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The Gunk is game full of charm, thanks especially to its wonderful art direction and the colorful alien world it created. Unfortunately, despite its short duration The Gunk does not manage to carry this sense of wonder all the way to the end, due to repetitiveness of environments and a gameplay that ends up being far too simplistic. It's still a valid title, especially for younger players; it just needed a little more to truly shine.
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Gear.Club Unlimited 2 Ultimate Edition has a good Career mode, with plenty of races and events and a little bit of story, but it is far from enough to rescue its incredibly sub-par gameplay, to the point that it is uncapable of conveying any emotion. And the game doesn't fare much better graphically, with poor textures and unstable frame rates. A pity, given the resume of the developer.
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Clockwork Aquario is a miracle of preservation, but that doesn't make it a game for everyone. Arcade fans will welcome it, but others will find it difficult to continue playing after finishing it the first time, and the scoring system isn't particularly creative. In any case, the low price should keep even the merely curious happy.
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Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel: Dawn of Battle Royale modernizes the formula by changing some of the core mechanics of the card game, and the result is a quicker, faster-paced gameplay that is fun to play. Unfortunately, under the technical aspect the game is not as exciting, with frequent and unexplicable frame drops and a drab open world.
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Final Fantasy VII Remake Integrade shines as brightly on PC as it did on PlayStation, with a port that's every bit as pretty as the PS5 edition while also being not too demanding, and that includes some nice additions such as 120fps support. Recommended for both newcomers and fans of the original.
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Sometimes a good idea is all you need, and Shatter Ground got a great one. The gamble of combining turn-based strategy with a card game and with the stylish fighting of Superhot ended up working quite well. I personally found Fights in Tight Spaces' roguelite mechanics a little frustrating, but it is a matter of taste and in any case the game offers five different difficulty settings. One last praise goes to the artistic & technical aspects of the game, minimalist yet functional and pleasantly rich in details.
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Milestone has the reins of motorcycle racing in hand, which it manages with enviable confidence, raising the level of the motocross sub-genre like never before but at the same time not being particularly interested in pushing the franchise in a new direction.
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A magical and fun Animal Crossing-like experience for those who love the Disney Universe, with a quite large amount of activities that does not achieve the same level of depth of Nintendo's masterpiece.
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When you want to get rid quickly of level bosses just so you can get back to running down ramps and trampolines, there is something amiss with the balance of the game. And this is exactly the issue with Solar Ash: common enemies aren't a big threat and boss battles break the flow, and not a in a great way. Exploring the game's bizarre worlds, on the other hand, is extremely fun, and requires above average amounts of skill and timing. If you are looking for a fast-paced 3D action platformer that also offers a good story, Solar Ash is a solid choice.
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Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX is mainly aimed at the fans of the franchise. Don't expect a remaster, though: the only difference with the originals is the new monster generating system, now based on an in-game database.
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White Shadows does nothing to hide his sources of inspiration: Limbo and Inside. A dark and obscure location is the right place to set a dystopian, anthropomorphic future story which can be read as a hermetic social metaphor. Though fascinating, White Shadows does too little to explain to the players where they are or what exactly it is that they're doing, and its very simple mechanics don't help. At the same time though, you often feel like you just can't leave, like when watching a Lynch movie.
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Halo Infinite succeeds in the dual purpose of bringing the series back to its origins without forgetting to make several useful changes to rejuvenate the game formula.
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Asterix and Obelix: Slap Them All is a pleasure to watch, not as much to play. The main problem of the title developed by Mr. Nutz Studio is a too simple gameplay, repeated without any changes level after level. Excellent graphics, whose main limitation is the constant reuse of the same assets.
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There are not that many space combat games out there, so Chorus could be a good pick if you like an action packed and ready-to-go game that doesn't require you to study astrophysics like Elite o Star Citizen. The drawback is that, mechanics wise, Chorus is fairly repetitive, and not that mechanically deep. It could still be a good choice if you're aching to shoot space lasers, but in a couple of hours you might realize you're becoming more of a space tourist than an ace pilot.
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Aiko's Choice is a solid addition to Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun, which expands the game's story by introducting a new villain straight from Aiko's past. The three main levels will keep you entertained for a few hours, but if you're expecting new mechanics or daring gameplay you might be in for a disappointment.
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Cruis'n Blast is a fun game in the short term, but lacks the depth of many other arcade racers and doesn't offer a particularly exciting multiplayer, with just a few local 4-players modes.
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Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain is a splendid puzzle game that suffers from a certain repetitiveness and finds its reason for existence in the race for the highest score. I'd definitely recommend it to gamers with a family who loves the idea of using video games to spend a few evenings playing together.
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Coming 27 years after its predecessor, Beyond a Steel Sky inevitably lacks the originality that made Beneath a Steel Sky such an instant classic, and a strong source of inspiration for many games that came later. Union City is now a 3D world, but it's still filled of clever puzzles and interesting characters, shaped around Cecil and Gibbons' view of society. It might not be as groundbreaking as the original, but Beyond a Steel Sky is still a good adventure that tries to offer a perspective on our society and how we should try to improve it without leaving anyone behind.
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Evil Genius 2 on PS5 is as enjoyable as it is on PC, mainly thanks to the great work on adapting its controls for the DualSense and for the ability to use mouse and keyboard on console.
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I don't know whether to recommend Ruined King: A League of Legends Story for the interesting story set in the League of Legends universe or because it's one of the best turn-based RPGs I played since quite a while. I'd stick towards the second reason, leaving the first one as the icing on the cake. An engaging storyline, beautifully characterized and customizable characters, and a combat system that will test your tactical skills await you, especially if you dare to play at higher difficulty levels. Will Runeterra's champions become the new Avengers?
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