MondoXbox's Reviews
Kingdom Rush proves to be a fun and intriguing title, with balanced gameplay and a more than solid technical performance. Even if, given its age, it shows obvious limitations, it represents an excellent opportunity to discover (or rediscover) the Tower Defense genre.
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Dead Space brings us a remake that is respectful of the original title but with many new features that improve it in every respect. A milestone in the horror genre and a title you absolutely must have in your collection.
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One Piece Odyssey is a turn-based JRPG that mixes a classic formula with some new elements. While not a masterpiece, it offers a nice breath of fresh air for licensed anime games. Unfortunately, narrative pacing and an inconsistent technical department make for a diluted and boring experience, but it remains recommended to both fans of the saga and JRPG fans in general.
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High On Life combines simple FPS gameplay with an attractive design, a wide variety of weapons, and exaggerated writing that makes every moment unforgettable. Although it has some shortcomings, such as the simple enemy AI and little variety during firefights, it stays fun and engaging, and although it doesn't revolutionize the genre, it's an excellent choice for those who like over-the-top humour and original ideas and want to spend about 12 hours of fun.
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Need For Speed Unbound presents a unique style with a very good technical production, with great vehicle customization and tuning features. Unluckily, though, it doesn't fully convince due to lack of real innovation in gameplay, unevenly balanced difficulty and excessively slow progression tied to too small rewards obtained in every event. The online mode being separated from the story one feels counterintuitive and not on par with modern arcade racers, as well.
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Saturnalia is an atypical survival horror, without splatter or jumpscare scenes, but driven by the compelling story of a mystery-filled Sardinian town and an intriguing multi-character mechanic, tied together by a uniqe art style. It's not flawless and it's got some design issues, but it's definitely a recommended experience to lovers of unique story-driven horror adventures.
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The Callisto Protocol is a raw and brutal sci-fi survival horror with extremely physical, challenging, and visceral combat and a first-rate graphical compartment. Even if it feels inadequate from a narrative point of view and its linear structure smacks of somewhat dated game design, the overall result is still convincing and it manages to keep interest high until the end. Definitely recommended if you love survival horror and claustrophobic sci-fi settings.
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Football Manager 2023 adds many improvements to an already proven formula, delivering richer and more varied matches with deeper AI and team management. Too bad for the obsolete graphics during matches, in need of deep enhancement.
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The Chant is a fun horror adventure with its own personality, but it fails to reach 100% of its potential due to a too predictable script and a technical compartment plagued by several shortcomings.
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The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me is the best episode yet in Supermassive's horror anthology, and their most captivating game overall. The claustrophobic atmospheres, the excellent audio production and the tense script filled with jumpscares are accompanied by small but significant improvements in the game formula. Definitely a game to have if you love narrative horror experiences.
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Somerville takes us on an intimate and dramatic journey through a world now close to unraveling, enriched by puzzles that shape a satisfying gaming offering, but unfortunately some design choices and a less-than-perfect packaging do not allow the game to shine and touch heights of excellence. Still, it remains a fascinating and disturbing journey that you are unlikely to forget, and that is enough to rightfully belong in the experiences every gamer should have.
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Pentiment is, for better or worse, a sort of big interactive comic book showing a huge love for European medieval history, with an intriguing plot but with a great deal of text to read and interactions limited mainly to map exploration and dialogues. A fascinating title, mainly thanks to its subject matter, but definitely not for everyone.
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II impresses, albeit without revolutionizing, with a Campaign that smacks of the saga's "best of," a Spec Ops mode that is fun but dares little, and most importantly, a multiplayer side that is damned entertaining even if it rehashes some of the series' unfortunate design choices of recent years. All this is accompanied by an increasingly stunning technical compartment. Call of Duty is alive and well, and this is definitely the best chapter in several years.
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Dragon Ball: The Breakers brings an intriguing new way to leverage the Dragon Ball's universe, but it unluckily lacks in execution with a bad technical production, balancement issues and a monetization scheme more suited to a mobile free-to-play game.
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Gunfire Reborn presents a mix of FPS and roguelite mechanics capable of dragging us into a vortex of "one more game" from which it is difficult to get out. With a stronger narrative compartment it could have aimed for higher heights, but even so it stands as a title that FPS lovers should not miss.
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A Plague Tale: Requiem develops the strengths of the first chapter to the full, to create a cinematically cut, emotionally charged adventure with satisfying stealth mechanics, action, puzzles, memorable characters, heart-pounding sequences and lots and lots of rats.
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A worthwhile adventure that, while it does not reach the heights of the first episode, does not disfigure in comparison to Telltale's heavy legacy, with a mix of compelling new characters, dialogues that often crack a smile and an art direction worthy of the saga's fame.
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NHL 23 finally looks and feels like a next-game game, with welcome improvements in graphics, animation and gameplay. Unluckily, though, some modes - like the Be a Pro campaign - were left untouched compared to last year's edition, while the Ultimate Team mode feels way too microtransactions-based.
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PGA Tour 2K23 convincingly delivers thanks to a revamped swing mechanic and improvements to the MyCareer mode, even if the impact of microtransactions is still heavy. It's nice to be able to use the real pros again, but the dearth of new courses is a bit disappointing. Still, it remains a recommended title for lovers of golf titles, both amateur and experienced ones.
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Gotham Knights has a lot of potential which, however, stays partly unexpressed: the fights suffer from a lower physicality compared to the previous Arkham titles and even the city traversal appears less convincing, while a graphics performance mode would have helped in the most frantic action scenes. It however remains a game capable of entertaining and highly recommended to fans of the Bat-family, mainly thanks to a good story that manages to keep us glued to the screen.
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