USgamer's Reviews
DiRT Rally is a realistic, beautiful-looking off-road racing simulation that's really exciting to drive. Its high level of challenge and unforgiving nature means it won't appeal to everyone, but for those who want to experience the trials and tribulations of rallying, it's an absolutely brilliant game.
While it's certainly nice to see Nintendo continuing to support the 3DS well into its dotage, the system's late-life Zeldas mostly serve to make me pine for whatever Nintendo has coming up next for its handheld hardware line. Hyrule Warriors could probably work quite well on a portable... just not this particular portable.
Trackmania Turbo's arcade action is slick, fast and thoroughly enjoyable. It offers a ton of content to keep you busy, and challenging the leaderboards is a highly addictive experience. The action can become somewhat repetitive during extended play sessions, but in short bursts, this game is a huge amount of fun.
LucasArts' 1993 adventure game has aged incredibly well, making for an incredible experience for newcomers and veterans alike. Add in a host of great extras and upgrades, and it's hard to think of how this Remastered edition could possibly be better.
Despite the proliferation of games broadly inspired by Super Metroid in recent years, Shadow Complex remains quite distinct thanks to its integration of Gears of War-style cover shooting and loopy political plot. Playing it again evokes memories of similar games that have since followed, such as Castlevania: Mirror of Fate and Strider, none of which have done the 2.5D metroidvania thing nearly as well as Chair did back in 2009. The one letdown here is the questionable quality of the port, which sputters and skips much more than you'd expect for a last-gen game revamped for Xbox One.
Featuring one of the most remarkable and realistic video game environments ever created, The Division offers a disturbingly dystopian take on a ruined Manhattan. Its action is similarly brutal. Although much of it boils down to firefights and shoot-outs, most are very well executed to deliver truly exciting and thrilling gameplay. Add layers of RPG-like complexity and a really solid storyline, and you have a game that, while occasionally flawed, really does deliver the goods.
Salt and Sanctuary is a quality platformer with well-implemented Metroidvania elements. It's brutal at times, but deeply satisfying to play. Is it thematically derivative of the Souls games? Yes, but not disgustingly so. Just get out there and give a few demons what for.
Pokken Tournament is fun for a bit, but I'm not convinced that it has any staying power as a fighting game. It's further hurt by its thin single-player mode and limited roster, which hurts its potential with casual fans. As attractive and faithful to the license as it is, it has plenty of room for improvement. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a sequel.
If you haven't yet entered the deadly world of Hitman, IO Interactive's newest installment makes for the most approachable take on the series yet. The amount of content may seem undersized for an episodic series, but the sheer amount of ways to approach each level will have you playing them over and over again to perfect the art of murder.
It's great to finally have a high-definition port of Twilight Princess - it needed one more than most. Its strong dungeon design holds up well enough, but its meandering pace is unlikely to win over its detractors. Still, if you missed it the first time, give it a look. If nothing else, Midna is still a delight.
Hitman GO is a highly original brainteaser that I'd definitely recommend to those who enjoy giving their grey matter a challenging gaming workout.
Ultimately, the large problem with Snowfall is the price. It's not a bad addition to the overall game, it's just a very limited content drop for the asking price. Most of the additions are visual in nature and the snow is limited to a few maps instead of being spread throughout any map via a dynamic weather system.
It might look like a shooter, but Superhot's unique game mechanic - Time moves when you move - means the game plays out more like a puzzle. You'll punch, slice, and shoot your way through waves of red shapes and feel awesome while doing it. It's over pretty quick, but once you're done, there's still a whole host of challenge levels to tackle.
A less linear adventure, or perhaps the addition of something that could actually harm the player would have elevated Layers of Fear into something amazing. If you want a keen haunted house you can wander through at home, the game is worth picking up. If you're looking for a great horror experience, the scares in Layers of Fear won't hold your interest, even with the game's short running time.
Rocket League is simple in concept - it's basically soccer with cars - yet it works brilliantly as a multiplayer game. It's incredibly easy to pick up as a beginner, but learning the intricacies of its controls takes many, many hours. And doing so is a thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding experience.
It's pretty rare to find a retro-style action game that manages to pose a challenge without being unreasonable about it. Ninja Senki pulls it off thanks to sharp level design and incredibly tight controls (water-skipping excepted). Sure, the game lacks the variety and depth of its inspiration, but when you need a break from Mega Man, you could do much worse than this sharp platformer.
Despite being built on the skeleton of previous Far Cry games — its map is literally an overlay of Far Cry 4's! — Primal manages to stand apart from other open-world sandbox action games through the sheer novelty of its primitive setting. Although the emphasis on bow hunting and woolly mammoths can give a bit of a Skyrim vibe, that quickly fades as you gain full mastery over the protagonist's ability to summon a variety of deadly beasts into combat. The writing fails to make its primitive heroes anything more than one-note lunks, but the primordial nature of the game world complements the action and ultimately makes up for the underwhelming story.
Blade & Soul has the PVP pedigree to stand at the top of the MMO heap, which is why the rather rote PVE stands out. You'll have to go through some soulless grinding before you get to the great PVP. If martial arts-laden PVP isn't your thing, there are better MMOs out there.
Mitsurugi Kamui Hikae is an arena fighter that features a great combo system that makes it fun to play... for a while. Unfortunately it has a limited number of enemy combatants, and once you learn the strategies for beating them, the gameplay quickly becomes repetitive.
Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 brings back pretty much everything from the original game, and builds on it with decent single-player content, six new characters, and a handful of new multiplayer additions. At its core, the game is still hugely fun to play, and it remains open and accessible to gamers of all skill levels. It's just that the new content feels somewhat lean.