In a stellar year of top-tier releases, sequels, and new IPs, I didn’t expect Alan Wake II to rank as highly on my personal top game list as it does now, and while we’ve still got a couple months to go, I’m fairly confident that Alan Wake II is going to be my personal game of the year.
I’ve absolutely loved playing through Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and I’m happy to say that Square Enix once again delivered with this release. It’s a fantastic follow-up to Remake that expands the world of Final Fantasy VII even more, and it’s a sequel that shouldn’t be missed. Whether you’re a hardcore Final Fantasy VII fan, or someone that came on board via the Remake, you won’t be disappointed.
Basically, if you own a Vita, you should own Tearaway. For me, it's the best piece of software the handheld has seen to date, and it's the best Sony release since The Last of Us. It's a remarkably interesting, charming and emotional platformer from Media Molecule, and it shows that this studio is capable of more than just Little Big Planet. While this is certainly one of the busiest video game seasons in recent years, you should take a little time out of your next-gen schedule to experience a modern-day classic.
If you’re like me, and were initially a little lukewarm on Cyberpunk 2077, then definitely give Phantom Liberty and the new 2.0 patch a shot. It makes for a much better experience overall, and the Phantom Liberty storyline is a blast to playthrough. This gives me a lot of hope for what the next entry in this series will end up being, and has reignited my interest in a possible follow-up in a way that I didn’t think was possible.
It’s a fantastic first-person (or third-person if you prefer) puzzler with a really compelling narrative hook to push it all along.
While there’s no shortage of 2D platformers in a variety of forms nowadays, few manage to catch the whimsical, animated look that Promenade does so well. It’s a beautiful looking game, and as an added plus it’s actually fun to play, making it a platforming adventure you absolutely should not miss.
I’d wholeheartedly recommend checking out Dragon’s Dogma 2, whether it’s a game you’ve been anticipating for the past 12 years, or you’re just curious as to what all the hype is about. It’s an extremely fun RPG in a year that’s already seen a number of excellent RPG’s, which is really saying something when you look back at what’s come out since January. Definitely give it a shot, you won’t be disappointed.
I really enjoyed my time with Tropico 5. As a total package, it's a great starting point for new players. Gameplay mechanics like diplomacy have been simplified, so it's pretty easy to understand for newcomers. It'll help to have some working knowledge of similar sim titles, but even without that background, the campaign does a great job of easing you into the basic functions of city-building. The simplification isn't always in the best interest of the game, as I found when attempting to stave off exports of much-needed resources. While trade routes are a great addition, not being able to have direct control over which goods I export and import was often problematic. Issues like this are few and far between with Tropico 5, making it an overall positive and very fun experience.
All in all, I find myself very happy with what Trials Fusion has to offer, and I think this is a fantastic first entry for the new generation of console hardware. It's a great-looking game with active background and foreground elements, fantastic track designs, an interesting future aesthetic, and some strangely appealing narrative pieces provided by the quirky AI announcer. While the general Trials mechanics are largely unchanged, outside of the misstep represented by the tricks system, I've never seen much need for improvement in the series' basic controls and physics. RedLynx certainly hasn't lost any of the ideas that make the Trials series so much fun to play and has escalated the track design in a way that makes this game feel fresh and new, despite being the 13th entry in a decade-old series.
Passive AI and lackluster online support from the community isn't enough to make Civilization: Beyond Earth a total wash. If you've enjoyed the series over the years, you'll likely spend many hours with this entry as well. It deviates just enough from the excellent Civilization V to be a worthwhile experience, and it offers a different pace than its predecessor, so even though it's not a significant upgrade, it's still pretty remarkable.
So far, with just 5 tables available, this initial outing of Pinball M actually feels pretty great to play, and the new table designs are really well done, with some well thought out mechanics that help make up some of the best themed tables Zen has produced across any pinball platform thus far.
At $50 this is a solid collection of three really good portable games, rezzed up to modern HD screens and dimensions, with slight tweaks to account for former touchscreen controls and menus, making all three games feel right at home on the Nintendo Switch. Whether you’ve played the original releases or you’re jumping in for the first time, you really can’t go wrong with checking this collection out. It’s great to have the entire main series collected on the Switch, and hopefully this will help open the door for more Ace Attorney games in the near future.
Beyond those issues, I really enjoyed my time with Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments. It's a really solid adventure game that I'd urge console players to check out. It features a host of interesting mechanics that do a great job of capitalizing on the character and world of Sherlock Holmes, and the six cases are very intriguing. Crimes & Punishments is easily one of the best Holmes titles I've played, and I look forward to what Frogwares has in store for the next game in the franchise.
Dragon Age: Inquisition is one of the few western RPGs on the market right now, and it's certainly one of the more robust since the release of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. If you're looking to satisfy that RPG itch on your brand-new, current-gen console, you can certainly to do so with Inquisition.
As far as how well these Jurassic Park titles stand the test of time, you could argue that they kind of don’t.
If you can hunt down a demo or rental, giving it a chance isn't a waste of time. There are enough positives so it's worth a look, even if I doubt most will want to see the game through to completion. I'd love to see developer Acquire refocus its efforts into something more substantial, and I hopefully the lackluster combat here remains the exception, and not the rule, for future Acquire-developed titles.
All in all, Deadfall Adventures doesn't have a lot of positives. I can appreciate that The Farm 51 made some effort to evolve this beyond a standard FPS experience with the exploration and puzzle-solving elements, but it feels like they spread themselves too thin concept-wise, and the entire game suffers for it. The best thing I can say about Deadfall Adventures is the environments look absolutely fantastic, despite not offering a great deal of variety. At the same time, the level of quality in the stages triggers your imagination in way that the game never fully manages to engage, and that makes the disappointing aspects of the gameplay stand out even more. I certainly can't recommend Deadfall Adventures; there are far better experiences available to PC gamers than this.
Very little is enticing about Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON'T KNOW! outside of the license being used, and even that isn't applied properly here. Cut the game length by half, cut the price even further, stick this in a digital shop, and you have an OK time-waster that doesn't overstay its welcome. Even then, I think most would see through the shoddy, repetitive structure that makes up the meat of this game. "Adventure Time" fans deserve far better than this.
It’s been a pleasant trip down memory lane with both Pikmin 1 and 2, and if you’ve never had a chance to experience either game, I’d say they are both highly recommended and stand the test of time quite well. Neither game is particularly long, and while 2 can be challenging at times, both are pretty friendly to new players and work as a solid primer for the upcoming release of Pikmin 4. Definitely check them out when you get a chance, you won’t be disappointed.
All in all, these are solid additions to what was already an impressive overhaul of these 8-bit and 16-bit classics, and help solidify the ideal that the Pixel Remasters could now be considered the definitive versions of classic Final Fantasy.