Wccftech's Reviews
Assassin’s Creed Mirage doesn’t make the sharpest first impression with its dated visuals and by-the-book mechanics, but like its hooded protagonist, the game sneaks up on you with its manageably-sized yet vibrant map, intricately-woven campaign, and varied missions. Assassin’s Creed Mirage’s blade may be slightly tarnished, but it still leaves a mark.
Payday 3 is a game that looks like it ticks the right boxes to look like a next-gen game and nothing else. The game offers a fun and addicting gameplay loop but it's unfortunately bogged down by a series of bugs and glitches that hamper the experience overall. It also doesn't help that the game's launch state is one of the worst in recent memory in a year that had excellent game releases.
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty builds upon what was an already great game to deliver more fantastic storytelling (with a spy thriller theme, this time around), exciting combat, and very high-quality side content. The perk tree overhaul is a major improvement to progression, and additions like vehicle combat and the overhauled police system are very welcome, albeit not game-changing. If you've been holding out on Cyberpunk 2077 until now, you'll find a huge game with over 120 hours of quality content and an incredibly immersive game world to literally lose yourself in.
NBA 2K24 doesn’t feel like the work of a team that’s hungry as a majority of the game’s modes and features aren’t much of a step up over last year. It’s a shame, because the on-court action, brought to new life by innovative ProPlay animation tech, is more accomplished than ever and MyCareer actually makes some welcome changes amid all the microtransactions. NBA 2K24 delivers plenty of polished roundball fun, but some of the choices the game’s developers made following last year’s excellent entry make me question their coaching.
Mortal Kombat 1 is one of the franchise’s most bloody-entertaining entries to date, offering up refined action, smartly revamped fighters, and a story mode that delivers a surprisingly-coherent plot and plenty of blockbuster thrills. A lack of compelling modes and meaningful character customization does hurt, but Mortal Kombat 1 should be a heart-ripping hit with fans even if the overall package is slightly anemic.
Not even attempting to hide the massive influence Bloodborne has had on it, Lies of P is a solid imitation of the game developed by FromSoftware. While it lacks the same combat and world design finesse of its illustrious inspiration, the action role-playing game by NEOWIZ is among the most accomplished soulslike game released this year, thanks to its dark retelling of the story of Pinocchio, combat and character customization tweaks and great enemy design.
Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy is a decent culmination of the series. The game offers plenty of mind-bending puzzles and still respects its platforming roots. While the combat still feels somewhat clunky, the game's visuals and puzzle difficulty more than makeup for it. The game is much more enjoyable with friends as they can solve puzzles more inventively.
Fort Solis is technically great from a graphical and audio perspective. The issue is that the narrative and gameplay do not match up, being poor by any standards. It's challenging to get into Fort Solis, from poor pacing and storytelling to gameplay that is boring at the best of times - primarily thanks to some of the slowest movement speeds in gaming today. When you are in, you'll be glad to get back out as soon as possible.
With an engaging story, well-developed characters and lore, and a huge amount of meaningful content, Starfield is one of Bethesda's finest games and one of the best role-playing games released in the past few years.
Goodbye Volcano High executes solidly on its unique concept, delivering well-etched characters, engaging rhythm challenges, and a collection of memorable original tunes. That said, those looking for juicy high school intrigue will be disappointed, as the game is relentlessly nice, to the point it often lacks drama. We may not know exactly what finished off the dinosaurs, but Goodbye Volcano High comes close to killing itself with kindness.
Arrow a Row is a fun little timewaster ripped straight from the mobile adverts. It's free, easy to pick up, and it genuinely offers a little challenge when you delve into the theorycrafting. Is it a good "game"? No, it's a free-to-play timewaster, but that's all it wants to be, and it does that job admirably well while remaining free. I've spent a fair amount of time with it, and I honestly imagine others will enjoy doing the same - not even ironically.
Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon is without a doubt one of From Software's most unique and polished experiences in the last decade. However, there's a certain expectation of AC Pilot skill getting into the cockpit that even making it through until the final chapter requires an established familiarity far above and beyond any Soulslike pedigree.
Immortals of Aveum makes a solid early impression with engaging magic-infused FPS action and eye-catching Unreal Engine 5 visuals, but a predictable plot, irritating characters, and repetitive, by-the-books level design dims the game’s razzle-dazzle. Immortals of Aveum will be worth it for some shooter and fantasy fans, particularly at a discount, but don’t expect your memories of the game to live forever.
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is a game that's clearly wearing its inspiration on its sleeve. With mechanics that are pretty easy to get into and a great soundtrack to boot, fans of Jet Set Radio and 3D platformer games in general should feel very pleased. While the game has some shortcomings that prevent it from being a masterpiece, it still delivers some memorable beats.
Gord is an interesting and, at times, good, albeit flawed, survival city-builder mixed with action RPG and strategy elements. The atmosphere is excellently done, but this is countered by the sanity mechanics taking too much from the rest of the game. Almost every positive has a negative. The character development mechanics bring a fundamentally broken inventory system. The excellent monster development introduces a few that are just outright broken. The (sometimes) interesting campaign brings a near-opaque element of worldbuilding, requiring much side-reading as names are unceremoniously thrown at you. All in all, Gord isn't a bad game, and while I can have a decent time of it, there are too many flaws to recommend it universally; hardcore strategy fans may apply.
Due to its lackluster beginner experience, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre might be a little obtuse for players that aren't familiar with asymmetrical games. However, players who have plenty of experience with the genre will find a wonderful treat with this game compared to more prominent titles such as Dead by Daylight, thanks to its potential for more skill-based gameplay.
Undead Pirates XXX is an excellent game; the only downside is the reuse of maps. That downside is a little self-inflicted because if you're like me, you want to kill the named guards (named after the developers) and do whatever else gets you a badge (additional side-quest things), so you do it all. Still, this is an outstanding real-time tactics game and one I would recommend to anybody and everybody. Fans of the genre, and those new, you're in for a treat.
With its unique premise and setting, Atlas Fallen could have been one of the best action games of the year, but its mediocre combat system, dull open-world areas, and lack of interesting characters drag the experience down. The full package ends up being just a decent game for those willing to look past its most critical shortcomings.
With its engaging story, charming characters, extremely dynamic world that constantly reacts and adapts to the player's actions and choice and a solid tactical combat system, Baldur's Gate 3 is among the best cRPGs ever released. A wonky interface, the lack of some quality-of-life features and Larian Studios' trademark save scumming design impact the experience, but they're only minor issues that don't away too much from the whole experience. After years in development, Baldur's Gate 3 definitely exceeded all expectations, and in the best possible way.
Venba is a delectable slice of a game that offers a subtly moving story that ought to appeal to Tamil people, first-generation immigrants and their children, and wider audiences alike. It’s also a fantastic cooking game, capturing the sights, sounds, joys, and challenges of preparing food like few games before it. A short runtime may leave you hungry for more, but that’s largely a testament to the quality of the meal.