Leonardo Faria's Reviews
Whether you’re into a customized, ultra-violent arcade experience or a more realistic simulation, NHL 24 has you covered. I really enjoyed its sheer amount of content, intuitive controls, overall presentation, and its Be a Pro mode. Yes, its Ultimate Team mode, just like similar modes in other EA Sports titles, is an insane gambling machine meant to suck your wallet dry, but considering the wealth of other modes included in this package, you can easily ignore it and have a lot of fun with NHL 24.
Slightly better puzzles and more visual variety make Hidden Through Time 2 more enjoyable than its predecessor, but do not expect a lot of depth from this pastime of a game. There’s just so much you can do with a game that’s essentially Where’s Waldo with a different art style. I appreciate the improved presentation, better UI, and community-created content, even if the latter will remind you of how unfair the first game’s puzzles were by the end of it.
EA might try to convince you that its new buzzwords are actually game changing features, but it’s visually the same, and it plays extremely similarly to all previous three iterations of the game on PS5. It’s still entertaining, and avoiding FUT like the plague will give you a somewhat feature-filled and microtransaction-free experience, but it’s just a roster update with a few new teams and a bland soundtrack.
More than just a review, this is almost a plea. In order for LogiKing to actually showcase its full potential, it needs more players. As it stands, it’s a barren desert built on top of a fantastic foundation. Its combat system is pretty creative, it runs well, it doesn’t do any egregious mistakes. It’s just lacking in single-player content, with nobody else playing it at the moment to populate its barren multiplayer servers.
Gothic is the kind of ultra-janky game you’ll most likely grab on Steam or GOG, at a monstrous discount, at maybe two dollars during a sale, and play for a few hours whilst trying to cope with dated visuals, controls, physics, and so on. This is NOT the kind of game that deserves being sold for thirty bucks on the eShop, with little to no improvements, and a control scheme that just showcases this has always been meant to be played with a mouse and keyboard.
BIT.TRIP RERUNNER is a very straightforward remake, but one that does exactly what it needed to do. It didn’t change a thing in its gameplay, for there was no need to fix what wasn’t broken. It offers vastly superior visuals, with a brand new “retro meets modern” coat of paint, and an excellent level creator to exponentially increase its lasting appeal and overall value.
Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 4: Bush Rescue Returns lacks a bit of the charisma seen in its predecessors, a consequence of them being 3D platformers, with this one just being a bog-standard 2D side-scroller. It does feel cheaper than any other Ty game, but it is still quite fun, though. It might not be that creative, but it’s certainly less janky and less buggy. It’s also a perfect fit for the Nintendo Switch, given how you can enjoy it in short bursts in portable mode.
Although I did enjoy my time with El Paso, Elsewhere, I cannot hide the fact it was plagued with some questionable gameplay decisions and repetitive visuals. You will probably play El Paso, Elsewhere not because of its janky gameplay, but because of its strong story and character development.
Redfall might not be the worst game released in 2023, but I don’t think I have played something more uninspired. It looks dated, its performance is disappointing, its plot is bland, the controls are glitchy, and the entire gameplay loop is the most generic and passion-devoid AAA schtick you could think of. If Arkane clearly wasn’t willing to make this game, then why would any of us should or want to care about it? Not even the fact it’s on Gamepass makes it being worth downloading it and playing for a day or two.
I don’t know how the hell Nintendo allowed for this game to be launched on their system (I do understand WB probably did not care about doing some quality check on their end, though). It is something that needs to be played for you to believe it even exists. Not only is this the worst Switch port of a AAA title out there, this might be the single most pathetic entry in Mortal Kombat history. Yes, even more than Advance or Special Forces. At least those games weren’t being advertised as equals to ports on more powerful machines.
You know the drill at this point: NBA 2K24 is just like its predecessors, in both the good and bad ways. It still looks impressive and has great controls, but it is also plastered with convoluted menus and a ridiculous amount of ads and microtransactions. What can I even add at this point which hasn’t been said in my previous five reviews of NBA 2K iterations? It’s good as an arcade experience, it’s frustrating elsewhere, and you know for a fact nothing will change because there is no need to innovate when you don’t have to deal with competitors.
It’s hard to ignore how creatively bankrupt The Crew Motorfest is, but it is not a bad game at all. When you’re trying to be a carbon copy of a masterpiece of a racing game, and you do your homework to a satisfactory degree, you need to be utterly incompetent not to be, at the very least, a pretty good time, even if not a jaw-dropping one.
There isn’t a lot that needs to be said because Gunbrella, despite the unique premise, is really straightforward: what you’ve seen from previews and trailers is what you’ll get. It’s a really well-designed platformer that might be a bit too brown and dour at times, but plays like an absolute dream. With excellent level design, great boss fights, and just the right amount of funny dialogue bits to remind you that yes, you’re playing yet another high-quality Devolver outing, Gunbrella might not be one of the publisher’s top titles, but it’s still absolutely worth your while.
This is the best kind of sequel. Horizon Chase 2 is the kind of game that makes its predecessor look and feel obsolete in comparison, with vastly better graphics, AI, tracks, and controls. It might not exactly have a lot of cars for you to choose, but there is still so much content in here that complaining about it almost feels like an annoying nitpick. Aquiris has clearly managed to outdo themselves, with this game being one of the best retro-styled racers available in any console or PC right now.
This is not the worst idea Nintendo has ever had, but it’s really poorly implemented. F-Zero 99 feels restrained, never fully grasping the concept of an actual battle royale, just punishing the smallest percentage of players per race. It’s just a revamped take on the SNES original, with just more drivers per race, with a lot less room for skill, and more room for nonsensical mayhem.
Just by reading the name of the title, you can already expect that Baby Shark: Sing & Swim Party isn’t a good time. Granted, it is not the worst thing in the world, and not even the worst game made for toddlers out there (Race with Ryan exists, after all), but it is a boring, shallow, repetitive experience that goes on for way too long, featuring some of the worst musical compositions these poor ears have ever endured.
Super Bomberman R 2 is a nice improvement over its predecessor, and it features a lot of content, but be realistic. Do not expect it to be the most groundbreaking experience out there, because Bomberman is, has been, and will always be a very simple arcade-like experience with cute visuals, cheerful music and accessible controls, meant to be played for a couple dozen minutes at a time. It does everything it was meant to do with honors, and I’m happy about it. I wanted a an improvement over the flawed, but interesting Super Bomberman R from 2017, and got exactly that.
It is a game you will easily be able to spend hundreds, maybe thousands of hours into, and just complete a tenth of everything it has to offer. It can be a swashbuckling adventure, the next big space RPG since The Outer Worlds, a space trading simulator, or even a straightforward relaxing exploratory experience to play while listening to a podcast. The decision is yours. Welcome to space. Enjoy your stay.
This ain’t it. There are good ideas in Highrise City, but the game is just plastered with nuisances that result in it not being as relaxing or accessible as other city builders. It is too deep in its logistic mechanics, almost to a fault. The beginning of each new save is also painfully slow, poorly explained, and convoluted, meaning that this game also lacks the “pick up and play” aspect seen in Sim City or Cities. It tried, and I respect that, but it needs an extra phase of fixes before I can call it a city builder worth hanging out with the other big boys.
Considering its origins as a money-hungry mobile game, I have to say I expected a lot worse from Mega Man X Dive Offline. It’s still painfully dumbed down and far from being one of the best Mega Man games released over the past few years, but there is fun to be had with this “gotta catch ’em all” take on the franchise’s long history. It is bogged down by some repetitive grinding, but being able to play as pretty much everyone you can imagine, without having to overspend like a whale, is indeed appealing.