Worth Playing
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In the end, Slaycation Paradise is a fun game, provided you're willing to overlook some of its shortcomings. The short gameplay loop works well enough, and the variety of objectives stops the game from falling into a rut. More levels would've been nice, and multiplayer would've been even nicer. For those looking for a little more out of their twin-stick shooters, Slaycation Paradise scratches the itch well if you're fine with the lack of levels and multiplayer.
By and large, Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet are fun. It's telling that I had a lot of fun with them despite the absolutely unforgivable performance problems. The basis for an extremely strong and engaging Pokémon game is here, but it's out in the wild without the extra months of development that it still needed to improve performance issues. If you're willing to forgive some jank for an otherwise great Pokémon experience, then you'll have a great time. Otherwise, it's probably worth skipping until it gets some patches. Even die-hard Pokéfans might have trouble getting past seeing their favorite Pokémon crawling along at five fps.
I don't want to close with the impression that I had a bad time with Gungrave G.O.R.E. I didn't. But I didn't have a memorable one, either. It was a nice bit of action nostalgia for a short while, but in a world where less glitzy action titles feature so much more depth, agility or even wit, Gungrave G.O.R.E. will have a tough time separating itself from all of the bullet-fare that's out there.
As mentioned earlier, Skeleton Crew is a game with a neat concept that isn't executed well. It's a novel idea to kick things all over the place as both a means of solving puzzles and attacking enemies; it ensures that you can still get out of a pickle even if you select someone you end up disliking. Throw in the multiplayer aspect, and it feels like something you'll want to play when company's over or if you can ensure someone you know is online and willing to play. That said, the actual kicking mechanics are slow, and the various bugs and balance issues mean that there's a good chance you'll need to play through some levels a few times through no fault of your own. Despite being out for this long, Skeleton Crew still needs more polish before you'll want to give it a chance.
Evil West is a fun and well-made beat-'em-up that doesn't exceed its reach. The focus is on the combat, and thankfully, that largely pays off. Even coming from God of War: Ragnarok, I managed to have a lot of fun with Evil West nonetheless. There isn't a ton to see beyond the combat, and you'll probably be done in a single playthrough, but that single playthrough will be a darn fun time.
The Dark Pictures Anthology: Episode 4 – The Devil in Me is a solid ending to the first "season" of the franchise. It isn't the best game in the lineup (I'd probably give that to House of Ashes), but it's probably the best horror story of the lot. The same familiar gameplay is bolstered by some new additions, but at the end of the day, they don't change the formula. If you've played the previous games, you have a pretty good idea of what to expect here. The Devil in Me shows that Supermassive is experimenting with The Dark Pictures Anthology and trying to expand what its games can be. I'm looking forward to seeing what Season 2 brings.
Much like its predecessor, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales is an exercise in how to do a superhero game right. The movement is exhilarating, the combat is well done given the bevy of options at your disposal, and it contains more than enough to keep you busy but not bored. The fact that it can do all of this in a more compact package (in terms of gameplay hours) is a testament to tight design, while the story is more compelling thanks to a new cast of characters. With a presentation that's better than the PS5, provided you have the hardware to push things, Miles Morales is an easy recommendation for PC players.
Soda Crisis succeeds in providing action in small doses. Even if you forget half of the possible moves, you have more than enough to become a formidable action hero who's capable of taking down everyone in a torrent of bullets. The brevity of each stage makes it perfect for bite-sized gaming sessions, and the presentation keeps the high-octane action vibe going. It's a fine outing if you love run-and-gun platformers, but make sure to bring a good pair of glasses or sit very close to the screen if you want to read any text in the game.
That is about the only real criticism I have about The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story. It's a darn enjoyable multi-generation experience that has a lot of unusual mysteries, so it stands strong on its own merits. If you're a fan of mystery games, then it's absolutely worth a shot. The strong acting and good use of FMV help it to stand out from the crowd, and it's almost as much praise and criticism that I wished it were a movie or television show that I could just sit back and watch.
As a story-driven adventure game, Pentiment is a history lesson come to life, with some intriguing mysteries to solve and tricky decisions to make. It's a vertical slice of history, and it provides a glimpse into a turbulent period through the experience of a small town. The experience can be a bit sluggish because it sometimes values historical accuracy over player comfort. Your choices impact the Bavarian town of Tassing over a quarter of a century, all while uncovering a truly interesting mystery. Tassing is the actual protagonist here, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of being an integral part in its community and participating in its struggles. It's a bit special and stubborn in its delivery, but Pentiment is an interesting and worthwhile investigation of the period, its customs, and its issues.
Smurfs Kart is pretty smurfy, at least in some parts. It nails the mechanics of Mario Kart quite well, the presentation is quite nice despite the low frame rate, and it has a good sense of speed. That said, the small number of tracks, vagueness on weapons, and basic modes mean that most Smurfs fans will knock out everything in an afternoon and struggle to return. It's not that bad of a kart racer for the Switch, but only die-hard fans of the recent cartoon will want to make this their main kart racer.
Tactics Ogre: Reborn is an incredibly well put together remaster of one of the cult classics from the SNES era. It's an improvement over the well-done PSP remaster and improves upon it in almost every way. The story and translation remain excellent, and the core gameplay is more fun than ever. The only downside is that it didn't get any visual touch-ups, so you'll need to be willing to accept cute, pudgy little sprites acting out the serious tense political drama. If you're a fan of strategy RPGs and haven't played Tactics Ogre yet, then Reborn is well worth a shot.
In the end, GigaBash is a game that's loads of fun if you're playing with local friends. Even if you don't partake in the minigames, the combat is deeper than expected in a fighting game like this, so you'll spend more than a few rounds playing with others. It doesn't have much going for it if you choose to play solo or are trying to get online, but as long as you have a group ready for a get-together, GigaBash fits perfectly in a party-style rotation.
Still, it's hard to feel like the multiplayer wasn't just thrown into the wild for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II. It's not unplayable, but there are so many flaws that consistently and almost constantly crop up. The lack of post-launch support makes it feel as though Call of Duty is a victim of its own success, and it really doesn't matter what state it's in or how quickly it gets fixed because millions of people have already purchased it, and it'll all be forgotten before the launch of the next one. My hope is that the players won't be simply taken for granted going forward, but in the meantime, Modern Warfare II certainly subscribes to the mentality of, "Screw it. People are going to buy it anyway."
Sonic Frontiers is an all-around solid Sonic the Hedgehog game. The shift to a more open-world style of gameplay works almost entirely in its favor and allows the game to offer more freedom and exploration without resorting to werehogs. At heart, it's still the same basic 3D-style gameplay that the franchise has been doing lately, but the change in perspective works in its favor. Not every change is a winner, but enough are that I dearly hope that Sega sticks with this flavor instead of reinventing the wheel. Fans of Sonic will be delighted, and those on the fence should give Frontiers a shot. It's easy to see how the greater freedom (and lack of annoying gimmicks) could be the difference between frustration and fun.
NHL 23 has a few nice additions, but they quickly wear thin. There's nothing of substance, except perhaps yet another year of the same grind in HUT to eventually get a team together that is worthy of competition by the time the next installment skates around. That doesn't seem appealing to me, and unless you've already skipped several years' worth of NHL entries, NHL 23 isn't worth the full asking price.
In the end, I can't shake how captivating the chemistry among the characters was in God of War: Ragnarok. I probably laughed and got misty-eyed more times in the first few hours of playing this than I did for the whole first game. Plenty of heavy themes are tackled here other than life and death: alcoholism, abusive relationships, codependency, depression, emotional breakthroughs, true father-and-son bonding, manipulation, etc. You could call this game God of War: Families, Amirite? I've deliberately been vague about many of the key plot points, funny exchanges and gut-punch moments because I think people need to experience them for themselves. I probably already said too much regarding the bears, but they left an impact. The rest of God of War: Ragnarok will make quite an impression as well, and perhaps provide lessons that can outlive us all.
The Last Friend is awesome. Those who have been looking for a game similar to the first Plants vs. Zombies will instantly fall in love with this, as the core gameplay mechanics faithfully emulate that. The addition of an active participant in the fight gives you much more to do than resource collection and frontline maintenance, while the multi-screen battlefields and boss fights feel like a natural evolution of the formula. It may feel too easy compared to PopCap's classic, especially if you play the whole campaign in co-op mode, but that's a small price to pay for having this game style make a comeback. Unless you absolutely crave a strategy game that will tear you to bits at first glance, The Last Friend is a title that's well worth playing.
Overall, Bayonetta 3 is an incredibly fun game. I like the new mechanics, the new enemies are fun to fight, and it has a lot of laugh-out-loud moments. I just wish all of it wasn't surrounded by a dreary tale of multiversal failure leading into a rather bittersweet ending. If you don't care about the story, the game has few flaws that I can think of. It plays great, is full of amazing absurdity, and was absolutely worth the wait for any fan of the franchise. In the long run, I think Bayonetta 2 is my favorite of the franchise, but Bayonetta 3 is still a remarkably good entry in Platinum's best series.
Even if you only play Life Is Strange: Arcadia Bay Collection in handheld mode and you've never played either game elsewhere, this offering isn't great. At $40 for a slightly worse version of two older titles, I can't recommend the Arcadia Bay Collection in its current state. It may be worth a pickup at a steep sale, but even then, if you can play it on another platform, do yourself a favor and do that. Both games are still enjoyable narrative adventures with some cool moments, but the Switch iteration simply doesn't do justice to the original releases.