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All in all, Brakes Are For Losers is a fun retro-inspired arcade racer. It doesn't excel anywhere, but it doesn't have to. It's a decent enough experience at a very low price point in case you're craving an isometric racing frenzy.
Guns, Gore & Cannoli 2 is excellent. The classic side-scrolling shooting benefits greatly from the 360-degree aiming, giving you few to no limits in dealing carnage. The presentation is still solid, and the improved co-op mechanics make this a perfect game to play with friends. Shooting fans will have a blast with this one.
The biggest problem with Civilization VI: Rise and Fall is that it's not a really big expansion. The new features are nice, but they don't fundamentally change the game. The new bonuses and civilizations are fun, and overall, they don't detract from the experience. At the same time, it's hard to call it essential. In addition, there are a handful of new features, particularly Loyalty, which detract from the game without adding much to it. There's no real reason to go for Rise and Fall unless you're a huge Civ VI nut who needs more content. The line between expansion and DLC is thin, and Rise and Fall lands right on the line. It's worth buying if you want more Civilization, but casual players may want to wait for a price drop or a meatier expansion.
If you can stomach the rather high price, Steep: Road to the Olympics is a good addition to those who have yet to tire of the core game. The range of mountains in Japan is fun to go through, while the Olympic events in Korea are different enough from the rest of the title but fit in with the gameplay mechanics. Though the story mode is rather weak in presentation, it's a good refresher for those who have been out of the loop for a while.
Road to the Show remains the soul of The Show 18 to me, with everything else feeling like a fun distraction, like getting to step into the shoes of baseball's past greats or the tasting the 8-bit flavor of retro mode. As I progress more into my player's career, there's this unshakable knowledge that he's never going to be better at some things than he is now. He will be in a box — an enjoyable one, but a box nonetheless.
While not quite an unmitigated disaster, Dynasty Warriors 9 is pretty bad. Even if you can live with the subpar presentation, the game quickly gets boring due to a lack of important or interesting things that can be done in the world. The combat is fine, but with fewer opportunities to use it, the button-mashing joy inherent in the series is nowhere to be found. If the franchise continues down this open-world path, then it'll need some massive improvements — or else fans will start calling for a return to the old formula.
Overall, Typoman had an intriguing premise and managed to tell a decent story with great atmosphere, good visual design, and interesting puzzle mechanics. In the end, however, the title doesn't on many of the gameplay mechanics, with good but inconsistent puzzles and often awkward and awful platforming. Coupled with its short runtime, Typoman isn't bad, but it's certainly a long way from being as good as the idea and visuals behind it.
Fear Effect Sedna is a case of improperly executed good intentions. It has an intriguing story at its core, but the bad script fails to make it shine. It has lots of different gameplay mechanics at work, but none of them feel good, let alone good enough to carry the weaker parts. It has a presentation that's less than stellar, even for fans who enjoyed the originals. There's still a chance that you can enjoy the game, but you'll have to forgive the various flaws to do so.
As a whole, Extinction is a game built around plenty of promising ideas, but the execution fails to live up to its promises on almost every single point. It's hard to shake the feeling that Iron Galaxy didn't provide the game with the resources it needed to come close to reaching the heights it was aiming for. That's a shame, since all we're left with is a massive skeleton of a game that could have held some real meat. Ultimately, Extinction is not worth buying, especially at its absurd $60 price point.
Past Cure is many things: technically infuriating, a slog, and thematically inconsistent. While one can appreciate the effort of a small team trying to craft a game that does many things, it can't seem to do any of them well enough to warrant any attention. With a glut of better games that tackle similar elements on the platform, it's very difficult to recommend Past Cure to people, even as a quick diversion.
In summary, Bombslinger feels like a mix of several familiar concepts but manages to be greater than the sum of its parts. It's not perfect, with a steep difficulty setting and unfriendly amounts of grinding. The visuals are great, and the overall experience is fun, so you should pick up Bombslinger on the eShop for $12 — unless you hate roguelites.
Of all the iterations of Kratos I've seen over the lifetime of the God of War series, Old Man Kratos is probably my favorite. His newest adventure might not have quite the same wall-to-wall bombast as the ones that came before, but he's added a new dimension to his personality. He can only stay Old Testament-angry for so long, and the table is definitely set for more installments. There's more to explore now in this new corner of mythology, and it'll be compelling to see if he burns everything to the ground or finds an even higher place to go.
Pit People is absolutely solid, provided you can forgive its simple nature. The auto battling system does enough to get people in, while the ability to capture all sorts of enemies satisfies the veteran looking for some more depth. There's a ton of content here, and all of it is fun to explore, but the lack of an online community means that your army curation is only going to be useful against CPU opponents. In the end, Pit People is certainly a game worth checking out.
Plus, you still can't grow an acorn into an oak tree in this Fable game, and that's just unforgivable at this point.
Racers of all kinds will have fun playing the game — to an extent. If you fit into that target audience, then you might want to give it a try and judge its standing for yourself, but for those looking for a strange and different experience, I'd suggest waiting to see if the immersion is improved in next year's edition.
Overall, Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet was not as perfect as I wanted it to be, but it's a step in a very good direction. I thought the previous games were pretty spammy with attacks, and many enemies felt like mobile sponges, and although the same occurs in Fatal Bullet, the enemies are far more badass. The guns lead to ranged combat, and since you see enemy attacks coming from miles away, it can sometimes seem boring, but the game has a way of keeping you on your toes. I don't remember how many fights I thought were going to be quick and easy but ended up being more difficult and tenser. The story may not be good enough to be considered a mainstream option, but for the JRPG community and SAO fans, there is an extreme amount of fun to be had here. If you've played the previous games, Fatal Bullet is an overall improvement and a step up.
If you have a regular crew to play with and you can get the game at a discount, Sea of Thieves offers some memorable experiences. If you're flying solo or thinking about paying full price, the rough edges should be enough to make you reconsider boarding this particular boat.
Essentially, A Case of Distrust is everything a narrative adventure game should be. It's engaging, humorous, and progressive. The characters are likeable and relatable, even though they're 95% silhouette and 5% deliciously vintage, and the story is entertaining.
Taken at face value, Toki Tori 2+ is an incredibly well-designed platformer with a distinct Metroidvania vibe. However, it is let down by its visuals and sometimes frustratingly slow progression and backtracking due to certain puzzle sections.
Your enjoyment of Where The Water Tastes Like Wine is completely dependent on whether you value story more than gameplay. That element is second to none when it comes to enjoyment, due to both the writing and your evolution as the simple stories grow into complex tales. As a game, that section doesn't hold up. Movement is slow, and the different meters that you have to manage feel rather tacked on. As a whole product, Where The Water Tastes Like Wine can be a drag, but if you're in it for the story, bump up the score and have fun with a game that spins an excellent yarn.