
It's cool that Lilith is back but where's my loot?

Last reviewed: Zero Parades: For Dead Spies · 2 months ago

It's cool that Lilith is back but where's my loot?

A gripping finale can’t save a bland cast and shallow writing

Night in the Woods isn't perfect. I'm not perfect. You're not perfect. Life isn't perfect. But as the game itself tries to espouse, if you've got the patience, you may find that there is true beauty in that revelation.

I guess, in the end, it's not just that Breath of the Wild signals that Zelda has finally evolved and moved beyond the structure it's leaned on for so long. It's that the evolution in question has required Nintendo to finally treat its audience like intelligent people. That newfound respect has led to something big, and different, and exciting. But in an open world full of big changes, Breath of the Wild also almost always feels like a Zelda game — and establishes itself as the first current, vital-feeling Zelda in almost 20 years.

For Honor is worth the work you have to put into it

Horizon Zero Dawn feels like a storied developer finally finding its voice

With its inconsequential story and addiction to inane splatter kills, Rebellion's Sniper Elite 4 doesn't subvert expectations. It doesn't have to necessarily: The appeal of shooting digital Nazis may never stagnate, and increasing the scale of each stage means more Nazis to kill and an increased potential for strategy. But a bigger scope makes the inherent problems more visible.

Halo Wars 2 can't stick its landing, but it remains accessible without feeling dumbed down

For better and worse, We Are Chicago dares to spend as much time on life's tinier moments as its most dramatic ones. That balance isn't always maintained successfully: Blunt dialogue often undercuts the power of otherwise understated scenes. But the combination of the two still gave me a broader, better perspective of what life is really like on the South Side.

Team Ninja has taken some big chances here. They don't all pay off, but the ones that do pull together for a game that justifies some of the pain required.

It's hard to know if Resident Evil 7 will stand the test of time as much as classics like the original, or RE4. Taken on its own, however, it's an excellent game that pushes the series in worthy new directions.

Yakuza 0 has heart, despite some significant shortcomings

Gravity Rush 2 manages to land on its feet