With a startlingly original new world to play in – combined with a warm feeling of familiarity – Obsidian has managed to deliver the one of the best first-person RPG's. This is the game that fans of this genre have been craving, and it is a pure joy to watch Obsidian plop the role-playing crown back squarely down on its head.
Pig Eat Ball is a unique proposition in modern gaming – a classic-feeling arcade game with a completely original mechanic at its core. The puzzles, characters and world built around this mechanic are delightful, despite giving a first impression of being a little gross. Arcade and puzzle fans will find a lot to love here. Pig Eat Ball is utterly unique.
Everything in Indivisible – from the colorful visuals to the "Oooom" noise when you save your game – is calculated to delight. Despite some uneven difficulty, both the platforming and battle systems entertain. But it's the character design and voice work that is really the star of the show here, making Indivisible a strong contender whether you are a genre fan or not.
Concrete Genie is one of the best games of this generation—an experience that expands the parameters of what video games can be. By embracing values like artistry, empathy, and beauty, this is a title that will appeal to gamers that might be feeling a bit world-weary, bringing color to a world that has been feeling a bit gray lately. If you have ever wondered why video games have to be so violent and dehumanizing, then do the industry a favor and support this game. And lest I forget to mention: Concrete Genie is a lot of fun to play.
WRC 8 is surprisingly accessible to rally newcomers, but after explaining how everything works, the game delights in throwing buckets of cold water in the player's face. This is a tough game, but a fair one, and fans of rally racers and other "difficult" genres will likely equally enjoy skidding through WRC 8's wicked twists and turns. A variety of modes flesh the experience out, but prepare to feast on the Career Mode, which is comprehensive and comprehendible. Recommended.
Groundhog Day: Like Father Like Son is primarily a superb adventure game occasionally stymied by overly finicky – and at times outright broken – minigames. At most times a stellar lighthearted VR romp with some grand heartfelt moments, Groundhog Day's charm subsides at times as players are forced to do minigames over and over to succeed. The superior writing and structure shine through, but expect some moments of frustration.
A technical achievement to be sure, Battlewake succeeds in delivering accessible arcade-style naval battles. But underwhelming depth in the campaign, combined with broken matchmaking and a lack of cross-play with PC VR systems leaves the long-term prospects for Battlewake looking pretty grim.
Engaging, surprising, and hella fun, Zen Studios’ Star Wars Pinball is a must for pinball fans, Star Wars fans, and fans of videogames in general. With tons of features, modes, and options, this is the definitive Zen Star Wars collection. There is something here for everyone, and as a budget title, Star Wars pinball provides amazing bang for your buck. Simply put – this is a must have for Switch owners.
Erica tells a boilerplate story—but tells it very well. With a fresh, intuitive interface and some of the best production values and acting ever seen in a video game, Erica feels very much like what it aspires to be—an interactive film. Erica is perhaps an odd experiment, but one well worth experiencing for gamers that enjoy trips off the beaten path.
Remedy's Control might eventually be one of the coolest games on the market, but upon release framerate, balance, and popup issues are so rampant that players are forced to change their style of play to work around the bugs. While Control's world-building, performances, and writing are all superb, the difficulties in actually playing through the game to see all that cool stuff leads to a deep sense of frustration.
Like the original franchise that spawned it, The Angry Birds Movie 2 VR: Under Pressure starts out simple enough but quickly ramps up in difficulty to the point where it where it will exclude its target audience. On its own, Angry Birds 2 is a fine Overcooked clone, but beware if you plan on playing by yourself or with little kids. At least a couple of experienced gamers are required if you want to see any of the late-game content.
Age of Wonders: Planetfall is a game on an epic scale in every sense of the word. Both a world-building strategy sim and a turn-based tactical RPG, Planetfall offers a wealth of content to keep players engaged for a long time to come. While some initial commitment is needed to get past the learning curve, playing becomes smooth and intuitive within a couple of hours. Armchair generals with a penchant for lasers, robots and mysterious planets will find plenty to enjoy in this tremendously deep title.
Elea is a conundrum; a mirror-maze of beautifully rendered but almost indecipherable vignettes, tying together into an arc that is nearly inscrutable. Without a coherent story to tie them too, the puzzles involved become chores, and advancement becomes its own reward. Adventure gamers and fans of deeply surreal sci-fi might find things to enjoy here, but more casual players might want to look closer before buying.
Wolfenstein Cyberpilot will be remembered as a curiosity; a failed side project with cool mechanics and no gameplay. Released without the Wolfenstein name, this would be a slight, middle-of-the-road title with little to recommend it. But with the Wolfenstein name attached, Cyberpilot becomes a debacle. Wolfenstein fans should not play this game. Neither should anyone else.
While an extremely guided and structured experience, Dragon Quest Builders 2 maintains enough of the charm of the franchise to be worth a look for fans. Players accustomed to free-play modes in other building sims will chafe at the story mode, but patient players that don't mind a simple battle system and chatty NPCs will still find plenty of content here to enjoy.
Sairento VR is one of the best games on PSVR. With non-stop action and thrilling acrobatic controls. It delivers an adrenaline shot of pure action straight to the heart. There is simply nothing else like Sairento VR on PSVR or any system for that matter. This is a groundbreaking, standard-setting game that will serve as a waypoint for VR action games for years to come.
Vacations are supposed to be fun and breezy – and that's exactly the way I would describe Vacation Simulator. Full of silly laughs and sunny good times, Vacation Simulator also delivers just the slightest edge of dark humor to keep teens and adults engaged. With a wide variety of puzzles and activities - any of which can be skipped – Vacation Simulator has a bit of something for everyone, while expanding on the original game in interesting ways.
Whether you are a fan of Ark, voxel-based construction games, or survival games in general, you will find something to hate about PixARK. A wild mess of a game, PixARK is one of the most off-putting experiences on PlayStation 4. Avoiding PixARK is imperative.
Mini-Mech Mayhem has all the trappings of a fun game. The colorful visuals, cheery gameplay, and online representation of the player are all top-notch. But the core gameplay is somewhat questionable, due to the fact that it forces the player to strategize on unstable ground. There is a fine line between "anticipating" other players moves and "guessing", and in Mini-Mech Mayhem, that line is fuzzier than PSVR's graphics.
Five Nights at Freddy's VR: Help Wanted is a great introduction to the franchise, packaging a number of levels from various games in the series. Though the first three games are the strongest, some of the other levels are fun in their own right. Less fun is wrestling with the controls, particularly since a giant demonic chicken is going to scream in your face if you mess up. The scares are there, but the controls could use some additional polish.