David Flynn
While The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me contains some incredibly effective horror, it has the rug pulled from under it by a flubbed finale and some immoral choices the game considers "correct."
Bayonetta 3 has a lot of issues, especially in terms of story, but is well worth playing for the core combat. While the game seems to be doing its best to get you away from that, once you're fighting, there's nothing like it out there.
While the second half of Beat Saber's Lizzo Pack is clunky, the first half more than makes up for it with incredibly catchy tunes that will have you (sword) dancing to the beat in a gorgeous new stage. Consider me a fan of Lizzo now, because these songs are definitely going to be the highlight of my daily workout.
All in all, putting the online infrastructure disaster aside, Splatoon 3 is a lot of fun, but I can't help but feel like it could have been an update to Splatoon 2 rather than a new game. I enjoyed the new story mode, the new weapons are great, and the lobby changes are fantastic, but everything else just feels like too little to warrant $60. I generally don't like to evaluate games on price point, but it needs to be said this is more like Splatoon 2.25 than a full jump in number or even just half. Once you take into account the awful connection it definitely doesn't feel worth it. Don't get me wrong, it's still a good game and a great entry for new fans, but I'd get basically the same experience and probably slightly more stable in Splatoon 2 and that's still right there on my home screen. Nintendo really needs to step their game up in terms of updates, and for God's sake invest in some servers or better netcode.
Fashion Police Squad is an incredibly silly shooter hearkening back to the original DOOM in its design, while also taking into account some more modern sensibilities. While the combat does suffer from a lack of choice, the tight platforming and hilarious premise does make up for it somewhat.
Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition is a decent way to play an often overlooked PS1 RPG along with its accompanying SNES text adventure, but it doesn't do a whole lot to justify a purchase if you already own the original. In fact, it actually performs worse in some cases. Still, the new options like fast forward and disabling encounters are convenient, and finally having a way to play Radical Dreamers is awesome.
Mario Strikers: Battle League presents a shockingly deep take on Soccer held up by some incredibly charming and expressive character animations. Sadly there's not much to see outside of the core loop, and can quickly wear out its welcome as things start to feel too repetitive.
While it can be complete chaos most of the time, Chocobo GP is still a fun and charming kart racer at its heart. There's enough charm here to combat the frustration and bland tracks, and the multiple modes will keep you interested.
Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain is a fun way to exercise your brain regularly. The competition aspect keeps the game fun and engaging if the single player isn't up to snuff.
Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania is just as fun and infuriating as I remember. It's a content-complete package that celebrates the series. It can feel a bit too limited, with no online play or unlockable characters in minigames, but it's still a unique experience you can't get anywhere else.
Marvel's Avengers: War for Wakanda introduces fantastically designed new areas with a dash of puzzles and platforming to mix things up. While the combat still has a long way to go before it remains interesting, this expansion is worth checking out for Black Panther's skills.
CrossCode: A New Home wraps up the story nicely while setting up for a possible sequel. The new content is largely fun, but a few massive difficulty spikes sour the experience. Still, it's well worth the time if you enjoyed the game's charming cast of characters.
Game Builder Garage is a great way to learn the basics of game programming through an easy to use visual language. The tutorials may be overbearing for some, holding your hand through each step, but the engine is surprisingly robust and will let you create whatever you want. However, there is no active sharing or receiving interface in the game itself which is incredibly frustrating and limits learning opportunities.
Summary: Miitopia is a fun and funny if flawed game. While this rerelease may be worthwhile to some for the character creator alone, its unwillingness to provide deeper and more balanced gameplay makes it difficult to want to experience everything the game has to offer or even just finish it.
Wrath of the Druids is simply more Assassin's Creed Valhalla, both for good and ill. For a paid expansion, it doesn't add much new or interesting and the main quest doesn't have much to deal with Druids. Still, more Valhalla is more Valhalla and it's enjoyable for what it is.
Lost Words: Beyond the Page is a heartfelt and human exploration of grief. While it will certainly make you feel things, it stumbles a bit in the execution with ham fisted moments, glitches, and overall simplicity of puzzles.
Bravely Default II is a good RPG that undermines everything amazing the previous two games. The new battle style discourages risk taking and thus less freedom with the job system. The first 30 or so hours are great, despite a slow start in terms of gameplay, but the last 20 are too frustrating to be worthwhile and the story ends on an unsatisfying note.
If your connection is strong enough to reliably stream it, Stadia is a good place to play Watch Dogs: Legion. The technology focused stealth compensates for the input lag nicely, and the game looks and runs far better than my mid to low range desktop could hope to.
While Little Hope may not be the fright fest some wanted, it's still a fascinating game that's well worth playing once or twice, if you can get over the nonsensical ending.
While Spelunky 2 doesn't offer the refined mechanics and enemies of the original, it does add to the chaos and fun of multiplayer. While playing alone is mostly an exercise in frustrating, unfair deaths, with friends it's a barrel of laughs.