Polygon's Reviews
Ni no Kuni 2 aims for a lot of different targets: world-spanning story, management sim, recruitment game and solid combat experience. Against all odds, it manages to hit them all in a way that very few games in its genre can manage.
Even though the puzzles are simple and the interactions basic, I don't think this little piece of fun would work in the same way were it a static cartoon. Chuchel is a true universe, one that comes alive in bursts. This could not be done quite so well on TV or in a movie.
Even with my criticisms of the admittedly optional and inconsequential aspects of the game, Yakuza 6 succeeds because its core story is so compelling.
All Surviving Mars' interlocking systems make for an arresting time-sink that merges logic, forethought, psychology and experimentation. If you're the sort of person who enjoys losing yourself in high stakes strategy, building and planning, Surviving Mars is worth a look.
Even if it's on the brief and simple side, Star Allies demonstrates the polish and personality you've come to expect from the series. It's a kid-friendly romp through the franchise's most memorable moments, and the asymmetric gameplay and lively spirit of Kirby's latest journey make it a great way to introduce a new generation of fans to the series.
Moss is not so much a game as it is an experience. Polyarc sets an immensely high bar for storytelling in VR, exuding careful and deliberate artistry in every aspect — sound design, lighting, camera, visuals — to create a world worthy of straining your back to see the area in 360 degrees. In every sense, I felt like I was inside one of those beautiful, gilded storybooks. The only thing missing was the smell of the forest and old paper.
There's a weird, enjoyable story in Metal Gear Survive for players who make it past the game's grueling opening hours, and there are flashes of a great survival game. But with a threadbare connection to the 30-year history of Metal Gear and a comparatively shallow game made in the shadow of The Phantom Pain, it's hard to recommend enduring the whole thing.
Where the Water Tastes Like Wine celebrates storytelling but loses the plot
Fe is a magical, expansive and multi-hued world that creates a sense of marvel. Like a real-life walk in the woods, it is a thing of elemental beauty that demands to be inhaled and admired.
It's no secret: This remake disappoints
At three hours long, A Case of Distrust held my attention all the way, but that's not to say it's without imperfections. The main character, I think, lacks the energy of her associates. She's rightly angry about how she was treated as a woman on the force, but her feminism falls somewhere between overly earnest and glib. Despite a strong backstory, she lacks emotional force and presence.
This expansion is a recognition that the magic of this series is in giving players lots of choices — sometimes difficult choices — as we all strive to stamp our own personalities on what is, effectively, a simulation of personal political leadership.
If you had asked me just two weeks ago to name the biggest storytelling sin a game could commit, I would have told you it was making players ask questions without giving them a reason to care about the answers. Ask me today and I'll tell you something different. Lost Sphear buried me under convoluted logic and explanations, lore and jargon, only to cast it aside with a shrug whenever the details were inconvenient to the action. It answered my questions, but in ways so fundamentally disconnected and absurd that I regretted even caring in the first place.
With Chronology, Atlus has finally made good on the promise inherent in the original Historia. Then, the company threw in several hours of new material for good measure. The fact that Chronology's bonus additions divide out into one about story and one about combat reinforces the remake team's understanding of the game's underlying duality.
Even with simplified grappling and submission controls carried over from the last edition, EA Sports UFC 3 is probably the least pick-up-and-play game in the sports genre. It takes real dedication, and understanding of one's fighter, to draw out the game's virtues. But they can be found in the anticlimax of a career bout that ends in a fraction of the time spent training for it. For those who can take a staggering punch and remain focused on their game plan, EA Sports UFC 3 is as close as it comes to professional fighting, without the bruises and welts.
This isn't a restoration — the team isn't simply retracing the lines and rejuvenating the colors — and yet it sets out, intentionally, to reproduce the source text, warts and all. Each time I battled with the camera and controls, I imagined the creators of this new Colossus considering niche theories on restoration that you'd expect from a city zoning board trying to protect a historic building. How much of the bad stuff must be kept? Where a classic building often retains the exterior, the answer for a classic game appears to be all interior.
The other key loop in the game lies in all the armor you can craft, and the massive trees of weapon upgrades available. Most armor comes from harvesting parts from monsters, with some extra bits of ore or bone thrown in for good measure. Each set of armor comes with strengths to different types of elements, but what will surely sway many players between one piece and the next is the look; there are certain sets I still covet. Since there is no feasible way to get a full five-piece set from killing a monster one time, it takes multiple kills to collect all the scales, membranes, quills and pelts required.
Celeste reaches beyond, showing that tricky, well-designed platforming challenges are really just the tip of the iceberg. There's far more underneath the surface. And maybe that's worth dying for.
With everything I've played so far, Dragon Ball FighterZ made me feel as powerful and unstoppable as one of the series' lauded heroes. .
The Red Strings Club is a fascinating journey into the problem of free will