IGN's Reviews
Ultimately, Danganronpa V3 doesn't add too much new to the series. But that's okay – it doesn't need to reinvent the wheel when the wheel we already have still rolls out eclectic characters and shocking moments so reliably. It's a great rollercoaster of hope and despair with a climax that made me sit back and think about everything that just happened. The road to the end of Danganronpa V3 is long and twisted, but the ride is well worth it.
Divinity: Original Sin 2 will be remembered as one of the greats.
Pokkén Tournament DX serves as a definitive edition of Nintendo's fighting game, and it fits well on the Switch aside from choppy split-screen multiplayer. Five new characters and a new three-on-three mode are noteworthy additions, though the new challenge mode doesn't live up to its name.
SteamWorld Dig 2 retains the original's addictive resource-gathering gameplay, but supplements it with a gorgeously detailed, handcrafted world. Its heady mix of exploration, combat, platforming, and puzzle solving, alongside an expansive set of abilities and mods gives it plenty of variety and a great gameplay rhythm. I wish there was more to do once the campaign ends, but that's a testament to the fact that what is here is just about pitch perfect.
With a set of thieving and assassination tools that beg to be used creatively, Heat Signature's puzzle-like missions are great for jumping into for a few goes at a time to try something just crazy enough to work. That's when the fun stuff happens.
There are already so many different ways to play Minecraft, and the 3DS version fails to live up to the standards set by the other versions. It's not a bad slice of pizza, but there are so many better choices.
NBA 2K18 is another step forward on the court, improving on the series' already great gameplay. You're rewarded for smart, controlled basketball when dribbling, driving, and playing defense in ways that make sense for the players you're controlling. In the side modes, results are mixed: the new fusion of Career mode elements into The Neighborhood gives it some new life, but the same can't be said for the meaningless story elements within MyGM, and microtransactions now have too much of an impact on gameplay. There's far more good than bad, though, and NBA 2K18 deserves credit for taking chances.
NBA Live 18's simplistic and fluid mechanics make for an approachable game of NBA, or WNBA, basketball. But for all that it does well on the court, elsewhere it fails to live up to its potential. There are plenty of side modes, but few have the depth or interesting new ideas to be worth getting invested in.
While Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite's tag-team fights are like a bolt of lightning from Mjolnir, its story is dreadful and its characters look like they were deliberately designed to spawn a million derpy memes. It manages to be easily one of the worst and also one of the best fighting games in recent memory all at once. Like its heroes and villains, it's stuck between two worlds.
Project CARS 2 plays like a pumped-up version of the classic TOCA Race Driver 3 from 2006, redressing many of the complaints levelled at the original. The handling has been tuned to a T, the content is excellently curated, and the amount of variety and racing available in it is delightfully daunting.
It was wonderfully satisfying to have more Dishonored to play, even if Death of the Outsider doesn't quite meet the high bar Dishonored 2 set in story or mission design.
Destiny 2 is a blast out of the gate thanks to its excellent co-op shooter gameplay and strong storytelling in the campaign.
Whether playing online or off, there's a huge amount to do here and a huge amount to love about it. Put the effort in and you're repaid with a genuine sense of satisfaction and a feeling of real accomplishment. Once again, PES has set an incredibly high level of quality for other sports games to try and match.
I'm glad that, in NHL 18, EA continues to seek out new players for the NHL series with smart upgrades to the training system and the exciting and accessible NHL Threes mode. Those are positive strides, but the rest of the modes and features are starting to feel too familiar.
While it's been marketed as a remake of Metroid II: The Return of Samus for Game Boy, Metroid: Samus Returns is more of a much-needed reboot of the 2D Metroid games we know and love. It's a safe, modern take on Super Metroid, one of the greatest games of all time. Aside from some repetitive boss fights and hand-cramping controls, it's nearly everything I could ask for as a fan of old-school Metroids.
I absolutely thoroughly enjoyed my more than 50 hours with Monster Hunter Stories so far. It effectively eliminates the oh-so-common boring RPG grind, implements a novel turn-based battle system, and sincerely surprises me with seemingly limitless customizability. Though wrapped in a pleasant, sugary coating, Monster Hunter Stories did all of this while retaining the spirit of the Monster Hunter world with some small yet enjoyable nods to fans. I can't wait to dive back into the endgame and hatch myself a Kirin.
Knack 2 is lacking in a number of areas, but its strengths outweigh its weaknesses. The pacing is spot-on, the combat satisfying and the gameplay varied. Co-op is genuinely good fun too, and most definitely the best way for younger gamers to get into the action. Knack 2 is definitely a step up from the original, then, but until the writing and characterisation improve drastically, it's not going to be a true first party titan.
Life is Strange: Before the Storm shows a lot of promise in its first few hours despite the same weaknesses in its script as the original Life is Strange series.
The outstanding classic-style RPG Pillars of Eternity makes a surprisingly virtuosic transition to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 with the Complete Edition, bringing both systems all of the content that's been released on the PC version so far. For an RPG of its complexity, it's surprising how pleasingly intuitive its gamepad control scheme is, and its easily legible text makes it feel just as good to play from the couch as from a desk. It's a memorable experience that suffers from only a few technical hiccups, most significantly its long and frequent loading times.
When I'm having a good time in ARK, I'm having a really good time. The problem is that those moments are usually one part to every nine parts menial grinding and crafting - especially at the later tech tiers. Having to repeat so much work after failing an attempt at a boss feels far too punishing, and some really dumb dinosaurs can take a lot of the challenge and sense of danger out of the many primal locations. Even with all of those quirks, however, I'm still hungry to play more after the 60 hours I've spent so far. There aren't a lot of survival games that have legitimately held my attention that long.