GGRecon's Reviews
Overall, if you're a Final Fantasy fan who has never had the chance to play most or all of the titles in this collection then you should jump at Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster, as it provides the best way to play all six entries to this day. My own gripes about the font aside, there has been remarkable care taken in restoring these six titles, giving them a proper chance to shine on modern consoles. However, for those who aren't quite die-hards it might be a better choice to select certain games individually as opposed to the whole collection, as some titles have stood the test of time far greater than others.
With a slew of fighting games on the horizon like Tekken 8 and the recently announced Mortal Kombat 1, Street Fighter 6 is leading the charge in the most vibrant way possible. With a series of character guides, story campaigns for classic characters and a fantastic open world for you to take the fight to the streets, it feels like everything I could have asked for from a modern Street Fighter entry. Despite being the sixth game in the mainline series, Street Fighter 6 is easily one of the most accessible and makes for a fantastic entry point for newer players, while still resonating with series veterans.
Diablo 4 has taken everything that fans love about the ARPG format and elevated it to new heights. With a fascinating world to explore, a strong cast of characters, and purposeful combat, it sets a new standard for the genre. The wheel hasn’t been reinvented, and is remains to be seen how the series will adapt to a live service model. Nevertheless, anyone picking up Diablo 4 at launch will find themselves playing a very strong package with plenty of promise.
Beyond just claiming the title of the best Amnesia game to date, it's also one of the best survival horror experiences of recent times, and a perfect entry to spearhead the franchise's future into a new direction.
Despite the weight of expectations from a series full of gaming hallmarks, Final Fantasy 16 stands tall as an outstanding experience that you won't want to miss out on.
Frontier has consistently one-upped itself throughout the development process of F1 Manager 2023, making for a consistently engaging, impressively nuanced take on a sport that's all about sweating the small stuff. F1 Manager 2023 is a lap ahead of its predecessor in nearly every way, and one of the best management sims around.
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is a triumph on PC and should set an example for how ports should be - not just for PlayStation games, but for every other game on the platform, too. The game wrapped up in the port is very close to perfect, too. After finishing the main story, I’m still aching to go back to grabbing collectables, zipping around the planets and mashing enemies with ridiculous weaponry at the same time. Boss design can get a little stale in the closing stages, and the illusion of dimension jumping is broken slightly on even relatively powerful PC specs. However, there’s no doubt that Rift Apart is a must-play on PC if you haven’t had the pleasure of trying it on PlayStation yet.
Pikmin 4 is a tiny titan, another triumph from Nintendo on a console that has gradually become the pinnacle of many of its most esteemed franchises. It looks great, plays great, and should appeal to all players regardless of their Pikmin proficiency. With captivating gameplay, a beefy postgame and tons of things to collect, this game has earned its place as one of the best Nintendo games in years.
Armored Core 6 is an exceptional game that merges the classic mech combat of the series' roots with the new-age battles that FromSoftware has become well known for. Challenging boss battles are emboldened by a world left to waste, where your independence is challenged as a mercenary just looking to survive. Furthermore, the game endlessly encourages you to experiment with its many parts, leaving things feeling consistently fresh and malleable no matter what you want your approach to be. While it doesn't reach the astronomical heights of FromSoft's best efforts, it is still an outstanding game that is a worthy revival for the series.
Lies of P is a brilliantly enchanting Soulslike for both those new and experienced with the genre - bringing together the gameplay of counterparts and its source material for a unique experience altogether. Albeit with some obtrusive difficulty spikes along the way, an extraordinary combination of its world, combat, and narrative will still make you want to see more when you've overcome its obstacles. For a game based on a story that's been told what feels like an endless number of times, Lies of P feels one of a kind.
The Resident Evil 4 Separate Ways DLC is a polished piece of fan service that delivers the promise of the original DLC, and more.
From its breathless opening hours to its twisting narrative, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty would be worth the price of admission for its plot and characters alone. That it also offers an impressive new district, open-world dynamic events and even more ways to build your own Cyberpunk mythos make it an even easier recommendation.
Mechanics and narratives thought too bold and bright for some have been transformed into mere child's play by Geometric Interactive in a strong contender for the title of the best indie title of the entire year, and the team has proven that Carlsen's strokes of brilliance in INSIDE and LIMBO were far from flukes. The streak continues, not only proving the dev team to be strong by itself but also making clear that COCOON is the start of something truly incredible. The game is a triumph, and if it's a benchmark of what to expect from the team going forward, then they're about to be the smartest video game team on the planet. The future is here, and it's being carried around on the back of a bug.
Ultimately, I’m having a hard time trying to fathom why Ubisoft is selling Assassin’s Creed Mirage at a discounted rate. Sure, it’s much smaller in scale compared to the three RPG epics that came before it. However, when comparing Mirage to the greats like Assassin’s Creed 2 or Brotherhood, I almost certainly don’t feel shortchanged for my time. There are mild qualms with its accessibility (as a visually impaired person, I found picking out small pieces of evidence extremely tricky), and the occasional tailing missions are still as dull as they were a decade ago. On the whole, though, Assassin’s Creed Mirage is the definition of a return to form. It’s stripped out all of the franchise's accrued bloat and brought everything back to basics, resulting in the first truly stealth-focused Assasins’ Creed game in years. I truly hope this isn’t the last we see of this formula.
Football Manager 2024 is a true return to form for the series. Every addition we have seen feels important, more so than in the last couple of years, whilst the frustrations of FM23 have been left behind. The debate about annual releases will always rage on, but in this case, it’s justified. The narratives that develop throughout a save, the relationships you create with players and the joy of a last-minute winner are as prevalent as ever. Sega and Sports Interactive often tout this series as the most authentic, complete footballing experience - and this year, it's hard to argue.
THE FINALS is some of the most fun I’ve had with a first-person shooter in years. The impressive technology that enables real-time destruction on such a scale creates a playground that’s joyous to experiment with and rewards creativity. With a core gameplay loop that stands solid and a decent foundation to build upon, Embark Studios is all set to support a shooter that can finally rival the likes of Call of Duty and Battlefield.
While lacking the polish and production value that saw the genre float into the mainstream this year, Rogue Trader is a refreshing CRPG experience that values everything that makes games like these so special. It's impossibly expansive, full of rich characters and stories, complex without being over-encumbered, and so much more that doesn't fit into a snappy conclusion. Owlcat has really gone out of its way to bring the Warhammer 40K universe to life here, and in doing so, it's created one of the most memorable RPGs of the decade.
It's tempting for me to say that Prince of Persia is back with the release of The Lost Crown and leave it that. But that feels like a disservice to a game so boldly different from its predecessors because ultimately it's more than that. While it certainly still feels like a Prince of Persia game at the core, it stands on its own merits as a consistently brilliant and challenging Metroidvania experience, holding its own against some of the genre's very best.
Alongside the games themselves, the assortment of bonuses including music, concept art and cinematics enhance the experience by allowing players to completely immerse themselves not only in the game world but also in the development and impact of the titles, making it a definitive title for veterans of the franchise and even newer players starting their Ace Attorney journey for the first time.
Helldivers 2 keeps kicking me in the rear end, and I can't help but respect it. Visiting its warzones often feels like a one-way trip, to the point where I'm surprised to make it through. My group chats are awash with war stories of hard-fought victories and those times I dropped an airstrike on my head. And through all of the chaos, like a grizzled veteran who's seen some s**t, I've got a smile on my face every time I drop.