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WWE 2K22 is the definition of a mixed bag. There are clearly areas where the team at Visual Concepts made positive progress with the franchise, particularly in wrestler AI and animations. Many of the marquee talents look fantastic and there is a lot to do within the game. Sadly, most of the modes are half-baked and the series is still suffering from bugs or problems it has carried for far too long.
Developer Finji has put together something special with this game, a game that lures players in with its adorable mascot character and delivers a deceptively difficult adventure.
Phantom Breaker: Omnia is a really interesting anime fighting game with an eclectic cast of characters, even if some of those characters’ art styles look strange and out of place. An interesting and easy-to-understand fighting system also means being able to specialize any given character with the game’s three systems and further boosting playstyle variety. Some might be taken aback by the simplicity of inputs, but there’s still plenty of strategy and mastery of characters to be had.
Babylon’s Fall feels like a game that came out a decade ago, both visually and in its gameplay. Combat is clunky and boring most of the time, outside of a few highlights here and there. There’s nothing that encourages players to engage with the live-service elements, despite it being a core tenet of the experience. It’s like someone fed a computer a bunch of information and had it generate an action RPG. Babylon's Fall’s biggest credit is that it’s technically competent; the game isn’t broken or held back by major bugs or issues. It’s a shame, because PlatinumGames has proven itself to be an impressive talented studio. Unfortunately, Babylon's Fall manages to disappoint on just about every front.
If nothing else, Triangle Strategy shows that Square Enix has some fire in its turn-based tactical engine. It just needs to balance its scales between exposition and gameplay a little better.
Aztech Forgotten Gods tries and that's probably the best thing I can say about it. Lienzo journeyed forward with lofty ambitions and, like Mulaka before it, has laid down a foundation that makes me excited for their future projects. Gaming is a better place when stories like this, using atypical mythology, get to be told. Like Achtli, the studio will hopefully continue to grow and learn from its missteps to become the best it can be.
Lost Ark is the gold standard of Modern MMOs. Smilegate and Tripod deliver an incredibly polished experience that gives players dozens of dishes to choose from, all equally delicious. It hits on all those classic MMO beats, while injecting a fresh style and approach to all of it. Lost Ark has already proven to have some strong staying power in the east, and is now set up for a long and fruitful lifespan in the west.
Chocobo GP is a really great flavor for the kart-racing genre. Not only is it a fine collection of Final Fantasy franchise memories in one place, but it uses them nicely as well.
Overall, I enjoyed What Lies in the Multiverse and feel like most people will as well. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you about some of the game’s punishing puzzles, especially the timing-based platforming ones. If you have popsicle fingers like I do, I wish you the best of luck working your way through the game, because you’re going to need it.
The presentation is a bit odd in 2022 and I would have liked to get ray-traced visuals in gameplay, but it doesn’t detract from the high you can get when shaving a few tenths on a flying lap at the Nordschleife. Sure, modern gamers may tell you that Nathan Drake or Aloy are the true mascots of the PlayStation brand, but Sony already had its Mario back in 1997 in the form of the Nissan R32 Skyline GT-R.
Conan Chop Chop's massive amount of weapons and Gear allow for a wide array of play styles on each character. Mix the chaos of co-op into that and This game is more of an extended good time than simply an April Fools punchline.
The minute-to-minute action is downright delightful, even if the boss encounters maintain the series’ streak of being underwhelming. The shooting, movement, and killing are every bit as good as recent Doom games, even if the whole thing feels derivative.
Simply put, Elden Ring is Miyazaki and FromSoftware’s magnum opus.
The mystery of this broken world and the wordless, yet varied means by which you explore it makes FAR: Changing Tides an excellent follow-up to Lone Sails. The vessel is incredibly enjoyable to operate and maintain, and the music and world around it make the journey a compelling and satisfying one. It’s not a long game and the adventure arrives at the credits before you know it, but for what it has going, Changing Tides is a compelling and gorgeous puzzle full of satisfying mechanical engagement and incredible breakthrough moments as you sail ever forward.
Horizon Forbidden West is an ambitious game that builds off the strengths of its predecessor in almost every way.
Total War: Warhammer 3 is a big game by nearly every measure. It hosts big battles across enormous campaign maps, contains multiple armies with unique units, and effortlessly shifts between the Old World and Chaos Realms. It will get even bigger post-launch. It features absolutely gorgeous art in its many cutscenes that marry lush animation with the classic fantasy oil painting style and often hilarious voiceovers. It represents a giant bow on a gift Creative Assembly has been working on for years and is sure to be a can’t miss for Total War and Warhammer buffs alike. Will it change minds for those who bounced off the series in the past? Not really, but this one is for the fans, and I’d wager most folks would be delighted to receive this kind of attention for their favorite IP.
King of Fighters XV feels like a solid refinement of a lot of its predecessors, learning from their mistakes to become something altogether better here. It’s not perfect, it’s not easy to learn, and there are some characters missing that I feel are must-haves. However, a solid visual redesign, good netcode, original and returning music, a great collection of fighting mechanics, and a wide offering of tutorial and training tools make KOFXV feel like one of the strongest entries in the franchise yet. Where they go from here is anyone’s guess, but this feels like the standard for 2.5D KOF that King of Fighters XIV couldn’t quite reach and I’m glad SNK has finally cleared that bar.
I played the 2nd level of Sifu so many damn times trying to grind my way through unlocking more moves that I’m sick of it. I get that there’s a grind to it, but I think most games like this put a carrot on the end of the stick. Grinding through Sifu felt like just being beaten with a stick. I think it's also worth noting that Sifu was developed by an all-white European development team and some aspects of the game do come off as culturally tone-deaf. I suggest checking out this article by Khee Hoon Chan for more about that aspect of Sifu. There are so many games out there that do what Sifu does only better. Honestly, if you want a punishing grind where your efforts will actually pay off you’re probably better off just taking a Kung-Fu class in real life.
While skating remains at its best in a 3D space, OlliOlli World continues to show that there's a place for it in the 2D realm. While it can sometimes feel like a small world, it's still big enough for everyone to have a good time.
Though there are moments of joy to be found, they’re punctuated by fetch quests and odd collision detection. Fans of the original will no doubt find fun in a return to the world, but for everyone else, you might want to wait a bit longer before you take a bite.