Latest Reviews
Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes is a low point for the action franchise. While each of the game worlds try to introduce new mechanics, they all devolve into predictable fights with waves of bland enemies. Slicing through them with the Beam Katana isn’t as satisfying as before because of...
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is a broadly approachable and feature-rich platforming game. Toadette is a welcome addition to the roster for those after a more forgiving way to tackle some of the more challenging levels, and the inclusion of the New Super Luigi U mode extends its lifespan...
Insurgency: Sandstorm isn’t the prettiest shooter of 2018, but the places where it excels are the places that matter most. Its gunplay is superb, its arsenal is exemplary, and the maps and modes are serviceable enough to facilitate its memorably frantic and immersive FPS combat.
Below
I wanted to love Below for its amazing art, stellar sound design with echoing chambers and atmospheric music, and clever, inspired environmental storytelling. But their light isn’t bright enough to shine through all the darkness of the hunger, instant death, and corpse run mechanics, which actively get in the way...
Gris
Gris is, at times, a meditative, affecting exploration of complex emotions that uses its levels as a canvas for some of the most beautiful visual design in any platformer, backed by a fantastic score. At others, it’s a maddeningly simple and confusing game that lets its artistic ambitions run roughshod...
Artifact
Artifact is a challenging, deep, and surprisingly approachable card game that breaks many of the conventions I’ve come to expect from the genre. That mechanical bliss is complemented by countless Easter eggs and detailed lore, but I am starting to miss a more meaningful progression system to keep me engaged...
It only took me a couple of good sessions to play through everything Katamari Damacy Reroll had to offer, but the vast majority of those six or seven hours was spent with an enormous grin on my face, my head nodding along to the incredibly catchy, eclectic score. Katamari Damacy...
Ashen
Ashen takes liberally from Dark Souls when it comes to combat and progression, but it’s a very good take on the formula that delivers satisfying, strategic combat and progression that rewards careful play. Thanks to a gorgeous, varied open world and neat, passive cooperative features, Ashen comes into its own...
Even after 60 hours of bug hunting with a huge assortment of weapons and abilities, the mass bug-slaughter that EDF 5 does well is deliciously unique and keeps me coming back. It looks and feels like a throwback to a simpler age of gaming and and suffers from some unpolished...
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate lives up to its name, offering the most comprehensive game in the series to date. It has an absurd amount to play, fight, and unlock – though that can be to its detriment at times. While the World of Light adventure mode isn’t reason alone to...
By blending real-time stealth with tried-and-true tactics gameplay, Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden breaks exciting new ground for the turn-based strategy game. Even with some mechanics that don’t mesh perfectly with the gameplay, it teases your brain in interesting, insightful ways.
Just Cause 4
Just Cause 4 has everything you expect from a Just Cause game, almost to a fault. Relative to Just Cause 3 the improvements are widespread across its beautiful open world, but generally minor. So while blowing up yet another dictator’s army is the same kind of mindless explosive fun and...
