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Code Vein feels like it wants to take the idea of community and important AIs and marry it with the gameplay and ideas prevalent in Soulslikes. It is a story-heavy affair that wants you to care about its characters, while also helping you find your way in a demanding world with thoughtful combat. There are some technical hitches along the way, such as frame rate drops, but they're the sort of problems that could very well be eventually fixed with patches. For now, it's a largely successful experiment into some new ideas.
While I understand it's trying to emulate the movie, this ultimately makes Groundhog Day: Like Father Like Son not any fun to play. Having to repeat the same tedious, overly lengthy, and often difficult, minigames over and over is just not fun. While I can say I was impressed with the storytelling and voice acting, and it really did feel a lot of effort went into making the game feel just like the movie. I just wish it was actually fun to play.
Despite my initial hesitation, I found myself really digging Contra: Rogue Corps. My fears that it looked like a cheap, grody-looking, nothing game trying to cruise on a classic IP ended up being completely unfounded. Instead, what I got was a game clearly under Kawazato’s supervision, but with younger blood coursing through its veins.
It’s an experience unlike many others; magical, memorable, and full of heart.
If you’ve been looking for a reason to take the plunge and upgrade, consider this your penalty kick in the pants.
Perhaps most important, for the first time, I actually felt like I understood the Souls genre with The Surge 2. It's the first one that made me actually feel anything other than annoyed and confused and that I wanted to actually stick around to see the end of. It still has issues, and I'd love to see more enemy variety, but I can safely say that I'll be back for whatever Deck 13 has planned next.
Why spend time in a lackluster world when I have a stack of other wonderful games waiting for me?
I had fun with Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch Remastered, but I found myself knocking it down to easy so I could just hit things without thinking too hard, and going through the more compelling sights and sounds without having to dive into a bunch of clumsy systems I didn’t enjoy engaging with.
In conclusion, Bus Simulator is honestly more entertaining than I thought it would be. Driving a bus, picking up passengers, and ensuring you give them the correct change may not be as thrilling as traversing planet Pandora in search of loot in Borderlands 3, or surviving Hell on Earth in the upcoming Doom Eternal, but Bus Simulator is an immersive experience that I can see myself revisiting on a rainy day.
Is Borderlands 3 a perfect game? No, at least not at launch. But it damn sure is so much fun that I wish I were playing right now and not writing this review. I've got Vaults to loot and trinkets to buy. Don't forget to tip Moxxi!
It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but they've certainly made up enough ground to be able to stand toe-to-toe with the competition.
Reel Fishing: Road Trip Adventure is a rather rudimentary game. It doesn't have a huge array of fish, and its locations aren't exactly packed with personality. It borrows ideas and looks from games that are much brighter and more engaging, then pales in comparison. It isn't a terrible game, but it feels very bland and eventually feels like you're going through the motions just so you can keep engaging in the same activities over and over again.
As I've attempted to pound home several times at this point, none of these enhancements should really be classified as true game-changers. If you made the plunge last year and you're looking for NHL 20's one marquee feature that makes this a must-buy, there really isn't an overarching reason to upgrade. Pure and simple. That said, this year's outing has plenty of incremental improvements that deliver a superior experience to what you would've played twelve months ago. Allow your level of fandom to dictate if this purchase is right for you. Ultimately, regardless of where you land, you won't be disappointed.
Investigating gruesome murders in AI: The Somnium Files is fun even though it's not particularly challenging. What really makes this game worth playing is its gritty sci-fi story and engaging characters. The mix of oddball characters work perfectly together to make you experience a rollercoaster of emotions, and piecing together all the threads of the story will reveal some surprising plot twists.
Root Letter: Last Answer adds even more to it, so fans of the original still have a legitimate reason to look into this new version. Just don’t bother with the live action visuals, unless you want to turn this charming light novel into a corny b-movie.
NBA 2K20 is the best basketball game around. Granted, thus far, the competition hasn't shown up. But if and when it does, the bar has been set very high for the basketball sim genre. Facial animations are still odd, and monetization rears its head in practically every mode. But the core ball play, plethora of gameplay modes, and a great presentation all combine to make NBA 2K20 the basketball game to beat this year.
Look, I honestly expected The Angry Birds Movie 2 VR: Under Pressure to have been an obvious stinker with no redeeming qualities. Instead, it's a perfectly solid local co-op game that can be worth a few runs with some friends. Is it great? Nah. Does it have issues? Certainly. But don't be like me and just turn it away because of its dubious origins. More VR games should look at catering to the local co-op crowd anyway.
At the risk of sounding overly infatuated, I cannot begin to understand how the hell Torchlight II has aged so well. The art style, combat mechanics, and even loot drop loop are so finely tuned that it feels like the game fits in as well now as it did, seven years ago. With the obvious exception of the big boys over at Blizzard, the argument could be made that this is the best dungeon crawler on current generation consoles. Factor in the price tag of a mere $20, and this becomes an instant must buy. Just do yourself a favor and download this game. You can thank me later. …Don't worry. I'll wait.
WRC 8 is a rally racing fan's dream. This is a game that will test the skills of even veteran rally fans. Those who are looking to live the dream of taking a team from relative obscurity to championship winners will enjoy the extensive career mode. There's even split screen! In 2019! Split. Screen. While the environments may not seem as detailed as in Dirt Rally 2.0, and the co-drivers are a bit robotic, these are smaller issues and by are no means deal breakers. It seems the rally racing genre just got competitive for the first time in a while with the release of WRC 8.
All I see is a story that embraces its own toxicity, with views on relationships so useless and counterproductive it’s almost suspicious how desperately it wants Vincent to be a hero.