Jake Su's Reviews
At the end of the day, not many games come close to a masterpiece like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, but Elderand tries in its own way to honor its inspiration. Exploration is a fun endeavor enhanced by great art design, the RPG system has the potential to do much more, but its combat can be hit or miss. The storytelling follows the same path, but for players looking for Lovecraftian creatures to kill and glorious gothic aesthetics, Elderand will fit the bill.
At the end of the day, Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia is a good addition to a genre that is gaining popularity. While it may lack the accessibility or even the swifter pace of other titles, it still manages to deliver a strategy roleplaying experience that is largely good on all fronts, supported by six distinct kingdoms and storylines. As long as you can accept that it might feel repetitive in a long game, Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia is an experience worth trying out.
At the end of the day, it’s hard to say whether Serious Sam: Tormental deserves your time and attention. As a twin-stick shooter, it’s designed well and works to provide enjoyable gameplay for anyone looking for something simple. But when compared to its peers, it’s just not that special or unique that would warrant an extended amount of time spent on it, even if you happened to be a big Serious Sam fan.
This is one game that is certainly worth checking out, if only for the setting and story premise, and if you could find some way to look beyond the less than ideal conditions of the gameplay segments, then perhaps you already possess the necessary steel and nerve to make it in the Weird West.
Making a debut on new hardware has its pros and cons, but for NHL 22, the overt emphasis on Superstar X-Factors was a huge gamble to take that did not pay off. If this is your first NHL game in a while, then there is a solid foundation in NHL 22 with various game modes that can appeal. For fans who are hoping for more, however, it is disappointing to find little to no improvements despite all the hype, just like a draft pick that turned out to be a lemon.
Coming off the first game, the hope was that the sequel would expand upon the hardcore stealth mechanics, and it would have worked a treat with Aragami 2’s larger levels. The increase in co-op partners make for more ways to have fun, and being able to see how certain groups tackle things silently or with all-out mayhem could have given the community more to strive for. The new direction in Aragami 2 is not a bad thing at all, considering the general quality present, but perhaps giving players the option between this new style and the old would have made this sequel a more complete package worth killing for.
The Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection is an enigma. It represents the easiest way of allowing a new generation of gamers to experience a revered series, but it also happens to consist of one amazing game in Ninja Gaiden Sigma, an okay offering in Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, and an absolute abomination that is Razor’s Edge. Depending on your appetite for punishment, it might just be worth getting the collection just to experience the first two games, while the third is better off being missed.
While it is definitely great to see a new contender step into the ring, AEW: Fight Forever feels like it is just making up the numbers in its current state. There is much potential based on the few solid ideas the game pushes, with its fights being frenetic and characters being larger than life. Everything else, however, is well below the level of a main event and ultimately contributes to a missed opportunity for a shot at being top of the ladder.
Forspoken is not charting new territory, so to speak, with what it brings to the table, but at least its magical slant delivers fun exploration and combat in a relatively short RPG of 15 hours or so. The checklist style of design might not be for everyone, but there is a rough diamond in here, and perhaps with some more work, it won’t become a new IP that gets forsaken.
Evaluating Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed is a difficult task. On one hand, it does a great job of updating a 2006 game to match, at least, the visual standards of modern gaming, but on the other, it never took the chance to make sure that the gameplay and writing are of similar quality. Even if the intention was to retain that B-movie style, this remaster just feels like a missed opportunity that makes it quite difficult to have your mind blown in face of an alien threat – unless you’ve always been a fan.
While it is a decent Metroidvania wannabe, Omega Strike offers little else that can surprise.
Despite promising additions of Black Box assassinations and the scythe, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: The Siege of Paris fails to live up to the heights of prior additions to Eivor’s adventures.
Very Very Valet tries to bring the fun of chaos, but falls short of being a bonafide five-star offering.
Aiming for the top but falling hard, Biomutant leaves us wondering just what could have been if it just made some important changes.
It can be hard to compare Park Beyond to its obvious inspirations, even if there are many similarities. On its own, this is a park management sim that places emphasis on fun above everything else, even at the cost of a more involved management aspect. The space for creativity and freedom is unmatched, but the lack of depth and unpolished state of things can leave much to be desired.
While the core gameplay is solid and the game looks awesome, everything else surrounding it seems to need more work. Whether Nintendo and Next Level Games will do so remains a burning question, and it would be a waste to see the potential of Strikers Club be, well, wasted. For now, even with the excellence shown on the field and that lovable Nintendo charm, it is hard to see Mario Strikers: Battle League as anything more than a game that just doesn’t have legs. In this case, the game was lost even before a ball was kicked, and that is a massive disappointment to eager fans around the world.
An excellent concept held back by poor execution, Tribes of Midgard is not the godsend it is supposed to be.
Loot, be damned. A rougher than expected entrance for Marvel’s Avengers, much needs to be done to right this Helicarrier of a mess.
Solo: Islands of the Heart task you with finding out what love means, but it is hard to love a game with ideas all over the place.
Onimusha: Warlords comes to 2019 exactly how it was in 2001, and that might not be your cup of tea.