Aside from these mild drawbacks, Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires is a solid, entertaining adventure that successfully mixes depth and over-the-top combat. When off the battlefield, it adopts the feel of a strategy game and when customizing and advancing your hero, you get that distinct RPG vibe. And when you hit the battlefield, the contest explodes all over that small screen.
In the end, though, Teslagrad is a solid platformer with great puzzle ideas and some really cool equipment that never gets tired. The adventure feels about the right length to me, and the pacing is another highlight. As a 2D puzzle-oriented title, it gives the player a unique presentation style and a difficult yet satisfying set of challenges, which older gamers might really appreciate.
Sword Art Online: Lost Song is easy to get into and offers plenty of entertaining combat, along with an appealing multiplayer mode. The controls work just fine, as do the online servers, and the thrill you get in wasting huge foes is worth noting. But the campaign falls well shy of modern-day standards, with lackluster technical elements, and we have to suffer through a blasé storyline with characters only hardcore fans will recognize, and an overarching repetitiveness in both game design and combat.
Star Wars: Battlefront offers excellent set pieces that act as nostalgic playgrounds. At the very least, it's a great experience for the "Star Wars" faithful, and the solid and accessible control cements a production with far-reaching appeal. That appeal may not reach to the core group of gamers that are bound to complain about the lack of depth, customization and overall gameplay innovation, but they're not the intended demographic.
All in all, though, Fallout 4 is a masterful production that features a wildly ambitious and nigh-on unparalleled scope. There's just so much to do that it often feels overwhelming, but this isn't going to stop the franchise faithful. In fact, I'm sure they'll welcome the deluge of options, content, and endless exploration.
In the end, Call of Duty: Black Ops III is a good shooter that falls somewhere between "safe" and "chancy." It gives you great maps, awesome Specialists, a truly challenging and interesting Zombies mode, and a solid and more dynamic control mechanic. It also has a convoluted and uninteresting story and a co-op mode that doesn't consist of much more than extra enemies.
Need for Speed is a fun, accessible racer that's both aesthetically impressive and technically stable. The always-online requirement means server problems can affect your game and oh yeah, you can't pause, either. I'm sorry but it just wasn't necessary.
Assassin's Creed Syndicate is a fantastic game. Let me repeat that: It's a fantastic game.
One Upon Light is a pretty solid effort. It's found lacking in certain important areas, such as overall pacing, basic control, and general refinement, but its originality and challenge should be applauded. The story actually isn't half-bad (for a puzzle game, at any rate), there's inspired freshness in the myriad of ways we eventually solve certain puzzles, and the design is good without being especially great.
In the end, though, Hearts of Stone is a stirring good time and a great expansion the whole way 'round. It doesn't just give us a couple new missions spread out over the same areas, bringing in the same characters, and simply offering a few new pieces of equipment. This goes above and beyond, delivering an entirely new customization mechanic, excellent story missions, a boatload of surprising charm, fantastic variety in terms of objectives, activities and locations, and a new romance that's well worth pursuing.
Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection is exactly what you'd expect. The first game doesn't quite measure up and could turn off newcomers (always a concern), and the games really don't have a lot of "new" in them. But really, the brilliance of this top-tier action/adventure series remains in full view throughout, and the remastering veterans at Bluepoint did a good job.
Dragon Quest Heroes is Dynasty Warriors with an admittedly appealing DQ skin. It offers plenty of foes to strike down with a wide variety of cool attacks, lots of classic characters, and enough ally and party micromanagement to maintain some sense of role-playing and strategy. But the story falls flat, the pacing is off, and above all else, the combat mechanic is inherently flawed.
Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance is indeed bigger in every feasible way when compared to previous series iterations. I'm not so sure it's better in every way, though, as the sheer amount of content can feel either muddled or oppressive. There are times when you just sit there, overwhelmed with possibilities and options for your growing party, unsure of what to tackle next.
NBA Live 16 isn't a very good game but at least the series is moving forward, albeit slowly. The technical aspects are definitely the highlight, as the graphics are actually quite good and the music and sound effects add great flavor. The modes aren't a problem, either, because you've got a nice variety here.
NBA 2K16 remains a great basketball game at its core, but makes a mistake in trying to give us a narrative-driven MyCareer mode. It just isn't keeping with the spirit of the ever-expanding customization and freedom of sports simulators and on top of which, it's just not that interesting or especially well presented. The online missteps are another problem, as are the good but somewhat languishing visuals that are starting to show their age.
FIFA 16 added what it needed to add and refined what it needed to refine. It pinpointed the problems bogging down last year's entry and fixed them. Perhaps one could argue they went too far in the other direction, thereby changing the pace of the gameplay for the worse, but I don't agree.
Leo's Fortune is a great little platformer with a boatload of simple appeal. I suppose I could say I was hoping for just a bit more depth and substance (without first knowing the title's mobile origins), and the control and physics are just a bit wonky, but those are minor issues with which others may not agree. If you love the old-school platformer structure and you're looking for a simple yet highly satisfying reprieve from the massive open-world epics, I say, go find who stole Leo's gold.
NHL 16 represents a return to form for the long-running hockey franchise. Those trying to get the bad taste of their mouths from last year's entry should be pleased with EA Canada's effort, which is capable of attracting casual and hardcore fans alike. EASHL is fulfilling and even addictive, shootouts are an absolute blast, the On-Ice Trainer is an excellent addition for newcomers, and the gameplay is smooth in some places, and rugged and powerful where it needs to be (feel that hit?).
Mad Max can be a very entertaining game, especially if your expectations are in the right place. There's a lot of fun to be had in the wasteland; careening over the sand and blasting foes, laying the prodigious smack-down with fists and shotgun, and upgrading and improving the always-cool Magnum Opus. The control for both driving and melee combat is just about right and the combat mechanic is a tried-and-true system.
Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls is oddly named and really, the game lives up to that tone: Odd. But that’s part of the charm and appeal and fans of past entries will quickly embrace this style. What’s questionable is whether or not they’ll embrace the new third-person action gameplay, which is a dramatic departure from the courtroom scenarios seen before.