Worth Playing
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Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain is a phenomenal game. It is a credit to its quality that some rather substantial flaws do little to drag down the game, and even with them, it's destined to be remembered as one of the best titles this year. The variety and quality of gameplay make it a delight, and there's a lot of fun to be had. Metal Gear fans and newcomers alike should find a lot to like here. If it is the end of Kojima's Metal Gear career, then it's a high note to go out on.
It may not be perfect, but Gears of War: Ultimate Edition is certainly a game worth playing. There is plenty of value to be had, no matter if you are a Gears fanatic or someone who is brand new to the series. Just make sure to experience it with a friend at your side.
Disney Infinity 3.0 is a solid update to last year's edition, and fans will have a lot to like. It seems more focused on addressing complaints and shoring up weak points than it does in reinventing the wheel. It largely feels like an excuse to introduce the Star Wars juggernaut to the franchise, and it's certainly a good move. The Star Wars characters and play sets alone make it a worthy purchase for young fans of the franchise. Having Tony Stark and Han Solo team up to beat up Syndrome is just icing on the cake.
Games that attempt to push past normal boundaries and focus on the joy of simply playing have to go by a different set of rules for engagement, and The Chinese Room has offered something that reminded me of Journey – I didn't know what to do then, so I simply moved, explored and found the story on my own. But while Journey fostered a connection with others, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture left me feeling completely alone as a player and desperate to find out why. The answers came slowly, and they might not be utterly satisfying at first, but that's what can happen when you go where everyone is not.
Submerged tries to go for the same vibe as Journey but falls short. The game world is interesting, but the brief stay in it is tiresome since you're only given one environment. The climbing mechanics are so easy that the courses don't provide any challenge, so the only tough part is in finding the supply drop locations. It doesn't help that the main story isn't very intriguing, and neither is the story of the city, especially since you figure it out faster via the cut scenes than from the illustrations you pick up. There's no need to rush and check out Submerged right away.
The humor doesn't always hit, but it's amusing enough to carry the game through its 12-hour running time. Perhaps the only real flaw is that the game swapping so constantly between genres means it can never quite settle into a groove, and certain fun elements go underutilized. Fans of old-school JRPGs should find a lot to like in this loving homage to the classics of the genre.
Until Dawn does what it is aiming to do well. It's a near-perfect adaptation of an average slasher/monster film. It's a fun romp through a horror movie, and the tension of all characters being able to live and die contributes well to the overall feel. At the end of the day, though, it's not exceptional and lacks replay value.
The Adventures of Pip is an example of a perfectly fun platformer. It doesn't do anything exceptionally well, but it's a solid and well-made game. The only things really holding it back are the short length and the unavoidable feeling of repetitiveness that sinks in toward the end. Anyone who is a fan of platformers will find a lot to like here, and the core gameplay stands well enough on its own that I enjoyed the game from almost beginning to end. A little game with a lot of heart, The Adventures of Pip is easily worth a playthrough.
Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess is a surprisingly sadistic guilty pleasure. It's tough to match the satisfaction of seeing a well-planned trap chain go off. Unfortunately, the fun lasts about as long as that satisfaction does. If you can spend hours setting up deathtraps for helpless humans, then you'll have tons of fun with The Nightmare Princess. However, longtime fans may not find enough extra content in this version for it to be worth the money. This is a solid entry point to the franchise, but only the most hardcore should double-dip with the last-gen version.
Rory McIlroy PGA Tour isn't a bad game; there's just not enough of it. Its predecessors not only supplied a good time in-game but also stacked the deck with a lot of value. We've talked about the lack of golfers and courses, but there's also a lack of golf play styles and even a lack of differing weather conditions. As good as the playing experience is, a sports game should also feel complete. Instead, we're left with untapped potential and questions that will dog designers until the next hole.
Ultimately, Rare Replay is a must-buy title if you have even a passing interest in a handful of the included games. While the technical issues prevent it from being an ideal collection, the value justification is impossible to ignore. The majority of these games are great choices, and at an average price of $1 a game (even less if you get it on sale), you're not really missing out even if you end up not liking a few.
J-Stars Victory Versus+ has a lot of heart, but that heart doesn't guarantee good gameplay. Players who are looking to see a slam-bam mashup of their favorite fighters will have some fun with it, but the unbalanced and repetitive core gameplay and lackluster story mode don't do the game any favors. The title is boosted somewhat by the obvious love for the properties, but at the end of the day, the gameplay needs to be better to keep up. There's still fun to be had, but J-Stars Victory Versus+ is for die-hard fans only.
Onechanbara Z2: Chaos promises two things: fan service and zombie killing. It delivers on that but not much else. XSEED's lively translation and the sheer fun of zombie killing make it an enjoyable enough romp, but low production values and repetitive gameplay really drag it down. It's difficult to fault a game for wearing its heart on its sleeve, but it feels like more time was spent on skimpy costumes than level design. It's slightly cheaper than most games but not cheap enough to be an impulse buy. You'll get plenty of what Onechanbara offers, but don't expect much else.
In the end, No Time to Explain is hurt by inconsistency. The laser gun physics produce platforming that relies on luck more than skill, and the boss fight pacing, with the limited lives in tow, sucks away some of the joy you'd get from the battles. That's a shame since there are some pretty good puzzles present, and the sections where you don't use the laser gun are very enjoyable. If you're really craving the Super Meat Boy caliber of difficult platforming, you might want to give the demo a shot before committing to No Time to Explain.
Game of Thrones: Episode 5 - A Nest of Vipers reinforces the idea that happiness doesn't last. All of your victories in the previous episode — and the much smaller ones here — are easily reversed, and you get the feeling that the final episode will end in a Pyrrhic victory. With this being a shorter episode, one hopes that the end comes soon with something to make this all worthwhile.
At the end of the day, God of War III: Remastered is God of War III again. It's still a solid game with breathtaking visuals and fantastic production values. Any strengths or weaknesses of the original game are still present. The only thing that really holds back God of War III: Remastered from being a must-buy is the $40 price tag, which is too much for a single game with minor touch-ups. Fans of the series might be willing to jump on it, but anyone else would be better off waiting. If you decide to pick it up, you'll find a fun and fully featured game with some of the best visuals on the market.
I would love to see a sequel that kept the Guild's basic premise and look but enabled you to keep equipment, sort your cards outside of combat, or hold on to character advancement. As the game stands right now, it kills time, and that's about it.
Like the other Marvel-related tables before it, Ant-Man is pretty solid. The table has a nice design that lets players do some careful planning instead of relying on flipper mashing, and the generous rewards ensure that some high scores can be obtained rather easily. The various side activities are different enough from past tables to be enjoyable, and the presentation lives up to the company's standard. As long as you can ignore the odd choice in sound effects, Ant-Man is another table that digital pinball aficionados will want in their collections.
Batman: Arkham Knight has been billed as the most complete Batman video game experience in existence, and it lives up to that billing in spades. There's almost - gasp - too much Batman to handle, and I find myself still grinding away in Gotham when the time allows it. It would appear that too much Batman is a consequence I'm willing to live with.
It's difficult to give Project CARS a score. When it comes to the actual racing, the game gets top marks primarily because of how deep the handling model feels. It also does a fantastic job of giving the player every possible option to tailor his or her experience to their liking. However, everything outside of the racing, such as the career mode, is mere window dressing. The game certainly excels at its intended purpose, which is to be one of the most accurate racing games around, but I can't help but feel that the game is pretty bare-bones when it comes to the creature comforts that other games offer, even from the standpoint of catering to the most hardcore crowd.