Solid and definitely have an audience. There could be some hard-to-ignore faults, but the experience is fun.
A hallmark of excellence. There may be flaws, but they are negligible and won't cause massive damage.
Impressive efforts with a few noticeable problems holding them back. Won't astound everyone, but is worth your time and cash.
Impressive efforts with a few noticeable problems holding them back. Won't astound everyone, but is worth your time and cash.
Solid and definitely have an audience. There could be some hard-to-ignore faults, but the experience is fun.
What Citizen Sleeper achieves in a fairly short hour count, though, is a sci-fi story that sticks.
Impressive efforts with a few noticeable problems holding them back. Won't astound everyone, but is worth your time and cash.
Impressive efforts with a few noticeable problems holding them back. Won't astound everyone, but is worth your time and cash.
Slightly above average or simply inoffensive. Fans of the genre should enjoy them a bit, but a fair few will be left unfulfilled.
A hallmark of excellence. There may be flaws, but they are negligible and won't cause massive damage.
If you don’t want to dive deep into the competitive League part, you can play the autobattler, or the rhythm-runner, or look ahead to the fighting game. Or simply settle in with what’s a pretty enjoyable RPG in Ruined King. If anything, it’s a testament to how well even more side games could work in this universe.
So while Mario Party Superstars doesn’t necessarily break massively new ground, it’s so good at replaying the classics that it will probably be my new go-to for Mario Party fun moving forward. It isn’t just the Nintendo 64 nostalgia talking here; this is a good collection of minigames, a smart board selection, a nice-looking game, and it’s got tons of settings, dials, and options to fiddle with for repeat play sessions. It might not be filled with new ideas, but Mario Party Superstars plays the hits, and plays them as well as it did the first time around.
If you’re looking for an enjoyable RPG with some novel ideas and strong presentation behind it, Voice of Cards can easily eat up a weekend or two. It’s sweet and doesn’t overstay its welcome, even when I wished it would. While those factors aren’t enough for it to match up against the best-in-class competitors, there are many worse ways to spend a cozy fall evening than curled up with Voice of Cards.
Whether I’m laughing out loud over a brilliant strategy gone awry or just barely getting onto an escape vehicle with Ridden right on my heels, Back 4 Blood has the right formula for a good few weekends of co-op fun. If it gets even more support and updates down the line, I could see this taking up a spot as a go-to social game for quite a while to come. Really, it just feels good to have this sort of game back again.
The Good Life does many things, but they never felt like they coalesced together into an experience that could stick with me. I certainly enjoyed parts of it, and some of its stranger moments really do land as big, enjoyable peaks. But there’s a lot of valley in-between, and while I arrived in Rainy Woods eager for a pleasant countryside escape, I didn’t feel like making a return trip after the credits had rolled.
For as gorgeous as Eastward‘s graphics are, and as endearing as some of its characters become, and as much as I need its soundtrack on vinyl as soon as possible, it also falls short in some ways that leave its conclusion feeling a bit off. It’s one of the more promising debuts I’ve seen, and Pixpil has ensured I’ll be incredibly interested in whatever they do next. Eastward is something a fan of pixel art and good music, with a weakness for video game nostalgia, deserves to check out. It’s just also a journey that left me wanting a little more.
Whether this is the big Tales breakthrough or not is a matter that history will decide. This is a Tales game that hits the right spots for me, puts a lot of love into its cast and its action, and somehow manages to strike a balance between the old and the new.
So with every repeated loop, and every new piece of info that leads to more narrative threads to pull on, Twelve Minutes is certainly fascinating to unravel. Some of it might start to feel a bit clunky, when dialogue starts mashing up against itself and characters move in awkward ways, but on the whole, it’s a puzzle I kept wanting to piece together, both fascinated and afraid of the answers I might find. It keeps the story driving forward, and if some deep, dark character drama set in a time loop sounds appealing, you’ll find what you’re looking for here.
Even when Axiom Verge 2 wasn’t hitting perfectly for me, it feels different and very much its own. Things start out slow, but give it a little time and Axiom Verge 2 really gets going, playing off expectations with clever alterations of the original game’s conventions. It’s dense as ever lore-wise, and it’s got some good music and worlds to move through. It’s a follow-up to Axiom Verge that doesn’t content itself with a simple recitation of the first game’s high points, and if what’s detailed above sounds like your jam, you’ll probably have a good time with it.
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles as a unified duology really captures everything that draws players into this series in the first place. It’s got big reveals and turnabouts, clever use of examinations and deductions, and a cast littered with memorable, endearing characters. Naruhodo’s journey through the legal system of London is one that’s been a series highlight. It’s nice to finally have these games in the West, as both a great onboarding point for newcomers and a nice treat for Ace Attorney fans. No objections here.