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Even with a short campaign, the solid soundtrack, screen popping visuals and buttery smooth gameplay result in a fantastic experience. Like your first-ever Monster energy drink, Boomerang X will leave your heart pounding, your digits twitching and a longing for more.
Hot Wheels Unleashed is not only one of the best games of the year, but one of the best racing games of all time.
Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles is a simple but enjoyable anime fighter that nails the essence of Demon Slayer while providing players with quite a bit of content.
The Good Life is a peculiar and endearing game that some will love and others won’t. I quite like it, as the setting, characters, and various activities are as pleasing as they are immersive. There are a few frustrating parts and performance issues, but they can’t hold back my overall enjoyment of The Good Life.
Not a bad little diversion but there’s so many good pop/city management games now it’s not worth more than a few minutes.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl has the potential to be great, it just doesn’t quite reach that level. What’s there is pretty good, but the lack of polish and small amount of content makes All-Star Brawl fall short of the excellent party fighter that it could be. Hopefully, the devs continue to support the game and polish it as time goes on, as it could be a diamond in the rough given a bit more time in the oven.
More Wasteland 3 is a good thing, even when it doesn’t quite hit the high-heights set by the original release.
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania is a grand collection of the best that Super Monkey Ball has offered over the last 20 years. Though some stages are less enjoyable than others, most of the stages will have you itching to play more. The amount of content seals the deal, making Banana Mania the definitive Super Monkey Ball experience.
Though its story can be a bit contrived, the themes, combat, and overwhelming breadth of content in Lost Judgment make it another hit for Ryu ga Gotoku studios.
Sable has good bones, and beautiful skin, but everything in between is broken and half formed. A few patches in, this game could easily become a cult classic. However, the issues in dialogue and quest design aren't likely to be patched away. Hopefully we'll see this concept tackled again, without all the bumps in the road launching it wildly off course.
Deathloop is a remarkable shooter that combines an intriguing story with exciting gameplay and a brilliant atmosphere.
Gamedec is an immersive and intriguing isometric RPG that uses its concept and setting to great effect. There are some small bugs and the story gets a bit dense, but none of this should stop you from trying Gamedec out.
WarioWare: Get it Together! is a fun, if not somewhat flawed, collection of microgames that tries new things.
Psychonauts 2 is simply one of the most charming and enjoyable games I’ve played in ages. The story-telling is nothing short of brilliant, the gameplay has been greatly improved upon, and the presentation is astounding. There are a few bugs that need patching, but that doesn’t stop Psychonauts 2 from being one of the best games of this generation.
Deck Nine manages to take Life is Strange’s classic signatures of indie music, small-town mysteries, and teenage angst and elevate it from the original creation. What could have been a bumbling soft-reboot of Life is Strange, Life is Strange: True Colors turned into the best game in the series so far.
The Artful Escape is a visual and auditory feast for the senses, but the final result almost makes you wonder if this would have worked better as a short film than a game.
El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron is a strange experience. The platforming is basic and the combat gets tedious after a while, but the surreal presentation of its loose interpretation of the Book of Enoch makes it an intriguing journey from start to finish, with beautiful art and music that help it stand out. If repetitive combat doesn’t bother you, it’s well worth a look for the spectacle alone.
Sonic Colors: Ultimate is a somewhat buggy remaster of a great game. If SEGA and Blind Squirrel can patch out the various bugs, this’ll be the best way to experience the momentum and vibrancy of Sonic Colors. Until then, it’s just a decent way to play it, with some swell but minor add-ons.
If you’re willing to let your guard down, open up your heart, and accept Button City as it is, you will get a very wholesome experience with lots of laughs and some very charming art.
Both games on the Prinny Presents NIS Classics Volume 1 collection are unique and a joy to play through for their own reasons. Unfortunately, the way in which they’re presented feels dated and barebones, as they look the same as they did on the PS2 and have no new features or quality of life updates.