What we saw while playing the preview of Battlefield 2042 3.2 update was impressive. Going back to the tried-and-true class system was a great move and it will certainly pay off in pulling players back into Battlefield 2042. I know it’s certainly going to pull me back into the scrum.
Judging The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition on its entertainment value is easy – it’s perfect. It has an unbelievable story, compelling characters, solid gameplay, and a properly thought-through backend that shows the developers are all-in on delivering an unforgettable experience. On the next-generation upgrade side of this release, it’s just not complete. While the performance mode takes the experience up a notch with visuals and frame rate, the Ray Tracing mode is unplayable and incomplete. It hurts the experience more than it helps it.
Cygnus Enterprises is a fun experience that will hook you and keep you wanting to play the game. Team Miaozi did one helluva job of balancing each purposeful gameplay element into its design and it has worked very well. Keep an eye on this one and take a chance if you want something fun and that has the longevity to it for the holiday season. I’m sure it will get bigger and better.
Demeo: PC Edition is going to be a fun game. It has all the makings of a game that a group of dedicated people will play consistently. Having the mixture of RPG, action, DnD, and card gaming create this harmonious experience that is simple as it is fun, but in a strategic complicated manner.
As it stands right now, the Wolfhunter DLC, which is going to be a review in progress to see how it all works out, is action-packed and entertaining. The dungeon I was able to get through with the devs at ZeniMax Online Studios was fun, and it felt like a well thought out idea that was executed beautifully.
I think that Bethesda did a bang-up job with making the deck creation deeper and certainly should get respective kudos for their continued expansion and balance of the cards in Legends.
All-in-all, I enjoyed the variety of maps that this expansion offered. Again, the tight confines of the map make the gameplay work so well. The thickness of the multi-tier layout also helps when it comes to really getting into the moment and the map. These are fantastic additions to the BF1 family.
Super Bomberman R falls short as a complete package. The single-player, while reaching for something a bit different with level design (and it achieves it), falls short with uninteresting bosses and slow enemies. The online play of the game is only good on a local level, while the actual online gaming experience is hindered by the lack of players and atrocious delay. Until Konami gets these things addressed, I can only say look backwards to the Turbografx or Saturn for the best Bomberman experience, as you simply won't find it here.
Left Alive was not a fun game to play. It lacked personality, even though it wanted to be an MGS clone so bad. It lacked complication for a stealth game, as well as comfortable character movement and slow ramp-up of difficulty. I think if the devs could have had more time to smooth out these rough areas, then the game would have been decent, if not good.
As it stands, Umbrella Corps is a hard sell even at $29.99. The content just seems void of enjoyment and entertainment because of the broken feel of the overall gameplay design. I will give Capcom and its developers props for trying something different in the RE series. The idea seems to be built on good intentions.
To say that Redfall needs major work to fix some balancing issues would be a bit of an understatement. For a game that had so much hype during its development and was supposed to be the first big game of 2023 for the Xbox family that wasn’t called Halo or Forza, it has fallen short in its delivery. There are quite a few issues with Redfall, lots of unbalance in gameplay, and plenty to correct before it can be considered a permanent and worthwhile IP.
The efforts of the devs shouldn’t go unnoticed, and hopefully, you will appreciate it as much as I did, but that price tag is still a sticking point for me
Madden NFL 22 has some good parts to it, mainly the usual suspects, but falls flat with Face of the Franchise. I know Face of the Franchise is a key part of Madden's success and what fans look forward to as a main piece of the Madden pie each year, but honestly, it has so many glitches in it that at times it is unplayable. Could these be fixed, and this year's title saved? Most definitely, but as it stands at launch, the game has issues that need rectifying.
Rocket Arena is a very young battle arena shooter. It is off to a decent start, though the pain points of the game are blatantly obvious. Its intentions are to capture that Fortnite crowd with its personality but definitely falls short with its delivery in certain gameplay areas. There is hope for this game and I can see it succeeding with updates and expansions, but right now it's a tough sell when compared to its competition.
In the end, Heavy Fire: Red Shadow definitely harkens back to a time period where point/shoot had a different meaning in an arcade experience than it does now. The game maintains a nostalgic design, which certainly makes sense for the experience, but the experience's longevity will be questioned depending on player expectations. This goes back to what you understand about a game's intentions. If you know going into it that you're going to get an arcade shooter, then you may not be disappointed. If you're expecting a deeper experience than just point/shoot, then you may not find it here.
If you're looking for a nostalgic way to get your Rogue Trooper Redux fix, then you might be better off looking at the PlayStation 4/Xbox One releases. The Nintendo Switch keeps up with them in terms of visuals and gameplay mechanics, but falls behind in controls and aiming. The controls simply don't make the gameplay experience comfortable enough to enjoy the game.
NBA Live '14's dribbling mechanics (bounceTek) is done well, but the rest of the game needs some work. Bad A.I., dragging controls and subpar next generation looks really don't do much for a series trying to make a comeback.
Outright Games' Ice Age Scrat's Nutty Adventure shows some passionate love for the film series and constructs a game that young gamers will eat up. Does it have a fair share of issues? Yes, the levels feel too big and there's not enough to do at times, but young gamers won't really need that intricate design and complication to enjoy it.
Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness is a beautiful game that is well crafted in some areas, especially in the menu and combat systems. Sadly, the game trips on its own inconsistent difficulty and poor or incomplete feel of the gameplay design.
Catlateral Damage is a simple gaming experience that doesn’t offer up much variety outside of swiping items off shelves, but it does occasionally offer up some cute humor. Nothing really more or less than that, though.