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For the most part, though, newcomers will find plenty to embrace about the series and players of past iterations of “MLB The Show” will find a whole lot of what they know and love. The biggest problem, in fact, is they’ll likely find a little too much of it.
The Star Wars fandom has already realized that more does not always mean better. “The Skywalker Saga” has a lot of heart, but I could have done without the superfluous leveling system or paper thin open-worlds. Part of me will always enjoy watching Qui-Gon Jinn slice up droids on the streets of Naboo. “The Skywalker Saga” is a beautiful nod to that nostalgia. Beyond that, I’m still stuck on a final question. You have to wonder whether, for those managing the game, the end product equates to time well spent during development.
There’s no escaping, however, that “Weird West” is crowded by its own ambition. No doubt, some glitches will be fixed — like mission objectives failing to update correctly — and some control issues are surely more applicable to the PlayStation 4 version rather than the PC. But other problems are more fundamental. It says something that by the end of the game, I’d killed 599 people, and as much as (almost) all of them had it coming, I had no such intention when I set out. The systems felt too brittle to warrant a more considered approach. In this Western, it doesn’t pay to be a master of the quick draw so much as the quick save, stopping to back up every inch of progress, in case your next move pulls the chair from under you.
The story of Jack begins with him forgetting about himself. “Stranger of Paradise” is a drunken, belligerent game in both concept and design, and would’ve been better served if it was less adherent to its Final Fantasy origins, and, well, did things its own way, like Ol’ Blue Eyes sang. Despite its level design flaws and a crowded gear system that adds little to the experience, it was hard not to find Jack’s testosterone-fueled journey charming and full of surprises. Just don’t be surprised if it also farts in your face every once in a while.
“FAR: Changing Tides” ably evokes the blissful passion of travel. It is the perfect antidote to overly stuffed, bloated video games.
The predictable formula of Kirby games accounts for part of their appeal. Think of it as comfort food. Case in point: My first Kirby game was 2000’s “Kirby and the Crystal Shards” for the Nintendo 64. Now, 22 years later, I’m fighting the same enemies with many of the same abilities I did back then. “Kirby and the Forgotten Land” throws in some new elements to keep things fresh, and it executes them well for the most part. But it still feels like coming back to a familiar place and feeling like you never left, which is exactly what I, like many others, find endearing about the series.
When you’re playing “Wonderlands,” you’re playing a “Borderlands 3” spinoff with fantasy elements. But, crucially, you’re also experiencing what it’s like to be part of a D&D group — and the many twists and turns that come with it.
Still, there are some truly gorgeous dynamic action sequences that were welcome surprises, and a pleasantly playful sense of art direction that kept the more tedious times spent with Akito and KK from sagging. Even if the idea of a modern satire disguised as a horror-style mystery isn’t quite your bag, “Ghostwire” is a creative delight as a sort of alt-universe Tokyo sim, especially if you crave the feeling of hanging out in a FamilyMart (“FujiyaMart”) again.
Now, the bloat of “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla” and its DLC releases make plain that developers need to seriously consider the value of making games longer — if anything, just to save gamers from dying on the inside.
But don’t expect an open-world worth devoting countless hours to exploring. Because once you look away, once you break free of the frame CD Projekt Red forces you into, the world of “Cyberpunk 2077” can feel totally empty. City blocks whiz on by as you drive aimlessly through Night City. In those moments, with nothing to do, I wasn’t really sure why I was still playing.
I can hear the murmurous, gently swelling music of Rotview Balcony, a place of crimson skies and arid landscape, playing from the other room where the game is idling as I type this sentence. “Elden Ring’s” score is a glorious counterpoint to the occasional jankiness of texture clipping and frame-rate fluctuations. And while I suspect the latter part of “Elden Ring” may exasperate my patience — I hear that a gauntlet of bosses picks up where the notoriously difficult “Dark Souls III: The Ringed City” DLC left off — right now, I can’t wait to get back to it.
“Triangle Strategy” is a fun title that has an engaging story with fantastic characters and worldbuilding. Better English voice acting would have been icing on the cake, but the half-baked vocal delivery left me feeling a bit deflated. In any case, fans of strategy and tactics-based RPG games should definitely check “Triangle Strategy” out.
“Elden Ring” is a game about discovering and pushing the limits of possibility. It dares you, over and over, to keep pushing, making this unlike any other adventure I’ve experienced. It would be understatement to say “Elden Ring” has exceeded my expectations. After 40 hours — and with so much more to go — I don’t even know what I expect from it anymore. Its sheer scale is humbling. In terms of square footage, “Elden Ring” may not be the largest game ever made, but no other experience has made me feel quite as small.
After playing for more than 40 hours, I’m still mesmerized by the core gameplay loop of building up my tool kit and adjusting my approach to take on new, more powerful machines. More than that, though, I’m mesmerized by the world.
The overriding question “Horizon Forbidden West” left me with is ‘when will its prospective audience grow tired of the tired conventions that underwrite so many go-and-save-the-world adventure games?’ As much as I appreciated the fun that came from smashing up robots, “Horizon Forbidden West” won’t earn a spot in my long-term memory.
“Sifu” is a no-nonsense arcade brawler that can be played in short bursts or long sprints, depending on the commitment to perfect each level run. Despite its high skill ceiling, it offers a rare treat in video game martial arts: a brutal balletic presentation — if played well enough. If anything, it’s worth playing just for the first level.
Restoring power to different places, searching for people and clearing out areas of zombies are pretty much the types of activities I’d expected. But I was utterly enthralled by Dying Light 2 Stay Human’s mechanical panache, entrancing soundtrack, and charismatic NPCs.
Unfortunately, though, the narrative is a black hole of missed opportunities, surfacing time and again to remind players of what’s missing from the experience even as they try to forget and just enjoy what does work. If only “Stay Human” could navigate its story of post-apocalyptic morality with the same deftness as its assured, acrobatic protagonist.
There’s no need for hyperbole. “Extraction” isn’t an early game of the year contender. There’s virtually no story, and the bare-bones cutscenes that are present aren’t really worth taking seriously. I doubt I’ll be playing it in a month. But I don’t need “Extraction” to go on forever, and so, I’ll be rooting for it. Like other recent titles in Ubisoft’s catalogue, it sets up one core gameplay loop and executes compellingly on that vision. When the time comes, I’ll call in the helicopter to airlift me out, and I’ll be more than satisfied with my time spent in “Extraction’s” ugly world.
Don’t discount “Pokémon Legends: Arceus” for its looks. It’s an experience unlike any other in the series.