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There’s some cozy joy to be had in the slow-paced daily life of a Hobbit here, but Tales of the Shire ultimately fails to capture the magic of The Lord of the Rings or invent much of its own.
Everything about this game echoes DK’s first big smash onto the screen in those opening moments, even though Bananza is a whole lot more than just mindless smashing. It’s loud, relentless, and in your face, and the amount of heart and creativity took me by surprise at nearly every turn. Donkey Kong Bananza is one of the best platformers I’ve ever played, a stunning showcase for Donkey Kong’s new visual redesign, and the perfect statement that Nintendo is still taking risks that are going to pay off in the Switch 2 era.
All in all, Shadow Labyrinth makes for a pretty bog-standard metroidvania. This clever twist on the Pac-Man Maze makes room for some cool ideas, but so much of the best stuff about Shadow Labyrinth gets diluted by straightforward metroidvania design so that it doesn't differentiate itself from the rest of the pack (sorry). Supplemented by awesome translations of classic Namco games, there's still a lot of cool stuff here and there. But frustrating mechanical and meta game choices make it hard to really connect with this world.
I enjoyed most of my time with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4. It's a reminder of my younger years, and even though I can't see the scrapes and bruises anymore, I'm still fond of every bail off a skateboard I've had in my years. It's still just as fun to get back on the virtual board and see a world filled with familiar faces and the sounds of those tensor trucks hitting the pavement.
College Football 26 feels like a sensible step forward, a step back, and standing still all at once. Gameplay is even better than it was before, Road to Glory is somehow worse, and Dynasty is just about what it was last year. There are certainly worse outcomes for an annual sports title, but it is important to go in knowing that EA hasn't exactly reinvented the wheel.
Death Stranding 2 is a game that pulls from the same playbook as the original, one that wants you to know it was made by the creator of Metal Gear Solid, and doesn't use its 55- hour runtime to pull on the threads that are interesting about the world. Instead, its focus on combat and retreading similar ground gets tiring fast. There are moments of something special here, but they can't shine past their own shadows.
The game has numerous layers and requires considerable thought and strategy, but once you’ve conquered the learning curve, it truly begins to shine.
Mario Kart World's open world and Knockout Tour deliver a bombastic opening volley for the Nintendo Switch 2, though its chaotic 24-player multiplayer could hamper long-term interest.
The best life sims make it fun to hang around in their worlds long after your main objectives are done, and while I can’t say for sure this one will pass that test just yet, Guardians of Azuma is easily the best game of its kind I’ve played in years. I can see myself passing time in its vibrant world for a long time to come.
I walk away from Elden Ring Nightreign with an admiration for the weird thing the team at FromSofware has crafted. Something that doesn't feel like a cheap cash-in of the namesake but an idea that the team wanted to explore. It doesn't get everything perfect, but I'd rather see developers take big swings than stay stagnant. Much like Nightreign's speedy pace, FromSoftware once again proves it's not standing still.
If I could slash its frustrating level designs in half, focusing on the character and intrigue its eccentricities added while sifting out the gameplay impurities they come with, Blades of Fire would be an easy recommendation for anyone looking for a cool hack-n-slash. Instead, it’s plagued with unforgivable wheel-spinning that undermines a lot of what I liked about its satisfying gameplay loop.
So yes, all the hallmarks of what makes a good Doom game are fully on display in The Dark Ages: overpowered weapons, copious amounts of blood, chaotic combat, a blistering metal soundtrack. Hell. It’s all just been moved around a little bit, remixed to feel fresh. Like spring cleaning. The place may look different, but that doesn’t mean it’s not comfortable. After all, your chair is still your chair, and Doom is still Doom.
For a game so concerned with artists and their creations, and with the importance of light and sound, the sheer artistry on display feels not just impressive, but meaningful, too.
Puzzles are a divisive element in many Survival Horror games. When you need to justify and expand game time for an experience mostly driven by vibes and avoiding awkward combat, what else can you do? Clearly, one easy answer is to add backtracking in order to sniff out keys and doohickeys to fit into mysterious slots powering absurd door-locking mechanisms. It works for Resident Evil, at least. But there’s a balance in making this stuff actually work. A balance the subject of today’s review struggled with, to say the least.
There’s a lot of yelling about “politics” being involved in video games out there on the internet, but here’s an example of that actually happening in broad daylight – a cool video game being used as a glaringly unsubtle vehicle for propaganda to not just prop up some real life homies, but “sportswash” a deeply problematic reputation in the process.
After a swift 30 hours with the game, I will happily tell you how Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 exceeded my expectations and left me curious for more.
Blue Prince made me feel like a genius. It also made me feel like an idiot. The two experiences are intrinsically linked; the stumbling bewilderment making the moments of breakthrough all the more brilliant. If you’ve even a passing interest in puzzles, play Blue Prince. And do so resisting the urge to look up any of its answers. Because provided you’re willing to take notes, your perseverance will, tile by tile, piece together the solutions to one of the finest puzzle games I’ve ever played.
Bleach: Rebirth of Souls is a fantastic entry for both newcomers and older fans, and helps refresh players who haven’t kept up with Bleach, so that they’re ready for the final part of the Thousand-Year Blood War anime adaptation later this year.
South of Midnight is an early game of the year contender, but that’s not all. It’s one of the best games released in this generation, a game seriously vying for a place on my list of favorite games of all time, and an utter masterpiece that future developers will talk about.
The First Berserker: Khazan is frustrating – not necessarily because it's really hard. By far, it’s at its best when it wavers in its dogged quest to imitate the Souls games, yielding a distinct combat system that truly stands on its own.