Control manages to mix Remedy’s classic third-person shooter action formula with trippy Inception-esque reality bending to craft a really intense game. The story might get a little *too* mind-bendy at some points, and the writing leans more towards heavy exposition, but it all comes together amazingly.
Professor Lupo and his Horrible Pets is definitely a novel take on the puzzle genre, and it manages to design some clever and creative levels to keep players engaged long after the novelty wears off. It’s not the best choice for people who just wanna solve puzzles, but if you like a mix of reflex-based action and puzzle gameplay, you’ll like this one.
Team Sonic Racing loses some of the things that made previous Sonic Racing titles great, but it adds in co-op gameplay mechanics that really push players to work together to cross the finish line. It’s a great addition to the kart racing genre, and it’s totally fun with friends.
Metro: Exodus is a great final chapter for one of gaming’s most underrated series. It definitely feels like it waters down some of the series’ more unique aspects in an attempt to bring the series to a wider audience, but it still has enough of that signature Metro charm to be a challenging yet fun romp through the wasteland.
Anthem is a game with a lot of great ideas, but it doesn’t always have what it takes to put those ideas together. It suffers from trying to do too many things, but you can tell that under the three or four games they tried to make, a really good one is sadly buried.
Far Cry New Dawn is a fun little expansion to the world set in Far Cry 5, and the apocalyptic wasteland is a surprisingly fun place to explore thanks to its colorful graffiti and biker villains. It’s not too long a game, but you’ll find plenty of fun here.
This version of Resident Evil 2 does what every remake should do; it retains what made the original great while rethinking the aspects that didn’t age as well. The remake gives players a chance to explore an absolute classic that definitely hasn’t aged all that well, and it’s a great nostalgia trip for fans of the series.
Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is a title that’s not afraid to take some risks, and the result is a very unique –if sometimes flawed – tactical action game. It’s a great title for casual fans of the genre, although more discerning tactics fans will probably enjoy it more for its stealth and its storyline.
Just Cause 4 doesn’t make a lot of changes to the core gameplay of the series, but then again it doesn’t have to. It does make some welcome tweaks and additions, most notably to the grappling hook. The fourth installment in the series may not be as visually appealing as other titles in 2018, but it’s just as explosive and entertaining as ever.
Katamari Damacy Reroll is a great chance to explore one of gaming’s most revered cult hits. The gameplay might not be all that creative after a while, but it’s still a whacky, whimsical game of colors and shapes and rolling around that definitely merits a playthrough.
Battlefield V delivers yet another epic, chaotic warfare experience while managing to bring the theatres of the Second World War to life. Its intense firefights and pitched battles will result in many a hurrah, but you’ll also have to brave some balance issues and a couple of bugs that haven’t been ironed out. At the end of the day though, there’s no better way to experience all-out war.
Darksiders III is a great hack-and-slash action title that feels a bit dated but still manages to offer a well-crafted experience. It’s not the best title in the series, but it gets serious points for its polish and its focus.
HITMAN 2 features big, open-ended levels that offer players a ton of freedom to choose how to eliminate unsuspecting victims. It manages to keep much of the soul of the series while updating the gameplay and offering a very polished experience.
Overkill’s The Walking Dead has some great, challenging gameplay that’s held back by lots of technical issues and poor design choices. It has the potential to be a great co-op action game, but at the moment it’s better at frustrating than it is at entertaining.
Party Hard 2 builds on the formula of its predecessor to offer a brutal, sadistic, and very creative mass murder simulator. It may not feel all that new, but it’s got enough tricks up its sleeve to justify another couple 3 AM murder sprees
Diablo III: Eternal Collection on Switch introduces gamers to perhaps the most refined version of the game, and it offers an immersive dungeon-crawling experience that you can play on the go. It runs very smoothly and looks great, but expect to sink a ton of time in if you want to get good.
Mazen enjoys anything with over-the-top violence, dark humor and a real challenge. He's still pretty big on single-player games and he's always looking for new titles he might've missed out on, so if you know about a crazy new title that's flying under the radar, look him up!
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 manages to take the series forward while still holding on to what made it great in the first place. There are lots of changes here, but they all feel like changes for the better. It’s still comfortable in its old spot, but it knows what the fans want and it delivers.
Timespinner wears its influences on its sleeve, but it wears them proudly and manages to pay tribute to the 2D RPG Castlevania games and other great metroidvanias. It crafts a unique and often engrossing new world, and by the end, I felt like I had really relived the classics, and not in a bad way.
The Escapists: Complete Edition is unpolished in many regards, but under that rough lies a diamond that will shine brightly and hook you for hours. Its flaws end up working in its favour as you start feeling the desperation of a prisoner who’s just tired of being stuck, and eventually you need to use your wits and a little bit of hustle to get the job done.