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Poochy and Yoshi’s Wooly World remains a solid platformer and a little added content will make newcomers who experience the game for the first time happy. However, the same problems are prevalent in this port, and while it’s a great experience, does lose some of its luster next to its console counterpart.
Beholder is a management sim and a moral quandary all in one. It’s easy to become consumed by the lives of Carl Stein and the apartment dwellers he’s been hired to spy on, with a story full of twists, turns, and terrible fates.
Nioh is easily the best action RPG I’ve played in some time. It may take some time to get into the swing of it’s melee combat, and the first level doesn’t make a good impression, but anyone looking for some engrossing hack-and-slash combat should pick this up with Nioh hesitation.
A love letter to the 16-bit era, Arelite Core is a great indie addition to the JRPG library. With its excellent battle system and colorful cast of characters, this game is a great trip down memory lane.
Rich in story, but less so in execution, Divide suffers from a few technical issues that makes it a little more clunky than it should be. That said, the cyberpunk narrative is evocative of the best of sci-fi, backed up by a fantastic score. I just wish the controls matched that potential.
I was surprised at just how much I enjoyed the additional immersion of Pinball FX2 VR. It’s completely nausea free, and it looks fantastic to boot. While the neck angle required to work the table is a little uncomfortable, Pinball FX2 VR is a great new way to experience the amazing work of Zen Studios and their pinball tables.
Resident Evil 7 feels as terrifying as it does modern, all while returning the series to its roots. It hits some familiar bumps along the way, but this is the best this series has felt in years.
Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue is a morsel that updates a small bit of the past with a very nice Dream Drop Distance HD Remaster, details a bit of the present with the χ Back Cover cinematic, and shows a smidge of the glorious future with Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth by Sleep – A Fragmentary Passage. The gaming content is high quality, but low quantity, leaving you wanting more. Great for junkies needing a Kingdom Hearts bump to get them through the long wait should get this immediately.
Let it Die is hacky, slashy, and sometimes a little spendy, but with a game like this you can’t turn away. A deliberate and intense action murder simulator rife with humor, morbidity, and tons of style, Let it Die overcomes a few flaws to be a top notch and surprisingly great title. As it is free, there is absolutely no reason not to get it on the action.
Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 is an excellent fighting game with an amazing pool of characters and finely-tuned gameplay. Its original release in 2011 is a critical and commercial darling still enjoyed by fans and pros around the world, but there isn’t enough new content or technical upgrades in this edition to justify a purchase for anyone that isn’t already a devoted fan.
When you create sandbox worlds, it’s very easy to leave the player to “make their own fun”, but here the mixture of intuitive controls, player agency, and tongue-in-cheek humor makes Job Simulator a must-have. While it’s a little on the short side, Job Simulator is the easiest VR title to recommend. If you have a VR headset, this game needs to be in your library.
While visually appealing, the game ultimately falters due to schizophrenic difficulty and a story that’s hard to follow. The forgiving death mechanic made the uncertain levels bearable, but didn’t quite redeem them back to entertaining. As far as appearances go, it stood out as its own title, Don’t Open the Doors fell short in regards to story and gameplay.
My biggest gripe is there is not more, and I wish this was a full-fledged expansion because I enjoyed it so much. The new abilities tree is a fantastic addition to the SIms and I loved playing as a vampire, making this my favorite game pack The Sims 4 has put out to date.
Atelier Shallie Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea is a remake of the PlayStation 3 exclusive, and finds a fantastic landing spot on the PlayStation Vita with all new secrets and content to explore. The game is easy to learn, fun and well paced, and provides a nice mix of JRPG exploration and battles with an item creation system that serves as the series signature. Colorful, well designed, and only slightly stilted, Atelier Shallie Plus is another great title in the Atelier line.
Yakuza 0 is a great entry into the series, with plenty for old fans and newcomers alike. Its story is cheesy and melodramatic at times, and the graphics are a bit outdated, but between a nearly perfect melee combat system and a city bursting at the seams with activity, anyone looking for a sandbox crime game should definitely pick this one up.
2064: Read Only Memories is a free expansion to the original game, available on Steam for $19.99. With a cyber-punk setting and a retro vibe, Read Only Memories is filled with a host of interesting and colorful characters to get to know, a complex and escalating mystery to navigate, puzzles to solve, and a sinister plot or two to overthrow, making it a great investment for fans of the point-and-click adventure genre.
Gravity Rush 2 is a charming and fun game. The impressive AI does a fantastic job of building bonds between players and characters. A wonderful soundtrack alongside a wide variety of mission types come together to create a vivid and large open world. The game is hampered by poor camera controls and some hiccups in the story, but overall, the experience is one that I thoroughly enjoyed and will be playing again.
Stereo Aereo is a functional music game. While it has a very cool scoring method and control scheme, it’s ultimately plagued by unforgiving and frustrating gameplay plus a generic soundtrack. Play this one if you’re looking for a fun time-waster, but there are better titles to which you may rock out.
Shantae: Half-Genie Hero is a highly familiar, yet fresh take on 2D platforming, and the results are a game I can easily imagine scaled down to 16-bit on a Sega Genesis. A nostalgia hound for the 90s will find a lot to love with this game, from the gameplay down to the look, feel, and story it presents. Far from perfect, but charming beyond its expectations, Shantae: Half-Genie Hero is wonderfully fun.
An eccentric cast of villains and zany action make Teslapunk a decent bullet hell shooter, but a terrible soundtrack and performance issues mar an otherwise enjoyable title.