A very powerful experience, which can be completed in less than three hours but capable of burning itself into your eyes and mind.

Final Fantasy 7 The First Soldier is not the battle royale that will upset the equilibrium of the market or will surpass the industry champions such as COD Warzone and Fortnite Chapter 2, but it is a product that, without particular pretensions, offers a gameplay that is all in all enjoyable and immediate. If you are a fan of the seventh chapter of the Square Enix series and do not disdain the battle royale, The First Soldier would at least deserve a try to explore Midgard in a different context from what you are used to. And who knows, maybe you will also have fun picking up every single quote posted by the development team in the various corners of the map. On the other hand, those who are not a die-hard Final Fantasy fan might in any case find a product a little distant from the usual battle royale and which, compared to the competition, offers a lighter gaming experience and less devoted to unbridled competition. In short, a game that fulfills its duty for a few games in the name of lightheartedness.

Battlefield 2042 immediately shows enormous potential, fueled by a playful structure that hosts very thick modes and truly promising innovations. Unfortunately, DICE's latest work is also one of the most disorganized chapters of the series, as spectacular as it is strewn with imbalances and lightness, which affect the choral rendering of an offer that still fails to give the best of itself.

Unique remakes of their kind, which find all their strengths and weaknesses in the morbid attachment to the past.

Unique remakes of their kind, which find all their strengths and weaknesses in the morbid attachment to the past.

The first polygonal trilogy of GTA is back on the shelves with a definitive edition that struggles to hide the results of a gestation that is perhaps all too fast, a matrix of remasters that would undoubtedly have deserved greater attention in the polishing phase. Although the three titles in the package showcase valuable technical interventions, as well as a good assortment of playful revisions, the result of the modernization process put in place by Grove Street Games stops at sufficiency. This is because the collection shows qualitative fluctuations on almost all fronts, which in some cases significantly affect the enjoyment of the experience. However, the new version of the GTA Trilogy proves to be able to offer fans hours and hours of nostalgic "juggling", as long as they are able to overlook the obvious rough edges in the offer.

Inscryption is a damn fun card game: a roguelite, a puzzle game and a story with horror tinges, and all of this is barely enough to describe what on balance are only the first hours of the experience. It is the consecration of Daniel Mullins and his idea of the code as a sentient and malignant entity that turns against the user, upsetting his role and his relationship with the game. A card game with a punk soul, developed by a developer with a punk soul and distributed by punks who have made subversive indie their trademark. An absolute triumph.

Given the redundancy of activities and the lack of variety of situations, Insanity will offer a good amount of hours of play only to those who will be moved by the desire to improve their records or to those players dedicated to completism. All the others will find themselves in front of a more compelling experience on the artistic side than on the strictly playful one. Anyone who has experienced Jason's epic in Far Cry 3, however, will certainly have an added incentive to explore Vaas' insane mind.

Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One is a pleasant tale of origins and investigation, which continues the extremely intimate and introspective approach of Frogwares towards the character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The game often stumbles upon the narrative errors of its predecessor, not delving sufficiently into some crucial ideas in the epilogue of the adventure. The meticulous management of clues, deductions and exploration linked to the cases to be solved makes the work a satisfying product for fans of the famous English investigator, as long as you turn a blind eye to a graphic sector that at times is somewhat obsolete.

The game offers numerous extra modes, including challenges and skirmishes, in addition to the already substantial campaigns, so, strictly solo, you will also have fun on consoles.

In looking for a way to compose a product suitable for children, Microids seems to have lost sight of what it really takes to convey a bit of fun pad to hand. The Smurfs: Felleaf Mission does not go beyond the dignified platform game accessible to all, but lacks bite due to its substantial inability to produce content that really manages to stimulate action and exploration, the two pillars of this playful formula “Sunshine-like”. Sorry for Peyo's art, but in the platform market aimed at the very young it is easy to find better.

Ultimately, Bloodshore is a title capable of offering some gasp of nostalgia to fans of the old FMV productions, with a proposal that is anything but memorable.

The formula of the DLC is perfect for its playful potential.

Bright Memory Infinite is not without flaws, but thanks to the use of a fast and intuitive combat system it keeps the player glued to the screen for the two hours it takes to reach the end credits. To make the offer even more attractive is the method of distribution of the game, which can be downloaded at no additional cost by all owners of Bright Memory (who will find Infinite in the library starting from 12 November 2021). Furthermore, if you have not yet purchased the title, know that its price on the Valve platform is really negligible: only 8.19 euros. An element that cannot be ignored in the evaluation, which perfectly counterbalances the poor longevity of the adventure and a few too many edges.

Compared to the original, Blue Reflection: Second Light undoubtedly represents a big step forward for the boys of Gust, who have once again synthesized an exciting and frenetic playful formula. However, the progress made on the gameplay front and the unexpected introduction of a more traditional growth system are again offset by an uninspiring tale, sleepy and repetitive side activities, and a technical system that is dated even by last year's standards. console generation. The road to obtain redemption is therefore still long, but it would seem that the majokko of the house Gust and Koei Tecmo have at least taken the right path.

Call of Duty Vanguard is a particular episode, a collage of experiences that do not all have the same inspiration and quality. There is a very effective but not very original PvP, a short and breathless campaign, a Zombie mode that is almost a reward, with the promise of progressively growing. Depending on your needs, then decide whether or not to approach this year's chapter: if you like the cooperative experience against hordes of undead, you will probably just need a little patience.

Accompanied by wonderful pixel art and a soothing soundtrack, Unpacking rises from being a simple moving puzzle game to becoming a manifesto on environmental narrative, capable of teaching school for its incredible effectiveness.

Just Dance 2022 is a dance without a revolution, but what a dance, ladies and gentlemen. Strengthened by a sensational line-up that ranges from the old glories of the past to the new stars of the present (even virtual ones), the last chapter of the series focuses on the quality of the selected pieces and on choreographies of indisputable specific weight. The various levels of difficulty ensure an experience within everyone's reach.

The feeling is that Sports Interactive wanted to perfect everything that was already working, trying to put a nice patch on what was wrong and postponing the innovations / revolutions to the post pandemic. It remains, however, the best football managerial simulation on the planet.

With its breathtaking battles, and the disorienting architecture of its Beyond, it enters the Olympus of the best titles for the Nintendo Switch.

Forza Horizon 5 is the pinnacle of the Playground Games series and is the new king of open world courses. To oust such a noble predecessor was not easy but the Leamington boys have further embellished the playful recipe and made the progression in Horizon Adventure clearer. In addition to the splendid expeditions around Mexico, the arrival of 360-degree editors such as Event Lab will allow the community to create wonders and expand a basic offer with few equals, both in terms of quantity and quality. Hypercars of all brands are even more enjoyable to drive and the audiovisual presentation goes to great lengths to strive for the full next-gen. While waiting to know what the future holds for us as a flagship team of the Xbox family, we can finally enjoy this monumental experience.

Riders Republic is on balance a Steep on steroids. The latest effort of Ubisoft Annecy is a huge playground available to the player and in which it is possible to have fun both in a carefree and in a more serious way thanks to the total freedom of approach and the countless customizations of the control system. If you are willing to overcome a few minor gameplay problems for certain types of activities, which would need some extra filing, and some technical fluctuations, Riders Republic will be able to offer you an unprecedented amount of hours of fun, thank you. also to the intention of the developers to support the product both through paid updates and new completely free content.

A general repetitiveness of the action and an invasive backtracking often make it difficult to continue in the adventure, also penalized by a questionable monetary resource management system that risks compromising the progression in the adventure if not carefully calculated.

Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars is a great wasted opportunity: a triumph of playing cards accompanied by a wonderful soundtrack and a wonderful atmosphere, which however does not have time to breathe and arrives too quickly to the credits , without expanding your own story. An experiment which from the aesthetic point of view is an absolute success but which becomes too repetitive in playful terms and not very interesting in a narrative key.

NHL 22 finally brings the series to the next-gen: the beginning is encouraging but we are still far from the magnificence that had characterized the EA series for long periods in its first thirty years of life.

If Super Mario Party chose to embark on the path of timid "next-gen" evolution, Mario Party Superstars takes the opposite, yet complementary, path of amarcord traditionalism. The result is a celebratory episode of exquisite workmanship, a reasoned selection of some of the most representative tables and minigames of what the franchise has been in its abundant twenty years of existence. Old, solid substance that is reborn with a completely new aspect, whose charm does not lie only in the aesthetics; among the details of a gameplay that is finally customizable and unprecedented opportunities for the multiplayer experience, Superstars is, even from a formal point of view, one of the most interesting and welcoming Mario Parties ever. A party of Mario who, remembering his own story, knows exactly how to be remembered.

Two very acidic, bloody and emotionally powerful hours, full of symbolism and meanings, which should possibly be experienced in a single, distressing session. Good night and sweet dreams.

Ultimately, the revival of Maiden of Black Water on modern hardware is a welcome operation but which is partly a wasted opportunity. The remaster will allow fans of the genre to rediscover an interesting experiment among survival horror, but greater care in realization would have made the last episode of Project Zero usable by a much wider audience. Despite the years that have passed since the first release and the absence of the technical limits imposed by exclusivity on Wii U, no additional effort has been made to improve a title with not properly refined mechanics. If over the years the Project Zero series has struggled to renew itself and has gradually crystallized into an aging playful formula, this new edition does nothing to remove Maiden of Black Water from the ancient spectrum of its roots.