Digital Chumps
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It's 2001 all over again. Some thirteen years after Melee's release, Nintendo has finally formulated an experience which compares appreciably to the masterpiece that we all love (and many of us still play). Whether for fun or for glory, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is the follow-up Smash fans have been anticipating since.
The visual upgrade to Grand Theft Auto V on the current generation systems would be enough to warrant a re-purchase. It's absolutely stunning and by far one of the best looking games on current gen. The additional online content, modes, cars, people and the inclusion first-person is just icing on the cake.
In its third mainline iteration, LittleBigPlanet's momentum shifts from a bastion of adaptive entertainment to a lightning rod of tailored inspiration. It's a logical progression, one that sacrifices personal moments of professionally crafted clarity, but in their place is a tidy collection of tools and concepts masquerading as purpose-driven levels – and the hope that talented players will embrace enough of them to fill in LittleBigPlanet 3's considerable gaps in content.
I would expect that, in a sea of tower defense games, that a tower defense game that someone charges you money for, would have a certain level of quality and finesse, especially since there are plenty of free tower defense games out there that do it really well. Defenders of Time, even with its pretty visuals and some redeeming game mechanics, can't stand well on its own, and is easily beat out by other free tower defense games with very difficult levels and shoddy multiplayer, this game is not a very good example of the tower defense genre.
Dragon Age: Inquisition has incredibly deep and complex parts, while still maintaining the core gameplay values that Bioware knows how to do best with their third-person action titles. The game delivers everything promised, including gorgeous visuals and a strong story. Simply put, Bioware has returned the Dragon Age series to the greatness it truly deserves.
It stumbles out of the gates, but underneath the issues lies a pretty good experience that I would hope will get better with patches.
A great fit in any Vita library that would benefit from an excellent JRPG.
The definitive version of How To Survive that's priced well and enjoyable online or off, solo, or with a friend.
A true classic revitalized that's easy to recommend to anyone who enjoys a great story, with bonus content to boot for those interested in videogame development or history.
Sledgehammer Games does a great job with their first full go around of Call of Duty. Advanced Warfare features a campaign with an entertaining story, a deep multiplayer experience that is fast and on target, and a co-op experience that has small twists to keep it unique. They didn't reinvent the franchise with their first Call of Duty release, but they did produce something enjoyable.
A challenging, rough around the edges title in the vein of the Souls games that gets a lot more right than it does wrong. It deserves your attention this holiday season, and hopefully we'll see more from this franchise.
Legacy Collection 2, while imperfect, provides a suitable direction to follow four mainline Mega Man games across modern hardware.
Street Fighter: 30th Anniversary Collection is a well-designed and deserved trip down memory lane. For those who never experienced arcade games before and never truly saw Street Fighter in its heyday, it's a nearly perfect way of seeing it at its best. Sans the controller issues that still plague the Switch version of this release, and any Street Fighter release, it's a solid collection that is worth the money.
ArchAngel: Hellfire does a good job with PvP. The maps are nice, the mechs and controls are solid, and there isn't a lot to dislike about what Skydance Interactive put together. I will say that the co-op isn't as interesting as the PvP, but that's not the reason you will want to play Hellfire. Hopefully more updates in the future will improve upon this solid groundwork.
NBA Live 15 is an improvement from the previous year. It contains better graphics, smoother gameplay and feels like a more complete experience when compared to NBA Live 14. That said, there is still some work to be done if it hopes to compete with the NBA 2K series. It isn't quite to the 2K level, but it's now officially on the right path.
Sleeping Dogs is great, and if you haven't already bought the content previously, it's an excellent deal. However, the Definitive Edition manages to leave a lot of relatively harmless, yet annoying, bugs in place which is a letdown.
The creative energy fueling Sunset Overdrive is an agent of change for a genre in creative decline. Its jubilant deluge of light and color, meaningful revisions to control and combat, and the sweeping diversity of skill-based missions push the open-world paradigm harder and faster than any of its peers. With Sunset Overdrive, freely accessible content isn't a passive and plodding support structure, but rather a demanding and attractive call for constant engagement.
The Legend of Korra dissipates potential as quickly as it disappoints a prospective audience. Korra's fiction and Platinum's development lineage impart a veritable dream team of narrative and design, but neither party seemed to bring the necessary hardware to live up to their respective and respected standards.
I had a great time with A Golden Wake and I think anyone who can appreciate an old school point-and-click adventure will too.
A great addition to any stealth gamer's digital library.