Jason Fanelli
Kirby: Triple Deluxe has taught me to be careful what I wish for, because I may just get it.
Valiant Hearts: The Great War is a fantastic tale grounded deep in actual and awful history, history the game has no problem sharing with you as you play.
An updated release of an older game must always be met with caution, but Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty somehow manages to meld the ideas of yesterday with the visual power of today to create a wonderful return for Abe and his Oddworld. It's not completely 1998-proof, but if anything those foibles will just remind you of the good old days of wanting to hear your freakin' hair out after screwing up that jump for the fifty-fifth time. Ah, memories.
Madden NFL 15 promises full NFL authenticity, but in practice asks us to meet it halfway. There's a lot of great improvements. and the uncanny valley of NFL simulation is in site, but there's a lot more work to be done. It may not fully be the revolution EA Tiburon says it is, but Madden NFL 15 is still a really fun way to get your football game fix. Even after 26 years, Madden still impresses.
The Walking Dead meets pinball. I'm still not completely sure how this seems to work, but I can't stop playing it over and over.
After playing Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, I realized that the lengthy title is actually perfect. This is a cross-over by definition, but the game plays like the Layton sections and the Ace Attorney sections were made separately and mashed together. Instead of a perfect fusion like Gogeta from Dragon Ball Z, it's more like Janus from Roman mythology, having two very different faces looking in different directions.
The hardened NHL fan looks past visual achievements, and finds a hollow experience devoid of some of the depth that made NHL 14 so good.
D4 is completely bonkers, with a cast of characters that range from the mundane to the downright strange and more twists than a M. Night Shyamalan film.
Super Smash Bros. is a must-buy for anyone who owns a 3DS and who has ever cared about anything Nintendo ever.
For someone who never had a chance to live the basketball life and never will, NBA 2K15 is a very welcome addition to my shelf.
Bayonetta 2 is the perfect game for people who just want to sit down, take up a controller, and beat the ever-living snot out of enemies for hours at a time.
Fantasia: Music Evolved is wonderful, colorful, musical fun, both intoxicating and empowering in its approach.
Sunset Overdrive is a lot of things, but most importantly, it's a ton of fun no matter how you choose to play.
What was intended as a nostalgia trip has also become a blueprint for how remastering games ought to be done.
The WWE barges its way onto the PS4 with WWE 2K15, which isn't the most perfect wrestling game ever invented, but certainly lays the groundwork for future installments. This game brings the look and feel of being in the arena watching top names do battle right to the home, and wrestling fans will marvel at the level of details in each characters' model. I wasn't sure how WWE was going to hold up during its first year in the current gen world, but 2K15 builds a nice foundation for wrestling fans, visual artists, and game players alike. The champ is now here, and the only way to continue is up.
As a seasoned veteran of the series from the very beginning, believe me when I tell you that Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is the pinnacle of Smash.
Guilty Gear Xrd does everything it can to bring in sheltered fighting fans like myself while also maintaining the depth that made longtime fans swoon.
I do really enjoy playing Paper Jam. It's silly, it's challenging, and it's everything I remember SMRPG being all those years ago.
I was excited for Citizens of Earth, and I marked it down as the first 2015 release I wanted to sink my teeth into. What I bit off left a bad taste in my mouth.
I now understand why this franchise has so many die-hard fans, and I get why hundreds of hours are spent roaming the hills and deserts looking for new prey.