Monster Energy Supercross 25 makes quite the noticeable upgrade to this franchise, as the switch to Unreal Engine 5 gives us better looks, better physics, with even various AI and customization improvements that turn this year’s game the best one in the series yet. With the 2025 roster already in place and various promised new content updates throughout the year, AMA Supercross fans should have their hands full – albeit newcomers might still find this peculiar racing style and some of the jank a bit tough to swallow.
It is however a package that is nice for hardcore fans of the franchise, but also those who want to rediscover the most advanced classic Tomb Raider (IV, that is), the bizarre piece of gaming history that is Angel of Darkness… and also Tomb Raider V, I guess. Sometimes, even missable games are worth a solid remaster.
My advice is: come for the gorgeous psychedelic artstyle and stay for the second half of the game, even if it means muscling through the relatively stale early hours. It may not be the most satisfying metroidvania around, but it certainly is a unique experience that I recommend to fans of the genre.
Dreamcore nails most of its goals. It’s an audiovisually captivating journey through liminal spaces, a dream-like experience that masters the concept like few other videogames before. Personally, I absolutely can not wait to play the upcoming levels, because Dreamcore is already an amazing and unique ride. This is one dream I won’t immediately forget.
I ultimately have to wonder – with these flaws, will the playerbase stay big enough to give enough time for developers to fix what’s wrong, and perhaps make SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada truly one of the greats? As with a lot of game-as-a-service titles: time will tell.
Arm yourself with patience, however, as many game mechanics are a bit undercooked and unprecise, with a lot of bizarre level designs and features that didn’t quite receive the polish they needed, and that this remaster hardly really improved upon. As a quite minimal upgrade to a forgotten but solid game, clearly this one’s for the hardcore fans, who can jump back to the similarly flawed but enjoyable prequel trilogy’s beginnings.
Eventually, the game evolved to a point that I could say I was having a decent amount of fun. But unless you’re a hardcore idle game fan and need a fix, you can likely this one out, as the first 10-20 hours of this game are easily the least enjoyable part of an otherwise quite okay game.
If you’re familiar with the movies, you know that the whole point is not making any noise, and the nail-biting tension of having to open every door slowly, walking on sand where available or having to take detours because the most logical path would be too noisy are the pillars of the experience. Does it make for a compelling videogame? Despite a few shortcomings, I feel that it does, as the game’s excellent graphics and tense atmosphere put a nice little ribbon on the package. But this isn’t a game for everyone.
It lacks the depth or variety of most Monster Truck games on console, and in particular the lack of any race modes is a bit disappointing, but the focus on younger audiences and a forgiving difficulty should make for a decent Hot Wheels experience, for those that seek such a game. The lack of almost any multiplayer, aside from the 2-player local play is a big bummer for the longevity of the game, but if you want an enjoyable solo romp to run through, it’s a good time.
enjoyed the first videogame of the Unknown 9 universe, and I sure hope it won't be the last, as I wanna keep going back to this vast fictional world.
The addition of 2-player modes and various improvements make a lot of sense, and do improve the Aaero formula a good bunch, but at the end of the day it’s hardly a hugely transformative sequel. Still, I fail to see that as a devastating flaw. Aaero2 brings us more awesome tracks to ride rails and shoot alien creatures on to the beat of the rhythm. Sure, it could have been a slightly more ambitious sequel in terms of game mechanics, progression and variety. Yet, even so, Aaero2 is one of the most interesting music-based games in recent memory, one that will have my grinding rails while banging my head back and forth for quite some time.
At the end of the day, I had a fun time with Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports. Sure it is a bit janky, its progression for unlocking new content is odd, and the lack of online multiplayer is a bit of a stinger. Yet, its simple arcade recreations of popular sports brings me back the simple days of mascot sports games of old, and it brought me a good couple hours of Looney Tunes-themed fun with my partner as well.
With a great technical background, too, what's a bit lacking is the inventive in the single player campaign, with merely a largely repetitive sequence of events to beat with little reason or rhyme - one that even shows how little variety the game itself has, as of now, before all DLC or eventual sequels arrive. Personally, that's a prospect I really look forward to, because Monster Jam Showdown's base gameplay is really good, so I'd really love to see the format get expanded upon from here on.
Schim is cute, charming, and has a surprisingly emotional look into the themes of depression and midlife crisis. Perhaps it could dig deeper into its arguments, and maybe even dare a bit more with its gamepaly. Similarly, with a length of only about 3 hours and limited replayability, the launch price of 24.99USD/24,99EUR feels a little excessive, and I would absolutely recommend waiting for a sale. But when that sale does arrive, give Schim your consideration: it’s a quite beautiful little game with an intriguing concept and even a good message to give to its players.
NeoSprint is a fun and well-made homage to racing games of old, with a fun and precise arcade driving model from a top-down view. There’s a vast selection of tracks, a solid editor to create and download new ones, various cars and plenty of customization, including several callbacks to other Atari classics, making this game worth the time for racing fans who aren’t afraid of playing something that winks to an era before 3D racers got popular. Lack of proper online multiplayer is a bummer, although leaderboards and downloadable ghosts are in the game. Ultimately, NeoSprint is a retro arcade bonanza that I can see myself coming back to for a while, especially if the community and developers keep the content and challenges coming.
Graven is an old-school dark fantasy first-person shooter that somehow feels like no other, taking cues not only from classics like Hexen but also throwing in elements of RPG, immersive sim, and more, creating a mix that feels unique and engaging. The game’s lengthy campaign does feature some questionable progression at times, with somewhat needless soulslike elements, time-consuming puzzles, and an uneven balance, but none of these flaws could ruin the game for me. Graven is not just a mechanically fun FPS, it’s also a great journey worth experiencing for yourself – but next to spellbooks, metal swords, and medieval armor, do remember to pack a healthy dose of patience, as its often convoluted design can cause some frustration.
Horizon Chase 2 is a brilliant sequel to an already fun retro-themed racer. Gorgeous visuals, much-improved track designs, better handling, a more interesting progression and even a brand new online mode with cross-play to boot. It may lack the cinematic story presentation of the first game’s Senna Forever DLC, but other than that, this sequel is the best the series has ever been, and it’s a pretty much essential buy for fans of old school racers.
With a further improved career, the cute Fanzone mode, a more believeable presentation and some much welcome finetuning here and there, F1 24 is once again the place to be for all Formula 1 fans who want to experience the thrills of the races on their home console or PC – newcomers and pros alike. Those who aren’t planning to immerse themselves in the revamped single player segment too much or aren’t that hardcore about the sport, may not find F1 24 to be an essential upgrade at all, with no new Braking Point chapter, no notable new game modes or features – with even a handful of brand new, rather annoying technical issues to be found. None of this, of course, negates the excellent gameplay loop the series has masterfully iterated upon for over a decade now, and I know in my heart that I’ll spend plenty of hours on this episode as well, long after I finish up this review. But unless you’re knee-deep into these games’ or the sports’ community, like I am, you can probably stick to F1 23 a while longer.
Tour De France 2024 is yet another yearly installment of Nacon’s racing/managing franchise, based on the most notable cycling event of the year. A rather poor presentation, handling and physics make the actual act of riding not a particularly exciting one, though the pretty deep strategic options given by the peloton racing make for a compelling and unusual racing experience that’s worth a try. Proper multiplayer is finally present as well, albeit limited to 6 players, making this the best entry point to the series thus far. I also feel that such a level of micromanaging only truly caters to big fans of this discipline, whereas newcomers will find an otherwise rather poor racer where managing energy levels is far more important than… well, riding well. Tour De France 2024 isn’t for everyone, and it feels somewhat poorly made in a lot of areas, but it’s still an interesting game for cycling fans who, especially on console, don’t have a lot to pick from anyway.
I consider myself hooked to Ubisoft’s brand new free-to-play shooter, XDefiant. It’s fast, precise, exciting, quite well balanced and rather polished, even if it lacks some personality and originality by sticking awfully close to the mid-2010’s Call of Duty multiplayer formula. The gameplay and visual variety will have to improve a little bit as the game’s seasons progress, with perhaps some more ambition to be expected in future content updates. Still, the game’s core is already very strong, offering that classic arena shooting experience that even recent titles in Activision’s long lasting franchise seem to have abandoned, in favour of a more chaotic experience – for better or worse that may be. Ubisoft have a great multiplayer first person shooter in their hands: now it’s up to them to make it a mainstay for enthusiasts via a convincing post-launch support. For one, I’ll be here to play for the foreseeable future.