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As someone who generally enjoys mindless grinding, there was some comfort in making my way through Black Desert’s massive landscape. But when there are other options that feel more polished, thoughtful, and creative, it’s hard to recommend Black Desert unless the absence of a subscription fee is a key factor.
The problem with Whipseey and the Lost Atlas is that it doesn't do anything to differentiate itself from the platformers it has clearly been inspired by. And despite looking, sounding and controlling wonderfully, Blowfish Studio's two dimensional platformer invites unflattering comparisons due to its lack of originality. It may be a fun way to spend an hour, but here is a reminder… Kirby's Adventure is an NES game from 1993 that is more than twice the length of Whipseey and the Lost Atlas.
Just like Until Dawn before it, Man of Medan is a knowingly schlocky and incredibly fun horror movie in video game form, tailor-made to bridge the gap between those two mediums. It's never truly terrifying, but always edge-of-your-seat thrilling right through to what can be quite an abrupt ending. As jarring as that may be, it's a great way for Supermassive to leave players wanting more and ultimately keen to check out additional short-form, budget-priced entries in the intriguing Dark Pictures Anthology.
At a budget price and launching with a last minute ad bumrush, Remnant: From the Ashes is the kind of title you'd expect to come out and vanish quickly. But for fans of tough RPGs, action shooters, or post-apocalyptic fiction, passing up on Remnant would be a devastating mistake. It easily joins the ranks of games like Vampyr, that stubbornly outgrow their financial constraints to truly innovate and elevate a genre that has long since needed new ideas.
MXGP 2019 is a safe bet for those looking to race with the full weight of the real MXGP behind the game. It’s a mostly by-the-numbers dirt biking game, with some modernity thrown in.
Knights and Bikes is a fun, frantic, top-down adventure game with some light puzzle and combat elements that I imagine would be more appreciated by either a younger crowd or a parent playing with their kid. If you're looking for a solid co-op adventure, this can easily fill the void. Even solo it's still fun enough to be worth a look. Just be ready for a few awkward moments, and a seriously terrible UI.
If you're looking for a beefy console RTS experience that's inspired by real events and oozing violence out of every bloody orifice, then look no further than Ancestors Legacy. It may not be the perfect experience, but it's shockingly solid, especially when you consider the design hurdles that the development team must have been facing. This is the perfect entry-point for anyone who's been curious about real time strategy, when armed with only a Dualshock.
Control is another game from Remedy that does exactly what you'd expect from Remedy. It's a little off-kilter, but thoughtful and meticulously written. It's a little janky (sometimes a lot janky), but its mechanics amount to solid junk food when everything is functioning as intended. Control is definitely a step back into "AA" territory after the big ambitions that powered Quantum Break, but frankly this is exactly the sort of space Remedy excels in. While it can be rough at times, Control is like a paperback novel you pick up to kill some time, then unexpectedly find a lot of intrigue and charm.
But, for now, Wreckfest just doesn't live up to the promise of its name. The destruction is technically impressive, but oddly distancing. It awes with flying debris, but rarely exhilarates.
CRYSTAR won’t be competing with Devil May Cry in the video game as video game-ass video game department, but as a story it absolutely earned its spot on my shelf.
Erica isn’t exactly ambitious when it comes to FMV or adventure games. But it doesn’t have to be. It is a succinct experience with lots of different choices that change the story and lead to different sorts of outcomes. It is well performed has good transitions, and there are no overly-complicated inputs.
No question, ONINAKI has reignited my long extinguished JRPG spark. I've actually been looking forward to booting up my PS4 every day to follow Kagachi and Linne's journey. It's not a slam dunk game; there is a lot of predictability in the storyline, but even then, I'm compelled to see this through to the very end. There are Daemons I absolutely do not enjoy having in my party but will eventually grind out simply to view all of their lore and max out skill trees. All in pursuit of that feeling of accomplishment for hitting the one hundred percent completion mark, or perhaps in this case, my next Platinum trophy.
Is Sairento VR a masterpiece of technical innovation? Far from it. But despite its obvious visual and mechanical shortcomings, the game knows what it does well and takes every opportunity double-down on delivering this experience. You will find very few games on the PSVR that can provide a combat experience this frenetic, kinetic, and goddamn amusing. If you're looking to take a slice out of crime and indulge your inner ninja, this one's a cut above the rest.
No Man's Sky Beyond really has brought everything promised to players, and then some. While the initial launch was full of bugs, Hello Games has hardly left their offices, as they have released nearly ten patches post-update. One update in particular, 2.05, smoothed a lot of stability issues out, and Hello Games has been fixing things at a freakishly fast pace. This cannot be stressed enough: No Man's Sky Beyond is a killer VR app on any platform, but it is a showcase-worthy example on the PSVR. Dust off those Move controllers and head back into the Euclid galaxy–you'll be instantly glad you did.
I definitely plan to keep playing and think most roguelike fans would be similarly swayed, happily positioning RAD as their latest timesink
Alas, if you're coming to Age of Wonders: Planetfall for a brand new angle on games you've played before, then you've come to the wrong place. It's novel to see several different recognizable mechanics blended into one genre soup. The final product isn't better than the sum of its parts, though. It makes the 4X a faster game to play, but not a better one, ultimately.
Metal Wolf Chaos XD does show its age on PS4, but with an overblown and strangely topical narrative, absurdist humor, unaltered so-bad-it-is-good dialogue, and enough destruction to initiate impeachment proceedings, it is no wonder that this third-person relic has earned enough attention over the past decade (and a half) to get this remaster made; further solidifying Metal Wolf Chaos' cult status.
Solo: Islands of the Heart is perhaps the most introspective game to release this year. The gameplay may not have much to do with the story, but the puzzles are decent roadblocks on the journey. The whole adventure will only take most gamers 4-6 hours to complete, and while that may feel like enough for the price ($19.99) for some, just as the puzzles start to get more challenging, the game is over. Fans of puzzle games may want to check out Solo: Islands of the Heart, but those who are expecting a major challenge will probably want to look elsewhere.
It’s amazing how games can speak right to you and dig out memories you don’t expect them to
It's a shame that Labyrinth Life didn't choose to go the route of Criminal Girls 2, where it released with mini-games in tact but had artwork that was redrawn by the original Japanese team to be a bit less smutty. Releasing the game without many of the naughty mini-games means that you see it for what it truly is; an uninspiring dungeon crawler that, apart from the challenge dungeons, is a bit of a dull slog to play through.