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Thanks to a deep narrative, exquisite morality mechanics that make every decision equally weighty and meaningful, and sublime characters, inXile has given the game a genuine shot of living up to the legacy of one of the greatest games of all time.
I could perhaps recommend this game to those looking for a crushingly difficult dual stick shooting game. It's humorous at times and it does have some personality to it. It is the kind of game that could be brilliant with a few tweaks here and there, but presented as it, I do find it difficult to recommend to most people.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has taken over A Link to the Past as my favourite game in the entire Zelda series. Therefore, Breath of the Wild has become what I consider to be the greatest game I have ever played.
What could have been something lasting, something real, is instead a two dimensional narrative which brandishes plot twists and visual trickery to camouflage a lack of rich storytelling. Nonetheless, I would still highly recommend Stories Untold to writers and game developers: there are ideas in the first few episodes which are fascinating, and I'm dying to see where No Code's metafictive experimentation might take the text adventure genre.
What is important to any great visual novel is that it has great writing, and the Danganronpa games are by turns hilarious, reflective, intense and jovial, the characters are all unique and interesting, and the twists and turns are often startling. Visual novels just don't get better than these.
Most importantly, given that this is the first time that he's helmed the creative side of an Atelier title, Shinichi Yoshiike has proven himself to be a confident and safe pair of hands to shape the series into the future. As such, I expect that this series will continue to remain my favourite among the more traditional JRPG franchises out there.
Shovel Knight is one of the finest examples of how to do retro without being a slave to it at the same time.
The generically pleasing, colourful aesthetics are charming in a fashion, though the endlessly looping music will remind you why you'd turn the sound off when games of its ilk, like Farmville, were big on Facebook.
Put simply, NieR: Automata is the greatest game ever made. It's not just that it is the deepest and most narratively potent game ever developed - and it is a truly deep narrative experience - but more than that, Yoko Taro has finally found perhaps the developer on the planet capable of doing his visionary work justice.
The misfortune here for Nintendo EAD is that party games need to be accessible and appealing to a mass audience, but 1-2-Switch settles for a very specific demographic and all but alienates the rest. For that reason, it's not a purchase I would recommend; it would have been better as a "free" pack in so that people would get the chance to try it for themselves before deciding on whether it had any long-term longevity for them.
It's still the same cosy time and resource management simulation we fell in love with decades ago, but Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns stands out from the pack in understated ways. Its gentle but omnipresent plot functions in tandem with a broader perspective of agriculture to serve up one of the more distinct entries in this long-running franchise.
This is an exceptional port of a hugely underrated game. The character art is one of the most critical features in the game, and on the much larger PC screen the art is vibrant, detailed, and attractive. This alone really makes Monster Monpiece's PC port the definitive version. Hopefully this is not the last we see of Compile Heart producing CCGs.
For Honor takes some risks and creates a new property that I'd love to see more of in the future. Unfortunately, there is this impression that perhaps Ubisoft was not entirely confident in this first outing. The online modes are fun enough, but they can get grindy and their lack of depth begins to show after a time. This when coupled with the lack of dedicated servers leaves For Honor feeling somewhat incomplete, despite some beautiful environments and engaging combat.
Unlike Nintendo's Mini NES retro console that was released last year, this is a more difficult package to recommend to people that didn't grow up playing the games.
Unlike Nintendo's Mini NES retro console that was released last year, this is a more difficult package to recommend to people that didn't grow up playing the games.
Sniper Elite 4 focuses on a handful of things that it does very well, and the overall experience is one that I enjoyed. This is a more thoughtful, slower burning pace than the typical shooter, though it is punctuated by moments of intense action that stand out more because they are highlights and not a constant drone of gunfire and running. That being said, the series on the whole has room to grow and is probably overdue to put some more effort into its story and perhaps add a few more wrinkles to the overall gameplay as well.
I don't think the final outcomes are entirely random – a well-paired match has more chance of a good result than a poorly-paired one – but there's definitely that element of random fate that's out of your control. That may make the whole game seem pointless, but if anything, it makes the dating part of the game that much more meaningful. It's about enjoying the moment, even if it might not lead to a happily ever after, and at least giving love a chance to blossom.
Divide is a really good game when it's playing to its strengths. It takes a familiar, played-out sci-fi story and uses mechanics and interactivity to give it a fresh, insightful spin. It's not as nuanced a take as this sort of story needs, but you can't argue with how well Divide's approach works at its best.
This vision of Berserk loses a lot of its narrative potency because it cuts around it and provides only the most basic of skeletons for narrative context.
When I first saw this at TGS last year, I thought it was going to be a grander simulation game than it has turned out to be. In part I'm disappointed, because a hardcore simulation about exploring uncharted oceans in search of new land would be a fascinating game, but at the same time the simple, clean charm of Neo Atlas is really difficult to resist, especially when I'm in the mood to play something low-pressure while catching up on my movie or television backlog.