Dominic Sheard's Reviews
After the year Nintendo has had, Kirby Battle Royale arrives on 3DS with a feeling that it is here to be the Christmas stocking filler, although an expensive one for what is included in the game.
Clearly with the focus on combat and challenging enemies, there are similarities with Nioh and From Software's Souls games, but unlike other games that have built themselves to be copies of the successful formula, the team behind Nioh have added their style into the mix to make it more than another game trying to lure the fans of hardcore action RPGs to it.
South Park: The Fractured But Whole successfully continues the quality in adapting South Park to a video game, capturing everything great about the series and once again translating it to an hilarious and enjoyable RPG. The comedy will not be for everyone, and so it makes it hard to recommend the game freely, but for fans of South Park, this game cannot be missed.
The Evil Within 2 is a grand follow up from a studio who has set out to fix the pacing issues with the first game, while offering a bigger, more coherent title that looks better and plays better with the reworked stealth and upgrade mechanics, but without forgetting the parts that made most of the original a solid action horror title.
After Super Mario Galaxy, you had to wonder what Nintendo could do to match such a title, but by avoiding trying to replicate those two Wii games, Nintendo went back to what was unfinished with Super Mario Sunshine and used that as a base to build upon more ideas and mechanics.
As a first timer to the Mario & Luigi RPGs, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions makes a great impression for the series.
Project CARS 2 takes the foundations of its father and builds upon them, improving all aspects, but some areas have received more upgrades than others.
Blue Reflection seems to want to tell a story more than wanting to be an RPG. The focus on delivering a coming of age tale, seeing all the characters deal with their growing pains during a typical school life comes across as genuine.
Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite it's too much fun to simply advise people to ignore, it's a good fighting game surrounded by the unpolished presentation, but it does enough to be able to recommend it to fighting fans, but less so for the Marvel comic/film fanatics.
Arms has already hit Nintendo's hybrid system, a title that offers a truly unique fighting game experience, but Pokkén Tournament DX manages to also standout for bringing its own incomparable type of fighting gameplay.
Being able to adapt the heart of Monster Hunter into a turn-based RPG is Monster Hunter Stories' biggest success.
It's great that the remake of Yakuza made it over here, but it releases at a strange time in terms of the history of the Yakuza series.
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age is a smashing port that brings all the revamps of Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System and adds more to it to improve the game for a better experience.
God Wars: Future Past offers a decent strategy RPG that keeps things straightforward by throwing away complex mechanics in favour of a well-built job system that calls back to the classic strategy RPGs, like Final Fantasy Tactics.
Nex Machina is an great twin-stick shooter that stays close to the roots it has inherited from designer Eugune Jarvis to bring a modernise, hyper speed take on this classic genre.
Rising Storm 2: Vietnam manages to carve itself a place in an already flourishing genre, all thanks to the semi-simulation war combat.
Crackshell has managed to drip every ounce of Serious Sam and rework it into the twin-stick shooter formula with immaculate imitation of the first-person shooter its based upon.
After the brilliant Dirt Rally, I was a little wary with Dirt 4 and the return to the broader spectrum of off-road motorsports that I thought it might bring back the issues fans originally had with the series.
Disgaea 5 Complete certainly appeals more to people who have never played the game over the fans that jumped into it first on PS4. What is great is that nothing is sacrificed on it's move to Nintendo's new hybrid system, so those fans who like the idea of playing the game again with a portable aspect will be happy with the transition.
Injustice 2 is a bigger, better, more beautiful follow up to Gods Among Us that improves on the irks of the first game to make it a polished fighter.