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Madden NFL 18 is one of the best Madden games I have ever played. It's accessible to new players and offers brand new experiences for seasoned video game football vets. There are some years when Madden just doesn't have the right feel, and I usually will be the first to tell folks to hold off on buying the game. But this is not one of those years. 2018 is coming, and Madden is ready to give you hours of awesome gameplay experiences.
There's a lot of potential scattered around Agents of Mayhem but not enough of it is realized.
This is a must play for fans of the genre or anyone looking for a solid scare.
Nidhogg II is a case where bigger isn't always better. It's like trying to improve on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Sure, it's possible to add things to it, but the PB&J isn't something that really needs improving.
There was some doubt that Uncharted could continue without Nathan Drake, but The Lost Legacy proves the series can march on with another lead role. I loved the previous titles in the series, and although this new one can miss the mark at times, it's a beautiful treasure hunting romp that brings back that same Uncharted feeling.
While Boss Key doesn't quite have an instant classic on its hands, there are enough cool ideas like anti-gravity combat in place that there's a sense of a foundation for something truly great.
Retro fever has been burning brightly for years, resulting in a glut of shameless nostalgia grabs. As someone who was ambivalent toward Sonic the Hedgehog, I can safely say Sonic Mania isn't one of those. Rather than being the game's centerpiece, nostalgia is a foundation built to support the character, visual, audio, and design tropes that made Sonic great instead of forcing the franchise to be something it wasn't and never should have been.
Tacoma lays the foundation for a truly great story, but a short length and some unexplored ideas leave it feeling lacking.
I love Mega Man games. They're some of the best platforms ever made. However, as much as I enjoy the four titles bundled within its bits and bytes, Mega Man Collection 2 would be difficult to recommend if it cost a penny more than its $20 asking price. It's hard enough to recommend as it is. How much you get out of it will depend on how much you still enjoy a core gameplay loop that hasn't evolved much since 1988, and how much you want to rescue Mega Man 9 from last-gen purgatory.
Hellblade overcomes very minor hiccups with incredible presence, immersive design, and an overall package that truly leaves an impression
The game's first expansion plays to that strength by letting you work your way through it at your own pace. If you're looking for more story, though, you'll have to wait until The Champion's Ballad, the second expansion, serenades players this fall.
Arms sessions are quick, fun, and satisfying. With easy-to-pick-up mechanics, solid stage design, and quirky characters, Arms genuinely feels like a fun and different addition to the fighting game genre. More than that, it feels like just the kind of game that makes the Nintendo Switch itself feel fun and different.
While Tekken 7 doesn't offer a lot of varied game modes, it excels with the ones that it does feature. The fighting features enough new additions and familiarity to appease experts, while remaining as accessible as ever for newcomers. On top of that, the numerous customization options ensure that there's always something worth fighting for, in-between trying to prove dominance online. The Mishima Saga carries on the series legacy in the sense that it's a mess of a story, but even that spotlights how well Tekken's visuals have adapted to the new generation of hardware. With an iron fist, Tekken 7 proves that it deserves to stand with the best in the genre.
Ultra Street Fighter II tries to add a robust package around its tried-and-true Arcade mode, but much of that package doesn't pan out. All that leaves is the Arcade and Versus modes and for as great as Street Fighter II is, it's a game that also shows its age after a while.
Injustice 2 feels like a step up from Gods Among Us in every way imaginable. It's a far deeper experience, follows up wonderfully on the last game's story, and also gives reasons to keep coming back for repeat visits. The rich cast of fighters all have their own distinct styles, but they're all wrapped up in an easy-to-learn fighting system that's just plain fun to play. NetherRealm has a true grasp of what makes the DC Universe special and this game is as much of a love letter to that world as it gets.
If you didn't play the first Dragon Quest Heroes, then no worries, because the two are not connected in any way. Even the classic DQ characters that return from the first game make no mention of it. DQH2 is a standalone story about two cousins who live in a world that has known peace for a thousand years, but now someone is roaming around the world brewing trouble, convincing kingdoms to go to war. It's your job to solve this mystery and protect the peace. It's not a terribly intricate story, but it does feel at home in a Dragon Quest setting, and is largely enjoyable despite how nonsense it becomes towards the end.
In broad terms, I can understand why Mario Kart 8 might be hard to justify for some players. It's a re-release of a game Nintendo put out three years ago, and that Nintendo fans (who make up a large portion of the Switch audience) probably already played. That said, this is a fantastic addition to the Switch library, not just as a great game but as one that benefits from the system's core features. It adds the requisite new content and fixes the one large oversight of the original. Mario Kart 8 was already one of the best in the series. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is even better.
The Disney Afternoon Collection may not have the consistency of Capcom's previous work with the Eclipse Engine, thanks to its library varying in quality. But it is just as reverent and breezy, and the addition of the Rewind feature helps ease the journey into the past. If you were a fan of even a few of these games, you owe it to yourself to see them presented so respectfully for a modern audience.
Minor quibbles aside, Full Throttle hits all the right notes as deftly in 2017 as it did in 1995. Not only do its story, voice acting, puzzles, and audiovisual accoutrements hold up, younger fans weaned on Telltale's interactive movies might take to it due to its balance of puzzles and plot.
It’s always easy to recommend The Show, and even easier on its best years. While there are still a few rough spots, it’s hard to look at this year’s edition and not come away impressed by the sheer amount of content and modes, as well as the polished gameplay and player experience improvements. This is a gigantic care package of baseball, with countless ways to play the game for both hardcore and fair weather fans alike. I’ll be spending lots of time with this game all year, even when my Tigers inevitably hit a brick wall in August (prove me wrong, boys – prove me wrong). MLB: The Show ’17 is a love letter to baseball and its fans, and one of the secret best reasons to own a PS4.