Ralph Panebianco
- Ocarina of Time
- Metal Gear Solid
- World of Warcraft
Tears of the Kingdom will overawe you with its scale and its imagination. It will demand your creativity and ingenuity in a way that few games would dare demand. It pays tribute to the things that have made this series so timeless, while also innovating so relentlessly that it will be the better part of a decade before any game is able to follow in its wake. Nearly four decades after The Legend of Zelda series made its debut, its latest instalment is a breathtaking high-point for the Zelda franchise, for Nintendo and for video games.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder provides an experience so brimming with personality, innovation, creativity and charm that it thrusts the 2D perspective back into the centre of the way we think about Mario games, and if Nintendo sticks with this formula and builds on it, 2D Mario games are never going to have to play second fiddle ever again.
By pure chance alone, Bayonetta 3 feels fit for the moment. At a time when loving Bayonetta feels *complicated*, Bayonetta 3 is a relentless, unashamed celebration of Bayonetta – of this character, of her companions, of the demons she fights alongside and of the outrageous spectacle that is the hallmark of this series.
Not at all what any Bayonetta fan might have expected, but when freed from the expectations of the franchise, Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon stands on its own two feet as a charming, worthwhile, indie-inspired puzzle adventure game.
Fire Emblem Engage is enjoyable but leaves little impression. If the narrative was more compelling, if the character relationships were deeper and more interesting or if combat was more varied, there's every chance that Engage would have felt more robust and impactful. In the absence of those things, Engage just feels…fine.