Daniel Perez
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ShackNewsLatest Reviews
After playing every game in the Forza series, I can say without any hesitation that this is, by far, the best Forza game to date. The open-world driving mechanics are seamless, the amount of content is vast, and the social game modes deliver the most variety the series has ever seen. While previous iterations from the Forza Horizon series were used to first introduce and fine tune the open-world mechanic, Forza Horizon 3 feels like the series grand crescendo as all of that work has lead up to the best Forza game I've ever played. I already was a big fan of the Forza series, but Forza Horizon 3 is beyond anything I could have ever imagined for the series and I can’t wait to discover more of its beautiful world.
Headlander proves to be a nice distraction in the midst of the Summer drought season as I enjoyed its humor from start to finish. While its humor helped carry me to the end, the literal disconnect of the character's head from his body turned into a figurative disconnect as its story wasn’t engaging enough. It has some nice Metroidvania moments, although it sputters towards the end to only rely on its color-coded components to keep me out of certain areas, which felt like a cheap way to finish the game.
Unravel's strengths lie more in its heart-warming story than offering compelling gameplay. Even though there are some thought-provoking puzzles, they’re few and far between. There’s no doubt Yarny is quite the adorable little mascot who has good intentions, but a video game can’t succeed on good intentions alone.
LEGO Marvel’s Avengers is what I expected it to be. It combined TT Games’ ability to translate a popular film franchise into a fun and family-friendly experience while also adding some new tricks, such as the stud multiplier and combo attacks. And even though I was quite familiar with the source material, I still couldn’t help but to pay close attention to its story as it was delivered in such a unique and fun package.
For taking a year off to work on this Need for Speed, I was hoping Ghost Games would have given its reboot a more noteworthy return. While Ventura Bay looks good and the game has plenty of missions and side missions to complete, the constant distractions I felt while playing it kept me away from enjoying it as much as I have previous iterations of the franchise. If you’re a long-time fan of the series, you’ll find something to enjoy here, but if this is your first time behind the wheel, you’re going to want sit this one out and check out some of previously-released Need for Speed titles.
Destiny 2.0 is exactly what I wanted the original Destiny experience to be. I wanted to travel the galaxy, complete missions, shoot at different alien species, and get cool gear. I feel liberated from the sour past of Destiny’s gear-heavy Light system, and I feel like I’m enjoying my time with Destiny once again. And with the launch of The Taken King coming in under a week, this is one hell of a time to get hooked on Destiny.
Until Dawn kept me intrigued from start to finish. I came for the campy teen horror movie feel and left extremely impressed with how well rounded and influential an experience Supermassive Games delivered. This is a game that you'll be talking to your friends and colleagues about for years to come as you'll find no two experiences are alike no matter how hard you try.
The Order: 1886 feels like the perfect balance between story, gameplay, and atmosphere as Ready at Dawn has struck gold with its first attempt at an original IP. There may not be much to do after the credits begin to roll, but once they do, you’ll be met with a unique story told within an absolutely gorgeous game.
Unfortunately, Techland is still unable to deliver a story worth telling. I didn’t feel any emotional attachment to any of the characters, nor did I care if they ended up surviving or not. The addition of an overall weapon durability was also something I could have done without as I prefer to cut down my enemies without having to worry whether or not my weapons will disintegrate in my hands.
The Crew has been quite the ambitious undertaking by a completely new development studio as Ivory Tower has offered some interesting ways to play a racing game. The open-world aspect is one I found myself enjoying more often than not as having an entire nation to drive across was thrilling and quite memorable. On the other hand, unfair AI, an online multiplayer that is far from fair, and a spec system that kept me from wanting to experiment out of my comfort zone were just some of a few things that I felt are holding back The Crew from being the next great racing franchise.