I really can’t recommend this game enough, even with the lackluster facial animations this is an experience that shouldn’t be missed if you value narrative; in particular mysteries.
After half a decade of playing the “will it or won’t It get localized” guessing game, to see the Great Ace Attorney Chronicles see release in the States is an event worth celebrating indeed and doubly so as it was done well for a pair of games that weave an intriguing storyline well worth reading all the way to the end.
Mario Golf Super Rush feels rushed. There are no bones about it. I feel like they could make it a great game over time with more content, but I worry the tail of this particular game won’t be as long as some other Nintendo titles. You wonder how much the pandemic was involved in its lack of content, but for the first time in a long time this feels like a $40 Nintendo game, and that just never happens.
As I said before Samurai Warriors 5 is a beautiful game, and not to be missed if you enjoy the genre. The team has done a fantastic job of refreshing this franchise, and I am hopeful that they garner some new fans to keep this series of games going for years to come.
Death’s Door is a wonderful experience that should not be missed. Don’t be scared off by the comparison to the Souls games. Sure it shares a few mechanics from those, but it feels more like a macabre interpretation of Zelda with some Souls twists. I simply adore this title and cannot wait for others to experience it. It is one of the best games I have played this year and it will likely be top of mind when the awards of 2021 come up. Do not sleep on this title.
Necromunda: Hired Gun is a perfect example of a game that does the Warhammer 40k license justice. If it had the time to hammer out the bugs and issues it could have easily been a sleeper hit of 2021. As it stands it remains a forgettable release that launched with too many issues to keep players’ attention. Even well after launch the game remains in a bad state that makes it hard for me to recommend checking it out. I hope the game gets ironed out at some point, but by then it may be far too late to return to.
I honestly loved this game more than I thought I would. I’m not a huge fan of racing games or anything but much like Tony Hawk’s games this one just did something for me. The fun of pulling off tricks, or trying to keep my multiplayer high and see how many flips I can do before I hit the ground took me back to those days of trying to beat my little brothers score in Tony Hawk 2. Admittedly I prefer multiplayer, being able to put my skills against other people is fun to me, but as I said if you don’t enjoy other people the single player gives you the same experience with none of the folks. Crash Drive 3 is a lot of fun, it’s a great game to pick up have a little fun and move on till next time, but if you choose to stay longer you’ll find a ton of stuff to unlock and secrets to chase that will keep you busy for quite a while.
Overall, Monster Hunter Stories 2 is a fine game. It does nothing offensive while still having some great mechanics thrown in. The story is decent, the combat is fun, but can get a little long in the tooth and the overall progression system was fine albeit a bit one note after a while. Monster Hunter fans can have a fun time with it while old school RPG fans will get more out of the mechanics of the combat mixed with the rite of channeling that can really get the maximum stat boosts going. It has it’s pacing issues here and there with the combat and the quest progression, but overall, these are minor compared to the sheer amount of things you can do while still raising the best team of Monsties you can make.
In the end, it is a slick looking, great sounding little game that is never overly offensive with its issues, but still has a decent amount of them. The gameplay revolves around a simple mechanic that players will see the majority of before getting halfway through it, but it was never something that I didn’t like playing. It is most certainly unconventional, and I think that’s what gave it enough charm to keep me playing. It’s a strange one to recommend, but I still recommend it if this sounds like something up your alley.
In closing ill say it again, Dark Alliance is not a perfectly executed game but the fun to be had when everything works is worth enduring the little issues. It delivers a fun D&D adventure with some epic combat moments. Even with the issues that I experienced I think this is a solid game and with a bit more polish via patches will fit quite nicely among its dungeon crawler brethren.