Showing 1-10 of 44 items
January 1 (24 Hours) 5 out of 5 An extremely high-quality Souls-like, first release from a small independent developer; I thoroughly enjoyed the Witness-like art style, the combat (while limited) was fast and fluid, but really the environments and sense of exploration is where this game shines.
January 7 (7 Hours) 5 out of 5 One of the most polished, responsive, "feel good" platformers I've played in a while. A fantastic soundtrack combined with a honestly heartfelt story about a young girl dealing with her inner demons.
Definitive Edition (Switch) January 12 (60+ Hours) 5 out of 5 Look, I know Musou (Dynasty Warriors) get a bad rap, but I think Hyrule Warriors is the perfect combination of that mindless hack & slash gameplay, but minus the Chinese history that really doesn't interest me. Instead, we've got characters from nearly all Zelda games. This version even includes a little RTS aspect of commanding other heroes - it's phenomenal. There is a staggering amount of content.
January 21 (99 Hours) 3 out of 5 My history with DA:I is rocky - released on the same day at Far Cry 4 and one month before Witcher 3. I purchased Far Cry 4 on the same day as DA:I, played about 30 hours of DA, and then never returned to it - until now. DA:I is a fine, middle-of-the-road western RPG. It is quite beautiful (despite some really terrible character animations), the soundtrack is soaring, and the action (most of the time) is fine. It's just... unremarkable. It's a fine game, but that's kind of all it is? I found it boring and I was happy to be finished with it.
January 27 (18 Hours) 3 out of 5 With Resident Evil 2 Remake coming out, I wanted to take a look at the first Resident Evil Remake. Unfortunately, it's hard to go back. Very limited inventory, constantly loading between rooms, and vague, unclear puzzles made for a difficult run. I could see some of that being removed in a second playthrough, but I'll pass.
January 29 (7 Hours) 5 out of 5 Given that Resident Evil 4 is one of my all-time, favorite games, hearing that Resident Evil 2 was being remade in the same style put so much hype in me. My first two Playstation games back when I was 14 was Resident Evil 2 and Final Fantasy 7. I have a history with Resident Evil 2. We didn't have a memory card and I must've played the first two hours or so repeatedly. This game is amazing and is exactly what I imagined it would be. It is brutal, beautiful, and full of content.
February 8 (16 Hours) 2 out of 5 I've always been a fan of the DMC series, starting back with DMC 1, disliking DMC 2, enjoying DMC 3, and thoroughly enjoying DmC (Ninja Theory's shockingly good reboot). With DMC 5 due in a month, I thought I'd take a look at the gap - DMC 4. Straight up, I dislike Nero. He feels woefully inadequate to Dante (who comes in during the second-half of the campaign). Add to that about 5 hours of content stretched to over 10 hours through backtracking, repeated boss battles (including a really nasty boss rush near the end), and some thoroughly bad voice acting, I can see why this is a low-point for the series.
The Legend of Dead Kel & Teeth of Naros DLC February 10 (46 Hours) 2 out of 5 I enjoyed my initial playthrough of Kingdoms of Amalur. I could see what they were trying to do. When the opportunity to pick up the DLC on the PC for cheap came up, I figured why not. Got my answer. The only two major bits of DLC released for this Single-Player MMO is... pretty lackluster. Both consist of taking a boat to an island, battling through it alone, and then a major boss fight. The combat remains good, the looting is still good. But that's about the end of it.
March 5 (34 Hours) 3 out of 5 I have been a fan of the Tomb Raider series from the very beginning. I've fiddled with the reboots, including thoroughly enjoying the gruesome 2013 "Tomb Raider". When the series went to Siberia for "Rise of the Tomb Raider," I went along. The open-world Uncharted meets Metroidvania really spoke to me and while that game lacked some of the charm of the first, it was still a quality experience. "Shadow of the Tomb Raider", the final chapter of the 2013 trilogy, is a good game. It checks all the boxes for a Tomb Raider, but it lacks coherence in the writing and the setting is beautiful, but incredibly routine. When I finished it, I was glad. I did not feel compelled to return to it.
March 7 (17 Hours) 5 out of 5 Absolutely fantastic. Charming, engaging, and beautiful, a homage to the classic SNES (which I did not enjoy nearly as much when I played it a couple years ago), but brings a host of ideas that would later surface in Breath of the Wild - annotated map, fast travel, and open-world map. Loved it.