what you want involves straight racing. Never the less, the solid physics behind the racing and the great polarity mechanic make Fast RMX a pulse pounding time.
Toukiden 2 takes a core from Kiwami and makes some subtle changes that develop the whole thing from Monster Hunter clone to something unique in the genre. The new, faster combat is a ton of fun and while cramped controls and limited presentation are there and a bother, they aren’t the end of the world and don’t frequently get in the way of the fun.
From Software brings the Souls train into the station on a fittingly somber, yet high note with this excellently realized content. The one stumbling block comes from trying new things at a stage where they probably shouldn’t have with introducing the stealth element. nevertheless, as a concentrated showcase of 8 years of Souls and the journey along the way, it’s an excellent send off to the age of fire.
STRAFE gets a lot of presentational things right, and even though it undermines and contradicts its own mechanics in some places, the singular sense of style the game exudes is fantastic. Running through the swarmed halls of the dilapidated space station has a lot of appeal for classic shooter fans.