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Lost Sphear is a colorful, charming game, and does a pretty good job of triggering the nostalgia folks like me have for SNES RPGs of their youth. It just doesn't quite reach the heights of the titles it's influenced by. There's nothing wrong with it, but by trying to be everything to everybody, Lost Sphear becomes sort of a pastiche of other RPGs rather than something which will be remembered for its own merits. I've certainly enjoyed my time with the game, and I think it's worth playing. But I know deep down that in a few years I'm far more likely to replay Chrono Trigger for a twentieth time than I am to come back to Lost Sphear.
River City: Rival Showdown leans more heavily on the RPG elements that the original River City Ransom brought to the beat em' up genre with a stronger focus on a narrative and exploration. Being on a handheld, the new game prioritizes the single-player experience in its core design which loses the charm of the couch co-op that made the original game so memorable to many players back in the day. River City: Rival Showdown ushers in some big changes while still does a good job bringing the original River City Ransom into modern times while still honoring its Kunio-kun roots pretty well.
I'll admit right now I know I'm not the target demographic for this game. It's for kids, but just because something is aimed at a younger generation doesn't mean it shouldn't put forth its very best effort to be a worthwhile experience. This isn't a bad game and some of the activities can be quite fun when played with real people. But these sub-games have always been the side-dish to the single-player main course, and without a worthwhile entrée, Kirby Battle Royale feels deficient.
It's more Assassin's Creed Origins, almost to a fault. It's an already-big game getting a little bigger. But it's worth seeing through because it eventually makes one of the more salient points in all of Assassin's Creed. The title's fitting considering how the poignancy and moral nuance stays hidden until the end.
Subnautica works brilliantly as a serene, lonely, contemplative adventure. It's one of those rare games I'd take to a desert island.
That's where Iconoclasts lives too, outside the lines. Of its genre, its inspirations, and its expectations. It's a delightful surprise, the kind that doesn't come around often enough.
What Ails You is the best episode of The Enemy Within since the season opener.
The Red Strings Club comes full circle. It ends almost exactly where it begins. Brandeis is still falling. He's still going to collide with the ground. His fate's sealed. But that doesn't really matter. In The Red Strings Club, it's how you arrive at a moment that stands out.
The Inpatient is a much quieter game than Until Dawn. It adopts a straight-faced tone, opting for psychological horror rather than grisly thrills. There's nothing wrong with that approach, but coming off the last game, it took some adjusting. I couldn't help but wish it was more, well, exciting. It's a technical marvel, but at times the experience feels hollow and uneventful. In the end, even though I'm glad to return to this universe, The Inpatient comes across as a bit of a missed opportunity.
Genital Jousting is crude, for certain, but it showcases how imaginative and creative gaming can truly be. When I was a child, I never thought I'd have the fortune of playing as a flaccid dick in a game, but look where we are.
It's far from perfect but hits so many of the right notes that it's easy to ignore those faults in the midst of gameplay. Plus, with so much interesting things to do, it's guaranteed to hold your interest for a long time to come.
It's a weird situation because people have already been burned by Street Fighter V, so these small Arcade tweaks probably aren't going to be game-changing enough to bring you back. If you're still active, these changes and another season will keep you going. It's that simple.
Mom Hid My Game! is a tough sell, especially when its mobile counterparts are arguably a better experience (and free, no less). But, if you've got five dollars to spend and you're specifically looking for a charming puzzle-based escape game for your Switch or 3DS that clocks in a little over an hour, this might be for you. If you're like Fiddy however, with a lot livin' to do before you die and got no time to waste, maybe pass on this.
Dreadnought is off to a good start. Whether Yager's pretty, engaging space battler has long-term legs will depend on how it grows the ship roster, and on how many people, overall, are willing to commit.
If like me, you have a love of history, Attentat 1942 will be a treasure not only for a fresh perspective on a widely reported period of time but also for the amount of work that you can see the developers put into making sure their story fit within the confines of history. It won't be a joyous or happy ride but in the end, it makes for an enlightening experience that uses the medium of gaming to educate in ways that only it can.
I once said I didn't think the Style Savvy series would continue on anything but mobile, but Nintendo proved me wrong. I'm glad I was wrong because Style Savvy: Styling Star is easily my favorite entry in the series yet. It has nearly everything I love about the franchise mixed with a heaping helping of Freeform-level drama, making for a genuinely optimistic experience that exudes charisma with every outfit I put together.
Three years ago, we were introduced to Chloe as she was a desperate and lost young woman. We were told that Rachel meant a lot to her, but we didn't know the half of it. Before the Storm provides that context and it's immensely successful in the way it tells that story. In my favorite scene from all of Life is Strange, Chloe was willing to don a silly outfit, get on stage, and stammer through Shakespeare to protect her friend. That's about as un-Chloe as it gets. Rachel clearly means the world to her.
If I'm being honest, Blossom Tales might be a bit heavy-handed in its homage to the Zelda games of the past, but it brings a certain charm and fun to the Switch library. It also makes for a pretty good substitute as long as I still can't play A Link to the Past on my Switch.
Even if the developer thinks they invented a genre that's been around for years, their hubris and the game's hype had no impact on this assessment of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. It's a rare occurrence when something makes its way into my weekly rotation of games, and jumping into its crazy world of survival is something I still look forward to after all this time.
No, Tiny Metal is no substitute for Advance Wars. It does a lot of cool things, and it absolutely satisfies the same craving. But as much as I loved it at times, I hated it at others. It allows for pure turn-based strategy bliss, but there's a lot of garbage to sift through in order to get to it.