Trek to Yomi is a fun enough five hours for the money. I wasn’t expecting Ghost of Tsushima for $19.99, so I wasn’t disappointed with what I got. However, I’m a big weeb, love Kurosawa, and think katanas are cool. I’m not sure if those unfamiliar with the design principle behind the game will understand where it’s coming from. It might serve as a gateway drug to Japanese cinema for some, but I think many people will just be wondering why it’s in black and white instead of color. Overall, it’s like a samurai with a dull sword: flashy, but lacking the razor edge needed to cut its way through the shadow of its contemporaries.
For its flaws, Pokemon Legends: Arceus does have a decent gameplay loop, even if it is a bit too tight. I hope that with Nintendo’s next console, we can maybe see a game that doesn’t have to make such significant compromises when it comes to graphics vs. performance. For now, let’s just clap our hands and try to forget that any other studio would be roasted alive for releasing a game like this in 2022.
Nintendo, Game Freak, and The Pokemon Company have made some odd decisions with pricing their products lately. Unfortunately, for many fans, these remakes were a bad omen that these trends will continue. The series has been criticized as being stagnate, and even going backward with things like Dexit. New and casual players likely won’t notice or care that the quality of the games has gone down with the last couple of releases. However, longtime fans are feeling increasingly disappointed, and Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl have done nothing to assuage that.
At its best times, The Medium channels Silent Hill, but the rough pacing and limited gameplay outside of puzzle-solving hold it back. Additionally, the unsatisfactory ending leaves a sour note that detracts from the overall experience.
hope that Godfall gets some content updates, as it feels like Counterplay Games might have rushed development to meet the PS5 release date. The core combat system is satisfying and would shine if the game had more unique content to push the player forward. As it is, there’s very little hook and most players will likely find themselves getting bored around the halfway mark.
Port Royale 4 will be an interesting distraction for fans of management sims, but none of its systems are complex enough to hook players for long. Both the trading and town building are surface deep, and after 15 or so hours of gameplay, everything is just repetition. There’s no big buildup to an endgame, so everything has that mid-game feeling of going through the paces.
Star Wars: Squadrons is a flawed homage to flight sims of decades past. It’ll be a dream come true for fans of the X-Wing and Rogue Squadron series. It’s the type of Star Wars game that seemed to be extinct. It’s a niche title that highlights the fantastic starfighters of the franchise.
If you’re a Nintendo fan, you’re going to want to get Super Mario 3D All-Stars. However, just because the games are good doesn’t mean that these ports are great. They’re adequate, which has to be enough, I guess.
I would have liked to see Mojang put more resources behind Minecraft Dungeons and put a unique spin on the hack-and-slash RPG genre by utilizing Minecraft‘s unique aspects. Minecraft Dungeons is fun in short bursts but does little to actually adapt the Minecraft property into its gameplay. Mojang plans to expand Minecraft Dungeons with DLC that may address some of the issues it has at launch. However, with the gameplay loop being so shallow, I wouldn’t count on any DLC expanding the game’s depth without fundamental alterations to the game’s core systems.
Mafia 2 is still a game that’s worth playing, but if you own the original for PC, you’re better off just modding it. If you don’t own it, the Definitive Edition is only $20, and you get Mafia 2 Classic with it, so you don’t have anything to lose.
Kentucky Route Zero is a coffee table book of a game. I don’t feel like you’re really supposed to try and take it all in as a whole. Instead, KRZ, with it’s myriad of references and views, seems like it’s supposed to be taken a piece at a time. Some players are sure to absolutely love that, while others, like me, would prefer something more grounded.
Shadowkeep had a solid campaign, though it ended prematurely for my taste. The expansion itself isn’t on the level of Forsaken, but it keeps the Destiny 2 machine rolling forward. I’m not personally happy with some of the changes that come alongside Shadowkeep, but I can see the imperative to reward players who keep regularly returning by spreading content out instead of releasing it in lumps.
Despite its flaws, Borderlands 3 is worth playing, and it’s definitely no worse than the other entries in the franchise, which means it’s pretty darn okay.
Rebel Galaxy Outlaw is a great arcade space shooter with a lot of style. Unfortunately, it lacks a bit in substance, and expanding the various systems and lore would have taken it from a good game to a great game. However, Outlaw does fill a niche and is an excellent space arcade shooter.
Yoshi’s Crafted World is an excellent Yoshi game. It doesn’t do a lot to break new ground for the series, but it doesn’t have to. It’s a lot of fun, it’s cute, and it’s inviting for gamers of any age.
Maybe one day we'll play an Elder Scrolls game that's built for VR natively, but for now, Skyrim VR is the next best thing.
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is an absolute blast to play and has a broad appeal that few other games can match. As long as you temper your expectations (and make sure you have a decent PC), then this is one of the top games of 2017 to check out.
Call of Duty WW2 is the best game in the franchise in years.
If you liked the other Far Cry games, you'll like this one, because it's more of the same. Some of the series conventions have been taken away (like having to climb towers, thank God), or improved, but it's still very much a Far Cry game.
Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin is a wacky game that will end up being a cult classic. The devs were not afraid to march to the beat of their own drum, and the result is the type of slightly messy, unique AA game that we used to get in the late 2000s and early 2010s. It’s goofy, flawed, and fabulous, and I hope Square Enix continues to lean into publishing more experimental titles like this.