Fable Fortune doesn't offer much that hasn't been done better in the years before it.
A storybook comes to life in a meaningful way in Moss.
Although I came in rusty, DJMax Respect beckoned me to keep my fingers dancing and to further one-up myself. The more I did that the more fun it became, and I'm looking forward to enjoying all of the DLC to come, and potentially, the full-on resurrection of DJMax in the west.
Immortal Redneck's loop is dead simple: play some, upgrade, play more, buy the item that lets you skip past the mid-boss, play some, upgrade, then confront the final boss. But you know what -- it's a blast, and I never really thought of any of the above as work. While the roguelike setup will no doubt scare some people off (you do you, reader), anyone looking to temporarily transport themselves back through the ages of FPS-dom without making concessions should give it a chance.
Metal Gear Survive should have been a free-to-play game just like Grasshopper's Let it Die or an actual Metal Gear release. It doesn't accomplish either aim.
The Windows 10 restrictions simply do the development team a disservice. A lot of work went into Age of Empires: Definitive Edition and just enough tweaks were made to ensure that it's still relevant in 2018. I have an incredible amount of respect for the folks who brought this classic back to life, and for their restraint to ensure that this remaster doesn't abandon its roots.
You may as well just play the SNES version, even if it's the first time you're ever picking up a Mana game: the original spritework is able to pick up the slack of a few of its inherent shortcomings, which are only exasperated by the swap to 3D.
The hack-and-slash moment-to-moment action works in its favor even when transitioning to a new style of play, but Dynasty Warriors 9, like some of its predecessors, is clunky and unwieldy; hampered by the aforementioned bugs and performance problems. If you're into the idea of playing an open world game where its arcadey elements are entwined with therapeutic but sometimes dry exploration, maybe give it a shot.
Rise and Fall does exactly what an expansion needs to do, and brings the wayward Civ players back into the fold.
Barring some unfortunate bugs and one design decision that hampered my experience, Aegis Defenders is a smooth, well-thought-out ride. The original art, charm, and in-game universe only add to it, and I'd love to see more.
Despite the kick in the teeth, it was worth crawling back out of that hole and trying again. Any game where you're pondering the optimal setup for a chicken head that shoots egg bombs and a bee homing missile is a-okay with me. I won't be endlessly replaying it, but Octogeddon grabbed me hard for a good while.
Shadow of War had a gamey quality to it and a fanfiction plot that had some moments of surprise. Blade of Galadriel is much more to the point, without much of the same flair -- either the good or the bad.
Dissidia NT is fun to play, but it could use a few tweaks that could easily come as low-effort updates along with its existing premium DLC. More modes, some UI tweaks, and combat flow upgrades would go a long way.
When assessing these packs I try to rate the sum of their parts, and more often than not, the A-game of the zombie team elevates these DLCs. Call of Duty: WWII: The Resistance is another one of those times where the extra bits upstage the main attraction of the maps.
If you've been skipping out on Monster Hunter games for a while because they seem to blend together, jumping into World is your chance to get in. Just know that Capcom hasn't really shaken up the formula enough to piss off veterans or appeal to people who don't welcome grinding with open arms.
Matt Thorson succeeds once again in crafting a tight, beautiful retro experience.
It's a weird situation because people have already been burned by Street Fighter V, so these small Arcade tweaks probably aren't going to be game-changing enough to bring you back. If you're still active, these changes and another season will keep you going. It's that simple.
Even if the developer thinks they invented a genre that's been around for years, their hubris and the game's hype had no impact on this assessment of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. It's a rare occurrence when something makes its way into my weekly rotation of games, and jumping into its crazy world of survival is something I still look forward to after all this time.
Bridge Constructor Portal takes some of the best snark from the Portal series and shoves it into a clever little construction game.
Brawlout is positioning itself as the sort of indie Smash, especially with its addition of Hyper Light Drifter and Juan into the mix. With proper post-launch support, and most importantly, an audience, it could grow and fill that Bowser-sized hole that Smash Wii U left. Until then it'll serve as a fun party game that could be a little more.