While I'm in the former camp, I also realise I'm likely outnumbered by those in the latter.
My life for Aiur!.
Where they're globe-trotting government agents, and prone to enter fits of gravity defying rage.
In its very first episode.
Tacoma shines where it counts, and that is with the story it tells and the feeling that each character within it feels real.
Sundered, from Thunder Lotus Games, a Rogue Legacy meets Super Metroid experience that is well worth checking out.
Any hey, any game that you can, mid-combo, rip the arm off a mutant and then proceed to beat it with severity (and a severed appendage) is worth checking out.
Splatoon 2 joins an already stellar first-party line-up for a console that is still only a few months old.
Stick with the 1991 original.
Which in the end gets a lot of things right, in addition to feeling like a traditional open-world Elder Scrolls RPG expansion. In that sense, The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind is a definite success, it faithfully recreates and updates the iconic location for both modern audiences and modern gaming hardware. Seriously, simply walking around and taking in all the sights is worth the price of admission alone.
By design the game portion comes first, providing an evocative experience where discovery feels earned and the pacing is spot on. The meaning comes later, at the very end in fact, but in a way that enhances everything that has comes before it. And in the process, leaves both a lasting impression and a cathartic sense of closure once you solve the biggest puzzle in the game -- its meaning.
But The Surge feels like a success, and one that we'll probably end up dying several hundred more times in.
As it stands it's still a few meaningful patches from becoming something that we'd recommend.
And just like the action-RPG direction of the second outing, Dawn of War III once again has made us eagerly anticipate what's next for the series.
Funny and fresh from beginning to end, Paradigm is a traditional point-and-click adventure game full of heart and decapitated heads in jars. The Eastern European setting, great voice acting, and confident comedy shine throughout its roughly six hours. Relatively simple puzzles aside, Paradigm offers a fresh and memorable entry in a genre that I'm happy to see alive and well in 2017.
At its core Yooka-Laylee features solid 3D platforming, all wrapped-up in a charming and funny package that oozes with the quality that drew a lot of players to Rare's output during the N64 era. And although this may sound like strange criticism, we would have preferred it if the game featured fewer ideas, smaller worlds, and a more focused design. Yooka-Laylee's better moments far outweigh its troublesome ones, and for the most part you'll feel like you're playing a Rare platformer from the year 1999. And when that's what Yooka-Laylee promised to be, you can't fault it for delivering on that promise. Warts and all.
In the end, Ghost Recon Wildlands suffers because it plays things a little too safe and fails to make proper use of the gorgeous fictional world of Bolivia in a way that offers more than solid stealth shooting, fun co-op, and small bursts of player-created fun.
The War of Factions stuff sounds great, but feels lacking in its overall presentation. But there are memorable flashes of brilliance when playing the multiplayer modes, and you come up against another player. And through sheer skill and understanding of the combat, you're able to gain the upper hand in a heated and intense exchange of metal. And then, put the exclamation point on the outcome with a suitably violent execution.
But even so, it's still an often-thrilling experience, and a great entry in both the Halo franchise as a reminder that there's always room in the market for a good RTS game.
Or, if you're simply a fan of the comic book series. Basically, if you like Batman and the idea of an interactive story set in that universe is something that appeals to you then it's probably time you were given the choice to confront an irate Harvey Dent on the roof of a building as either Batman or Bruce Wayne.