Franchise Hockey Manager 6 is a fantastic game in a long line of great hockey simulation titles from OOTP Developments. The game is a hockey head's dream, giving you complete control of franchise operations for countless teams both modern and historical. The game doesn't change much from year to year, but has improved again with this iteration and represents the most complete experience to date. An overall triumph and clear leader in its genre, Franchise Hockey Manager 6 is a niche but near perfect game.
Death end re;Quest is not a terrible game, but it certainly doesn't do much to stand out from a crowded and trope friendly glut of JRPG titles. The battle mode plays like a game of pool and has a lot of interesting features, but the writing is tired, the characters are overly sexualized and mentally deficient as always, and the game is set in a bland world with little detail or points of interest. Death end re;Quest is another game for fans of long dialogues leading nowhere.
Elder Scrolls Online: Wrathstone is an introductory set of dungeons designed to tell the story of how we get to Elsweyr and see the release of dragons upon the online version of Tamriel. The dungeons both have some incredible moments and boss battles, and definitely are above and beyond the usual simple releases we get when they are dungeon-only. Alongside the free update, Wrathstone is one of the better releases for Elder Scrolls Online in awhile and sets up nicely what needs to be a home run with the Elsweyr expansion.
R.B.I. Baseball 19 is a lazy, clunky, uninspired mess of a game. The controls are overly simple and leave little control to the player. The physics are unrealistic and the players contort their bodies in Silent Hill-esque horror after each swing. The format is tired and outdated, and the game bears no resemblance to a competent baseball experience aside from the skeleton of game it presents.
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr's Journey is a one-two punch of fun, casual and amusing gameplay, complete with all the expected charm, humor, and challenge expected of a game in the Mario Universe. Bowser's Inside Story is one of the more odd and varied titles I've ever played, but it is a little too easy. The overall product combines several of the best game styles into one, yet the final product feels incredibly cohesive and is a must play modern Mario experience.
Catherine Classic is a port to PC of one of the more unique and surreal gaming experiences around. Scary, thought provoking, and beautiful to behold, Catherine combines horror, romance, puzzles and platforming into a must play experience for anyone. Highly repeatable and challenging gameplay defines this true classic cult hit that begs to be discovered and rediscovered despite outwardly obscuring its true nature behind the standard expectations of a game in this style.
Elder Scrolls Online: Murkmire is a scant but slick addition to the world of Tamriel, and begs to be unleashed even further in the future. For now, the swamps and bogs come alive and while there are some less than desirable traits to be found, the overall product is solid and a must have for dedicated ESO players.
Ultra Space Battle Brawl is a neon and slicked back bout of space madness that I only wish had been around when I was still young enough to really grasp it. A simplistic pong-like battle brawler makes for a unique experience to say the least. The game wears thin over the time you play quicker than most it seems, but the experience is still worth a try.
60 Parsecs is a surprisingly fantastic game that has a large amount of replay value. It's well worth a look.
Luigi's Mansion was great when it first arrived, and this remake is even more polished and complete than the first. There are a lot of problems with the controls in the game, but the creative and diverse gameplay combined with a beautiful bevy of graphics make the experience worth the frustration.
Stone is fun, but flawed. The story is well crafted and reveals itself through a series of twists that keep you engaged throughout. There is no action aside from walking up to different people or items, but the game never drags. As much as I love the story here, the dialogue is strained at times and has glitches that affect the timing. Overall a worthy experience and story to enjoy.
Construction Simulator 2 has some rough patches, but overall provides a fun and semi-realistic experience of one of the roughest and most grueling jobs out there. The game suffers from lulls in action, but when the action kicks in there is a lot to appreciate. A so-so affair throughout makes for a niche game for those looking for a casual experience.
The art and style of Prodigy Tactics may have been worth the wait, but the overall package has to be a disappointment to the very people who gave and waited so long for it's release. The gameplay is fun, but slow and repetitive to the point of monotony. The game also is riddled with lazy cut corners in displaying characters between the battles, and overall falls short of the high mark it set for itself by delaying release for years.
Another World is a game that has critical acclaim, cult appeal, and this remastered version of the game makes the experience smoother and better looking while not sacrificing any of the original game's charm.
Summerset in Elder Scrolls Online offers an all new area, but not much is new for long-term players of the game. The aesthetic of the isles has long been available in the core game, and while the additions of jewelry crafting, collectables, the Psijic Order, and the Cloudrest trial are all nice there just isn't anything that rises to the level of bringing back old dormant players nor introducing new ones. Dedicated players and those who play competitively will need to have this, however.
FIFA 19 is another great title in a long list of fine soccer experiences. The controls are smoother, the game modes are even more expansive, and UEFA integration means more chances to become a champion. A formidable upgrade for FIFA as a whole.
Out of the Park Baseball 19 keeps its excellence intact while molding some big updates and changes around its core product. The addition of 3D game display is very welcome, but the game leaves its biggest change still on the table with plenty of questions surrounding it.
Milanoir is a amalgam of 1970's exploitation cinema and 1980's video games that captures all the grit and violence of the former and the difficulty and frustration of the latter. The story is well written and the game flows between different action sequences and cinematic breaks that keep both gameplay and the story fresh. There are some issues with hit detection and death animations that will frustrate you at times, but the game rewards you for getting through each sequence and makes it worth the effort.
Tera is silly, lusty, and over-the-top cute aesthetic within a massive MMO world, interspersed with frustrating and bad gameplay elements that punctuate otherwise fun and immersive action. The world is full of perils, and players have a lot of control over the types of characters they'll use to face those perils. More fun than foul, Tera combines the cartoony and the serious in its attempt to create a worthwhile MMO universe, and accomplishes the underpinning of a great title.
MLB The Show 18 is another fantastic baseball experience, and a game where high quality has become routine. The gameplay is the same, for the most part, but the game's modes have all been vastly updated with improvements, additions, and overhauls to the way progression through each mode is accomplished. These improvements are welcome additions to a game that flirts with stagnation in spite of its perennial brilliance.