Joseph Yaden
Playing through these games sort of brought me back to my childhood, but never made me feel like a baby or that the game was too easy. The puzzles included are sometimes challenging and require you to think outside the box, which I absolutely adore.
Luigi's Mansion is a game that didn't necessarily need a remake, but I'm glad this exists. The writing and mechanics hold up and it's still mostly a joy to play. I only wish the controls would have been refined a bit more to catch up with modern standards.
There's almost too much to love about Devil May Cry 5, and I'm so glad Capcom is continuing to deliver games of this quality.
For more on Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain, check out our interview with series producer, Nobuyuki Okajima, where we discuss the series and more.
If you want something you don't have to think too deeply about or are into competitive multiplayer with friends, then World War Z could be for you. But if you're expecting an in-depth narrative and a campaign that requires strategy and coordination, then perhaps you should stay away.
It's probably not a good thing that my mind kept wandering to other games that do everything this game does, but better.
VR tracking issues aside, this is an absolute must-play if you’re into arcade golf games, and if you’re looking for something relaxing to play in PSVR. I do wish the game worked better from a technical standpoint, but given the limitations of the hardware in its current state, it works well enough.
Ultimately, Blair Witch is an intriguing story plagued by unsatisfactory gameplay, with a few neat ideas sprinkled throughout. Your canine companion presents some interesting mechanics, along with altering time through the camcorders, but in the end, even these features aren't enough to save Blair Witch from being a chore to play. There's still some to appreciate like the characters and story, which make Blair Witch almost enjoyable.
Ultimately, Zombie Army 4: Dead War is an amalgamation of tropes you’ve seen before, but it never quite nails any of them in a meaningful way.
SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated hits you with nostalgia, but that's not enough to carry it forward in 2020.
Why take one of the games that set the benchmark for graphics in video games, present it as a remaster, and release it on a system that does a disservice to it in nearly every way?
Ultimately, Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time had a lot riding on it. Being the sequel to a 22-year-old game likely presented Toys for Bob with some developmental challenges, but the development team nailed nearly everything about this sequel.
We’ve seen Metroidvania games like Hollow Knight nail the formula in recent years, but Metroid Dread proves there’s nothing better than the franchise that started it all.
'Vanguard' might feel more complete after a few months of updates, but the current state is an unfortunate reminder that needlessly tight deadlines don’t benefit the people who make games or the people who play them.
"Extraction is a game that was clearly stuck in development hell for a reason. Ubisoft eventually came to the realization that it was time to get this game out the door, and the result is a jumbled pile of ideas you’ve seen before, executed in a wildly uninteresting way."
"When the platforming actually works, Dying Light 2 is an absolute blast. Chaining together a high-flying hang glider maneuver, then grappling off the edge of a building before executing a perfectly timed series of jumps makes you feel like a superhero. It’s just too bad that more often than not, something will go wrong and you’ll fall to your death instead."
This isn’t just Dark Souls with an open world tacked on. Instead, developer FromSoftware weaves its familiar formula into a massive playground so expertly that we can’t help but wonder how we ever played Dark Souls without it.
WWE 2K22 is 2K Sports’ first mainline WWE game since 2019. Following the abysmal reception to 2K20 that year, 2K took an extra year to make sure bugs were squashed and character models looked the part while preserving the fun factor. The team behind the latest release has addressed most of these issues this time around, and while 2K22 is significantly better than its predecessor, the bar was absurdly low. The extra year has certainly helped, but ultimately, the final product still feels undercooked.
Every death feels fair, and the design philosophy is fine-tuned in such a way that feels intentional and deliberate. Salt and Sacrifice, on the other hand, achieves difficulty with clunky design, which completely misses the point of what makes a good challenge worth the time. Instead, the sacrifice of wasted time here is more than enough to make you salty.
"Like every other Mario sports game, realism is thrown out the window in favor of ridiculous gameplay. The final product is mostly fun, but overcomplicated systems feel destined to frustrate casual players."