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Pokken Tournament was a hit on the Wii U and while not an excellent game it is a solid fighter filed with some interesting Pokemon. However for each Pikachu Libre there is a Chandelure. With a roster of almost 1000 Pokemon you’d think they could have come up with a better lineup for the 21 fighters. While games like Mario Kart 8, Splatoon 2, and Arms do magnificent jobs of taking their respective genres and making excellent interpretations of Nintendo games Pokken Tournament DX only does an above average job for the fighting genre.
he story of Ghaul in Destiny 2 mirrors the story of Bungie as a publisher: humble, runty beginning (being a Mac game publisher), molding by an older mentor (Microsoft Studios) with an ulterior vision for their company, rise to indomitable power (the Halo years), a search for meaning beyond the power (splitting off the Halo franchise to 343 Industries), a fall from grace (leaving Microsoft), to becoming engulfed in the Light of their achievements (partnership with Activision), ushering in a Second Golden Age (Destiny 2). But, hey, that’s just a theory… for another time.
As fun as NHL Threes might be, it definitely is not reason enough on its own. If you missed a couple of incarnations and your last game is NHL 15 or even an earlier one, then I can recommend NHL 18 without hesitation, as it delivers the whole package in a modern style. Lastly, if you want to play online and are the competitive type, there is probably anyway no way around it.
I don’t want to give away too much and spoil anyone’s fun, but rest assured that Death of the Outsider is a worthy installment in the series. It lightens up on the story consequences from your actions and allows a much more liberated approach to your gameplay in which I found myself gleefully slaughtering guards more than creeping around corners. If you feel like I didn’t touch on the story, it was intentional. The title doesn’t leave much mystery on the main goal of the game and giving away details is not my style – go discover them for yourself.
Neo-retro games have had a great resurgence in recent years with the increased prevalence of Indie developers, and I believe what Songbringer accomplishes is nothing less than a fond wistfulness of those days of cartridges and arcades. While Songbringer plays heavily on the nostalgia of games long past, I believe new players with a little determination can still find a lot to like in this updated take on an old-fashioned game. For a game priced around the same as a movie and popcorn, this is an expeditious journey worth taking. Board the Songbringer sailor. Ekzera awaits.
The beauty of Kingdom: New Lands is that while it’s frustrating, like all the best roguelikes, it’s also addictive and you never feel cheated.
Gameplay wise, you’ll be hard-pressed to run out of things to do in RCR. Not only is there a free roam mode right off the bat, but the New Game+ is crazy and off the wall too. We’re talking dozens of hours of gaming here, and if you’ve never played RCR before, probably even more. I don’t hesitate when I say that Retro City Rampage is a must play for any retro-gaming fan, open world fan, or Nintendo gamer. It’s iconic, and worth the investment. And yes, RCR DX on the Switch is probably the best version out there.
As I played through the game, I found myself profoundly moved by Chloe, by Rachel, by loss and pain and the wondrous beauty of a newfound love. Excellence in writing evokes emotion and memory. Awake has it in spades. Deck Nine has done what most didn’t think they could: It took a beloved series by another developer (DontNod Entertainment) and made it even better. There simply isn’t a better way to honor another game than that.
Overall Ys VIII the Lacrimosa of Dana is a compelling and entertaining JRPG. I often found myself torn between pushing the main story forward and doing all the side activities, but the real tell was I just really enjoyed spending time in the game no matter what I was doing. The graphics, music, and game mechanics all work well together to provide many hours of delightful and fun entertainment.
Bastard’s wound makes no profound changes to Tyranny. It provides a small amount of content with just as many paths to choose as you’d expect from Tyranny. Players shouldn’t expect to be blown away by plot twists or profound discoveries, except maybe by some of the companion stories which are the best part of the expansion. Bastard’s Wound is a great addition for players who are thinking about picking up the game with the DLC.
For those new to the XCOM series, I would definitely recommend including War of the Chosen with your first play through of XCOM 2 as it deepens the total experience and breaks up any monotony that was in the vanilla version. I have about another 30 hours until I manage to beat the expansion, but I know that when I do I’ll immediately start up a new game to experience it all over again.
Before you pick this game up, know what you are getting yourself into. It gets messy and you may only play it once. This is not a game you play for the fun, but for the feelings. So, be open to getting a little uncomfortable… and don’t blame the onions, it’s ok if you tear up a bit.
For decades Capcom has been at the forefront of making compelling and high-quality 2D fighters. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that despite how polished the game feels, with its newly revamped audio tracks, revitalized roster and extemporaneous movement abilities, that I still long for the days where the X-Men filled the ranks of playable characters. While that is a hot button point of contention with the game and its fans, Marvel Versus Capcom: Infinite is by far and large the highest quality and, not to mention, most fun 2D fighting game to come out in years.
Warriors All-Stars adds a few fun new additions to the series, but ultimately falls short at making itself stand out for any reason other than the cast. It allows many of Koei Tecmo’s stars from multiple games to meet up and cause massive amounts of mayhem in the name of good, but adds no interesting mechanics or hooks outside of continuing to provide a great Musou experience.
Since its release, Minecraft has been inspiring generations to use their imagination in order to create and to harness the collaborative possibilities that the game’s universe presents to the player. In the vacuum of story or purpose, Telltale Games seeks to draw our curiosities back into the pixelated world of blockheads once more to discover the hero that lies within, the calamity to defeat, and a pig that’s people, too.
At the end of the day as you travel the road to be a Kung Fu master isn’t that all that really matters? Standing your ground and fighting as best as you can? Or perhaps you seek the road of the Drunken Master, that road exists as well.
If you own a Nintendo Switch, you want this game, period. I didn’t know I wanted this mashup, but now that we have it, I can’t wait for the DLC, and I definitely want sequels.
Metronomicon Slay the Dance Floor is a ton of fun and I hope to see more rhythm RPGs in the future. The soundtrack is also top notch and I often had various songs stuck in my head long after I stopped playing. For anyone who likes RPGs and Rhythm games, this is one you won't want to pass up.
Madden NFL 18 isn’t the giant leap of the series, but I’m not entirely sure anyone really expects it to be. It is noticeably different than its predecessor, namely because of the Longshot mode. And while I didn’t walk away from the Longshot story a huge fan – it’s definitely worth a shot if you’re looking for something different in your Madden experience. However, if you just wanted more of the same, this isn’t necessarily a bad year to skip the game and save your money. That’s not to say the game is bad – it’s not. However, I’m not sure it does enough differently than it’s predecessor – and the things it does differently I’m not sure they do them well enough – to warrant a purchase day one.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Sonic Mania, and it’s a clear example of just how successful fan-created passion projects can be when they’re nurtured by a studio. I’m also hopeful that the 2D journey doesn’t end here either, but encourages Sega to continue further down this road with even more new content in the future. In the meantime, 3D fans have Sonic Forces to look forward to when it launches later this year.