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If you like going on long walks, if your favorite color is safety orange, or if you're never taking "must love dogs" out of your Tinder bio, then Hunting Simulator 2 is sounding your mating call.
The core of the game is excellent, the gameplay is fun, progression balanced, it has personality, and presents as much difficulty as you are willing to chase flawless runs through the levels. However, there are small quality of life challenges that hold the game back when receiving its due.
Iron Man VR is a good finale for the PS4's lifecycle of PS VR titles. While there are a few technical issues with Iron Man VR – mostly related to the Move controls – it's still a pretty enjoyable affair. Just gotta take it in small doses to make sure you get your VR legs first.
Orcs Must Die! 3 contains a ton of the tower defense/shooting hybrid gameplay that fans love – all delivered in a very polished package. The new war-sized levels deliver a massive jolt of fun, and there is plenty of content here to keeps players busy for quite a while. Though progression feels a little unbalanced in single player, perseverance or grinding will eventually overcome obstacles.
The BioShock trilogy is still three masterpieces that demand attention. While the first game hasn't aged particularly well, the sequel never got the recognition it deserved, and the third game is ultimately pretty disappointing, but they're still all worth another playthrough. The Switch port is masterfully done, smooth and crisp, and a great way to experience these games for the first time or revisit them.
Who knew that playing SpongeBob SquarePants: The Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated would deliver such a solid dose of nostalgia? But deliver it does. Having played both versions of the game in the past week, I can attest that this is a rock-solid remake of fun but somewhat flawed game. You take the bad with the good on this one, but for the most part Bikini Bottom holds up surprisingly well.
Crayta is a remarkable game-creation game/tool, with just enough fun structure built around it to keep the proceedings light and fun. Crayta is built to appeal to builders of all skill levels, providing simple controller-based construction for newcomers, while allowing skilled users to dig right down into code. While a few starter games are provided by Unit 2, they aren't really the point. Time will tell what the community builds out of Crayta, but the tools are certainly there for this platform to spawn some amazing things.
At its core, the game just feels great to play, and that's a small detail that a lot of nearly great games miss out on. The remaster polishes almost every system, while somehow leaving the soul of the game perfectly intact. Both longtime fans and first-time commanders would do well to give this one a shot.
With two distinct but well-integrated strategy modes, Brigandine offers a huge amount of gameplay that feels both old school and fresh at the same time. A fantastic tutorial eases new players into the game with little friction, and the seeming complexity becomes quickly manageable. While the graphics are nothing to write home about, the care taken in each story thread is evident, and the tactical gameplay offers a ton of replay value. Brigandine is an utterly unique offering on Switch, and should appeal to RPG fans and strategy buffs alike.
Wave Break puts a lot of barriers up to keep players from enjoying it. The disconnect between the visuals and the difficulty will likely be jarring for many players. But sticking with this game yields some great rewards, and the feeling of accomplishment you get is absolutely worth the struggle to succeed.
Prior to its expansions, Age of Wonders: Planetfall was already a content-rich game with a lengthy list of factions, commanders, techs, and units. Invasions bolsters Planetfall's diversity and replayability with intriguing new features. The Shakarn alone make the expansion worthwhile.
Minecraft Dungeons is a competent hack n' slash RPG; nothing more, nothing less. It has the outward charm of the creative masterpiece that inspired it, but very little depth. What is here is fun for a time in solo or co-op, but don't expect it to hold your attention long-term.
That said, Aftermath is a fantastic expansion to Mortal Kombat 11 that will keep the game alive and well for its second year, and will hopefully lead to more expansion packs with more characters in the future.
The scope and ambition of this game are a level above the previous one. Even if its execution is only slightly more askew this go round, it's no failure to bullseye a much more lofty goal, a shot that still hits the target for an excellent gaming and storytelling experience.
XCOM 2 is, at five years old, a stone cold classic.
Borderlands Legendary Collection is a great way to experience the first three games in the series on the Nintendo Switch.
From storytelling to game design, Those Who Remain's tepid approach to its overabundant tropes made me want to leave Dormont as soon as I arrived. My best advice to horror fans: ignore the exit—even if your tank is running low.
Maneater is a solid first entry in a new open world RPG franchise. Repetitive missions and some fairly severe framerate issues hold the game back a bit, but overall Maneater is a good bit of summertime gaming fluff. You can't beat the feeling of chomping people at the beach, and Maneater provides just what gamers are looking for – fun carnage with just enough structure to keep players motivated.
As it is, though, Poly Bridge 2 is very enjoyable and can bring some levels of satisfaction when you finally finish a bridge under budget and without it breaking at any point. It’s a very casual and relaxing game that doesn’t rush you in any way. I’m not going to lie, the game gets a laugh out of me every now and then when my bridge breaks and the driver of the vehicle just drives into the water anyway. Everything looks great from a visual standpoint. While there's no progression system with everything open from the start, there's still a challenge aspect as long as you don't view the Gallery before completing a level. It does take some time to get the hang of the physics, and you might wonder a few times how your bridge broke. Being able to take on any level at any time means you can play a level or two if you're short on time. Plus the music is nice and relaxing for a game that will see vehicles driving into the water on a regular basis.
Nioh 2 does what a good sequel should. It capitalizes on the best parts of its predecessors while providing new content and mechanics to advance the franchise. While the story structure and level design are largely the same, added weapons, more build depth, and new combat mechanics all enhance what the game has to offer. It doesn't always hit the mark perfectly, but it's a solid addition to the series. And let's face it, being a samurai is awesome.