Nine Sols will test you, but the atmosphere is stunning, the combat is thrilling, and the story is a fascinating mix of mysticism and sci-fi — so you'll meet the challenge happily. This is the best Metroidvania out there right now. Don't miss it.
It can't decide if it wants to be an RTS or a platformer, so both areas feel like they're not achieving their full potential. The presentation is gorgeous and it's enjoyable thinking about the smaller creatures in our world differently, but Empire of the Ants tries to be too much at once. The multiplayer is fun for a time, but lacks the depth seasoned strategy players want. A focus on either the story or RTS would have helped a lot.
The tactical aspect of the game is also finicky. You can give your four squadmates orders, but only within a short radius of yourself, limiting their potential. Your choice is a map that doesn’t pause the action and is therefore useless in a fight, or a quick menu that takes up most of the screen and isn’t very quick, also making it a burden in fights. The first-person view is neat, and the ability to take control of your squadmate's mechs is novel, but these features aren't enough to shake the feeling your time would be better spent playing XCOM.
The whole aesthetic of the missions and the menus is retro PS3 at its best, but unfortunately the game's performance tanks when too many bugs are on screen, which is most of the time. Still, clambering over their corpses as the bodies pile up and making a final dash toward the extraction is a blast, and if you're a fan of Helldivers, this is a solid evolution of the genre and well worth your time.
Throne and Liberty is an ongoing game, so the story could become more fleshed out, the mechanics you use to interact with the world could become more nuanced, and the technical issues could be fixed. But as it all stands now, it's just an okay way to dip your toe into a relatively console-friendly MMORPG that doesn't demand endless amounts of your time for you to enjoy - although there are better games to play with your precious hours. If you're looking for something deeper than that, though, you won't find it here.
Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown is an absolutely phenomenal driving experience when it works. Each car is unique and you spend so much time with them that you form a real bond with your machines. Races are hard-fought and the neon streets of Hong Kong Island fun enough to explore in free roam. Unfortunately, a variety of technical issues hamper the experience, and the lifestyle elements and overall atmosphere of Hong Kong Island leave much to be desired. This is an ongoing, live service game with many seasons planned, so hopefully a lot of these issues can be ironed out. Until then, though, it's still a pleasure to drive around in your favourite car, just soaking up the road.
In White Day 2: The Flower That Tells Lies, you step into the shoes of Korean high-schoolers as they investigate the cause of a fire. The puzzles are challenging and the web of mystery surrounding everything is intriguing, but a lack of direction and several technical issues make the game more frustrating than scary.
Overall, Star Wars: Bounty Hunter missed an opportunity to add much-needed polish, but if you want to revisit a childhood classic, you’ll be happy with this faithful remaster.
Destiny is grindy, but it has an immensely satisfying gameplay loop and a rich story. Outriders doesn't have the best plot or visuals, but each class has a wide variety of powers that synergise brilliantly, meaning each build is unique to how you want to play and combat is worthwhile for its own sake. The First Descendant has the stand-out Colossi battles, but everything leading up to them is so mind-numbingly tedious that they don't justify the time or monetary investment you'd need to spend to enjoy them. It's the gaming equivalent of playing with a fidget spinner while on a Discord call - something to keep your hands occupied while you catch up. It's a game designed to get you to pay to skip it, not play it, so what's the point of it?
Most disappointing is the lack of clown comedy. Their shoes squeak when they walk and there are some jokey lines of dialogue, but no hilarious kills. As a human, sometimes a funny cutscene will play when you die, but that doesn't translate to combat. There’s no clown cars or circus tricks, no killer klown spaceship to fight in. Just rural, small town American levels littered with guns and melee weapons. Without the film’s silliness, there’s little reason to play Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game over other popular asymmetric horror titles.