While there are some improvements that can be made, Halo: Infinite is a return to form for the storied FPS franchise.
Chorus is a mostly good game, with excellent dogfighting and gameplay that always feels fun to pull off. It also looks gorgeous and can make for an entertaining narrative, even if it's not really breaking the mold too much with its plot. Still, it's almost tragic how poorly the game's ending lets down the rest of the solid work that made everything else about it so brilliant.
Riders Republic is at its core a fun game that only wants you to have fun, more than most games. Its UI isn't the best, and there still seem to be some bugs that need to be ironed out, but there are no issues that really breaks your fun all the way. On top of the gorgeous presentation, Riders Republic is easy to recommend for anyone with a liking towards a game where they can flip around three times on a pair of rocket ski's mid-air while dressed as a giraffe.
NHL 22 does an excellent job at bringing back old arcade-y mechanics and blending it with today's simulation quality presentation in a way that works together rather than against itself. Some modes could still use a refresh, but the core gameplay of NHL 22 shows that the NHL series is really hitting its stride with this release.
Back 4 Blood stands as a new standard in co-op shooters. With vibrant, intricate level design, solid gunplay, and intense moments brought on by a variety of dizzying enemy types balanced through a deep card system, it stands as a great achievement. The difficulty wall is annoying and other in game choices feel odd, to say the least, but that doesn't stop you from having an absolute blast, especially playing with friends.
BPM: Bullets Per Minute is a fast-paced and intense shooter stripped down to only the very basics, all of which is meant to focus you in on the core mechanic of staying on beat. Fortunately, it works beautifully well and creates a fun and addicting gameplay experience that stands above some minor flaws.
JETT: The Far Shore is home to a compelling cast of characters and a narrative worth playing and paying attention to, but it ultimately misses its mark and the less than compelling gameplay only further drags it down to an experience that overall feels just okay, and potentially downright boring if you're not gripped by the narrative.
Hot Wheels Unleashed is an excellent arcade racing games with some truly inventive and crazy tracks, wonderfully recreated Hot Wheels toys that drive beautifully and the visuals to back it all up. Unfortunately an in-balance of reasonably long to extremely long tracks and their many hazard risks make it too easy to get frustrated when struggling to reach top spot, and the track builder while very well detailed fails to make the user experience anything but pleasant.
Aragami 2 could be a good stealth game, with a good foundation of stealth gameplay and even an intriguing story, but it is plagued by constant bugs, performance issues, poor level design, pacing, rough implementation of gameplay mechanics and a visual style that only further serves to make its flaws even more evident then they already are.
Clid The Snail is a charming indie game with characters that you can easily grow to love just by spending time with them, and a narrative that is entertaining and consistent all the way through till the end. However, its gameplay issues and the clash of two very different vibes pull you out of those fun moments constantly, and you're left reminded of all the game's shortcomings all over again.
Hades is an absolutely stellar experience that will keep you hooked in from the beginning, with a beautiful visual design and score, not to mention an excellent narrative and intricate gameplay that will keep you coming back again and again for just one more run.
The Falconeer: Warrior Edition is largely the same game that I already enjoyed when it first launched, but experiencing it on PS5 has made all the difference. The DualSense's features are well implemented, and the gameplay flows in such a way that you never want to put the controller down. Despite issues with the UI, and how certain aspects of the game work, you can just get around them, and can avoid them altogether once you've moved into the endgame.
Eldest Souls wears its inspiration on its sleeve, though in the end that counts for very little. The boss fights are often unbalanced and tedious, which only contributes to a frustration that deters you from wanting to pick the controller back up.
Aerial_Knight’s Never Yield is nothing short of an incredible vision and idea executed perfectly. It’s this that makes the reality of Never Yield’s origins a mix of upsetting and uplifting; Neil Jones has spent the last decade as a Black developer doing his best to make it in an industry that he recognized wasn’t making space for him, so he decided to do it himself. If you’d like to learn more about Neil Jones and his journey, I highly recommend reading his recent interview with GamesIndustry.Biz. More than just signing his work by putting his username in the title, Jones is fully stating to the rest of the world that he quite literally will never yield when it comes to doing what he loves to do, and releasing this game is proof of that.
Like so many indies before it, rogeulike Scourgebringer has found its true home on the PlayStation Vita.
If you, like me loved Jak and Daxter on your PS2 back in the day and also loved MediEvil, I’m almost positive there will be something about Pumpkin Jack that will bring a smile to your face. It is exactly aimed at that kind of player, while also being quite accessible to new players and charming enough along the way to get you invested in exploring each level. It definitely doesn’t break any ground in the genre but it is a worthy entry in the genre even just solely based on how well it pays homage to what inspired it in the first place. It might not be everything that I want it to be now, but I’m already holding out hope to see a Pumpkin Jack 2 that answers all my prayers.
As a whole, Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection is an incredible remake of the original. It does everything a remake should, in that it keeps the core feeling of what made the original click with players while updating it for a modern audience. However, I can’t stress this enough though: do not play on the Knight or Legend difficulty levels until you genuinely feel ready, whenever that is. Neither are, in my opinion, a good way to experience everything that is wonderful about Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection, and will only leave you frustrated beyond belief.
Cyber Shadow is the quintessential 2D retro-style ninja platformer. Aarne Hunziker has absolutely outdone himself with this title in every sense of the word. I genuinely don’t have anything negative to say about it, and even the one thing I did have a slight problem with I wouldn’t change (that being checkpoint frequency). The difficulty can feel frustrating at times, but it is in no way insurmountable, and honestly just gives it more of a retro vibe. Cyber Shadow excels in every way through its beautiful presentation, a soundtrack that slaps harder with each new song, a touching story, and absolutely thrilling gameplay. This is an absolute must play for any fans of 2D platformers.
A fun and thrilling classic beat 'em up that is best enjoyed with others, though a frustrating single player experience and some network issues can interrupt your good time.
Lair Of The Clockwork God is an excellent game that will take you on a hilarious journey solving puzzles with Dan and Ben, even if the journey is shorter than I would like and the jokes don't really read to anyone who isn't quite steeped within games culture.