TJ Denzer's Reviews
The combat and look of the game are boring. The atmosphere and music are detached and out of alignment with the story. The light cycle is fun, but you’re very restrained in where you can use it. And ultimately, while the time loop makes the story and progression more interesting, that arguably worthwhile story is attached to a fairly humdrum action game wearing all of the expected components of the Tron aesthetic.
Onimusha 2 is a strange but good action game. There aren’t many things like it, but I’m glad it’s back just the way it is. The swordplay and progression are great and the story is an oddity determined by a number of decisions you make at crucial points.
Whether you’ve played these games before or are cracking them open for the first time, you’re in for a treat, especially if you bring some friends along.
It’s a solid-feeling fighting game in one of my favorite series with good offensive and defensive options, a great starting cast that promises even more in the years ahead, a mostly good variety of modes, solid music (and the availability of classic tracks), a fun comicbookish animation style, and an editor to adjust character looks to your liking. That said, it’s not like this is perfect by any stretch.
If you can get past its tedious organization and swaths of overleveled monsters in your way, Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition is incredible.
This is some of the best co-op platforming around and another must-have for those who want to take a fun journey with their bestie.
Two Point Museum is, for me, the best amalgam of Two Point Studios' business management and mechanics yet. The road to five-star museums is paved with fun challenges and customization that will likely have empty spaces looking like your personal dream attraction hours in.
The concept of putting Goro Majima in a pirate adventure is pretty much everything I thought it would be. This is a silly game with an enjoyable gameplay loop and adventure.
The Thing, by its very concepts and mechanics, is well worth the price of admission for historians and enthusiasts. There really isn’t much quite like it, and perhaps that’s because it would be difficult to pull off well. For what it’s worth, The Thing was never perfect. It has some weird speed in its overall gameplay and cringy dialogue that detract from its scarier elements, but those elements are still fun, and with the improvements that address a sore spot in its strength, The Thing: Remastered makes an interesting outlier of the horror genre that much more valuable.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle may have broken just about every expectation I had for MachineGames, short of the fact that I expected a great game. It's definitely that, but the reasons for that greatness are that it’s an impactful brawler, a stylish action-platformer, and a clever puzzle game, with a solid cast to deliver its movie-like performances, exciting environments to explore, and an excellent score to punctuate the mood. MachineGames goes above and beyond to deliver a thrilling adventure akin to the movies, and they succeed nearly across the board. Just don’t call him Junior.
A game that is technically sound, and very beautiful, but fails to get its hooks in where it counts, and I feel like among other great RPGs that have come out just this year, Veilguard will have a hard time standing out.
From chilling environments and grotesque creatures to improved characters, puzzles, and combat, Bloober Team hits the bullseye with this impressive remake.
Despite a few issues, I still think Ara: History Untold is some of the most fun I’ve had with a 4X historical nations game that wasn’t Civilization. Oxide Studios clearly knew the assignment and they aced on a number of fronts. It’s a little disappointing that for their experience, they weren’t able to avoid common issues like mid-to-late grind, but if you want a game that will offer plenty of variety in playstyles and an interesting and engaging crafting mechanic, Ara: History Untold is quite an extensive option for any fan of 4X strategy.
This game is as unforgiving at the start as it was in 2006, but if you want a solid zombie survival experience akin to Dawn of the Dead, you can’t do much better than the mall mayhem of Willamette in Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster.
It’s surreal to see a game I played in my first year of work at Shacknews finally find its way to that Version 1.0. I couldn’t be happier for Coffee Stain after its lengthy journey, but it helps that this is a really dang good sim, and a true creative sandbox. I think the freeform nature of Satisfactory is both its greatest power and its most intimidating offering, simply because the sheer lack of guidance can leave players directionless and overwhelmed, especially as you wait and stew on it while resources bake in the early game. However, the sheer beauty of Satisfactory as you slowly expand a little base into a highly programmed and automated industrial machine is a neat and rewarding process, and if you have a friend or two to bring along, all the more fun.
Astro Bot is a charming and cheeky nod to a lot of PlayStation history and a powerful demonstration of PS5 hardware, but more than anything, it's just a ridiculously good game.
I can see why longtime Famicom Detective Club producer Yoshio Sakamoto was so excited to share the story of this game. Emio - The Smiling Man is an intriguing story that takes us on a deeply emotional journey. The characters, both old and new, are very fun and easy to follow as well, not to mention coming out great in their animations and dialogue. I wish Emio stretched its legs a bit in terms of gameplay, but I also can’t argue too much with a working system that’s mostly meant to be a vehicle for an engaging mystery. If this is the final Famicom Detective Club game, it’s a strong one to go out on, but I can't help but hope we get more Famicom Mystery Club with this game acting as a stepping stone to the series’ future.
I had no idea what I was in for with Gori: Cuddly Carnage, and I certainly didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did. Its crassness is kind of a take-it-or-leave-it for me, but it fits a ridiculous world taken over by crazed toys that are in desperate need of murder by a sentient cat friend and his blade hoverboard. And that feels like a good way to look at most of Gori. It sets out do all sorts of things gameplay-wise and it does all of them pretty well to make a ridiculously graphic world and narrative pretty dang fun. Mind the tykes in the room when you’re playing this one.
SteamWorld Heist 2 is an interesting return to a style Thunderful hasn’t re-explored in years, and it’s a decently polished one at that. The multi-job character progress and new upgrades to sea travel make for an improved approach to new and varied challenges throughout the game. The upgrades aren’t watertight against the issues that poked holes in the first game such as inconvenient travel and grinding. That said, if you’re looking for a solid tactical strategy game, SteamWorld Heist 2 is a charming voyage that should provide plenty of good times to fans of the SteamWorld universe.
Thank Goodness You’re Here is something altogether different from most of what I’ve played in 2024, and refreshingly so. It’s most certainly a game with some puzzle-minded antics, but it feels more like a lengthy comedy special, and the slapstick absurdity of it stays refreshing with plenty of surprises and ridiculousness throughout the adventure. Even the parts I didn’t initially enjoy ultimately felt like they needed to be there because it felt like part of the joke. Even so, be prepared for some very esoteric solutions and a complete lack of guidance as you learn to adapt to the wacky way this game wants you to think.