Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is one of the best adventure games of the year. It captures the atmosphere of the movies, using Indy tricks is a blast. Whilst the game isn’t perfect, it does have a few quirks like borderline bulletproof enemies, Troy Baker, and some unnecessary brief sequences of gameplay, it doesn’t deter the whole experience. I’m not going to lie, but I believe featuring third person perspective would’ve added to the fun. Either way, don’t miss it, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is great banger to end the year on.
Fans of the Metroidvania genre should definitely look into Yars Rising. It’s a fun and challenging addition to the genre. And yes, while far from perfect mostly because Emi is incredibly fragile and the hacking mini-game gets tedious the more you do it, it does offer solid gameplay, challenging bosses and a unique environment to explore. I highly recommend Yars Rising to everyone; fans of the Metroidvania genre or not.
Volgarr the Viking II is one of the worst, most infuriating gaming experience I’ve had the displeasure of reviewing. The game had some solid potential, but its overall gameplay mechanics and “heavy” controls makes this a huge missed opportunity. I get this game is clearly aimed at the “git gud” audience, but gamers looking for a pleasant experience need to avoid this like the plague. Even Easy mode doesn’t save this game.
Unless you have a fond spot in your heart for Aero The Acro-Bat: Rascal Rival Revenge, it’s hard to recommend the game. Even as a remake of a 1990s game released in the 2000s, it feels a bit sluggish and archaic. It’s a decent trip down memory lane for older gamers, but it’s a hard selling to the younger gamers out there who were spoiled with all the nifty quality of life improvement gameplay mechanics.
Tetris Forever is an interesting piece of history as it lets players deep dive in more obscure, older Tetris games; but as you’d expect, a lot of them haven’t aged well. The new entry, Tetris Time Warp, is a fun new addition to the long running series. But given the age of the games included, it’s hard to recommend Tetris Forever to anyone other than diehard Tetris fans.
The game looks fine for what it is; dark and drab environments are detailed and the city feels lively. Its dark theme offers a darker color palette to properly represent the menacing threat. However, it unfortunately doesn’t benefit from the full processing power of the Xbox Series S and X consoles. It looks like early 8th generation console game, which is unfortunate. Human characters are pretty generic, but they did do a great job creating the monstrosities you’ll face. Audio wise, there’s little to no voiceover work, aside from incomprehensible muffles. The soundtrack is incredibly eclectic; some tunes are properly spooky where others sounds like the composer slid his ass across a keyboard. Given this brand new concept, there’s sure to be a few hiccups. Outdated graphics aside, combat does feel a bit loose and requires some practice to feel comfortable. It’s also rough at times facing a bigger Slitterhead and trying quickly swap powers with the d-pad and not get it. Bokeh Game Studio’s first project had somewhat high hopes given the reputation of Keiichiro Toyama, the studio head, created Silent Hill and Siren. But Slitterhead manages to be a surprising and entertaining experience. While having no scares, despite Toyama’s history, the game makes up for it with deep combat system, fun possession system and intriguing story. Sure, it’s not perfect, but if you’re looking for a unique, challenging 3rd person action game, Slitterhead is a must play.
Killing Time: Resurrected is mindless shooter where players just around killing everything. While the gameplay/shooting in and of itself is a blast and holds up generally well, the archaic DOOM formula find key, find door, rinse, repeat gets old and irritating as you’d expect. The exteriors are fun and enjoyable to explore, but insides are confusing and visuals makes it easy to miss doors. If you’re craving an old school 1990s experience, Killing Time: Resurrected is definitely the best option out there. However, if you enjoy a more linear, straight to the point experience, Killing Time: Resurrected will be an irrtating experience.
Vengeance Hunters is one of the better and most enjoyable beat’em ups to release in the last year or so. It has that perfect 90s flair, combat is surprisingly deep, boss battles are quite unique and provide a decent challenge. While levels do feel a bit long, the overall experience is incredibly enjoyable and is definitely a must play; especially if you’re a fan of classic beat’em ups. Don’t miss this little gem.
The best way to sum this up: Retro Revengers was clearly not QA’ed for the fun factor. It’s a generic irritating platformer with questionable level design and iffy controls. While it’s a nice touch to have a variety of unique skills, it also means they don’t control all the same; some feel floaty, others feel like they have cement filled boots. There are many more better platformers available on Xbox Marketplace; so unless you’ve played them all or want to experience this out of curiosity, don’t bother.
Valfaris: Mecha Therion is a another indie gem. The original was one of best, most challenging and enjoyable run n’ gun games I had played. Switching the sequel to the shmup genre while keeping the action packed gameplay from the previous entry offers a fresh take. Valfairs: Mecha Therion, much like its predecessor, is a must play experience. If you’re looking for a fun challenge, don’t miss out.
Night Slashers: Remake is ok at best. It’s nothing special; it’s extremely generic and bland. Also very short and bosses, who should instill fear, are just big cronies. It could be some way to pass some time, solo or with friends, but other than that, it’s hard to recommend Night Slashers: Remake knowing there are much, much better beat’em up available. Try at your own risk.
The game looks great with its dark and brooding visuals. While each level has a menacing, dark-ish style, they are uniquely themed such as a forest, living train or even shooting the undead on the Moon. Enemy design, while a bit repetitive, is top-notch and creepy. Bosses are big and grotesque creations fun to challenge. The soundtrack is a high octave hard rock score to get your blood pumping as you shred The Meat’s armies. There’s nothing inherently wrong with Iron Meat aside from the fact that unlocked characters doesn’t offer any variety in terms of gameplay and the fact that given its old school inspiration, the gameplay is limited. When clearing the game, you can replay it and choose which level to play. Whether you’re looking for an old school inspired challenge or some quick fun, Iron Meat is an absolute must play. The gameplay is addictive, easy to pick up and play and some classic co-op action. While the gameplay is limited, the levels and challenge is very fun and addictive. Even after clearing the game, you’ll find yourself replaying levels to hone to skills or just as a stress relief. Iron Meat is a must buy. Don’t miss out.
Metaphor: ReFantazio is definitely going to be in the game of the year conversation. Time management nuisance aside, the game has it all; great environments/locale, enjoyable cast of characters, addictive combat system thanks to its combination of real-time and turn based; not to mention the Archetypes mechanics. Gamers looking for something diverse that will keep them busy for the foreseeable future absolutely need to get their hands on Atlus’ latest opus.
8 Bit Adventures 2 is a great addition to the RPG genre and a great to homage to classic games from the NES era; from the pixelated visuals to the turn based gameplay. While it doesn’t reinvent the wheel, it adds its own few twists on a proven formula. That being said, 8 Bit Adventures 2 is absolutely worth your time and money; whether or not you’re an RPG fan or not.
Even in 2024, Chainsaw Lollipop RePOP is just big, dumb fun. The story, while existing, is there to give a premise to all of this, but the gameplay of running around and comboing enemies is the meat of the matter. Combat is surprisingly deep, especially as you purchase new skills; easier to learn, hard to master. But it does show its age; janky camera, messed up auto-aim, 2012 visuals. If you never played it and looking for big stupid fun or if you previously enjoyed it, it’s worth revisiting. Just not at that price.
The Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is a great collection of games that is wildly different than the typical shooter or adventure. And also a great way for fans of the Ace Attorney series to experience an official localized version of Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor’s Gambit. This bundle offers a very lenghty experience, especially without a walkthrough. While entertaining, reading a game on TV isn’t ideal and not necessarily the best type of game for long gaming sessions. If you’re looking for something new and quirky, Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is a must play
The Karate Kid: Street Rumble is actually a decent and fun gaming experience. Easy to pick up and play, but hard to master thanks to its surprisingly deep combat system, RPG like mechanics and replay value. While character movement can feel a bit slow and the crazy difficulty spike 1/4 of the way in, it’ll easily fill your beat’em up void. But given its steep price tag for something that can be finished in about a 2 hour single sitting, might wanna wait for a sale.
Gori Cuddly Carnage is definitely one of 2024’s most obvious hidden gem. It’s a fun, hilarious, addictive 3D action platformer. The combat, while simplistic, mixed with regular and special attacks, is fun to use. The levels are all fun to explore and the action is top notch. Despite its shortcomings such as the repetitive nature of certain sequences, you can definitely do worst than Gori. If you’re looking for a fun and challenge action game, Gori Cuddly Carnage is a must-play.
Do I recommend Shadow of the Ninja Reborn? Well it depends. While they did make a few good improvements like the variety of sub-items, they made levels too long, with an unforgiving checkpoint/continue system, and forces players, as ninjas, to take it slow. Bottom line is if you played the original and loved it, this will feel like a completely unnecessary re-imaging. But if you haven’t played the original, this is a decent action game if you can get around its flaws.
Aspyr did a good job bringing Star Wars Bounty Hunter to a new generation of gamers, but unfortunately, they couldn’t address the core mechanics of the game such as the navigational aspect of it, the clunky lock-on system. If, like me, you are curious to try to 2002 classic or want to relive it for nostalgia, this remaster is worth (re)visiting, but if you’re too familiar and reliant on more recent gaming features such as checkpoints and map/objective tracker, you might feel more frustrated than anything else.