Sequel keeps the appeal of the original while making improvements at the margins.
All in all, these missing features and changes for the worse are disappointing blemishes on what is still an incredibly enjoyable game. Mario Kart 8 isn't the best game in the series, but it adds enough new visual, gameplay, and track design flourishes to its well-trodden core kart-racing gameplay to be worth a look.
Buy it if you can tune out the story for an interesting take on the open-world genre.
If you ever had a good time with a previous Rock Band game, buy it and remember what you've been missing.
Buy it if you want to take a relaxing trip to the great outdoors without ever leaving your home.
Buy it for the excellent collection of built-in Nintendo-made levels. Get the Wii U version if you want to actually make your own.
Buy it if you're ready to be an exceptionally patient pet owner. Watch some videos online otherwise.
Those with a high tolerance for repeating difficult 2D shooting challenges should buy it. Everyone else should try it in Simple mode or just by watching on YouTube.
If you have a Switch, get this game. If you don't have a Switch, get one, then get this game.
Try it if you really want to see how hard it is to make branching narrative work on this scale. Otherwise, just catch up on Westworld.
Buy it if you're looking for deep, twitchy multiplayer action. Try it if you'll be sticking to single player.
Try it if you're looking for a novel take on a time-tested 2D gaming formula.
There are better ways to get your superhero action fix, but there are worse ones, too. Crackdown 3 is at least worth a try.
Course creators can look forward to an amazing game-making tool set whose depth is matched by its accessibility, while players have a functionally endless set of Mario courses to dig through over the course of years.
Death Stranding is definitely a game that stands out from the crowd, but on balance, I’m not sure it stands out for good reasons.
A beautiful, difficult, and masterful swan song for 2D platforming on the Xbox One. Buy it if you have any interest in the genre.
Doom Eternal is a thrilling return to form and a high-water mark for fast-paced twitch shooting. Buy it.
I don’t regret the time I spent back in the world of The Last of Us. But a big part of me was left wondering if its creators just should have left well enough alone.
Buy it if you missed out on any of these classic games the first time around or if you want to relive them again in a more convenient form.
In the end, the London of Watch Dogs: Legion feels a mile wide but only a few feet deep. What promises to be endless variety in character choice and hack-driven gameplay options quickly boils down to the repetition of the same old gameplay and plot tropes.