The Adventure mode might be too laborious for some, but the score-based and practice modes give you everything you need to enjoy the new changes to Pac-Man
Monster Hunter's attempt to reach the PC audience performs beautifully and plays well
Dragon Ball fans have plenty to enjoy in single-player, while fighting enthusiasts get a fast, dense game full of options
Wargroove offers several ways to get your turn-based strategy fix, whether it's playing through an hours-long campaign, creating your own scenarios, or playing online
Dungeons are fun and well-designed, and the story will keep you moving at a steady pace
Hades' varied combat and progression make it a great action roguelike, but its novel approach to storytelling is what makes it stand out in the genre.
The single-player offerings lean a little too heavily on lots of reading between bouts, but the way Libra of Soul implements the actual combat stands out among fighting game campaigns
Hearts of Stone is a collection of some of the best quests The Witcher 3 has to offer. Its story is cohesive; its characters are worth meeting; and the thematic diversity is worth seeing. If you've already beaten the original experience, these quests are worth checking out. If you haven't, make these quests a top priority. They feature some of the best writing in fantasy games, period, and make the expansion more than a worthy addition to one of the best releases of the year.
Dark Souls III would be a fitting end to a videogame series, and we don't get many of those. I enjoyed almost all of my time with it, but I'm not sure if I'd want another game like this to come by for a long time. As a comprehensive second draft of the best moments from the series, it left me with fond memories of everything I love
After seeing what Freestyle Games has done, Rock Band's enormous library, and the promise of making it available across releases feels like a crutch by comparison, tying that franchise to its established model. I'll still hop back to Rock Band to play drums, but right now, Guitar Hero Live is where you'll find me clanking away, waiting for the next time I get to perform Ida Maria's "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked."
Nostalgia is similarly addictive, but Verge's confidence sees it through the challenge of invoking Metroid better than just about anyone who's tried before it. It copies more than aesthetic and ambiguous notions about variety, and the specificity is what matters. It's not a perfect match, and the absence of a powerful lead leaves an indelible mark on the experience.
Expanded progression, open-world freedom, and a fascinating backdrop make for an enticing origin story
Thronebraker effortlessly infuses Gwent with the geopolitical underpinnings, fantasy tales, and difficult choices of The Witcher series
Gwent proves itself capable as more than a minigame, with mechanics that support intricate online matches that eschew chance in favor of tough choices
Ritual of the Night starts off a little too familiar, but quickly ramps up into an impressive exemplar of the genre it's retreading
Perhaps it's an approach you can only take when you've iterated on the same game for about ten years. When you've built so many levels you're confident many people won't actually see all of them. When you stop caring about achieving something, and just want to do anything. And the best part of N++ is that it thinks that's just fine. You can do all the furious, adrenaline-pumping jumps, complete every level perfectly and top the leaderboards. But you can suck, and that's okay too.
Link's Awakening brings us back to a simpler time, when subtler changes to the Zelda formula were much more novel. It's just as charming now as it was back then, but some rough edges and a poor dungeon maker hold it back.
[T]he best moments in Temple of Osiris are with friends; when a typical aha moment meets the domino effect of all your friends coming to the same realization you have, there's nothing quite like it. And if the package is a little slim, it's because it's been trimmed of most of its fat, never slowing down enough to let you idly wonder about what else you could be doing with your time. For that, my regular group of friends and I are grateful.
Backtracking to previous levels can be a pain, but the number of optional collectibles, secret levels, and more make it worth your time
Plenty to love for anyone who appreciates Gundam or enjoys precise, high-speed multiplayer action