New Game Network
HomepagePresentation and polish aren't its strong suit, but Remnant: From the Ashes features gripping third-person gunplay and simple but satisfying progression that enable enticing entertainment regardless of whether you're playing cooperatively or solo. The visceral variety and delightful design of the environments and enemies elevate Remnant above other Dark Souls doppelgangers.
Lost Orbit: Terminal Velocity is a competent action-scroller that often reaches stellar status. It's a cool little indie with some neat ideas, and definitely worth taking for a spin at $10.
The Great Perhaps is a nice looking adventure game that takes players on an interesting journey with solid dimension-shifting gameplay. Just be wary of the poorly handled mood swings and occasionally annoying design elements.
Exception is a bog-standard platformer that rarely rises above mediocrity. Its saving grace is an excellent presentation and a fire soundtrack that you should check out even if you have no interest in playing the actual game. Otherwise, look elsewhere for your platforming kicks.
Quench is an okay puzzle game that has a few solid mechanics with a noteworthy art style, but its linearity and awkward controls don't help offset the somewhat steep asking price.
Dynamic empire management and deep tactical conquest forge the perfect alliance within the colorful sci-fi worlds of Age of Wonders: Planetfall. With nearly endless replay value, it is one of the most tantalizing turn-based games in years.
Metal Wolf Chaos XD has moments of entertaining mayhem, but they are hidden beneath layers of dated gameplay, nonsensical story, and gated behind a high asking price. Instead of being able to potentially discover a lost classic, mech fans get a rusted out blast from the past.
Wolfenstein: Youngblood is an adequate shooter, buried under a glut of unnecessary RPG elements and an obnoxious focus on cooperative play. Fans should look to the other games in the series to quench their thirst for straightforward Nazi killing.
Tetris Effect reflects the classic puzzle game through a particle filled kaleidoscope, putting players into a mesmerizing trance with its unique presentation, alongside classic gameplay. Its price point might jolt you back to reality, though.
The simple synergy-focused combat can be fun with some friends, but Ultimate Alliance 3's padded plot proves pernicious for its diverse cast of wretchedly one-note characters. Add to that a campaign that's poorly paced and painfully inconsistent performance, and you're left with a repetitive and unexpectedly plain package that doesn't adequately justify the revival of a franchise.
While a few finicky mechanics and a lack of content outside the campaign keep this from getting a universal recommendation, $20 still gets you a memorable experience and offers a deliciously fun twist on the sidescrolling shooter formula.
Etherborn is a creative and occasionally maddening puzzler that will test your brainpower. However, there's not a ton of content here, and the backing narration often comes across as pretentious nonsense.
Super Mario Maker 2 is a perfectly fine way to pass the time, though you'll quickly begin to see the seams. As far as game-maker tools go, it's probably the easiest to use - but that doesn't mean it's the most entertaining or diverse.
Painfully plain mechanics and an inadequate narrative render SolSeraph insufficient entertainment for nearly anyone. ActRaiser fans will find its flaws indefensible, and anyone else who manages to stumble upon it will fail to be captivated by the excruciatingly repetitive tower defense and tiresome action platforming.
Sea of Solitude dives into a broad range of mental issues and treats them carefully enough to be both educational and emotional. It's just a pity that the bland gameplay drowns out some of its best parts.
Traffix is nice little game that takes a seemingly straightforward puzzle concept and makes a fun experience out of it.
Establishing and expanding a colony while defending against increasingly difficult hordes of infected makes for a very engrossing experience in They Are Billions, though some questionable design choices make shambling through the lengthy Singleplayer campaign a bit of a slog at times.
Nitro-Fueled gives Crash Team Racing a much-needed visual facelift while keeping the first-rate kart racing mechanics intact. The small amount of single player content doesn't give you much to do by yourself, but the healthy helping of multiplayer modes and unforgiving AI provide plenty of reasons to keep you coming back.
The Sinking City is a decent adaptation of Lovecraft's work, meshing dark themes with a variety of great investigations that culminate into tricky decisions. If the combat was less clunky and the world more polished, it would have beckoned all to its desolate shore.
While an exciting sim on its own, F1 2019 does the bare minimum to qualify as a brand new outing. There are no breakthroughs this year, so unless you're a hardcore fan, those just looking for a great F1 racing experience can safely pit stop to last year's version.