Dreams is a marvel from Media Molecule. It’s another cog in their creative machine that takes game creation to another level. Does it have room to grow? Lord, yes, especially in controls, but it offers up an outlet for non-coders to make their gaming dreams a reality.
While Madden NFL 24 is better than last year’s release, there are still some glaring shortcomings that hurt it, specifically with UI clunkiness, game mode access at times, and repetitiveness.
Overall, Catan on the Nintendo Switch is a treat. The inclusion of a large campaign helps to sell this game easily. The addition of strong AI makes the experience valuable and challenging. If the menu system could improve, then you’re looking at one of the best versions of the board game to ever grace a console.
Other than visual issues, I think the Blood Rage is brilliant in digital form. It's tough, challenging, and it is a well-planned and sophisticated game to play in digital form. I think the developers translated the game perfectly from its table-top brethren, but there is room for improvement.
What the Dub? is a good party game. Playing with friends and family to dub over B-Movie film clips is short stints of amusement that you can come back to when you tire of the Jack Box experience. It's cheap enough to justify and funny enough to enjoy.
Star Ocean First Departure R is a great RPG that needed a bit more love on the presentation side of things. It certainly deserved it.
Sackboy: A Big Adventure is incredible - solo or with others. It has an amazing amount of content for a game that most will write-off haphazardly. It's an example of fun creativity that comes with people who are passionate about bringing a good experience to gamers of all ages.
Doomsday Vault from Flightless is a pleasant puzzle game that will keep your attention in short stints. Its simplicity will keep your interest, while its flexibility to come and go will keep the experience casual.
Sayonara Wild Hearts is a perfect experience. It may not last long, but it will certainly draw you in with its story, keep you there with its variety of gameplay, and then bring the entire experience together with its amazing visuals and music.
Konami Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection brings some classics home, while also reminding us how absolutely insane and brutal the arcade age was in its heyday.
Demon Slayer – Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles is a solid first attempt at bringing this anime to a game format for current generation consoles. What SEGA and CyberConnect2 need to figure out is how to balance bringing the story into the next one while opening the world and trusting the player a bit more. I want to play and explore the anime, I don't want to just watch it through my PlayStation 5. I have VUDU and HBO Max for the latter.
PGA Tour 2K21 is a good game that delivers a spot-on golfing experience. It brings a variety of courses, great mechanics, and plenty of reasons to keep playing. If the presentation could have been improved it would have been the perfect golfing package. As it stands, if you're looking for a good golfing experience than you got it.
Regardless of takeoff, the sequel is entertaining and something you should check out, especially if you enjoyed the first game.
MLB The Show 21 might not excel in vastly improving its overall package, but the smaller upgrades you do get make this game just as entertaining as it was last year. Next year will have higher expectations to meet.
Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a wonderful launch title for the PlayStation 5. It has everything you want from a Spider-Man game and a unique story that could be considered Hollywood-caliber.
The remastered versions of NIOH and NIOH 2 are outstanding. Visually they are nearly equal to each other and both still maintain the core enjoyment of the series, which is dying over and over again while slowly but surely progressing. Of course, those deaths are in 4K with a high frame rate via PlayStation 5, which makes the experience far more entertaining.
Monster Energy Supercross - The Official Videogame 4 isn't a bad game at all, rather it's just an incredibly difficult one that leaves no room for novices to enter the dirt track arena. If you are a pro, then you're going to find a lot to love about this game. The multiple modes work well, the track creation is solid, and the customization in the game is on point.
Overall, Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Champions is not your typical card game. It adds some simple rotation changes that end up adding a thick layer of strategy to the entire gameplay design. All of this sits on top of neat and well thought through card designs and is driven by a solid difficulty arc that forces you to learn the ins/outs of the gameplay.
For Super Monkey Ball fans out there, this game is going to be fun because of the variety of creative mazes SEGA has in store for you. The modes beyond the main will be hit or miss depending on expectations. Nonetheless, Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania is mostly entertaining.
The Pathless is a wonderful balance between puzzles and boss battles contained in a giant landscape. The gameplay design, specifically the boss level design, demonstrates the possibilities this new generation of consoles might offer.