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Antigraviator feels great to play and has a style that will be familiar to players of F-Zero and Wipeout, but its attempts to differentiate itself like the trap mechanic don't add much to the overall package. It does, however, hit the mark where it counts. The track design is solid, the sense of speed is great, and controls are tight and feel familiar for anyone who's played a racing game. I'll be sure to get some more time in via the online mode and the occasional night in when I manage to coax my friends into stopping over.
Onrush could use some refinement when it comes to its modes but its core is strong, and the foundation is set for a great arcade racer. I'm anxious to see how it evolves and if people will really pick up on the class-based system enough to explore it past the first few weeks of launch, but for now I'm happy boosting off of a cliff and doing sweet flips on a motorcycle to earn points.
Riddle Corpses EX doesn't go beyond its initial premise and I'll admit I'm more than tired of zombies and demons as the go-to cookie-cutter enemies. With a bit more personality or perhaps some original ideas, it'd be a no-brainer to recommend. As is, it's simply a fun and challenging twin-stick shooter that's perfect in short bursts. Quite frankly, that's good enough.
The story may be a tad lackluster, and the combat may be clunky as hell, but Vampyr does offer a compelling adventure for those looking for some blood-sucking fun. It also manages to effectively make you feel like a creature of the night at times. Unfortunately, the frequent technical issues sapped just about every ounce of joy from the experience, leaving this digital world a dry, lifeless husk.
FTG may be a bit rough to get into at first, but with a little dedication and the right type of niche desires this may be a little slice of heaven for you. If you aren't interested in the subject matter I'd suggest finding another tactical strategy game to enjoy.
I really don't have much else to say. Episode 2 of The Council somehow manages to be worse than the first, despite adding some great puzzle design onto the already impressive narrative gameplay. I suppose if you've plunked down the price for the whole season you may as well play through it, and in that case, I'll see you when the third episode releases and I have to build up the courage to enter into this world that is becoming increasingly less interesting.
I still think there's fun to be had in PixelJunk Monsters 2, and I won't be surprised if Q-Games cleans up some of the minor frustrations. But unless the studio goes out of its way to expand and experiment with new content, I don't see this having much of a legacy. As it stands, it's an okay-at-best tower defense title that treads familiar ground. Coming off the original, that's a huge downgrade.
Yoku's Island Express is a delight, plain and simple.It's gorgeous, plays beautifully, and I hope it's the start of a new franchise, because I want to play a lot more of this.
Milanoir takes an appealing aesthetic with a promising setup and turns it into a dutiful slog without much of a payout. It's basic, it's petty, and it's laughably crude. It is a noir title that really doesn't have a whole lot to say.
Baobabs Mausoleum Volume 1: Ovnifagos Don't Eat Flamingos is a very strange game, both boosted and busted by its own quirkiness. It's got some definite faults in its grab-bag of gameplay styles and settings, but there's still a macabre charm hiding underneath all of the jank that goes along with so seemingly-unclear of a vision.
Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection brings together some of the greatest fighting games of all time - many of which are still top-tier titles today - complete with slick online gameplay and a fully-featured training mode, all for 40 bucks. Though SF30 doesn't quite live up to its potential as a comprehensive historical document, ultimately, The Fight is all that matters. In that regard Capcom, some 30 years later, just scored another K.O. We await your return, warrior.
A lot could be tightened up to make the game feel more snappy and responsive in almost every aspect, especially when it comes to moving inventory items. Moonlighter is incredibly captivating on the surface, but there is a lot of frustration just waiting to be uncovered.
While some of Conan Exiles has rubbed off a bit for me thanks to friction with its more cumbersome aspects, it remains a genuinely engrossing experience to play... if you can find a spot in the queue.
Ikaruga is one of those games I'll happily rebuy and replay every time there's a new port, but with this Switch version, I should be set. Being able to easily bust out the Joy-Con controllers for co-op and flip the system on its side for a vertical screen orientation is the real deal. Ikaruga is a timeless classic, and for those of us without a swiveling monitor, the Switch is just about the ideal way to experience it.
Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon keeps the lifeblood of the Castlevania series pumping with a condensed, and appropriately retro homage. It might not blaze the trail on anything new like a few other recent Inti Creates projects have, but it does exactly what it needs to do, and helps bolster the new legacy of Bloodstained proper before it's even out.
Detroit: Become Human, like most Quantic Dream games, is filled with muddled symbolism and a spark of hope amidst its most interesting universe yet. It doesn't have anything particular new to say, but it delivers in terms of drama, to the point where I started a second playthrough shortly after my first seven hour-ish run. It's flawed, but coherent, which is an upgrade.
Dark Souls Remastered speaks for itself just in terms of the raw mysteries it offers beyond its new coat of paint. The feeling of zoning into Firelink Shrine is just as special the 100th time as it is the first, and the open-ended nature of the world is just as fresh. Sometimes needlessly so, From Software has packed so much into Dark Souls that I'm finding new items or experimenting with strategies I've never seen before -- a testament to the longevity of this particular entry, and a more than justified remaster.
The game has potential and is loaded with a bunch of memorable characters, but it has general design flaws that are tough to overlook.
As a fan of 3D platformers, I wanted to like this game. But in its current state, I find it very hard to recommend and I'm not sure performance fixes would make it all that much better.
Despite creating two other Runners, Choice Provisions has shown that they're not out of ideas quite yet. Bring on Runner4.