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Despite the red flags, I was actually rooting for Concord. It could have been a fun new hero shooter, but it just feels lifeless and soulless. It plays well enough but there isn’t anything in here that would keep you busy for long stretches. It’s a shame as there is a solid enough core.
Even if I don’t consider Castlevania Dominus Collection to be the best retro compilation Konami has ever put out (The Cowabunga Collection still reigns supreme), it’s still a close second. The amount of bang for your buck is astonishing, as this collection features three meaty and highly acclaimed DS metroidvanias, as well as a remake of a formerly maligned title in the franchise’s history. Furthermore, I feel like M2 has finally figured out a way to make DS games function decently on a big screen, opening the floodgates for future compilations and/or remasters. Pick this one up right away, and start whipping some demons like it’s the mid 2000s all over again.
Star Wars Outlaws just didn’t have a lot of cool elements to make it stand out from the rest of the crowd. There isn’t a lot in it that’s actually bad, broken, or unpolished, but rarely did it ever excite me. It’s your run-of-the-mill open world AAA game, one you’ve played a million times before from Ubisoft and other studios, with all the generic clichés you’d expect from the most default of titles in the genre. It just so happens to be drenched in a Star Wars coat of paint.
When it comes to big expansions like this, there’s always still a lot to come. For example, the first raid of the expansion won’t be available for a couple of weeks still, giving plenty of time to gear up your characters. As it stands right now, especially where we sit in the story, this feels like a new start for World of Warcraft. The War Within feels like it’s taking into consideration a lot of complaints that fans have had in the past with the story, and the big main enemy, and crafted this new trilogy around fixing it.
I can’t believe how nostalgic I felt for a game I’ve never played before. Engrossing, engaging and constantly evolving, players can expect to squeeze every bit of fun out of every second that they’re in the world of Bakeru. I’ll understand not loving it to the degree I do, but I’d be shocked to find someone who didn’t at least have a good time.
If you’ve wanted something more involved than Two Kingdoms, but not as complex as Nobunaga’s Ambition, My Lovely Empress is a wonderfully ranged title that asks players to divide their hearts and their heads to the extreme. To rule but also to seek out your own happiness, however twisted it may be. It may not be perfect, but it’s memorable in a big way. There’s no easy or clean solution to this game, but, for players willing to go on a dark journey, the way ahead is certainly interesting, and the greatest curse of all may be for an emperor – and his unfortunate people – to live in interesting times.
I’ll be brief because there’s not a lot else that needs to be said: it’s a Nightdive remaster of the first two Doom games, and you already know what that means. Those games now look better than ever, run like a dream, and have been tinkered to near perfection. I have a few complaints regarding lighting effects and the clunky weapon selection system, but that doesn’t make this package any less exciting. Featuring every single previously released expansion, plus a brand new campaign and even mod support, the lasting appeal is endless. Those brand new Doom remasters are simply amazing, and you should play them right now.
Tomba! Special Edition is a really cool title to lift from the annals of history, and I think that it deserves both recognition and appreciation for what it does. While the series never quite took off in a longform way, I think Fujiwara-san should be proud of his creation and all that went into Tomba! and its sequel. Moreover, I just love that fans get a chance to play something that isn’t a go-to PS1 title when talking about this generation.
Being able to have fun and deliver joke after joke while still taking itself seriously is no small feat, and The Devil’s Playhouse is witty, charming, and rakish in delivery and execution. While I didn’t always love how the controls made me feel, once I was in the pocket I had a grand time conversing, experimenting, and just loving the universe overall.
Long story short, we get it: some mobile games are cool and worth porting to a wider console-based audience, but if you’re willing to do so, you need to adjust many of its mechanics in order to properly fit within the appropriate playstyles of such systems. This is not a free-to-play game, and nor does it feature an in-game store, so I really didn’t like how frustrating it was to constantly hit a difficulty wall, only for me to feel forced to go back to previous levels to grind incessantly. The gameplay loop is really repetitive, and the difficulty scaling is a mess, but it works in small bursts.
Cygni: All Guns Blazing is a hair-pulling experience which will enrage many people, if they are not used to how intense (and often unfair) old-school bullet hell shooters can be. Its level of difficulty is borderline insane at times. With that being said, it’s also one of the most engaging, beautiful and immersive bullet hell shooters I’ve ever played.
If you put aside the awful introductory cutscenes and unforgivably bad framerate for a PC game, Earth Defense Force 6 is basically more Earth Defense Force, and that’s never a bad thing. A completely stupid but endearing shooter with simple controls and a really fun gameplay loop; that’s all it needs to be, at the end of the day. Would I recommend picking it up on PC over its more traditional console versions? Well, if you can put up with the crappy performance (something which can be remedied with a patch), I’d say yes. Mouse and keyboard controls on an arcade shooter will always be a welcome addition to a successful formula.
I am sure that Aero the Acro-Bat has never been an amazing game or a staple from the 16-bit era of gaming, but I expected more from it. I don’t even think that Ratalaika did a poor job remastering the title; there are lots of neat extras and a competent rewind function in order to deal with the many leaps of faith you gotta perform. It’s just a somewhat underwhelming game, yet another mediocre mascot platformer released at a time when everyone wanted to have their own Sonic the Hedgehog.
Though the tale of Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus is easily contained to a single game, I can already feel myself wanting to return again, to see how much better I can ferret out secrets, collect all the things I missed, and see if there’s even more to the deeper tale of the tentaihana. Don’t sell yourself short just because it reminds you of another game: Bō proudly stands on his own two, adorable, little feet.
Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail had a lot to live up to following the excellent legacy left behind by Shadowbringers and Endwalker. It doesn’t always hit the mark with incredibly slow opening hours and odd choices that permeate the entire expansion but there’s a lot to like about it as well. The battle content, soundtrack, and some impactful moments all come together to help push up an otherwise struggling expansion and this makes it a mostly excellent addition.
It’s the summer that never was in a town I’ve never been for a childhood that was never my own. Yet, in spite of all these nevers, it caught my attention and helped the old feel young again by capturing the beautiful notion of an exciting, unpredictable summer.
I have always wanted to play Ace Combat 7 on-the-go, but I’ve always thought that wouldn’t have been possible unless I had access to a Steam Deck. What Project Aces and Bandai Namco did here is nothing short of spectacular. Sure, the framerate is limited to 30fps, and it drains the Switch’s battery like a Rimac Nevera at 250mph, but it’s a fantastic port of a game that was already quite demanding on much more powerful systems. It still looks quite good, its framerate is solid, and its pseudo-arcadey gameplay loop works quite well on a portable. In short, Ace Combat 7 might not exactly be the absolute BEST impossible Switch port, but it’s safe to say it’s easily the most impressive of them all.
The fact I didn’t find any game-breaking glitch or performance issue was already a relief (even if that’s the bare minimum to be expected), but, for the most part, this is the same Star Wars: Bounty Hunter you grew up with. With the exception of a new control scheme, it’s the same underrated (but understandably divisive) game released back in 2002.
Whilst I do appreciate the fact this former hidden gem is now available in more modern platforms, there was no need for SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos‘ CPU to be this unfairly broken, even at the easiest level options I could find. We have already paid an upfront price for the game, we don’t need to spend quarters on extra fight attempts. Give us some room to breathe. Well, at the least the multiplayer netcode is as good as expected, even if I didn’t spend that much time on it. As for the rest, it looks good, sounds decent enough, and it’s a great way to preserve a classic.
I’m really glad Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition exists in the condition it’s arrived in, and I hope that players also enjoy it to the same degree I did. Tight, senseless and fun, you do the thing and do it again, and keep doing it until you’re satisfied. Be the best even if the best is only in your own heart. Get hyped for seeing how well you can slay Moblins, grab Morph Balls or just land on the Goal Pole. This is a time for champions and hopefuls, and you, my friend, you have the real making of a champion. Good talk, now let’s get out there and inhale those enemies.