As a joke Omnibus might be fun for a few hours, but playing it through legitimately, level by level, is an exercise in diminishing patience.
Kirby Planet Robobot continues the excellence and consistent fun and variety of the Kirby series from the past few years. It tightens up established mechanics and adds some great new ideas, which all comes together into one of the most enjoyable and genuinely friendly games I’ve played all year.
Trials of the Blood Dragon is a confused concoction. The Trials gameplay is as solid as ever—RedLynx know their craft—but the side-scrolling levels are clunky and out of place. The whole thing feels like a waste of the Blood Dragon IP.
Umbrella Corps has no clue what it wants to be, and that translates into a frustrating, confounding experience. Tiny maps, wildly unbalanced gameplay and a general lack of polish and focus makes this one Resident Evil entry that you’re better off avoiding.
Telltale’s first Batman episode is marred by technical issues, but the writing, gameplay and presentation are superb as always. Maybe hold off for a couple weeks while it gets patched, but after that, Batman fans should definitely take the plunge.
Phoenix Wright: Spirit of Justice is a satisfying and appropriately crazy end to the second trilogy of Ace Attorney games. It retains a few of the persistent annoyances I have with the series, but the story is just as insane as ever and the cases are tough, lengthy and fittingly absurd turnabouts.
Shadow Warrior 2 is a smart evolution of the solid framework established in the first game. Bigger guns, nastier enemies, grander levels and more friends means more Wang for everybody.
An addictive mix of strategy, RPG, exploration and storytelling, Halcyon 6 is slow to start but should satisfy anyone craving a deep, retro-affectionate science fiction adventure.
Zombie Night Terror mixes the tired undead genre with the puzzle gameplay of the Lemming series, oddly enough. It works for the most part but the game is too difficult and obtuse for its own good. There is an enjoyable puzzler here, just expect to deal with some trial and error frustration along the way.
Seraph has a very solid foundation but lacks the level variation and art variety to get truly addictive. That said, the combat is thrilling and the scaling difficulty is creative. If you can get this one on sale, I’d definitely pull the trigger.
Clockwork Empires has a lot of promise but numerous technical issues and a baffling UI, not to mention disappointing use of the steampunk aesthetic, make the game a frustrating and tedious experience.
Mario Party Star Rush gets rid of a few bad ideas from the previous games in the series, but it just doesn’t have the staying power to keep players come back for more week after week.
2Dark is a compelling horror game that tackles some truly horrific subject matter. But cheap deaths and uneven level design hold it back from being truly great.
Strafe is a game where you need to know what you're getting into before jumping in. It looks like Quake but it absolutely is not; it's a roguelike FPS with a retro art style. It's a harsh mistress, and masochistic players will love that, but Strafe personally left me frustrated and cold.
Conarium is hauntingly beautiful and competent as an adventure-puzzle game with some light horror elements, but as a true H.P. Lovecraft survival horror game it isn't long or scary enough.
Serious Sam: Bogus Detour does a fantastic job of distilling the Serious Sam formula down into a twin-stick shooter. While there are a couple hitches along the way, the game is a surprisingly robust package and a lot of quality content for a great price.
Hey! Pikmin is a radical shift for Nintendo's quirky RTS series. It changes or eschews many of the series' longtime mechanics in favor of a 2D platformer-adventure. Longtime fans might be disappointed, but Hey! Pikmin has the same charm and quality that garnered the original games a cult following—just in a more accessible, bite-sized form factor this time.
Death Squared might have launched on Steam, but it feels like this game and the Nintendo Switch were made for each other. Deceptively smart puzzles, an endearingly smarmy sense of humor, and organic, instantaneous multiplayer all at a great price make Death Squared a must-buy on Switch.
MercurySteam have pulled Samus from the jaws of death and delivered one of the best games in the series. Samus Returns perfects and reimagines the gameplay of 2D Metroid games and delivers one of the best titles on the 3DS. Every self-respecting Nintendo fan should own Metroid: Samus Returns.
Dusk has the backwoods setting of Blood and Redneck Rampage, the forbidding atmosphere and murky palette of Quake, the tight, sharp action of Doom, and the subtle sense of place and interactivity of Duke Nukem 3D. Essentially, Dusk is a retro shooter fan's dream come true.