The Planet Crafter truly captures the roleplay feeling of terraforming a strange new planet and offers a rewarding and immersive terraforming experience. It is well-paced, and multiplayer makes it an even better experience, with groups of friends being able to work on solo projects side by side or enjoy focusing together on completing goals. Though it would be nice to be able to have more direct interactions with other players and a chance to customize looks to distinguish one another, the multiplayer is well done in its execution of being able to feel like a team working on common goals.
Freedom Planet 2 is fun chaos at every turn.
Princess Peach: Showtime! is never truly challenging and could use a choice of a harder difficulty setting to keep things more interesting. Players will have to replay levels multiple times to get 100% completion, and one drawback is that missing one item will require playing the entire level again rather than being able to backtrack, which can get frustrating. Overall, Princess Peach: Showtime! is an extremely enjoyable game, offers a significant amount of content, and is something that could be enjoyed by anyone.
Throughout 130 levels, Nintendo's puzzle-filled platforming game has just the right amount of increase in challenge as the game goes on, and plenty of surprises for players to discover. The variety of game mechanics and ways to solve puzzles are engaging and fun, and the game is incredibly difficult to put down as it is too easy to want to try just one more level. Mario Vs. Donkey Kong is a must-play for puzzle lovers, and is a perfect example of what a remake should be.
Tomb Raider as a series is a beloved franchise and one that is sad to ever give a low score to. The problems encountered in this collection were painfully debilitating and would almost be better if one went and played the original game instead. Graphics are improved, but there is so much more that should have been updated that the original Tomb Raider 1–3 games should have had a full remake rather than remaster, or at least a bit more polish and attention given to the glitches and bugs.
There is so much good to say about Foamstars, with its quirky characters and cheerfully energizing feel. While at launch the matches do not feel entirely balanced, that will even out with time, yet the microtransactions look as though they could only get worse. Currently, Foamstars is free on PS Plus for anyone to try it out, but after March 5th anyone who does not already have the game downloaded will have to purchase it for $29.99. That price, combined with the costs of Premium Seasonal Passes and in-game store purchases can quickly add up and is overwhelming. Cosmetic items don't have to be purchased, of course, but to be faced with that many instances of trying to get players to spend money simply feels much dirtier than a soap-filled game ever should.
Each of the three games included in this remastered trilogy may feature the same story as their originals, yet the quality brought to the Nintendo Switch collection is worth a look. Those who may have missed the games the first time around, or who have never played any Phoenix Wright title will enjoy the narratives where each mystery is beautifully written and intriguing in its subtlety. The evidence suggests that the Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy is well worth the many hours of gameplay included, and is only guilty of being a wonderfully remade collection of mysteries.
Ultimately, Station to Station is a very relaxing experience and wonderful for anyone who likes solving puzzles. The style and feel of it all is calming despite sometimes suffering failure and having to restart or reset from a checkpoint. It is a short game, being completed in around 8–10 hours, but then the custom mode helps to add more for anyone who wants to keep going.
Silent Hope seems like a simple premise, but it is executed beautifully. The level of challenge is just right, the loot that is picked up with each run gives a very satisfying feeling, and the story is a journey, not only in what happened within this kingdom but also an exploration of mental health and pride. It truly becomes a dungeon crawler with hidden depths as the philosophy behind the story comes into play and the need to know more of what happened drives players to want to keep going and try to get a little further. Silent Hope is truly a well-crafted experience that offers much more than meets the eye.
Ultimately there is nothing mind-blowing about Horizon Chase 2, but there also really isn't anything negative either. The only drawback is that there isn't more of it, as the game is pretty quick to complete at roughly eight hours for the entire World Tour unless played on high difficulties that make it harder to progress. Horizon Chase 2 simply feels like a fun game that is perfect at giving a nostalgic feel of a 90s arcade racer, but with much better graphics to smooth it out.
Overall, Moonstone Island is a wonderful blend of deckbuilding, creature collecting, and traditional cozy life-sim. It is a game that makes it easy to lose track of time as players may be left feeling like they could do just one more day before logging out. The quickness of the passage of time, and the fact that the main story ends after one year is disappointing, but only because there is so much engaging content that Moonstone Island gives players to do that it feels like there should be more time to do it all, and more story to go along with it.
Ultimately, what makes NBA 2K24 wonderful ends up being negatively overshadowed by the level of pay-to-win that the game has. There are many cosmetic items for styling MyPlayer with fun clothing or having fancy new hoverboards and animations that all would have been plenty valuable as microtransactions, adding in the ability to improve actual game skills by paying money was an unnecessary and distracting feature. The game itself is fun, realistic, and addictive, and could easily be a must-play for any basketball fan if the in-game purchases can be overlooked.
Overall, Ride 5 is a stunningly realistic approach to motorcycle racing simulations. It features immersive graphics and physics that can cause races to be simultaneously challenging and rewarding, while also providing some rider aids to help those who are struggling with the difficulty. The depth of content that is available with the various game modes will allow people to spend countless hours racing and playing around in their virtual garage decorating and tweaking their bikes. Anyone who is a fan of racing, particularly motorcycle racing, should absolutely give Ride 5 a try.
As a casual player, Railway Empire 2 can get incredibly overwhelming quickly with the number of different things to pay attention to, such as: resources, connecting lines, what the competition is doing, and budget. This is a strange contrast to the slow-moving nature of the game and the peaceful feeling that the theme and graphics provide. For anyone who is a fan of train simulators or management games, however, Railway Empire 2 is an enjoyable experience that can provide countless hours of entertainment.
Speed Crew's developers have already announced they are working on planned updates and DLCs that will include new levels and game modes for players to enjoy. There are some customization options for characters and vehicles in the game as well, which is a fun extra touch. The game was completed in solo mode in about 10 hours and that timeframe could easily shift when played with friends, depending on their ability to cooperate effectively. There were no technical issues observed over the entire course of the game, and its process of slowly ramping up the difficulty felt smooth and natural. Overall, Speed Crew is a very fun game that would be a great addition to any group of friends or family looking for a new party game to enjoy.
Ultimately, though the Etrian Odyssey games do not feature much story, they are incredibly fun dungeon-crawling experiences. The featured ability to draw maps of the dungeons as the party progresses through the game can become somewhat tedious if played in docked mode using a controller, but with the touchscreen in handheld, it can be quick and very satisfying. The Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection is a well-crafted remaster of the original games and offers hundreds of hours of fun for dungeon-crawling enthusiasts.
Ultimately, Diablo 4 is a must-play experience for any fan of dungeon-crawler ARPGs.
While the story for Sunshine Shuffle is intriguing, the presentation does not match up with the tone of the narrative. The game also suffers from many technical issues that individually wouldn't be too bad, but when put together are very distracting and problematic. Though some of the features of Sunshine Shuffle are entertaining, and the poker is well played, overall there are many other poker games that are more enjoyable than this one.
LEGO 2K Drive may seem like a simple racing game on the surface, but it has surprising depth with its layers of comedy, clever Easter eggs, and creativity. It's also safe and fun for children and adults alike. LEGO 2K Drive may not be a serious adventure title, but it is certainly a must-play experience for anyone interested in a good time.
Age of Wonders 4 is a beautifully crafted 4X experience for players who like to dig deep and learn how to customize a game to fit how they like to play and be able to research through many varieties of choices and traits.