You can already hear out that Harvest Moon: New World is simply not good. That wouldn't be so bad if the video game wasn't really bad. It has little in common with Harvest Moon. Even if you leave out the famous name, you're left with an overly expensive game that does little to nothing to engage. You could possibly put small children in front of Harvest Moon: A World, but since the voice output is missing, even this target group will get bored at some point. At least it is enough to walk around with the analog stick and press "A". After all, the correct action is always performed. I just couldn't get anything out of the game. You can turn off the music and listen to your favorite music, but even then the gameplay is not convincing. A full price title should deliver much more. Even for 9,99€ I would be cautious to buy Harvest Moon: One World. All other games in this genre are better and cheaper.
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WWE 2K Battlegrounds is really fun at the beginning, but it flattens out quite fast. The grind is potentially fierce and the bugs are getting on my nerves. What disturbed me most in the gameplay are the much too heavy counters and the exploiting of the taunts. The second big point of criticism is the constant pushing of buying opportunities using real money. This might be justifiable for an F2P title, but I find it almost impertinent to be so aggressive.
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GRID Legends has its moments, and I was always able to get excited for short sessions, but I was never really captivated. Overall, you can play the game and it's fun for a limited time, but at a time when you can even get Forza Horizon 5 on Xbox with Game Pass, I don't know why I should spend my money with Codemasters/EA. The racing game doesn't offer enough for that and what is shown seems "outdated".
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The game knows how to inspire, but it wasn't a full-length title for me personally. That means that after an hour I already felt like playing something else. Then again, I was looking forward to the next session of PixelJunk Raiders. If you're not sure, you should definitely check out the gameplay before buying. For me, the game definitely remains on the active list and will be played regularly.
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After a good 50 hours of leveling and grinding and unlocking the secret level, I have classified Minecraft Dungeons as completed until the first DLC. I have a perfect build, though not maximum power level and no challenge is a problem. Still, it must be said that, in my case, the equivalent of about 40 cents per hour of play is a pretty good figure. I am looking forward to the DLCs and the general further development. All in all, the release version of Minecraft Dungeons is very well done. I only had a few problems, although one bug was extremely annoying and made my build unplayable in a few missions. Minecraft Dungeons has unbelievable potential, but of course the developer has to decide to invest some time in it. Two DLCs have been confirmed and we'll see what else is coming.
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Personally, Miitopia was a lot of fun and I still spend a lot of time wandering through the game world after the test. However, those who have already played the version on the 3DS might be put off by the high purchase price, especially since not much has really changed. In any case, I've found that you either love and celebrate Miitopia or hate it. There is no middle ground imho. The video game is fun in any case, and it doesn't eat through the battery as much as, say, Zelda: BOTW. In any case, take a look at some gameplay before buying. If you get involved in the adventure, you'll have fun and entertainment in any case.
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All in all Level-5 has created a solid game that will find and keep its fans in the West. The partly short missions are good for short sessions, but you also like to sit at the switch for a longer time to hunt in Snack World. In TV mode, the Grinder was much more fun for us than mobile. This is certainly due to the camera being too rigid. This is our point of criticism for "Numero Uno" and has often caused freaks, because you can't focus your opponents properly. Apart from that, the full-price title is a lot of fun and shines especially in multiplayer with friends. Especially positive is the fact that there were no lags or aborts online. As friends of Amiibo, it's a pity that support has been completely removed. The expensive NFC collectibles are simply not being used enough!
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Playing Mario Strikers: Battle League Football is a lot of fun, especially with a group of friends, but the lack of worthwhile progression or unlockable content severely hurts its longevity/replayability. Unfortunately, the initial euphoria fades too quickly. Those who have been craving a new Mario Strikers game will likely accumulate a lot of playtime. All other buyers might as well look for a new game again quickly.
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Watch Dogs: Legion offers many missions, activities, side jobs and customization options. Grinders will certainly get their money's worth, even if it is quite monotonous. But for a lot of gamers in front of their screens this might not be enough to justify the purchase at or near the release. Watch Dogs could have been or rather should have been much better, especially since it will be released in a year or quarter when real hits like Cyberpunk 2077 and Assassin's Creed: Valhalla will be released. Personally, I call myself a Ubisoft fanboy, because I play and enjoy almost all the big games of the publisher. Also Watch Dogs: Legion is one of them and is my current choice for a chilly evening or afternoon, even a longer session. I like to grind and drive and fly all tech points and other collectable items. But the concept does not work for the general public. For this reason, the game objectively scores relatively poor. There would have been much more in it.
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You don't need any previous knowledge of the Darksiders universe to enjoy the twinstick shooter. Graphically, the game is very impressive. The cutscenes could have been more than just comics. As already mentioned, Darksiders Genesis is a bit more difficult than one would initially think. The balancing certainly has little problems at the bosses at the latest, because you clearly see that the bosses wear the pants. The jumping passages really got on my nerves, which is largely due to the inflexible camera. All in all, the developer Airship Syndicate has brought an entertaining video game onto the market with Darksiders Genesis, which knows how to captivate for around 15+ hours in solo as well as in co-op mode.
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Whether or not you like the graphic style is not easily answered in a test. I personally don't like this coloring book style at all, but still the game itself was really fun. In the end, if you're not sure about this, you should definitely treat yourself to the demo. The gameplay is monotonous and can quickly become boring. Nevertheless the game manages to cast a spell over you. Often you can't stop like that. This is certainly due to the automation possibilities that make crawling much more enjoyable. In any case, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX is worth a look and a second one, even if you don't like the graphics style at first. Fans of the series should take a look here anyway!
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The fantastic soundtrack as well as the many combo possibilities in the style of the iconic THPS let me return to Wave Break every now and then. A real love-hate relationship has developed. After an hour or two I would like to destroy the controller and finish the game, but then I'm looking forward to the next session quite quickly. Wave Break isn't just a clone in a new setting, but actually brings a completely unique charm of its own that captivates the buyer.
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GO Vacation for the Nintendo Switch is very easy to understand and even easier to learn, as you usually only need a few buttons to complete an activity. The camera can't be moved freely, which limited us a lot. This is especially noticeable when taking screenshots. All activities are too easy for experienced gamers, but not boring. Solo gets boring after a certain time, because the processes are always repeating themselves. Go there, play the game, get the stamp or look for the treasure. The focus here is certainly on the multiplayer component, which then provides for party on the sofa. The controls are sometimes a bit sluggish, the collision detection with NPCs is quite nonsensical and the feedback of the different vehicles is not available. So a skateboard doesn't really feel any different than a racing car. Clear purchase recommendation for evenings with family or friends, for single players rather conditionally recommendable.
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Overall, Pokémon Crimson/Purple captivated me despite its many bugs and performance issues. The gameplay and its mechanics are simply successful in my eyes. I can overlook the many stutters and glitches. Only with the breeding, which is a central part of the game series for me, I haven't really warmed up yet. Although it's faster to get a good number of eggs and hatch them, you have to prepare the Pokémon you want to breed, which takes up an unnecessary amount of time and resources. Before, I could simply swap out the "target monster" to boost stats. Now, no eggs appear in the basket unless the Pokémon has been previously nurtured and leveled. Whether this is a bug I can't say, but I was still surprised. You can tell that the developer wanted to make an effort to tell the stories as nicely as possible and has also included many dialogues and events. However, some passages repeat themselves so often or always run identically, so that at some point you just click and hope that it will finally continue. It is also a pity that especially the top four were much too easy. In the first run, these are fixed in level, so you can "overlevel" them super easy. This also applies to the tournaments in the "post-game". All in all, the game still has many construction sites and shows once again that Nintendo urgently needs a new hardware generation to be able to display better graphics. If the in-house or flagship titles like Pokémon or Bayonetta look so bad, Nintendo should have noticed that. It also didn't matter whether a Switch or Switch OLED was used. Still, despite its negative criticisms, the game is the right approach to pick up fans like me. It's a lot of fun and has finally kept me glued to the Switch for a longer period of time, well beyond the test phase. Rarely in the past have I accumulated so many hours of play (60+) in such a short time.
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Whether big or small, pick up a controller and get going. Unfortunately, the game is currently only available online in splitscreen or a private lobby. It is currently not possible to join a public lobby with your friends. Hopefully this will be added. There is also no cross-play between the manufacturers, but only in their own ecosystem. The developer only states that there is no guarantee that "real" crossplay will be implemented. Too bad... If you can live with these limitations and want a piece of childhood, you simply have to play Hot Wheels UNLEASHED.
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Assassin's Creed Valhalla is a worthy "continuation" of the saga for me. Personally, I like the amount of open combat and acting from the shadows. Fans will have to break free a bit from Ezio and the awesome missions where you weren't allowed to be discovered. That rarely happens. Valhalla is just great, fun and offers a lot of playtime for the money. This is marred by the sheer number of bugs. On the one hand, there are some people who were fortunately not affected by them, and on the other hand, like me, where everything just goes wrong. With patch 1.0.2 I was on the verge of leaving the game for now, if I hadn't gotten it for a test. 1.0.4 is unfortunately not much better. There, completely different errors have crept in with me. Against Valhalla, Unity was a smooth release, to put it in perspective. Unfortunately, all these errors overshadowed the really well-done game, whereby there were probably also problems with digital pre-orders at the time of release and fans couldn't even start on time. So much went wrong that the mixed ratings don't surprise us. Assassin's Creed Valhalla is definitely a worthy Assassin's Creed, if you look past the flaws and take in the overall concept. Hardcore fans can already grab it, but if you don't necessarily want to play AC "right away", wait for a few more patches until a certain stability is established and you can play without fear of your score being destroyed or a quest not starting.
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Outriders has been struggling with various problems since launch. The servers are now stable, at least I can speak for Xbox and Stadia, and fortunately I have been spared the worst bugs. The developer "People Can Fly" works daily in the background on the stability as well as availability of the game and keeps the community up to date at all times. You can get first-hand information via Twitter and Reddit. With Outriders, a shooter was created that unites gamers of all platforms via crossplay, but unfortunately does not support crosssave. Personally, I'm extremely annoyed that you have to collect the mods again for each character. After more than 50 hours, I still don't have all of them from level 2, let alone the third. The story surprised me because it's actually pretty good. I didn't expect to be served a viable story to such a shooter. Not one sequence or conversation did I want to skip, which is saying a lot. I'm having an incredible amount of fun with Outriders, but you also have to be patient, because not everything runs as smoothly as the developer would like. Especially a bug that deletes your entire inventory is still being acutely analyzed, although changes have already been made on the server side. Therefore, I only recommend Outriders to a limited extent. If you can wait, you should do so at the moment. In a few weeks, the shooter will surely run very stable and largely bug-free. If you disregard the problems and think a few weeks into the future, Outriders is/will be a clear buy recommendation.
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Orcs Must Die! 3 is recommended for both newcomers and veterans to the series. With the mobile Stadia App the battles can also be fought on the sofa without access to the TV. In my case, I used a Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite, which, like its big brothers, is officially supported. If you don't have an alternative to the Google controller, you can also connect it directly via the app since the last big update. The touch function didn't really score here with the sometimes quite hectic gameplay. A nice continuation of the storyline, cool music, funny sound effects and absolutely smooth gameplay leave little to be desired. The entry into the genre is made easy for newbies, but also old masters are challenged. Varied scenarios provide enough variety and let you start the tower defense game again and again, even if it's just for a quick match. I'm curious in which direction Orcs Must Die! 3 will develop and how it looks like with more content in the future.
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I like the principle of Battle Royale in combination with Bomberman quite well, although it takes some time to get into the game. Konami already thought about all the important components at the start: Battle Pass, ranks, cosmetic items, different characters and emotes! I'm sure you'll catch some gamers, including me, and entice them to daddle. The gameplay is fluid, even if it is hectic in some places. But this is not surprising on the small maps and more and more exploding bombs. What I miss is a kind of campaign that you could finish with your friends. Private games can be depicted, but they are something different. For a real bomberman of the old school, I simply lack such content. On the other hand, Super Bomberman R Online doesn't want to be just that anymore and for ~10€ you get a lot of fun and playtime. Stadia Pro users benefit twice as much because the game is included in the membership.
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For OlliOlli World, I first looked at the predecessors, since I hadn't played them up to that point. Although the current part builds on those, you can feel the improvements not only in the graphics. The demanding gameplay is certainly quite special, because I don't recommend the skater game for casuals. You will only get frustrated. You need time and especially patience to master the controls and complete the levels perfectly. If these "requirements" are met and you enjoy skating, then you are in the right place. The colorful and fun OlliOlli World then knows how to thrill and captivate you. In the end, I enjoyed it so much that I also played the predecessors more intensively. OlliOlli World is a successful video game, which is easy to learn, but hard to perfect with its great variety of tricks.
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