Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is a game you should buy just for the single-player alone. The multiplayer mechanics feel amazing like someone hit the refresh button for the franchise.
A step above the rest, Apex Legends is a masterful re-examination of the battle royale genre that will inform multiplayer launches to come.
All in all, I dreaded every hour I had to keep playing Fallout 76 for review. As soon as the game was beginning to teeter on fun or interesting, a bug or a frustrating gameplay design element would quickly remind me that the game was otherwise. I'm interested to see whether Bethesda will continue to put work towards making this a somewhat enjoyable experience or if they'll just save their money for Fallout 5.
Destiny 2: Forsaken is Destiny at its best. Many of the systems that players loved from the original have returned, and many features from Destiny 2 have been refined. If Bungie continues to produce expansions like this then Destiny will certainly last for ten years as promised.
Furi is sure to make your adrenaline rise at least once, with formidable bosses and a fantastic story, each moment of the game — whether it be narrative or combat — drives you towards the ending of the game that you choose. You don't need to be a dueling master — failing in Furi is part of the fun as each lost life means that you're one step closer to understanding the mechanics and therefore one step closer to victory. Simply put, if you can get past the difficulty and see the beauty behind it, you're sure to have a blast with this game and especially on the Nintendo Switch.
Nine Parchments, though wielding action RPG elements, works best as a party game. There are chaos and comedy to be had when you have three other friends sharing the screen, combining spells, chucking heals, and being sure not to stand in the fire. All of these mechanics combined with a lighthearted story lend themselves to a laugh-filled-couch-co-op game that should not be played alone.
Need For Speed Payback is the perfect example of one step forward, two steps back. While the world is more beautiful than any of its predecessors, it feels empty in much the same way that the game does. All of the systems seem to be their own worst enemy. Want to build a car? How are you going to upgrade it? Want to customize its looks? You've got to complete unnecessary challenges. Want to progress the story just to see if it gets better? You've got to make sure your car is the appropriate level. All of these things, combined with an unimaginative and frankly boring story result in a racing game that makes it frustrating to race. While there's still the rush of pushing past second place a few meters before the finish line, that rewarding experience is not due to any innovations that the series has made here and the innovations that make this entry in the series unmemorable and unattractive.
Editor's Note: Last week, DualShockers was transported and hosted in San Francisco by Ubisoft and got the chance to play Assassin's Creed: Origins for over 40 hours on the Xbox One X. The build of the game we reviewed the title on had yet to go through stabilization patchwork as well as a now-implemented day-one update.
Destiny 2 has proved that it is not just an expansion, or an unnecessary sequel. It is a second attempt at a game that hooked fans with its incredible gunplay, and now those players can buckle in for a story and activities to match.
The combat and pacing by itself is enough to interest players, but without recognizing the game's potential hardcore MOBA audience, Gigantic will have a hard time keeping them around.