Gamepur's Reviews
Metroid Dread manages to do incredibly well by marrying moments of action with extreme tension and doing so from the flow of organic gameplay instead of using tools such as cutscenes and dialogue. In Metroid Dread, language is a kinetic thing. Samus Aran’s body is a moving sentence, and her weapons and abilities are punctuation. How you interact with the world you move through is how you tell your story. This is how the very best games in the series have always been and are true of all the best examples of the Metroidvania genre.
The Jackbox Party Pack 8 will probably not be the end of the line for this series, and even though the games today are far more complicated than something you’d see from the first or second packs, iteration is the key to a fun pack of games. Gather your friends together (if it’s safe) and get cracking on uncovering the intricacies and strategies of these games — hopefully with a ton of laughter in between.
The Hinokami Chronicles feels different. The battles alone make this game stand on its own two feet. And even though Story Mode leaves some things to be desired — namely, nail-biting intensity — it’s a retelling of the story which does Demon Slayer justice.
On the other hand, HUT, Be a Pro, and Franchise mode don’t look that much different. The lack of changes does bring down this game a bit, but is it worse off than before? Absolutely not, and NHL 22 should give those who might have been worried about a NHL 15-like debacle some comfort.
Supermassive Games fails to understand that they can’t direct their art with such indignation. Rather than letting consumers enjoy their titles in sometimes unintended ways, they’ve come to limit the gameplay experience as a means of controlling the community. In the process, they have damned the conversations that could have risen, with House of Ashes acting as yet another middling product, free of the soul that leaves a lasting impression.
While the quests are thin, Disciples: Liberation has a fantasy world where good and evil don’t feel like a huge factor. It gives you the chance to immerse yourself in the game’s tactical combat, cleverly using your units in each encounter. You’ll use the quests to assist you in bolstering your forces to ensure you come out on time with the right allies on your side, leading to the ultimate conflict.
Despite its mechanical flaws, in depicting a story of flawed characters, it’s hard to pass up on Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. This title feels free of franchise-building and shady business practices. While it tries to ape on your familiarity with the property, it somehow all stands on its own. The visuals, lovable characters, and the promise of hijinx in space are inviting, but within this off-beat exterior is a solid emotional core.
I was never completely won over by Age of Empires IV. Still, I had a great time playing it, and everything clicked together really well without feeling too overdone. The fact an Age of Empires game could be made in 2021 and not feel like something that’s trying too hard to lean into the nostalgia of the original games is a huge accomplishment.
I have now spent over 50 hours playing Shin Megami Tensei V — a game that I adore, but also one with a few faults. This RPG on the Nintendo Switch will bind you in its tangled, storied web of angels versus demons, of power struggles to see who will take the Throne of God, but the web is marred by some unfortunate navigation and technical issues.
Forza Horizon 5 doesn’t stray away from the successful roads that have been paved in past years. The fifth title of the Forza Horizon series offers an incredible amount of depth, and its gameplay finds the right balance between simulation and just pure fun.
Ironically, despite trying to plow a very different furrow to the base game, that same rule applies to the Vaas: Insanity DLC that many folks use for Far Cry games in general. If you enjoy the combat then you will enjoy this. While it is interesting to see Far Cry explored through the lens of a roguelike, it all adds up to little more than a few hours of reasonably repetitive entertainment which is unlikely to bring any new players into the Far Cry fold.
Battlefield 2042 is an unpolished buggy mess that has kept my attention for days. It has its fair share of quirks, bugs, and performance issues that need to be fixed, but it really presents the player with something that can’t be found anywhere else in the FPS market. There’s nothing like loading into a game with 63 teammates as infantry, jets, tanks, helicopters all push the same objectives.
Influences from other games are quite present in Solar Ash — Tony Hawk's line-following, Super Mario Galaxy's wraparound camera, Shadow of the Colossus's massive bosses. While those together may seem incongruous, they come together to make it an exciting, fast-paced platformer that gives you the tools to move smoothly and complete the challenges before you. It's so satisfying to nail those obstacle courses, clear anomalies, and topple skyscraping Remnants. The roller coaster of Solar Ash is well worth riding.
If it sounds like I am hard on Halo Infinite’s campaign, it is because I am. I expected a lot from 343 Industries and Microsoft, and I am left feeling somewhat disappointed. With the multiplayer being spun off into a free-to-play standalone with its own monetization, we are now paying full price for this campaign, and it doesn’t live up to the price tag. Yes, the actual gameplay is superb, but that alone cannot carry an entire campaign.
Early in 2022, Nobody Saves the World seems like a must-play and the perfect evolution of nearly every idea Drinkbox Studio has developed since its founding more than a decade ago.
Windjammers 2 is a curious case — it’s inviting to all players with its easy concept, but becomes a steep rabbit hole of skill creep as you discover its ins and outs.
Rainbow Six Extraction players have themselves mutated since the game’s launch. It gives us hope that those still playing understand the game much better than everyone did on release day. This isn’t a game you can pick up and run into as you would Call of Duty. It demands your respect, and in return, it respects your time. If you put in the effort to sneak through a mission, save your allies, and extract alive, you’ll reap the rewards.
To some degree, this feels like an early access game in everything but the release schedule and pricing. It has its core down. It knows exactly what it wants to be. However, everything around that needs more polish before it’s ready for primetime. So, even though I didn’t really like my time with the game, I guess I believe in Dying Light 2? I truly think I’ll look back in a year or two — when memories have faded — and think past me was dead wrong for giving it such a low score.
OlliOlli World is everything a great skating game should be. It merges tight controls with a world you’ll want to explore and adds in an infinitely-listenable soundtrack and soothing visuals. The story might not blow you out of the water, but it doesn’t have to when the skating is this good. If you’re a fan of the sport or just like good action games, this is a must-play.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus is a frantic game about violence and tension. The most defining moment for its gameplay is running away in fear from a larger Alpha Pokémon, whilst you haphazardly toss Pokéballs at smaller, unsuspecting Pokémon in your path. Despite the grind, I felt motivated to catch these mons, rather than dreading random encounters like in previous games.