Gamepur's Reviews
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Overall, Back 4 Blood is a great game with glaring flaws that bring it down a little. Maybe as time goes on Turtle Rock can address the issues and elevate this to a perfect game for me. I am so happy to have a Left 4 Dead successor that feels current for this gaming landscape and is genuinely a blast to play.
Regardless, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl serves as an example of how surgical marketing can be, feeding competitive players with specific bullet points while trying to cast a wide net with its popular IP. Playing it may certainly make you smile, and moments of hype can follow. But in the end, it’s an extended meme at best and a monument to capitalistic cynicism at worst.
Far Cry 6 isn’t reworking the formula that has been developed over the years, but it is doing just enough to bring something fresh and new to the series. More importantly, where those elements don’t quite work is not detrimental to the game’s core experience. If you are in the mood for another action-filled story with lots to see and do, then Far Cry 6 is a solid investment.
FIFA 22 does have some room for improvement, but by and large, this wasn’t a bad start for EA and the FIFA development team.
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania is a collection of content I wish more gaming series would take for a blueprint for their revisits. It takes the most beloved aspects of the series and improves it in a rerelease that I bet old Monkey Ball fans will love and pull in new fans like myself along the way.
There’s still a little bit of magic left in the Diablo 2 bottle to make Resurrected a worthwhile adventure, even for players who have been consistently going through the original game every so often with friends or by themselves. Resurrected gives a good amount of life to a game many may have only heard about but never went out of their way to try.
If you’re looking for a game with dynamic environments and nostalgic JRPG combat, Astria Ascending ticks those boxes. Its inclusion of Final Fantasy greats such as Kazushige Nojima, Hitoshi Sakimoto, Hideo Minaba, and Akihiko Yoshida makes it a wonderful turn-based RPG that reminds me of the series I grew up with in the 1990s.
At the end of the day, the biggest selling point of Kena: Bridge of Spirits is its graphics and animations. Cutscenes all feel worthwhile with great characters and environments that suck you in. It really makes me want this team to make a full movie in this world.
Overall, NBA 2K22 plays like a strong offering from 2K, a welcome change from recent years.
Arkane, a studio known for designing extremely engaging and clever games, has elevated its art with Deathloop. Games like this are lightning strike moments, a combination of talent and ambition that is both rare and risky.
Life is Strange: True Colors is probably my new favorite game in the series. After coming in with low expectations, I wouldn’t mind seeing Deck Nine continue to make unique stories in this space. After seeing their work in Before the Storm and this game, Life is Strange would be in more than capable hands here, allowing DONTNOD to make different stories in other areas.