KeenGamer's Reviews
After months of waiting from audiences, the latest entry in the Zelda franchise, Breath Of The Wild, has been released to huge expectation, with a massive open world and a new interpretation of Zelda gameplay. But does it hold up to the staggering hype? Grab your sword, don your hardiest travelling gear and find out!
They'll take your heart. Atlus has launched the bar into the stratosphere by creating what is undoubtedly one of PS4's best games and what is potentially the game of the year. Whether it's battling and collecting demons throughout dungeons or simply going on a date in Akihabara, whatever Persona 5 throws at you, it does so with unmatched style and expert quality.
The Finch family is notorious for death and tragedy. Edith, the last remaining member of the family, returns to her house after years of a new life, in hope of revealing the many secrets and truths that lie within its rooms. What Remains of Edith Finch relishes in stories, so let's see if they're worthwhile to listen to.
Nier: Automata is a big ball of a surprise that keeps on giving. I went into it with no expectations and found myself amazed with it. It is a really wild and beautiful game that shouldn't pass under anyone's radar. The fun gameplay coupled with the fantastic story and the soundtrack makes this a complete package and I'm hesitating to call it an action game cause that would be a disservice to the emotional impact it had on me. I'm sure it will have the same effect on a lot of you if you give it a chance. You most certainly should.
Nintendo provides Switch owners the opportunity to play one of the best games on the Wii U with several new enhancements, characters, and modes that makes Mario Kart 8 Deluxe arguably the best entry in the franchise since Mario Kart 64. This updated version of the fun Wii U title only improves the experience and is well worth every Switch owners time and money.
Craft, build, mine, explore, learn... Minecraft inspires all this and so much more. In this first person adventure game, you are given a vast open world and all the building blocks needed to create anything you can possibly imagine. All you need is some free time and your imagination will do the rest.
Like Dark Souls? Like Metroidvanias? Then you'll love Hollow Knight! A 2D platformer with a definitive style, Hollow Knight offers a challenging and rewarding experience exploring a lost and desolate kingdom as you grow more and more powerful.
Embark on an epic and completely immersive personal journey with Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. A game that's about fighting your inner demons as much as it's about fighting real tangible ones. Certainly a unique experience, but is it worthy of your money and time?
Divinity: Original Sin 2 is here! A highly-anticipated sequel that absolutely wrecked it's Kickstarter goals to deliver an unparalleled role playing experience that will have you calling in sick to work just to play it. It's just that good.
In the same fashion as classic isometric RPGs like Baldur's Gate, a new title has established itself as a top notch experience. Following a story of torment, hatred, suffering, loss of hope, and the courage to fight back against what is wrong in the world, there is an adventure here for everyone to love. With roughly 100 hours, gorgeous environments, customizable party options, and more, this is a must buy for any RPG fan looking for the next best thing.
Forza Motorsport 7 is Microsoft's latest in their annual racing game series. Previously an Xbox exclusive, more recent titles have been ported across to PC courtesy of Xbox Play Anywhere. With there being a huge market gap on PC for collection focused simcade racing, does Forza 7 deliver the experience we've all been waiting for?
Cuphead has long been in development; but, upon its reveal, it stunned people due to its unique art style. After releasing late last month does its style is still as impressive as before. But beneath that, is an addictive platforming and boss rush game that pummels you with challenges whilst simultaneously rewarding you with said challenges.
Super Mario is back! Jump into a fun adventure that combines best parts of previous Mario games and adds a few excellent mechanics that further elevate what was already a juggernaut of platforming experience. Odyssey puts Super into Super Mario.
I've played better, but also far worse than Fallen Legion+. I didn't force myself to keep playing, but at the same time now that I'm done I can't say I'm going to miss it. The combat was fast-paced, but also messy. The story has a solid framework, but it doesn't do much to draw in the player. The graphics and audio are nice, but not nice enough to make up for the other glaring issues. I'd describe it best as a "sale game." Something you get during the Steam Summer Sale when it's 50 or 75 percent off, you just got your paycheck, and you need to buy something inoffensive to satisfy the feeling that you need to jettison some cash right now. I was never offended that they would dare put this on the digital shelves, but it isn't for everyone. Not a perfect experience, but I liked it fine.
Tennis in the Face feels like a lazy port that was thrown on the Switch as a cash grab to take advantage of the platform's early success. Whilst the game itself runs fine, the lack of innovation or attempt to improve over other earlier mediocre ports is aggravating. It's a hollow experience that offers very little beyond the surface and other than a bit of mental stimulation from later, more challenging levels I can't honestly say I ever enjoyed myself playing this. I will reiterate that at just £4.49 it is fairly cheap but somehow still feels a little pricey. After all, it's £2.99 on iOS which is where it belongs in the first place. Is there any reason at all to spend the extra money to get this on a port that adds nothing of note to the original? No, not at all. Sadly, even its value on mobile is diminished as, whilst it works fine as a mobile title, its just such a saturated market filled with dozens of similar titles. At least with the Xbox One and PS4 versions I suppose you could get easy achievements and trophies which I'm sure some people valued but here, on Switch, such arbitrary accomplishments don't exist. With all of that considered, I can say without doubt that buying the Nintendo Switch port of Tennis in the Face would be a complete waste of both your time and money. I'll take back those words if we see effort to actually make this the definitive edition but I heavily doubt such improvements will ever come. For now this will remain as just another mediocre mobile port on a system that didn't need it.
Although Post Human W.A.R. is still in its infancy stages in terms of public reception, the game has a lot unique features to offer fans of the tactical strategy genre. As well, the game has simple battle mechanics with a short learning curve for gamers new to the genre looking for a place to start. The game’s story is quirky and fun, giving the tactical strategy genre a naturalistic and post-apocalyptic flair free of zombies and the robotic singularities. Most of all, the game designers held nothing back in terms of graphics and sound. The game tutorials are well made, short and sweet. The in-game animations and sound effects suit the wackiness of the game and are unique enough to eliminate any feelings of redundancy, yet simple and quick enough that they don’t take too much time out of the game. All in all, Studio Chahut succeeds in creating a tactical strategy game unique enough to shield it from direct competition with heavy hitters like Starcraft while being interesting enough to warrant a play-through from serious tactical strategy gamers.
In my last few words of this perhaps suitably long-winded review for such a long-winded game, I want to make something clear. All of my descriptions of these seemingly convoluted mechanics and length might lead some to think that this is a game for ‘experts,” people who have been playing JRPGs for years and thus know what to do. Not necessarily. If you have never played a JRPG, but you have a willingness to experience all that Xenoblade Chronicles 2 has to offer with an open mind, you might just fall in love with a whole new genre. After all, that’s what happened when I played my first non-Pokémon JRPG, Xenoblade Chronicles X. I haven’t looked back since.
Nothing Legrand Legacy: Tale of the Fatebounds does is particularly revolutionary, and I'm not sure quite what merited it "Most promising game"- perhaps simply because it's a Kickstarter title that isn't complete garbage. However, the thing that kept me playing was not the combat, soundtrack or the exploration elements; it was the story. I wanted to know what will happen next, to Finn, Aria and every other character you meet; through the dialogue alone you get a certain impression of each unique personality; Finn the newly-released, albeit blindingly subservient and confused, slave, partnering with a rather snobbish noblewoman and a studious and reserved Norn; each significant personality is quite memorable, and that alone is what has kept this game on my "things to play" list. Eventually- the list is already rather long.
For a VR player looking for something different, Light Tracer is an absolute must. I don’t care if you’re a dyed in the wool first person shooter type. It matters not if your a young child or a grown adult. We VR headset owners have access to a library of games built by developers that are still trying to innovate and come up with smart ideas to leverage the tech medium in surprising new ways. For now, Light Tracer is one of those games. At less than half of typical asking price for videogames these days, go ahead and grab Light Tracer. Give yourself a pleasant surprise, as I did.
BRAWL tries really hard to bring something new to the bomb blasting formula but for the most part, just ends up being a scarily average clone. There's a lot wrong with BRAWL but if you can get past that, this is an alright affordable alternative to Bomberman with an interesting theme and minor gameplay twists. While the story in this game suffers from many cliches and the game can feel terribly uninspiring and glitchy, the voice acting and art style help make up for this and make this explosive mess somewhat bearable. If you're interested in a different alternative to something like Super Bomberman R to shake things up, BRAWL might be worth a look for you, but otherwise, you'd probably rather be blown up than play this.