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Anyone looking for a good family game to play with their kids should pick up LEGO Marvel's Avengers without delay. It's certainly cheaper than that other LEGO game that came out not too long ago, and with a playtime of 6-10 hours for just the story mode, and perhaps dozens more to obtain 100% completion, it's likely any kids you have will play this for months on end. The story is straight from the movies, and is enjoyable for kids of any age – indeed, fans of the Marvel universe will likely have fun here too. Some technical hiccups and the occasional unclear objective can hamper your progress, but these can all be overcome in a game that exudes a fun-loving attitude throughout.
Gravity Rush Remastered attempts to update the 2012 portable original for a 2016 home console experience, and it's mostly successful in doing so. Though some elements feel like relics of its portable past, like comic-book-style cutscenes and a lack of voice acting, there's no denying it's still a hell of an aesthetic accomplishment. Yoshiaki Yamaguchi's gorgeous art style shines through in both the excellent character portraits and the city's uniquely colorful districts, and Kohei Tanaka's lively soundtrack evokes the same sort of childlike whimsy you might expect to find in a Ghibli film. The gameplay can be a bit disorienting with its whirling camera and shift-happy combat, but there's still nothing quite like the sense of freedom you get from soaring around Hekseville's bizarre monsters and creative locales — and it's a feeling of childlike joy that makes Kat's first adventure worth playing in spite of its flaws.
A handful of matches with Stardust Vanguards is actually heaps of fun and will certainly be shortlisted among the usual titles picked for game nights. The hectic sci-fi vibe is brilliant and the soundtrack is a thumping thing of beauty. Sadly, things can grind to a halt after a few games and the things that got you going several rounds earlier aren't doing anything for you now. It's a specific game for a specific time and place, made even more specific thanks to its purely local set up which acts as both a blessing and a curse, in almost equal measure. It's hard to pinpoint why it suffers with fatigue quite so badly but, irrespective, it's fully worth having in your library, albeit just for that one night in with your friends you'll all remember for a long time to come.
It's a brilliant, beautiful, masterfully crafted work, and the more you discover, the more apparent it is.
Klaus is a subversive, ingenious little puzzle platformer that shouldn't be missed by anyone who claims to be a fan of video games. The nods to common tropes in the medium serve as both a bit of cerebral humor and as the basis for some truly inspired bits of level design, and the presentation blends excellent sprite work with flashy film-inspired animation. Minor annoyances, like the touchpad feeling a bit cumbersome and some irritating audio design, shouldn't keep players away from this masterful little piece of gaming love.
Fans of cult sci-fi films and/or Mystery Science Theater 3000 will get quite the kick out of The Deadly Tower of Monsters. You can't help but smile as you melee and shoot your way to the top of the emperor's tower, experience the ridiculous cut scenes, and literally fast forward and rewind the game as you would a VHS tape. Just like the movies it tries to emulate, the game is so bad with its special effects, dialogue, and set-pieces that's it's rather good.
Capcom's HD reimagining of Resident Evil 0 is a glorious nostalgia trip back to a brand of survival horror that just doesn't come around anymore in this era of gaming. Sure, that means dealing with a couple of annoyances, like the fixed camera angles and stiff combat, but those who can look past these problems will find a treasure trove of old-fashioned adventuring. Exploring the title's creepy, masterfully detailed environments is nothing short of a joy, and sorting out the harrowing tasks of inventory management and limited resources is tense in just the right way. If you're craving some real retro challenges, or just in the mood for some good atmosphere, Resident Evil 0 is well worth the price of admission.
If you're a big fan of Assassin's Creed, or enjoyed ACC: China, then you can pick this up without hesitation. It's more of the same gameplay-wise, but completely different story and setting-wise. Platforming fans may also want to pick this up, because there are not too many new platformers coming out on a regular basis. However, casual fans need not apply, since the game has somewhat clunky controls, hilariously stupid enemy AI that presents little challenge, and those terrible tailing missions that players of regular Assassin's Creed games hate so much.
There's a lot to do in Rebel Galaxy, it's just a shame that it's all too often the same things to do.
If you've got a hankering for strategic role-playing and an epic narrative with plenty of player choice, The Banner Saga should become one of your priorities on PS4. The combat, while a little uneven difficulty-wise across the game's campaign, nevertheless manages to hit the sweet spot between simple accessibility and strategic depth. You'd also be hard-pressed to find an indie with as much artistic inspiration: gorgeous character art, painterly backgrounds and an exceptional put to rest the misguided notion that indies can't turn out aesthetic appeal on a limited budget. Sure, it's not always perfect — the game's lack of guidance, difficulty spikes and voice acting may occasionally leave you feeling a little lost and alone — but perhaps that's just in keeping with the unforgiving Norse world that inspired it.
It's colorful and quite ridiculous; it's simple, accessible and well populated. Hardware: Rivals has most of the ingredients present to cook up a fantastic arcade experience, but it's missing a vital ingredient: fun. The sluggish pace that permeates everything from movement and destruction to respawning and leveling up constantly holds it back. Even unlocks are few in number and, being mostly cosmetic, carry little to no incentive in the first place. If someone hooked Hardware: Rivals up to an espresso drip, then we'd certainly have an entirely different game. Alas, there's a solid mound of squandered potential here, below a deceptively enticing facade.
If the thought of losing at a game over and over until you finally understand all of its nuances does not sound like a good time, then you can safely pass on Tharsis. If, however, you love tabletop games, or enjoy the challenge of micro-managing several scarce resources at a time in an almost vain effort against nearly insurmountable odds, then by all means buy Tharsis. There's a great challenge to be had, and some replayability in the form of chasing an ever-higher score by not resorting to cannibalism so easily, taking less damage, and keeping ship morale high, as well as new characters to unlock. This is not a game for everyone, but for those who know what they're getting themselves into, Tharsis is well worth the effort.
Amplitude is a labor of love, polished to a beautiful shine and put into fans' hands by a developer that truly cares about the experience they are offering in revisiting this cult classic. Despite its clean exterior and simple, yet fun gameplay, I fear many will be rather quickly turned away by the steep difficulty curve and a track list that is only good, not great.
Among the Sleep would be a good buy at $9.99 or under. As it stands now, $14.99 is a bit too steep a price to ask for a game that is very short, and not particularly emotionally investing. A game that deals with alcoholic parents is supposed to get you to care about all the people affected by one person's addiction, but Among the Sleep ignores that, instead opting to be yet another game where you're defenseless against the enemy and must run and high whenever you're found. Between the average presentation, short play time, and predictable story, Among the Sleep is a game best purchased on sale, and is, perhaps ironically, only recommended for horror game junkies.
Sony worked with the developers of Dark Cloud to create and code a trophy list for playing on the PS4. It took two to three months to put in trophies, but it won't take nearly that long to earn the Platinum for Dark Cloud. You'll need to complete the game and clean up a few trophies that ensure you'll get the complete Dark Cloud experience, but nothing too difficult like collecting maxed out ultimate weapons is required.
It's easy to see the flaws in Rubble Without a Cause if it's compared to its predecessor. Chapter 2 simply shines half as bright as A Knight to Remember. By itself, it's still a fun adventure with entertaining puzzles, dialog, and of course, that beautiful visual style that they've created for this King's Quest. As a whole, Chapter 2 is definitely the lesser of the two out thus far, and given the premium price point on the episodes, and the claim that this game will be bigger than most episodic releases (such as Telltale Games' titles), I expected a bit more than the mundane and quick filler episode we got. Given a strong start from Chapter 1, I'm hoping that The Odd Gentlemen can dust themselves off after faltering with Chapter 2 and give us a third chapter to be proud of.
It doesn't cover any new ground, or do anything of great significance, but Fat Princess Adventures is a solid and playful RPG experience in its own right. It's a relaxed title that'll be a sure hit with most, especially if you turn the excessive blood off for your kids. Combat is overly basic and often gets too hectic while the presence of the run-of-the-mill story is more than welcome. It's a new bake for the Fat Princess franchise, one that's at least worth a bite.
Guns Up! is devilishly addictive and provides a seriously fun formula of mutually beneficial attack and defence tactics. It's initially intimidating economy only works to give the game depth once you've completed the enlightening tutorial, leaving you with a constant desire to progress and improve both your settlement and your garrison of units. All the above is unsettlingly blighted by an ever-present need to fork out real cash or face the reality of dampening the enjoyment by grinding for hours. It's a necessary evil in the free-to-play genre that's simply too overbearing here to fully accept or ignore.
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege serves as a breath of fresh air against an overwhelming fog of twitch shooters.
Just Cause 3 is hardly game of the year material, and it knows it. The game constantly makes fun of itself, Rico has plenty of cheesy yet hilarious one-liners he likes to throw out while watching his exploding handiwork, and the NPCs constantly ask him how he does what he does. The game isn't meant to be deep or perplexing; it's meant to be fun and tap into that inner madman who just wants to make things go boom, and Just Cause 3 succeeds in doing just that.