Tomas Franzese
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Digital TrendsLatest Reviews
About ten hours into Avowed, I was eager to leave Dawnshore, the fantasy RPG’s first area. I wanted to discover what nail-biting choices, legendary weapons, and wonderfully designed place were coming next. Before I could do that, I had to deal with a major consequence of my actions: The first NPC I met in Avowed was killed.
Civilization games always grab me right from the first turn because of the potential they hold. I can have strategies for my campaign in mind, but I have to dynamically react and reshape my plans as I discover new areas, grow my cities toward specific resources, and meet other civilizations that could become friends or foes. Sid Meier’s Civilization VII does nothing to sully that fantastic core formula; in fact, it found a way to give me that feeling multiple times over.
How much of an impact does a game’s aesthetic have on how it feels to play? That question was consistently at the forefront of my mind as I played Another Crab’s Treasure. Aggro Crab’s latest game is a Soulslike, a style of game known to be quite frustrating as players slowly learn how to overcome challenging combat encounters. It’s also colorful and funny, something that visually doesn’t feel too far off from SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake.
At the end of the first world in Penny’s Big Breakaway, the titular character and her sentient, aggressive yo-yo are presented with their first boss-like encounter: a giant rolling ball of penguins. I had to run for my life, swinging with and riding on my yo-yo at pivotal movements so I wasn’t smushed by the ball of a boss, proving to myself that I understood and had started to master its dual-stick control scheme.
As assassin-in-training Basim works to become a Hidden One toward the start of Assassin’s Creed Mirage, he’s scolded by his mentor, Roshan. After asking Basim to make a leap of faith into a pile of leaves, Roshan says it’s clear that Basim’s mind isn’t fully committed. Although Basim is eventually able to overcome this throughout the opening and the entirety of the adventure, Assassin’s Creed Mirage as a whole suffers a similar crisis.
If you’ve ever gotten work done on your car, you might be familiar with the weird feeling that comes with waiting for a tune-up to be finished. You don’t know how long it will take, and all you can do is hope that all of the proper adjustments are being made so it can last for the long haul, whether you’re going on a cross-country road trip or, like me, just hope to keep the car for several more years. That feeling has surrounded the Forza Motorsport series for six years.
Over the past 15 years, comic book fans have been lucky enough to see their favorite superheroes turn into household names thanks in no small part to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and a selection of DC comics adaptations. Though when it comes to video games, only the biggest heroes like Spider-Man and Batman have gotten that same spotlight. That’s changing with Marvel’s Midnight Suns. It’s a strategy RPG that follows both iconic Avengers characters and more obscure supernatural ones as they take on Lilith, Mother of Demons. Players can walk around and mingle with the other heroes between missions, while its turn-based strategy gameplay stands out from Firaxis’ previous titles by putting the focus on card-based abilities.
Where do you take a series once it jumps the shark repeatedly? This is a question the creators of TV shows like Happy Days, The Simpsons, and The Office have asked themselves after years of constant escalation and is a question game developer Volition dealt with while crafting the new Saints Row. The Saints Row series became increasingly ridiculous over time until Saints Row IV capped things off with the addition of superpowers and a DLC set in Hell. While Volition needed to find a way to top itself once again with a reboot featuring a new story, cast, and city, it didn’t. Instead, it settled for making Saints Row perfectly adequate.