Digital Chumps
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Returnal is still a perfect game in my opinion. It hits all the right notes, even when it feels impossibly difficult. The gameplay structure is complicated, precise, and entertaining. The PC upgrade makes the experience even better with superior visuals and a plethora of ways to play the game. This is a superior version of a superior title.
Fashion Police Squad (FPS) is a delightful first-person shooter that's in on the joke of policing obnoxious neons, socks in sandals (who DOES that?!), and the faux pas of ill-fitting suits. Its DOOM-esque shooting and platforming hearkens back to a time where games were less serious, more simple, and in some ways, more fun. If you're a fan of shooting in style, Zoolander, and DOOM, look no further than FPS on the Nintendo Switch. Overly baggy jeans be warned -- Sergeant Des will slap you right into shape!
Mahokenshi is a fun game. It contains a healthy amount of tabletop strategy, an addictive deck-building component, and a dash of RPG elements to keep some motivation going. Its gameplay is challenging and brutal at times but in the end, it works more than it doesn’t.
Dead Space is a remarkable game, and surely one of the bigger surprises that will come out of 2023. EA Motive has done a great job in remaking one of the best horror games from the mid-to-late 2000s era; going as far as making certain segments feel wholly new again. As a player who never played the original, this remake feels like the definitive introduction to the franchise. I'm clamoring for more of Isaac's story, and even perhaps beyond.
Hi-Fi Rush lives up to the hype it has received. It’s a fun experience with a musical backbone that works perfectly with its action platformer roots. Definitely a huge plus for the Xbox family.
Life is Strange 2 on Nintendo Switch is a faithful port of a four-year-old game. The story of brotherly love leaves a lasting impact, even if this aging console continues to show its seams.
The Pathless is still a fun game after all these years. It is driven by a deep story and simple gameplay mechanics. While I would have loved to see a bit more life in the world, the gameplay is still very much engaging and endearing.
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, developed by Kojima Productions and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, is a new journey with a tonal shift compared to its predecessor, as the narrative is smaller in scope and far more personal. On the gameplay side of the tracks, the new game tightens a lot of loose ends from the first game, expands the world of Death Stranding through new environments and gameplay improvements, and exceeds all expectations with how a game should look on PlayStation 5. This is a solid contender for Game of the Year.
What we saw while playing the preview of Battlefield 2042 3.2 update was impressive. Going back to the tried-and-true class system was a great move and it will certainly pay off in pulling players back into Battlefield 2042. I know it’s certainly going to pull me back into the scrum.
Tortuga: A Pirate’s Tale from Gaming Minds Studios and Kalypso is a solid pirate simulator. It gives you a good dose of action and a large dose of complicated backend elements to keep your intellectual simulator side satisfied. While there are some hiccups with the repetitiveness of tasks and a camera with a mind of its own during battles, the game is still entertaining and fulfilling.
Yuppie Psycho: Extended Edition places players in a surreal corporate hellscape. A brisk horror adventure crosses grim visuals and dark humor while providing hours of new content and context.
One Piece Odyssey is a great RPG when the story isn’t getting in the way of its pacing. There is so much to enjoy about the gameplay with its action and creativity, as well as the turn-based structure that is typical of this genre. On its own, the story isn’t too bad either. It is fun and light-hearted with a small sense of good drama to keep it engaging. But the unbalanced space sharing between both gameplay and story causes such a stop-and-go pacing problem that in the end the gameplay experience is so heavily disrupted that it is tough to enjoy the game.
SaGa Frontier 2 Remastered is another invaluable entry in Square Enix's increasing catalog of updated games. But this particular PlayStation 1 gem is distinct for its varying risks, impeccable style, and tendency to be different.
Kingdom Rush from Ironhide Game Studio is a casual and fun gameplay experience that doesn’t do too much to entertain but does enough to keep you coming back for more.
On paper, Cyber Hook taps into several gameplay elements that are innately appealing: It encourages high-speed gameplay, it blends parkour platforming with precision, and its retrowave environments look really freaking cool. But, its PlayStation implementation is somewhat buggy, hindering the momentum further beyond progression decisions that already prevent players from blazing through the games. I want to believe that Blazing Stick will continue to support the PlayStation version and iron out some of the kinks (and hopefully release new content, too), as its current implementation leaves much to be desired.
The Legend of Tianding is more than just a side-scrolling action game. It lives within a larger world and does its best to separate itself from the rest of the side-scrolling action genre. It mostly does a good job with its gameplay design but stumbles in some areas to keep it from being perfect. In the end, it’s one worthwhile action game when you need a little bit more than just punching and kicking.
My second time around with Persona 4 Golden was still a positive one. While I’m still a little put off by the amount of dialogue the game features, I completely understand that it’s for good reason, as the overall story is absolutely thrilling as it is terrifying. It’s a gorgeous centerpiece to superb gameplay design and I have nothing but praise for it. The only knock with P4G is that I wish it gave more reason to own it on the last and current generation of consoles.
Capcom’s Monster Hunter Rise is an entertaining game. It has enough depth, action, and crafting to keep you and your team occupied for a while. It’s not perfect in some respects, but it’s good enough when you’re looking for a team-based game that is more coop than not.
Persona 3 Portable remains the definitive version of Persona 3, albeit a relic of Persona's past. Compared to the star quality of the entire Persona 5 series, I can see a world where a newer Persona player may be confused about the lack of animated cutscenes, a battle system that is focused around solely controlling the main character by default, a point-and-click-esque navigation system outside of dungeon-crawling, and a forgiving-but-still-simple Social Link system. I can also see a world where veterans may be expecting a remaster that incorporates the media from Persona 3 into the skeleton of Persona 3 Portable, breathing new life and character into a classic RPG. Looking past these quibbles, Persona 3 Portable remains a stellar JRPG, and it looks, sounds, and plays better than I remembered.
HEROish is a fun MOBA-deck-building adventure. While it does have quite a bit of mobile personality to it, including a short gameplay time, it is still entertaining in its simple strategy and action execution.