Though still a bit flawed in execution, players who want to see how narrative-based games can evolve should absolutely play Event[0].

Ion Fury pays homage to something that is no longer welcome in modern gaming. Taken in with knowledge of the slurs and the -phobic, sexist comments, it recontextualizes what I saw and heard, and gives the content a misogynistic feel. Whilst I found Ion Fury to be enjoyable as an isolated piece of content, it’s impossible to ignore the context it’s in — as such, I find it hard to recommend.

Games can have messages, but they can also be a venue in which we act out our most twisted fantasies free of judgment and consequence.

For those that let themselves be enveloped by the desolate peaks of Mundaun, it will be an unforgettable experience. On the other hand, anyone expecting more active gameplay might end up feeling a bit disappointed. Personally? Mundaun is my jam. I’ve been to mountain villages similar to the one here and I’ve actually felt similar sensations and vague feelings of disquiet — the devs have absolutely tapped into that terrible loneliness and parlayed it into a solid and enjoyable horror adventure, ideal for anyone on the hunt for something different.

Rather than representing a revitalization of the Sonic brand, Sonic 4 is a failed, desperate grasp at recapturing its former glory.

While Evoland 2's trip through video game memory lane made me feel like a kid again, the high points are outnumbered by the times I muttered "Ugh, one of these." Nostalgia can be great at times, but but most of this stuff is better left in the past.

In the end, Resurrection works well as a reboot of the original IP, but nostalgia can only carry it so far. If the overall difficulty felt a little more fair and a lot less mean-spirited, I would recommended it to anyone looking for a challenging platformer. However, the contract Resurrection wants the player to sign on to is a Faustian one, demanding patience, and perhaps a small bit of one’s sanity.

Minor quibbles aside, Epistory is a solid typing adventure. The story mode is around five hours long, and a leaderboard offers plenty of opportunities to test typing skills against the rest of the world. While the plot never builds to the kind of interesting levels that the introduction suggests (in fact, an end-game twist is something of a headscratcher) the gameplay is so well-made that it’s hard to fault the rest.

Despite its numerous charms, Caravan SandWitch just didn’t sit right with me. There is perhaps something to be said for a chill attitude in the midst of apocalypse, but this experience gets there by avoiding all of its tragedies, save one. The looming death of this world and seeming indifference from everyone inhabiting it left me too uneasy to fully accept the atmosphere Caravan SandWitch seemed to be after. While Cigalo was beautiful to see and relaxing to visit, even as the planet crept ever closer to collapse, I kept wishing that someone would rage against the dying of its light.

Bugs aside, Neo Cab stands tall as a thoughtful and genuinely affecting piece of sci-fi fiction, and one of the better attempts at dialogue I’ve seen in my long career playing games. Hopping into Lina’s cab and touring Los Ojos is a ride I would be happy to take again.

Based on the evidence, I believe that Deadline Games is capable of putting out something more satisfying—but in its current state, Chili Con Carnage is more like chips and salsa than arroz con pollo.

While there's room to improve, The Wolf Among Us has remained stylish and enjoyable since the beginning, and I'm eager to see how it all ends.

Above the Law corrects a lot of the missteps from the first two episodes and also benefits from the narrative scaffolding they painstakingly laid. If nothing else, this episode illustrates that the season is on a trajectory of improvement. The fact that Clementine is a supporting character still stings, but the pain in my heart when she makes an offhanded comment about Lee from season one suggests her character (and all the baggage she carries) remains emotionally resonant.

Thematically, Broken Toys is a hit-and-miss. The ideology of peace involving no violence against humans nor walkers is a high point for me since it’s a new approach to viewing the apocalypse. Personally, I’ve always thought ‘the more zombies that get killed, the less there are to roam’, but his new tack did leave me thinking about it. On the other hand, much of the content here feels like ground the series has covered several times before, and the lack of standout characters dulls the entire experience.

Although it's accurate to say that Prototype 2 is "an improvement" over the original, that's not the same as saying that it's a great game, or that it's even on-par with the kinds of things hitting shelves these days.

Atelier Meruru is brilliant, and only a coal-hearted misanthrope could fail to be utterly charmed by it. This entry cements my opinion that the Atelier Series may well be the best-kept secret in the entire JRPG genre.

Videogame golf is in an interesting position. After years of not seeing any new entries, users are suddenly presented with two big-budget PGA titles fighting for their time. EA Sports PGA Tour certainly delivers a thorough, authentic golf simulation, but it’s also a divisive one. On one hand, the visuals of golf have never been displayed with more realism. On the other, the unresponsive mechanics completely removed me from the experience, ultimately driving me back to the simpler, more-playable 2K PGA Tour 2K23.

While I loved the tracks on offer in Urban Trial Playground I quickly exhausted everything that it had to offer. Lode Runner Legacy avoids this problem entirely by A) providing a truly wild amount of stages and B) opening the game up to the community to allow dedicated players to do the same. I want more Lode Runner Legacy, and thanks to the efforts of Tozai and the community, there’s much more waiting for me.

Tomba! Special Edition is a charming reminder of the experimental days of the PS1 era, and the cute characters and wonderful soundtrack still appeal. However, the flaws in this port and some of the game’s original issues might make it a bit tough for newcomers to fully embrace this beloved cult classic.

For players new to the adventure genre, this package offers a great opportunity to play one of the best adventure titles ever made. The compelling crime narrative, intriguing characters, and great puzzles are all there, and an integrated hint system minimizes the need to alt-tab to a walkthrough. It's a shame that this remastered version squanders much of the charm of the original, though—I can't see it converting those cold on the genre, but fans and players interested in adventure gaming's roots would do well to check it out.

Regardless of the drawbacks, fans should welcome Top Spin back into their lives thanks to the largely enjoyable 2K25. With some visual and audio enhancement, and maybe a slightly more accessible learning curve, this series could find a new generation of fans. Let’s just hope it doesn’t take another 13 years to do it.

Still, when it lays off the screwballs and offers a straight-up fight, CastleStorm: Definitive Edition is solidly entertaining.

When it comes to compilations like this, there’s three criteria to meet. One, the games have to stand the test of time. Two, they have to be emulated well. And three, substantial historical features and content must be added. In all three categories, the team at M2 knocked it out of the park. While there are a couple of clunkers here, that doesn’t diminish the fact that there are four outright classics available in this package. Anyone interested in spectacular 2D action titles or in learning about Castlevania‘s history would do well to bite on this collection.

Titan Souls strikes me as a time-wasting boss-rush that constantly tried my patience and delivered no enjoyable or profound climax—it just peters out and credits roll.

Shattered Dimension was an interesting experiment, but on the whole I'd have rather just played Spider-Man Noir.

I’m an Aliens super-fan. I think that’s clear at this point, so it’s worth saying that I’m going to be predisposed to love a game that goes to the lengths this one does to recreate the aesthetics of that film. The flipside of that fandom is that I’ll recoil from anything that gets the franchise wrong. So with that in mind, hear me when I say that this is the best Alien game ever made. In fact, it only has one flaw — despite ending on a fantastic climax, Incursion is only part one of the whole story. I knew this going into it, but I was still shattered to see To Be Continued come up at a particularly shocking moment. That continuation can’t come quickly enough, but until it does I’ll keep playing Alien Rogue Incursion over and over again.

While its story is interesting and its gameplay is serviceable, this RPG didn't thrill me, or frustrate me, or enrage me. Radiata Stories just shared my general area for a while, and now that it's gone, I don't miss it.

All I can think about is its similarity to FF7, and how stale and unoriginal the whole experience is. This game is such a rip-off of Square's FF7 that I can't believe Sony hasn't been taken to court for copyright infringement.