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Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory doesn't always hit the right note. But as somebody who's followed the series for many years, there couldn't be a better tribute to its unforgettable music. It's pure Disney magic.
If you want a fairly mindless RPG experience that offers some different weapons and gear to mess around with, then Godfall will give you at least a few hours of fun. Just don’t expect a fantasy story worthy of its inspirations, or a world that fully explores its potential and you’ll be fine.
Frontier Developments’ Planet Coaster: Console Edition brings a celebrated PC title to both modern and next-gen consoles. New content makes the game feel a refreshed experience, rather than just an old game ported to run on new hardware. I ran into some tech hiccups while playing on console, but it didn’t rain on my parade hard enough to make me wanna close down the park.
Airplane Mode might be the most hyper-real gaming experience that I’ve ever had. Unfortunately though, it just captures a super boring part of real life. Outside of maybe actually sleeping, this has to be the craziest idea for a sim I could ever think of. I wonder if they’re working on “Sleep Mode” next. I had just as much trouble synching my headphones to Bluetooth as I do in real life, so the authenticity of this experience is worth commending overall, but I think Airplane Mode is a case of keeping it TOO real.
Ubisoft is known for their fun open worlds, but it appears that experience and previous stumbles have seen them take big steps forward, making Valhalla one of their best Assassin's Creed games in recent memory.
There were several times during my playthrough that something happened to work out and I just laughed. Bugsnax is a game that challenges the player while allowing them to play at their own pace. Young Horses has tapped into the essence of what made their first title Octodad so special with this second game, and the result is a truly emotional ending to the story of the century.
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales will appeal to loads of gamers and I suspect it will be a hit for PlayStation owners this holiday season. While there isn’t as much to do this time around and what is included is mostly recycled, the asking price is lower than normal. Being Spider-Man is still as fun as it was in 2018 (and potentially more fun now at 60Hz) and Miles Morales is a character that is more compelling than Peter Parker. Should the few technical hiccups get sorted out, this will be a solid inclusion for any game library. Anyone grabbing a PS5 at launch would do well to grab a copy.
For pure musical fun, there are few games in 2020 better than Fuser.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon is a successful pivot from traditional Yakuza mainstays. The game goes heavy on style, while still packing in enough substance to keep players satisfied. The party system and new RPG elements give players more ways to play than ever before. The turn-based combat is solid, and never feels too foreign. Longtime fans of the franchise will appreciate what Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and SEGA have to offer in Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
Bakugan: Champions of Vestroia is certainly the best of the recent Bakugan video game adaptations, though it’s far from a masterpiece. The world is neat, and WayForward does an excellent job with the Bakugan creatures themselves. Battling is solid, as it does a great job at mixing real-time and turn-based elements. It could have greatly benefited from some new Bakugan types for diversity’s sake, or a more unique story. Regardless, Bakugan: Champions of Vestroia will surely satisfy most fans of the franchise.
Pikmin 3 feels like the strategy game for people who aren't really into strategy games, sort of like how Hades is the roguelike for people who don't dig roguelikes. After a while, you forget that you're playing a strategy game and you become enraptured by the beautiful environments, the adorable Pikmin creatures, and the chaos that gradually descends on you as the day goes on. That's the Pikmin 3 Deluxe experience and it's one worth checking out if you haven't already.
Just make sure to turn the volume down, because you'll get so sick of the game's one song and its different variations that you'll never want to hear it again after hearing it drone on for about an hour.
While there are some problems with the design, narrative, and dialogue, overall, the story and experience offered in Little Hope left me rather impressed.
Watch Dogs: Legion is a hacking good time and a great addition to Ubisoft’s technology-based saga.
Ghostrunner will set your adrenaline racing and won’t let up until you’ve mastered its systems. And when you do reach that zen-like moment of precision and elegance, dancing on the edge of a blade between life and death, you’ll ask yourself, “Can I do better?” And that’s when Ghostrunner will have you, truly and deeply.
Published by Humble Games, Supraland is simply one of the best sandbox games I’ve ever played. It perfectly embodies the term, letting players define their experience. The only shortcomings in this title are some generic and lackluster character and item designs, but that’s a nitpick when stacked against everything Supraland has to offer. The gameplay feels like a love letter to a laundry list of classic games, doing justice to all of them. Supraland is a must-play game for fans of the open world.
Disc Room wants to cut you in so many ways. It wants to chew you up, dismantle you, and make you say a swear or 50 creatively woven into the same sentence. It’s bullet hell without the regular therapy of being able to return fire. But for all of those aspects, it's also horribly addicting. The ease of picking up where you left off and trying your darndest to survive just a little bit longer to unlock a room left me putting down my controller, rubbing my head, and then often picking it up to say, “this will be the time I get it. This time.” It’s not a ridiculously long or complex romp. But it also doesn’t really need to be. It knows what it wants to be. It wants to be your murderer. And the only way you’re going to thwart it is by surviving just long enough to open its next doors and beat its myriad of challenges.
Simply put, Remothered: Broken Porcelain was released in an unfinished state. Over the past week, the developers have released a patch nearly every day. Though this is commendable, it begs the questions of why it was released in the first place with so many problems.
Amnesia: Rebirth is a solid return to form for Frictional. It has everything I’ve come to expect from the folks behind SOMA and Amnesia: The Dark Descent, but ups the horror game in meaningful ways appropriate to this particular entry.
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is an entertaining take on the classic franchise. The mixed reality format allows player creativity to shine, as the ceiling for possibility is practically infinite. Nintendo is able to expertly weave staple Mario Kart features and characteristics into an augmented reality setting, making the game stand out from other RC racers.