Ars Technica's Reviews
Great if you like tough tactical games; a harder sell if you're merely a fan of the films.
You won't find more pure whimsy in a 2019 game.
No Nintendo remake has ever combined the beautiful and the familiar like this.
Should you have read this much of a Gears of War-related review, I imagine at least one of the above four modes sounds up your alley. Just because Escape is currently wonky in action doesn't mean it's not a unique and satisfying co-op action experience. The campaign's herky-jerky start is likely worth enduring for a certain brand of shooter fan. And both Horde and versus are likely to delight fans old and new for entirely different reasons.
"Deckbuilding roguelike?" Whatever you want to call it, this game is fun.
I came out of Eliza with the sense that I'd been on a journey of juggling grief, hope, and joy through the existential dread that is living a modern, tech-filled life. And for that reason, I recommend this visual novel as a must-play experience.
Buy it if you have an ideal co-op partner, want a simpler co-op alternative to MMO-like shooters, or just really, really like newer Wolfenstein games. Otherwise, proceed with caution.
Builders 2 isn’t the breath of fresh air the original was, but it’s even more fun to build stuff, the story is simple but compelling, and when you’re done with the main game, tons of optional goals on the Isle of Awakening give you a reason to keep coming back if you want to.
Course creators can look forward to an amazing game-making tool set whose depth is matched by its accessibility, while players have a functionally endless set of Mario courses to dig through over the course of years.
Mortal Kombat and excessive violence had gone hand in hand from the start. But MK11 can feel like it's trying too hard, with animations that start to feel dragged out and forced. More respect for the viewer's time would have been nice. Ending a match with a long Fatal Blow and then getting the invitation to perform the fatality right after can feel like the Simpsons meme: "Stop, stop! He's already dead!"
Neither gameplay nor contraptions are enough to save uneven, uncomfortable package.
All VR headset owners should own at least one Owlchemy Labs game, and this is the company's best yet.
Wait until EA finishes the game, if that ever happens.
There are better ways to get your superhero action fix, but there are worse ones, too. Crackdown 3 is at least worth a try.
Do you like a game whose combat and discovery mechanics are entirely divorced from stop-and-wait delivery of lengthy, meandering dialogue, always spoken by over-eager actors with thick Eastern European accents? If so, you're in for some genuinely likable moments of character development; they're just firmly nestled in the kinds of overlong stories that might have you saying "get on with it, man" after a while. The spoilable plot beats, on the other hand, feel like fine B-movie cheese. Sometimes, these are full of scare-quote "important" messages freighted with fromage. (And sometimes filled with comically intense evil, too.)
The modern-aesthetic upgrade more than makes up for the game's lowest lows. Horror fans should immediately buy.
If you like Suda51, there's enough here to keep you hooked. Otherwise, tread cautiously.
Gamers want an essential, badass combat experience no matter which characters square off. Even this early, it's settled: Smash Ultimate nails this expectation. Thus, it is the best fighting-game package to ever land on a Nintendo console.
Anybody who's tired of the games' ancient Kanto region may struggle to feel the same jolt I did, and that's fair. But PLG's brilliant tweaks on the age-old formula are so good that I hope they find their way to the next "true" generation release—and I might be sweet enough on Pokémon by then to play that game, too.
An expertly crafted, improvisational playspace for stealth mayhem. Buy it.