GAMES.CH's Reviews
SPYxANYA: Operation Memories is a short-term very cute activity for fans of anime with children, which unfortunately mainly suffers from the repetitive gameplay and lack of story.
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With the Scripture, the developers have brought a clever system into the game, which on the one hand does not affect the previous game balance too much, but gives the player some freedom and room to experiment. "Gold Road" also convinces with many funny side missions and a rich scope, so we don't blame the developers for the fact that the new companions will only be added to the game in a future update this year. Unfortunately, many things now seem very routine and familiar, so that playful surprises in particular are few and far between.
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The core mechanics with the backpack are ingenious. It's not unique, and there are now several games with similar mechanics, but it remains fantastic. Packing your backpack as skillfully as possible and creating a deadly build for your character is fascinating over and over again. Unfortunately, most of the other aspects of "Backpack Hero" are mediocre at best. The story is boring and becomes almost unbearable due to a miserable font. The construction of Haversack Hill is confusing and unnecessarily complicated. The fights sometimes lack balance, which is why you are quickly too strong or too weak. In addition, the menu control with controller and virtual mouse cursor is neither pleasant nor intuitive. Nevertheless, the core mechanics manage to entice you again and again with another run and have fun with it.
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Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon has been a great game on 3DS with highly varied gameplay with action, exploring, puzzles and humorous staging. With the HD version on Switch all these strengths remain, while Nintendo ensures contemporary graphics including the visual update.
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Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree inspires above all with its memorable boss battles, which are as relentless as they are graceful, and its superb art direction. Those who already loved FromSoftware's open-world epic will fall in love with the action RPG all over again with this DLC.
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Still Wakes the Deep is just the best game from The Chinese Room so far. The gameplay is not very demanding and strictly linear, but delivers a high variety for this kind of games. The main thing is, that the horror-trip on a Scottish oil platform provides a compelling experience with mostly perfect sound delivering a strong atmosphere from the start till the end.
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With "The Final Form", Destiny developer Bungie is taking no risks and presenting an expansion that builds on the strengths of "Destiny 2". Awesome gameplay with gun and space magic that feels as fresh as it can be after more than 6 and 10 years respectively due to a new focus and a new race of enemies. If you like this gameplay or story, you get a fantastic conclusion to the first saga of the universe. Even though the game is slowly showing its age more and more, it is still a lot of fun and if you only want to get involved in the game once a year and don't feel like the live content, you should not miss this expansion.
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Retropolis 2 is a very successful indie game. It pleases with good puzzles, a coherent game world and an exciting story. If the whole thing gets bigger in scope, we might even have a system seller with part 3.
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The Monster Hunter Stories Collection for PlayStation delivers around 70 to 80 hours of pleasant gameplay with fine round-based combat and a motivating character system. The remastered version of part 1 increases the experience by some nice visual improvements and benefits a lot from the totally new voiceover. It’s not on eye level with current productions, but that does not affect the atmosphere too much. The second part Wings of Ruin is still the better game with a richer world and a more complex combat system. But if you already played it on a PC or Switch, you do not experience much new. In total, the Monster Hunter Stories Collection is a rich compilation of two games, you should play if you like the Monster Hunter series and round based combat.
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The Monster Hunter Stories Collection for PlayStation delivers around 70 to 80 hours of pleasant gameplay with fine round-based combat and a motivating character system. The remastered version of part 1 increases the experience by some nice visual improvements and benefits a lot from the totally new voiceover. It’s not on eye level with current productions, but that does not affect the atmosphere too much. The second part Wings of Ruin is still the better game with a richer world and a more complex combat system. But if you already played it on a PC or Switch, you do not experience much new. In total, the Monster Hunter Stories Collection is a rich compilation of two games, you should play if you like the Monster Hunter series and round based combat.
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For us, there is no doubt. "Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengence" is the definitive version of the game. The relatively small improvements in usability alone make the game completely different. Not to mention the general overhaul of the story, which means that the game allows two distinctly different playthroughs and thus offers an enormous scope. In the overall package with a very strong visual identity and a legendary soundtrack, "Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengence" is an absolute must-have for all fans of JRPGs, whether they are familiar with the series or not.
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Both the jokes and puns as well as most of the puzzles can be enjoyed by people of almost all ages. Duck Detective: The Secret Salami offers a short narrative that doesn’t overstay its welcome and is for the most part very engaging for two to three hours. The English voicecast is fantastic but with the text only being available in English as well it’s unfortunately not accessible all around the world.
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xDefiant presents itself as a very strong foundation of a game that is supposed to last for all the content to come and hopefully many years. It is currently plagued by some technical issues that can cause severe frustration but the developers are already aware of those problems so they will hopefully be fixed in time. The gunplay is more than solid and the base experience is fun and thrilling.
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Killer Klowns from outer Space - The Game is a solid asymmetrical horror shooter that lacks polish and sometimes liveliness, but not humor.
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Better than its predecessor? That's what "EA Sports F1 24" definitely is. The adjustments in the career are coherent, even if they flood the gameplay with far too many side quests. Nevertheless, the game conveys a good Formula 1 atmosphere and of course shines with its high recognition value. On the track, "F1 24" scores with its discreetly adjusted controls. The gameplay feels even more direct and dynamic. Especially from the cockpit perspectives, the Simcade title convinces with its strong sense of speed with very detailed environmental graphics. There is also little to complain about in terms of scope: Thanks to "F1 World", challenge career and multiplayer options, there is more than enough to do. In short: "F1 24" is a sovereign sequel, even if there is still room for improvement in his career.
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At its core, Crown Wars: The Black Prince is an exciting strategy game, especially after you've invested a few hours of gameplay in expanding your domain and upgrading your troops. The more tactical options we got, the more fun we had, also thanks to the fast pace of the battles. However, the game still gets in its own way too often in the current version. Especially the camera is suboptimal in the fights and the fun of the skirmishes sometimes fluctuates due to the sometimes too stupid AI. The biggest fun killer, however, turned out to be the technical quirks that really wore on our nerves.
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"System Shock" is the gold standard for remakes of old classics. It shows that old and new do not have to stand in each other's way, but also complement each other. Although there are some old burdens, especially in the operation of the inventory and the hand-to-hand combat, these are quickly covered up by the timeless exploration of the beautifully implemented space station. Whether for fans of the original or for those who grew up with the titles that learned from "System Shock", this remake is a worthwhile trip into video game history.
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Sending your own superhero into the race is a brave move and, at least in terms of play, it really works here. There's plenty of scope to come up with your own solutions, and figuring out the best strategy makes the hours fly by. The fact that the ambitious story is not supported by a corresponding character design is regrettable, but in view of the undeniable gameplay qualities it is easy to get over.
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Hauntii is certainly stunningly gorgeous and can make you feel incredibly smart whenever you find and solve one of its many puzzles. Unfortunately the game demands you to find and solve almost all of those puzzles which isn’t always easy to do. The map doesn’t offer a lot of help and it can lead to pointless and frustrating roaming around. The slower Twinstick-Shooter gameplay on the other hand is not too challenging but offers somewhat relaxing action moments.
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The game sucks you skin and hair into its fantasy world and creates such an intense bond with the characters and their stories that you want to know at every second how the adventure ends.
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