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I know it's tempting to give this one a go, especially after the years of awesomeness the Pro Skater franchise has provided in the past, but it doesn't match up to today's standards. Avoid this one like the Black Plague.
There just isn't anything fun about Fighter Within. The story is bad, the controls are bad, the characters are uninteresting, and if you aren't using a controller, it's nearly impossible to even navigate the Kinect-controlled menus. Ubisoft has done so much better with so many other franchises, but Fighter Within is flawed right down to its very concept. Motion-control fighting games simply don't work, period. I'm a big fan of fighters, and while it was obvious that Fighter Within was never going to be the next big, hardcore title on the EVO tournament floor, I wouldn't even suggest it to casual fans. Go play Smash Brothers or something-- anything is better than this flail fest. The only thing you will get out of Fighter Within is a pair of sore arms and a bunch of disappointment.
All in all, Resident Evil Zero doesn't even come close to being called a remastered version because it offers nothing but minor visual upgrades. Resident Evil nostalgia nerds will go nuts for this one but the average gamer will most certainly have a difficult time forking over the cash for a meager GameCube port. Needless to say, Capcom dropped the ball on this one. The attempted resurrection of an old favorite should have at least included a few extra features to justify a third release. Unless you really want to live in Resident Evil's past, you'd be wise to avoid this one like it's a zombie infected with the t-virus.
Needless to say, Homefront: the Revolution's overall direction is one big head-scratcher. The developers presented a robust world with a really attractive story premise and some rather awesome map layouts that could have been groundbreaking. The first-person shooting genre is aching for some innovation, and Deep Silver's foundation could have been that trailblazer. Unfortunately, the storyline, game mechanics, and the audio-visual quality issues just don't cut it. Homefront: The Revolution is better suited for the bargain bin rather than the hefty price tag AAA games are known for. Hold onto your Andrew Jacksons, as a few solid titles are slated to debut in the coming weeks and months.
It's just an average game, which I think is the last thing Hatred wanted to be.
In reality, there isn't much to say about Bound By Flame. It's not a horrendous travesty that all action RPG players should avoid, and similarly it's not a stellar blockbuster that all Dark Souls addicts should pick up. It just feels very mediocre and generic. Nothing stands out about the game and nothing really holds it down aside from its graphics at points. It's a simple fantasy action RPG that won't replace any of the big names out there, but will keep you amused for 10 hours if you have some money to burn.
When I first learned about Carmageddon: Max Damage, I worried that it looked like an ill-begotten attempt to recapture the glory of a silly game from the '90s. It doesn't even get that far. In fact, I kind of wish I could bash it for going too far, like Duke Nukem Forever. No, this is just a game that feels half-assed from tip to toe. You can probably extend your enjoyment briefly by playing online against your friends, but there are just so many other, better novelty car games you could be playing. Go grab Mario Kart, Rocket League, Mad Max... hell, go grab that old copy of Twisted Metal Black. Just give Carmageddon: Max Damage a skip. It doesn't deserve your time and money.
Fun games can be simple, and simple games are often fun, but there's a tedium at the heart of Super Motherload that it just can't shake. With a number of tweaks that added more interesting puzzles, made the game less grindy, and reduced the amount of up and down necessary, it could've been a lot better. As it is, I think I'd really rather go back to playing Diamond Mine in Bejeweled 3.
Overall I’m coming away from Bleeding Edge pretty disappointed.
At its core, there is still a great deal of fun in playing WWE2K20, but the technical issues, poor visuals, and bad writing make this year an easy one to skip, especially if you’re still playing through WWE 2K19.
In the end, I don't think Sacred 3 knew what its own genre was. If it was self-aware that this was nothing more than a hack and slash dungeon crawler, it could have gone the extra mile and given it a refreshing arcade feel, like Dragon's Crown did. However, Sacred 3 thinks it's a serious ARPG, and as a serious ARPG it simply falls up short.
I dearly wanted to enjoy Contrast. It's the kind of game that is normally right up my alley, featuring puzzles, platforming, a stylish, historically inspired world, and an intelligent young female protagonist. It simply wasn't fun to actually play. Contrast would have made a delightful short film, but I'm afraid that it isn't a particularly good game.
I really wanted to like Murdered: Soul Suspect more than I did. The graphics are awesome. The voice actors do a fantastic job. The environments are interesting, especially when you see the ghostly versions of old Salem overlapped over the modern day version. The story is genuinely interesting and kept me playing far after the fun had drained out of the game. But in all honesty, I cannot recommend it. With a couple tweaks, this could have been an awesome game, but as it stands Murderer: Soul Suspect is dead on arrival.
There are lots of great Warriors games out there. Hell, Omega Force and Koei Tecmo gave us the fantastic Dragon Quest Warriors II and Fire Emblem Warriors in 2017! You can never go wrong with Samurai Warriors 4. Hyrule Warriors is so good, it is coming up on its third port! And there are times when I still swear Dynasty Warriors 4 is the best entry in this series. Dynasty Warriors 9 is not a good Warriors. It is not a good open world game. It is a broken, tedious mess. Fortunately, fans of the genre have plenty of older entries to enjoy. Maybe in a year or two, after Omega Force has more experience with open world installments, we will see the Warriors formula work with this genre.
You can squeeze a little bit of fun out of Kinect Sports Rivals. Some of the games aren't so bad and it certainly stands as a great demo of what the new Kinect can do. You can also have the game render a rule 63 version of yourself and… shut up… I was just curious what female me looked like. You even get an achievement for it. So that's kind of neat. It's just that every game in the compilation is shallow when done in single-player and broken when done in multiplayer. Even though you may have fun with the games that actually work, there's little here to keep you coming back to play them again a second time.
Loot shooters are an increasingly crowded space, and The Division 2 is fighting a losing battle for my attention
If you want Super Bomberman R for the occasional good time blasting your friends and family around the television, then it is worth considering, but only down the road when the price drops significantly.
Nascar Heat Evolution is a devolution for the series, and even when playing friends online, I can't imagine how you'd have fun with this game for more than a few hours - if you even make it that long.
If you're looking for an inoffensive movie cash-in to play with your couch co-op partner and you're tired of Lego games, well, here ya go. Ghostbusters will get you through a few levels of mildly pleasant action before you shrug and see what's new on Netflix. That's about all she's got in the ol' proton pack, but as far as movie tie-in games go, it could certainly be much worse.
Mighty No. 9 is a disappointment. As I went through the game, I saw all the things going wrong and began going through possible corrections in my head. It should have looked like the original prototype. The character designs and lighting were better there. The dialogue and story segments should have been more engaging and dynamic. The special abilities needed more heft. Some last minute polish could have fixed these framerate issues. That made me mad, because if I could see all of these issues that needed to be addressed, why couldn't the developers? With all of the delays this game has seen, why do these problems still exist? Mighty No. 9 isn't a terrible game, but it isn't a good one either. With an end result like this, I feel pity for every person who backed it.