Edie W-K
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Checkpoint GamingLatest Reviews
For as long as Assassin’s Creed established its custom of setting each new title in a new country and era, fans have begged Ubisoft to bring the series to Japan. It’s surprising it took them so long, but now we finally have it: Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Personally, I’ve skipped the last couple of AC games owing to their focus on action RPG mechanics, which has been a smash hit with the majority of people but has left fans of the first few ACs a bit wanting. Assassin’s Creed Shadows ...
There is something so special about playing a game that feels comfortingly familiar, but wonderfully new at the same time. I don’t think I’m alone in that, given the recent prevalence of retro-inspired games. We’ve seen the NES-likes, the SNES-likes, and the PS2-likes, but Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog is the first game I’ve seen that rewinds the clock back to the PC-9800, a series of computers popular in Japan around 1980-1990.
You could call Donkey Kong Country Returns HD a sort of definitive edition. It brings with it the levels and features that were added to the 3DS version as well as the graphical upgrades you’d expect, though the main purpose of this release is obviously just to bring Donkey Kong’s triumphant revival to join the Switch’s library of games. The game is still excellent after all these years, even if its sequel, Tropical Freeze, was released on the console years ago. For those fans who haven...
A game doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel to be an excellent title. In fact, sometimes what we want from a game is something completely familiar, something comfy that we can throw ourselves into and know exactly what to expect. Loco Motive gives us exactly that in this pixel-art point-and-click comedic adventure that harkens back to both Agatha Christie mysteries and LucasArts adventure games.
Sonic X Shadow Generations seems targeted specifically to fans like me, and not just because “Sonic X Shadow” is a term I’ve been intimately familiar with since the age of 13. If Sonic Generations is a celebration of the long history of the blue blur, then the added “Shadow Generations” content celebrates the slightly-less-long history of his rival, and Sonic Team has smashed it out of the park. Shadow’s stages improve on Generations’ level design and extra challenges to make th...
Super Mario Party Jamboree is yet another well-polished, crowd-pleasing, multiplayer game starring Mario and all his friends and rivals, jam-packed with party boards, minigames, and extra modes. It adds a bit more chaos back into the mix, which we love to see, and even a whole new way to party: Pro Rules! Yet despite its inarguable quality, it feels a little too similar to the previous two titles to get my enthusiasm sky-high.
As the first new expansion after the final chapter of the Ascians, Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail had a tough act to follow. What stakes could Dawntrail possibly have compared to Endwalker, or even Shadowbringers before it? The trailer for the expansion seems to embrace this, billing itself as a well-deserved vacation of sorts from the end-of-day scenarios the warrior of light is used to settling. And despite some frustrations with its overall narrative, I’m enjoying my vacation in sunny Tural.
There’s a reason Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door for Nintendo Switch doesn’t come with a fancy remix title like Redux or Deluxe. Rather than completely remaking this GameCube classic, Nintendo has improved upon it with a deft touch, making this release the definitive way to play the game; you’ll never need the GameCube version again. Sadly, this release doesn’t come with any new extra content for those who have already played the original as Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury ...
Tales of Kenzera: ZAU is the debut project of Surgent Studios, a multimedia studio created by Abubakar Salim, who voiced protagonist Bayek in Assassin’s Creed Origins. The titular Zau is a young shaman who journeys through a short but tight Metroidvania world to return his beloved dad (‘baba‘) from the land of death. Inspired by Salim’s own journey of grief stemming from the death of his father from cancer, the game offers a rare portrayal of genuine African mythology, traditions, an...
In a weird way, Unicorn Overlord is the polar opposite of Vanillaware’s previous title, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim. I found 13 Sentinels to be a stand-out, phenomenal and unique sci-fi story, with adequate but simple tactical gameplay. It’s as if they decided that their next title must be its inverse: a complex tactical game with plenty of opportunities to optimise battles, justified by a fantasy tale that’s a little paint-by-numbers. Despite this, Unicorn Overlord maintains the high quali...