Ron Duwell
Chase: Cold Case Investigations -Distant Memories has great style and all the reason in the world to be expanded into an excellent, episodic franchise.
Deep down, the only crime that I Am Setsuna commits is that it can’t quite match the high standards of the masterpieces it was created to pay homage to.
Square Enix has another winner of a spin-off this year.
On my own experience, I played a majority of this campaign on a 13 hour flight from New York to Tokyo, and I didn't put it down once!
If you didn't get the idea, I love this game. It is a marvelous addition to the open-world genre and another one I can add onto the short list that I love. I think I need to use my left hand now if we are counting. It's also a great addition to the Metal Gear Solid franchise, portraying it in ways I didn't believe possible until now.
Overall, this package is just great.
I don't enjoy rating a game by the price, but I'll step in to say that this is definitely fair. SteamWorld Heist's main campaign only lasts about 10 hours, but thanks to five different difficulty levels, plenty of "rare" weapons to seek out, randomly generated dungeons, abilities tucked away at higher levels, the reputation and other New Game+ options, Image & Form's latest provides the bang for all those bucks.
A very simple action game that feels natural and satisfying.
Square Enix had the gargantuan task of reinvigorating the series with a game 10 years in the making. Final Fantasy XV succeeds.
Platinum Games is the master of a dying art of Japanese action games, and Bayonetta 2 is a celebration of all it has achieved in its short life.
It's a solid foundation, and if Adventures of Pip proves to be as financially successful as it deserves to be, I would like to see a sequel that promotes more exploration, ala Super Mario World. Branching paths, secret exits, "expert" levels. You know the drill. Adventure of Pip is a wonderful little platformer and further proof that Kickstarter can help fund some of life's more pleasurable joys. $14.99 is a steal for one of my favorite games so far in 2015.
Shadow of Mordor is a conventional open-world action game with very cliched mechanics, but if you approach it conventionally, it might bore you to tears. Break away from its path, experiment, and find your own fun. Tackle story missions only when you want some new abilities or a new map to toy with, and you will definitely get your $60 worth.
[T]here's so much to do, and so much of it is great fun, that I don't miss those elements like I might in a game with art and writing that doesn't climb as high as Dragon Age: Inquisition does.
Buy this game, especially if you are like me and have a hard time enjoying the series outside of Resident Evil 4. It might even make a Resident Evil fan out of you too.
I don't want to point fingers at anybody for Final Fantasy Type-0 HD because I am glad that it just exists in English at all. However, this is not the game that Square Enix has been hyping, and it should be tackled with a certain set of expectations.
As it stands, it's a nice tribute to the series and does Fire Emblem's mechanics justice be putting them in a shallow, effective action game shell. Fire Emblem fans will like it, especially recent fans who dig the 3DS games.
Fire Emblem Echoes feels like it was rushed out of the gate as an afterthought for the final days of the Nintendo 3DS.
Cosmic Star Heroine is a winner, even if you're too young to have experienced the games it references. Check it out.
Does Strider really do anything new? Not really.
Like most Mega Man games (the ones not called Mega Man 2 or Mega Man 9), Mega Man 11 is not perfect by any means and has plenty of flaws to nitpick. But, considering how extinct the franchise was and how Capcom took a huge leap of faith on the fans greenlight this in the first place, I'm grateful that it exists and that it feels like a fresh, natural fit for a whole new generation.