Benjamin Maltbie


24 games reviewed
83.8 average score
80 median score
50.0% of games recommended
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Mar 23, 2018

MLB: The Show 18 is a refined experience that stands tall as the best baseball game currently on the market. Of all the iterations of the title, this is, to my eye, the definitive best and, I imagine, exactly what fans of the genre are looking for. Beyond that, in a similar vein to soccer or hockey games, MLB: The Show 18 is an enjoyable, competitive, multiplayer experience that can easily be enticing to non-sports fans if they simply look past the baseball veneer to see the mechanically sound, tactile, multi-faceted game below the surface; you don't need to watch or play baseball for the game to function as a more than serviceable pastime and I recommend a rental to anyone who is on the fence about getting into this genre.

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Oct 14, 2018

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is a game that looks at the entire first-person shooter genre, past and present,

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5 / 5.0 - Resident Evil 2
Jan 22, 2019

This remake is, without a doubt, the best way to experience Resident Evil 2.

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To that end, Spider-Man: Miles Morales might be the best of two worlds. It is short for a video game, but that means it’s easier to fit into a busy schedule and that sort of approachability has merit. It’s also not beholden to the limited runtime of a film which means it can use storytelling techniques that are unique to the video game medium. Spider-Man: Miles Morales constantly deepens the game’s world and lore in ways that other media couldn’t.

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4.7 / 5.0 - Death Stranding
Nov 11, 2019

Death Stranding will not be for everybody. It seems meticulously engineered for a pretty specific kind of nerd. My wife, for example, loves this game, and when she loves a game, she dumps hundreds of hours into it. Me? I merely like this game

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4.5 / 5.0 - Mega Man 11
Oct 3, 2018

Mega Man 11 is the convergence point for Mega Man and Mega Man X.

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4.5 / 5.0 - Wreckfest
Aug 28, 2019

Wreckfest combines the exact right elements to create something amazing. It's big, ridiculous, loud, and chaotic.

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4.5 / 5.0 - NHL 19
Sep 13, 2018

EA's NHL 19 is a sports simulation, a fantasy league, a social hub, and a comforting arcade game all at once, and that is quite a thing to accomplish.

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Apr 2, 2019

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a worthy entry into FromSoftware’s repertoire

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4.4 / 5.0 - EA Sports UFC 4
Aug 18, 2020

Once you grasp the basics, EA Sports UFC 4 is a deep game that lets you engage with it on your own terms.

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4 / 5.0 - FIFA 19
Sep 19, 2018

This is definitely a good soccer game. It's just not as good as it could be. It should be immediately apparent, due to a lack of modes, if this game isn't for you. For that reason, I might suggest renting the game before jumping in feet first.

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Sep 8, 2020

The game is amazing for a weekend, but for several months? For the moment, it seems unlikely. Hopefully that will change.

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Overall, the people at Toys for Bob have done a wonderful job with the property, and that’s not really surprising. Their past games like Skylanders have tapped into the same lighthearted fun that Crash is known for. They demonstrated an ability to make likable characters in those titles and now they’ve taken a franchise full of likable characters and made them even more likable.

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Oct 6, 2020

It’s Star Wars, though, and cool ships and enormous spectacle are part of the fun. It’s alright that the story isn’t going to win any awards because it still does its job and doesn’t actively detract from the important parts of the game. Star Wars: Squadrons is the most accessible and potentially best way to experience one of the coolest parts of Star Wars.

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Nov 10, 2020

It is undeniable that the series is growing, and it’s admirable that the developers are willing to try new things. Overall, the experience works in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. It’s not a perfect fit, yet, but there’s promise in the series future if they continue to head in a direction that has more RPG elements, and options for a direct approach. It also feels like a proof of concept that they can continue to attempt virtually any setting with a decent chance of success.

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Oct 31, 2020

Because of the game’s appearance, it might be a hard sell to some people. I know I will have a tough timing convincing friends to play it, even though it is up their proverbial alley in terms of mechanics and genre. The fact that the game misspells “exchange” in its opening and there was seemingly no effort put into lip syncing might also lead people to worry that it is the sort of low-effort cash-in one might expect from a series with Bikini Samurais. It’s worth pushing past, though, because these aspects of the game sink into the background, save when the occasionally leering camera forces them back into the foreground.

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Nov 12, 2020

There’s a sense that Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is a game that wants to repay longtime fans for their commitment. The music and cutscenes draw from a deep well of nostalgia without relying on it. That said, fans looking for a game that advances the story might be disappointed.

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I have a suspicion that it isn’t a game that will click with everybody. This includes people who would love it but might be turned away by the first few punishing hours. For that reason, it could be an easy game to miss. The franchise also struggles for visibility in the West, which doesn’t help matters at all. If you’ve enjoyed Mystery Dungeon games before, this is a game worth looking into.

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Jan 5, 2021

Super Meat Boy Forever is miles apart from Super Meat Boy in terms of gameplay. That said, the charm that captivated gamers ten years ago is still present. It might even be more potent this time around.

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The world is vivid, and the density of details is on scale with the sort of thing you might find hidden in flavor text or within a franchise’s extended universe, rather than its core content. Despite this, it’s approachable, and the incentive to gather and implement information emphasizes the importance of details which can sometimes be considered tools rather than trivia.

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