GBAtemp's Reviews
A really great experience and an exciting step forward for the future of virtual visual novels. You really feel much more drawn into the role of the main character than a typical visual novel. Complimented by a really fantastic soundtrack and interesting characters to help tie together the story, and you always feel compelled to continue and keep uncovering more information about the world and the meteoras.
The Pillar: Puzzle Escape is a very enjoyable game if you're into this sort of thing, but ironically, if you're into this sort of thing, you'll find it a cakewalk. Much more could have been made of this adventure to really work that grey matter and make it far more of a challenge for puzzle aficionados.
Disgaea 4 Complete+ puts out a great game on modern hardware, that much is indisputably good. If you've played Disgaea 5 and want something to tide you over until DIsgaea 6 drops later in the year, this is for you. If you want to jump in and use this as your first glimpse into the series, it's a great choice too. However you choose to play, just make sure to avoid the shady corporate "DLC" guy.
DMC5SE occupies its own tried and tested safe space within the world of video games. It hasn't really progressed much since 4 and doesn't seem to have broken through any genre-defining boundaries to evolve itself beyond what it already was. As a series, DMC5SE is truly the pinnacle in terms of polish and content but by way of freshening things up: it plays it far too safe and sadly won't really blow your mind.
Swords of Gargantua is a repetitive slash fest with a small amount of design and enemy diversity, but it has something most games like this don't have: playability. The controls are a little off for movement, but the swordplay is fantastic when you knuckle down into parrying and combinations to elongate your lifespan.
Cyberpunk 2077 is a great timewaster filled with plenty of opportunities for dumb fun that come from the clever implementation of future tech into its combat. Unfortunately, it fails to deliver on the clear ambition in its writing, mostly due to the clutter that drowns out its few moments of true inspiration.
The failure to allow a stylus to be used is a huge oversight in my humble opinion, and, at worst, you could use your fingers to draw on the touch screen or place the level editor items around, and this would have been more intuitive and fun. Everything feels overly simplified, and though the more you play the more you get to experience, it's quite a task to endure it all.
Overall, Chronos: Before the Ashes is okay. As a Souls-like, it sort of misses on a lot of the mechanics that make Souls-like games good, the combat is meh, the story is just ok, the environments aren't that amazing, and the aging mechanic is disappointingly underused. If you're enamoured by the story of Remnant: From the Ashes and want to learn how things ended up that way, give this game a playthrough. But if you're not really that interested, it's probably best to just be forgotten.
While it may struggle to hold a solo player's interest, Phogs! is a fantastically delightful and easygoing co-operative experience.
Assassin's Creed: Valhalla is a departure from what one might expect from the series, but it proves that those changes make for an overall fantastic "next-gen" game.
This is without a doubt the definitive version of this game that you should play over all other versions, but its drawn-out sequences and repetitive sequences still, unfortunately, prevent this game from becoming "Essential" tier gaming.
Yakuza: Like A Dragon signifies a significant departure from the traditional Yakuza game format but the new gameplay approach opens up the franchise to a bright new beginning that incorporates defining elements of the Yakuza series in new ways.
Godfall is all style and no substance. The next-gen lick of paint certainly makes it an exquisite looking stunner, however, at its core is some lacklustre gameplay and some genuinely lethargic missions. The boss battles are exciting and momentarily engaging, and the art style incredible, but I'm left feeling more than a little underwhelmed and unfulfilled.
Five Dates is a clever dating sim that does a lot of things right to stand out from the crowd, but unfortunately ends early enough that it can't leave much of a lasting impression.
This score represents the experience of the PC version which is, even weeks after launch, in a sorry state of buggy mess for many players. Nevertheless, Watch Dogs: Legion does offer some decent fun overall with its sandbox approach to missions and standout feature of playing as virtually anyone in London.
Fans of Wipeout and F-Zero should rejoice as they have finally a modern installment to their beloved genre. Pacer delivers on what it promised - being a high quality anti-grav racing game, albeit not AAA-level, nor does it really need to be. There's no overtly dramatic story mode with motion captured actors, but this game doesn't really need it. Here's hoping the success of this game will reignite the anti-grav racing genre and bring back some of the abandoned franchises (I'm looking at you, F-Zero!).
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is a marvellous game. Pulling together two genres in a fun and unique way, you're left with a game quite unlike anything before it. Give it a shot, you'll find it more than worth the wait.
One goal, one shot, one life; reaching the goal in Ghostrunner takes a lot of tries but also involves lots of fun.
With Star Wars: Squadrons, donning the helmet of a starfighter pilot in the Star Wars universe has never felt any better nor more immersive.
This is exactly what a new Crash game should feel like--as though it was created in the 90's, but with enough modern touches to keep it from feeling outdated. Crash 4's levels and mechanics are incredibly fun, and the whole game feels at home with the other 3 entries that came before it.