Gameffine's Reviews
Melatonin is an action-musical Indie game that challenges players through a set of mini-games. Each mini-game has its own rhythm to master. Moreover, players can customize each of the levels to dance to their own unique rhythms. The game is fairly simple to understand. All you need is four keys, the ability to recognize and match beats, a calm mind and a keyboard you won’t accidentally break. The question remains, is it as simple to master, as it is to understand? That’s for every player to explore and decide. In a short span of 3 hours, Melatonin has the ability to teach us to burn the bridges of our past, while making us struggle to not dance to its rhythm while we try hard to ace each round, and this experience is one to remember.
Whether you’re a fan of the OG or a newcomer, Dead Space is the first great AAA offering of this year. Hopefully it means more great things in the pipeline for the series. They have largely succeeded in breathing new life into the long-dormant IP with such a quality remake. Sure, it’s not a 1:1 remake like most purists wanted but, Dead Space will surely impress newcomers and fans (at least most of them anyway) with excellent audiovisual design, an even brutal combat system, reworked lore and an immersive campaign that’ll last you anywhere from 12 to 14 hoursMaybe we’ll finally get the definitive Dead Space 3 experience at the hands of Motive. But that’s food for thought.
Chenso Club is a fast-paced, pixel-based, hack-and-slash, rogue-like adventure. You get to choose multiple playable characters (after you unlock them) with different stats and perks. Utilizing the life force, you get to unlock passive and ultimate abilities increasing your chances of surviving. Overall, you’re in for the most badass pixel adventure you can embark upon this year.
Loretta is a highly engaging and expertly crafted psychological thriller that wears its inspirations on its sleeves. The snappy presentation and player agency manage to elevate the gripping story to a whole new level. The branching narrative and the replayability that comes with it are bonuses. An essential recommendation from Gameffine!
The Rogue Prince of Persia drops our beloved Prince in the roguelike setting, bringing the familiar gameplay synonymous with the series to a bite-sized replayable experience. Currently, in early access, the game misses some bells and whistles but has a fun gameplay loop to bring you back. With the first big content update set to launch soon, we see nothing but greatness in the game’s future.
WWE2K22 is a solid entry into the Wrestling sim ecosystem, but things have changed. AEW is coming out with their own Wrestling sim this year, and WWE2K22 will have a legit competitor in more than a decade. It’s definitely the best wrestling game in the last 3 years, but will it be the best wrestling game this year?
MLB The Show ’22 puts up a stellar display of the baseball spirit, thanks to its more realistic than ever in-game visuals and player animations. The in-game physics ensures that every time you hit the ball, it’s a rare and rewarding sight to behold. Despite its fair share of nuances in microtransactions and online matching, there’s enough content to keep you hooked for at least three months time. As for newcomers, the payoff might not be that significant in the short term, but in the long run, it is an easy recommendation.
Despite its numerous shortcomings, lack of side activities, and plot-armored love story, The Kaito Files manages to deliver a finale that feels like a refreshing change of pace in Ryu-Ga-Gotoku’s sister series. It’s not as compelling as the Yagami or Kiryu Saga but it is enough to establish Kaito as a standalone protagonist. Considering its current price tag, you should pick it up while it is on sale or buy the season pass to make the most out of it.
Happy’s Humble Burger Farm is a dark, cooking-themed, psychotic game with a very deep plot and storyline. The game almost tricks you into making you fall prey to the plot but once you break the loop, things get even darker, horrifying and strange. The game is filled with lore, and backstories to make you understand how you ended up here and has a perfect setting and visual filter for it. The game however has a clunky user experience and the controls could’ve been mapped better.
Medieval Dynasty tries really hard to become the simulation cum survival RPG that people want it to be – and despite a few flaws here and there, does manage it quite well (if you manage to forget the RPG aspect of it). If you want to flex your creative mind organizing a living, functioning village from scratch – this game should certainly be up your alley. But if you want a pure RPG that wants to stand apart from the masses with some different mechanics – be sure to look elsewhere.
Ocean’s Heart feels like a mixed bag for a number of reasons. It has great dialogue and side quests but features a lacklustre protagonist and a world brimming with unexplored potential. It riffs off of 2D Zelda combat but fails to execute it nearly as well. While it borrows elements from the classics, it doesn’t always stick to the landing. It feels so close yet so far to being a great top-down RPG, but overall leaves a lot to be desired.
Expeditions: Rome is a decent game with a huge focus on micro as well as macro-management that makes its mark in the small genre of strategy games. I’d recommend an immediate buy if you like turn-based games and want one with a decent blend of RPG mechanics in it.
The Collapse DLC for Far Cry 6 is a great combination of Mindless Shooting, on the brink of Survival and Looking back at what went wrong. The ability of co-op once again is a great addition to a format like this, giving a better challenge and a better chance at making it out alive. Having its own flaws of being highly repetitive in terms of objective after a few runs, it does allow you to increase difficulty with 5 different levels.
To be honest, I can’t really wait to jump in with my squad into the incursion zones because of the intense survival atmosphere that Rainbow 6: Extraction evokes. In my playthrough, there were scenarios where one of us deployed smoke and the other took down the targets, one of us manned a turret while the other two tried to free the MIA operative. The enemy and weapon types are varied enough, each with their own pros and cons and that encourages familiarity with every single gun, something which R6:Siege veterans might prefer. The game is coming to Xbox Game Pass on Day 1 and as per Ubisoft, more DLCs and Expansions will come. Possibly more locations and other operators from R6:Siege‘s roster. The player base is bound to increase in the coming weeks and R6:Extraction might as well be the first sleeper hit of 2022.
Pagan: Control is a fantastic DLC. It offers an entirely different environment, that is unique to itself. It adds more depth to people who previously enjoyed Far Cry 4. The game looks stunning on higher graphics and next-gen consoles. The gameplay feels smooth, fast and action-filled at all times. Although, we do think that there could be more memories or events from Far Cry 4 for Pagan’s eyes that we saw as Ajay. You can play the DLC on co-op even if one of you owns the DLC.
Shadow Warrior 3 is a well-paced, well-polished first-person shooter. The gunplay is fast, brutal and beefy with lots of blood, guts and gore. It may not break any new ground but the formula established here is a solid framework for future entries. That being said, the short campaign, limited exploration, and lack of replayability factor make Shadow Warrior 3 a one-and-done kind of experience. The inclusion of story DLCs, an endless mode, NG+ as well as more difficulty settings will make it a better game for sure.
In a world of fighting games where most of them are either online or have a massive storey around them that you can enjoy for hours, Sifu takes a different approach. It does end up being a roguelike but the game catches your attention with the way you fight. It’s always fun to go through these locations and take all of the enemies down one by one. Smash a few bottles on their face, take them down with a finisher and test your skills with a boss who apparently starts following social distancing. Anyone who has watched martial arts movies or Kung fu movies would really enjoy this game.
Cat Café Manager is a great management simulator with cats to care for and cuddle anytime you wish to. Expand your café according to your rules and shape it into your perfect dream café. Have a perfect kitchen with a variety of food on your menu. And finally, make your café the heart of Caterwaul Way.
Trek To Yomi is a surreal cinematic experience based on times when Samurai existed. You play as Hiroki and get to experience his traumatic fate and his journey where he travels to a depth of Yomi itself only to protect the people he took an oath to protect. The combat system is straightforward and sometimes troublesome, but the cinematic experience put throughout the chapters of the game will have you hooked. I proudly give the game a super 8/10. Personally, you don’t want to miss this title at all!
Dune: Spice Wars is perfectly poised to be the meta-defining 4X real-time strategy game in the market. However, the lacklustre amount of game content as well as the repetitive gameplay does hurt the game’s replayability. There also seem to be some performance issues, albeit mild, which hinder the player’s experience. I would definitely recommend waiting out for a sale for this one if you are really keen on trying out another new addition to the strategy genre. If you’re not a big fan of strategy games and just wanted to try the game out because it’s set in the Dune universe, I’d reckon you’d have to look elsewhere.