WayTooManyGames
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Bravery & Greed is a great new addition to the roguelite genre. It has a lot of pros, specifically being able to play co-op and attack each run in such a different way every time. The cons are the less than stellar distinctions between the different dungeons, and the less interesting soundtrack.
Beholgar is just… there. It’s not a terrible metroidvania, but it’s severely lacking in notable elements that make it positively stand out among a sea of other indie metroidvanias in the market. Not even the fact this is the closest to a Conan metroidvania we’ll probably ever get seemed to pique my interest at the end of the day. All in all, it’s not an offensively bad game, far from it, but it’s very unmemorable.
For those who were already used to expecting actual mechanical improvements in each WRC iteration, WRC Generations might be a bit disappointing, as it is, for the most part, more WRC 10. That is to say it’s more of the (still pretty good) same. It makes up for its lack of innovation with a sheer amount of tracks and cars at your disposal, in a “greatest hits” kind of way. Even though it’s slightly less polished than WRC 10, I still absolutely recommend checking WRC Generations out.
Soccer Story has an idea worth fleshing out but is let down by appalling stability. The gameplay loop has fun moments, but unintuitive buttons fight against that, keeping it from excelling. The football notion has me smitten, and I felt nostalgic for my childhood due to a specific quest with goal lines constructed by adjacent objects. The caveat here is that it desperately needs tweaks and reworked controls.
It’s a game that I genuinely believe to be one of the greatest JRPGs I’ve had the pleasure to play. If there was never another Xenoblade game (although let’s face it, there will be though), I would be perfectly satisficed with this momentous well-crafted conclusion.
Espire 2 is exactly what I want in a VR game. A stealth infiltration game that makes you feel like a badass. It has some fun sandbox-like environments that showcase some of the best VR gameplay I’ve had the pleasure of playing. However, it’s not perfect thanks to a lacklustre story, terrible AI, and muddy visuals. Despite those issues, it’s still very much worth your time.
I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed by The Devil in Me, mainly because the past two Supermassive games were both so outstanding. The controls and visuals took a big step backward, with the controls in particular being extremely annoying. It feels like they rushed to get The Devil in Me out before it was fully ready, which is odd considering they already had two very successful titles released over the course of a year.
New Joe & Mac reminded me a lot of Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection. It has its audience of retro arcade platformer enthusiasts who will be drawn towards gorgeous visuals and what they call “challenging gameplay”, but at the end of the day, it’s a brutally unfair game filled to the brim with difficulty-increasing mechanics implemented in order to extend its duration. It has its charm, I won’t lie, especially with these gorgeous visuals, but this isn’t the easiest of recommendations.
Don’t get me wrong, Bayonetta 3 is still an excellent action game. If you like the franchise, you’ll still have a great time with it. It still retains the dumb fun vibe the franchise is known for, and the fact you can play this over-the-top nonsense anywhere you want to is a major plus. But I cannot ignore the fact it feels more like a game being held hostage on a console which cannot run it like it should. Being a Nintendo Switch exclusive is a detriment to its potential, and, as a result, we’re getting drab visuals, less impressive level designs, and serious framerate and resolution issues.
But that’s all: it’s a good little game. I enjoyed it, but I highly doubt I’ll go back to it. My time with Stray didn’t change my life or make me rethink gaming or give me bold new insight into what it means to be alive. It was a game, and I appreciate that it exists, and that’s sort of it. If you can wait till you can play it on Gamepass or the like, I think it’s perfectly acceptable to wait. If you are unfathomably into cats and cyberpunk, then sure, pick this up. But as for me? I’ve had my Fancy Feast fill, and now I’m going to wander off into the tall grass. Just like I was taught.
The Chant is a promising start for new development team, Brass Token. Its premise on the most basic level might not be something unheard of, but the way that it’s implemented and explored is quite original. I was impressed by the diversity of the enemy designs and the efficient use of a relatively small map.
I love the open world design, but hate its visuals. I love the inclusion of multiple routes and storylines, but despised the brand new gym battles. I loved the new pokémon designs, but didn’t care that much about its new gameplay gimmick, as usual. It was released before it was ready, before the hype caused by Legends: Arceus could calm down a bit. That being said, it’s Pokémon: it will still sell, it will still be really fun for those into the franchise’s gameplay loop, and Game Freak will surely release a new generation in a few years without caring about fan feedback, as usual.
The PS5 port of YS VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana is a joyous romp that profits immensely from 60fps. No one can dispute how much the silky transitions and animations leave a person salivating in awe.
I have played on three separate occasions and I loved each one. There’s something truly special about the way the mechanics marry together. I love their cohesiveness. Thanks to fixes made to nonsensical calls from the vanilla version, I had a blast.
It’s not a particularly long play, and it does have a fair amount of replay value, so there is some inherent worth for Buddy Simulator 1984. What it seeks to do and what it actually does, while I suppose that could be subjective, are two very different things. I didn’t hate the game by any stretch of the imagination, but it became a bit of a chore to get through in the end.
Sonic Frontiers is so frustrating because it was so close to greatness. Despite the story weirdness, I did genuinely enjoy Kronos Island. The mechanics and feeling of speed were great, the levels were fantastic (this carries across the whole game), and the boss fight was absolutely incredible. But then you fly off to Ares Island, something shoots you scattering the Chaos Emeralds, and you crash land realizing that you have to do everything you just did all over again. It’s at that exact point the game falls apart and it never recovers because it pulls this nonsense two more times.
This isn’t just a new version of a game, this is the updated version that actually caters to what gaming personalities expect and look for in new titles. Sure, there’s no touchscreen controls, which is a bizarre choice for something that was just on a goddamn touchscreen device, but whatever! It’s The Oregon Trail, you can play and unlock the filter to make it monochrome green if you’d like. Or you can appreciate the color, the pizazz, and the actual gameplay and realize that it’s a frigging masterpiece.
To say this title surprised me is an understatement. I was so torn in continuing to watch and wanting to look away that this was my entire evening, and then a rather restless night of sleep. It’s something to behold, but I would only want to behold it for a short period of time and then not behold it again for a long, long while. If you’re into a narrative that tracks in no direction and a visual novel that’s breaking the fourth wall constantly, then you’ll find something here.
This game has no future for my own interests. I can nod and say “I played it,” followed by shrugging if asked if I liked it. If my friend wanted to try it, I’d give it another spin with them, but it’s far, far down the list for a game I’d recommend to pick up and play.
I know I’ve said time and time again that “game x” is a love letter to “franchise y”, to a nearly exhaustive degree, but Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration is just something else. It’s a worthy celebration of one of the most important companies not in gaming’s history, but technology history in general. Hell, maybe even the 20th century as a whole. The sheer amount of games included in it, both old and new, would already make this collection worth checking out for a retro enthusiast, but the tons of extras, namely footage from the 70s and modern interviews with Atari alumni and celebrity fans, result in this almost becoming a playable documentary.