When you get down to it, Pacific Drive is a quietly brilliant game. There's nothing that comes to mind that is like it, and it's an outwardly simple concept that also has a variety of layers. While out on a run, you deftly drive around anomalies and sometimes escape a junction with a tattered car by the skin of your teeth. Other times, you're outfitting your car in the garage while the jukebox is playing, carefully considering what to bring with you and which parts you should have on the car. This game is exactly what I had hoped it would be when I initially heard about it, and it's been a long time since I've played something so boldly different.
If Borderlands 2 was an example of the series coasting under its own momentum, the Pre-Sequel is something of a master class in how to refine the series into a step forward. The underlying game isn't that different and it's filled with the same humor that you've come to expect, but the change of setting and the polishing of the gameplay have done wonders. The game seems more reliant on a central plot than the series is normally known for, and through it, you learn how Jack became such a horrible person. If you're like me and thought the Pre-Sequel is just another game in the series, then Claptrap's class isn't the only "Mistake." For being the third game in a franchise and with a name that implies it to be more of the same, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is a surprisingly fresh experience.
As a fan of the movies and a fan of creative approaches to games, I've had my eye on John Wick Hex since the day it was announced. Its bizarre approach works satisfyingly well in the context of how John Wick would think in the same situations: risk versus reward, careful observation and planning, plays and counter-plays. It is a simple game to understand yet rewarding to attempt to master. It also makes a compelling case of how great movie-inspired games can be if developers really think outside of the box.
There are some issues within WRC 8, and they're not small, but the game is otherwise so good that it's easy to overlook them. For all the times your engine switches to stealth mode or a fence post sends you into low Earth orbit, there are hundreds of times when you are blissfully guiding your car into a drift around a dusty apex in Argentina, or masterfully twisting through a series of highly technical corners during heavy rain. The vehicle handling is so good — and that is so important for a rally game — that even with its flaws, WRC 8 is likely the high bar that other rally games should aspire to.
The blessing and curse of Battlefield 1 is that it is another well-polished entry in a series that clearly follows a sacred gameplay formula. Fans who have enjoyed the series thus far will find the same enjoyment in this latest entry, and aspects of World War I have clearly been carefully curated and incorporated into the game. However, it does feel that the series is playing things too safe. As good as the multiplayer is, I'm hopeful that future entries will take more risk. In the meantime, Battlefield 1 is another great offering that follows the series' enjoyable gameplay template.
I suspect that many players will have an uneven time with Planet Zoo. At times, it's pretty straightforward and provides the player with plenty of feedback so they can improve their zoo. Other times, the game has you digging around in areas that are unnecessarily tough to figure out, with tutorials that barely touch on the feature (if at all). The thing with Planet Zoo is that it is so charming and appealing that the fun parts outweigh the frustrating ones. It's not a perfect game in the genre, but it is one of the best ones you can play right now.
The biggest draw of F1 22 may likely depend on if you are interested in the VR support, as the game's implementation of VR is quite good. Beyond that, unless you are a Formula One fanatic and need to keep up on the current season, the other new main features are best left ignored. It is still a solid racing game, and no other game delivers such a comprehensive F1 experience. Beyond VR, it's unfortunate that every new feature added to F1 22 is a misfire.
With all of that being said, Jagged Alliance 3 nails a lot of what it is trying to do. Gripes about financial pressure and perk points aside, the majority of gameplay is a ton of fun. It rewards tactical thinking, and with a skillful approach, you can watch your mercs absolutely rain hell down on a superior enemy force. Considerate use of special abilities and equipment is important as well, and rarely is any fight just an easy shootout. The execution isn't perfect, but Jagged Alliance 3 is simultaneously a love letter to the tactical games of old while also proving that their gameplay can still feel modern and fresh decades later.
Obviously, there are a couple of rougher edges in this "reboot" of the Forza Motorsport series, but there is quite a solid game to be found. The PC version seems like it could use a patch or two to bolster the performance, and the AI doesn't seem to respect that you also exist on the track. However, this is a game that absolutely delivers if you are the kind of person who finds their peace while taking a vehicle on track and trying to find its absolute limit.
It's difficult to give Project CARS a score. When it comes to the actual racing, the game gets top marks primarily because of how deep the handling model feels. It also does a fantastic job of giving the player every possible option to tailor his or her experience to their liking. However, everything outside of the racing, such as the career mode, is mere window dressing. The game certainly excels at its intended purpose, which is to be one of the most accurate racing games around, but I can't help but feel that the game is pretty bare-bones when it comes to the creature comforts that other games offer, even from the standpoint of catering to the most hardcore crowd.
The new Leviathan mode in Metal: Hellsinger is a whole lot of fun, though. It lets you jump into the game and engage with the combat in a way that feels less static than playing through one of the story levels again. The randomized boons make every run different and may sometimes push you to play with a different style than you normally would, and that's also a fun aspect of the mode. Meanwhile, the paid Purgatory DLC adds a great new weapon and a solid trio of songs, and between all of this, it's a decent excuse to spend six bucks and have a bunch of new fun with the game. I'm hopeful that the devs will tweak the ability to get those void crystals, though.
Overall, Deliver Us Mars is surprisingly compelling, with a story of a daughter searching for her wayward father despite his crimes - while others on the crew are searching for him because of said crimes. Most of the gameplay does a great job of keeping things varied, but I wish that there were just a few more puzzle ideas to break up the times when it feels like the game ran out of ideas and popped in another MFT puzzle. Endure those, and Deliver Us Mars is a great game that balances the narrative with allowing the player to have agency. It is further proof that sci-fi stories don't need to involve aliens or explosions, and the humanity within the game's story is admirable.
Ryse: Son of Rome is a solid game and arguably has the best graphics of any console game to date. The combat is engaging, and the multiplayer extension feels like the Shadows of Rome multiplayer that never was. Although the title does come across as a one-trick pony, a fair amount of care was put into that element. Ultimately, I found the game to be the most enjoyable of all Xbox One launch titles, and putting this much emphasis on a new IP is always commendable. If you want the best-looking game on the new Xbox One console, Ryse is the easy choice to make, and the combat is enough to keep your interest until the end.
Despite the issues, I'm really enjoying BattleTech. Get past its learning curve and get a few missions under your belt, and you begin to feel like a capable commander. The company management gives a backbone to your progression, while the mission gameplay is an enjoyably tangled web of tactical options and trade-offs. It's far from a perfect game, but it's a solidly good title that's a welcome entry in a long-overlooked franchise.
It sounds like I am harping on Elite: Dangerous, but it's a fantastic game and makes one wonder why space sims have been away for so long. For all of its polish in some areas, it has obviously unrefined aspects in others. For all the aspects that let you tell a story about the game, there's little to allow you to create in a story within it. During the first few weeks, the game will absolutely demand your free time, and you will gleefully engage. It just needs a lot more to sustain itself.
If you had a good time with the previous games in the series, you're likely to find the same level of enjoyment in Far Cry 6. However, many of the gameplay elements in this new game are awfully like the versions that were first established in Far Cry 3 and reused with minimal changes in every subsequent game. There's certainly more than enough content to validate the game as its own, full entry into the series. I wish for a future Far Cry entry that I can play without being able to pick out which things are exactly the same as the previous title.
Dead Island 2 surely went through a few levels of development hell, so anyone following its path would reasonably suspect that the game might have issues. I can't say that it does anything exceptionally well, but it has enough life in it to avoid major stumbles. For better or worse, it is a by-the-numbers zombie basher that doesn't do anything terribly distinct. Its humor makes it compelling and fun, and it's at its best whenever it relies on that strength.
If you didn't pick up F1 Manager 2022 but enjoy the idea of a game where you call the shots for a Formula 1 team, F1 Manager 2023 is in a very favorable position for your consideration. It makes strong use of its status as an official Formula 1 game and is ultimately a strong simulation game. The new features don't differentiate the new game too much from the old title. More than anything, the new game needs further refinement of the features it already has, along with enhanced feedback to the player over what the feature impacts can be. The game is far from a bad ride, but it's mighty similar to the one thatwe just had.
It's that safety in embracing the past that represents Age of Empires 4's most obvious flaw. In many ways, it plays and feels like the game is simply Age of Empires 2 with a very well applied fresh coat of paint. Love letter or no, between the rough issues with the campaign and the reuse of the multiplayer, it feels more like a remaster of an older game than of a new entry into the series. It is not easy to please fans of the long-running franchise while also attempting to attract new ones to it, and Age of Empires 4 finds itself in a strange no-man's land between those two goals.
Still, it's hard to feel like the multiplayer wasn't just thrown into the wild for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II. It's not unplayable, but there are so many flaws that consistently and almost constantly crop up. The lack of post-launch support makes it feel as though Call of Duty is a victim of its own success, and it really doesn't matter what state it's in or how quickly it gets fixed because millions of people have already purchased it, and it'll all be forgotten before the launch of the next one. My hope is that the players won't be simply taken for granted going forward, but in the meantime, Modern Warfare II certainly subscribes to the mentality of, "Screw it. People are going to buy it anyway."