Evan Norris's Reviews
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap sets the bar high for retro remakes. It represents the celebration and conservation of an unrecognized classic.
Mr. Shifty might be short on content and looks, but its teleportation mechanic is so satisfying that it's easy to look past any shortcomings and concentrate on its fast and frenetic combat.
Emergent gameplay, improvisational combat, and player mobility combine to form an open-world sandbox second to none, and a video game experience that ranks among the greatest ever conceived.
Permanent death and randomized everything might prove too unpredictable for some. The lack of a robust story might turn off others. Players who adjust to the steep learning curve, however, will find an engaging title full of action and strategy with high replay value.
After seven years of nothingness for the White Bomber, it's a serviceable but unadventurous return to form.
Snipping, clipping, improvising, and collaborating one's way through the colorful world of Snipperclips is truly a joyful experience. Just be sure to bring a friend or two along for the ride.
Apart from a few localization issues and a handful of recycled bosses, Blaster Master Zero stands as a shining example of a retro remake done right.
Renegade is a serviceable nod to the arcade racers of yesteryear.
Apart from that small blemish, Ys Origin is a terrific console port of a solid hack 'n' slash action RPG.
Alone With You is an intellectually challenging adventure game with a compelling story, but with a lot of room to grow.
It's neither the biggest nor the boldest survival game, and it's hamstrung somewhat by a clunky menu system, but it's still one of the more absorbing and habit-forming survival simulators out there.
Rise & Shine is short and sweet and fun while it lasts, but it's all over far too soon.
This is a worthwhile remaster of an underappreciated SNES shooter, made better by a sharp graphical enhancement, new characters and stages, and, for the first time, four-player local co-op.
Folks who already own The Dark Descent and its follow-ups on PC might not find enough cause to double dip but players new to the franchise will discover a lot of value in this compilation.
In a year defined by dozens of great gaming experiences, The Last Guardian stands tall above them all.
Killing Floor 2 isn't the prettiest or the most feature-rich shooter around. It doesn't have the polish of Overwatch or the mechanical audacity of Titanfall. Yet it's one of the more addictive shooters on the market today, one that consistently begs for "just one more match."
Patience is required to overcome an initial learning curve and a cheat sheet necessary to decode its mythology, but those willing to persevere will reap a nice reward.
Overflowing with charming personalities and buoyed by a deep and rewarding combat system, Exist Archive is a nice addition to the Vita library. It's just too bad that recycled dungeons and tedious grinding show up to spoil the fun.
Judged only by its single player campaign, this latest Call of Duty is game-of-the-year material. Judged only by its multiplayer, the game is a jumbled, crowded mess with inferior matchmaking and unbalanced guns — cardinal sins for a competitive shooter. Somewhere in the middle is Zombies mode, which boasts a great sense of humor and lots of replay value.
Despite a scarcity of game modes, Pirate Pop Plus is a winner.