Forbes's Reviews
Overall, Super Robot Wars Y is another solid entry into the series. It’s got a great lineup and a more careful eye placed on making the game more enticing for newer players. While I am always happy to see Aura Battler Dunbine featured, I do feel that this game includes a mecha anime for almost everyone.
Overall, Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion is a massive, fast-paced open-world mecha action game that plays extremely well. The story is actually intelligible this time around, but while the mecha designs look wonderful, the characters definitely needed more work. There’s also a mountain of complexity and content here without much thought on how it should have been introduced, so you will have to persevere and figure the game out to get the most out of it. There’s genuine ambition here, though, but more focus, better writing, and stronger direction would have made this almost perfect.
Overall, Metal Gear Solid Delta is a superb remake of probably the best stealth action game ever made. It’s even more impressive that this was achieved with an insane level of accuracy in a completely separate engine and toolset. I would even go so far as to say that this version supersedes the original in almost every way, and comes highly recommended to anyone who wants to crawl on their belly through a jungle while eating snakes.
Overall, Operation Night Strikers is an excellent collection of shmups from Taito’s glory days in the arcades. It’s a shame that the console ports are an additional DLC pack, but the core collection of games is still handled excellently by the retro game masters at M2.
Overall, TOAPLAN Arcade Collection Vol 1 & 2 covers the heyday of TOAPLAN’s arcade shmup output. It’s also a comprehensive collection, including the international variants for each of these classic arcade games. Although I suspect Zero Wing’s appalling localization will still be a draw for some of the old school fans.
Overall, Donkey Kong Bananza does what Super Mario Odyssey did before it: offer one of the best platforming games available on a new system. The fact that the bulk of the game is about wanton joyous destruction is also another big bonus. So, if you want to tunnel to the center of the planet and destroy most of it along the way, Donkey Kong Bananza is your kind of platformer.
Overall, Front Mission 3: Remake is a solid update to a classic mecha tactical role-playing game from the PlayStation era. It does feel rushed in places, and here’s hoping the game receives some patches to fix some of those issues, much like the previous remakes in the series have.
Overall, this is yet another great Irem Collection, and much like the first and second releases, this third instalment is excellent. However, its star attraction is the adorable Mr. Heli, which is still just as fun to play as when I played it in the arcades as a kid.
Overall, Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster is still a solid game in terms of how it plays, but it needed more time and money to really make this a proper HD remaster. As such, this feels like a lost opportunity and something that should have been treated with more care.
Overall, Mario Kart World is a huge undertaking, but it still offers the classic Mario Kart progression we’ve all grown up with. Whether this will sell as much as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe remains to be seen, but from the off, Mario Kart World definitely has an enormous amount of content to wrap your head around, and the multiplayer will likely keep it an evergreen release for years to come, much like the other games in the series have been.
Overall, Gundam Seed Battle Destiny Remastered is not only a solid visual upgrade to the Vita original but also has some much-needed functional improvements, both in terms of the controls and the backend progression flow. The only real downside is if you’re not a fan of Gundam Seed, as otherwise, this is a very nicely made mecha action game. Now, if only Bandai Namco would remaster Gundam Battle Universe.
Overall, this Saturn Tribute version of Assault Suit Leynos 2 is a mecha gaming classic through and through. Not only is the game influential across other shmups and mecha games, but also a really well-wrought game in its own right. It’s definitely difficult and technical, but like most good old mecha games, that’s almost always a sign of excellence.
Overall, Xenoblade Chronicles X is a massive role-playing game that is more scaled towards the mecha than the on-foot component. The initial on-foot sections take a while, but once you get your Doll license, the world of Mira literally opens up. So stick with this one; it’s a long road but still one worth the effort of traveling.
Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is probably one of the best remakes I’ve ever played. Doubly so, as it nails what made the original game so special.
Overall, Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is a good game but not a great one. The echoes setup is certainly cerebral, but the lack of basic combat moves outside of the Swordfighter Form is jarring and only emphasized further at the end of the game. Here’s hoping that the next time Zelda ventures out into the wild world of Hyrule, someone remembers to give her a sword.
Yes, this is “more Starfield,” a game I liked, but I am very disappointed in the way it has barely evolved a year later, and the best thing about is Bethesda going back to a Bethesda-like zone structure. That’s good, but also feels very inauthentic to what the game was supposed to be. This is not going to convert anyone, nor may it satisfy many veterans. I did get some pretty screenshots, though.
Overall, Shadow of the Ninja Reborn is much more than a remake. This is an all-new and lovingly crafted game that is both refreshingly technical and gorgeous to look at. Whatever they are feeding the team at Tengo Project is clearly very special. I just hope the powers that be get out of the way and let them make more games as good as this.
Madden 25 is the most complete version of the series in more than a decade. Failing to recognize the improvements essentially gives in to reflex hate more than evaluating each version's merits. The gameplay is tighter, customization has seen a significant boost, and each mode has depth. If you buy a version of Madden every five years, it should be this one.
When I heard EA was bringing college football back, I was fully prepared to play a game of Madden with college uniforms. In all honesty, I would have played it and been mildly satisfied. EA delivered a much deeper experience that easily carves its own identity in every way possible. Once EA learns its way around the restrictions of the NIL situation, the series will go to an even higher level.
Overall, Ace Combat 7 on Switch is as good as it was back in 2019. The performance of the game is also surprisingly good and it plays pretty much identically. You get a few extra DLC trinkets in this release too, but nothing beats unlocking and flying the mighty X-02S Strike Wyvern into the thick of combat.