Kevin McClusky
While my group and I enjoyed trying out this year's Party Pack, it's fair to say it didn't live up to my expectations. It's still a lot of fun, and there were frequent outbursts of laughter in my living room. But there really wasn't a standout title here, nothing to recommend this year's pack over previous entries in the series. It felt like all the games here would've benefited from a little more playtesting, a little more polish. I think it's telling that at the end of the night, we ended by loading up The Jackbox Party Pack 3 and playing a couple rounds of last year's Trivia Murder Party. You'll get your money's worth out of The Jackbox Party Pack 4, but you might have a better time with one of its predecessors.
Kobolds and Catacombs has some great ideas, and I hope future expansions will each add something similar to Dungeon Run.
Lost Sphear is a colorful, charming game, and does a pretty good job of triggering the nostalgia folks like me have for SNES RPGs of their youth. It just doesn't quite reach the heights of the titles it's influenced by. There's nothing wrong with it, but by trying to be everything to everybody, Lost Sphear becomes sort of a pastiche of other RPGs rather than something which will be remembered for its own merits. I've certainly enjoyed my time with the game, and I think it's worth playing. But I know deep down that in a few years I'm far more likely to replay Chrono Trigger for a twentieth time than I am to come back to Lost Sphear.
So that's my recommendation. Play and enjoy the Monster Hunt mode, but stick to the Arena and Tavern Brawls when playing against others if you don't want to open your wallet. I still enjoy playing this game, but the busted meta means I'm enjoying playing against other people less and less.
Yoku's Island Express is a delight, plain and simple.It's gorgeous, plays beautifully, and I hope it's the start of a new franchise, because I want to play a lot more of this.
I want to love Wizard of Legend. It's a fun, fastpaced beat-em-up with lots of replay value, gorgeous pixel art, and an incredibly deep combat system. But the frame skipping I encountered made playing it an exercise in frustration. If the issue is ever sorted out, I'll give it a more enthusiastic recommendation. For now, I just wish it played more smoothly.
I enjoyed playing through the game, but felt some of the questionable decisions and creaking technology kept it from achieving its potential. It's quite good for a licensed product, and can be fun for a couple of kids to play together, or for a parent to play with their child. It just isn't anything special, and in a game all about being Incredible, that's kind of a letdown.
It's hard to complain about new free stuff in a game I still enjoy, but I'm hopeful the last expansion for the Year of the Raven will have a better single-player mode.
Dragon Quest XI is a gorgeous throwback to 8 and 16-bit JRPGs, with a lengthy story and engaging cast of characters. Even if you think you've gotten your fill of classic JRPG goodness from Octopath Traveller, DQXI is still worth checking out.
Lamplight City offers an intriguing set of mysteries and stands as a great throwback to titles like Monkey Island and Sierra's Gabriel Knight series. The cases aren't especially taxing, but the well-realized setting and characters add plenty of flavor and help the game feel like something more than the sum of its parts. Fans of classic adventure games should definitely give Lamplight City a look.
Even though Timespinner set out to imitate SOTN, it managed to find its own identity during its long development. It's not quite as deep as its inspiration and it won't take as long to finish, but I thoroughly enjoyed every minute I was playing.
It's not quite as good a package as my favorite Jackbox Party Pack, but in my opinion, Party Pack 5 is much better than last year's offering. None of the games seem to be here just to fill out the pack. If you're looking for something to do with a group over the upcoming holidays, there's plenty in Party Pack 5 to keep a whole bunch of people engaged and laughing for hours.
Override: Mech City Brawl had a lot of potential, but ultimately I like the concept a lot more than the execution. The fighting engine is adequate, but I felt like it should be a lot more fun blowing up a city in a million-ton robot suit. It kinda seems like this one was sent out to die, and that's a damn shame.
Rastakhan's Rumble isn't the best expansion Hearthstone has ever released, and it's only a small step up from August's Boomsday Project. Unfortunately, like its predecessor, the reward for completing the single-player content is extremely disappointing. Rumble Run is a decent way to spend about an hour, but that's all it is and you'll never go back to it. I hope Blizzard puts more resources into the next expansion's single-player mode.
Is World War Z as good as Left 4 Dead? No. Is it fun despite that? Yes. There's few pleasures in gaming that can compare to swinging a thrumming chainsaw blade through a horde of ravenous undead, and World War Z delivers. And really, it's not like Valve makes games anymore.
Even though it's got plenty of callbacks to Hearthstone's past, The Dalaran Heist feels like a fresh start for the five-year old game. For the first time in a long time, I'm eagerly looking forward to whatever's coming next.
I'm conflicted. Cooperative titles like this are hard to find nowadays, especially with drop-in, drop-out co-op. There's no denying it's fun exploring with a friend and the game contains some genuinely clever challenges, especially during the boss fights. There's the seed of a great game here, and I'd genuinely like to see more like it. I really hope BonusXP gets the chance to use this engine to make something else: It's pretty good for a licenced product, but ultimately, that's all it is.
I've had a lot of fun with RAD, even though I can tell I've really only scratched the surface. Trying to work with suboptimal body modifications is pretty funny in and of itself, and discovering new mutations and lore has been intriguing. I don't think any studio other than Double Fine could have made the post-apocalypse this entertaining.
Don't get me wrong, Tombs of Terror is a lot of fun, and it's great to see the League of Explorers again after they were removed from the game three years ago. The problem is, it's the same sort of fun we've been having for two years now.
Black is a little different from the Killer Queen I was used to. But it's still Killer Queen, and that makes it one of the best multiplayer games around.