Karl Smart's Reviews
Final Fantasy XIV Online: Heavensward & Final Fantasy XIV Online: Stormblood are prime examples of how you should follow up a great opening chapter in a multi-game game like Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn. The time spent with Final Fantasy XIV Online now feels like it is really getting somewhere instead of just one long introduction. While Final Fantasy XIV Online: Stormblood doesn't quite balance the leveling experience with the story questline, everything comes together as an overall amazing experience leading into Final Fantasy XIV Online: Shadowbringers.
Grand Theft Auto Trilogy: The Definitive Edition is one of those "Be careful what you wish for" games. While it has all the improvements that would be considered the bare minimum for Rockstar to put into something, it also exposes the ages of the titles, making the cheapness appear worse than it is. Grand Theft Auto Trilogy: The Definitive Edition is barely worth it for returning players, but is perfect for first-timers to this trilogy of games.
The King of Fighters '98 is one of those games that will always be remembered for being the best of the series, and The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match Final Edition continues to show why that is so while adding some modern networking improvements to make sure that it will be played online by the hardcore player base for a long time to come.
OlliOlli World looks like the type of game that you would find as a free-to-play mobile experience, but once you get into the grind of things, you'll be kickflipping with excitement as you tackle challenge after challenge that will keep you coming back for more each time.
Sifu is one of those games that sounds amazing in concept but is flawed in its execution. Playing as the unnamed martial arts master feels badass when it works, but once those deaths start to pile up, Sifu becomes such a punishing game that, more often than not, it will see you rage quitting the game for something more balanced and refined.
Gran Turismo 7 is probably the best racing simulation game on the market right now, something that every car fanatic needs to own. Gran Turismo 7 allows you to fine-tune everything from the motor, to the circuits, to the paint, and more. Everything can be made just the way you want it to be. Gran Turismo 7 is also the BEST looking game on the PlayStation 5… PERIOD. Everything is reflective, from the paint to the chrome on the wheel covers… It's AMAZING. If you're a racing fanatic, then this is the game for you.
WWE 2K22 is one of those games that, as a wrestling fan, I don't mind playing a few times over before using it as a WCW/ECW/AEW simulator game till something else comes along. The MyRise career mode looks to be a highlight of an otherwise limited video game. Now only if WWE could do something about their real-life product (and not fire half the roster before a game release) that can compare to some of the bookings you can do in WWE 2K22 and maybe they might have a chance to return to dominance… Till then, bring on the AEW video game!
Evil Dead: The Game is a game that is great in concept, but makes the same mistake that other games looking to dethrone Dead by Daylight make: Focusing on one franchise and expecting it to carry the whole experience. Evil Dead: The Game has a solid foundation but stagnates very easily due to a lack of variety in gameplay objectives and maps. Not to mention it relies on people working together in order to win as one side, which doesn't work without a solid communication system that everyone actually uses or a community that actually wants to work together.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge is a really good game in its own right, capturing the look and feel of the Konami-era arcade games that fans have wanted to see come back for decades. However, when compared to other fan-made efforts (You know the one I'm talking about), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge feels like it was just the same exact concept done with a bigger budget yet more limitations.
Capcom Fighting Collection brings us a good batch of arcade-perfect ports that are themed into a package that is great if you just want those specific titles to play at all times, but with 6 of them appearing in Capcom Arcade Stadium 2, and one already in Capcom Arcade Stadium, Capcom Fighting Collection comes off as a quick cash grab that really should have been pushed out as another DLC pack for either Capcom Arcade Stadium release. Your mileage is going to vary on how desperately you want 3 games that haven't seen a release since the 1990s… and by the looks of it, will never see a release again.
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Classic is one of those games that is held back by two things: The community, which has become so toxic that it cannot be saved, and a company that only listens to its Top 1% of the player base (Streamers and hardcore raiders). Wrath Classic could have been the game that returned World of Warcraft back to its glory days, but listening to the wrong people, has doomed the franchise back into its darkest days, ruining one of the best experiences with it.
Resident Evil Village: Gold Edition is a perfect package of improvements and additions to the main game that makes it well worth the purchase. The improvement of adding the third-person viewing option gives access to more people who will now be able to play the game for the first time while giving people who have already played Resident Evil Village: Gold Edition a reason to revisit the game. The addition of Shadows of Rose shows that the developers know they raised the bar with Resident Evil Village and wanted to top it with a more frightening and grounded atmosphere while keeping things as outlandish as they were in Resident Evil Village.
God of War: Ragnarok is every bit as good as God of War: Ragnarok was 4 years ago. However, God of War: Ragnarok brings to light limitations that the industry seems to have hit in terms of graphical display and mechanics that shouldn't be something that even exists at all, let alone in one of the biggest games of the year.
Theatrhythm Final Bar Line is a great musical adventure through the past of the Final Fantasy series and celebrates everything from the 8-bit chiptune days to the crystal clear renditions of the Final Fantasy VII remake, the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV Online (With an expanded free trial which you can play through the entirety of A Realm Reborn and the award-winning Heavensward expansion up to level 60 for free with no restrictions on playtime.), and Final Fantasy XV. While those of us with less than 20/20 vision might struggle with the speed and location of the notes, others will have a toe-tapping good time from start to finish.
Dead Space does a good job of being a remaster with enough changes to give enough of a challenge for returning players but also improves the scares enough that the new generation of gamers who are more used to gore will be shaking when something goes bump in the night. However, if you have played 2008 originally, it's going to be hard to justify paying full price for Dead Space in 2023. If you haven't played this game before, buy it. If you have played it before, find a sale before you buy it.
WWE 2K23 takes everything that was considered an improvement in WWE 2K22 and just copy/pastes it over and expects people to buy it for 2 things: A Cena showcase mode and one new match type. While WWE 2K23 is still a solid game, you can feel that there just wasn't enough of that drive that made WWE 2K22 such a good game after WWE 2K20 almost tanked the franchise. WWE 2K23 could do much more than just be a roster update of a game, if only they didn't rely so heavily on the past.
Resident Evil 4 improves on the original by changing the story just enough to keep players guessing, and adding new details that help with bringing the game more in line with the remakes of the previous two games, leading into the newer games in the series like Resident Evil VII and Resident Evil: Village. However, there are times when you can see the age of the original creep in, and some lazy asset use too, not to mention there are some bad graphical glitches in the review copies that I pray are fixed with the day one patch. Taking my personal bias out of this was hard, but I still couldn't see it as the masterpiece everyone else will be calling it.
LEGO 2K Drive is a great racing game. The world that is built using a combination of LEGO bricks and real-world objects is stunning and looks like some kid or LEGO hobbyist, made this world in their own home. However, once the game tries to do something that is not racing using a racing control system, that's when the wheels fall off this particular LEGO racer.
AEW: Fight Forever brings me back to the "glory days" of wrestling video games with its easy-to-learn but hard-to-master controls, fun and entertaining graphics, and a KISS match selection that gives you just enough of a taste of what All Elite Wrestling is about. AEW: Fight Forever might not have the complex simulation look and feel that we've come to accept because of WWE video games over the last 20 years, but it's FUN, something that the WWE games tend to forget about.
WrestleQuest does a good job of taking something that you wouldn't think would fit as an RPG game and makes it work. The world is amazing, the characters, and cameos are really going to invoke the golden era of Professional Wrestling. However, once you rip that nostalgia away you are left with a very bare-bones RPG experience that gets boring very quickly.