Fatal Frame continues to treat the split between shooting and running as a productive tension, with results that are equally exciting and scary.
An unusual fusion, not just because it's a platformer with fighting, but because it's a party game for the hardcore.
The virtue of shooters is a simple set of parameters creating interesting decisions, and the game's greatness is how it expands that matrix.
After the last few willfully easy Kirby games, it's a nice change to see the poor little puffball repeatedly die as you struggle for mastery.
Treature Tracker is a powerful gesture of confidence by Nintendo: a spinoff game with more original ideas than most companies' new IPs.
The campy hypersexuality feels joyful, rather than oppressive, because the character's overdetermined gender presentation is an expression of her power rather than a contrast to it.
Missions have unclear objectives and way too much backtracking, made more frustrating by doors that go from sealed to open for no good reason and checkpoints triggered by obscure means.
Legends doesn't skimp on content, with plenty of new worlds, old levels ported over from Origins, weekly challenges, and even a multiplayer soccer mini-game.