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OpinionImpressionsBugsnax Is Much More Than Just A Meme Song
You only get one chance to make a first impression, and back when the PlayStation 5 was officially revealed in June, Bugsnax absolutely nailed it. Its sing-song-y trailer coated an otherwise standard next-gen presentation with a candy-sweet outer shell, and the song itself achieved meme status almost instantly. But is it actually a good game?…
By Nathan Grayson Published November 9, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsThere’s A Sequel To Fruit Ninja For Some Reason
There’s a sequel to Fruit Ninja now. Remember Fruit Ninja? It was 2010, you’d just got your first touchscreen phone, and you were desperate for anything to need it for. There, for just three little dollars, was this game about swish-swooshing about the shiny surface, chopping up fruit until fruit could be chopped no more. It…
By John Walker Published November 6, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsTeardown Is A Heist Game Where Levels Are Fully Destructible, And It’s Fantastic
Teardown’s central contradiction should be infuriating. True to its name, you can tear down basically any structure in a level, up to and including the ground beneath your feet. But you shouldn’t! I repeat: You, functionally all-powerful to an extent few video games have ever allowed, should not destroy everything the first chance you get.…
By Nathan Grayson Published November 4, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsHyrule Warriors: Age Of Calamity Demo Is More Breath Of The Wild And Less Dynasty Warriors
The Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity demo plays like a game that inherited more from its Zelda: Breath of the Wild parent than its hack-and-slash parent Hyrule Warriors. Developer Koei Tecmo repurposed major elements of Breath of the Wild’s gameplay—from the Sheikah slate, to cooking, crafting, and even Korok hunting—and integrated them into Warriors’ musou-style…
By Ash Parrish Published November 2, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsSurprise: Pikmin 3 Deluxe’s Epilogue Is Some Of The Best Pikmin Ever Made
Twenty-two days ago, I wrote: “If Nintendo has hidden some amazing twist at the end of Pikmin 3 Deluxe, if the epilogue really delivers, the joke will be on me.” Today I am here to tell you there is no twist, at least not a plot twist at the end of the new Switch port…
By Stephen Totilo Published October 30, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsAmnesia: Rebirth Makes Motherhood Scary
The only scary thing in Amnesia: Rebirth is motherhood. The monsters are rare and dispersed enough to be manageable threats, and the atmosphere is less oppressive than other Amnesia games. Rebirth did not scare me the same way The Dark Descent or its far more terrifying older sibling Penumbra: Overture did. But it’s a game…
By Ash Parrish Published October 29, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsSo Far, Watch Dogs Legion Is One Of 2020’s Most Fascinating Games
Watch Dogs Legion, out today for a bunch of major video game platforms, is one of the most elaborate anecdote generators ever created. So, before we get into how the game handles its ambitious design goals, its politics, and even its Ubisoft-ness, let’s start with an anecdote that could only have happened in Legion About…
By Stephen Totilo Published October 29, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsHere’s How We’ve Set Up Our Xbox Series X and S
Yesterday, we showed you what the PlayStation 5 looks like in the wild. But that’s not the only next-gen console coming out next month. In the event you’ve been living under the planet’s most soundproof rock, on November 10, the Xbox Series X—and its less-expensive, less-powerful counterpart, the Xbox Series S—will be out. Earlier this…
By Ari Notis Published October 28, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsHere’s How We’ve Set Up Our PS5s
Roughly two weeks from now, the PlayStation 5 will be out in the wild. First (officially) revealed in June, Sony’s next-gen console promises the de rigueur next-gen improvements: shinier graphics, faster performance, killer exclusives, all that jazz. But when the curtain was pulled back, the general consensus seemed to coalesce around one talking point, which…
By Ari Notis Published October 27, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsPokémon Sword and Shield’s Latest Expansion Doubles Down On Legendary Pokémon
I captured a Suicune ten minutes into playing The Crown Tundra, the second part of Pokémon Sword and Shield’s expansion pass that released late last night for Nintendo Switch. Everyone knows what a Pikachu is, but Suicune is another mascot of the series, albeit an understated one. While the expansion is unafraid to introduce some…
By Ari Notis Published October 23, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsSo Far, Immortals Fenyx Rising Is More Than Just Ubisoft’s Take On Breath of the Wild
I like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey quite a bit; in fact, I think it’s the second-best game in the entire franchise. Immortals Fenyx Rising seems to be a natural evolution of Odyssey, and also makes it seem like some folks at Ubisoft have played a lot of Breath of the Wild. After spending an hour or…
By Zack Zwiezen Published October 22, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsRed Dead Online’s Halloween Update Is Disappointing
Last month, Red Dead Online dataminers found what appeared to be zombies buried in the game’s files after an update. These new zombie models, along with other creepy content found via datamining, pointed towards a new Halloween event. That event is finally, here and it’s pretty disappointing. The Red Dead Online Halloween update went live…
By Zack Zwiezen Published October 22, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsDodging Death In Disc Room Is A Lot Of Fun
Disc Room is top-down puzzle game where you dodge giant saw blades. That’s pretty much it. It’s also fantastic. The combined work of Jan Willem Nijman (Nuclear Throne), Kitty Calis (Minit), Terri Vellmann, and doseone (who both made Sludge Life), Disc Room is frenetic, precise and oozing with sound and color. Planning and forethought are…
By Ethan Gach Published October 22, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsSpellbreak‘s New Mode Isn’t Quite Deathmatch, But It’s A Very Good Time
When I first wrote about Spellbreak, the battle royale whose battles royale evoke Avatar: The Last Airbender more than Battle Royale, I said that its combat was so good that it could form the backbone of a myriad of other kinds of games, including a more traditional deathmatch. Now that’s exactly what’s happening. And by…
By Nathan Grayson Published October 21, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsBlack Ops: Cold War’s Crossplay Beta Showcases One Of The Game’s Best New Modes
Black Ops: Cold War’s new 40-player “Fireteam” mode is addictive chaos that requires teamwork and good comms. Thursday was the start of the early access crossplay beta that let players across PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC get hands-on with the multiplayer for the upcoming Call of Duty, if they digitally pre-ordered the game. The…
By S.E. Doster Published October 17, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsI’m Going To Play The Shit Out Of Ghost Of Tsushima’s New Co-Op Mode
Ghost of Tsushima is a lonely game. Over the course of three lengthy acts, you might team up with computer-controlled characters, but, as Jin Sakai, the titular Ghost, are often alone. Today’s update for Ghost of Tsushima brings teamwork and companionship to the game with the addition of a free, new, genuinely thrilling multiplayer expansion.…
By Ari Notis Published October 16, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsThe Most Fun I’ve Had In Avengers In Weeks Is This Chair
Boredom can do strange things to a person, especially a person who has been waiting weeks for fresh content in a popular service game. Today’s patch finally brought a new hub location to Marvel’s Avengers. That’s where I found this one chair. S.H.I.E.L.D. Substation Zero is a new hub location added in patch 1.3.3. It’s…
By Mike Fahey Published October 15, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsKingdom Hearts: Melody Of Memory Demo Shows Off A Charmingly Simple Rhythm Game
The demo for the upcoming Kingdom Hearts rhythm game is live today for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Switch. Based on what I’ve played, it’s the most straightforward game the series has ever seen, so simple you can play it with just one button. In Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory’s Field Battles, which are the…
By Mike Fahey Published October 15, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsMinecraft‘s Steve Is Super Weird In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Earlier this month, Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai revealed the latest fighter for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. It wasn’t Crash Bandicoot, as rumors suggested. It wasn’t Master Chief, as hopes and dreams did. It certainly wasn’t the long-clamored-for Waluigi. It was Steve, from Minecraft. Last night, Steve officially joined the Ultimate roster as the…
By Ari Notis Published October 14, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsAirborne Kingdom Is A City-Builder, Only You’re FLYING
That’s it. That’s the pitch for this game. You’re building a city, only the city is also a giant airship thing that’s flying through the air. OK, maybe that’s not quite it. There’s also the fact that this is only partially a game about building cities. Set in a vast, open and sparsely-populated world, Airborne…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 13, 2020