Paul Tamburro
This author account hasn't been claimed yet. To claim this account, please contact the outlet owner to request access.
Writing For
Game RevolutionLatest Reviews
Hogwarts Legacy is Harry Potter-flavored comfort food — it is as crowd-pleasing a game as you’re likely to find. It’s ironic, then, that it releases in controversial circumstances, as author J.K. Rowling’s persistent hounding of the trans community casts a dark shadow across the franchise. Legacy has not been unscathed, with there being calls to boycott the RPG so as not to give her more money or relevancy. Amid this ongoing debate — or perhaps because of it — Avalanche Software’s take on the Wizarding World is so plainly benign and forgettable that, if you didn’t know about Rowling’s history, you couldn’t possibly guess that this is a controversial release.
Overwatch 2 is a weird sequel. Game developers almost exclusively want to go bigger and better with their follow-ups, but that distinctly isn’t the cast here. Blizzard has decided to scale things back to 5 vs 5 bouts over 6 vs 6, has only included three brand new characters, and has added just a smattering of new maps. It’s a controversial move and one that would be an incredibly tough sell if this was a full-priced game. But that’s the thing — Overwatch 2 isn’t a full-priced game.
Has a game ever had a better selling point than “you play as a cat”? But Stray doesn’t just let you take control of a character who looks like a cat — it authentically replicates the dexterity and adorableness of one, too. As you nimbly explore its cyberpunk city from his unique point-of-view, you’ll meow, you’ll lovingly cuddle up against NPCs, and you’ll occasionally get your head stuck in a paper bag. It’s all very cute — that is until the alien headcrabs latch onto your furry skull and suffocate you to death.
That LEGO video games have proven so popular in the Star Wars space is a feat that is rarely given enough praise. LEGO’s games are all about poking fun at their subject matter; Star Wars is a series where, if you criticize a background character who showed up for 30 seconds in Return of the Jedi, some corner of the internet will start a harassment campaign against you. Many Star Wars fans treat the series with a level of reverence that it perhaps doesn’t deserve, considering some of the nonsense it has thrown up — Jar-Jar Binks, Anakin’s hatred of sand, the entirety of The Rise of Skywalker. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga doesn’t shy away from the series’ low points, making this a celebration of all facets of this disjointed franchise, not just its best bits.
The horror of watching Kirby’s mouth contort over the chassis of a car cannot be overstated. We’ve watched the carnivorous pink puffball consume things many times his size before, but this is pushed to the extreme in Kirby and the Forgotten Land. The latest Nintendo Switch exclusive, Forgotten Land uses body horror as a mechanic; developer HAL Laboratory calls it ‘Mouthful Mode.’ And there are many mouthfuls to be had for Kirbz in his proper 3D platforming debut, from vending machines, to supply containers, to entire sets of stairs. Fortunately, while the mascot’s appetite may be insatiable, this new adventure is more than satisfying, and it neither sucks nor blows. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Gran Turismo 7 marks the series’ 25th anniversary, and this long-awaited PS5 sequel is both a celebration of Polyphony Digital’s trailblazing GT franchise and of racing in general. The Tokyo-based studio’s love of cars is infectious; I wish I could love anything as much as they clearly love sitting behind the wheel. If this isn’t immediately evident from its lengthy, historical opening cinematic, then it most certainly is when you hit the tarmac, the intricacies of each car’s handling authentically replicated across its shockingly photo-realistic tracks.
In the past two OlliOlli games, an engrossing gameplay loop of combo-ing impossibly long grinds and improbably extreme tricks was teamed with jarringly drab visuals. Looks aren’t everything, but with its low-rent pixel art, an otherwise stellar series struggled to stand out. With OlliOlli World, developer Roll7 has finally settled on an art style that works — so now we have Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater crossed with Adventure Time.
No game has been more emblematic of Microsoft’s shift in priorities post-Game Pass than Halo Infinite. Its free-to-play multiplayer launched ahead of its planned release date, with 343 Industries providing the full experience — albeit in beta form — in November. Now, its long-awaited single-player campaign is gearing up for launch, with it headed to Game Pass as a wholly separate component. This untraditional release highlights the good, the bad, and the ugly of games launching through the Game Pass service, as while Halo Infinite truly feels like the start of something special for 343 Industries — the developer has stated that Infinite is a decade-long platform for Halo — it’s also been left unfinished by design.
Forza Horizon 5 is a perfect marriage of the series’ best ideas so far, neatly planted in its most exciting and diverse location yet. For returning Forza players, there’s a combination of both major and subtle changes, from the fantastic improvements to car sounds to the intense dynamic weather options such as tropical storms and sandstorms. For new players, its once overwhelming litany of menus and activities have been streamlined, with easy-to-understand progression making it the most accessible Horizon entry yet.
FIFA 22 has been in my PS5 library for a week now, giving me time with a good chunk of its single-player and multiplayer offerings including Ultimate Team, Pro Clubs, and its Career mode. However, after struggling to find players for its improved Volta street football mode, thus being unable to experience the extent of the changes made to one of the series’ newest additions, I’m not able to yet give our final scored verdict of EA’s latest football sim. Still, despite Volta clearly not being the most popular mode right out of the gate, the rest of this package is shaping up to feature some of FIFA’s finest on-the-pitch footwork yet, even if it isn’t exactly a giant leap forward for the series.