IGN's Reviews
Octo Expansion throws plenty of both fun and serious challenges at you, between its expansive amount of levels and a multi-tiered finale that doesn't disappoint. These trials provide worthy so many challenges for those who wish to hone their mechanical skills for upcoming multiplayer matches, that I wish this had been Splatoon 2's base campaign all along.
Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor - Martyr gets a lot of things right, but drops the ball where it matters most for an action RPG. We're left with a repetitive, not very tactically exciting combat system and itemization that arbitrarily forces you to gear for item level rather than better stats. Everything else is just a nice house built on a shaky foundation at that point. Even the Emperor can't protect this clumsy shoot-em-up from its own sins.
While its core story might not have the emotional punch of the original, Unravel Two improves upon the original in every other respect. The platforming is more responsive and demanding, while the puzzles are far more inventive and satisfying to solve, which is largely due to the excellent implementation of a second character and co-op.
Besides the fact that there's absolutely no evolution involved in it, Jurassic World: Evolution is a bad game because it's just a bore of a park sim. Sure, the dinosaurs look nice enough, but the process of unlocking new species is beyond tedious and actually running the business is shallow and quickly gets stale. It beats getting mauled by raptors, but after careful consideration, I've decided not to endorse this park.
The generically beautiful Summerset is on the smaller side in terms of overall new additions to The Elder Scrolls Online, but even after completing the majority of the side quests and all of the main storyline I feel compelled to go back. The storytelling continues to improve on last year's excellent Morrowind expansion, with Zenimax Online not shying away from some of the darkest sides of Tamriel. While the Psijic Order quest line has its boring bits, the down-to-earth, human story makes putting up with the repetitive quests worth the hassle. The new jewelry crafting profession, on the other hand, is far too time-consuming to be practical without spending money at the Crown Shop.
Onrush is one of the most original driving games I've played in years, giving it a unique flavor. By forgetting about simply going faster than everyone else and mixing traditional racing mechanics with modes and subtle nuances typically found in other genres, Onrush managed to change the way I think about racing games. Its unorthodox online car-brawls and varied objectives go out of their way to feel different, and even when the maps become repetitive after a short while, its appeal remains for the simple fact that there's no other arcade driving game quite like this.
BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle is like a jigsaw puzzle made of pieces from four entirely different sets, that by some miracle still manage to fit together to make a unique and mesmerizing tag fighting game. Aside from its unsatisfying single-player mode and aggravating paywalled characters, it's just the right blend of accessibility and depth, and one of the best entry points into fighting games you'll find.
Hours of Darkness is a clever and fun but brief twist on the Far Cry formula. Its new approach to Guns for Hire AI companions gives you something other than yourself to worry about during battles, and its use of perks as a reward for stealth kills encourages my favorite style of play in an interesting way, but can bring your momentum to a screeching halt when you slip up. Just like the Far Cry series' previous jaunts to new locations, this trip to Vietnam is a good time.
Vampyr is a slow burn of an RPG, taking its time to ramp up its intriguing blend of science and the supernatural in an elaborately gloomy version of London. When it gets going you can see the potential of the way it offers you more power if you consume its interesting citizens. But Vampyr never commits to this idea to the point where I felt I needed to make that sacrifice to succeed in its relatively simple combat, which leaves it feeling toothless and vulnerable to having a lot of its fun sucked away by technical issues, despite its genuinely engaging story.
A modern retro collection should have a good batch of games and some extra niceties like save states and emulator settings. SEGA Genesis Classics checks those boxes, providing the best way to do what Nintendon't today. But considering it doesn't even have all the first-party hits that it should, much less the most memorable third-party ones, it's hardly a definitive package.
Agony proves that, like beauty, horror can be only skin deep. With gratuitous amounts of violence and masochistic overtones, this blood-soaked adventure is not for the faint of heart. But while its bold and detailed environments depict Hell in the most nightmarish ways possible, even the fantastically obscene sights and creepy sounds become mundane and dull by the end of its series of repetitious mazes, unimaginative item hunts, and weak stealth gameplay.
More often than not, Ancestors Legacy showed me a good time watching my berserkers, Teutonic knights, and Slavic tribesmen hack their way through forests, marshes, and the occasional open field. The weakness in the core infantry combat, which tilts a bit too much away from quick, tactical thinking and into correctly guessing how the enemy line will be arranged, was the main issue that kept me from really coming to love it. Historical inaccuracies aside, though, it scratched my itch for a traditional RTS in a way that will probably keep me coming back.
The prospect of playing such a lovingly crafted tribute to the vintage heyday of Konami's seemingly abandoned Castlevania series more than makes up for a few out-of-place boss fights and a slightly too punitive death penalty. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon delivers a brief but effective burst of nostalgia, and thanks to its many creative modifiers it contains enough replay value to engage (and challenge) anyone who pines for gaming's bygone days. And this isn't even the "real" Bloodstained! As appetizers go, it's substantial — nearly satisfying enough to be its own main course.
Yoku's Island Express is a novel Metroidvania-pinball hybrid that stands out as something wholly unique. It blends those clashing genres with a beautiful island style, and its satisfying flippers and bumpers make uncovering its wide island a ton of fun. Retreading completed areas while hunting for secrets can occasionally get stale, but Yoku's Island Express has a refreshingly positive attitude that kept me smiling the whole way through.
Detroit: Become Human is a poignantly pulpy interactive sci-fi drama where your choices can impact events to a greater and more satisfying degree than in most games of this type. Though I wish its story had been handled with a softer touch, especially considering the subtlety that can be conveyed through its tech and performances, its well-written and acted central trio were vital enough to me that I found myself feeling genuine distress when they were in danger and a sense of victory when they triumphed. Most importantly, Detroit offers a multitude of transparent branching paths that entice further playthroughs, and choices have a permanence that raise the stakes throughout.
Conan Exiles is often slow and arduous, but even after 70 hours – 40 since launch – the idea of returning to the Exiled Lands still holds some allure. Crafting is largely a tedious grind, especially the higher up you get in the crafting tiers, and it's surprising that in a world about brutal combat, Conan Exiles falls flat there. However, the beautifully realized world is a joy to explore and it nails the atmosphere of the source material.
Runner 3 is a fun, challenging experience with a weird, charming aesthetic brought down by out-of-date graphics.
State of Decay 2's zombie-infested maps are good places to scavenge, fight, and survive in. Combat is satisfyingly brutal and the special zombies inspire some real fear of permanent death, even though the Blood Plague turns out to be more of a sniffle. But the bugs are just as persistent as the zombies, and after a dozen or so hours the repetition of both eventually take their toll, making the appeal of replaying feel more limited than I'd expected for a sandbox RPG.
Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition is a good-quality port of the Wii U game, but outside of much more stable performance and better local co-op it doesn't add enough new content to make replaying the story mode interesting again if you've already tried it. Luckily, the Adventure Mode maps and 16 of the 31 unlockable characters are available from the start.
Player choice is at the heart of what makes Paladins tick as a hero shooter.