VGC's Reviews
Mario Tennis Fever is another solid enough sports game from Camelot, but a disappointingly short single-player offering and a real risk of imbalance – whether using Fever Rackets or not – means what could have been fantastic will have to settle for simply being good.
Romeo is a Dead Man is Grasshopper Manufacture at its most confident and its least conformist. It's got its fair share of rough edges, but the combat is satisfying – offering a challenge without being frustrating – and the sheer inventiveness in its myriad art styles and its bizarre plot ensure this is an adventure you won't have seen before. Anyone with an interest in wandering off the beaten track of familiar third-person action adventure games should check this one out.
Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties is a sad microcosm of the state of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio: a developer spinning its wheels, no longer caring for quality, content to chew up old assets and discard what made the original special in order to spit out a yearly release that cashes in on love for what the series used to be.
Nioh 3 feels like the summation of Team Ninja's efforts from the last decade. Its combat is varied and tight, much like its level design, and it's a fantastic adventure. Storytelling could use some work, but the action is flawless.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond feels like a game stuck between two worlds. When it’s emulating the series’ past, Beyond is an entertaining, if overly conservative, sequel. However, as the shadowy corridors make way for open-world fetch quests, and Halo-style expeditions with AI companions, it’s left feeling like a diluted experience that doesn’t fully deliver on the spirit of earlier entries.
Dispatch is more of a TV show than a video game, and while some of its parts feel disjointed and forced, an endearing cast of characters and an uncommon comedy tone manage to glue everything together.
Kirby Air Riders really didn't need a combined 107 minutes of Nintendo Direct presentations to sell players on its merits, because it only takes a few races to see how fun it can be. Road Trip mode's imbalanced win conditions will divide players, but the brilliantly diverse Road Trip (which is built with multiple playthroughs in mind) and the hefty 750-mission Checklist ensure solo players have plenty to do.
Call of Duty Black Ops 7's multiplayer is some of the finest the series has had to offer in years. It's just a shame it's tied to a baffling, turgid, ridiculous campaign that makes a great argument for stopping Call of Duty campaigns all together. 7 games is plenty. The Black Ops series has run its course.
Enhance's Tetris Effect follow-up is a loud and brash, if somewhat unrefined, synaesthesia puzzler that’s more visually dynamic than its predecessor, but often at the expense of gameplay clarity.
Age of Imprisonment may be the most serious of the Hyrule Warriors games to date, but it's also the one with the most engaging and rewarding combat. Fans of Tears of the Kingdom may be annoyed to see an essential retelling of part of its story, but the side-plots add more depth to make up for this to some extent. Fans of the Warriors gameplay style will be absolutely catered for here.
Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is yet another tremendous compilation from Digital Eclipse, as it continues to uppercut any challengers to its reign as the king of retro re-releases. The only sticking point in a flawlessly presented collection of games is the games themselves, some of which (especially the non-arcade releases) don't quite manage to break the Test Your Might blocks these days.
As a sequel, The Outer Worlds 2 doesn't strive to reinvent its past foundation and does little to stand out in the RPG genre. If you're looking for new toys to play with, you'll find plenty of weapons and a much-improved gunplay to boot. Just don't expect to carry many memories of your time in Arcadia with you.
Ninja Gaiden 4 is a balls-to-the-wall action game with a relentless pace and an almost comedic level of gory combat. It's very much a one-trick pony, however, and as thoroughly entertaining as fighting waves of enemies is, its tendency to recycle assets near the end of the game means it can start to overstay its welcome if you don't take it upon yourself to use the wide variety of optional moves available to you.
Pokémon Legends Z-A is a grand adventure that once again proves that the Legends series is home to the most interesting ideas Game Freak has.
Battlefield 6 is exactly what the fans wanted, and what this game needed to be. The single player is fine, if largely tertiary, but the multiplayer shines. Extremely fun to play, rewarding and full of excellent maps and modes, this is the Battlefield multiplayer suite that will be bring those lost by 2042 back into the fold.
Super Mario Galaxy and Galaxy 2 were considered among the best games ever made when they were released, and a decade and a half later that still hasn't changed. The attempt to replace the Wii Remote's pointer controls with Joy-Con gyro movement never feels quite as intuitive as the original experience, but this concession won't dampen the spirits of anyone lucky enough to be playing these games for the first time. Both games remain the high point of creativity in the platform game genre, making this one of the easiest recommendations we've ever made.
In a franchise that doesn't change much year-to-year, EA Sports FC 26 takes that to the extreme. While it's by default the best football game on the market, and competing at the highest level of Ultimate Team remains enjoyable, we expected a more revolutionary entry. Promoted as the game that would fix years of issues that have plagued players, most of them remain. Cynical changes to Ultimate Team make the mode worse for free-to-play players, and the game's other modes are barely looked at.
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As a sequel, Hades 2 is ambitious, and delivers one of the most satisfying roguelite experiences in years. Yet, it can’t escape the shadow of its predecessor, and in trying to add every idea possible to amplify its scale, the story ends up losing the trademark weight of the studio.
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater does exactly what we wanted it to. It's a way to play the PS2 classic on modern hardware, with a fresh coat of paint, and contemporary controls. While those looking for a more expansive remake may be left wanting, translating much of MGS 5's excellent gameplay to the PS2 classic is more than enough for us. After a difficult decade, Metal Gear is back.