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If you’re looking for an enjoyable RPG with some novel ideas and strong presentation behind it, Voice of Cards can easily eat up a weekend or two. It’s sweet and doesn’t overstay its welcome, even when I wished it would. While those factors aren’t enough for it to match up against the best-in-class competitors, there are many worse ways to spend a cozy fall evening than curled up with Voice of Cards.
When it gets going and it’s firing on all cylinders, it’s fun. But it’s also exceedingly linear and many of the choices it offers are surface-level at best. Treat it like an arcadey weekend romp and you’ll be fine: bonus points if you already adore these lovable little bandits.
Otherwise, Toy Soldiers HD is probably how you remember it. There are some noticeable changes, but nothing revitalizing. Unlike Toy Soldiers Complete’s tendency to just shoehorn new mechanics into the old game where they didn’t necessarily fit, Toy Soldiers HD feels true to the original experience. It’s a bizarrely lighthearted take on a nightmarish war, but not one that feels like it wholesale throws away the history.
As much as I feel like this series is stuck in the shadow of Until Dawn for a large part of the audience, collectively, The Dark Pictures Anthology is becoming something memorable in its own right. I’ll keep enjoying these games as long as I can, House of Ashes included.
Still, you’re getting the entire campaign, and that’s an important thing to circle back on. You know how the Wii version came out, and pointer use changed the way you played an already fantastic game? It’s like that all over again, but on a bigger scale. At this point I want all of the Resident Evil games to get this treatment. Hell, bring Dino Crisis back like this, so I can look backward and see a T-Rex running at me while hoofing it. Port Onimusha and add real-time swordplay. The sky is the limit!
With that said, I did enjoy Inscryption. Part of me is tempted to dive back in to see if I can scrape any more secrets out of its cracks. Really, that’s where it excels: not the misdirection, but the hidden crawlspaces where it hides all the bodies. At its best, it feels like you’re actually uncovering a deeper plot. At its worst, it feels like you’re watching a magician pull handkerchiefs out of their sleeve. It’s cool, I guess, but you know they’re just screwing with you.
Whether I’m laughing out loud over a brilliant strategy gone awry or just barely getting onto an escape vehicle with Ridden right on my heels, Back 4 Blood has the right formula for a good few weekends of co-op fun. If it gets even more support and updates down the line, I could see this taking up a spot as a go-to social game for quite a while to come. Really, it just feels good to have this sort of game back again.
The Good Life does many things, but they never felt like they coalesced together into an experience that could stick with me. I certainly enjoyed parts of it, and some of its stranger moments really do land as big, enjoyable peaks. But there’s a lot of valley in-between, and while I arrived in Rainy Woods eager for a pleasant countryside escape, I didn’t feel like making a return trip after the credits had rolled.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is obviously in no position to take the platform fighter throne right now, but I think the teams at Ludosity and Fair Play Labs have created a very good blueprint for what could be a very great franchise. If Super Smash Bros. is a celebration of all things Nintendo, I don’t see why an All-Star Brawl 2 couldn’t be a celebration of all things Nickelodeon. I think it’s possible with the right amount of time and money, and I hope this game is successful enough to convince GameMill to invest in a sequel that could be truly spectacular.
Mon Amour, as seen on the box, is fine. It even has that sometimes annoying “one more turn” addictiveness. That doesn’t last long, and beneath that, there’s nothing to sink your teeth into. It’s the Taco Bell of Onion Games. It’s tastes like food, it’s inoffensive, but once you dig in, you won’t find any real meat.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles is another decent brawler adaptation that asks you to already have a bit of background on the source material to truly enjoy it. In that sense, it joins a very crowded space of many other anime games before it, and many of you out there know where you stand on these.
If you’re a long-time fan of the series, I say it’s totally worth it to try something new, but if Jackbox Party Pack 8 is your first time trying Jackbox out, I recommend taking a look at some of the older packs first.
In a vacuum, Far Cry 6 is a great open-world action romp, and I should love it without caveats. Plenty of fans will. But when we’ve seen these same old tricks so many times before, year after year
Metroid Dread doesn’t take a lot of big swings, but it rarely bats a foul ball.
For as gorgeous as Eastward‘s graphics are, and as endearing as some of its characters become, and as much as I need its soundtrack on vinyl as soon as possible, it also falls short in some ways that leave its conclusion feeling a bit off. It’s one of the more promising debuts I’ve seen, and Pixpil has ensured I’ll be incredibly interested in whatever they do next. Eastward is something a fan of pixel art and good music, with a weakness for video game nostalgia, deserves to check out. It’s just also a journey that left me wanting a little more.
But I’m not ready to let this one go yet. I waited more than 10 years to finally play Alan Wake, and now that I’ve seen the credits roll, I can’t get it out of my mind. It’s firmly sunk its teeth into me, and like with many of the other greats, I’ll be returning to this world again and again for years to come.
I don’t have many complaints if I’m being honest. I feel like this is a rare case of a strange game that really goes for it while still, first and foremost, being enjoyable to play. I could see some people potentially wanting more traversal abilities, or more shakeups in the explore-survive-escape format, but I like that things never get too complicated, and most of the “cycles” introduce something new, even if it’s a small surprise or change-up.
Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania was a pleasant surprise, in that it doesn’t mess too much with a formula that works and it makes strides to welcome newcomers into the fold. Not all of its stages are created equal, but this is a great entry point into a series that’s been lacking one on modern platforms for a long while.
Castlevania Advance Collection really showcases a side of Konami we don’t see very often anymore. On one hand, they trot out old franchises with low-effort projects and try to essentially trick people into buying them. On the other, they are capable of putting out old games in a format that’s not just well crafted, but also seeks to preserve classics that you can’t easily find. The company is an enigma.
Ultimately, the only thing that really matters here is determining whether or not Knockout Home Fitness is effective. As is the case with almost every other exercise game, it is. If you stick with it and get those daily stamps, you should be able to notice it making a difference whether you’re working out for 15 minutes a day or an hour. It’s certainly made a difference in my life, but I want to stress this game is not here to hold your hand. It sets a quick pace and expects you to keep up. If you need an exercise game that is a bit more amicable to the beginnings of a fitness journey, you may want to look elsewhere.