GamesBeat's Reviews
Golf Story is confident, smooth, and its lighter than light approach to everything from art to humor to play is perfectly matched with the Switch's play anytime, anywhere form factor. Forget the agony and ecstasy of real golf. This is a really good time.
Overall, Total War: Warhammer II is an exciting edition to the Total War series, and the Warhammer characters certainly add a lot of personality. They're the sort of characters who generate more interest in the narrative and make you more interested in pursuing the rest of the story.
With each episode, John Doe edges ever closer to irredeemable insanity, and the question of whether or not you can save him remains an engaging one.
I adored Heist and didn't really play much of the first Dig, but I now consider myself a fan of the SteamWorld canon. Image & Form is doing great work with this universe, and I wouldn't want to miss this sequel. Even if you're going from Metroid: Samus Returns, which is similar, directly into Dig 2, I still think you'll come away thrilled and looking in the developer's direction hoping they have something else new coming very soon.
Another Lost Phone: Laura's Story is out now on PC, Mac, iPhone, and Android. The publisher sent us a code for this review.
It's not as big and beautiful as I want it to be, but Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite still has plenty to offer.
Hiveswap is oozing with teenaged charm, from Joey's obsession with Clarissa Explains It All to her gloriously sparkly Lisa Frank posters. It's a surreal world where monsters can pop out of nowhere and a mysterious portal in the attic can send you shooting through space to an alien planet without any warning. The combat system is baffling but entertaining — in one battle, I think I actually killed something with paprika — and I'm interested in learning more about Joey and the adventure she's found herself on.
Samus Returns has an appropriate name. It really does feel like a homecoming for a franchise that I love. It's great to be playing a new 2D Metroid. But it doesn't just work off of nostalgia. Samus Returns's new ideas actually add improvements to the classic Metroid gameplay. It might have come a little later than I liked, but Nintendo proved that they can still make this franchise exciting again.
Destiny 2 is everything you could ask for in a sequel. The systems of the original Destiny have been tweaked and tuned. The graphics quality is superlative. Destiny 2 feels less like a grind, is easier to get into, and is a superior project to the original Destiny in almost every way.
In the absence of an epic tale, a torrent of doodads to collect, or some time-devouring crafting system—all the fixtures big business gaming says you need to survive today—Knack 2 just works.
The Switch has had a great debut year, and Mario + Rabbids is another, if unexpected, excellent addition to its software library.
The Metronomicon: Slay the Dance Floor is a lot of fun if you're into rhythm games. I do wish that each of the levels were a bit more different, but what it lacks in variety, it makes up in solid gameplay. I don't think any other game quite like it is out there. I only got a chance to play using a standard controller, but I do know that it's also compatible with Rock Band 4 guitars. Next, I hope they'll consider rigging this up for DDR pads as well.
This newcomer thinks that Yakuza Kiwami is a blast. I can't speak to how different it is from the first game, but the sheer amount of content and personality makes it worth checking out. Though the fights could get repetitive at times, the combat system kept things interesting on the whole.
Chloe and Nadine are a good salve for the loss I still feel about the ending of Drake's story.
Sonic's best game in over two decades
Matterfall is a challenging and creative take on the twin-stick shooter. Even if it's sci-fi setting is bland, the multitasking gameplay rarely offers a dull moment. This is a strong followup to Resogun, and one of the PlayStation 4's better digital exclusives.
If the thought of flinging fava beans instead of fireballs leaves you cold, then this isn't the game for you. But if you're smiling at the idea of a world where meateors crash into the earth and distribute bits of meat — then, hey, it's time to go west.
Mega Man & Bass's omission sucks, and I wish the whole thing had more extras, but these are still four great 2D platformers. If you're a big fan of Mega Man (like me), it's nice to have these game's easily accessible on modern systems (unless that modern system is the Switch, which would actually be a great place for this). And all four games play great, so the ports are solid. If you're more of a mild Mega Man player, you might be content to just own the first Legacy Collection.
The ending of the game will leave you wondering just what was real and what was an illusion. I thoroughly enjoyed the dramatic arc of each major scene. It starts out calm, moves to disturbing, and then descends into chaos and madness. I think the storytellers and designers exercised tight creative control, with a game that is understated as well as explosive.
The Enemy Within has some great action sequences, but it leans too much on the wider Batman universe as a crutch. It doesn't put in the effort to make you care about the characters or the situations, and because of that, none of the choices feel meaningful.