Digital Chumps
HomepageDigital Chumps's Reviews
Sonic Colors Ultimate takes one of the best 3D Sonic games from the past and brings it to platforms it has never reached before, all in a fairly-priced, nicely done Ultimate package. It’s easy to recommend to any fan of Sonic games, including those like myself that never got around to playing the original in the last decade.
In a world full of remasters, Need For Speed Hot Pursuit doesn't get first place. The adrenaline that goes into each race or chase is super high. But the lows of the game loading and car handling weigh the game down. Hot Pursuit stays true to its roots and to that it deserves a nod. It's a fun racing game the developers can hopefully improve upon for future remasters.
If I could go back, even for a moment, to the mid-90s era of coin-operated arcades, I would seek the closest facsimile to Nosebleed Interactive's arcade that is so perfectly constructed within Arcade Paradise VR. Until a time machine becomes available, I'll settle for putting on my PSVR2 and playing some familiar arcade titles that translate pretty darn well in the VR space, Sense controllers and all.
Overall Project Winter is a fun community-based game. It is a simple and engaging survival challenge that will test all of your skills. If you want to talk to strangers, work as a team, and trick people then you will love Project Winter.
Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX is a remaster of two classic games that I am very glad to see in 2021, it just kills me that Koei Tecmo waited so long to bring this series to international audiences. The UI needs some work, but the games play really well on PC. In terms of remaster quality, these remastered games check all the right boxes for adding game mechanics that we take for granted in present-day games in older games that weren't so lucky to have these features. While Monster Rancher 1 deserved additional graphical and audio updates, playing the remastered Monster Rancher 2 is nothing short of fun. The new music-lookup monster creation system is a much needed modernization for the series, the FF Mode is a great way to quickly grind out your monster's stats, but I fear that multiplayer may be a letdown. I sincerely hope that these remasters pave the way for a modern Monster Rancher installment, because if these remasters are any indication, Koei Tecmo are on the right track.
Strikers captures the affable singularity of Persona 5 while shifting its perspective from a turn-based slow burn to an action-focused escapade. At the same time, Strikers' devotion to its source material succeeds in keeping the player active and invested amid the turbulence of its strained support structure. It's a summer vacation masquerading as a sequel, and that seems to suit the Phantom Thieves just fine.
The Last of Us Part II is an emotionally jarring epic. Players are plunged into the bleak world of the fragile human psyche, twinged with poignant moments of hope and calm and smeared with the violence of reality.
As another varied entry in the expansive franchise, Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus gives players a gloomy turn-based adventure with enough good ideas and personality to differentiate it from similar titles, while overcoming a few minor downfalls.
It Takes Two is undoubtedly a triumph in cooperative gaming. While blending a touching story with meaningful gameplay that constantly diversifies itself, Hazelight has created a must-play title that may even have the power to bring people closer together.
Pumpkin Jack oozes with ghoulish delight that is a must-play for any fan of Halloween. While there are some nitpick issues I had with the game's combat, the music, humorous dialogue and beautiful art direction make it hard to find much to dislike about Pumpkin Jack.
In sum, it’s clear to see that Nightdive Studios poured their hearts into this effort and the result is another outstanding product. The original game by Lobotomy and Playmates was a real gem that deserved a lot more recognition than it ever got. Thankfully, with the power of the KEX engine and the passionate crew at Nightdive, PowerSlave gets its time in the spotlight that it well deserves, and priced at just $20, too. PowerSlave Exhumed is well worth adding to your library.
Narita Boy is an explosion of 80s-inspired excess, splattering the player with a viscera of technobabble and cathode rays. Yet after peeling away the fragmented flesh, some may find the splendor of nostalgic reverence does not supplant equally memorable gameplay.
Far Cry 6 is a frenzied whirlwind of chaos. This tyrannical trip to Yara is a series highlight, bursting at the seams with content and diverse gameplay. Unafraid to embrace the wildest sides of the genre, letting players be their own agent of tonal destruction.
Umurangi Generation's vibrant ambience validates the rebellion of its doomed youth culture. It also renders the player a transient witness to a surging tragedy. Umurangi Generation's key is its camera, as it allows its protagonist and its player the agency to access and capture a world beyond their control. It creates a vantage point untended since Jet Set Radio, and Umurangi Generation didn't even need skates or spray paint to get there.
Umurangi Generation's camera granted players the agency to capture a despairing world and reframe it however they pleased. Macro expands this objective across four profoundly photogenic locales and tosses in a giddying pair of roller skates. Vicious social commentary, newly material to 2020's unique ills, serves as a compliment to Umurangi Generation's existential dread and completes one of the most powerful and relevant games assigned to this cursed year.
I Dracula: Genesis is a game that knows what it is. Even with all the clutter is a good game. It's not a groundbreaking game, and it can get in the way of itself at times, but overall it's a fun time.
Riders Republic is a truly massive extreme sports game that borrows from Ubisoft's better open world pillars. A variety of events and the ability to play against massive servers in a gorgeous sandbox provide a unique thrill that few games manage.
Overall, the gameplay design for Edna & Harvey: The Breakout - Anniversary Edition is clunky on a console controller and might give too much freedom for a point and click-based game. That said, the story is good enough to push beyond those issues, the puzzles are incredibly clever as they relate to the story, though enormously difficult to overcome at times. At the end of the day, the experience might well be worth the frustration the design causes.
Volume One of Tales From Off-Peak City is an escalating procession of existential crises staged through instances of gentrification, corporatism, and pizza delivery. It's a kitschy nightmare laundered through eccentric characters and their bizarre conditions and the product is a surreal but eloquent presentation on preventable social decay. A single city block and a couple of hours is all Tales From Off-Peak City needs to tell a grotesque, distinctive story.
Culminating 8 years of Roll7's work on the series, OlliOlli World is, like its brethren, undeniably mechanically rich, rewarding players of all skill levels. But it's the joyful world and playful nature of the game that make it a triumphant skating experience akin to Tony Hawk's best.