Niche Gamer
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Death Stranding: Director’s Cut may not resonate with everyone who plays it. This is not a typical action game. It’s pensive for long stretches with bizarre instances of humor and sudden bouts of action. Death Stranding: Director’s Cut blends several genres into an epic surrealist sci-fi epic. Kojima’s message may be aggressively in-your-face, but at least it is a message worth having.
Fairy Tail: Dungeons is not necessarily a good game to pick up if you aren’t familiar with the roguelike card battler genre, but it is a decent product for Fairy Tail fans and it does enough with its premise to be fun for a few hours, even if lacking in content.
In the end, Chicken Police: Into the Hive is a thrilling sequel to Chicken Police: Paint it Red. If you play the game without playing the original, there are some key moments referenced that will leave you feeling confused, however, the game does a decent enough job quickly glancing over it to not take you out of the overall experience.
Mindcop won’t set any trends or shock players with its premise. The story is well-executed enough to see through to the end and entertains until the truth is revealed and beyond. The art style does not stick to landing, but anyone looking for a Northern Pacific mystery with a magical twist will find a lot to enjoy.
The story isn’t good and while Nehantu is more interesting to look at than the endless deserts, Blizzard has got to stop treating Diablo like an MMO. They need to treat it more like a single player dungeon crawler that also happens to have some online elements to justify these price tags. Especially when they’re already asking players to pay for a battle pass, there’s even less reason to justify this expansion costing more than $20.
Farmagia could have benefited if they made it a turn-based RPG or slowed down the speed of what’s going on. Having nearly 100 monsters plus the monsters you face going at the speed of The Wonderful 101‘s gameplay might not be the most palatable thing for younger kids. Farmagia’s mixture of so many ideas was not the issue, just the execution.
Regretfully, the lack of an emotional connection to anything and the roguelike and mobile game-inspired gameplay undermines Metal Slug Tactics‘ strongest features.
It’s definitely not wrong to make a Metrovania with a higher focus on exploration and platforming, but Voidwrought hurts itself by having very simple levels and barely any platforming challenges. This lack of commitment to a premise makes the game feel safe and mostly forgettable, as it doesn’t bring anything new to the overcrowded Metrovania genre.
While it is apparent that Bokeh Game Studio was working with a tight budget, they knew how to stretch their dollars. Slitterhead is truly a special horror game that is sure to be a cult classic.
Shadows of the Damned is still a fun romp dense with stimulating set-pieces and gimmicks. The battles are rowdy shootouts with aggressive naked monsters and dodge-rolling into them and smacking them around with Johnson is as tense as ever. Garcia’s controls are fluid and have exaggerated animations that reinforce the silliness inherent in the premise.
The campaign is a fresh new experience that ties the events from previous Black Ops titles together in a creative and fun way. Multiplayer shows promise with its changes to movement and weapon variety; it could use some more open or bigger maps but as it is, can still be a fun experience.
Metaphor: ReFantazio has memorable music, a safe take on a job class system, a charming cast that does not resort to being a dating simulator, and a snappy, fluid, and tactical turn-based combat system. Fantasy isn’t dead, it’s so back.
If you grew up with Backyard Baseball, you will feel a sense of nostalgia like reconnecting with a childhood friend you haven’t seen in a long time. The gameplay is simple enough and smooth enough that a new player can pick up the game and just play while a returning veteran will know some tricks of the trade.
If you are already a Sonic fan, Sonic X Shadow Generations will be a no-brainer. It has a wealth of content and variety. Gamers who haven’t played a Sonic game in a long time will find that this is a great entry to get back into the series and become acquainted with Shadow, the franchise’s most entertaining character.
Considering how long this was in development and how little there is to show for it, I can’t help but feel this was a compromised release. If all that you want is Clock Tower in English on current platforms, then that is what you’ll get with Rewind. The base game is still a palm-sweating and butt-clenching horror game, but know that it has all of its warts intact and not enough options to tweak your experience and that it comes with some intensely lame extras.
You’ll be shocked, you’ll cry, and you’ll wonder why. The text-based gameplay will be a hurdle for some gamers to accept, but any gamer with an open mind and willingness to explore will be swept up in the story in Slay the Princess – The Pristine Cut.
Its simple but precise combat system, detailed world, and stunning presentation make Zenless Zone Zero better than most current generation console games. Despite some minor performance issues, Zenless Zone Zero delivers an experience to as close as others in its class, i.e. Senran Kagura.
Super Mario Party Jamboree is the best entry in the franchise yet and I recommend you pick it up this holiday. Even those who may not like the previous Mario Parties can enjoy different aspects of this game.
The pacing is drawn out and intended to be contemplative, nostalgic, and relaxing. Gathering stuff most of the time and bouts of intense break-neck racing do not always make the best experience and will turn off a lot of players. It is worth sticking with it and bearing with the grind because the story is genuinely interesting and the trolly races are fun.
The Smurfs: Dreams is surprisingly fun and beautiful-looking. This is the best outcome for an IP that is traditionally used as shovelware fodder. It is disappointing that the core gameplay is overly safe and derivative, but the young target audience won’t know that. The lack of effort for the narrative and characters makes it hard for anyone to care about The Smurfs as a concept, but the trade-off is imaginative and wild levels.