Adam Beck
- Valkyrie Profile
- Star Ocean: The Second Story
- Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4
Adam Beck's Reviews
Dragon’s Dogma 2 is majestic, marvelous and magnificent. It’s an experience that’s like no other that will have you immersed for every second of play. Unfortunately, there are certain elements that hold it back from greatness. For starters, retreading already-explored areas for side quests and materials is a pain. Getting from point A to point B is a hassle that requires a great deal of time or coin because of the lack of a competent traversal system. On top of that, this could have immensely benefited from cooperative play. It already has multiplayer functions, so it’s disappointing we only got asynchronous gameplay, especially considering a pawn’s AI can be lacking outside of combat and their mouths do not stop moving. With that said, combat is highly engaging, the structure of the open world encourages exploration like nothing else and lack of hand holding is the best choice Capcom could have made. Dragon’s Dogma 2 has all the right to be the Elden Ring of 2024, but unfortunately, it’s held back by technical limitations and bizarre design choices. Despite this, there’s still so much brilliance to be found.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is a big step in the right direction that’s unfortunately held back by graphical anomalies and open world tropes. It’s an emotional rollercoaster ride that’s heavily back loaded. It'll pull on your heart strings and make you invested in each character more than ever before. It helps that all the memorable moments from the original are not only retained, but strengthened thanks to the graphical prowess of the PlayStation 5. Combat also remains highly engaging, with slight modifications that only enhance the experience further. Unfortunately, Rebirth is also marred with baffling design choices that stifle its greatness. It's filled with mini-games that thankfully are mostly in side quests, as their controls and function leave much to desire. At the very least they will keep you interested as it never gets stale. On top of that, while most of the graphics will have you impressed, low resolution textures and geometry are spliced in the most confusing of ways, only pulling you out of the immersion. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth has its share of issues that prevent it from greatness, but whether you’re a dire hard fan or relatively new to the saga, this remains an RPG for the ages.
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is one of the most cinematic superhero games ever created.
Disgaea 7 improves upon its predecessor by building a balanced and more complete roster than what we've become used to, but unfortunately it falls apart in other areas.
Starfield is a momentous RPG, even if it doesn't quite deliver in all its areas.
Final Fantasy XVI will change what we think of the franchise moving forward.
Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection remains true to its original releases while adding a couple of appreciated additions to clean up some of its timewasters.
It may have been sold on seemingly every platform on the planet, but finally we have a proper remake to the 2005 classic.
Motive Studio has done the unthinkable with Dead Space. It has turned this iconic, incredibly memorable survival horror game from fifteen years ago into an even more immersive and engaging experience.
It's hard to believe that it has taken Persona 4 over a decade to branch outside of its PlayStation shackles.
Persona 3 Portable was a gem when it came to the PlayStation Portable nearly thirteen years ago, but it was very much meant for the hardware of its time.
Warhammer: 40,000: Darktide is one of the most enjoyable games of the year, but it's tremendously rough around the edges.
Star Ocean: The Divine Force feels drained of life.
The Uncharted franchise has been the spectacle of video games for fifteen years, meshing strong writing and characters with exhilarating scenarios.
Persona 5 Royal was already a remarkable victory lap for Atlus, but the remaster helps the RPG shine brighter.
Soul Hackers 2 is a by the books turn-based JRPG that doesn't do anything particularly memorable nor offensive.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has incredible presentation values and a rewarding combat system, but the story leaves much to be desired.
Marvel's Spider-Man is one of - if not the best - adaptation of a comic book franchise, and the PC version only better highlights Insomniac's work.
While there were key elements that could be ironed out when it first was released for Nintendo Switch, there's a bevy of underlying issues that has stayed with the core structure.
Elden Ring is one of the best games in years, with a breathtaking vast world to explore, and one of the most satisfying combat systems in an RPG. This is the accumulation of FromSoftware's work over the last thirteen years and an evolution on its inspiring formula.