Marty Sliva
Tales from the Borderlands Episode 2 continues Telltale's insanely hilarious ride through Pandora.
Axiom Verge isn't a perfect homage to Metroid, but we still enjoyed our time in this strange, familiar world.
Broken Age: Act 2 is an amazing adventure filled with great writing and fantastic puzzles.
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood doubles down on blood and guts, but in doing so sacrifices some of its heart.
Tales from the Borderlands Episode 3 balances humor and drama to deliver the best chapter of the series so far.
Three years later, Journey remains one of the most powerful games in recent memory.
Rare Replay is an incredible package. Its presentation is charming, the extras are amazing, and so many of the games included here are still a blast to play. Whether it's your first time through or you're revisiting decades later, Rare's journey through the past 30 years of video game history is a fascinating one, and Rare Replay does an incredible job of capturing the essence of what makes the studio's work so unique in our medium.
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture excels at building a dense world, evocative tone, and rich cast of characters. Its five hours are filled with some really great exploration, discovery, and memorable moments. Piecing together its web of heartbreak, loss, and ultimate revelation provides a great experience. Everybody's Gone to the Rapture rewarded my patience with a fulfilling journey.
LEGO Dimensions' great characters and fun references consistently left me with a big dumb grin on my face.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5's rare moments of nostalgic joy are drowned out by its abundance of faults.
Tales from the Borderlands Episode 5: The Vault of the Traveler finishes off Rhys and Fiona's journey in impeccable fashion. From heartbreak to hilarity, it runs the gamut of emotions in some really effective ways.
If you haven't played Darksiders 2, the Deathinitive Edition is the best way to do so.
Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash is a bare-bones, lackluster addition to Mario's sporting adventures.
Ratchet and Clank is a culmination of everything Insomniac has done with the series over the past 14 years. It takes the characters that we fell in love with long ago, and sets them off on their most gorgeous quest yet. The deep and rewarding weapon system, beautiful and varied worlds, and charming-as-heck story make it an adventure that anyone with a PlayStation 4 should strap in for.
The Park doesn't really bring anything new to the horror table, but honestly, that's okay. Its 90 minutes are filled with an impressive atmosphere, interesting themes, and spooky places to poke around. While some of the attractions are a bit long in the tooth, The Park provides enough tension and scares to warrant a playthrough from any horror fan.
LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the most gaming fun I've had with either series in years. The story is great, the levels are dense with fun puzzles, and unlocking all of the secrets is a blast. Whether I was going through it solo or playing alongside a buddy, LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens proved to be an adaption worthy of its incredible source material.
Song of the Deep makes a fantastic first impression. Its gorgeous world, charming characters, and melancholy tone make for a unique and effective aesthetic. But once you get into the core of the mechanics, combat and puzzles become a slog thanks to its cumbersome controls and wonky physics. Still, I found myself willing to put up with all of these frustrations in order to delve deeper and deeper into this beautiful world.
As someone who loves games like Portal and The Witness, The Turing Test definitely scratched that familiar puzzle itch, even if it fails to scratch more than the surface of most of its ideas. Its mechanics are solid but largely unoriginal, and its themes and world-building are genuinely great. And while it never reaches the originality and heights of its inspirations, it still manages to deliver an interesting world with one heck of a twist.
I had a good time with Pac-Man Championship Edition 2, even if it meant I had to wade through a lot of white noise to find it. For every excellent addition like being able to jump back to the start of a map, there are a few that aren’t as well thought out and feel more like limitations than tools for expanding your options. Figuring out the fast-paced puzzles based around all the new tweaks is still a good retro-arcade challenge, but it doesn’t come close to recapturing the magic of the first Championship Edition.
Mafia 3's strong characters and confident storytelling kept me engaged, even if the gameplay rarely delivered anything but bog-standard and repetitive open-world action. That's a bummer, because Lincoln is an incredible protagonist and New Bordeaux is a fantastic setting thematically, and it would've been great to see them put to better use.