The game has over 200 puzzles, and I’m roughly 50 deep. I plan to make my way to the finish line, not just because it’s a great game — and it is! — but because its obsession with rules has me rethinking the rules in every other game I love. It’s selfless in a way, a game that lets you bend its rules to appreciate the rules in everything else.
If Super Mario Odyssey is the culmination of 3D Mario games, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is the same for 2D Mario
After Red Dead Redemption 2's story concludes, a huge epilogue begins, and the game's already gargantuan map grows even larger. I'm eager to dig into this postgame, where it seems I'll be free to focus on taking in the beautiful, meticulously simulated world, rather than hurling myself into the middle of it.
Eventually, Shadow of the Tomb Raider succumbs to the darkness, repeating many of the series' usual mistakes, but along the way it shines a thrilling and refreshing light.
But for those of us who love gaming history, and the ways it still impacts games today, The Messenger is a shaggy but lovable adventure that shouldn't be skipped as we enter the fall games deluge
The Crew 2 is an uncanny mess and I'm enjoying it anyway
The options to play how you want demonstrate how Nintendo remains one of the industry's leaders at making games for everybody — even when that game isn't the one some of us originally wanted.
What I still find most appealing is the seemingly impossible nature of its action, vehicles endlessly slamming into one another in a flurry of wheels and steel.
Some die-hard fans may fear this isn't really God of War. I suppose they're right. It's even better.
This isn't a restoration — the team isn't simply retracing the lines and rejuvenating the colors — and yet it sets out, intentionally, to reproduce the source text, warts and all. Each time I battled with the camera and controls, I imagined the creators of this new Colossus considering niche theories on restoration that you'd expect from a city zoning board trying to protect a historic building. How much of the bad stuff must be kept? Where a classic building often retains the exterior, the answer for a classic game appears to be all interior.
Battlegrounds manages to exist within the crowded shooter genre in an unfinished state, and feel both fresh and creatively complete. From its early access launch on March 23 to its official launch today, Dec. 20, its creators have had nine months to repair, polish and expand on their baby. That the most substantial updates have been improved server performance, vaulting and car horns speaks to the confidence Greene and his squad have in the game's foundation.
The Frozen Wilds arrives in time to petition for a spot on Game of the Year lists. The expansion accomplishes this goal with ease, rehashing what worked the first time around. Sure, The Frozen Wilds doesn't add much new, and shares Horizon's flaws, but the expansion operates fine when taken as simply more of a great thing.
When I think of my time with Cuphead, instead of frustration I'll remember the dozens of tiny breakthroughs, when the impossible became possible, and a game that built an identity around difficulty helped me to feel, however briefly, undefeatable.
Fract is lonely, but it's also the best seat in the house
Jazzpunk doesn't aspire to be an excellent shooter or platformer. Instead, it aspires to and succeeds in having a great conversation with the player.
Alone, Tiny Brains is a bad game; with friends it's just forgettable.
Zoo Tycoon overcomes some small issues with charm and a good heart
Contrast is a frequently beautiful mess
Resogun is a collision of 1980s shooters, 1990s bullet-hells and 2010s aesthetic. It's as simple or difficult as you want it to be. Sure, it borrows great ideas quite liberally. But Resogun's best idea is smashing them all together into a singular, spectacular laser light show.