TJ Denzer's Reviews
Zero Time Dilemma is an adventure full of disturbing and compelling twists and turns with gameplay make it interesting and inviting, even if you haven’t followed the series from the very beginning.
It doesn't always dance gracefully with the craft of battle, but For Honor is a game that harnesses some of the most impactful melee combat we've seen.
The Final Station challenges the player with scarcity and survival and weaves just enough context to make the world built around it interesting.
Rich, hand-drawn worlds inspired by the tapestry of Nordic legends and lore make Jotun a fantastical and breathtaking journey, although it sometimes feels barren between the big encounters.
Rhombus of Ruin is short, but it does well as a VR game, a reminder of the colorful quirk many of us like about the Psychonauts world and a teaser of what's coming next.
Strategy, resource management, and RPG combat in one charmingly nostalgic package
Escalation capitalizes on the highs and stumbles on the same lows of what made the original Ashes of the Singularity good.
Field of Glory II is a testament to the sheer wealth of consideration and ingenuity that Slitherine and Byzantine games have put into hybridizing a tabletop and digital strategy experience.
Hand of Fate 2 improves upon nearly every aspect of the original, providing diverse new challenges that help build the world around the Game of Life and Death. The new scenarios, the success checks that come with them, the companions, and new encounters and gear cards all add hundreds of unique touches to the game that make every card flip an experience.
With so much to explore and unravel in this game, plus accessible daily puzzles, Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy feels like a game we could get lost in for a good, long time.
Even with its issues, Granblue Fantasy Versus is still hands-down one of the most beautiful and accessible fighters I’ve played in years, and with its prominent place on the mainstage at EVO 2020 and other major fighting game tournaments, I can’t wait to see how Cygames and Arc System Works support it throughout the year.
The game offers a solid experience of squad customization and tactical turn-based battle, but still keeps some of the most satisfying head explosions to ever come out of an action game.
Fae Tactics has only a few bumps in its lengthy and magical road, but these are mere speedbumps along the vast and enjoyable journey full of deep technical strategy, colorful fae and characters, and winding stories.
All in all, this is the functional 3D battler that Gundam fans have demanded for a long time, but the balance and obscurity of guidance may stifle the enjoyment of players unfamiliar with Gundam or the Gundam Vs games.
I Am Dead has a very interesting story to tell, a colorful and varied environment in which to tell it, and a very cool way of going about the telling. The use of ghostly powers to explore, but never directly interact with the world, yet still solve puzzles was quite fun and unique. The more I unraveled of the mystery, the more intrigued I was and the more I wanted to know about each of the people presented to me, their lives, their connections, and the island they lived on.
Disc Room wants to cut you in so many ways. It wants to chew you up, dismantle you, and make you say a swear or 50 creatively woven into the same sentence. It’s bullet hell without the regular therapy of being able to return fire. But for all of those aspects, it's also horribly addicting. The ease of picking up where you left off and trying your darndest to survive just a little bit longer to unlock a room left me putting down my controller, rubbing my head, and then often picking it up to say, “this will be the time I get it. This time.” It’s not a ridiculously long or complex romp. But it also doesn’t really need to be. It knows what it wants to be. It wants to be your murderer. And the only way you’re going to thwart it is by surviving just long enough to open its next doors and beat its myriad of challenges.
As far as an action-RPG goes, Demon’s Souls is as tough, but rewarding as I’d expect a Soulborne game would be. Bluepoint did an incredible job of pulling this 2009 title into 2020 and giving all the gloss and polish the PlayStation 5 can wring out of it while still playing perfectly smooth and mostly free of loading.
There’s a lot going on in Empire of Sin. Romero Games and Paradox Interactive build quite a hybrid of business management, character growth, and turn-based combat, and the 1920s Prohibition-era backdrop makes for an interesting story. The gang leaders are varied in so many ways between their business, combat specialties, and personal stories. Meanwhile, the overall flow of business expansion, hostile takeovers, and diplomacy or confrontation with other gangs also makes for a mostly engaging gameplay loop.
I feel that when it comes to everything Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond has to offer, Respawn Entertainment has gone out of their way to show us that not only does the Medal of Honor franchise still have meaningful life left in it, but there are things this game does that other games can look to as a benchmark of how to deliver a fully fleshed-out and visceral action VR experience.
I’ll say it plainly. I love Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game. I loved it 10 years ago and I’ve only come to appreciate it more since. I identify with Stephen Stills as talented, but also very sleepy, so I delight in being able to play as him in a game again. Yet for all of my love, it definitely has a tedious grind that might annoy people that aren’t into River City Ransom-style beat’em-ups. That said, with or without the movie or comics it’s based off of, I’d still consider it one of the best-in-class of side-scrolling co-op brawlers