Watch Dogs: Legion’s cast of randos makes a surprisingly winning team
Rally driving, for me anyway, is about plowing headlong into the unknown, understanding the risk of fast driving in a way you can’t on an oval or a well-known circuit. That makes taking a square left perfectly, or drifting through the full 180 degrees of a switchback, seem even more high-five-myself awesome. And I got exactly that in Art of Rally. If that’s the experience you want, too, Art of Rally will serve it as much as it will an escape from the present day, for a delightful joyride through a beautiful countryside.
That means some kind of personal journey or transformation for the star, and supporting characters with some depth and likability. Given every chance to be a preening overdog, newcomer Vince Washington turns the character Hendrixx Cobb into a warm, believable friend instead. Michael K. Williams (Omar from The Wire) is just shady enough as a streetwise mentor to make an endgame choice - one the game even forced me to reconsider! - both reasonable and personally regrettable.
Madden NFL 21 then, is a lot like a best friend in the time of social distancing: someone I desperately want to see and spend time with, except doing so also recalls how much we’ve actually lost over the past five months.
Narcos: Rise of the Cartels succeeds completely at just one thing: It makes me interested in watching the Netflix series. The game had a lot of potential, and at least superficially it looked like something that may be better than the standard advertorial we’ve come to expect from this kind of tie-in game.
In present day, Need for Speed Heat seems limited, reminding me of all the things that made it distinct, but still hedging against them in case I don’t find them enjoyable. I’m confused about what would have made this game better, but the series seems just as confused about what it wants to be.
The player character customization is also a lot more detailed than its Division cousin, which of course sets up an opportunity to throw even more microtransactions at the player. The good news is that player progression isn't tied to anything that can be bought for real money. Though the in-world currency is sold for real cash, there is no need to buy it if you'd rather avoid the premium economy.
The best parts may carry over, but the new flashes make it all worth revisiting
eFootball PES 2020 doesn’t make me forget about its competition, but it does force me to reckon with what I really want from a soccer video game, and who really meets those needs.
NASCAR Heat 4 may not look different, at first, but it doesn’t take long before I can feel just how much better it has become.