VG247's Reviews
As any Trekkie will tell you, discovery is addictive, and Journey to the Savage Planet is almost all discovery.
But whether you’ve grown up with Goku and friends, or you’re a first timer who’s never fancied sitting through 300 episodes without getting to play a part in the action, this is still a great way to experience the classic story.
Dragon Quest Builders 2 is a masterpiece. No joke. If automation was to take my job right now, at least I’d have something to lose myself in during these long summer months.
Like XCOM, then, Phoenix Point is a gripping tactical strategy game.
It’s worth experiencing by Star Wars fans hungry for an original story that doesn’t settle for trite, and action game players looking for a decent – albeit flawed – combat.
Despite these annoyances, despite the fact that it’s a game designed with decades-old sensibilities, I enjoyed my time with it. It doesn’t have the conclusion we’ve been waiting two decades for and it barely drives the story forward at all, but the climactic battle is as satisfying as that 70-man tussle in the first game’s harbour.
That’s the problem with Terminator Resistance. It’s weak. It’s unambitious. It takes a license and slaps it on a distinctly average game.
Pokemon Sword & Shield is all too often a bit disappointing, and in some places actually feels a little unfinished, but it also fully provides that warm, fuzzy feeling that one expects from the series. Crucially, even through frustration, never once did I think about putting it down, which is to its credit. It comes recommended almost for the Galar setting and new Pokemon alone, but with a long list of caveats indeed.
For the first time in years, Need For Speed has remembered why people used to play it so religiously, and recognised the more recent elements that put them off.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is a brave prequel that isn’t afraid of taking risks. It is innovative, surprising, stunning, dramatic, and generous – a highlight of this generation and a benchmark for other open world games to aspire to.
If you do manage to hold out, you will be rewarded with flashes of brilliance, it’s just that those flashes are buried as deep as the core story is buried in the endless dialogue.
Another Call of Duty that doesn’t really change anyone’s mind about Call of Duty. Whatever’s there that I thought might actually be making a leap was seemingly just good marketing. In that sense, I suppose, it’s been pretty successful. [OpenCritic note: Jeremy Peel and Sherif Saad separately reviewed the campaign (4/5) and multiplayer (3/5). The scores have been averaged.]
This has quietly arrived as one of the most original games of the year – and better yet, is one of my favorites.
For those that were disappointed with Fallout 76 going online multiplayer, this is the single-player RPG you’ve been looking for. If you’re hankering for somewhere you can while away the hours talking shit, chuckling and prodding at the locals, you won’t be disappointed.
Where Shadowkeep’s story will take us remains to be seen, but the inclusion of Destiny’s core mechanics in a brilliantly revamped location has reinvigorated Destiny 2 just as it was starting to get a little stale.
Ubisoft has failed in two areas where it usually excels here – sequels and open worlds – but there’s still a small glimmer of hope in another area: reinvention. Perhaps this concept will get scrapped entirely for the next one and we’ll go back to the good old days where Ghost Recon was an excellent shooter with its own identity. Right now it’s out of focus, confused, and frustrating. A ghost of its former self.
Dragon Quest 11 has its flaws, and it may ultimately function as a breezy trip down memory lane for the experienced and a fabulous gateway experience for the uninitiated, but that is exactly what it sets out to be. At that, it is perfect.
Flawed though it may be, sometimes a distinctly B-tier game is exactly what the doctor ordered – especially at this time of year, in a sea of mega-hyped triple-A.
Without much cosmetic polish to fall back on, FIFA 20 needed to bring something new to the table. Although the core gameplay isn’t mind-blowingly different, it’s still the best football game, and the addition of VOLTA is a whole new way to play.
With a gorgeous presentation and smart and minimalist tweaks, it’s as charming and enjoyable now as it was in the nineties.