Jonathan Leo
While I'm no Power Rangers fan, aficionados of the series deserve better than this stock churned-out co-op beat-em-up that is less "Mighty" and more "Adequate". If you need a 90s beat-em-up with today's modern conveniences, you're better off with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge.
For just US$10, you'll have a ball of a time with this lovely spin on Arkanoid/Breakout. It's been ages since we've played a retro title that changes some fundamental rules of the 80s/90s classic ball-pinging and wall-busting title for the better.
Despite technical & network issues, Path of Exile 2 is clearly set on being the de facto soon-to-be-free-to-play (getting in now requires you to fork out RM130+) action RPG of whichever year it fully releases. The Early Access is already packed with so much to do and a lot to strive forward to, with multitudes of builds for the available 6 base classes, the passive skill trees they're situated on, and the many Skill Gems, Support Gems, and other buffs & powerups that lead to crazy builds limited by your imagination and time constraints. The levels are brutal, the boss fights will test you, and you will savour every punishing moment of it while you strive to gear up and play better.
It ain't as spectacular as Pizza Tower -a fair comparison given how good that 2023 indie gem was- but Antonblast is still a damn fine 2D platforming and action title that stands on its own red little feet.
Long story short, this free-to-play adventure game is as whimsical as it gets from its plot to the nature of the game. And that's not a bad thing, as long as it's pulled off right. Infinity Nikki's got substance to back up that style.
Developer Sunny Syrup Studio had the best of intentions in combining two awesome genres: Capcom-style run-and-gun action and platforming with deckbuilding ala Slay The Spire. In this unfortunate case, ambitions exceed game design and technical know-how.
I can foresee a future LEGO Horizon-themed toyline happening if this game gets loads of traction, but at the very least, this isn't poorly-made license fare. Guerilla and Studio Gobo did good work in making a co-op family game for all, and even moreso fun if you've played the Horizon games and see how they've adapted the serious storyline into a LEGO-fied concept. A fun experiment, in other words.
Dragon Age - The Veilguard is far from being a disaster that many internet haters are claiming it to be. It's a serviceable and high-budget comfort food-level action role-playing game. Though if I'm being fair, that's probably the worst thing a standout trendsetter company like Bioware can commit: something that straddles along the lines of "fine".
This strategy title offers some neat-yet-short challenges, a replayable roguelike structure that lets you mix and match new units as well as tons of unlocks and Metal Slug backstory lore to uncover, as well as features a slew of new mechanics that other future strategy titles should borrow from. [...] Metal Slug Tactics is a strange entry in the series, but a fresh and welcoming one indeed.
While it's not the biggest game changer in the franchise ala Ys VIII, Ys X: Nordics is still a fun and smooth-sailing ride that truly throws you back to the days when Adol had less people to work with in the combat field. Having said that, new character Karja is a worthy addition and a tag-team player to go alongside Adol, and does help form a pretty fun-if-potentially-broken combat system involving tag-team moves that go in sync.
Even with the already saturated sea of JRPGs this year, this Romancing SaGa remake is worthy of your time whether you played the 1993 original to death, or just want to jump into a new style of the genre with fresh eyes and perspectives. Many of the original's core tenets are preserved and made better in this remake, which is the goal of the project really.
Neva is love, Neva is life, and also a fun-if-brief visual splendour to boot.
While the game is not the most in-depth title from a competitive standpoint, Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero is this generation's best Dragon Ball-themed 3D fighter complete with thrills, spills, and fanservice up the wazoo.
With a unique 2D aesthetic, a rockin' old-school soundtrack, and fast-and-furious racing and rally action, Victory Heat Rally revs up just fine on the 3D road in its pixel-on-polygonal livery.
Balatro is a triumph in simple-yet-airtight game design, combining the old-schoolness of poker & card shark mechanics with the new roguelike and deck-building-to-perfection loop that leads to an addictive time.
...[I]f you need slick Sega Saturn-style racing that's just about drifting in style and full of winding turns and loops, you can't go wrong with Parking Garage Rally Circuit. It's not a complicated sim affair, but it isn't meant to be since it's straightforward and focused on what it's delivering, wrapped up in a quaint purposefully old-school 3D wrapping.
The Plucky Squire may not be the most challenging game you'll play. It is, however, the most charming, most beautiful, and most engrossing of these 2D action-adventure titles you'll have the pleasure of experiencing.
Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 is the quintessential scifi action game experience you need to tune to if you fancy bloodshed, some co-op and PvP, and an all-round great-to-control 3D beat-em-up with solid gunplay. [...] A god emperor-worthy sequel to a 2011 gem, long story short.
While this Uma Musume spin-off game is fun, it's rather short and simplistic to a fault. It clearly needs more than 4 games to carry the entire package; RM128 isn't exactly cheap for a party game with just a few offerings and a bonus roguelite Vampire Survivor-but-on-track-and-field game. Fans will eat this up like carrots on stick, but this isn't the right gateway to the true Uma Musume experience. It's a serviceable party game with cute pixel graphics at best, and an expensive fan-tailored barebones gaming experience at worse.
Visions of Mana's earnestness and positives outweigh its negatives by a sizeable amount. At the very least, old-school 90s RPG fans should be glad that Square Enix did not forget about this classic series, now with a few more bells and whistles to make it quite a ride.