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The Master Collection is just about as barebones as you can get, yet can still be recommended due to the inclusion of two of the best games ever made. Like most players, I was excited when the collection was first announced because I thought it would be a full blown remake or, at the very least, a remaster. Still, I had hours of fun replaying the first two entries, and would wholeheartedly recommend this collection to anybody that has not played the games before or does not own another means of playing them.
Intergrade is a decent upgrade to a fantastic game. While some of the new features like haptic feedback leave a lot to be desired, the INTERmission DLC is a blast with some truly incredible gameplay, music, and characters that makes this worth getting if you already own a PS5.
Chicory: A Colorful Tale is a delightful experience that, while confronting some of the darker parts of creativity, will simply make you feel good. The world is cute and fun to explore, puzzles are a joy to solve, and coloring in the Picnic Province is relaxing.
With exhilarating moment to moment gameplay, Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 delivers on its promise of longer shots, new gadgets, better contracts, and everything you've come to expect. Sure, it brings bugs and design choices that'll make you scratch your head, but that's no reason to avoid this one. Lock and load.
A roguelike where discovery of what to do is as important as how to do it, A Rogue Escape is an imaginative blend of escape room discovery, storytelling, and all the interactive elements you could ask for. While it is relatively short, that doesn't make the journey any less worthwhile.
The plot will instantly grab your attention and never let go. As I said before, the game starts by showing you the world ending stakes, but it quickly starts to focus on the more personal story of siblings trying to save their mom. Make no mistake, Daryon and Selene are on this journey for their family, saving the world is just a bonus. Along with this central hook come a ton of wrinkles in the plot that all tie together nicely, like the politics of each region, the corruption (because of course) present in the religious Sanctorium, and much more I won’t spoil here. Edge of Eternity fires on all cylinders, and I can’t wait to play even more. Check back soon for our full review.
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is one of the best games I've played this year. It's fun, it's endearing, and I just want to play it again. The gameplay isn't much different, but it's refined and has aged like a fine wine, with the technical prowess on display we've come to expect from Insomniac Games. If you're looking for a great narrative, the story is arguably the best in the series, with the grandeur of a Marvel movie in tow. One could imply the game isn't long enough, but that's only because they put down the controller, and that's just not what you're going to do if you have a copy of Rift Apart.
Umurangi Generation is one of the most important games of the modern era. It captures young people's current anxieties in a masterful way, and allows you to approach them in your own way through taking and editing pictures. It's powerful and a ton of fun to replay, but sadly suffers from slow down fairly often.
Backbone bites off far more than it can chew, with a completely out of nowhere twist in the third act, disregard of your choices, and a lack of resolution to any of its plot threads. While the promising story and gorgeous visuals had me hooked initially, the game tries to juggle too many things and ends up dropping all the balls.
Guilty Gear -Strive- is an excellent fighting game with gorgeous visuals, but feels like it's lacking in content. There are essentially only three modes of play, arcade, survival, and online. While the complex inputs and lack of a decent tutorial will leave some players in the dust, fighting feels so good you won't want to put the controller down.
Luckily, the avant-garde humor is still intact, and I found myself laughing out loud at getting caught once again by mom. Well, that or accidentally letting the kid fall into a pit because I didn’t patch up a hole in the game. I really love the minimalist graphics due to the quirky charm it provides, and now that this is officially a franchise (seriously; there’s a spinoff title called Hide & Dance that’s surprisingly good), I’d love to see an overhauled sequel soon.
While there isn't much of an incentive to play the game outside its online modes, Virtua Fighter 5 still does what it does quite well, and with a much-needed updated version now available to a newer generation, more players can now appreciate this stellar classic.
The Sims 4 Dream Home Decorator Game Pack was just what I needed, as I really wanted to start designing some of my own homes and rooms. I very much enjoyed the hands-on experiences with each of the clients' unique homes. My only complaint is that some of the likes and dislikes are not obvious, especially when it comes to particular styles, and that the clients don't tell you what you did wrong at the end of the renovation. The reveal at the end is super fun, and reminds me of being on a fixer upper TV show.
Summary: Miitopia is a fun and funny if flawed game. While this rerelease may be worthwhile to some for the character creator alone, its unwillingness to provide deeper and more balanced gameplay makes it difficult to want to experience everything the game has to offer or even just finish it.
There are few games that have ever made me scream in anger or shout with unbridled joy as often as Knockout City and I absolutely can't stop playing. It's a near-perfect team multiplayer game packed with strategy, heart, and an incredibly impressive level of polish. Even if it's a bit buggy and lacking in content at the moment, I can't recommend it enough.
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance has sadly not held up for a modern audience. If you already enjoyed the game, then this is a decent port to current hardware. For everyone else, the game is clunky, drab, and boring.
Riddled with repetition, Biomutant is as grand in ambition as it is bland in execution. Where it shines in character creation and choice, it fumbles in its narrative and empty morality system. Where building your powers, weapons, and toys is great, finding all the parts to do so is simply a chore. Odd to say, but in this case, less might have been more, but what is here is fun. Just not as fun as it could have been.
Knight Squad 2 is a fun, competent, and chaotic multiplayer game great for parties, but features little to keep players interested beyond the few hours it will take to tackle all the game modes and unlock all the Knights. The addition of cross-platform play is certainly nice and a feature I hope more games implement in the future. A few more unlockables or even a leveling system for the Knights would have been nice, but as it stands I enjoyed my time with Knight Squad 2.
Fights in Tight Spaces is a stylish roguelike deck-builder that uses a clever resource system to back up some truly satisfying cardplay. While the amount of content is fairly light in its current Early Access state, what's there is fun, entertaining, and polished. It may not be as deep as some other card games out there, but I have no concerns about recommending Fights in Tight Spaces to fans of the deck-building genre, or simply those who love a good action movie.
Jay and Silent Bob: Mall Brawl does a great job recreating the look and feel of an original NES release, but takes its retro inspired roots a bit too far and becomes a game which few but the most dedicated will finish. That said, I did enjoy my time with the game and catching the references to other Kevin Smith movies.