G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout serves up nostalgia for G.I. Joe fans, with a narrative that feels right at home for the series. The colorful and stylized cel-shaded visuals are perfect for the franchise, making you feel like you are playing inside a comic book. It's a real shame that the overall gameplay falls flat thanks to poor aiming mechanics. The AI that joins you when playing solo is utterly useless, and enemies can backtrack faster than you can advance towards them. There are optional side objectives to complete, and collectibles to find, which unlock alternative looks for characters, weapon skins, and comic cover art.
The new team in charge of Tennis World Tour 2 has thankfully made enhancements to a series that badly needed a do-over. It puts it in a better position for the future by expanding the roster and making key gameplay improvements. Although animations have been doubled, characters still appear to be quite stiff at times and even slide into animations awkwardly. The courts are nicely rendered, and when playing exhibition matches, you can freely alter the surface type on non-licensed venues. I think the timing of strokes needs to be adjusted, especially when playing on an easier difficulty.
The complicated issues and themes hinted at in The Suicide of Rachel Foster present a haunting tale of digging up the past based on one's perspective. The start of the game hammers home Nicole's father as the leading cause of the death of teenager Rachel Foster, but when you first reach the hotel, the game's narrative focuses on her survival. Slowly day after day, things unwind, as memories come flooding back. A few plot twists are sprinkled throughout, but nothing should feel like a surprise once they happen if you are paying attention.
As an interactive Goosebumps experience, Cosmic Forces has successfully recreated the beloved children's series with Goosebumps Dead of Night. However, the game only lasts a handful of hours, and a small chunk of my time was spent replaying sections because I wanted to collect achievements along the way for dying to each monster.
There just isn't enough feedback to the player to get a better grasp of the necessary mechanics.
Nom Nom Apocalypse resurrects the fear of mutating food; however, the game lacks substance. A single run can be completed in an hour or two, and I fail to see anything to keep me wanting to play through a second time. The different areas are overly large and empty, and yet, the destructible parts of the environment don't appear to do any splash damage to enemies. I do feel the game mechanics are really tight and responsive.
Tools Up! is a local-only cooperative four-player game that doesn't quite hit the mark with all of the mechanics. Throwing feels useless when your character refuses to complete the action, and targeting can be a concern in tight corridors. Playing alone can best be described as frustrating, to the point where I wouldn't even recommend the game at all unless you are planning to play with others. The lack of online multiplayer doesn't help either.
Into the Dead 2's transition from a heavily microtransactioned mobile game to the Nintendo Switch is not without issues.
Devil's Hunt's battle between the forces of Heaven and Hell can be visually stunning, but highly unpolished at times.
The Blackout Club is at its best when coordinating efforts to complete objectives with friends using voice chat, and everyone focuses on an established plan.
Fade to Silence does leave its mark on the survival genre, namely the terrific use of a dynamic weather system. However, everything else in the game is slightly cumbersome, from combat to item management. With player inventory being limited, your only option is to transfer items to your stash at the camp. However, the only options are to place items one at a time, or everything you happen to be carrying. There isn’t any way to transfer individual stacks of items. The game needs a better introduction to many of the game’s mechanics, especially when playing on the harder difficulty that can leave you with starting over with nothing, outside of the permanent unlocks.
Desert Child has its moments, but most of the experience feels shallow. The repetitiveness of wandering through the town after each race was more of a distraction than anything. The retro-inspired pixel art is enjoyable, and most of the game's music works within the racing setting, but I had to mute the game when walking through the town.
Override: Mech City Brawl, while clunky and cumbersome, is an enjoyable, casual party fighting game.
Coffee Crisis is a throwback title that stays true to the intention of releasing a 16-bit brawler title with a hint of modern favor. I would have liked to see a bit more modern conveniences added to the gameplay, either through additional moves, either offensive or defensive. In my experience, the game's difficulty can spike quite high during some of the later stages on the higher difficulties, but the game is quite easy on the lower difficulty settings. If you are looking for a retro-inspired cooperative title to keep you busy for a couple of hours, Coffee Crisis is a good choice.
Warhammer 40,000 Inquisitor Martyr nails the gothic and grim sci-fi 40K universe, but technical shortcomings and some poor design decisions hurt the overall experience. Online multiplayer, outside of playing with friends, is a nightmare to separate, especially since you'll be randomly dropped into a mission and thrown back to your local hub afterward. NeoCoreGames does have a fluid roadmap on the game's official website complete with seasonal events and content. There is also a season pass that will include new investigations, campaigns, loot emotes and even familiars (pets). Currently, there is a $3.99 servo-skull pet for purchase on the Xbox Store that doesn't appear in-game or crashes your game.
State of Decay 2's promise of improving upon the existing formula with cooperative gameplay, fails to capture our attention and ultimately is a disappointment. I've lost countless vehicles due to improper collusion in a mostly static environment. While there is an “I'm stuck” option for players, nothing can resolve anything with your car stuck between a table and a wall. There are too many systems that don't cohesively tie the package together. The game runs rather poorly, even on Xbox One X. The frame rate can undoubtedly dip well below 30 frames per second and is frequently under when on running on an Xbox One S. The included motion blur is way too aggressive, and even the slightest camera movement makes the visuals a blurry mess or swirling colors.
Black Mirror attempts to bring a horror-themed point-and-click adventure game to a new audience but is hampered by glaring technical setbacks. On more than one occasion, David had become stuck, only to seemingly slowly rotate himself in place with no way to free yourself. During one of the game's pivotal cutscenes, the game crashed with an alarmingly loud buzzing noise before crashing back to the Xbox home screen. Exploring the eerie mansion and the accompanying ground should be more enjoyable, but the frequent loading screens ruin the experience. If you can overlook these issues, I found the characters and the narrative quite compelling, but at the same time, there is no reason to play through the game multiple times.
For the price of a cup of coffee, Castle Steps provides a 15-minute amusement park quality ride through two separate haunted locations. I enjoyed the ghost-filled manor much more than the abandoned hospital, but both desperately need more player interaction. The candle-burning lantern provides you with minimal light in the darkened corridors, but outside of opening some doors or pulling a lever, you'll spend your time watching.
Theseus is a cinematic VR experience for the PlayStation VR, but is over all too soon. The atmosphere inside the labyrinth and beyond is incredible, you really need to see it, but the puzzles and exploration feel quite linear. Combat isn't overly complicated, but fighting multiple creatures at once can lead to frustrating deaths. There is a second ending in the game if you are able to locate all of the corpses scattered throughout.
Ancient Amuletor is an enjoyable PSVR experience but sorely lacks in terms of content. Playing alone or with others online is enjoyable, and I found all of the playable heroes to have their own purpose. Some are better for long-range attacks and others focus on waiting until the enemies come to them to dish out destruction. Multiplayer is the best way to play the game, but I've found it nigh impossible to find anyone else playing outside of launch week. It's a shame, as it is one of the better PlayStation VR games to be released if it had increased the amount of content in the game as well as add more variety to the gameplay.