Includes PushSquare
Last reviewed: Mina the Hollower · 8 days ago
A referential and joyful deep dive into the world of Batman, the latest LEGO effort from TT Games is elite brick gaming. Legacy of the Dark Knight just wants to be an enjoyable time, and it refuses to falter from that commitment. This new LEGO Batman will be some of the best fun you have all year.
Through utterly superb set-pieces, gorgeous visual design, and an impactful soundtrack, Mixtape crafts one of the most meaningful story games in a long time. It's beautiful to look at, a joy to listen to, and so enjoyable to play - altogether, Mixtape is a sensational achievement.
For what it is, Goat Simulator 3 excels. It's a bigger, crazier sequel to the viral hit, built expressly to satiate anyone's appetite for chaos. It's the epitome of dumb fun; if you want to switch your brain off and just mess around for an hour or so, this is about as lowbrow as it gets, and we mean that as a compliment. There are some serious performance hiccups, and it's certainly not to everyone's tastes. Even if you love it, the novelty will eventually run dry, but if you're able to go along for the ride and lean into its madness, you'll have lots of fun while it lasts.
Having said that, if you're totally new to the game and you're a fan of action RPGs, Ys VIII remains a fantastic island-trekking, monster-mashing experience. One of Falcom's finest.
While many of the included games may border on unplayable from a modern perspective, the painstaking attention to detail in Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration is extremely easy to appreciate. The museum-like carousel of content, from interviews through to original artwork, is presented so handsomely that you can't not get swept up in Atari's dramatic story. And the fact that there over 100 of the company's most famous titles, emulated excellently with their original instruction manuals available to pore over, adds playable context to a lot of the content. This is just an impressive overall experience that will appeal to those who lived through the rise (and fall) of Atari, as well as younger players eager to learn a little more about one of the industry's true pioneers.
The strategy RPG genre owes a lot to the Tactics Ogre franchise, which is filled with lesser titles trying to recreate even a fraction of its winning formula. The experience that lies at the heart of Tactics Ogre: Reborn has stood the test of time admirably and, thanks to the swathe of intelligent tweaks and quality-of-life improvements introduced, will likely remain at the head of the pack for years to come.
Small frustrations aside, Save Room achieves exactly wanted it to do: create a faithful game based on the inventory management of Resident Evil 4. You need to have some love for the feature to get anything out of Save Room, but for those who do, it's an enjoyable enough experience.
Ultimately, with Return to Monkey Island, original creators Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman have not only crafted a loving throwback to a genre they helped popularise, they've also reinvigorated it.
It immediately places itself among the best Sonic games ever made.
Visually, The Entropy Centre can be a bit hit-and-miss. A lot has clearly been put into the visual aspect, but it does often feel like assets are reused over and over. As such, the inside of the facility can often feel a bit stale and samey. The same cannot be said for the outside of the facility, though, where outer space looks incredible and almost picture-perfect.
If only the rest of the game could reach those standards; it's a frustratingly average title that does nothing particularly well nor insultingly bad. The Chant is just very okay, which is probably the most boring route it could take.
God of War Ragnarok is phenomenal. Even amongst PlayStation Studios' typically stellar output it's a showpiece - a masterfully crafted game that smashes expectations at almost every turn. The sheer, often ridiculous scope of Ragnarok makes 2018's God of War feel like a prologue - and that's perhaps the highest praise we can bestow upon a sequel.
All of these unique ideas being presented with updated graphics, performance, and music provide one of the best brick-breaking experiences we've ever had. Between a surprising amount of content and the willingness to try new things and be creative, if you like brick-breakers, this is not one to miss.
Star Ocean: The Divine Force is like a comfortable pair of JRPG slippers. If you're in the mood for a Japanese role playing game and you've played all of the good ones then you can rest assured that this one is fine. It's okay. It's comfort food. You know that feeling when you just wish Netflix would make another season of Mindhunter and so you end up watching Criminal Minds? That. Only in space.
Ultimately, Saturnalia is one unique horror experience where the developer's own use of limited resources combine to create something compelling and unique.
All in all, this is an astoundingly stylish effort from such a small studio. Signalis is riveting in both the construction of its world and the tense survival horror gameplay it executes so well. Don’t overlook it because of its very late last-gen release: rose-engine’s effort has its feet firmly planted in the future.
It's staggering how little has been done with NHL 23 to differentiate it from last year's edition. Bugs that should have long ago been quashed remain, Be A Pro continues to be littered with spelling errors and conversations that make no sense, retirement and championship banners in arenas are as far behind as half a decade, and the list goes on. Despite all that, women being integrated into HUT and desperation plays are welcome improvements, as is the overhaul of rink atmosphere. Ultimately, while NHL 23 isn't a step backward per se, the move forward is so small, so minuscule, that it may as well not have moved at all.