Wccftech's Reviews
While its basics are solid, and its story surprisingly interesting, Exoprimal leaves something to be desired. With a limited amount of PvP and PvE missions, and average maps, the excellent visual and combat design of the Exosuits and the occasional surprise raid mission are not enough to keep the whole experience engaging after a dozen or so hours. Taking down hordes of dinosaurs can be fun, but the game definitely needed something more to be a must-have, especially at its price tag.
Pikmin 4 adds or reintroduces a lot to the series’ formula, including caves, nighttime missions, and an adorable doggy sidekick, to the point the game starts to feel a bit busy and unfocused. Fortunately, like a well-managed Pikmin squad, the game comes together in charming, effective fashion by the end. While the franchise may have bloomed slightly brighter in the past, Pikmin 4 will still provide a bountiful harvest of fun for longtime fans.
Oxenfree 2 feels like it relies on its dialogue system a bit too much as its more exciting elements take a backseat. While the dialogue is still incredible, the appearance of these more unique sequences left me often asking where I would be able to find more of the unique time-altering puzzles and surreal visuals that also made it stand out over other games. The character writing is still as good as the first game, but it feels like more could have been done to make it stand above the first game.
Master Detective Archives: Rain Code may tame Danganronpa’s anarchic spirit slightly, but it also greatly expands and improves on its formula with a more developed world, bold visuals, refined gameplay, and the best collection of whodunnits writer Kazutaka Kodaka has delivered to date. This is, simply put, one of the best, most ambitious visual novels in recent years. Get in on the ground floor, because Master Detective Archives has all the makings of a killer franchise.
Jagged Alliance 3 marks a long-awaited triumphant return for the franchise, with the last undeniably great release being Jagged Alliance 2 over twenty years ago. Creating an exceptional balance on both a strategic and tactical level, bringing back character attributes and progression, an entire inventory system, perks and more, forcing you to balance your broader economy and ensuring you can't just sit back - Haemimont Games have successfully created a game that will challenge, that I have found compelling and fun, and one that has kept me hooked into a "just one more day" loop and a few very late nights at that.
GYLT is a pleasant experience with a serviceable anti-bullying message that could use a bit more subtlety in its delivery. While the game doesn't break any new grounds in terms of horror design brought by its peers that were released this year, it still is a worthwhile experience for most players looking for a thrill in a mysterious world filled with monsters.
Hi-Fi Rush continues to provide to an already complete experience with it's latest update that brings 2 new game modes to the table. While I believe that it won't do much to attract new players who already settled to some of the more noteworthy highlights of the year, this should please the dedicated fans of the game and players who adore rhythm games that have added depth and challenging game modes. I certainly hope that future updates bring more to the table the way the Hi-Fi Rush Arcade Challenge! update did.
Like the promotion it’s based on, AEW: Fight Forever can be a bit rough around the edges, but the game is also a welcome breath of fresh air. Fun, approachable in-ring action and an endearingly-quirky career mode largely make up for scruffy visuals and some missing content. AEW: Fight Forever won’t be for everyone, but if you’re looking for an alternative, feel free to push your chips All In.
Trepang2 offers a lot of choices in terms of customization, gameplay, and mechanics for players. While the enemy AI isn't that clever and the difficulty surrounds changing damage values more than making enemies smarter, it more than makes up for it with its memorable set pieces, gun variety, and incredibly chilling horror moments.
Final Fantasy XVI heralds in a new standard for Japanese role-playing games and while the RPG components themselves are limited by Square-Enix standards, it's the narrative and gameplay that exceed all expectations.
Aliens: Dark Descent is an excellent real-time tactics game mixed with survival horror and arguably the best Aliens game around. Excellent tactical action in a world ever-succumbing to the Xenomorph threat, you will find resources scarce, leading to difficult decisions, ones made all the more difficult when time is also a factor. Add on an engaging enough story and an excellent atmosphere, and you have a game that I can't help but recommend to anybody and everybody.
They say an artist's work is never truly done, but with Layers of Fear, Bloober Team and Anshar Studios have completed the Master Opus started back in 2016. With superb UE5 powered visuals, improved writing and some new gameplay mechanics, these journeys into the darkest recesses of the human mind have never been so immersive, although some issues prevent Layers of Fear from being an absolute masterpiece.
I came into Convergence: A League of Legends Story expecting very little; I came out of it wanting to watch Arcane - which I have now watched - and also wanting to play the other games set in the League of Legends universe, including Ruined King: A League of Legends Story, which we reviewed. It doesn't make me want to play League of Legends again, it doesn't have magical powers, but it's done a lot of heavy lifting through some interesting character work and exceptional gameplay.
Amnesia: The Bunker has become one of the best horror games in an ever-changing landscape on par with titles like Resident Evil 7 and The Dark Descent. This game not only is a return to form for Frictional Games but it also paves the way forward thanks to its systems that encourage creative solutions to problems and an ever-changing nature that will keep players on the edge of their seats as they face off against the supernatural threat that's roaming the halls of the bomb shelter.
Panic Porcupine is very much as you could expect as a homage to Sonic the Hedgehog, though it certainly stands alone with a much higher level of difficulty torn straight out of the guts of Super Meat Boy. While more than passable, it has a few core issues in a game like this, one being input lag. Still, despite the problems I found, I can genuinely imagine this being an enjoyable title for fans of the genre.
Age of Wonders 4 offers a rare and refreshing level of flexibility for a 4X game, allowing you to customize your leader, people, and realm to an impressive degree. This can be a bit bewildering at first, and the level of complexity threatens to overwhelm the game’s limited tactical battles, but it all comes together as a satisfying package after a bit of trial and error. Age of Wonders 4 may not be the perfect potion for all turn-based strategy fans, but it should enchant a good portion of them.
Street Fighter 6 is in a league of its own, and one of the best fighting games in decades.
Diablo IV is a return to form at a much needed time for Blizzard. It delivers incredibly fun hack and slash action combat, a greatly improved skill system, and a ton of things to do, not to mention the best story told in the franchise yet. It also looks awesome, sounds great, and runs well (except for rare instances of traversal stuttering).
The System Shock remake offers a lot of great graphical enhancements and beautiful stylistic choices that make for an overall enjoyable experience. Unfortunately, it's dragged back by several aspects that haven't aged well over the years and have become more accentuated after the advancements that gaming has made in all these years.
The Lord of the Rings Gollum is a game that has a lot of technical issues that also ultimately drag its presentation back. However, it still is a charming game in its own way with its setting, writing, and some incredible environment design that can catch your breath at times. This game is a cautious recommendation for players that aren't Lord of the Rings enthusiasts.