Great zones and questing content, new additions like Demon Hunters, Artifacts, and Class Halls, solid group content, an engaging story, and the return of WarCraft’s best group of villains make Legion one of the best expansions WoW has had at launch. It’s hard to judge the final quality of an MMO on release, but right now, Legion is on the path to becoming one of WoW’s strongest expansions.
When Verdun works, the mixture of tension and uniqueness it provides is unlike anything else and utterly engaging. Too often, however, the game gets in its own way, either due to technical issues or poor design decisions. It’s an incredibly interesting and unique game, but its tedium and technical issues should be considered before you enter its trenches.
Livelock is a solid twin-stick shooter with interesting character classes, good gameplay, and fun co-op play. The story is unoriginal and bland, and the game is relatively short, but it’s a worthwhile play for fans of the genre, even if it doesn’t do anything to drastically change it.
Madden NFL 17 isn’t perfect, but it’s a damn fine football simulation that puts the game first, and then gives you lots of ways to play it. There’s teaching tools to whip even the most noobish of newbies into Football Gods, and the strong core gameplay and large variety of modes should please longtime fans. If you’re a football fan, it shouldn’t be missed.
King of Fighters remains what it has always been with its latest entry: a niche fighter with a great cast, an unforgiving learning curve, and a lot of heart anchored by an incredible fighting engine. It’s not for everyone; no game is. But if you’re willing to dedicate yourself to it, and learn it, it’s a tournament worth entering and a fight worth fighting, all these years later.
Instilled with a pervading sense of disquiet and a knack for the disturbing, Inside is a memorable, beautifully realized puzzle-platformer. The game’s middle drags as it leans too heavily on puzzles, and the game’s short length and ending will no doubt put some off, but some strong puzzle and world design and an engrossing, murky narrative makes Playdead’s latest is an adventure worth taking.
Mighty No. 9 is not a good video game. It's is loaded down with lots of cool ideas that it never fully explores, and frankly it feels unfinished, unpolished, and unplaytested. It has potential, but right now this game serves as a warning about the dangers of stretch goals and crowdfunding, and only the most die-hard Mega Man fans will find something worthwhile here. Everyone else is better off sticking with the Blue Bomber.
An excellent fighting engine, superb visuals, incredible teaching tools, and ridiculous design chops make Guilty Gear -REVELATOR- one of the best fighting games around. Those who are happy with -SIGN- may balk at the price, but everyone else, from fans to newcomers, should be more than happy with what's on offer. If you're ready to rock, Guilty Gear is happy to oblige.
Despite its troubled launch, the PS4 version of Ultra Street Fighter IV honors Street Fighter IV's impressive legacy while adding a few wrinkles of its own, making it an essential purchase for long time fans and newbies alike. It is easily the best and most accessible console version of the title available, and will do more than enough to keep you busy until Street Fighter V. If you're looking for the definitive edition of one of the best fighters on the market, look no further.
Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster is a fantastic collection that brings together two great games, and a lot of supplementary material, to create the most complete Final Fantasy X release to date. A few bugs currently mar the PS4 version, but if you can look past them, you'll find the most beautiful and complete version of these games. If you're a fan of Final Fantasy X and X-2, and can get past the bugs, you owe it to yourself to check out this collection.
Toren is an imaginative game with an interesting narrative and beautiful game world. For every moment of striking art or good design, however, there's something wrong with the game technically or in terms of its moment to moment gameplay. Ultimately, like Moonchild herself, Toren would have benefitted from a bit more time in the tower, exploring its own design and ideas before rushing to the top. There's very few things that are more ironic than a game that plays with the notion of time feeling incomplete.
Bastion was excellent in 2011, and it's excellent now. Everything in Bastion - the narrative, the audio and visual presentation, and the gameplay - works together to create a cohesive experience, a feat few games can manage. Those who have played the game before won't find anything new here, but this release is for the dedicated fans, and for those who haven't experienced the game 'till now. If you're in the later camp, I envy you. You get the opportunity to play Bastion for the first time. As for the rest of us, well, it's just another opportunity to experience an excellent game again. Celondia, we're coming home.
A fantastic fighting system, excellent production values, great story mode, exciting new characters, solid online play, and lots of single-player content make Mortal Kombat X one of the best fighters on the market. It isn't a flawless victory, not quite, but its damn close, and even after these years, it still has the power to bring a group of my friends together to watch Fatalities and swap controllers, waiting for just one more round. Now then, who's next?
Resident Evil: Revelations 2 suffers from a few too many little issues and the feeling of "I've been here before" to be a truly great game, but it is a very, very good one. Capcom's clearly still trying to iron out the kinks of what works and what doesn't in modern day Resident Evil, but they're on the right track. Resident Evil: Revelations 2, with all of its issues and budget visual design, is proof of that. Capcom's golden goose may not be completely back on track yet, but it's clearly got an idea of where it wants to go. And more importantly, it's got Barry Burton back to unlock any gates that get in the way.
: Final Fantasy Type-0 HD marries a strong story with compelling themes and a great cast with some excellent game systems, resulting in one of the most cohesive and best games in the series in recent memory. There's still some evidence of the game's portable origins, but Type-0 remains a strong and engaging game even with these problems. Fans of the Final Fantasy series owe it to themselves to check it out.
Battlefield Hardline is a semi-unique game in the Battlefield franchise that features an enjoyable, if forgettable, campaign and a great multiplayer mode. Those looking for the more traditional Battlefield experience will still find it here, as will those interested in Hardline's twist on the franchise.
Frustrating difficulty spikes in some modes. The sheer, blatant fanservice will no doubt turn some people off. The Xbox One version currently suffers from a number of technical issues.
A few minor issues persist, but a number of new additions, combined with enhance visuals, balance changes and repackaged DLC, make this the best version of DmC: Devil May Cry available. Fans of the original game will find a lot of new content to sink their teeth into here, but new players are the one who will benefit most from Ninja Theory's latest.
This is one of the best Kinect games out there. If you like music, movement, Fantasia, or Disney, you owe it to yourself to give Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved a shot. It serves as a respectful ode to a great movie, and a great moment, an encore performance to one of the finest animated films of all time. Well done, Mickey.
Forza Horizon 2 is a spectacular achievement for Playground Games, and a game that makes you feel like part of a community, even when you're not playing with anyone; a game that captures the joy of driving, and more importantly, sharing that joy with others. It feels like the kind of game Microsoft has been trying to make for years, one that finds success in its mechanics, but is defined by its community, one less a collection of random players, and more a club of enthusiasts.