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OpinionImpressionsGet Past The F2P Bits And Crash Bandicoot: On The Run Is Good Crash
Crash Bandicoot: On The Run, out today for iOS and Android, is a game in which Crash Bandicoot runs through narrow corridors breaking boxes and collecting Wumpa Fruit, just like every other Crash Bandicoot game. As mobile spin-offs go, it’s pretty on the nose. Looking at the landscape screenshots developer King.com of Candy Crush fame…
By Mike Fahey Published March 25, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsNew Pokémon Snap Is Like Old Pokémon Snap, Only Much Prettier
Pokémon Snap for the Nintendo 64 is a game about rolling through islands, leisurely taking pictures of pocket monsters. All the upcoming sequel needs to please fans of the original is more of that with nicer graphics. I am pleased to report New Pokémon Snap is exactly that. Nintendo recently held a preview event where…
By Mike Fahey Published March 24, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsMundaun Is Beautiful, Hand-Drawn Folk Horror
It was around the time the severed goat head in my backpack started bleating and then spoke that I truly began to understand the beauty of Mundaun, the new indie horror game from developer Michel Ziegler. Mundaun opens with a letter from your isolated hometown in the Swiss Alps. Your grandfather, a local parishioner writes,…
By Ian Walker Published March 23, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsPuzzle Quest 3 Does The Match-Three RPG A Little Differently
The game that kicked off the match-three/RPG genre in 2007 is back for a third go with Puzzle Quest 3. An early preview of the Android version of the threequel reveals a somewhat more dynamic take on the genre mash-up. Giving players two seconds to map out their moves makes a big difference. The basic…
By Mike Fahey Published March 23, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsThere’s A New Type Of Fall Guys Jackass
I would like to offer a sincere apology to my Fall Guys squad. I fell into the slime. I thought we were out. So I quit. I didn’t realize how much that screwed you (fall) guys! It won’t happen again, I promise. Yesterday, as part of the platformer royale’s season four update, Fall Guys received…
By Ari Notis Published March 23, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsI Can’t Wait To Play Monster Hunter Rise With Other People
The review embargo for Monster Hunter Rise has lifted, and while I’ve been having a heck of a good time battling beasts with my AI dog and cat friends, online play is still a couple of days away. And everybody knows Monster Hunter is more fun with other people. The majority of the several days…
By Mike Fahey Published March 23, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsHawkeye Can’t Save Marvel’s Avengers
Like a sexy civilian in a superhero movie, Marvel’s Avengers needs saving. Someone, or something, needs to swoop in with panache and 11th-hour heroics. And the hero up at bat is…Hawkeye? Really? Him? Clint Barton, a.k.a. Hawkeye, joined the Avengers roster yesterday as part of the action game’s biggest update yet. First, those long-awaited next-gen…
By Ari Notis Published March 19, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsMagic: Legends Makes Diablo-Style Combat Feel Like, Well, Magic
In the past, every month or so my partner and I would follow the instructions on the box and “gather” with our friends to play Magic: The Gathering. We’d have a casual sealed draft of whatever the latest set was, and at the end of the (at times very long) night, the winner walked home…
By Ash Parrish Published March 18, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsThe New Mortal Kombat Movie Starts Off Strong
The new Mortal Kombat film, the first theatrical release based on the fighting games since 1997’s Mortal Kombat Annihilation, opens with a scene that should be quite familiar to fans. Hanzo Hasashi, the man fated to become the vengeful Scorpion, enjoys a quiet moment with his family in their ancestral home. It’s a quiet moment…
By Mike Fahey Published March 17, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsDark Alliance Is A Spiritual Successor To Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance In Name Only
I went into my recent Dark Alliance demo with development studio Tuque Games expecting to briefly relive the grim, bloody hack and slash glory of the original Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance games. The new game, while pitched as a spiritual successor, feels very different, however. Not bad, just different Dark Alliance, priced at $40 and…
By Ethan Gach Published March 16, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsStubbs The Zombie Remaster Retains That Classic Jank
Zombies have been a big part of video games for a long time now. Mostly we kill them in droves. But back in 2005, Stubbs The Zombie shook things up and let you take on the role of a zombie devouring people in a futuristic city. That game is back on modern consoles via a…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 15, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsCrash Bandicoot 4 Runs Great On PS5, Passably On Switch
Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time arrives on Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, PC, and Switch tomorrow, giving us some of the most polished versions of last year’s excellent platformer alongside one that struggles a lot but gets the job done. Digital Foundry compared the PS5 and Switch versions side by side, and the differences…
By Mike Fahey Published March 11, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsPyra Is My New Favorite Sword Main In Smash Bros. Ultimate
I greeted Pyra and Mythra’s announcement last month with a big sigh. Ugh, more sword fighters? It’s my preferred class in Smash Bros. Ultimate, but even I was beginning to get sick of them. After a couple hours with the new duo, however, I’m pleased to announce my initial skepticism was misplaced. Pyra and Mythra…
By Ethan Gach Published March 5, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsQueen: Rock Tour Is Packed With Great Music, Not Ads And Microtransactions
Queen: Rock Tour is a mobile game that isn’t filled with nasty microtransactions, ads, “energy” timers, or make-believe currencies. Instead, it’s a fun rhythm game that replaces that crap with a ton of classic Queen songs. Released earlier this week for Android and iOS, Queen: Rock Tour is a rhythm game in the same vein…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 5, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsLoop Hero Is A Wonderful New RPG About Overcoming Despair
Loop Hero is a lot of things: an RPG, a roguelite, an auto-battler, a card game, a city builder, an evocative visual novel. It’s also excellent, and I can’t stop playing it. Developed by Four Quarters (maker of 2015’s brilliant behavioral experiment Please, Don’t Touch Anything) and out today on Steam, the appropriately titled Loop…
By Ethan Gach Published March 4, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsSorry Crazy Taxi Fans, Taxi Chaos Ain’t It
Taxi Chaos is not Crazy Taxi. But it’s trying to be, and it succeeds in some important ways while completely failing in many others. Consider this a warning: Don’t buy Taxi Chaos. But if you do, I can help make the game a bit better. I get why some folks might be tempted to buy…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 1, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsBlack Ops Cold War’s Large-Scale ‘Outbreak’ Mode Shakes Up Zombies
Season Two of Black Ops Cold War arrives today, with a new 6v6 multiplayer map, new weapons, more challenges to complete, and another 100-tier battle pass to grind. It also brings the most unique Zombies experience we’ve seen in a while, in the large-scale “Outbreak” Zombies mode. As a part of Black Ops Cold War’s…
By S.E. Doster Published February 25, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsBravely Default 2 Is Another Fun But Flawed Old-School JRPG
Bravely Default 2 is a trip, man. Going in, I thought I knew exactly what this game was, and it turns out I pretty much did—except for all of the tiny moments that occasionally delight, and just as occasionally elicit big, heaving sighs. Every time the familiar old-school JRPG wins me over it follows that…
By Ethan Gach Published February 25, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsI’ve Kinda Had My Fill After Wrapping The Division 2’s Latest Season
The Division 2’s latest manhunt is coming to an end. Players who have taken down this season’s previous four targets now have access to the final quarry, with a mission to take her out. This raid, while exciting and climatic, caps off another grind of a season that leaves the future of the game, and…
By Zack Zwiezen Published February 19, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsAssassin’s Creed Valhalla’s New River Raids Ain’t It
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is the last game that needed any extra content right now, but this week it got some anyway, and since I’m still fresh on the game I thought I’d jump back in and check it out. That content arrived in the form of “River Raids”, a new game mode that adds three…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 18, 2021