Digital Chumps
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge is retro-inspired beat 'em up that aspires to be nothing more than a pure flashback to earlier times. It may not push the envelope but it exudes fun and warmth through every pixel.
I am very pleased with the co-op experience offered by Casus Ludi's hand-drawn Blanc. The short story of the fawn and a wolf cub is indeed an emotional one, and it will leave you feeling complete by the time the credits roll. Yes, this title is an incredibly short one, but it's worth playing on a snowy evening or on a date night. If you're looking for a co-op title that will offer you some simple yet emotionally effective gameplay, look no further than Blanc on the PC.
FutureGrind forges, destroys, and rewrites neural pathways until gray matter is shaped to command its style of acrobatic vehicular platforming. Uniracers meets Trials is an easy shortcut, but it undersells the succinct density and progressive challenge of its level design. FutureGrind has the goofy novelty and formidable sincerity of what's expected from a platformer in 2019.
Overall, Starport Delta is a relatively solid indie title
The remastered versions of NIOH and NIOH 2 are outstanding. Visually they are nearly equal to each other and both still maintain the core enjoyment of the series, which is dying over and over again while slowly but surely progressing. Of course, those deaths are in 4K with a high frame rate via PlayStation 5, which makes the experience far more entertaining.
Dirt Rally 2.0 is a very competent rally simulator when viewed in isolation. However, when compared to its predecessor and its vastly superior force feedback implementation it loses its allure.
Like the pearlescent shimmer across its desert surface, Vane is difficult to observe and define with precise clarity. Its world presents either an invitation to wonder or a provocation to explore and it's often seized by the tension pulling in opposing directions. Vane can be brilliant and subversive or confusing and frustrating and it's impossible to separate its intentions from its misfortunes.
Wonder Boy in Monster Land's nascent fusion of platforming and role-playing mechanics creates viable candidacy for M2's meticulous talents. If the SEGA AGES line continues to explore the breadth of Sega's catalog, games that inspired creators are just as valuable as games that empowered players. Wonder Boy in Monster Land is proud to be part of the former.
Monster Energy Supercross - The Official Videogame 4 isn't a bad game at all, rather it's just an incredibly difficult one that leaves no room for novices to enter the dirt track arena. If you are a pro, then you're going to find a lot to love about this game. The multiple modes work well, the track creation is solid, and the customization in the game is on point.
There's no reason not to complete Episode Aigis with how much ATLUS has made this post-game episode easier to complete than ever before. Getting to the end of Episode Aigis and seeing Persona 3 Reload's characters' ending in a somber, yet bittersweet, fashion is a perfect way to step away from the glory that is Persona 3 Reload that has made 2024 a fantastic year for Persona fans. It bears repeating: Episode Aigis is a JRPG post-game done right; it's so right that it's worth returning to Persona 3 Reload if only to see the ending.
The Eternal Castle [REMASTERED] prevails through its devotion to the garish glitz and grime of its early 90's apocalyptic techno/retro-future. It's a complete aesthetic that romanticizes graphical antiquity and idealizes a parallel with the maximum of its era's volatile culture. The artifact of The Eternal Castle may be invented and artificial, but it's no less effective in proving its power.
Dark Souls serves Ashen's premise but does not define its conclusion. By instilling senses of community and devotion inside its narrative, Ashen proves Souls' discourse expands beyond punishment and brutality. Once separated from its inspiration, Ashen has plenty to show off inside of its common space.
Outer Wilds' compact clockwork universe does more with twenty-two minutes than its spacefaring peers can imagine in a lifetime. It treats curiosity as a Möbius strip and trusts its network of divine secrets will drive the player toward a reasoned conclusion. By turning away from the zeitgeist, Outer Wilds' sublime presence can only be defined as otherworldly.
Overall, Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Champions is not your typical card game. It adds some simple rotation changes that end up adding a thick layer of strategy to the entire gameplay design. All of this sits on top of neat and well thought through card designs and is driven by a solid difficulty arc that forces you to learn the ins/outs of the gameplay.
Below's maddening edge is an open rebellion to its quiet sophistication. It's loaded with intrigue but resistant to modern methods of approach, creating a Rorschach test where losing patience with its internal contradiction is as credible of a reaction as relishing its idiosyncratic isolation and adversity. Ultimately, Below is a curiosity in which gratification is dependent on personal resolve.
Gris is watercolor wonderland fashioned to explore and confront elements of despair and anguish. Its communication through sound and motion paints visually arresting moments and creates intimately powerful movements. Concealed inside all of this is clever and versatile platformer, an asset Gris is confident to hold as collateral for the sake of its delicate heart.
For Super Monkey Ball fans out there, this game is going to be fun because of the variety of creative mazes SEGA has in store for you. The modes beyond the main will be hit or miss depending on expectations. Nonetheless, Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania is mostly entertaining.
Just Cause 4 lives in the mystique of a simulation that is concurrently shattering apart and performing as designed. Agency and Chaos are rival gods condensed into a single protagonist who uses the world's most outrageous toolbox to violently and preposterously address its most rote objectives. Limitations are explosive fuel for superpowers, somehow balancing the equation that allows Just Cause 4 to make sense.
Clearly, the future for Spider-Man videogames has never been brighter.
Sifu gets a lot more right than not, and though I typically can’t stand to play games that force heavy-handed repetitive loops, I found myself enjoying Sifu too much to put it away for long. Playing Sifu is a cycle of emotions; it’s tough, fun, frustrating, and rewarding, not always in that order. I think Sloclap did a solid job overall and I would also point out that the game is priced very reasonably at about $50, too. If you enjoy detailed, authentic martial arts action, Sifu is not only one of the only choices out there, but it’s a great one.