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Valhalla is a dark and moody dystopic game with an infectious underlying optimism. It’s comfort food, a relaxed experience welcoming you with soothing music, cooly-colored visuals, casual conversation, and a calm sensation. This, mixed with its brilliant approach of telling a story through the experiences of its characters, makes it a smart and inventive new take on the science fiction visual novel.
Headlander proves to be a nice distraction in the midst of the Summer drought season as I enjoyed its humor from start to finish. While its humor helped carry me to the end, the literal disconnect of the character's head from his body turned into a figurative disconnect as its story wasn’t engaging enough. It has some nice Metroidvania moments, although it sputters towards the end to only rely on its color-coded components to keep me out of certain areas, which felt like a cheap way to finish the game.
It's all wrapped up in familiar dressing to get you hooked, but once you get to the substance it's clear I Am Setsuna needed a bit more time in the oven, or perhaps a master class of what made the games that inspired it memorable in the first place. If you're aching for a familiar and exciting JRPG, there's better to be found out there. While this is a serviceable option, there are plenty other more memorable ones out there.
Combat also comes into play occasionally. It's a secondary trait to the puzzle-solving play, accented by how long it takes to get a traditional weapon for your tiny submarine. Until then, you simply have to make-do with a grappling claw. Upgrades are available that add qualities like extra damage or special attributes to your shots, though it seems as if a few unmarked upgrades would be necessary to handle some of the more difficult combat scenarios.
Furi's beautiful art and interesting ideas are somewhat undermined by obtuse story and janky mechanics.
In its day, Mega Man went from a pioneering force in action game perfection to the poster child for redundant, cookie cutter sequels that failed to push the genre forward. Mighty No 9 does present a few concepts that feel like they could have been the next iterative step. Even if it had avoided its many pitfalls and baffling design choices, though, it's likely a few decades too late for such minor improvements.
DICE may have failed to address all of the problems of its predecessor, but it completely re-captured what Mirror's Edge was all about. Mirror's Edge Catalyst is a great way to bring new fans–and old fans alike–back into the world of Faith Connors.
Mutants in Manhattan is so aggressively dull and sub-par there’s little to no joy to be taken from playing it. Like a coloring book, it’s nothing more than a shallow collection of non-stimulating activities and disconnected clichéd references created with the purpose of alleviating mild boredom.
Kirby: Planet Robobot also offers some alternatives in the form of other modes. Two of them, Meta-Knightmare Returns and The Arena, are a traditional Time Attack (as Meta-Knight) and Boss Rush mode, respectively. Those are unlocked after completing the main story. Two other modes, available from the start, offer wholly different experiences from the standard Kirby game, and are better for it.
A golf game developed by some of the people who brought us Burnout seemed like a great idea on paper, but it was poorly executed as globetrotting means nothing in this game, it isn’t very well optimized on PC, and its repetitive gameplay can get old real fast. The only saving grace Dangerous Golf has is its multiplayer modes, especially it’s party mode. Although I’m sure you can find something else to play with friends that has both a good single- and multi-player experience.
Overwatch is a collection of firsts, but it carries itself with the confidence and proficiency of a veteran. It has plenty of room to grow and expand, but as our first step into this world, it's inviting, competitive, smartly designed, beautiful to look at, and fun to play. You can't ask for much more than that.
One of my favorite things about Blood and Wine is the main storyline’s ending. After you’ve completed the story, CD Project Red brings everything to a close. This means your decisions throughout the base game’s main storyline is important, and it plays into one of the moments you come across as you finish up the final bit of the expansion’s main quest. It’s a nice touch to really help things feel connected, and to further hit home the impact that your choices have on the game world as a whole.
That a first-person shooter like Doom exists in 2016 is shocking. Its levels are vast and intricately designed, its gameplay diverse and joyful, its toolset robust. Multiplayer is its weak link, but the adaptability of SnapMap is more than enough to offset that.
All of that makes Battleborn feel light, airy, and inconsequential. It's enjoyable in its best moments and especially in one of its multiplayer modes, but the problem comes with its lack of longevity. It's clearly a game built to be enjoyed in the long-term, like the MOBAs that inspired it, but it doesn't have the legs to run that far. This is a game built to be played repeatedly over the course of months, but I felt tired of it after a week.
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End is by far one of the best games I've played this year, and that list includes quite a few gems. It's a brilliant Act 3 to the series, and it works extremely well to tie up all the loose ends that the games have made over the years, as well as offers up an outstanding third-person multiplayer experience you won't find anywhere else. But exactly whose end is it? Well, that's something you'll have to figure out yourself, as I wouldn't want to spoil it for any of you reading this review. What I can say, however, is it is the best representation of the Uncharted series we have seen to date, and you'd be doing yourself a disservice if you didn't experience it firsthand.
Make no mistake, Pocket Card Jockey is weird. The plot is ridiculous, the systems are obtuse, and the reliance on luck can be incredibly frustrating. Despite all that, though, I kept promising myself just one more race, and then another, late into the night throughout my play sessions. Its complexity can be overwhelming, but once you hit your stride, it's entertaining all the way to the home stretch.
Whether it was because of the shorter format or because the developer was tied to comic canon, The Walking Dead: Michonne doesn't quite hold the same emotional resonance as Telltale's own original take on the series. But as a Michonne story, it does a great job of providing a window into this character's fractured soul.
Though Star Fox Guard is presented separately, it is packed in with Star Fox Zero and essentially serves as a mini-game. This repurposed tech demo, once called Project Guard, showed potential when it was first shown off, and that's been realized fairly well here. The tower defense structure does make good use of the dual cameras, forcing you to pay attention and swap on the fly to take out enemies. I did often wish there was a more reliable way to swap camera views, since my thumb was too imprecise but holding the stylus while shooting isn't comfortable. It's a shallow experience on the whole, and not meant for long stretches. While it does offer some longevity, due to the variety of stages, it definitely isn't a reason to pick up the Star Fox Zero package in itself. It will be sold separately for $14.99 on the Nintendo eShop.
Bravely Default modernized the classic Final Fantasy formula, but Bravely Second improves on it in almost every way.
There's a lot of depth in this game and it's a real treat to play, assuming you're the patient type that sticks around long enough to enjoy it.