Carrie Lambertsen
Who doesn’t dream of being the town’s hero? Heroes of Hammerwatch Ultimate Edition allows you to do just that- after a lot of death.
The time-stopping mechanic, while refreshing in concept, isn't enough to elevate this twin-stick shooter RPG beyond its middle-of-the-road status.
While not incredibly long, Alwa’s Legacy feels polished and complete, featuring quality dungeon design and a clever cast of characters.
Sometimes, you just need a good arena brawler game to jump in and slash at giant hordes of enemies again, and again. Cubers: Arena is that game.
Calico is a peaceful simulation game about collecting cats to live at your cat café, and helping your friends on a magical island. Simple, soothing fun.
Does this extensive development tool make building RPGs a breeze on the Switch? We take a look to find out.
In this alternate reality version of the French Revolution, a group of women seem to hold magical abilities within themselves. Can they change fate?
Monster Sanctuary masterfully mixes several classic components - monster collecting, Metroidvania platforming, and RPG elements - into one impressive package.
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.
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.
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.
Fans of cozy gaming will enjoy this narrative adventure mystery, with cute characters and fun retro graphics. It is a short game, although there are at least two different possible endings that can require replaying some of the game in order to see. Many of the choices made in the game will lead to different outcomes, and saving frequently would be recommended for anyone who wants to be able to see all the varieties.
EA Sports PGA Tour is an absolutely beautiful and immersive golf game with a very realistic feel. The game can be quite demanding on even some of the better systems, so PC users should be forewarned to check the requirements and be ready to turn down graphic settings. It is a challenging game, but still a lot of fun and is a great foundation for players to become better with the ability to see true growth happening as they continue to practice, as long as the player has enough patience to get there.
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.
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.
Capcom collections of older games tend to be great, and this new set is a wonderful example of the care they put into making them easy to navigate and exciting to find lots of the extra content that many players may not have had access to originally. The art gallery with concept art and official artwork for events plus the music player of 188 songs are wonderful to have included with the games. Overall, the Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection is a very well-crafted trip down memory lane and will be a true treasure to fans of the original games, and fun for new players to have that much content provided.
Though there are some learning curve issues with the game, Minecraft Legends is a solid experience overall and does a wonderful job of combining the action-strategy formula into a compelling game in the Minecraft universe. Being able to lead creepers and skeletons into battle to fight alongside the player is a clever concept and the cutscenes throughout the campaign provide an epic feel. Because of the procedurally generated world and the nature of the battles, Minecraft Legends offers a lot of replay value as well.
Fans of 3D platformer adventures, especially those who also are fans of SpongeBob's television series, will find a lot of value in the game SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake. The friendly banter between SpongeBob and Patrick throughout the game offers a lot of jokes - and even some unexpected laugh-out-loud moments - that makes it difficult not to smile while playing. The art style, music, and voice acting all provides a high-quality feel, almost like being inside an episode of the cartoon series. Meanwhile, the gameplay itself is well-crafted and offers a lot of variety for players. All these things combined make the game an overall enjoyable, if not immediately forgettable, experience for players of all ages.
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.