Abdul Saad
All in all, as you can probably guess, Dragon Star Varnir is quite a mixed bag in terms of enjoyment. While it provides an intricate and engaging combat system as well as some solid alternate modes, the rest of its elements are unfortunately rather lackluster or just plain inconveniencing.
Overall, I’d say I’m quite divided on Kandagawa Jet Girls. It's a visually pleasing game with an entertaining story mode and likable characters. It also has a deep customization system and a variety of fun mini-games to play through. Despite this, the main racing mechanic while stable, is quite dull. Regardless, I’d still confidently recommend this game to fans of the anime especially, though I’d probably wait for a sale first.
All in all, I’d say the multiplayer was fun and adds more unique gameplay elements the campaign was lacking. The only thing that holds Disintegration back is the lackluster story and repetitive combat. The game promises free and paid DLC content in the future, and hopefully that will improve the experience overall.
One Piece Odyssey could've been one of the best anime game adaptations to date, but it failed painfully in providing a competent narrative separate from the original story. Thankfully the game offers well-crafted gameplay elements that make it worthy of being recommended to at least One Piece fans.
Overall, Harvestella is a mixed bag of a JRPG with many flaws but also many great, engaging elements. As a result, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone except those who especially love farming simulators and classic JRPGs.
Overall, Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires, while sporting enjoyable combat and lots of content, is unfortunately bogged down by a myriad of horrible technical issues and repetitive level designs.
Despite all that, Project Warlock still does an excellent job of not wasting the player's time similar to the 90s retro FPS we're used to. Right from the start, the game doesn't prompt any tutorials, just some weapons, and some demons to kill, making it feel like a proper Doom clone. To support this is its stellar Rockin soundtrack and art design that bears a resemblance to classic Minecraft. All in all, Project Warlock is a respectable and enjoyable Doom clone. While it has some balancing issues to work out, it's still a must-have for fans of the retro FPS genre.
No Straight Roads succeeds in blending its unique art style and wonderful soundtrack with its gameplay mechanics. However, those same mechanics often face annoying issues that can hinder the flow of combat. When it comes down to it, though, the game is still an enjoyable experience to play through, especially for fans of pretty art styles, rock, and EDM.
Granblue Fantasy: Relink offers a captivating albeit simple narrative, mesmerizing visuals, and a fun gameplay experience. If you’re a JRPG fan looking for a great new experience, then you’ll do no wrong with the game, but don’t expect anything out of the ordinary.
While featuring some great elements and features, Road 96: Mile 0 fails to flesh them out enough to make the game truly great. However, despite this, it still offers players an enjoyable experience.
Negatives aside, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R is a wonderful remaster with great visuals and aesthetics, smooth gameplay, and tons of content that JoJo fans will especially appreciate. And while the game is mainly tailored toward series fans, I believe it still offers an experience most fighting game fans will enjoy as long as they don’t play online or expect any cohesive narrative or story mode based on the franchise.
Soul Hackers 2 takes inspiration from both the Persona and the mainline Shin Megami Tensei series while including new things into the mix to varying degrees of success. As a result, it is best to not compare it to any other title in the franchise.
It’s really a pity, as I believe if Twin Mirror had a lot more development time and a bigger budget to refine and flesh out its story, it would have been a great narrative murder mystery to rival Life is Strange. This isn’t to say I hated my time with the game. I still enjoyed the world, characters, and especially its overall central premise, which I found to be less grandiose and more grounded. Unfortunately, the short length, rushed plot, and presentation issues bring it down a bit.
Overall, after all these years, Red Dead Redemption is still a great game that offers players a compelling narrative, a fantastic open world, and an overall highly engaging gameplay experience. However, the PS4 port isn't something that can easily be recommended to those who've already played the game and its DLC or even own the original bundle, at least at its current asking price. As such, if you've never played the game and are still interested in the port, I'd advise waiting for a sale or buying the Switch port, as that at least offers the value of playing the game on the go.
Overall, while not without its faults, Master Detective Archives: RAIN CODE is still a highly enjoyable and ambitious game with a good narrative, a mostly lovely aesthetic, and fun gameplay elements. It isn't a game I'd recommend to everyone, but it at least provides an engaging experience for mystery and Danganronpa fans alike.
Overall, while Forspoken has its fair share of glaring issues, I have to admit that I still enjoyed my time with its warts and all, as it managed to entertain and engage me with its combat system alone. However, with that said, I also can't, in good faith, recommend the game at its current asking price of $70 as its poorly executed story and other underwhelming elements prevent it from being more than an average gameplay experience to the average player.
Overall, while Sonic Frontiers has its fair share of issues, I can honestly and confidently say that it is the best Sonic game I've played and one that provides a ton of fun throughout.
All in all, Martha is Dead, despite struggling to hold my attention at times, is a well crafted game, with incredibly detailed visuals and models, an interesting cast of characters, and an unsettling but highly intriguing story to tell. If you're a fan of psychological thrillers and horrors, then Martha is Dead will undoubtedly be your cup of tea.
Overall, aside from the visual upgrade, Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water is far from a suitable remaster as it fails to change many of the original issues. However, while it's also far from the best Fatal Frame game, it does still offer players the signature enjoyable camera combat and some surprisingly fitting aesthetic.
Overall, House of Ashes, while not perfect, (or even scary truth be told) is a good installment in the series as it provides gorgeous graphics along with its interesting premise.