Gaming Instincts
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When Twelve Minutes was first announced along with incredible star power, several gamers took interest. Besides, we often gravitate toward new ideas in a world full of rehashes. It is too bad that creativity doesn’t ooze into the gameplay. This results in a head-banging experience that hardly ever feels satisfying.
Anything bad I have to say about this game from animation issues, to lip-synching, to some glitches or gameplay grips all come with one major addendum… I did not regret playing Road 96, nor will I regret playing it again.
In the end, I am left to wonder if the game itself failed to deliver a fun experience, or if it was the ill-informed blending of genres that left much to be desired. Maybe the issue is a little of both.
Neo: The World Ends With you is one of the coolest RPGs you will play and not just this year. While the story doesn’t bring anything new to the table when compared to the original, this isn’t always a bad thing. The strongest points with both stories, which lies with the characters deliver in a way that few games do and make becoming invested in their journey easy.
nsomniac Games kept the very elements that made Ratchet & Clank special – Clank puzzles, diverse weaponry, whimsical charm – and expertly collided them with the current technological prowess. There are only a few imperfections with Rift Apart, the biggest criticism being a limitation of the dimensional shifting’s more extravagant functionality.
Biomutant is an embarrassment and is one of the worst games I’ve played in probably the last decade or so. It’s a game that severely suffers from an identity crisis and doesn’t know what it wants to be. Is it an open world action game that resembles Witcher 3 mixed with fast paced hack’n’slash combat? Or is it Zelda: Breath of the Wild with an amazing sense of exploration? The answer is that its neither, its just a bad game all around.
The craft and care of the Legendary Edition, from Mass Effect 1’s upgraded combat to Mass Effect 2’s new Pluto, honors its legacy for the dedicated fanbase. Barring minimal Mako fixes, every improvement is meaningful, making the Legendary Edition the foremost platform for a Mass Effect playthrough. I
In many ways, Resident Evil Village is a purposefully simplistic game that knows its audience and delivers on its promises. It respects the player’s time by giving them a dense central location to explore and provides a generous supply of resources with which to keep its plot momentum strong. It goes to these lengths so as to ensure players can bask in the set pieces and the absurd heights of its storytelling. The game understands what it wants to do and manages to accomplish it in style.
Returnal is a unique experience that fires from all cylinders. The combat is tight and responsive. The progression system keeps the player intrigued and the story is delivered in a satisfying way. The one negative is its lack of save points, which was intentionally designed to avoid save scumming.
This is a strange beast of a game, compromised on numerous fronts yet undeniably sincere and energetic at its core. Its haphazard plot and profound design flaws threaten to squash the game’s modest success at delivering a fun combat system. Those capable of overlooking an abundance of issues may find Outriders to be decent action fare, but otherwise it’s best to look elsewhere.
In fact, every aspect of It Takes Two is designed for a pleasant and fun gaming session. The difficulty may spike at times, especially during the boss fights, but there is no real punishment for failure. Each session is relaxing and addictive, reinforced further by the reliable platforming and the rewarding puzzle design. At its core, It Takes Two is not a co-op game that ends friendships but instead strengthens them.
Destruction AllStars is in an odd position where the platform affects the quality. As a PlayStation Plus game, the car combat is satisfying and it offers a fun evolution for demolition derbies. The game takes full advantage of the PS5 with 4k resolution, 60 FPS, and immersive adaptive triggers. Simply put, it is a blast to play. It is just too bad that Destruction AllStars is not a title deserving of its original $70 price point. Alas, all those small quality of life issues add up, and the entire game is covered by a microtransactions storm cloud. These problems aren’t unexpected for multiplayer games, but Destruction AllStars’ overall approach has a sinister undertone.
Demon’s Souls is now officially the new standard when it comes to game remakes. If any developer or publisher is interested in recreating a magical experience on a new generation of hardware, whether it be on PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X, then they need to look no further than Demon’s Souls.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War delivers on many fronts, but most importantly it is a lot of fun. It is a fantastic game to pick up for a brand new PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X. The game has something for everyone and it does not matter what the players might prefer. Whether they just like the single-player campaign, multiplayer, or Zombies – Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War has them covered. Every game mode had a lot of love put into it, particularly the stellar campaign and the refreshed take on Zombies.
Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla is a fantastic send-off as the last game in the series for this generation of consoles. It combines the best elements of Origins and Odyssey and makes it even better; it has great storytelling, a lovely cast of characters, a beautiful world, and plenty of areas to explore, and it is a lot of fun and feels great.
Plants vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville is a solid sequel. It has everything one would expect a sequel to have, such as better visuals, engine upgrades, additional characters to play, new areas to explore, and an evolution to the campaign gameplay. Honestly, it was surprising how much this game packed in when it comes to brand new content, especially for a generous $40 price point, as opposed to most other titles with a cost of $60.
If one has been craving a true single-player RPG with a good leveling system, fantastic voice acting, good storytelling, and excellent pacing, then The Outer Worlds is a game that gamers must play. The game lasts around 30 hours, and that’s including completing both the main storyline and majority of side quests. Thankfully, with how many choices players have in this game, the replay value is high. It’s always fun to see the other outcomes in one’s next playthrough—or tenth.
Overall, Far Cry 6 tries to take some of its previous ideas, make them a bit different and then introduce some new ones from other games and see what may or may not stick. I am not really sure if a gear system is necessary for a game franchise like Far Cry. If I wanted to play an FPS RPG I’ll go play Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Final Fantasy games, or something of that sort. I am not understanding why Ubisoft is having this weird obsession with turning their franchise into games with heavy RPG elements.
Overall, Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time is not only a fantastic nostalgia trip for a modern age and old-school hardcore fans, it’s also a great game on its own merit and proves that modern day platformers can easily co-exist in a market that’s saturated with shooters, battle royales, competitive online games, and RPGs, if done right.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning is a nice comeback for RPG fans. It’s a game that not many people got to experience and is considered to be a hidden gem when it was released in 2012. Now, everyone will finally be able to get their hands on it and see why the game was fun and exciting in the past. However, there are times when the game may or may not feel outdated depending on players’ preferences.