EGM's Reviews
Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection marks the return of Capcom's brutally challenging action platformer series after a 14-year hiatus, and it's a game that hasn't forgotten the teachings or techniques of its ancestors. While it's more of a "best of" for the series than a fresh new chapter, Resurrection is both a trip down memory lane, and a new experience that'll test both longtime fans and players alike. It probably won't resurrect the Ghosts 'n Goblins franchise for a new era, but at least it reminds us that both Arthur and his enemies aren't ready for the grave quite yet.
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury is the Wii U port that Switch owners have been waiting for. Besides the inclusion of online multiplayer, 3D World is the same good game that players already experienced on the Wii U, and fans of the series who missed it the first time around will enjoy its hybridization of 2D and 3D Mario gameplay. But the highlight of the package is Bowser's Fury, a scaled-down but surprisingly robust mini 3D Mario game that actually takes some chances.
Disjunction deconstructs the stealth genre and boils it down to its simplest and most readable mechanics. Mix in a cool cyberpunk aesthetic and interesting if optional gadgets, and it's a winning formula. Unfortunately, the game stops well short of fully mining either its trope-heavy story or stealth formula, leading to an experience that ultimately feels repetitive.
The Medium builds upon a lot of gameplay gimmicks and ideas that aren't always used to their full potential, but when they do work, they work incredibly well. Controlling main character Marianne as she jumps between worlds is both engrossing and exciting in practice, and the game's main location serves its job as a setting for horror masterfully most of the time. This is a game that definitely could have been better-but which is also better than a lot of other horror games that don't take such daring risks.
Hitman 3 is a fantastic capstone to a standout series. Yes, a lot of what you experience will seem familiar if you've played the last two games, but IO Interactive continues to take interesting risks that largely play off while still perfecting the elements that make Hitman so special. The best compliment I can pay Hitman 3 is that I want to finish writing this review so I can go back to playing it.
Cyberpunk 2077's bugs and technical issues certainly hold it back, and with any luck those will be fixed in the coming months. But it's more difficult to imagine CD Projekt Red doing enough to resolve the deeper problems: awkwardly balanced systems, storytelling misfires, and an inability to merge its open-world action and RPG gameplay into something smooth and cohesive.
If it came out a few months ago or a few months later, Immortals Fenyx Rising might have stood out more. But the problem is that it's coming after a gauntlet of better Ubisoft products without doing much to improve upon the formula. Sometimes, it actively works against itself in what it's decided to steal from Breath of the Wild, too. However, its surprisingly engaging story and a late-game trek up a mountain save it from being entirely lost to history.
While the idea of a Western studio completely reworking what is arguably FromSoftware's most important title ever was initially worrying for many fans, what Bluepoint Games has accomplished with Demon's Souls is something special. This is a game that honors its origins without being afraid to also modernize them, and though it might not offer enough modernization for some, this is probably the best balance between keeping what works and upgrading what didn't that we could have gotten.
Sackboy: A Big Adventure may not have the most memorable hook or world, but it's a strong, generous, and unexpectedly deep platformer bolstered by a wonderful use of music.
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity ingeniously translates The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's world, style, and gameplay into the Warriors formula, and fans of both series will be extremely satisfied with how both are reimagined here. But if you were expecting a more straightforward prequel that truly mined the tragedy of the war against Calamity Ganon, instead of relying on tired tropes like time travel, you might be left a little shell-shocked.
Godfall's sluggish, overly complicated combat, hilariously paper-thin story, and numerous technical issues make it a lowlight of the PlayStation 5's launch lineup.
Don't be fooled into thinking Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales is some minor spin-off of Insomniac Games' PS4 exclusive. Sure, it's not as long, but the experience is packed with enough new gameplay ideas and design refinements that it feels every bit like a true, substantial successor. Throw in a story that does justice to Miles as a character and tech that wonderfully showcases the power of the PlayStation 5, and you just might have one of the best console launch titles of the modern era.
While many may initially see it as a throwaway free demo for the features of the next-generation console it comes installed on, Astro's Playroom is a wonderful surprise whose price does not speak to its quality. Though it certainly does showcase what the PlayStation 5's new DualSense can do, the game actually has far more value being just that: a game.
Watch Dogs: Legion pushes through Ubisoft's generally noncommittal attitude towards storytelling and exploiting current events to create something that feels like a genuine shift, or at least the prototype of that shift. It might be a sloppy game in many regards, but Legion offers a novel way to experience an open world, with its interconnected NPCs and the introduction of permadeath to the genre.
Mafia: Definitive Edition is the best of both worlds. Its updated graphics bring Lost Heaven and its inhabitants to life without burdening them with modern game design elements. While the characters themselves haven't aged as well, Mafia: Definitive Edition, though based on a game that's nearly 20 years old, feels more refreshing than most open-world games.
Still, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is a project on a level of scope and ambition that Vanillaware was crazy to try to pull off. While the team continually pushes the complexity of the story to the breaking point all of the way through, there’s something oddly satisfying about a game that always feels like it should be falling apart yet never does. And, when you brush aside all of the narrative craziness, there are thirteen personal stories that at times can have a surprising level of emotional depth.
Spelunky 2 rests on the laurels of its predecessor, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. It still retains all of the gameplay mechanics and level design that made the original such a satisfying experience. But as a sequel, Spelunky 2 feels a little too scared to expand its horizons. For a game that's all about taking risks, Spelunky 2 is surprisingly risk-averse.
Marvel's Avengers squanders the potential of what might have been a fun superhero romp by grafting on an annoying, overly repetitive games-as-a-service component. Playing as the cast of heroes offers decent thrills, and the campaign tells an enjoyable enough story, but odds are good you'll get bored long before you grind your way to the top.
Tell Me Why might be smaller in scope and less mechanically complex than Dontnod's Life is Strange series, but it's just as emotionally impactful. It's a compelling story with relatable, complex characters, and yet another example of Dontnod's unbeaten ability to make players feel something, anything, in a medium that's increasingly more mind-numbing.
At least in my time with it, Wasteland 3 has been a fascinating experience. I’ve come to appreciate its depth of gameplay, character, building, and exploration, even if some of its pieces and parts still feel very foreign to me.