The core of Blood Bowl 2 is great. It's a wonderful realization of a fun board game, brought to life with a competent design. Unfortunately, beyond the one-off matches, the title is catered to a very specific kind of fan.
What's always been good about the franchise is still good here, but when it comes to making the next-gen leap, The Show 21 can't quite cut it. Series die-hards will likely enjoy the real-world rule changes, but if you're picking up the game for the first time in a while, last year's entry is as good as this one.
At first it seems that Heaven's Vault is an absolute treasure and you can just marvel at the creative ideas that Inkle Studio came up with. But in between all those moments when I loved the game, some of the gameplay mechanics made my eyes glaze over and the experience would lose its luster.
Hitman: Season 1 isn’t bad, but it is unremarkable. 47 is back, but the game doesn’t provide enough reasons for why anyone should care.
I liked ReCore's first part enough that I wish this score could be higher, but taken as a whole the game can't be qualified as "good". Again, I like ReCore, but I can't recommend it without tacking on a few asterisks.
Evolve can be good fun. But between those moments of entertainment, the experience is often interrupted by unbalanced mechanics and matches that are over before they begin.
There's fertile ground in this new direction for Yakuza; Kasuga and Co are worthwhile characters and the new RPG mechanics have potential. Still, this entry feels stuffed with forced mediocre side content, and like a rough draft of what's possible in the future.
Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles is an enjoyable enough adventure, but it's missing a hook to get players invested. The game wants you to get lost in the economy and exploration it offers, but in just performing these menial tasks for their own sake it fails to create any moments where the entire experience is more than a series of distractions.
Thimbleweed Park feels like a party that Gilbert threw for his core audience, a true sign of appreciation for those who loved his previous work, and backed this game almost sight unseen. But for others, who aren't fans of Gilbert or the classic adventure genre, it's tough to recommend.
It's hard to deny the charm and wonderful atmosphere which so warmly embraces this unique subgenre title. There are some good moments in Hard West, but the overworld struggles with lifeless text-based action and the gunfights lean more toward frustrating than tension-filled.
It is nice, refreshing even, to see Assassin's Creed doing something a little different from the norm. But the differences are only skin deep. Much of ACC: China is routine and unpolished, failing to capitalize on an opportunity to stand out from the rest of the series.
Wasteland 3 is a competent RPG that struggles to distinguish itself from the many other entries of the genre. With such games, the mechanics are all relatively the same, and the writing, choices, and world-building are so much more important. And in these areas, Wasteland 3 is proficient, but not overly impressive.
Super Mario Maker 2 is a perfectly fine way to pass the time, though you'll quickly begin to see the seams. As far as game-maker tools go, it's probably the easiest to use - but that doesn't mean it's the most entertaining or diverse.
Call of Cthulhu has a lot of things going for it, with a unique take on the genre and some solid scares on offer. Horror fans should give it a look, but you're going to have to be patient with its blemishes.
While still a solid basketball simulation, it's getting harder each year to recommend this series and NBA 2K18 feels like a continuation of that trend. Some technical issues plague many aspects of the game and at this point, myGM is the only saving grace aside from some visual and gameplay improvements.
It's nice to see Madden NFL 18 taking risks and experimenting, with good results like the Longshot mode. Hopefully the franchise will continue to refine what works, and iron out some of the technical imperfections and lackluster game modes.
With so many Dark Knight adventures in our movies, TV, comics, and video games, you have to do something special to stand out. In the first few episodes, it looked like Batman: The Telltale Series might actually bottle lightning and create something excellent. But as the finale rolls in, it series fails to separate itself from the many Batman outings we’ve already experienced elsewhere.
MLB 14: The Show is a fair game, and those looking forward to a new generation of the series and the small upgrades it brings will enjoy what it has to offer. Those who have spent years with series might find themselves ready for something new. The technical hiccups, the lack of creativity in the single-player, the randomness of success, it all feels a little passe in a new generation.
Destiny has many great elements at its core, with solid action mechanics and especially if you were already a fan of Bungie's previous work. But there are many design concerns which bog down the experience, from the boring story to the underdeveloped MMO concepts and dull mission design. Destiny rarely feels engaging or feature-complete. We can only hope the franchise finds its footing in the future installments.
Monster Hunter Rise aims at old-school fans, those who were here before Monster Hunter World, and will be sure to enjoy themselves with this more compact entry. But for those who just recently came aboard the franchise, it will feel like a step down.