Wccftech's Reviews
The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about Shantae: Half-Genie Hero is fun. The platform game developed by WayForward is a true blast to play, thanks to a beautiful presentation, great writing and an excellent, varied gameplay experience that never feels stale, with plenty of optional content that makes everything even better. Topping some of the previous entries in the series was very hard, but WayForward managed to achieve it with Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, releasing one of the best platform games of the year, if not the very best.
Xanadu Next is a literal blast from the past, a 2005 action role-playing that manages to be incredibly engaging still today thanks to several spot-on features, such as the excellent mix between RPG and puzzle games elements, action combat system and the evocative soundtrack. Some design choices definitely feel outdated, and so do the visuals, but these small flaws impact the experience only marginally. Highly recommended to all fans of old-school action role-playing game.
Halo Wars: Definitive Edition acts as a good remaster of what has shown itself to be a game that stands the test of time fairly well. Still inhibited by restrictions implemented due to its Xbox 360 origins, it still manages to be fairly enjoyable and look pretty decent while doing it. While technically in early access until release alongside Halo Wars 2, the game desperately needs these limitations removing to allow it to stand on its own as both a decent Xbox One and PC release.
Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun is a fantastic return to form for the real-time tactics genre, with a particular emphasis on stealth based gameplay. Reminiscent of Commandos, it offers a fantastic tactical approach in a brilliantly designed world that will do more than enough to grab anybody’s attention. Not without its difficulty, it's never too hard that it's unfair.
Dead Rising 4 completely streamlines a lot of core gameplay elements of the franchise while still remaining a sadistically fun game to play.
Space Hulk: Deathwing is a sadly boring and uninspiring shooter. A repetitive single player that could have been saved by a strong multiplayer is just lost due to technical issues and the sad fact is that the game simply isn't good enough.
There hasn’t been a better time to start playing Telltale’s The Walking Dead series, and with the addition of group party play, you can also enjoy the story with some friends during the holidays. If you are wondering whether or not you should jump into the game despite not having played the last two games, I’d certainly recommend it. Unlike some of the episodes in previous seasons, there wasn’t a moment I found myself waiting for particular boring sections to end. The storytelling pacing in these premiere episodes has been perfect. If Telltale manage to maintain this level of quality, this could end up becoming the best season of The Walking Dead yet.
The Last Guardian takes you on an experience to see and feel things that no other game can. Essential for anyone who wants to see a game which pushes boundaries and genres.
WWE 2K17 is superior in a few ways to its predecessor, with a much improved wrestling system. At the same time, loading times are worse and there's a lack of Showcase leaves a gap the MyCareer and Universe modes simply can't fill. Aesthetically lacking and, frankly, boring too much of the time, it's hard to recommend this. Particularly when considering the prohibitive DLC practices that keep active members of the roster behind a pay wall.
Steep delivers great fun for winter sports game fans, although it can be a little difficult to find amongst a huge map and confusing tutorial/interface. What Ubisoft has tried to accomplish is mostly successful, and fans of winter sports games will find a lot that they recognize and a lot that improves on the genre in this mountain range.
Rad Rodgers: World One is a nicely crafted platform game that blends together features taken from the best platform games from the past, ranging from Super Mario Bros. to Donkey Kong Country. With its humorous writing, nice level design, smooth gameplay and multiple references to classic games, Rad Rodgers: World One is a title that fans of the genre will surely enjoy, despite its lack of true innovation, short length and some performance issues on less powerful system configurations.
Final Fantasy XV is a true return to form for the series. The main story of the game is passable, but surpassed by the fantastic tale of Noctis and his three friends, Gladiolus, Prompto and Ignis. The world they live in, the interconnectivity and just how alive it feels makes for a great game, warts and all.
Rock Band Rivals offers less than expected, considering the state in which Rock Band 4 was released back in October last year. The content provided is not quite sufficient when taking the length of the Rockudrama and the poorly executed Rivals mode into consideration.
Whether you're an old Pokémon fan or a brand new one, there's loads to love about Sun and Moon. These might just be the very best mainline Pokémon games ever.
Suda51's insane humor is more than enough to keep this free-to-play Souls title going, although some of the mechanics might keep players from sticking through the entire experience.
While Steins;Gate 0 doesn't quite have the same emotional impact as its predecessor, this full-fledged sequel stands out as one of the finest visual novels and an amazing chance to reunite with the members of the Future Gadget Laboratory.
Super Mario Maker is a great game, but this handheld version is missing a couple of features that made the Wii U version essential. Loads of fun to be had, just far too familiar.
Cities: Skylines - Natural Disasters is a good, albeit slightly expensive addition to the core game. One of the huge features being given free as part of a patch detracting from the DLC seems unfair to say, but it's true nonetheless. However, the disasters add a whole new element to the game and the addition of helicopters make for a very interesting and useful expansion to your emergency services.
The Dwarves is a role-playing game that fails to reach its full potential. Its interesting battle concepts are marred by a mediocre execution, very limited RPG mechanics, and just too many technical issues on PlayStation 4. Despite this, the game still managed to be somewhat enjoyable thanks to the gripping yet not too original story, and charming characters. Due to gameplay and technical shortcomings, however, only die hard high fantasy fans may find some enjoyment in The Dwarves. Everyone else would do better in looking elsewhere.
Football Manager 2017 isn't a revolutionary update to the series, but it's the best in a good number of years. The new match engine is such a huge improvement and the AI enhancements add to the overall feeling that this is the most realized football management game yet, feeling more realistic than ever before.