IGN's Reviews
Although it may not be immune to the test of time, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim still holds up as one of the most immersive virtual worlds ever created in a video game. All of its vastness, beauty, characters, stories, and goofy bugs fit nicely onto the Switch, where it runs at a good, steady framerate and resolution. The addition of motion controls are handy unless you plan to be a melee fighter, and amiibo support is a nice touch, but neither is really a game changer. This is a great way to get your Skyrim fix if you've never played before or have been looking for a reason to jump back in.
Ashes Cricket isn't pitch perfect, but it's the best videogame representation of the sport to date.
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 doesn't deviate much from the established LEGO template, but its wide variety of settings, heroes, and abilities make it constantly fun to play, especially in co-op. The combat is still quite simple and it's sometimes difficult to tell what you should do next, but the story is lighthearted and fun enough that mild annoyances like these fade into the background.
On top of the joy of creating and playing as your own character, there's a lot of goofy charm that makes Sonic Forces hard to be too disappointed with. The graphics are colorful and engaging, and the music is a pumping backdrop for extreme team-ups, super-speed cinematics, and lots of ruminations on the power of friendship. There are some really fun levels in the mix, too, and surprisingly strong boss fights make for some unexpected highlights. But Sonic Forces doesn't build on its handful of good ideas as much as it should, and it screeches to a halt just as it seems to hit its stride.
The core of Episode 5: Don't Stop Believin' provides a thrilling and fulfilling resolution to the season arc with a couple interesting surprises in store. I just wish it hadn't been immersed in this flimsy, fake crisis of the Guardians breaking up and getting back together that was never fully realized, and ended up dragging the whole season down. Flaws and all, however, Guardians of the Galaxy is, overall, one of the stronger stories Telltale has put out. This has become the version of the Guardians team I see in my head first when I think about them. I'd be thrilled to hear we might get to join them on the Milano for a second season.
Doom for Nintendo Switch is a straightforward port that runs well and looks pretty good. Which ultimately, is everything it needed to be. Even though it's a little fuzzy, smashing through a legion of demons with a fun set of weapons and upgrades feels great, and especially when you throw in arcade mode and the much-improved multiplayer arena battles, this is the best mature-themed shooter you can currently get on the Switch.
Call of Duty: WW2's offers a fast-paced and fun World War II experience with its new multiplayer mode and return to Nazi Zombies.
WRC 7 doesn't unseat Codemasters' Dirt 4 as this year's premier rally game, but it definitely continues Kylotonn's upward trajectory in the genre.
Hand of Fate 2 doesn't change much of the concept that made the first game so appealing, but everything here – whether it's challenges, smarter deck building, companion characters, and better combat – marks a major improvement over what we saw in 2015. Repetitiveness can still be a problem, but it takes much longer for it to show up. This time around, this is definitely a hand worth playing.
Need for Speed Payback is a big, competent, and confident arcade racer but it's really let down by its linear cop chases, its overwrought and insidious upgrade system, its dreadful dialogue, and its superficial action sequences. It feels fine and it looks flashy, but Payback really went all-in on its direct-to-DVD revenge tale and it was a bust for me.
Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds is an excellent addition to an amazing game. Developer Guerrilla has doubled down on the thrill of the hunt with more challenging machines and testing side quests that are added to the original map through an intriguing new storyline that delves into the mystical side of this post-apocalyptic world. It left me wanting start a brand new game, just to wander around the world, marveling at it.
Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back is an extremely short and completely forgettable platformer based on nothing but irony and nostalgic notoriety. I'd honestly rather replay the original Bubsy than this - for all of its serious flaws, at least that game was memorable. The Woolies Strike Back isn't even that.
It's all such a disappointment. I very much wanted to like Lucky, because the Xbox could use a decent answer to Nintendo in the 3D platformer genre. Unfortunately, Super Lucky's Tale definitely isn't it.
Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus is a fantastic single-player shooter, but what really got me invested was the brilliantly written characters and the performances of its cast. BJ and his crew are full of spirit and personality, and General Engel is as memorable a nemesis as you're likely to find in games. Machine Games has once again turned the well-worn act of mowing down Nazis into something to get excited about.
Assassin's Creed Origins is a deep-dive into a truly stunning realization of ancient Egypt, with a rich series of cultures, genuine characters, and more mission variety than any other game in the series. The combat is challenging and thoughtful, and while the loot system doesn't match up to games like Destiny 2, there are enough different weapon types and enough enemy variety to keep you swapping between weapons, catered to the situation. The RPG elements encourage challenges of their own, and even despite a handful of bugs, I desperately wanted to keep playing.
Mario's games have been around for almost as long as game consoles have been a thing, but thankfully, he's always evolving. We rarely get the same Mario twice. Super Mario Odyssey delivers on that ongoing promise of originality and innovation: It distills the venerable series' joyful, irreverent world and characters and best-in-class platforming action, and introduces a steady stream of new and unexpected mechanics. It's all spun together into a generational masterpiece.
Bomber Crew is an exciting, in-depth management sim with a charming style that offsets the occasionally brutal difficulty of keeping your crew alive and trying to hit a target, all in real time. A rewarding upgrade cycle makes some trial-and-error frustration worthwhile, and once you get into the groove you can lose hours to its enjoyable rhythm.
The malleable quality of Fire Emblem's weapons-triangle and pairing systems make them a natural fit for the hack n' slash genre. Even when I could barely tell what was going on on the crowded battlefield and my troops were a little too codependent, I enjoyed directing the action and jumping in to be part of the carnage. And while Fire Emblem Warriors makes poor use of the Fire Emblem universe's story and history, we still get traces of the relationships between the characters that make it memorable.
The combat of Overgrowth is exhilaratingly fun with everything's working as it should, but that's not very often. You also have to get used to the wonky and weird way it interprets both combat strikes and landings. It's a shame that everything else about Overgrowth, whether it's the story, the level design, or even the physics system, feels undercooked. It's not hard to find some fun here, but it's fun you'll soon forget.
The second episode of Life is Strange: Before The Storm digs deep into the emotional tale behind Chloe and Rachel and made me want to see them succeed. Interactions with other characters can feel unimportant despite context, but many of these choices feel like they will actually hold consequence and are more believable than the first episode. Frustrating fetch quests interrupt what is ultimately an engaging story which leaves me needing to know what's coming next.