Robocop: Rogue City, like Terminator: Resistance before it, aims to deliver a fan-crafted experience, and it succeeds on nearly every level. With the understanding that this title comes from a smaller studio with limitations in the AA space, it's easy to forgive the lack of polish in certain areas such as facial animations. Otherwise, Rogue City is a thrilling experience through and through.
Overpass 2 attempts to bring racing fans a complete package at a seemingly discounted price. What players will find with this experience is that this is one case where the old "you get what you pay for" addage rings true. Everything in the game's core elements from racing to team management is unsatisfactory and feels half-baked at best. Visual design, controls, and physics don't fair much better. Players will find better racing experiences elsewhere.
SYNCED leans into its sci-fi themes as players combat swarms of machine-like Nanos while deploying their own in combat. The gameplay is solid, offering refined gunplay and elements of strategy that make this co-op (and PvP) experience a lot of fun. The progression grind, however, suffers from a lack of incentivization and a narrow range of objectives within its loop. Whether those elements are updated or players stick around for the long haul remains to be seen in time.
Madden NFL 24 aims for a safe play instead of truly revitalizing the series. While controls, animation, visual design, and quality of life improvements are welcome, this entry is more of an incremental upgrade over Madden NFL 23 than a refreshing overhaul of the series. It'll be up to fans to decide whether small improvements are worth the extra cash. Newcomers, however, might find more value in it.
Motorbike racing fans will no doubt enjoy the bulk of what RIDE 5 offers. It's an improvement visually with excellent haptic feedback for PS5 players, and quality racing simulations. However, it may be a bit harder to convince newcomers or players content with RIDE 4 to spend their hard-earned dollars on RIDE 5 without a more expansive or engaging career mode. RIDE 5 lacks the push in great modern sports games to create more value for the fans behind simply simulating the sport.
Racing fans will have their hands full with F1 Manager 2023. Racing aside, there's a lot of work behind the success of a team, and this management sim proves it. While the game might be a niche sub-genre only for the most devout fans who thrive in the managerial atmosphere, F1 Manager 2023 absolutely achieves the core vision of providing a well-rounded view of the life of a team principal in the Formula 1 world.
From the arcadey '80s through the modern day, beat 'em ups are a dime a dozen. But the best of them offers a satisfying gameplay loop with thrilling co-op and unique visual stylings. Double Dragon Gaiden gets some of that right. It's not the worst beat 'em up game you could spend your time on. But it's most definitely not the best, either.
If you're looking for the next big rogue-like, Ed-0: Zombie Uprising won't scratch that itch. The rogue-like elements are absolutely there. But the bland combat grind and unbalanced difficulty may detract you from sticking it out and finishing this painstaking experience.
If you're a fan of Crash Bandicoot, then you might owe it to yourself to consider giving Crash Team Rumble the old college try. The platforming you love from the series is ever-present, but mixed in with a healthy dose of competitive multiplayer action. With several maps, powers, relic summons, and all manner of chaos at your disposal, Rumble is thrilling, fun, and engaging. However, it does put all of its eggs into one basket with its solid, but sole game mode. For longevity, Rumble could use a smattering of other modes or potential options to alter the current game mode to stave off rapid burnout.
Sonic Origins Plus is a complete and thrilling collection of Sonic's heyday, at least if you stick with the core four remastered games. Because the addition of a couple of playable characters and 12 inconsequential Game Gear games with the Plus expansion to this package doesn't necessarily move the needle, it's impossible to boost the rating from the review of the original base game.
Greyhill Incident is a frustrating slog through the cornfields and farmlands of the fictional town the game is named after. Stealth combat is plodding, robotic, and frustrating. The dark visuals only contribute to the problem. While the idea is intriguing, Greyhill is severely underwhelming and undercooked. This is one alien invasion you should probably avoid altogether.
F1 23 is the pinnacle of the Formula One series to date. If ever there was a jumping-on point for new racing fans, this latest entry from Codemasters in the long-running licensed series is it. This F1 simulation manages to innovate the most prominent and constructive aspects of what came before. Using a controller as input never felt better in a racing sim with highly responsive and precise movements, and elements that used to be unnecessary, such as F1 Life in F1 22, have been upgraded into a multi-faceted progression system worth your time and effort. F1 23 is a remarkable package for fans of the sport.
Blasting the demons of the dark into pixelated piles of bloody mush never felt so good. With a vibrant world, an engaging gameplay loop, and an ever-expanding arsenal of catastrophic weapons at your hands, you, too, will find glory in taking out those pesky demons.
Despite being presented as a lonely creature, Gollum gets more attention than he might deserve in The Lord of the Rings: Gollum. With average by-the-books platforming and stealth gameplay, there actually is a thoughtful and engaging story at the heart of Gollum. It's up to fans of the genre to decide whether time spent on ordinary gameplay is worth experiencing Gollum's history.
You'll absolutely feel the punch of speed a superbike will grant you in this virtual high-speed affair just as hard as you'll feel the pain of consistently eating the pavement at every turn. This visceral and dicey racing gauntlet absolutely demonstrates why the real-world event is known for being so remarkably dangerous in the realm of motorsports. But a little bit of grit and patience may unlock the true potential of TT Isle of Man: Ride on the Edge 3 for any committed player.
There's something wildly thoughtful and provocative about The Last Case of Benedict Fox. You'll find it within this wondrous 2.5D Metroidvania platformer's beautiful world that is oozing life despite death being front and center. It only wavers in its messy combat experiences with the shadow forces of limbo. Despite this particular fault, there's still plenty to love.
Sunbreak's lack of innovation on the core gameplay loop and the threat of repetition burnout ever-present, this package is ultimately more of the same.
Project Nightmares Case 36: Henrietta Kedward is a horrifying dip into the labyrinthine and haunted mind of a tortured soul. The journey will test your tolerance for frights as well as your patience for constant death. Still, the two-man development team at NC Studio built a horrific world that'd be rather immersive making it a supremely noteworthy indie title if it weren't for the hurdles of overcoming impactful bugs.
Ghostwire: Tokyo is an intriguing gameplay experience, one that is marred by simplistic combat and repetitive mechanics.
Simulacra interweaves a horror mystery with investigative work and puzzle-solving. However, the driving force of this title is simply the narrative and not it's gameplay offering.