The Games Machine

Threefold Recital is narrative game with light investigative elements, by which I mean that more often then not a wrong deduction will simply lead to the main characters correcting themselves. But the story itself is compelling, the dialogue is snappy, and the minigames are varied enough.

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Ninja Gaiden 2 Black is not perfect. It tries to make up for the dastardly mistakes made by the Sigma series, but it succeeds only partially and fails to replicate that perfect intensity that Tomonobu Itagaki managed to get right in 2008. It remains, however, the best version of the game currently available on modern systems, thanks in part to Unreal Engine 5, which enhances its aesthetics to excellent levels. It may not be entirely worthy of the Black suffix, but this Ninja Gaiden 2 still deserves your attention as you await the fourth chapter.

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Sniper Elite: Resistance is a solid "more of the same" of the fifth chapter, or a "Hitman with a sniper rifle" for the ones not used to the series. And it feels good.

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Planet Coaster 2 suffers from sequel syndrome: the original Planet Coaster eight years after its release is still a benchmark of the genre and it is difficult to do better. Planet Coaster 2 tries by adding water attractions that significantly expand the possibilities offered to the player. What has remained unchanged, however, is the underlying structure, which is certainly solid, but not always smooth: before you get to resent it, in any case, dozens and dozens of hours of fun will pass.

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Ender Magnolia follows in the footsteps of Ender Lilies by delivering a longer-than-average metroidvania with a fun combat system and a very pleasing art style, especially when it comes to backgrounds. However, while its story beats are by no means bad, they lack the spark that was present in Ender Lilies.

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A traditional metroidvania with a fascinating setting that mixes Japanese folklore and cyberpunk, brought to life by excellent pixel-art. The classic gameplay is enhanced by a mechanic that allows you to manipulate time and matter. A couple of bugs and a few minor technical stumbles, as well as an imperfect difficulty balance, however, prevent Blade Chimera from aspiring to the Olympus of the genre.

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With nine worlds of fantastic action-platforming, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD has aged rather well and is still a pleasure to play, despite its sequel Tropical Freeze remaining the series' high point.

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The rebirth of the Musou dynasty starts with Dynasty Warriors: Origins. A greater emphasis on duels against officers and bosses combines with better management of battlefield resources to give Tecmo Koei's armies a new soul. Not being able to directly impersonate its legendary heroes weighs a bit and the absence of a multiplayer mode almost feels like an affront, but nevertheless this is the restart the series needed.

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On Your Tail is a lively journey through Liguria in the role of the young Diana, a Turinese in search of inspiration for her new work. Built well and with soul, the title reaches the heart of the player with simplicity and skill, leveraging the memories and memories of the past of each of us. It is not easy, if we think about it, to be able to tell oneself with memories. Long live memories, then, but also beautiful Italian video games. And On Your Tail is a beautiful Italian video game.

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Freedom Wars Remastered is an operation that fails to restore luster to its former glory. Already narratively it was not something never seen before that could be defined as seminal and, even today, unfortunately the absence of a charismatic character is felt throughout. Not helping are the technical problems, such as a slowdown in the pace due to excessively long loads and an unstimulating work from a gameplay point of view, really old.

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Nintendo cares about our health and to prove it brings us a new chapter of the Fitness Boxing series, urging us to get off the couch and follow the workout routines of inflexible virtual trainers. The playful streak of titles like Ring Fit Adventure and Boxing Fist of the North Star disappears in favour of more serious training based on the fundamentals of boxing. Worth considering if you're looking for an excuse to burn off those Christmas calories.

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Beyond its very obvious Overwatch comparisons, Marvel Rivals is a competent hero shooter that is fun to play and easy to pick up, full of love for the original characters, and with a free to play model that refreshingly doesn't require you to unlock gameplay elements. Hopefully some technical mishaps can be fixed with future patches.

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There's a lot of potential that was only partially exploited in the Xenomorphs' VR debut, but there's no doubt that Part One has laid the foundations for something important: let's hope Survios takes the feedback to heart and delivers a spectacular Part Two.

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The Thing Remastered is a solid operation that brings attention to a game that, already upon its release, had truly cutting-edge mechanics and solutions. Great to play again today.

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A very pleasant and engaging adventure, Flint: Treasure of Oblivion reaches the goal without distorting the genre and not inventing anything particularly new in the scenario of tacticians with RPG elements. Shuffle the cards on the table by taking inspiration from Baldur's Gate 3, inserting the dice mechanic and, in the meantime, detail an intense story polished to reach as many players as possible. If you haven't read Treasure Island, you want to get closer to Stevenson and then buy this toy here, then this adventure could give you unexpected emotions.

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Antonblast meets the primal need to play a game to smash everything and score points without caring too much about the story, which, however bizarre, is simply a guise for introducing the action. The various levels are very different from each other but always united by destruction. The atmosphere felt owes much to Wario and sometimes even to Sonic, with mad runs down very steep slopes and jumps into the void while crossing fingers for everything to be okay. The ability to remember critical points on the map is rewarded more than the players' actual skill, but who cares? It entertains, and that's enough.

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Fairy Tail 2 improves the combat system, now clearly more action, but it fails to create a playful structure without depth and with few positive sides within it. It is a rather compassionate adventure, which still manages to entertain but not to upset the cards on the table.

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Sorry We're Closed is an action adventure horror that brings back to our monitors gameplay and techniques born in the 90s, adding a modern story that talks about love, loss and acceptance, flavoring everything with fights and puzzles that integrate well into the experience and do not seem inserted just to add a couple of hours to the time needed to see one of the multiple endings. Despite the strong personality of the protagonist and the other characters, the direction of the production is not always clear, with action and puzzler sections easy for veterans of the genre but almost too much for lovers of story mode. An excellent debut, in any case.

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The restoration work of the first chapter convinces thanks to some tweaks that involve many aspects of the original game. Nowadays you can find VR titles that are technically more refined or evolved, the base is still from 2016, however Arizona Sunshine Remake with its DLC included in the price is a great gift for those who are approaching the fun franchise of Vertigo Games today.

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Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered is like the coin dilemma. On the one hand we have two video games that are real milestones of videogame entertainment, until now impossible to enjoy in an acceptable way. If the coin had fallen on this side, the Soul Reavers would have been condemned to oblivion. On the other hand, we have a remaster that limits itself to making only the changes essential to use on modern platforms: the bare essentials, the homework. In any case, heads or tails, the game is rigged and no one wins. I'd like to think that there might be a third option, a monumental secret hidden somewhere, but the truth is that we can only settle for this double remaster and hope that the series continues.

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