UnMetal is one of those games that start without a real reason and end at all costs. It is not a masterpiece, mind you, but a very good game to have some good laughs in front of dialogues that are a mix of absurdity and pure idiocy. UnMetal is a tribute from start to finish to the Metal Gear series: more than the typical action hero, Jesse Fox looks like the slightly crazy clone of Snake. For those looking for something fun to play and for all retrogaming lovers, UnMetal is a mouth of fresh air in a videogame landscape that takes itself a little too seriously.

The Crysis Remastered Trilogy allows you to relive a product that at the time had pioneering traits for the industry and that perhaps for this very reason still had ample room for improvement. While at times returning an impression of a brake on, the story remains enjoyable and the approach chosen allows you to relive an experience updated to the parameters of current consoles.

The Good Life is a product plagued by major problems on the playful and structural side. A title extremely lacking from a technical point of view, which brings to the screen a series of decidedly questionable game design choices, at the basis of an adventure that, while trying to tell a story in its own way mature, often ends in boredom and struggles to support the player's interest.

From the very first moment, Back 4 Blood unmistakably shows all the signs of the heavy legacy it carries on its shoulders. By playing on the lowest difficulty, in fact, the offer is substantially in line with the Left 4 Dead canons, appropriately updated and enriched with a greater variety of play. However, when you find yourself taking up arms in the most "hardcore" modes (a physiological stage in a title like this), you cannot help but appreciate the innovations introduced in terms of progression and the merits of the Card System developed by Turtle Rock Studio, which greatly increase the tactical depth of the gameplay and the cooperative dynamics underlying the experience. Back 4 Blood is certainly not a perfect title, but overall the Californian team's proposal is effective and well thought out. It goes without saying that to fully enjoy it you will necessarily have to find suitable companions, but we can assure you that the game is worth the candle.

Lemnis Gate is perhaps one of the most interesting independent games of recent times and is the only one to have been able to propose a truly innovative concept in the field of first-person shooters. Unfortunately, the genius of the idea on which it was built is not adequately supported by an up-to-date technical and artistic sector and this makes the product only half successful. In any case, it is impossible not to turn a blind eye to some technical issues, also because the title is not only included in the Xbox Game Pass catalog for PC and consoles, but is also sold at a negligible price, since it can be added to your digital library for just over 16 euros.

An excellent opportunity to rediscover one of the most popular stages of Remedy's journey in the industry, waiting for the developer to enlighten us on the future of its intriguing shared universe.

In short, it remains a recommended purchase for the nostalgic of the Konami series and for those who love the Metroidvania genre.

Metroid Dread is an experience that is at times deeply enjoyable and yet imperfect at the same time. MercurySteam certainly did not lack the courage to take risks, proposing new ideas, exceptional dynamism and surprising horror veins: elements that fit coherently within a winning formula, tested over the last thirty-five years. A few too many smudges - probably the result of a production not up to the height of Nintendo's heavyweights - however, end up making the whole thing miss: with some extra ideas, less repetition and a little more character in artistic terms, the result could have been be different and even more rounded. However, it is always fascinating to find Samus on our screens, in a franchise that deserves more than it usually gets (starting with the Big N).

Vast and long-lived, Far Cry 6 is an open world where quantity is king: there are lots of playful ideas, and lots of customization possibilities, but often one gets the impression that Ubisoft tries at all costs to never end the battle of the guerrillas, even sacrificing the refinement of the game mechanics on the altar of accumulation. Far Cry 6 is therefore a fluctuating production: moments of high narrative involvement are accompanied by others of stasis, while the gameplay oscillates between good ideas and some uncertainty in the shooting phases and in artificial intelligence. It amuses and entertains, yet it does not overwhelm, nor exalt. It remains true that at times it still manages to make us perceive the penetrating smell of the revolution, one that smells of blood, tobacco and freedom.

Deck Nine knows how to make the most of its characters, and in that sense the Life is Strange: True Colors DLC doesn't disappoint. Steph's story is quite emotionally intense and will appeal to fans of the first chapter of the series especially, but it stumbles on the playful front. In about two and a half hours of duration, in fact, the expansion reiterates some game mechanics too much, making them monotonous and not very varied. An additional content that remains a welcome and exciting tribute to the protagonists of the first LIS, and that at the same time is effectively linked to the incipit of True Colors, from which however we also expected something more.

BPM: Bullets per Minute responds to that nostalgia that all lovers of rhythmic games have long cherished, placing itself - with an exuberant, but thoughtful combination of solutions - halfway between a first-person shooter and a roguelike.

It wasn't clear before release what Jett: The Far Shore wanted to be, which was as alien as its setting. Unfortunately it is not even now. It is a not at all veiled reference to the intuitions of No Man's Sky, but having adapted that playful structure to a narrative that exists and also has not indifferent apexes. The problem is almost entirely in the gameplay, which together with unresponsive controls transforms even the simplest of activities into a grueling struggle with the game system. A real shame, unfortunately, since the game was intended as a placid and relaxing experience.

Lake amazes for its coherence and compactness, for its essential and at the same time deep and melancholy nature.

ActRaiser Renaissance is an excellent remake that manages, not without some slips, to update a playful formula that over the years has not found convincing re-propositions. When Renaissance stays true to the source material, Sonic Powered's work is able to achieve excellent results, but it is when it deviates from the traced path that something starts to go wrong. Although all the gameplay additions, especially in managerial moments, are appreciable and well structured, what is missing is that perfect cohesion between apparently unapproachable elements that made ActRaiser a masterpiece of the 90s. In any case, Renaissance remains a successful experiment, able to awaken the attention of long-time players and also attract those who, for personal reasons, have never been able to try the original on SNES.

Impostor Factory teases and deceives, involves and strangles. It doesn't have the destabilizing power of To The Moon, nor the brain balance of Finding Paradise, but that's okay.

Despite the twenty years on the monkey shoulders, the first Super Monkey Balls remain puzzle video games of superfine quality, albeit tough on the verge of sacrilegious imprecation. Retrogaming aside, Banana Mania is undoubtedly the best way to experience its spinning gameplay recipe, now also open to welcoming any newbies thanks to the introduction of some optional "assist controls". The picture closes with a wealth of content that not many other remasters can boast, although part of the secondary offer, in terms of accessibility, is essentially for a select few. Stuff to spin the ... balls.

Overall, however, we can only be satisfied with the outcome of the nostalgia operation implemented by Blizzard, which will once again trap fans in an endless cycle of fights to the death and unbridled looting.

The technical limits of Nintendo Switch are well known, yet Kakarot's aura expands from second to second even on the hybrid machine of the Kyoko House, which in spite of the predictions has in fact been able to guarantee us an always fluid experience and a shot of ' remarkable eye.

Hot wheels Unleashed is, in some respects, a brilliant arcade driving video game. Simple, immediate, fun and just enough adrenaline, supported by an excellent technical department and which offers one of the best circuit editors that have been seen in recent years. However, it is not explained how such a well-made title can be inserted in such a cumbersome and counterintuitive menu system, in addition to the fact that in the face of an excellent interpretation of the Hot Wheels brand on an aesthetic level, it contradicts itself so evidently with the its management of the lootboxes, the underlying mechanics of the title that has influenced its internal balance in a way that is at least questionable.

The EA Sports revolution comes to life in FIFA 22 for next gen, but in our opinion we are facing a starting point and certainly not a goal for Canadian football. The innovations guaranteed by Hypermotion Technology, a real pillar of this year's offer, give the scenic impact and gameplay a realism that is unprecedented for the series. Unfortunately, the refinement in the animations and the artificial intelligence tricks clash with the idea of ​​football that Electronic Arts has been repeating for a decade now: spectacular and frenetic, but too fast and not very inclined to strategy. In addition to the technical improvements, there is a content offer that has never been so rich and complex, but in large part a little too anchored to the past. In short, FIFA is heading towards excellence again without fully achieving it: it begins to transform its beating heart, but not its own head. And for a champion to become a champion, it is necessary to have both.

A forgettable shooter.

The obvious flaws of Sable eliminate the possibility of presenting all these ideas in a coherent and engaging adventure from start to finish. The open structure of the narrative and gameplay, however, allow to calibrate the overall experience on the user's desire to immerse themselves in a story that is as fascinating as it is imperfect.

Death Stranding makes its debut on PlayStation 5 with a Director's Cut which, while offering players a good dose of unreleased content, does not significantly alter the quality balance of Hideo Kojima's latest work. The playful narrative essence of the production has therefore remained the same as it was two years ago, with all its strengths, its flaws and its overflowing expressive power. With an exceptional technical sector, the monumental epic of Sam Porter Bridges returns to console in its best form, to propose to the public an exceptional science fiction story placed between the meshes of an extraordinarily rich and fascinating imaginary, which frames a poignant story supported by a gameplay as satisfying as it is unique, capable of triggering a pleasant addiction. More than anything else, Death Stranding is the ardent manifestation of the creative flair of an author who is not afraid to challenge the logic and dogmas of the market, with the aim of pushing the medium towards still unexplored territories.

After completing Kena, we felt the desire not to leave these virtual lands, to continue further into the heart of the forest to eliminate even the last bit of Corruption. Like the souls of the village, in short, we didn't want to "go further" either. The magic of Bridge of Spirits is all here: in its sweet magnetism, in its balance between gameplay and storytelling, in the echo of those adventure games of yesteryear, where simplicity moved hand in hand with refinement. Gorgeous to look at and rewarding to play, Kena is a debut work that has rarely been seen in recent years: that the independent sector can be guided by its spirit.

NBA 2K22 is a very ambitious title, perhaps too much so.

We tried this restored version of Myst on Xbox Series S and enjoyed it very much. To see the work of Cyan always has a certain effect, as well as trying to solve the proposed puzzles. For those who had already played the original almost thirty years ago, a tour around the island is always recommended. For those who had already relived the magic of Myst through VR or some other re-release (realMyst, for example) it is a little less so, especially if you don't have an Xbox Game Pass subscription. For those, however, who had never heard of this adventure, this is a unique opportunity to recover one of the pieces of videogame history.

With Aragami 2, the development team changes artistic direction, replenishes the gameplay with everything that has been released in recent years and add content to content, preferring quantity to quality. With a little more care and a better finish, Aragami 2 could have been a jewel: as it is, it remains an effective product, but still leaves a little bitterness in the mouth.

Gamedec's ideas are interesting and so is its imagination. But what disappoints about the work of Anshar Studios is how the concepts were concretized and how ineffective the dialogues are - both in describing the world (the discovery of which will only be possible by reading dozens of codex documents), and in telling the characters and their emotions.