Far Cry New Dawn is fine, functional, and sometimes fun, but it mostly just hovers around the middle, neither touching greatness nor mediocrity but occupying the safe, boring plateau in between.
Life is Strange 2 Episode 2 feels more like a crossover bonus sequel to The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit than a true continuation of the first episode
A remaster of this scope can’t give the game a better camera, liven up the combat, or spruce up the tacky pre-rendered backgrounds. It’s a shame too since somewhere in this game lies a decent core that could serve as a fantastic base for a more fully fledged remake willing to go beyond a simple touch-up.
This episode may sometimes sprint on the way to that conclusion but it’s just going to be a few months until we find out whether or not the odd rush had a greater purpose.
Silver Lining ends The City That Never Sleeps with grace but its grander ambitions make it more than yet another Spider-Man chapter.
Desert Child is built upon the promise of solid ideas that don’t quite come together. And sadly, they’re so deeply intertwined that a mistake in one aspect of the game critically injures the other part of the game.
But the game also lets you become Michael Bay by giving you total control over the chaos you can create on the screen. That may not be a flattering comparison in the cinematic world but for a game like Just Cause 4, it’s one of the highest compliments.
For a game all about destroying the manifestations of sin, Darksiders 3 is guilty of a lot of them.
Turf Wars is a minor step backwards because of the high bar set by the main game and the prior episode. It set up a story worthy of telling and had a promising ending that this installment doesn’t quite squander, but meanders through.
Toys for Bob’s recreation honors Spyro’s roots by using Insomniac’s style as a template and naturally expanding upon it without losing sight of the franchise’s soul. The result is a trio of titles that have brighter visuals, smoother controls, and more expressive animations while retaining the easygoing platformer nature that surprisingly fits quite well in the modern day.
those areas where Tetris Effect drops the ball doesn’t completely negate how good the classic puzzler still is at dropping blocks.
Hitman 2 was obviously meant to be attached to the previous Hitman game as both are nearly identical on the surface. The commitment to replayability, thorough assassinations, and large, packed environments are parallels that worked then and work now.
Castlevania: Requiem is a good reminder of the best parts of the series but the collection also makes it more evident that Konami is maybe currently not adept enough to create thrilling new experiences and is only capable of haphazardly bundling together old ones in hopes that we won't notice the difference.
Spider-Man's first episode is fantastic in almost all the same ways that the main game is.
Project Warlock's speedy gunplay, rockin' soundtrack, and armory of slick weapons combine in a way that make it a bit more than a repeat of past Dooms and results in a game that's bigger than the sum of its many recognizable parts.
The skating dry spell may not have been completely lifted but it's not as dry anymore, thanks to this modest splat of paint.
The remaster is just a timeless reminder of its importance in the pantheon of sneaking games.
There's an elusive elegance to The Gardens Between. It's short, charming, and shows its rewarding puzzle mechanic in just a couple hours without stretching the game to its breaking point. Some people might think it's too short but it's a start contrast to a solid chunk of big budget games that boast nebulous amounts of content over shorter, more authored experiences.
The game is probably close to what you'd expect: a collection of hard-as-nails platforming levels capped off by a boss fight where you get more gear so you can tackle even more hard-as-nails platforming levels and boss fights. However, its new Gear System and difficulty settings simultaneously make it more accessible and deeper while not sacrificing its core identity.
Although it crafts a wonderful narrative in an awe-inspiring world, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, through its stubbornness and familiarity, sometimes feels like a "best of" compilation of its predecessors without being the best of them.