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It's pure fun, and with Warriors Orochi 4, Koei Tecmo has done such a lovely job that I suspect I'll be coming back to it frequently for many years into the future.
Space Hulk: Tactics is the most impressive Warhammer 40K effort I've played in recent memory. Cyanide clearly decided to focus on the atmospherics and worldbuilding in lieu of the complex combat systems that make other 40K titles strategically engaging. Space Hulk doesn't have that, but what it does offer is a visceral, best-played-in-first-person tactics board game that offers up a hefty challenge. Do Hero Quest next, Cyanide!
Once you put aside Starlink's somewhat confused nature and design, what you're left with is a genuinely enjoyable open space adventure.
Hover hits all the right notes: it's bright and colourful, with a sort of hip-hop cyberpunk aesthetic and catchy techno soundtrack. But it misses all the marks on the most crucial elements, with a game that's constantly let down by its physics and controls and a story about "Gamers" fighting back against "anti-leisure laws" that seems to entirely miss the point of anti-authoritarianism as a concept.
There's nothing unpleasant about Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story. It's easy to pick up and play for short bursts, and as a simulator, its simplicity makes for a nice change of pace. It's also charming and actually does offer an intriguing world and narrative. In just about every area, the game could also have been much more than it is, but everyone needs inoffensive time wasters too, and Valthirian Arc scratches that itch nicely.
428: Shibuya Scramble is storytelling via video games at its finest. The multiple parallel stories, the twists and turns, the characters, each is reason enough to pick up this title despite the initial release being a decade ago. It plays with ease, allowing you to completely lose yourself if the story of Maria's abduction and the ten most important hours spent trying to save her.
Best of all, while none of these four tables are my favourites from Williams, the subtitle of the DLC is "Volume 1." There's clearly more to come. And, I mean, Williams is the manufacturer behind Tales of the Arabian Nights. The greatest pinball table ever made. Bring Volume 2 on!
Though the play room is where it's at its most pure, that sense of playfulness runs through the entirety of Astro Bot: Rescue Mission, from its creative level design and innovative use of VR to its cute characters, awe-inspiring environments, and subtle dose of black humour. Pure, joyful escapism doesn't get much better than this.
There's reason for existing fans to play the game again, because it has an all-new chapter to work through, and there's certainly a reason for people who haven't previously played it to give it a go, because to this day, nothing else has quite managed to offer what The World Ends With You offers.
With all the lavish features of other SNK arcade ports to Nintendo Switch, Zupapa is one of the more distinctive and enjoyable that we've seen from this retro series for some time. It's one of SNK's lesser known classics, perhaps, but it's so bright, charming, and oddball that it's one you won't quickly forget.
The overall package is an attractive one and there plenty in it, so the end result is fun, but I would like to see a few more chances taken with the engine or formula in the future.
It's good. It's really, really good. The combat alone demonstrates that while everyone who plays Yakuza games remembers everything but the combat, even that "forgotten" element in the formula, when brought to the fore, is still very deserving of a player's time.
Despite the obtuseness of its gameplay, Reigns is a game full of interesting design choices that intermingle narrative and gameplay to create something you'll be thinking about for weeks on end. This is a deceptively deep game you'd be happy to keep coming back to. It is novel, with high production values, and there's bound to be some aspect of this game that will have you hooked.
It's hard to argue against the notion that Armello might just be the best Australian game ever produced. Highly refined, beautiful to play, deep and intelligent, it's as endlessly replayable as the very best board games, and deserves to be respected as such.
Sitting squarely on the "fun for the whole family," end of Nintendo's spectrum, Super Mario Party is a joy. It's colourful, cheerful, and good-spirited, and backs that up with excellent board and minigame design. After a few iterations that were too experimental for their own good, Mario Party is back in form, and that has made me really happy.
Destiny 2 Forsaken is a whole new game, a whole lot of game, but it's also the exact same game. It's "fun" – Destiny always was – but it's a loop of endlessly increasing numbers and loot and numbers and loot and more numbers and not enough numbers and I just don't know why I'm doing it anymore.
Disgaea 1 is the one least likely to overwhelm people who aren't deeply familiar with tactics JRPGs and complex JRPG systems. For this reason, this remaster is the perfect entry point for the curious, and anyone interested in the history and heritage of Nippon Ichi's premier franchise will get a kick out of it too.
There are some neat little features to the newest Mega Man. However, while it's the kind of game that series fans should enjoy, there just isn't enough to bring it to a new audience.
If there's one takeaway to be had from the Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle, it's that genre-themed compilations aren't the best way to repackage these classic titles.
Like the Iliad, Dionysus, Lysistrata and other great works of art, your feats in Assassin's Creed Odyssey are incredulous in the best way possible, and it's honestly more entertaining for it.