God of War's outstanding characters, world, and combat come together to form an unforgettable adventure.
The Last of Us Part 2 is a masterpiece that evolves the gameplay, cinematic storytelling, and rich world design of the original in nearly every way.
Rise of the Tomb Raider hasn’t lost its luster a year after its initial release. Bundled together with all of the content released so far, Lara’s already-packed adventure is now even bigger. And while Playing the new non-combat story mode, Blood Ties, with PlayStation VR was enjoyable (when I was in Comfort Mode, at least), and played normally it’s an interesting character study. The co-op enabled Endurance mode is also a new highlight.. For PS4 players just getting their first opportunity to play Rise of the Tomb Raider, 20 Year Celebration is a complete and amazing package.
Guacamelee 2 is a hilarious, challenging, and rewarding follow-up to Drinkbox's original. It expands on the first's ideas in so many great ways, and marries a complex but understandable set of moves to both its combat and platforming.
Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a fantastic follow-up, telling a wonderful story while improving upon the fundamentals of the first game.
Spider-Man Remastered is the definitive version of one of the best superhero games ever made.
Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart is a fantastic PS5 exclusive showpiece for the console's power, and a delightful adventure in its own right.
Rollerdrome's unexpected blend of skating and shooting is a joy to master, backed by an arresting art design, thumping soundtrack, and a surprisingly layered story.
I don’t have a clear sense of where the season as a whole aims to go just yet, but “Ties That Bind Part I” is one of Telltale’s strongest openers in recent memory. Scenes feel carefully constructed in their camera direction and editing, and Telltale avoids the pitfalls of its most egregious past issues — only one environmental exploration sequence temporarily slows things down — but for the most part the episode moves along at an exceptional clip. But that’s not just thanks to Part I’s style. Smart characterization and writing for Javi and his family, plus the return of Clementine, add weight to a largely unfamiliar but already engaging new frontier that I can’t wait to continue to explore.
Control is set in an engrossingly weird paranormal world that I couldn’t help but explore.
Kingdom Hearts 3 is a fulfilling evolution and resolution of the franchise that shows it's still full of heart.
I wanted Marvel's Spider-Man on PS4 to make me feel like Spider-Man: To sail between the highrises of New York City, to nimbly web up hordes of enemies, and tussle with familiar, animal-themed villains. Insomniac Games' first foray into the world of Marvel handily delivers on all of that. But what I didn't expect from Spider-Man was to come away feeling just as fulfilled to have inhabited the life of Peter Parker. Aside from a few odd pacing issues, which momentarily took me out of the experience of being a superhero, and a world of optional missions that don't always quite live up to the heft of the main story, Insomniac has delivered a Spider-Man story that both surprised and delighted me, coupled with gameplay that made me feel like Spider-Man nearly every step of the way. The Wall Crawler's open world doesn't consistently deliver the thrilling moments of its main campaign, but the foundation laid here is undoubtedly a spectacular one.
Blood & Truth is a great example of what PSVR can accomplish with a fun, engrossing blockbuster story.
I didn't want the Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy to break what wasn't broken. Thankfully, Vicarious Visions clearly didn't want to either, and the studio's reverence for the original maddening yet rewarding challenges that have stood the test of time is clearly on display. On one hand, that leads to the frustrating limitations of the original Crash Bandicoot persisting 20 years later. But it also results in the incredible visual and aural overhaul and the gameplay tweaks to earlier entries, like time trials and crate counters, that Naughty Dog added later in the series. Those additions make the overall package so much more cohesive while never forgetting what made, and what still makes, so much of Naughty Dog's original trilogy a blast to play.
The Spyro Reignited Trilogy recaptures the magic of Spyro's original adventures in one nostalgic package.
Night School's Oxenfree is a charming, hilarious, and insightful comedy that makes Hell a pretty fun place to be.
“From the Gallows” makes good on the gamble of season 3 in shifting focus to a new main character and making me care about Javi as much as I cared for Lee and Clem back in season 1. The fifth episode encompasses both what worked and didn't about A New Frontier — namely, the ideas of allegiance, love, and family for the former and erratic pacing and an inability to make the overarching story of much interest in the latter. But the season finale spends much more time on those successful aspects, capping A New Frontier in satisfying fashion while setting up a potentially exciting continuation down the road.
As a veteran returning to play through the three games of BioShock: The Collection is a pleasure, but it’s a bit disappointing to watch the updates and behind-the-scenes content to each entry gradually decline. The original BioShock receives the greatest overhaul and flourishes with new textures and lighting that bring it almost up to modern standards, and a Ken Levine retrospective, while BioShock Infinite is essentially the PC version Of course the ideas and gameplay presented and executed in all three are as memorable as they were when first released, and anyone who missed them a decade ago should definitely consider rectifying that. If you intend to play one of these fascinating and fun adventures for the first time or the tenth, the BioShock Collection is the best way to go about it.
It’s still a little disconcerting to still not have a clear idea where the season as a whole will be heading, but moment-to-moment, Season 3 of Telltale’s Walking Dead continues to deliver some of the impressive world-building and characterization that made me love the series when it first premiered. I feel a part of Javi and Clementine’s plight, and though I hope the rest of the season can avoid some of the familiar Telltale and Walking Dead formula trappings that Episode 2 fell into and to keep surprising me, I’m still invested in finding out what’s next. Especially with a little more context for the New Frontier revealed, Telltale is starting to better lay out all the logs it has to build a cabin. I just hope the rest of the structure is as strong as the foundation.
I found Boone's quest so fascinating, the Brutale's secrets so alluring, and its world so charming that I rewound the clock just to spend a few more days in Lafcadio's beautiful nightmare.