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What’s so impressive about this latest Paper Mario game is that, for all intents and purposes, it could have been just as grinningly dumb. This is an adventure revolving around the antics of paper-thin varietals of cartoons. No one expects Tolstoy. But the writing is smarter than most serious videogames attempting to evoke actual emotions. And that attention to detail—and a restraint diametrically opposed to its surface lunacy—is what makes the experience so humorous.
If the game asks you to wander around in a confused haze for hours at a time, it rewards you with breathtaking vistas and new wrinkles to your understanding of its world that constantly goes deeper and stranger than you think.
There’s more to go on about in Horizon 3, more secrets and features to help firmly set it as the best racer of the year. Largely, though, it’s a game that revels in the sheer love of driving for the sake of driving. The mix of traditional races, outrageous stunts and extreme speed across one of the most stunning landscapes you’re likely to find just works.
Eric Van Allen is a Texas-based writer. You can follow his e-sports and games rumblings @seamoosi on Twitter.
Reminders such as “The Story So Far” descriptions are available for the forgetful among us, and the next direction to venture will often be highlighted by talkative villagers, as is the custom. Ice-covered landmasses and lava-spewing volcanoes await. Dragon Quest VII may not rewrite the history books, but if you’re in the mood to sink into a thousand page tome, and could stand to be charmed by a smiling dollop of sentient goo, you’re in the right place.
If you want to know if this is a good videogame, just look at the first paragraph. It does exactly what it says on the tin. If you want to know how fashion can enrich your life, here’s my advice: you, too, should just buy this game. Just get it already. And maybe that pair of shoes you’ve been eyeing. You earned it.
It will be a hard wait. The cliffhanger that Realm of Shadows ended on frustrated me for a good few hours, the game’s narrative clearly sinking its hooks into me. For the first time in a Batman game, I feel like I know the person behind the mask, and while I can’t wait to don the cape again, it’s the mortal underneath whose future I’m more intrigued to see.
It feels the need to address real-world issues, but in a way that's fast and cursory and only pretends at depth while trying hard not to make anybody unhappy. Deus Ex cares enough to sit on the sidelines and play topical for show before moving on to the next attraction. It's become more 24 than Blade Runner, and while it still entertains, it's also lost much of the luster that set the series apart from the serialized masses.
It's your last impression of the game and it sticks with you, reflecting back on what you've seen. It's the case, though, that the vast majority of Abzû is so beautiful, so well put together, that the fact the ending is a little disappointing doesn't diminish my view of it as whole. When I think back on the game it's not the final image I remember but the turquoise shallows, the pattern of the sun falling on the sand, the great vaulted ceilings of blue water.
When a location in No Man’s Sky isn’t being observed, it doesn’t exist. It’s just the potential in its formula in a program (possibly on a disc). When we play it, it becomes a tiny thread in an actual vast universe.
Yet I’m met with the same response, from the many church-goers who don’t want that. They want the same thing they’ve heard before, slightly repackaged, but wholly recognizable and safe. It’s that hushed reverence that creates games like I Am Setsuna, and ultimately holds them back from being anything more than last week’s sermon.
But we will remind others of them through our memorials, whether built, written, or lived.
Headlander is a little action, a little puzzle, and a great time overall. At around 10 hours or so, it doesn’t overstay its welcome, and I think it’s perfectly balanced as a game to pick up for an hour of gradual progress after work or school a couple hours a day. It’s well-designed and has a clear purpose in mind.
There’s the kernel of a great game here, and I’m looking forward to going into Blendo Games’ backlog to see what other interesting ideas Brendon Chung has had, even if this one is held back by missteps or creative choices that I don’t enjoy.
It is difficult for me to recommend Monster Hunter Generations without any qualifications. What should have been a slam dunk for new players still falls into so many of the pitfalls that have plagued previous games. There is a lot of frustration to be had for both the experienced player who gets bored by the unnecessary slope upward and the novice who finds the slope too overwhelming without a mentor.
9 fits that bill, and you're probably better off with Shovel Knight or Freedom Planet's oldschool-yet-new sensibilities. Every time I try to think about what the motivator for playing this game would be, I immediately dismiss it. I repeat: I have no idea who this is for.
Catalyst introduces significant structural and design differences that don't fit with what made Mirror's Edge so special. Those decisions turn a tight, streamlined thrill ride into an overstuffed and undercooked bummer of a reboot. If another Mirror's Edge comes our way eight years from now, hopefully its designers will look back to the original game for inspiration and avoid the urge to fill it full of videogame clutter.
Like its forebear or Van Sant's Psycho, The Revolution carries many interesting pieces inside of a rough, and unlikable, exterior. The weight that it wants to carry proves too heavy a load for what the game is able to do. Overwhelmed, the game collapses.
The player, a gun, and things to kill. That has always has been DOOM, and id's legacy has been rekindled with DOOM (2016). You may argue that a good sequel's job is to iterate on past successes, to further develop mechanics, or to evolve a title to the next step in its life cycle. But DOOM (2016) isn't a departure or a reimagining. It's something much better, much more pure. DOOM (2016) is a homecoming. And boy, does it feel good to be home.
Battleborn is a lot of fun but how popular it will be remains to be seen. Releasing it during roughly the same window as DOOM and Overwatch was poor timing on their part. I plan to keep playing it, but given the game's retreading of Borderlands with an added MOBA spin, I don't expect my friends to join me.