Leonardo Faria's Reviews
I wanted to play OlliOlli World thinking it was going to be a trippy and challenging arcade experience. Sure, it can be that if you want to, but what I liked the most about it was its inviting atmosphere, which made me want to tackle it as a borderline relaxing, “feel good” experience.
I did not expect to like The Company Man as much as I did. Sure, it has some gameplay limitations stemming from some design choices, but not only did I enjoy the fluidity of its controls, and especially its inventive boss battles, but I couldn’t stop laughing and relating to the unhealthy amount of postmodern corporate satire included in here.
I am not going to call this a commendable effort, because honestly, this is how Cyberpunk 2077 should have been released in the first place. Sadly, committing to last-gen platforms at first, combined with fan demand, death threats, and the COVID-19 pandemic, resulted in a botched version of a great game that left a horrendous first impression. That is not the case with this PS5 version. This is how Cyberpunk 2077 should be played.
A few annoying issues here and there may tarnish its overall quality a little bit, but boy, did Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga deliver. I was expecting for it to be great, but wasn’t expecting for it to basically rival Super Mario Odyssey in terms of charm and amount of collectibles.
Thanks to its intuitive controls, excellent new UI, and the overall addictive nature of the city-building genre, Cities: VR is now one of my favorite titles available on the Quest, possibly in VR in general, and another great example as how to translate a tried and true formula, once thought to work solely on computers, to a brand new system.
I love Capcom Fighting Collection. It pays respect to the company’s past, all while giving players a brand new (and refined) way to play some of the best fighting and puzzle games of all time, complete in one, smooth-as-silk, pristinley remastered package. Its online play is reliable, its presentation is sublime, and its extras are satisfactory.
In most cases, a game being “more of the same”, not being THAT different from its predecessor, would be considered a disappointment. In the case of Moss: Book II, however, being more of what made that 2018 game so special isn’t bad at all, since that title left us wanting more upon beating it. I liked it more than its predecessor not only because of the slightly better design, but also due to the improved controls, courtesy of the Quest’s hardware.
I love Two Point Campus. It took everything that worked so well in Two Point Hospital, and elevated it to a whole new level thanks to its creative premise, intuitive controls, and Community-esque feel. Even though it has a few issues here and there, and it’s still best enjoyed on a PC, I have to say I am impressed with how much better this game is in comparison to Two Point Studios’ previous outing.
Tinykin is the kind of the game that completely changes the image and course of the developers and publishers behind it. I was shocked at how amazing this game was. I just couldn’t stop playing it. The mixture between Pikmin, Toy Story 2 and Super Mario 64 resulted in a stupidly creative indie darling with a ton of charm, great controls, and a fantastic presentation.
As a whole, I can’t stress enough how impressed I was with Rollerdrome. Roll7 perfectly picked up two completely different gameplay loops and mixed them together in a cohesive and addictive title with a shockingly intuitive control scheme. It’s fast-paced, it makes you feel cool as hell while playing it, and it’s ridiculously addictive. It’s one of the perfect examples of creativity still looming in today’s seemingly tired and creatively bankrupt industry.
I’m really glad that A Plague Tale: Requiem managed to overcome the burden of sequelitis and shine as a worthy successor to the fantastic Innocence. Sure, its predecessor was a bit more impactful due to it just dropping from out of nowhere, but Requiem manages to exist alongside it by amping up the tension and psychological aspects of its story.
A likeable protagonist, new abilities and a personal, down-to-earth story made up for the fact Spider-Man: Miles Morales is shorter than its 2018 predecessor. It’s a game with enough qualities to stand on its own, one that proves that Miles isn’t just some fluke character being pushed by Marvel over the past few years. Not only that, but this PC port is the real deal, with some pretty good optimization and performance.
The mishmash between retro aesthetics and modern quality of life improvements creates a game that doesn’t innovate at all, but never needed to. Dread Templar is a stellar retro shooter that shines with its fast-paced gameplay and utterly stellar level design, with most of its issues being minute things such as poor (but very occasional) voice acting and some bizarre key mapping.
Inti Creates knocked it out of the park with a game that feels right at home on the Nintendo Switch. What little I have to complain about is so minute it feels like nitpicking. If you’re a fan of Castlevania, but are fed up with the sheer volume of metroidvanias flooding the indie scene nowadays, Grim Guardians: Demon Purge is the perfect pick.
I like this ultraviolent delight even more than I like Hotline Miami. It took everything that worked in those beloved action games, gave players a bit more leeway with an improved health system, and dialed things up to eleven, be it with its insane soundtrack, aggro-as-hell nature, and especially its roguelike elements. They just fit in perfectly with this particular arcade-like gameplay loop.
At the end of the day, what matters is that Street Fighter 6 did manage to overcome a ton of odds. It might have an issue or two when it comes to the visual fidelity of its campaign mode, as well as some odd artistic decisions, but as a complete package, there’s little to complain about. It’s Capcom, yet again, delivering. Great controls, buttery smooth performance, and one of the best single-player campaigns ever put in a fighting game are but a few of the highlights in this roaring success of a title.
Purists might feel this game is way too different from anything that had come before it, be it for its vastly darker tone or emphasis on hack and slash action. Others might not enjoy how long it takes for the game to stop being Final Fantasy XIII levels of linear before finally opening up for exploration. My position on it is simple: I loved it. I loved its gameplay loop, and I fell in utter love with its setting and story.
The Invector series may have started as a tribute to a specific artist who had actually been part of its development, but I cannot deny that Invector: Rhythm Galaxy is the perfect follow-up for these games (as controversial as the idea for an Avicii-less sequel may sound), as well as the obvious next step for the franchise. It’s easily one of the best rhythm games released in recent memory, combining a fun and intuitive gameplay loop with an expertly curated setlist.
What Sega needed to do with Samba de Amigo: Party Central was to ensure that the foundations were solid, the controls worked as intended, and the gameplay loop was fun enough both on your own or with friends. This game is an absolute blast. It retains that wacky, experimental vibe from the Dreamcast era, with utterly ludicrous visuals, a bunch of nonsense blasting your senses, and enough content to keep you busy for a while… at least until the release of the next song pack.
If the original Hot Wheels Unleashed was already magnificent, imagine what to expect from a sequel with more content and slightly better presentation? The changes in Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged aren’t particularly immense, but it checks all of the necessary boxes: it has slightly better visuals, it features some brand new gameplay mechanics, its track editor is bigger and more varied, and it features even more tracks, cars and modes.