Dead or Alive 5 Last Round is a magnificent 3D fighter that anyone who loves this type of game should play, at least once. It's very accessible to newcomers, but it also has an insane amount of depth and content to satisfy even the most demanding player. Unfortunately, Team Ninja chose to disrespect its newest creation and mar its reputation by offering to the PC gaming community a port that is not only very problematic, but also inferior to the current-gen console versions - and while there is hope for it to get improved via future patches, it's impossible to not stop for a second and simply wonder, "What were they thinking?"
Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- is a great fighter. It's fast and in-your-face, it has a wonderful depth, and, as a cherry on top of this cel-shaded anime cake, it looks beautiful and has a kick-ass metal OST… but, judging from the lack of new material, it can't really be counted as a "true" new entry into the main series. Let it be said once again: this is great. However, it would probably be better to wait for the upcoming Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- instead of spending any money on this one.
Lots of fun and challenging gameplay await those that will embark on a journey that pays tribute to the Souls series, adding some new, subtle twists into the mix. However, the most appropriate description one could give to this otherwise great action-RPG would be "close, but no cigar… very close that is." The gameplay is entertaining, but lacks that extra something that would make it truly remarkable.
It feels really, really good playing Velocity 2X, whether you fly the teleporting spaceship, or run with the teleporting heroine - and all the while a pretty catchy set of tunes bop along. On the… not so bright side, though, the action can get a tad repetitive, and, somehow, this heavy focus on speed-running sort of damages what seems like the groundwork for a much more meatier experience.
Octodad: Dadliest Catch is the epitome of cult, as it's clearly a love-or-hate video game, since its purposely "bad" control scheme and comedic approach to things is far from most people's cup of sea water. As for those who think that this is up their alley, it's best to wait a bit. Not because this isn't fun or anything, but because it's currently a bit too pricey for what's on offer.
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1's comedic narration isn't perfect, yet it's a nice change from all those RPGs that attempt being "serious" only to end up being generic. The visuals, which consist of extremely cute teenagers, half-naked goddesses, busty ninjas, gothic lolitas, and other anime-inspired stuff, will put off some people, but will please the rest with how good all these look. Finally, underneath this repetitive hunt for levels and crafting materials, lies something very entertaining that has a nice pick-and-play simplicity and fast pace. It's not the best of the genre, it's not for everyone, but it's also a unique and really fun game.
The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 constantly runs back and forth between greatness and mediocrity, yet it manages to generally be a fine piece of software. Its most serious flaw is the chore-like style of many of its puzzles, which force players to solve lots of them in return for a measly amount of progress. Luckily, the beautiful graphics, good gameplay, great characters, and well-written and humorous dialogue sequences can severely outshine this problem. While it would be best for newcomers to the genre to try something else, fans of it are advised to not let it pass them by.
As for the quality of this particular port, it has some issues, like the lack of cross-platform compatibility, along with its PS3, instead of PS4, visuals, yet, as a whole, it's a product of high quality.
The Fall is a fine example of an adventure, with the better puzzles demanding some out-of-the-box thinking, and a hardcore, almost Isaac Asimov/Ghost in the Shell-ish sci-fi plot revolving around robots and AI, which is so good that it's easy to forgive this for its less impressive segments, and its unwieldy control scheme.
Sure, the replay value is somewhat disappointing, and, as a whole, this won't really threat the elites, but it's definitely on the right path for doing so.
On the surface everything in Max: The Curse of Brotherhood is just fine. It's as if a beautiful 3D animated film has turned into an innovative, thinking man's 2.5D platformer, with a great balance between well-implemented challenge and pure enjoyment. After a play-through, though, some of its flaws begin to surface.
Avalanche Studio's creation doesn't care about the "are videogames art?" dispute, it doesn't give a dirty rodent's behind about realism, and it doesn't takes itself too serious. It's an unapologetic tribute to the best adolescent boy fantasy of all time, besides a gaming session with a young, black stockings-wearing Dolly Parton, which is none other than being a flying, bullet-eating cocktail of comic book superheroes, and all this with the sex appeal of a Mediterranean Nathan Drake. Sure, all this destruction and mayhem lacks the required depth and motivation inherent in other sandbox titles, and yes, it can all become extremely boring, but while this ultimately more of a somewhat flawed toy and not a "true" videogame, it's an extremely addictive and enjoyable one at that, nonetheless.
After playing Hitman: Episode 1 - Paris, it's easy to reach the following conclusions. #1: instead of any new innovations and ideas, this new addition to the franchise just takes what made it great in the first place, and improves upon it. #2: although this is just the first step of many, it somehow feels that the complete package will be the best yet, and, #3: exactly because of this, IO Interactive must surely smooth out the many rough edges of its, otherwise, great product, especially the - currently - lukewarm plot, and, even more importantly, the many flaws of its online content.
As realistic, historically accurate, unrelenting, casual-unfriendly, open-word RPG games go, Kingdom Come: Deliverance is probably the best on offer right now. It's only worthy of the bronze medal, though, as it's very far from perfect, and the amount of flaws at hand mean that this is quite the dirty kind of bronze medal.
Capcom has made a terrible mistake by releasing one of its flagship franchises at full price, but with half the content. Strange as it may seem, however, and even though Street Fighter V currently feels like an Early Access title, it is a worthy purchase because of three things. First, the Japanese developer is truly doing a great job at rapidly updating and fixing some of the stability problems; second, there won't be any need to spend money on any future updates, since all content (apart from some cosmetic elements) will be available for free; and, finally, the actual battles are very enjoyable - simplified without being simplistic, and, thus, catering to both casuals and pros alike.
Ever wanted to fight "The Powa" and be cute while at it? Then try out this awesome bundle of arcade-like simplicity and plain ol' fun, the adorable riot sim, Anarcute. It's not perfect, and it has some strong replay value issues, but indie aficionados will surely have a blast with it.
Despite the few flaws, long-time fans can safely try this out. Greenhorns, however, are advised to either wait for an update or a price drop.
Despite nothing new or innovative, since this basically recycles past titles and just covers everything with a wild boar's hide, [i]Far Cry Primal/i] can be very entertaining, and the repetitive/simplistic task of crafting, upgrading, collecting, and capturing, can be very addictive and even cathartic. To put it another way, this is just a casual experience, but a very good one at that. It's all about having fun and getting engulfed in the magnificent primeval landscape while at it… as long as you can stomach the lack of any gameplay depth, the zero challenge, the generic, placeholder plot, the current price… and the need to use the very problematic Uplay client.
Similar to the actual programming idea from whence this takes inspiration from, Human Resource Machine is "easy" to learn but, at the same time, quite hard to correctly apply the acquired knowledge. While this basically means that it can lead to some frequent hair-pulling, and although this is not an experience that will last for long, most puzzle fans are strongly advised to try out Tomorrow Corporation's latest release now it's on Nintendo Switch.
The good? A big world to explore, a vast arsenal of skills, perfect controls, and numerous, adrenalin-pumping bullet hell-esque boss fights. The bad? First, compared to its rivals, the platforming "puzzles" are pretty simplistic, instead of thought-provoking, and, second, the otherwise fantastic boss encounters feel very similar challenge-wise, instead of each one twisting the knife deeper and deeper. Flaws aside, Rabi-Ribi is a cute time sink that will surely please Metroidvania fans - as long as they can stomach the big pile of rabbit manure that this has for a plot.