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I fell in love with Kevin Smith films in my teen years, devouring the Askewniverse movies, comics, and anything else I could get my hands on. I guess you could say I'm the exact target audience for Jay and Silent Bob: Mall Brawl - Arcade Edition, and the game really delivered for me. It's fun, the old-school graphics look great, and developer Interabang Entertainment filled the game with winks and nods that fans will definitely appreciate. The difficulty level might turn off less-experienced gamers, and it's on the shorter side, but these are minor quibbles. This is well worth a purchase for Askewniverse fans. Snoogans.
The result of all of this is a strictly superior version of an underappreciated game, one that strips away many potential stumbling blocks for players while keeping the original experience intact. SaGa Frontier Remastered offers anyone, fan or critic of the original, plenty of reasons to revisit this sprawling, undercelebrated, unorthodox adventure.
It really all comes down to your love of baseball. Even as a fan who watches the game regularly, I've had a hard time finding my footing in The Show 21. It's a hard game and that's OK. Challenges should always be welcomed. But there needs to be a way to bridge the gap, especially with The Show 21 now being made available to a much wider audience. If it can happen with other sports games, it's time it happens for baseball's biggest title.
With as far as Village reaches and as much as it tries to incorporate into one short experience – one playthrough lasted just under 11 hours – it has more successes than shortcomings to show for its efforts. It's not perfect, though it shows how Resident Evil can grow outside of its comfort zones while still managing to pay respects to history and satisfy all types of players.
Returnal may not beat out other more anticipated titles for Game of the Year honors at the end of the year, but it won't by any means be forgotten as the potential of next-gen hardware is explored. It's a shame the game isn't available on the PlayStation 4 or even other platforms so that more players could experience it, but if that compromise means we get more games like Returnal, that's a convincing argument. Other games may employ similar mechanics in the future, but Returnal should always be remembered as one of the ones that did it first, and, as of now, did it best.
After 19 years, Shantae remains an enjoyable adventure, and it's fun to see how the series has progressed. For current fans of the series that never played the original, I absolutely recommend buying it on Switch. However, those that have never played an entry in the series have four other games that will do a much better job showcasing Shantae's strengths. Check those out first and come back to this one.
New Pokemon Snap could very well be the next "chill" hit for Nintendo in the vein of last year's Animal Crossing: New Horizons. The game itself has very low stakes, but there's still lots to explore and find, and it should be a great distraction for players over the rest of the spring and summer. New Pokemon Snap is an impressive re-debut for the Pokemon Snap franchise and should hopefully give Nintendo and The Pokemon Company motivation to make additional Pokemon Snap games. Less than a quarter of all Pokemon species is represented in New Pokemon Snap, so there is certainly room for more exploration, more discovery, and more photos in the future.
Going into Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139, I really wasn't sure what to expect. I never played Drakengard, Nier Automata, Gestalt, or anything else. None of that mattered, because Square Enix's remake hooked me from the beginning and didn't let go. Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139 is a gorgeous game with a compelling plot and a stunning soundtrack. If you're a fan of the original game, you'll probably want to see what this version has to offer, and if you've never experienced the game in any form, this is an opportunity to play the game as it was first intended.
To that end, I would express that Hitman 3 isn't a game you necessarily need to look to pick up right this moment, but it's one you should have on your radar in the future. And even if you are looking to snag it now, what's here boasts countless hours of gameplay for you to get lost in. Hitman 3 is a title that will surely keep you quite entertained in this dry period of gaming releases -- especially if you've got nothing else to play.
If you're absolutely craving a new game that has tight gunplay and a loot loop that you can get into for a long period of time, Outriders definitely isn't your worst option. But if you have played a litany of games like this over the past few years, I'm hard-pressed to think that there is anything about this one that will resonate with you on a greater level.
Taken as a whole, Bravely Default II plays like the 3D remake of a 16-bit JRPG that never existed, but it misses something important. Games like Pillars of Eternity and Streets of Rage 4 play the way fans remember games of the genre playing, and memory has a way of editing out the annoying bits. Bravely Default II does not. It's aggressively grind-heavy and repetitive in precisely the ways that the games that inspired it often were. The battles are not interesting enough to make the leveling process anything but a necessary evil for those hoping to keep pace with the game's challenges. At 60+ hours long, it will test all but the most dedicated retro JRPG game lover's patience. If you are such a dedicated JRPG fan, you will undoubtedly find a lot to enjoy and appreciate in Bravely Default II. If you're not, Bravely Default II will do little to make you a believer.
Balan Wonderworld feels like an early PlayStation 1 platformer that has been given a next-generation splash of paint, a game that is as needlessly confusing as it is irritatingly simplistic. The gameplay is counter-intuitive to everything that you've been taught by other games over the years, which shockingly feels lazy, rather than ambitious. Balan Wonderworld is a lesson in how a video game can go completely wrong, missing every target it attempts to hit.
Ultimately, Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town is exactly what you would expect from the beloved staple. The farming sim makes some bold leaps with its crafting system, but there is nothing groundbreaking in its formula. You can expect the same charming and wholesome aesthetic from this game much like all those that came before it. And even so, this routine will keep fans of the franchise coming back for more.
If you are a Monster Hunter veteran, I see no reason why you won't love Monster Hunter Rise. The game is basically a refined version of Monster Hunter World with some new gimmicks and a new aesthetic. For those looking to jump into Monster Hunter for the first time, Monster Hunter Rise is still a lot of fun. You won't necessarily understand everything right out of the gate, but you likely will over time as you hunt more and more monsters. All in all, this is a strong action RPG for the Nintendo Switch and has the potential to eat up tons of your time.
Monster Energy Supercross 4 is a game seemingly made for die-hard fans of the sport and the simulation series. The sheer depth of customization options, a massive roster, the new skill-point system, and a robust track editor provide several reasons for them to keep coming back for more sessions. Newcomers, however, will first have to spend several hours learning the systems and grinding to earn enough money and points to improve their rider and bike before finding much enjoyment.
If you are a fan of the Ghosts 'n Goblins franchise, you'll love Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection. This is not a "casual" game by any stretch, but it does provide a challenging experience that has been mostly forgotten in a more modern style of video games. Making it through even the first stage is an accomplishment and successfully completing the game will leave you with the same feeling of invincibility that you felt when you beat a game on hard more as a kid.
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury is an excellent package. Between the two games, players will find a lot to enjoy. Super Mario 3D World remains one of the best Mario games ever made, and Bowser's Fury is a tantalizing glimpse at a possible future for the franchise. The latter mode only lasts a few short hours, but it's an excellent addition, nonetheless. Whether you want to play alone or with friends, this is one Wii U port that's more than worth the cost of admission.
If you've downed Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal and maybe even Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight and still want more of the Phantom Thieves in your life, Persona 5 Strikers should absolutely be your next stop. Even without an overwhelming need to play it simply to see more of these characters, it still manages to be a solid video game with stylish art and action. That "action" doesn't always line up with the expectation of what a Persona title is and can be, but for a spinoff, it lands its beats more often than not. And it's not even the rhythm game.
And then there's the twisty narrative of the Little Nightmares universe, a subject the first game's players were already deeply engrossed in. I'd hopped into forums about fan theories, explanations, and implications of different messages from the first game before the sequel's credits had even finished rolling, and I suspect many others will do the same. Though my time playing Little Nightmares II may have come to an end, consider me hooked and eager to see what Tarsier Studios and the Little Nightmares detectives have to say about the franchise in the future.
With how much there is to do in Judgment, this is a game that looks like it could easily turn into a 60- or 70-hour experience even if you don't see yourself as a completionist. It's a crime drama for people who don't just want to smash square and triangle for endless combos and it's an adventure-driven brawler for people who don't just want to spend all day cracking cases. Judgment might have ridden on Yakuza's success to get people's attention, but with everything this game accomplishes, here's hoping we get another game in order to see more of Judgment and Tak in the future.