Dead or Alive 6 carries much of the franchise's risque DNA, but shows a bit more initial restraint. The more revealing costumes are unlockable and the jiggle physics tend towards a bit more realism now. Combat remains accessible, but new moves like the Break Blow and evasion add new layers for DOA vets. Dead or Alive 6 could use a little more graphical polish and its netcode needs to be better, but it's a pretty good fighter all around.
Red Faction Guerrilla returns, taking a second crack at being an instant classic. The awesome environmental destruction returns alongside the hammer, one of the best gaming weapons ever. And the game has been redone in 4K resolution with improved lighting and textures. Unfortunately, the bad stuff still remains: shooting and driving feel floaty, enemy response is tuned too high, and there are a number of glitches present. As such, the remaster merely brings a great game into the modern age, without the improvements that would mark a better re-release.
Jurassic World Evolution really captures the feeling of the Jurassic Park/World film franchise: it's equally divided between the majesty of seeing well-animated dinosaurs roaming around and fending off corporate bickering. Unfortunately, the game lacks variety in terms of planning out your ideal Jurassic Park, especially in comparison to Frontier's own Planet Coaster. Evolution tries to lean on dinosaur DNA tampering to make up for that lack, but it's not quite enough. Jurassic World Evolution feels like a solid foundation, but there needs to be more DNA in this amber.
BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle has some great ideas, simplifying the mechanics of BlazBlue for newer players and bringing in characters from Persona 4 Arena, Under Night In-Birth, and RWBY. The core of the fighter works well, but the character roster is a bit small until you get into a mess of downloadable content. The additional modes also feel a bit dry and threadbare compared to Arc System Works' past efforts. This crossover is solid, but could use some tightening up as a full package.
The Crew 2 offers players the chance to drive everything with a motor across a shrunken version of the United States. It provides a fun driving experience and looks stunning, but ultimately it lacks focus from being pulled in too many directions. There are bright spots here and there, like Monster Truck trick courses or Rally Cross events, but The Crew 2 falters in equal measure.
Assassin's Creed Origins' first downloadable content, The Hidden Ones, takes players to a brand-new region and continues Bayek's story. If you were expecting something vastly new and different from this DLC, temper your expectations, as The Hidden Ones is just more of the same. More fortresses, more targets to kill, more Stone Circles, more treasure, and more levels. It's good enough for the price, but it lacks something new to make it really great.
After a year or two, I think Sea of Thieves might be a complete winner. Right now, it's uneven.
With some tweaks and changes, Survive could be great, but as it stands, it's just good.
Need for Speed returns with another flawed entry. There's the core of a great racing game here and when you're just driving around the open world, it's wonderful. The progression system encourages grinding and the basic story is delivered with B-movie seriousness, taking away from the racing pleasure. There's a better game inside of Payback, but you have to go through everything else to get to it.
Ultra Street Fighter II is an admirable effort; a pitch-perfect version of Street Fighter II on the Nintendo Switch. Capcom has re-balanced the game from its Super Turbo release, thrown in the Super Turbo HD Remix art, and added some additional Switch-only modes. Unfortunately, the whole package just feels adequate. Ultra Street Fighter II doesn't feel like it goes above and beyond for the series' 30th anniversary and the asking price is steep for what's there.
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series is a Telltale game. It does what the studio does well, and falters where they normally falter. The first episode kicks off the overall story with some interesting moments, but Telltale's Batman adaptation had a stronger start and more interesting mechanics to paint over the formula.
Farpoint is a game that does it's job well, showing off PlayStation VR and the PlayStation VR Aim Controller. The act of shooting feels great and intuitive in the game thanks to the controller. Unfortunately, while VR adds to the experience, it doesn't hide what's a fairly rote and basic shooter from an earlier era of gaming.
Telltale's The Walking Dead continues with its third season, A New Frontier, which shifts the story to a new character and a larger scope. Unfortunately, our new hero spends time fighting for the spotlight with series mainstay Clementine. In addition, the pacing is fairly fast, giving characters little room to breathe. Telltale reaches farther with this season, but stumbles in equal measure.
Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City are amazing games, but this collection doesn't stand up to the same quality. The visuals have been improved, but at a loss of the dark ambiance of the originals. The 30 fps frame rate isn't locked, with the occasional stutter marring the experience. Worse, there's no new content available here. If you own either game on PC, there's no reason to get Return to Arkham.
Like Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax, Nitroplus Blasterz brings together various characters from Nitroplus properties. Unfortunately, fans may not know these characters, many of whom have never been published in the West. That leaves a solid, but rather basic fighting game to draw players in.
Life is Strange comes to its ultimate conclusion by asking players what's more important: one person or an entire town? This is an emotionally strong episode that's unfortunately padded out by sequences that justify its overall running time and reinforce that you're playing a game. Life is Strange was great as a whole, but there are missteps in this episode.
Party Hard is good clean fun, but that fun tends to devolve into waiting and tedium towards the end of any level. The core gameplay is an idea that can be expanded upon though, and the developer is already adding new content to the game to resolve the issue.
ReCore is a style of game we haven't seen in a while. Part Mega Man Legends, part Metroid Prime, ReCore puts exploration and platforming at the forefront. With your trusty corebot pals, you'll double jump and dash through an open world and some damned fiendish dungeons. While ReCore trips up a bit with some odd combat and gating mechanics, it's still worth your time if you remember how platforming was in the old days.
Blade & Soul has the PVP pedigree to stand at the top of the MMO heap, which is why the rather rote PVE stands out. You'll have to go through some soulless grinding before you get to the great PVP. If martial arts-laden PVP isn't your thing, there are better MMOs out there.
Hatoful Boyfriend is a straightforward dating simulator where all of your suitors just happen to be birds. If you're not drawn to your potential boyfriends, the early game can be a bit of a drag. While the second half of the game is worth the price of admission, many players will have a problem getting there. Proceed with caution.