Dan Hodges's Reviews
Anno 1800 is a rich city-builder with a staggering amount of depth. Although the tutorials could be clearer and more detailed, there's an impressive and addictive game here for those willing to give it the requisite time and patience.
Dangerous Driving marks Three Fields Entertainment's first attempt at making a fully-fledged spiritual successor to Burnout. Its thrilling speeds and exciting action scratch the itch, but the tight budget, myriad of technical issues, and barebones content hold it back from being truly special.
Although the premise of Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon: EVERY BUDDY! is bland, the game's charm and personality shine through in its writing and music. Meanwhile, the dungeon-crawling gameplay can be excessively punishing and tediously grindy, but the experience is ultimately satisfying and rewarding.
Despite the bland and forgettable story, The Division 2 offers a sizable expansion on the first game's foundation, providing an excellent loot-shooter with great combat, sharp AI, compelling loot, and a polished presentation.
If you don't mind some wonky voice-acting, there's plenty of charm to be found in Trüberbrook's engrossing and rustic sci-fi tale.
Left Alive is a shoddily assembled mess with no real redeeming features. Its broken AI and glaring technical issues only serve to highlight the poor game design on display.
Rules continues the compelling journey of the Diaz brothers, further expanding on the supernatural elements teased during the first episode's conclusion with less forcefully controversial and predictable writing. Unfortunately, the episode is hindered by some substantial technical issues.
Resident Evil 2 is a triumphant celebration of the original that scares to the core and sets a new standard for remaking old games.
YIIK: A Post-Modern RPG is an earnest love letter to the culture and video games of the 1990s. Its novel take on JRPG combat pairs with an abundance of style and a memorable soundtrack to make a charming yet familiar experience.
Ashen is a quality Soulslike with a nice art style and some great ideas about seamless and anonymous online co-op. The dungeons are memorable, the evolving town is awesome, and the increased focus that quests provide is a nice touch.
Artifact is an engaging collectible card game that's sure to excite fans of Dota 2. Unfortunately, the business model inarguably favors those who are willing to spend real money and it could use some additional features and modes.
Turf Wars feels like an unfortunate filler chapter in Spider-Man's DLC trilogy. It's too short and uneven to make any lasting impact on its own, putting a lot of pressure on its final chapter to deliver something worthwhile.
Persona Dancing: Endless Night Collection offers a solid dose of Persona that fans off the series are sure to love, but the content is a bit thin and the rhythm game is mediocre at best.
Darksiders 3 makes up its lack of depth in satisfying combat and memorable boss fights, making for a solid third entry in the series.
Hitman 2 offers is more of the same, but that same is sharper, prettier, and more refined. The new additions are great improvements and the maps are some of the series' strongest.
Castlevania Requiem provides good versions of two great games. The trophies and upscaled resolution go a long way to reigniting interest in these games, but the packaging is bad and disappointingly limited.
The narrative surrounding Black Cat and Spider-Man is interesting and engaging, but the side stuff is recycled and disappointingly thin.
Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don't Dry is as crude as its title. The awful, lazy writing lets down what is otherwise a solid adventure game.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is an incredible achievement in open-world game design. It's dense, massive, and beautiful. People who give this game the time and patience it needs will find Rockstar's most ambitious, best-written, and most well-realized game to date.
Black Ops 4 pulls together three distinct parts to create an incredible and dense whole. The action is tight, the changes are smart and well-executed, and Blackout may be the most exciting thing out this year. This is the best Call of Duty has been in years.