Brendan Graeber
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Writing For
IGN Latest Reviews
Fire Emblem: Three Houses succeeds in its ambitious telling of a land at war helmed by captivating leaders, in which no side has all the answers. Its tense battles are made all the more harrowing thanks to new strategy elements, and the colorful cast of troops you send into the fray are incredibly charming. With a new take on training and bonding with your units, and the many activities and options available to sample, it’s absolutely begging to be played multiple times.
The name Kirby Star Allies isn’t just for show. Whether you’re adventuring through Dream Land with up to three friends or playing with competent AI teammates, Kirby’s ever-rotating group of uniquely powered pals are the real stars of the show here. The creative ways you can combine abilities never gets old, which means there’s great potential for replayability especially with friends. I just wish the final boss battle hadn’t come just as the puzzles were starting to give me a challenge.
There’s a lot to love in Nintendo’s second iteration of its quirky shooter, especially the way Splatoon 2 emphasizes splatting the ground just as much as it does inking your opponents. The new additions to its single-player campaign and multiplayer modes are a step in the right direction, but it still has some work to do to make joining online games and voice chat less of a hassle. Still, with an addicting new Salmon Run co-op mode and the promise of free updates like the ones that helped the original Splatoon come into its own, I expect Splatoon 2 to keep me hooked.
Arms’ clever take on boxing provides a simple premise with a startling amount of depth for those who would seek to master the stretching appendages. Its rapidly evolving lobby system had me sticking around for “just one more match.” There may not be a lot worth unlocking right now, but planned free updates may just give Arms some additional legs.
The Painted World of Ariandel presents a land that’s both enticing and dangerous, and there’s plenty of challenges to face even if you won’t have to face them too many times. However, unless you really love dueling in PvP arenas and can find sustained interest there, this adventure may serve as more of an appetizer than a full course meal.
As you level up your driver rank, you’ll gain access crafting better parts, install new reinforced cage parts to show off collectible paint jobs, and even turn your ride into a zombie-killing machine with ram bars, flamethrowers, and mine dispensers. Cooperative play capitalizes on this with the ability to climb in the back of another player's ride to pick off incoming viral zombies with ranged weapons like the new crossbow, which is ideal for quickly picking off bandits and zombies alike with satisfying headshots. Or, you can competitively race with up to three other players.
Blue Fire provides an impeccable platforming experience with the just right balance of abilities to master and challenges to test you, making its bleak and corrupted world a joy to explore. Its Zelda-like dungeon experiences may end a bit too soon before it begins relying on overly familiar backtracking, but it doesn’t dull the fun of dashing around obstacles and fighting enemies alike. And even when the pacing of its main path falters slightly, the irresistible lure of its inventive challenge rooms kept me coming back for more.