TheSixthAxis
HomepageWas Uppers worth the years-long wait to be able to play it in English? Probably not. Even as a fan of the titles Honey Parade Studios puts out, there's something disappointing about the way Uppers is too scared to fully commit to the gritty, hot-blooded front that it puts up. By having one foot in there and another firmly planted in the same-old T&A antics of the studio, it fails at truly capturing either aesthetic successfully. It's still a fun brawler with satisfying combat, and it looks amazing on PC, but there are plenty of areas where it could be improved on.
Beyond Light isn't going to change anyone's mind about Destiny 2. Either you love the weekly grind, the increasingly complex lore, and pushing your mates off a ledge in a Raid, or you don't. For those who do, there's a lot to discover and plenty to grind for with the added benefit of the reworked game engine. They, like myself, will no doubt be sinking hundreds of hours into this over the next year. A solid, well executed update to Destiny 2, with even more content on the horizon.
Cobra Kai: The Karate Kid Saga is a very nostalgic game, but not in the way you might think. It's not that it's a beat 'em up, nor that it's based on an ageing franchise, or even because it looks like it should be able to run on a Sega Saturn. No, it's nostalgic because this a licensed video game that is fairly terrible, using its branding as a smokescreen to hide a multitude of problems from an unwitting buyer until it's far too late. It's just like the good old days. If this was 1991 then Cobra Kai would have been published by Ocean Software.
I didn't expect Cardpocalypse to resonate with me as much as it did. It's a cute, clever and charming little homage to what CCG life used to be like. Sure, we didn't have supernatural big bads running around the playground, but the excitement of opening a booster pack or getting a new rare to put in your deck really shines through. If you're a CCG fan, or even if you just think back to your Pokémon cards with a sense of nostalgia, definitely give Cardpocalypse a look.
As a single player game Bubble Bobble 4 Friends is utterly pedestrian, lacking the frantic pace of the original. Most of the repurposed features such as power ups and jumping on bubbles detract rather than enhance the experience, but add in some friends and it's still fun, especially if you want to be devious and sabotage the other players.
An unforgiving, unrelenting classic reborn for a new generation, Demon's Souls is no more accessible now than it was back in 2010 (though the frame rate is much better). If you've ever been the slightest bit curious about the Souls series then you can revisit ground zero in all its glory, making for one of the best PlayStation launch titles of all time.
Observer: System Redux is well worth playing if you enjoy psychological thrillers, a dash of cyberpunk, and noir detective fiction, and it all looks fantastic on the new consoles. The story has many layers to it, exploring the nature of parent child relationships, corporate domination, human augmentation, and mental health.
Oceanhorn 2's debt of inspiration to the Legend of Zelda series is hard to avoid, but it would be a shame to dismiss this as a simply copy or clone when it's a thoroughly enjoyable experience in and of itself. Given the more expansive, survival-based turn that Zelda took with Breath of the Wild, there is actually a real niche for the oldschool dungeon approach and Oceanhorn 2 fills this with aplomb. It may be I Can't Believe It's Not Zelda, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Age of Calamity is, for all intents and purposes, a prequel to Breath of the Wild. It might be a spin-off in a separate genre, but it's clearly a labour of love, and the result is a thoroughly enjoyable romp through one of the most interesting periods of Hyrule. If the first game was a love letter to the Zelda series, this not only improves on this concept in every way, but stands as one of the best Zelda games, period.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is a decent entry in the series, but it feels like it doesn't quite know what it wants to be. The campaign is full of underused ideas, while the multiplayer misses some of the magical charm of Modern Warfare, opting for faster paced aggressive battles which just don't feel as satisfying. While still enjoyable, Black Ops Cold War fails to recapture the magic of Black Ops 1 and 2.