Worth Playing
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Death Stranding is a remarkable experience. Full stop. It's the first game I've played where everything from the story to the gameplay work together as a truly cohesive product.
or the average Joe Schmo, it may make you feel as if your life forces are slowly being drained away. (Check your necks, people!)
Blazing Chrome understands exactly what made the older titles tick. It has the look and sound of classic titles, and it emulates the gameplay really well. The action is relentless, and boss fights reward skill over pure ammo dumping. The game doesn't go for adding on extras from other genres, relying instead on pure gameplay to drive the title. The short length, which was normal for offerings from that time period and genre, is buoyed by gameplay modes that feel worthwhile instead of tacked on. For run-and-gun fans, Blazing Chrome is an essential addition to the gaming library.
Hamsterdam is a fine game if you plan on playing it in short bursts. Most of the battles are fine, but it doesn't take long before they feel too easy. That repetitive nature drags down the enjoyment of the game, since the variety is lacking from beginning to end, even during boss fights. With decent sound and good graphics with shaky performance, Hamsterdam is meant to eat up a few minutes at a time in between more fulfilling titles.
As a whole, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare hits all the right marks. The campaign is well done, with some very memorable moments and a decent overall story that'll overshadow some of the weaker enemies and vanilla ending. The multiplayer is as reliable as before, and the new modes provide some fresh fun, while true cross-play automatically makes it the best entry in the series due to the expanded player base. Wrapped in a presentation that provides a good preview of what a next-generation entry could look like, Modern Warfare is a very good entry for series fans who are willing to overlook the currently undercooked Spec Ops mode.
Psyvariar Delta is another excellent bullet hell shooter for Switch fans who are looking to stock up their shooter library. The unique mechanics make it a game that plays differently from other bullet hell shooters, and the ability to mix up the different versions' traits makes it a better title than the original arcade iterations. Until the sequel hits, this is a great representative for the series on the Switch.
Resident Evil 0 remains a good game in the series. Even with your AI partner's occasional lapses in judgment, the dynamic makes the standard formula feel fresh, while the lack of chests can be either good or bad depending on your outlook. The stunted load times ruin the mood since they occur all the time. If you don't mind that and you want to own the game in a portable form, this port isn't all that bad.
The Outer Worlds is an excellent attempt at capturing the Fallout formula in a new setting. It's honest about what it's trying to be, and it never shies away from it. While it may lack the sheer size of Bethesda's behemoth, The Outer Worlds still captures the fun and enjoyment of exploring, completing quests, finding new loot, and being a futuristic adventurer. Anyone who enjoyed the previous-generation Fallouts or is looking for a solid RPG will find a lot to like in The Outer Worlds.
Ultimately, MediEvil doesn't have much going for it except for nostalgia. Everything about it is unexceptional, and it feels lackluster when compared to similar recent attempts to update PS1 classics. Without a fondness for Sir Dan and his antics, I'd be hard-pressed to say why MediEvil is worth playing. It's a game for fans, but little has been done to make this offering stand out. Perhaps it would've been better if Sir Dan had been left to his peaceful rest, but we can hope for a genuine next-gen MediEvil someday in the future.
Like many ports of some of the big games from the past two console generations, the appeal of Devil May Cry is that it's now available in portable form. There's nothing new here to tempt older fans otherwise, but what they'll find here is familiar. The switching of aspect ratios is odd, and the fixed camera angles and more puzzle-oriented focus will throw off some people, but for everyone who hasn't done so before, this is still a solid action game that's worth checking out.
Your enjoyment of Metal Wolf Chaos XD is dependent on your tolerance for old game design and cheesy dialog. The lack of checkpoints and auto-saving during missions is going to hurt once you're in the back half of the game. Its humor is also hit-and-miss, depending on whether you take it seriously. Its absurdity pairs nicely with some solid gameplay mechanics, and it has enough of that conviction to make you overlook the flaws and give the game a fair shake. For action fans who aren't too picky, Metal Wolf Chaos XD is worth checking out.
Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered is a double-edged sword. It does a lot of things right with the story and atmosphere, but the gameplay is mediocre to good, with many flaws around the companion AI, which often ruins the experience. Since the fun multiplayer component of the original release isn't included yet, this game is only for serious fans of the movie or the original game.
Felix the Reaper is a fun puzzler that nails some of the most important aspects: difficulty, level design, and style. While the environments may not be as varied and the controls not as well executed, the title works well and should be on the radar of anyone who's fond of solving puzzles as a dancing Grim Reaper.
Ultimately, Siege of Centauri is fine. Its mechanics are solid enough, it does everything else decently on-screen, and the pyrotechnics are spectacular to see. It just doesn't feel like anything special, from the abilities to the story to the units to the towers. It's the kind of game that you wouldn't mind playing but won't rush out to buy immediately, making this difficult to recommend unless you devour every game in the tower defense genre.
They Are Billions boasts strong central ideas about pulling yourself up by your bootstraps to industrialize in the face of grave danger. This is done incredibly well, from the aesthetics to the music and especially the upgrade trees. All of these work in tandem so well that it's cool to see, but unfortunately, the follow-through for the console version isn't done well enough. This on its own is pretty damning, and coupled with the strange aesthetics makes the game considerably less enjoyable. The PC version may run better with the controls, interface and menus.
Super Neptunia RPG negates the positives that it brings about. The fresh perspective that comes from being a classic 2D RPG with a simple battle system clashes with the unintuitive and unresponsive platforming. The presentation is beautiful, but the performance is hampered when compared to its predecessors. The ability to explore also seems nice until you realize that the streamlined side-quest system has been replaced with the more time-consuming method of visiting each quest-giver individually. Fans of the series may still enjoy it.
There's a good chance that the game will improve in the next few months or a year, and at that point, players can easily jump into the game and enjoy the hell out of it. At launch, however, Breakpoint makes sense if you want to get into a looter shooter that isn't full of fantastical weaponry or you aren't playing The Division 2 anymore.
As a fan of the movies and a fan of creative approaches to games, I've had my eye on John Wick Hex since the day it was announced. Its bizarre approach works satisfyingly well in the context of how John Wick would think in the same situations: risk versus reward, careful observation and planning, plays and counter-plays. It is a simple game to understand yet rewarding to attempt to master. It also makes a compelling case of how great movie-inspired games can be if developers really think outside of the box.
Alas, Concrete Genie is far less than the sum of its parts. A strong early game is lost by a bizarre late-game twist that undoes a lot of the charm. If it had just focused on the genies or had been about combat from the start, Concrete Genie would be a much more cohesive experience. Instead, the game has a lot of good moments but ends on a particularly dissatisfying note. There's still a lot to enjoy, but the flaws stand out as brightly as the strengths.
Indivisible was incredibly close to being the best indie RPG I've ever played.