Destructoid
HomepageDestructoid's Reviews
A Plague Tale: Innocence is a grim, gripping, and fantastic adventure. The solid stealth gameplay offers little new, but the unique setting, affecting characters, excellent dialogue, and oppressive atmosphere more than redress that linearity. Add to this a lean design, an emotive score, and a commitment to narrative focus, and A Plague Tale deserves to be heralded as one of 2019's very best adventures.
In other words, the price is about right. You can get a feel for Everybody's Golf VR in a few short hours, but if you're anything like me, you won't want to move on quite so fast. It's an earworm of a game. Just thinking about it makes me want to dig out my PlayStation VR and clear the room. That's no small feat.
In most circles, Team Sonic Racing probably won't unseat Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (or Transformed's ever-enduring legacy if my house is any indication), and that's fine with me. Plenty of folks will enjoy the Sonic focus and many of the tracks would have been fantastic as Transformed DLC. I just wish it wasn't as limited in scope out of the gate.
Castlevania Anniversary Collection always looked on-point when the full game list was announced, but I'm surprised at how great the extras are and how functional it is. More of this please, Konami.
Even with those rough edges, the majesty that is Blood shines through quite well. It's great to have you back, Caleb. Hopefully, you won't stay dead for another few decades this time.
Despite just offering a taste of what's to come with Vader Immortal, the first episode has me hooked and I want more. More opportunities to witness Mustafar's glory without the need to gain the high ground, more lore dumps, and more Vader being Vader.
I was pleasantly surprised with the shooter chimera that is Rage 2, which ended up being open world mini-Doom 2016. It's not going to make anyone a believer in shooters or the free roam format, but folks already predisposed to those vices will find plenty to sink their teeth into.
There's no question that Sean and Daniel leave Life is Strange 2's third episode with more scars than they began with. Scars have a way of robbing innocence and dispiriting the spirited. It's no wonder Daniel is disillusioned. But that headstrong attitude leaves Wastelands feeling like an episode without much development. Deep in the California forest, the weed is growing but that's about it.
Despite clocking in at just a few hours long, A Hat in Time: Nyakuza Metro is an instant recommendation. It's pretty much everything I want out of a Hat DLC, and the exact formula I'd want Gears for Breakfast to keep replicating if said DLC never stopped coming. I hope it never stops.
What it all comes down to is that it's hard to be down on a game like SiNKR 2. It so effortlessly executes its central premise that thinking up any negatives would mostly be nitpicking. Maybe you don't like minimalist puzzles games or just aren't big on mobile titles, but that doesn't make SiNKR 2 bad. In fact, I'd go so far as to say the price makes this a no-brainer purchase for even the most discerning individuals.
It's a small price to pay for low-stakes arcade open world antics. Shakedown: Hawaii might play similarly to Retro City Rampage, but it takes place in a markedly different world. It's more than enough to warrant giving both games a shot, and a worthy successor to a now-seven-year-old game.
In the end, Zanki Zero: Last Beginning is a credible and entertaining adventure, but its potential to stand alongside its developers' best works is hampered by its systems and story's inability to come together and elevate the experience beyond the sum of its parts.
My complaints with Mechstermination Force are straightforward because that's really what the game is, a boss rush shoot-fest. If the stars align and you can find someone who really enjoys 2D shooters, give the game a go: even its fleeting joy is worth the entry ticket. Hell, it's worth it if you go alone, so long as your expectations are in check.
There is far more I can say about how much I love this game, including the audial delight that is Ludowic and Bill Kiley's soundtrack or VHS visual tricks the game employs as the narrative grows more fractured, but at this point, I've already gushed enough. It can be frustrating at times. It made me want to break my Switch in half. But even in its most aggressively exasperating moments, Katana Zero remains bleak, beautiful, bloody, and brilliant.
Days Gone ups the open world survival ante but doesn't have enough cash to pay for the rest of the rounds of betting, making it one of the weirdest AAA releases in recent memory. If enough people buy it, its stronger moments will likely be immortalized in YouTube videos for years to come. Yet, most people will probably remember it as the open world zombie game that didn't bring much mechanically to the table. With some tweaks to the pacing, it could have reconciled its warm, frank look at humanity and been something special.
Imperator: Rome feels like it's yet another step in Paradox's attempts to make the perfect grand strategy game. It pulls bits from Paradox's storied past in the genre and adopts it for the ancient era. Because of this, it doesn't feel like past releases where the game does one thing fantastically and falters in the rest of the mechanics but instead refines past mechanics into a marble bust of megalomaniacal fun. Ave Imperator: Rome!
This leaves us with Anno 1800, a refined city-building game with a delectably savory approach to logistics optimization, a lovely core aesthetic, and a time-devouring rhythm. For me, that's worth the cost of a historical anachronism or two.
Nearly 30 years later, Mortal Kombat still deserves to hang in the top-tier of fighting games. With improved visuals, overhauled mechanics and exciting strategic potential, MK 11 offers a brilliant fighting experience. Unfortunately, the overall fun is bogged down with miserable modern-day business practices that frequently pump the brakes on your enjoyment. The Fight is the thing, however, and as long as the fists are flying, then Mortal Kombat 11 packs a helluva punch.
The thing is, I would have played SteamWorld Quest for 40 hours, flaws and all. It's brief in more ways than one but charming as hell. I hope Image & Form continues to make games and, to go one step further, never stops creating SteamWorld experiences.
Legacy of the First Blade was a fine questline, but often relied too heavily on nostalgia while making liberal use of the existing world map. Fate of Atlantis by comparison actually feels like a premium creation while forging its own identity: it requires no caveat, it builds on Odyssey. This isn't something I'm cautiously optimistic for, I'm ready to dive into the rest with both feet.