Justin Wood
Overall, Hellsweeper VR was a big disappointment. Between cumbersome controls and some obnoxious grinding there is little to enjoy in Hellsweeper VR.
Overall, I was disappointed in Song of Horror and while it may seem to try and get players to play through multiple times using different characters there just isn’t enough reason to trudge through the game again.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is a tough pill to swallow. With bad gameplay mechanics and multiple server issues, its sad to see such a great developer fall so far.
Atlas Fallen is a hard game to recommend. Between janky controls and a really rough-feeling platforming system, it feels like it fights you every step of the way.
Farworld Pioneers has a long way to go to set itself apart from its predecessors. So many moving systems make the cracks from pretty early on in this Starbound, Terraria-like.
Fatal Frame: The Maiden of Black Water is a weird choice for a remaster. A lot of it has not aged well, specifically its story and characters, and it also remains to be a middling-at-best example of the series. With subtle but important connections to the other games in the Fatal Frame series, it’s strange Koei Tecmo decided to remaster this one. Hopefully this leads to either a new Fatal Frame or more re-releases of the other stronger titles in the series, like Fatal Frame 2: Broken Butterfly.
Overall, Airborne Kingdom tries to add some tight resource elements into the city management genre, and while it works in the early game, the late game gets bogged down by needing to constantly hunt down resources while trying to remain afloat. While the story is rudimentary at best, the art style and music are outstanding.
Lamentum is like a salad, it is a fantastic idea with delicious bits in it like the combat and general sense of exploration. While not without issues, the game is still fun.
Star Wars Dark Forces is a product of its time, with decent visual remastering, but the gameplay sadly doesn’t hold up.
Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Volume 1 is a poorly handled emulation of some truly fantastic games. Its baffling that they got handled this poorly, and I hope we see some fixes soon.
Tribe: Primitive Builder is a bland builder at best. The story does nothing but bog down the building mechanics, and even then, they are not presented in a way that is appealing.
Harvest Island is too drawn out in its game mechanics to make for a relaxing farm sim, and with so many other options out there its better to scratch that itch elsewhere.
All in all, if you enjoyed Hyrule Warriors and like that format mixed with the Fire Emblem setting then you should absolutely check out Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes.
I hope that if we get a Ghostwire: Tokyo sequel, they cook the story a little longer and flesh the abilities out a little more. Ghostwire: Tokyo has some solid ideas and even implementations of those ideas, but its story just kind of fizzles out.
Alone in the Dark 2024 revitalizes a classic franchise with a compelling setting and exploration focus, despite being marred by bugs and lacklustre combat.
SUPER CRAZY RHYTHM CASTLE is a weird mishmash of mechanics all thrown at the players at lightning speed. Sometimes it works, and other times it is down right frustrating, but either way it certainly lives up to its name.
Overall, Hot Wheels Unleased 2: Turbocharged builds on the solid foundation of the first game by adding new vehicles, tracks and more importantly new race modes. While the story is bland and forgettable, the gameplay is too much fun for it to hold it back too much.
Company of Heroes 3 on PS5 is not an ideal way to play this fantastic series. While it manages to keep the gusto of the series alive, fighting with the controls just makes the overall experience a pain.
Overall, I enjoyed my time with Metroid Prime Remastered... I do think it's a great game, although it could have used a few more quality-of-life changes to make it land better for the more casual Metroid audience like myself.
Assassin’s Creed Nexus manages to successfully pull off a fully-fledged VR game set around its fast-moving traversal mechanics with minimal motion sickness. They have, in a way, set a new standard for comfort options.