Although I never considered myself a competitive fighting game enthusiast, I found both the combat mechanics and the flow of engagement in For Honor refreshing. Individual matches don’t overstay their welcome, and it’s a hard game to put down due to the faction metagame. Seeing your faction losing a territory is a strong incentive to place additional war assets, requiring you to play one more match. Not to mention the game has additional legs with a rewarding loot system and customization options.
At the end of the day, Double Dragon IV feeds off the nostalgia of those that spent their youth playing the NES classic titles. While some may argue that the Arcade version of the game was a better version of Double Dragon, there is a certain charm to the 8-bit NES visuals and sound effects. If online multiplayer had been added to Double Dragon IV, it might have helped alleviate the lack of replay value the game suffers from.
Yakuza 0 is clearly an early frontrunner for one of the best games of the year. Even after spending 80 hours with the game, I've found myself surprised by side-missions and all of the optional forms of gameplay. Heck, I’ve probably wasted thousands of yen on the UFO catcher, millions playing poker and blackjack, and tens of millions on purchasing new real estate locations and betting on fights. The overarching story is deeply satisfying, and the side missions are a bonus.
Rise & Shine is an enjoyable side-scrolling action game that perfectly blends the run and gun gameplay of past games with puzzle elements that make you think. The artwork is nothing short of spectacular and the sheer amount of nods to other franchises in the game will make you smile. The game can be completed in a handful of hours unless you become stuck on the final boss like I was, which added a couple more hours to my total. Upon completion, you can go back and find missing collectibles or try your hand at the Ironman mode. Besides a couple of puzzles that bring the game’s pacing down to a crawl, I thoroughly enjoyed everything from the gameplay to the atmosphere in Rise & Shine.
With only three pinball machines available in the base game, you’ll want to purchase additional tables on the PlayStation Store. The Season One expansion adds CastleStorm, Wild West Rampage, Paranormal, BioLab, and Earth Defense. Like the original three, none of these tables are new. Each of these tables provides a satisfying challenge. Wild West, for example, has a wide open middle section to the pinball cabinet, harking back to the days of open country and towns tucked away in the middle of nowhere. BioLab, on the other hand, is full of twisting tubes, and pathways for you to use to your advantage, covering most of the play area with various types of bumpers.
Space Rift - Episode 1 is an ambitious space adventure title, but developer Vibrant Core falls short on the execution of their first game. Although relatively short, and lacking any reason to return, I did enjoy the mining aspect much more than the combat. The constant waves of enemies were more a nuisance, and I wish the game did away with the majority of combat encounters. Exploring derelict ships, salvaging abandoned equipment, and mining resources from ice-encrusted asteroids were much more enjoyable aspects of the game.
HoloBall is an action oriented sports game, determined to get players up off their seat and moving around against a highly competitive AI. While the premise is simple, the game is pure bliss. HoloBall features highly addicting gameplay, and I keep finding myself coming back for more. Your AI opponent even trash talks you during matches, and I found myself gesturing with my paddle after scoring a goal.
Windlands is a one of a kind VR experience, allowing anyone to feel like they are soaring through the sky. It is probably one of the worst games when it comes to motion sickness, but does provide plenty of comfort settings to help alleviate the sensation. There isn't much regarding content, but the added leaderboards do provide a reason to keep coming back. I found easy mode the most enjoyable, as trying to thread the needle with the grappling hooks on the higher difficulties to be much more of a hassle than it was worth.
Robinson: The Journey is the best looking PlayStation VR game currently available, complete with PlayStation 4 Pro support. With the extra power gained from the PS4 Pro, textures are cleaner and sharper looking, edges are smoother, and the draw distance has been expanded providing some awe-inspiring scenery moments. Exploring Tyson III walking beside huge dinosaurs is certainly the highlight of the experience. The puzzles are largely fetch based, and rather rudimentary in design, but help push the narrative forward. The true reason to play the game is to explore a prehistoric sci-fi setting, watching pterodactyls soar in the distance, and lumbering giant brontosaurus walking right passed you.
Dishonored 2 is a better game than its predecessor in every form, building upon its award-winning formula, regardless if you stick to the shadows or spill the blood of your enemies. It’s a rewarding and satisfying experience, although the game culminates the same more or yes regardless of your choices. The game’s epilogue will paint an optimistic or disastrous picture of the future based on your choices, but the game’s narrative doesn’t hold up as well as the actual gameplay.
Kismet is more of an app than a full-fledged game, even if it does contain an ancient board game. You can quickly go through each of the three activities within 15 minutes, and there isn’ much to keep you inside the app for much longer. Of course, you may want to return to get your daily horoscope and to see all of the possible Tarot cards. It’s a unique experience that you won’t find elsewhere on the platform.
Loading Human: Chapter 1 is an intriguing way to experience human relationships in a virtual sci-fi setting, but I kept wanting more sci-fi elements. The control scheme is overly cumbersome, and there is only a handful of meaningful interaction between your father and Alice. There just isn’t enough game here to justify the price tag. There are some neat moments, but I didn’t feel invested in the world or care enough to pick up every single object. or even play through fragments multiple times for trophies.
Tethered is a magical strategy game, with cute characters, and enjoyable gameplay mechanics. It’s been quite some time since I had fun with a God-like strategy game, and Tethered is one of the best PlayStation VR games currently available. It’s a shame there isn’t any way to continue a level after meeting the goal requirements, but each of the thirteen islands is quite lengthy.
WWE 2K17 isn’t the big leap that fans have been clamoring for, but it is a more refined simulation of the real life WWE product. The missing 2K Showcase mode hurts the game's overall value, but the refinements and tweaks to the gameplay, especially when playing multi-person matches helps produce a much more fun experience.
It takes less than a couple hours to beat the three levels on the normal difficulty. Of course, if you were looking for a challenge, you should try your hand at the harder difficulties. Starting on hard mode, enemies spawn faster, are harder to take down, and appear in greater numbers. Hard mode and beyond keeps the action moving during the waves with much less downtime than in the lower settings. The game is priced accordingly and is an excellent throwback to the days of light gun shooters.
You'll probably not enjoy playing SportsBar VR if you only intend to play offline. The game was designed for friends to hangout and socialize online, and play some of the more popular bar games against each other. While it isn't a perfect substitution for hanging with friends in real life, for those with friends scattered across the country (or world) it can be an engaging experience. That said, I haven’t seen more than a couple of open lobbies at a time randomly throughout the day. With the holidays approaching, hopefully, it can help boost the game's online community.
The Brookhaven Experiment is an enjoyable first-person shooter if you have the stomach for slaughtering countless creatures threatening you from all sides. You are always feeling helpless, with only your flashlight and single weapon to survive. While a cooperative mode could have been an intriguing concept with players being placed back to back, attempting to improve your score should keep players entertained in the survival mode.
The Assembly is a decent attempt at crafting a world that should make players think about their actions. Just as I was thoroughly enjoying the narrative, however, and the secrets within the organization, the game comes to a close. The moral gray areas ensure that good vs. evil isn’t clearly defined and since there are multiple endings, you'll want to play through it more than once. The game’s length will vary depending on the player’s level of exploration, as I spent roughly four to five hours on my first time through the game..
Developer TVR (Time of Virtual Reality) and publisher Oasis Game are already planning for the future with Ace Banana. Currently, the game only has a single-player mode, but a two-player online cooperative mode will be coming to the game in the coming months. As it stands today, Ace Banana is an entertaining arcade gallery shooting game for the PlayStation VR. The bright, colorful visuals work well with the artistic approach and characterized monkeys.
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes is an enjoyable local multiplayer experience, and one I plan to return to during gatherings. The enjoyment comes from the frantic communication or lack of communication between The Experts and the person trying to defuse the bomb. Regardless of who we had disarming the bomb, everyone stepped away enjoying the experience and wanting to play more.