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I can see this being a fun distraction for fans of online competition, but I worry it could be “too Japanese” for a Western audience to take seriously, even from NIS. It’s not really “bad” or anything; it’s just too niche for its own good. I found some enjoyment in it, but after a few times playing through the story, it felt more tedious than anything. There’s not enough here to make me want to strive for greatness. Maybe if the devs had strived for it first, I would’ve stayed glued to my controller a bit longer.
Nuka-World may not have a storyline that is as significant and connective as Far Harbor's, but it still ranks as one of the better expansions for Fallout 4. Instead of ending the game with a heavy, emotional finale, Nuka-World is a humorous excursion that's feels like a well-deserved, fun-filled Nuka-vacation. (A Nuka-cation?!) As a world of refreshment, it certainly does the trick.
With Attack on Titan, Omega Force has managed to craft a wonderfully exhilarating game full of action and suspense that closely follows the source material. It's leaps and bounds above their Dynasty Warriors franchise. I feel very empowered whenever I play the game, and undertaking missions in online co-op takes it to a whole new level. Spoiler alert: Yes, you do get to play as a Titan!
Minor gripes aside, Worms W.M.D is a great addition to the long-running series! Combining new features like vehicles and crafting with the original 2D design is a great way to update the series while still keeping the old-school flavor. As a result, Worms WMD is sure to satisfy fans of the series and hopefully lure in a new generation of players.
Nevertheless, Strike Vector EX is still a blast to play! Newcomers who pick up the console version will surely benefit from practicing in both Campaign and Skirmish mode before heading online. In addition, several new levels and online modes help to reduce the repetitive nature of gameplay. While it's not the next CoD, it's still a fun way to pass the time in between playing infantry-based shooters.
Aside from some faulty matchmaking, the package is a fighting game worth playing. It looks good enough and runs smoothly, and even when lagging, the online play is nice and clean. And it doesn’t bring anything new to the table (besides Nakaruru from Samurai Showdown in her console KoF debut, along with one or two other new faces), but everything it’s doing is being done right. Finally, King of Fighters is beginning to summon that feel SNK had harnessed generations ago, and it feels damn good. It’s going to have to innovate further to reclaim its crown, but at least it’s back in the court.
For the few things it does right, like some variation in the mission structure and a control scheme that makes sense (even in a hurty way), it's just not that good. For a series that has worked so hard to make a great solo experience, even—especially—in its first-person outings, it’s incredibly unbalanced with a difficulty spike I don’t think I’ve ever experienced before. And not in a challenging way, but in a “yup, I need multiple other people to cover me/back me up” way. Some of us enjoy playing FPS titles by ourselves sometimes, and I don’t want to feel relegated to a small handful of missions I might be able to work through on my own. Scaling the difficulty has been done since this genre began, so why it’s being bypassed now I have no clue.
A championship season and time trial mode are both accessible and each will push you to your talent limits. Overall, the mix in gameplay and modes are both satisfying and rewarding. Above all, the pure physics system and exact handling of cars are what fans should enjoy the most. Even for those who aren’t quite familiar of the sport or don’t play racing simulators, F1 2016 has a little bit of everything for everyone.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided isn't as polished as it could be, but it still continues the franchise's deft interpretation of modern political, technological, and societal issues without being preachy. Though the story could have brought more attention to the ending and more fully developed the character relationships in the game, the environmental storytelling and exploration through the city of Prague is intricate and memorable. The stealth-based first-person gameplay, paired with the flexibility of the augmentation system, remains as one of the best in the business. Adam Jensen doesn't ask for much, but I'm sure he wants a sequel, and I do too.
Overall, Madden NFL ’17 is a breath of fresh air. The new running features give life to a stagnant aspect of the field, forcing players to play a more balanced style of game and highlighting game schemes many have forgotten about. EA has done a whole lot with the little they have. This year certainly has been one of the best in recent memory and it would be a shame to see a drop of in the future.
There is no time travel in No Man’s Sky, only the momentum to push forward. Pushing forward in the hopes that the next planet you land on will take your breath away. Pushing forward in the hopes that you will find a derelict ship ripe for the taking. And at the very least, pushing forward in the hopes that they can fix the combat with a patch update.
As someone who was not impressed with Minecraft: Story Mode's premiere episode The Order of the Stone, over time I have grown to find the characters and their situations quite engaging. This "extended season" has delivered some of the best episodes.... until that is, Access Denied. From not really doing much with with the Borg vibe to not giving the interesting Harper enough to do, it is only in the last few moments that I had my faith renewed. Though episode 7 isn't exactly skippable, the drive to complete it even in an hour or so can feel unfulfilling. As I said, for completionists only.
To an extent, I did enjoy my time with Neverwinter. It's extremely mindless grinding, which can be fun now and again when you're feeling non-committal. And from what I've learned of the endgame offerings, when you're fully leveled, you can just experience much of the same. I'm not sure how long someone would want to experience more of the same, and I don't feel like anything I've played warrants going through it all again with another character. It's just not all that compelling, but if you have friends you'd like to quest with, it's certainly something to do… like many other things.
I would be remiss not to mention just how gorgeous this all looks. Tales from the Borderlands was a colorful delight, but the challenge here, to use mostly blues and greys, seems doubly impressive. A simple setting like a PR event in the park can feel lovely hosted by Harvey Dent and is both serene and ominous. This is the best first episode since Borderlands for Telltale Games. I can’t wait to see where Batman: The Telltale Series goes next.
At one point, I drank a “mysterious potion” that informed me that my character felt “repellent.” I can think of no better word to describe Necropolis.
The developers at Giant Squid have made an impressive debut with ABZÛ. While very brief, almost overly so, the journey was still one to remember, especially when it features one of the most visually striking and cathartic endings in recent memory. ABZÛ is a spellbinding and visually stunning experience. I can't recommend this title enough, and it's definitely one you'll want to check out.
At its heart, this is a game for the masochist players who, like me, keep trying to reach just one level further. Sure, we’ll be slaughtered, and there’s little we can do to fully prepare for every enemy that finds our soon-to-be-rotting corpses on the battlefield. But there’s something still cute about how dangerous an overpowered shadowy beast can be. I literally cheered when I survived my first night cycle (and was immediately slain in the daytime), but then I started back up again from the beginning, no progress having been made. This genre is almost a fetish for certain players, and this game presents as fervent an example as any can be. And that’s honestly its downfall, because it’s otherwise a good kind of challenging. I just wish it could feel like there was no way to get “good” at the game itself. You know, make it more "fun" instead of an instrument of pain tolerance.
I can easily recommend Quadrilateral Cowboy, one of my favorite indie games so far this year, to anyone looking for an adventure game that brings something that feels fresh and new to the table and leaves you feeling smart as you've become a hacking god, or in this case goddess.
Headlander also has an extensive upgrade system for your helmet, but I found myself only making use of a small percentage of them, but this might act as the perfect example for the game itself: a ton of great ideas without fully making use of all of them.
Fallout 4's Vault-Tec Workshop DLC would be more than worth it for most players if all it did was make the cavern space available to build their own vault. That it adds a 4-5 hour quest on top of making these assets available, for the same $5 price as the other workshop DLCs, makes it a really fantastic value, and one that will give a far greater return to anyone who's wanted to take their experience from Fallout Shelter to the main game. But if you're the type of player who expects a fuller story-based DLC from the Fallout series, this may not be for you.