A re-inventive MOBA that isn't perfect, especially with its free-to-play scheme, but still rises above the pack.
A charming board game-esque strategy game that doesn't go quite as far as it should have.
An artistic platformer of sorts that's best played in a relaxed state.
Blowout Blast is another game I'll stuff in the "Kirby" folder on my 3DS, occasionally going back to it when I have a few moments to spare.
Infinite Warfare has had an uneven Season Pass but it's far from a disaster. While its first pack is easily the strongest, even the average maps in Continuum and Absolution are worth occasionally cycling through. Just err on the side of zombies and you won't regret picking it up -- otherwise, Game of the Year it is.
Trials is a hodgepodge of stuff that should have been patched in and stuff worthy of extra development time, but since there's still another chapter that promises a new narrative and a dungeon -- the Season Pass might be worth the full price yet. Until then just ask yourself how much you play Breath of the Wild, read some trusted opinions, and go from there.
It's a shame what happened to Crash Although Naughty Dog moved on to bigger things, I wouldn't necessarily call all of them better. The Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy serves as a time capsule of sorts before the series was ran into the ground, and my only major regret is that I wish it had CTR as the cherry on top.
But that level of sensibility doesn't come front and center enough. Valkyria Revolution is constantly at odds with itself. It tries to be an action game, but at the behest of fans, more strategic elements were shoved in. You'll go into an action-packed warzone full of enemies to slice up, then you'll be rewarded with a seemingly endless amount of cutscenes lacking sound and fury and signifying nothing. Sega shifted its direction many times during its development due to feedback, and I'm not convinced it was the right move. Maybe if they had just stuck to their guns and made it a full action romp it would have turned out better.
By the time Final Fantasy XV is fully finished, most of its mysteries and interludes will have been explained. It's up to you if you want to discover them individually or all at once with the eventual Game of the Year edition (which might come a full year after XV's November 2016 release, given that Episode Ignis isn't dropping until December). For me the main story juice has been worth the squeeze, but the DLC has not.
It's bittersweet to get the culmination of good role design in a pricey DLC. I'm the kind of person who maxed out every single character in two weeks of Diablo III's launch, then moved into Inferno and Hardcore runs -- also known as the target audience for a character drop. Every time I boot up D3, whether it's for a new season or a new group of friends, I have the option to level up a new Necromancer, and that's going to be invaluable down the line for me. But for everyone else who only dabbles in dungeon crawling, wait for a sale.
A reductionist shooter that maintains the over-the-top spirit of Serious Sam, for the most part.
The Mage's Tale represents an early experiment for VR RPGs -- a minor milestone. There's still a long way to go until people are "jacked-in" for hours at a time a la Sword Art Online, but with projects like this leading the way we'll get there sooner than later.
I can see myself picking up Mighty Gunvolt Burst every now and then, especially since it's so easy to do on the Switch. If Inti Creates goes the way of DLC or a full sequel where the universes are flipped, I'm already in. They clearly still have it while Capcom and Comcept struggle to get a firm hold on the genre.
Castle of Shikigami is an important piece of shoot-'em-up history, but at this point it's more of a relic. Its own sequels stepped up the unique character loadouts and gave us more interesting bullet patterns and bosses, so this one is best left for the hardcore crowd to munch on.
There's a lot of personality on the surface in Arms (mainly I love that title theme song), and I hope Nintendo continues to build on it as planned. It works as a fighter, I just wish there was more to do in this debut entry -- both pragmatically in terms of modes and on an emotional level, as I haven't really connected with its universe yet despite its raw style.
While Elder Scrolls Online has improved through the release of Morrowind, it still isn't enough of a jump to warrant a resounding recommendation (the 4v4v4 PVP mode here still isn't enough to get me into ESO PVP). If you already own it and are coasting by on free-to-play fumes, you should still think about upgrading and exploring the pointed, more focused land of Vvardenfell.
I was pleasantly surprised with Tekken 7: Fated Retribution, and will be keeping up with the meta and pro scene for the first time in years. While Harada and his crew could have easily given us a little more to do long term other than chase more treasure, it doesn't feel like grinding in the slightest given how fun it is to play.
I was really torn on Rime until I got caught up in its emotional ending, capped off by a fantastic unexpected chapter select reveal. I really saw what Tequila Works was trying to do by the time the curtain closed and it ended up spurring another partial playthrough in the process. Even during its most underwhelming moments Rime got a response out of me, and I'll remember it for years to come.
Platinum didn't create a captivating narrative with Vanquish, but it serves as a showcase of some of their best pure action work. If you haven't had a chance to give it a shot yet you might as well with the definitive version on PC.
Meet the new Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers, mostly the same as the old Street Fighter II. Beyond the veil of some visual wizardry and a few rote fleeting fluff modes, this is the old school foundation that a lot of folks built their fighting game careers on. That's not a bad thing, especially with the Switch's on-the-go hook, but it could just as easily have been a downloadable release.