VG247's Reviews
Striking an almost perfect balance between RPG and construction game, Dragon Quest: Builders manages to hold fast to the best parts of the series whose name it bears while creating a guided, structured format for the Minecraft concept. The end result works brilliantly, with top-notch visuals, music, and writing that help drive home the appeal. There's room for improvement here... but not much.
FIFA 17 bounces back nicely after a down year without sacrificing any of its primary strengths. The Journey is a well-produced campaign mode that complements the existing feature set nicely, and the move to Frostbite appears to have gone off without a hitch. It's not really accurate to say FIFA is back since it never really left, but it is fair to say that it has momentum again, and that speaks well of its future as we head into the back half of this generation.
If a traditional menu-based RPG that spans nearly 100 hours isn't your idea of a good time, run away from Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past. Run away *screaming*. On the other hand, if you want to tuck into a great RPG for months at a time, you couldn't ask for a better companion.
NBA 2K17 addresses most of my biggest issues from last year in cutting out canned animations and going back to basics with MyCareer, and it's still as polished as ever. It's easy to take its excellence for granted, but Visual Concepts' ambition and willingness to take risks keeps it from ever becoming stale. NBA 2K17 is the champion, and it's tough to see it losing that title anytime soon.
Though more of an expansion than a standalone release in spirit, Apocalypse's narrative superfluity is made up for by the considerable refinements it contains over its direct predecessor. Whether or not you'll enjoy its plot and its emphasis on partner characters comes down to personal taste, but on the whole it's an engrossing and addictive role-playing experience... even if it can feel a little familiar at times.
EA Tiburon has done a great job of rehabilitating the fading Madden brand, with Madden 17 being the culmination of their efforts. Everything they've tried to accomplish over the past couple years is on display, from the revamped blocking to the smarter franchise mode. There are certainly plenty of issues left to address; but for now, Madden NFL 17 is a very solid football game.
NHL 17 has some real strengths, but it still feels like it hasn't quite made it out of the previous generation. The gameplay is strong but increasingly dated; the feature set feels haphazard, and there are lots of niggling quality-of-life issues. It feels more and more like the series is stuck in a rut, and it's hard to say where EA Canada should take it next. For now, NHL 17 is another decent outing, but the next step remains elusive.
id Software has taken its original, no-BS Doom formula and very successfully repackaged it for the modern era. The result is a thrash metal loud, gloriously gory, blisteringly fast, and thoroughly entertaining oldschool shooter. Both the single-player and multiplayer modes are basically throwbacks to simpler times, but are wrapped up with contemporary trimmings to create a package that fans of the original Doom games should really enjoy.
Bravely Second: End Layer is a worthy follow-up to Bravely Default, which in itself is one of the best RPGs on the Nintendo 3DS. Granted, if Bravely Default didn't move you the first time around, Bravely Second probably won't, either. For better or worse (but mostly better), it's a straight-up second helping of its predecessor.
Although it closely follows the Metroidvania blueprint, the brilliantly designed and executed Axiom Verge adds enough new and original features to make it a truly great game in its own right. An absolute must for retro fans.
For better or worse, MLB The Show 16 focuses heavily on Diamond Dynasty this year. The on-field action is strong as ever, and the bullet time-like Showtime is interesting, but the bulk of the improvements are in Diamond Dynasty-centric additions like Captains and Battle Royale. If you're a curious newcomer who likes baseball, you will find an extremely strong baseball sim; but if you're a returning player, your mileage will probably vary depending on how willing you are to indulge in The Show's card-collecting mode.
Featuring one of the most remarkable and realistic video game environments ever created, The Division offers a disturbingly dystopian take on a ruined Manhattan. Its action is similarly brutal. Although much of it boils down to firefights and shoot-outs, most are very well executed to deliver truly exciting and thrilling gameplay. Add layers of RPG-like complexity and a really solid storyline, and you have a game that, while occasionally flawed, really does deliver the goods.
Despite being built on the skeleton of previous Far Cry games — its map is literally an overlay of Far Cry 4's! — Primal manages to stand apart from other open-world sandbox action games through the sheer novelty of its primitive setting. Although the emphasis on bow hunting and woolly mammoths can give a bit of a Skyrim vibe, that quickly fades as you gain full mastery over the protagonist's ability to summon a variety of deadly beasts into combat. The writing fails to make its primitive heroes anything more than one-note lunks, but the primordial nature of the game world complements the action and ultimately makes up for the underwhelming story.
I can't say enough nice things about Darkest Dungeon. Its presentation is brilliant, its systems are smart and well-constructed, and it does a lot to subvert what we should expect from the average dungeon crawler. For a game built around slowly grinding up multiple parties of adventurers, it's remarkable how fresh it can feel even after more than 50 hours. It's only January, but Darkest Dungeon is already one of my favorite games of the year.
Although the single-player side of the game is weak, Rainbow Six: Siege's multiplayer modes are a huge amount of fun. Tense, thoughtful, and tactical, they play very differently to most run-and-gun shooters. While the game's content does feel a little slim at launch, there's no denying it's highly enjoyable to play - especially when you have a team of players working together.
Legacy of the Void has been a long time coming - so long that in some ways it feels like a bit of a throwback. But Blizzard has packed plenty of value into their final expansion, piling co-op missions on top of their solo campaign while tinkering with the multiplayer's pacing and mechanics. The story is ultimately disappointing, but on a mission-to-mission basis, StarCraft II represents the apex of old-school real-time strategy design. Mostly, I'm relieved that it's finished. As Tychus once said, "Hell, it's about time."
From Software has always excelled when it comes to DLC, and The Old Hunters is no exception. It's simply some of the best Bloodborne content you'll ever find, especially if you blazed through the game last Spring and need a valid reason to relive the nightmare all over again.
In a way, Rise of the Tomb Raider lives up to its name: You can see the classic Tomb Raider elements rising up through the clichés of modern-day third-person action games. The two facets of Rise's design never quite learn to live in harmony, but at least the elements that feel unique to the Lara Croft franchise appear far more prominent than in the 2013 game. There's far too much predictable, uninspired gunplay, but despite its mandatory nature it still comprises only a tiny portion of the overall game experience. Tomb Raider hasn't quite found its voice in modern gaming... but it's getting there.
In some ways, Star Wars: Battlefront is a pleasant surprise. It feels so much more polished than it did at E3, and the effort that DICE has put into the visuals pays off in one of the best-looking games of the year. But every facet of the game is hurt by the lack of variety in the environments, vehicles, weapons, and even enemies. It's a startlingly limited package made more disappointing by the fact that the actual gameplay is really fun. It may reach its potential in a year; but for now, it's one more potentially great game sabotaged by what appears to be a cynical marketing plan.
Call of Duty: Black Ops III offers few surprises, but even so, it's a great package. The campaign sometimes feels like it's trying too hard, but is ultimately solid and enjoyable. Zombies mode is a nice bonus. But really, it's the multiplayer that steals the show. It doesn't stray far from the usual formula, but it's been honed and polished to perfection to deliver seriously brilliant multiplayer competition.