Worth Playing
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Overall, Trine 4 is a delightful game that's sure to satisfy anyone looking for a fun, light-hearted physics-based puzzle game. With roughly 10 hours of content, it's an easy recommendation if only to experience the game world's rich art design and clever puzzles. The puzzles aren't as complex as those found in Portal 2 or The Witness, but the variety of approaches is rewarding in its own way. For that reason alone, it's easy to recommend Trine 4, a game in a genre that rarely receives entries with this level of heart and soul in the art design department.
At its core, Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast remains a good title. Get past the shooting, and you're rewarded with a ton of Force powers and lightsaber combat that remains at the top of its field to this day. However, the port job isn't up to snuff, as it lacks some slight auto-aim and lock-on to make the experience more user-friendly for console players, so the opening levels are a real chore to get through even if you can handle the outdated textures and adherence to the old way of doing puzzles.
I suspect that many players will have an uneven time with Planet Zoo. At times, it's pretty straightforward and provides the player with plenty of feedback so they can improve their zoo. Other times, the game has you digging around in areas that are unnecessarily tough to figure out, with tutorials that barely touch on the feature (if at all). The thing with Planet Zoo is that it is so charming and appealing that the fun parts outweigh the frustrating ones. It's not a perfect game in the genre, but it is one of the best ones you can play right now.
Cat Quest II is just as good as the original. The core mechanics remain appealing, while the addition of magic rods and projectile attacks are enough to change things up for those who were afraid of another melee-fest. The elimination of some required grinding makes the game feel more streamlined for those who were anxious to see where the main storyline goes, but the inclusion of local co-op increases the game's fun factor tenfold. This is another job well done and another quality title to add to one's gaming library.
There are some issues within WRC 8, and they're not small, but the game is otherwise so good that it's easy to overlook them. For all the times your engine switches to stealth mode or a fence post sends you into low Earth orbit, there are hundreds of times when you are blissfully guiding your car into a drift around a dusty apex in Argentina, or masterfully twisting through a series of highly technical corners during heavy rain. The vehicle handling is so good — and that is so important for a rally game — that even with its flaws, WRC 8 is likely the high bar that other rally games should aspire to.
At the end of the day, Paper Train comes off as pretty flat.
Greedfall is a tough game to judge. It's neither bad nor great. It comes staggeringly close to greatness in a number of areas, but it just lacks the polish or ambition to go further. If you're looking for a nostalgic trip back to the mid-2000s style of WRPGs, then you'll find a lot to like in Greedfall. It's worth a shot if you're a fan of that style of games. In a year that gave us titles like Disco Elysium, it's difficult to be particularly impressed by something that is merely standard.
If you can brush aside the lack of single console multiplayer, Torchlight II remains an addictive action-RPG experience.
Death Stranding is not for everyone. This isn't the first game that asks players to push through and grind. Ask anyone who's played Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. But that game asks you to fight through chaos and fury. Death Stranding asks you to embrace the process of work and the journey, trusting that you'll feel rewarded at the end. For my part, I did. If you think of a Kojima game as an event, then you should know what you're signing up for. That's the best way to enjoy it. If not, you'll be in the middle of a beautiful landscape, wondering what the hell you're doing out there, maybe even a little stranded.
While the art, gameplay and music are fine, it feels like EA made a game so exclusively for children that their parents won't want to play it with them, leaving them to be influenced alone. Even if you can tolerate the tone and have the wherewithal to not spend too much money on DLC, Neighborville is fine. It just won't be your best purchase EVAR.
There's a shimmer of something good in Blacksad: Under the Skin.
All in all, The Surge 2 is a great game to pick up if you're looking for a more arcade-like take on the Dark Souls formula. It's a fun and engaging game with a solid combat system and enjoyable mechanics, and it's only dragged down by a mediocre story and lackluster environments. With the excellent improvements from The Surge to The Surge 2, the franchise is well on its way to standing tall in the Soulsborne genre. It's well worth playing if you're an aficionado of this genre and don't mind dying a few times.
It isn't extraordinary, but Sniper: Ghost Warrior Contracts is a solid game. The majority of the gunplay is basic, but it pales in comparison to the attention paid to the sniping and the variety of gun mechanics. The enemy AI works fine even if they sometimes act dumb, and the environments make the missions more interesting. The lack of polish in a few parts of the presentation and some interesting quirks bring down the game, but overall, Contracts is worth checking out if you can temper your expectations.
Valfaris is solid. The pacing is great, and with the exception of the back half, the difficulty curve isn't too bad. The juggling of weapons in relation to their balance is well done, and the constant boss fights are a fulfilling challenge once you overcome each foe. Provided you enjoy the Nintendo-hard games of the past, Valfaris is well worth checking out.
Ion Fury is an old-school shooting fan's dream. All of the mechanics are intact, from non-regenerative health to the ability to carry a full arsenal of weapons, and the level design feels intuitive and encourages exploration without needing waypoints. Some of the new mechanics fit in well, but a few, like the need to reload, only increase the difficulty on a tough game. Seeing all of this done on a decades-old engine is enough to convince you of the versatility of those old FPS engines. Unless you hate the old FPS style, Ion Fury is a must-have for your gaming library.
The Ninja Warriors: Return of the Warriors is for those who love classic arcade or console games. Those players are fine with titles being a bit short, since the replayability comes through in getting better with the game or replaying with friends in tow. It certainly helps that everything from the expanded move set to the character differences and presentation is top-tier, 16-bit stuff and rather straightforward, except for the final boss. As long as you're coming in with a mindset of defeating the game more than once, you'll have a great time with this low-key classic.
I would recommend Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order to anyone who's even remotely familiar with the universe. There are plenty of Easter eggs and geek-out stuff for the fans (you can build a custom lightsaber!), and the gameplay is less about reinvention and more about refining pieces to fit the experience, which is what a lot of great art is built upon. If anything, this game made me feel like I did back in the 1990s, when I truly felt the Force in the game space for the first time. It's a special feeling, and I look forward to seeing where this path goes.
Shenmue III is a game for the fans … and only for the fans. It feels like what would have happened if the Shenmue series had continued on the Dreamcast. This is delightful if you were hoping for a continuation of the franchise, but unfortunately, the appeal stops there for most casual players. If you're a fan of playing old, quirky games, you'll find something to like here, but if you can't tell Shenmue from Shamu, you probably won't understand the hype. It's nice to revisit a long-dead franchise, but if Shenmue IV gets made, one can only hope that it's slightly more ambitious.
In the end, Overwatch works well as a port. It's almost boring to talk about, as it aims to be as faithful to the existing versions as possible. It's not a technical marvel, and that may rightfully turn you off, but it's a feature-complete and portable version that is best for quick drop-in matches when you just want a casual match in Overwatch.
It isn't perfect, but Zombotron ends up being a darn good tactical shooting title.