Nathaniel Stevens
Overall, the gameplay of Lost Sphear is solid in execution, sans the difficulty that comes with it. The gameplay will require strategy out of you, and maybe you're better than me in the department, but for the most part it is a good game. The manual positioning alone separates this RPG from more traditional of its type, such as a Romancing SaGa 2, but the difficulty does keep you grounded when it comes to being consistently entertained.
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions is a game for fans of the 2003 title. The upgrade in controls, visuals and the addition of Bowser's Minions will certainly make this a worthy purchase. For newbies of the title, the controls are probably going to get in the way of entertainment, which is not what you want when you're trying to sell it to new/young gamers.
War Theatre for the Nintendo Switch is a tough hoss of a turn-based game, which harkens back to the day of Dragon Force and Advance Wars, though not quite as perfect as those games. It ups the ante of difficulty, while requiring you to think before you move, or else you're in for a long day. It's a challenge, but a welcomed one.
Pokken Tournament DX is a wonderful game and maintains that goodness with the Nintendo Switch upgrade. It adds some more to the package, with characters and modes, but essentially delivers the same experience that you would find on the Wii U. New players will like it, but there may not be enough new content to warrant a Switch version in the household for some Wii U owners.
Battlezone: Combat Commander is a Wing Commander-like experience in a tank. It features a neat story, updated graphics, and some gameplay that might not quite achieve the longevity of entertainment that it desires. It does contain some interesting features to try and keep the gamer engaged, but depending on expectations of the gamer will equal out to whether that engagement holds up.
Controls aside, NBA Live 18 is better than expected and shouldn't be overlooked.
I have enjoyed the X Games pass for Steep. I think it has far more positives than negatives. The inclusion of actual events means that you have something to play for, and the design of said events is more impressive than not. It's a solid expansion to an ever-growing game.
If you enjoyed the original game, then you’re going to like what DotEmu delivers in the Windjammers 2. While I’m not a fan of taming the power-ups, I am a fan of competitive disc games that remind me how cool TRON was back in the 80s. Windjammers 2 is an easy-to-pick-up arcade experience that has far more positives than negatives.
Assassin's Creed Origins sets a new bar for the series. It brings a taste of tomb raider mixed in with the girth of a Horizon Zero Dawn and wrapped in a traditional Assassin's Creed structure. It will exceed gamer expectations and set a new standard for a series that needed life breathed into it.
Sea of Thieves' concept is beautifully drawn up. It has exploration, intense PvP and one of the most beautiful sea adventures to ever grace gaming, but it is lacking in content and it needs more reason to keep players moving and exploring. It has plenty of space on its plate for that, but in its vanilla form there's nothing really to fill that space. I suspect that won't be the case for long, if Rare has anything to say, but that is the current case now.
MLB The Show 20 is another marvel for San Diego Studios. The tweaks they implemented and the gameplay options they have provided only stand to improve the product. They own baseball in gaming and it looks like they're not ready to give it up anytime soon.
The game looks solid, the intensity of the original release is still intact, and the gameplay doesn't drop off much when playing it portable. It's a must-have for Nintendo Switch owners dying for a first-person shooter.
Overall, the gameplay was far more together, understandable, and executable than it has been in the past. The action was led by story, upping the ante with tremendously lovely, yet terrifying monsters, and together everything felt far more cohesive than I remember with the series’ previous games.
Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 is a fun game that offers up more gameplay options than narrative depth. The competitive mode is the highlight of the release and gives you plenty of reasons to keep playing this sequel.
Overall, Chimparty is a fun PlayLink title from NapNok that gives off a nice Mario Party vibe, while not quite reaching the level design that usually comes with a Mario Party. Chimparty is a good family game, though, and a good addition to the PlayLink family.
The Crew 2 is a beautiful follow-up to the first. It packs a lot of punch inside of it and it's friendly to all types of gamers. The world is still big, the events are great in number, and it just feels like a fun/simple racing game that you want to play on and off for a long time.
The Suicide of Rachel Foster does its best to get you in that uncomfortable gameplay horror structure it aspires to achieve, and it succeeds in engaging and pulling you into the experience. The game just falls short in the story and never really brings the actual horror you would expect to the table, which hurts the gameplay. The long journey to start the horror and the payoff by the end doesn't match up. That's not to say you won't get something out of the game, at least some mystery and suspense, but your expectations of what you should get and what you want to get will never quite come to fruition.
Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights is a well-planned and executed game from Binary Haze Interactive. It has some repetitive shortcomings, but the fun boss fights and massive levels will help you get through the grind.
Overall, Detective Gallo is a great point and click game with little to dislike. It brings a solid story, some very likable and dislikable characters, and it does the point and click genre justice. The difficulty might be a bit too much for some, but the payoff is worth it.
Madden NFL 20 updates and adds some interesting attributes to its football structure. It polishes up the story mode and gives it focus while maintaining the entertainment value of the series steadily. It needed a bit more with regard to content, but what it has is still good.