Pietro Iacullo's Reviews
You'd never guess that Phantom Blade Zero is S-Game's first major-league title. Perhaps the issue is that we tend to dismiss anything that's strictly mobile games. Either way, the bar here is set exceptionally high, and it's packed with fresh, spot-on ideas. Hard to ask for much more.
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Shift Up had already proven its skills last year with the PC version of Stellar Blade. The challenge was greater this time around, but it's fair to say that achieving a better result would have been pure science fiction.
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Valor Mortis is the perfect illegitimate child of Ghostrunner and a Soulslike. It might add little to its genre-embracing it with the fervor of a true Bonaparte believer rather than trying to challenge it-yet it still manages to carve out a distinct voice of its own in how it brings everything to the screen. And what a screen it is.
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Over the Hill is a game that makes you fall in love.
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It's The Witcher 3, complete with its two excellent DLCs: Blood and Wine, stronger in terms of sheer content, and Hearts of Stone, stronger on an artistic level. The remastering work is precise, aside from a few minor stumbles, mostly involving the menus. It's genuinely hard to pass up, especially considering we'll need to be ready for Songs of the Past.
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It almost feels like, rather than comparing Captain Tsubasa 2: World Fighters to an EA FC game, you'd be better off thinking of it as Tekken played 11-a-side. The only thing I'm holding off on judging is the online mode; otherwise, it's genuinely hard not to recommend it to anyone looking to scratch that arcade-style football itch.
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Beast of Reincarnation proves that Game Freak really knows how to make video games when given enough time. Quite a lot of time, actually-considering the first draft dates back to 2020 and it took six years to reach release. But those six years were well spent, because despite a few rough edges and stumbles, the end result is a blast to play.
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Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, much like the Ship of Theseus, is a paradox. It is fresh in its visuals and some side content, yet stripped of all the modern-day timeline narrative (which, ironically, is already the past for us anyway?). It remains classic in a formula that rejects the RPG direction of more recent chapters. Yet, paradoxically, this is exactly where the game manages to breathe fresh air. If you hated it back then, you will still hate it now; if you loved it, well-fair winds and following seas.
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LumenTale is proof that being passionate about a series of videogames does not mean that you have to blindly follow in its footsteps: the combat system is able to cleverly mix elements from both Pokémon and Final Fantasy, while genuinely feeling like its own thing. What more could you ask for?
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Over-the-top violence? Check. Iconic memes from the original series? Check. A solid battle system that cleverly borrows the best ideas around to deliver something uniquely its own? Double check. Honestly, there are very few reasons not to jump on board.
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Pokémon Champions is, all things considered, exactly what you'd expect - give or take a few too many rough edges. In fact, looking at the game's monetization and other titles in the Pokémon ecosystem, you could almost say we got off easy. At least, for now.
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Metacritic: High on Life 2 tries to be more of a videogame than High on Life ever was - and to be fair, it actually succeeds. The problem is that nobody really asked for that, especially since, when you strip it down, it's still an average shooter that in this second iteration loses much of the meta‑ironic charge that defined the first game
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Code Vein II could be described as a more accessible Elden Ring, and you wouldn't be wrong. But it would be a shame to stop at the obvious similarities and simplifications, because the game behind it is undoubtedly a great game. A little didactic in some choices, a little fanservice in others, but also capable of often touching the hearts of those on the other side of the screen.
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The Outer Worlds 2 is exactly what you'd expect from an Obsidian if not at its prime, at least very close to that status. If that's not enough for you to be on board, what you're looking for is probably elsewhere.
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Super Mario Galaxy and Galaxy 2 are coming to Switch (and Switch 2) without major extra content compared to the originals, but with graphical improvements above expectations.
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Lost Soul Aside shows it's Ultizero Games' debut, with some evident rookie mistakes. A promising battle system sadly gets lost amid the rest of the underwhelming production.
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Wheel World is a sort of cozy cycling open world that's impossible not to fall in love with, even considering some minor bugs and some not-so-polished aspects.
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Shadow Labyrinth takes Pac-Man in some strange places, but often too poorly designed to really enjoy the brilliant idea behind an anyway good metroidvania.
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Rematch is a new and fresh page in the Football (Soccer, for US readers) Video Game History. Slocap has to add some of the lacking feature, especially cross-platform multiplayer, but the game is really challenging and it can become a massive hit.
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Haste: Broken Worlds is the answer to the question "what would happen if Sonic the Hedgehog had sex with Tiny Wings"? And the answer is a must play arcade/roguelike game.
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