Reviews Archives - Page 50 of 130

Xenoblade Chronicles 2: The Kotaku Review

Inelegant and tedious, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is the anti-Nintendo game. In a year full of triumphs for the spunky Switch, this massive role-playing game is a disappointment. I didn’t love the first Xenoblade Chronicles, a 2010 Wii game from veteran director Tetsuya Takahashi and his team at Monolith Soft. I hated the boring do-gooder Shulk…

By Jason Schreier Published December 1, 2017

ReviewsKeyboards

Vortex Vibe Keyboard Review: Smaller By The Numbers

Sleek mechanical keyboards that strip away lesser-used keys in favor of a smaller footprint are picking up, but some people just can’t do without that number pad. Vortex’s new Vibe keyboard is a nice compromise, with some outstanding keycaps on top. A full-size keyboard has all the keys. A tenkeyless, or TKL keyboard, slices the…

By Mike Fahey Published November 29, 2017

ReviewsBoard Games

Whitehall Mystery: The Kotaku Review

In 2011, the board game Letters from Whitechapel put detectives on the hunt for Jack the Ripper. In 2017, that game has been stripped down to all but its most essential systems, and has become better for it. Whitehall Mystery is the name of the new offering. Made for 2-4 players, it puts one person…

By Luke Plunkett Published November 27, 2017

ReviewsMultiplatform

Battle Chef Brigade: The Kotaku Review

Battle Chef Brigade asks: What if you had to kill a Hydra before competing in Iron Chef? It’s a winning premise, and one that scaffolds the many-headed cooking game’s endless charms. Out today on PC and Switch, Battle Chef Brigade is one-part puzzler, one-part platformer and one-part role-playing game. Its eat-what-you-kill world revolves around Mina…

By Cecilia D'Anastasio Published November 20, 2017

ReviewsMultiplatform

Hand of Fate 2: The Kotaku Review

Hand of Fate is a unique hybrid of deck-building card adventure and action role-playing game that came out of nowhere to become one of my favorite games of 2015. Hand of Fate 2 improves upon the original in every way. One minute you’re moving a game piece across a table covered with Tarot-like adventure cards,…

By Mike Fahey Published November 20, 2017

Reviews

Metroid Prime: The Kotaku Review

When she shoots, Samus Aran doesn’t miss. That’s one of the fundamental truths of the original Metroid Prime, the first-person sci-fi game that came out on the Nintendo GameCube in 2002. You lock her gun onto a target and fire. She hits it every time. (This post originally ran on March 10, 2016. We’re bumping…

By Stephen Totilo Published November 17, 2017

ReviewsMultiplatform

Star Wars: Battlefront II: The Kotaku Review

Star Wars: Battlefront II frustrates me in ways I never knew I could be frustrated. It is both a lovingly crafted companion to the films and a tangled mess of corporate meddling. There is a strong heart at the center but finding it means peeling back layers of unnecessary and infuriating nonsense. We’ve republished this…

By Heather Alexandra Published November 17, 2017

ReviewsPC

Crusader Kings II: The Kotaku Re-Review

Looking back at one of the greatest PC strategy games of all time

By Luke Plunkett Published November 16, 2017

ReviewsMultiplatform

Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2: The Kotaku Review

When we last left Lego Marvel Super Heroes, the Avengers, X-Men and Fantastic Four had banded together to gather the cosmic doohickeys needed to finish story mode and get to the exciting free-roaming bits. Four years later, the X-Men and Fantastic Four are gone, but everything else is pretty much the same. Lego Marvel Super…

By Mike Fahey Published November 14, 2017

ReviewsMultiplatform

Sonic Forces: The Kotaku Review

Sonic Forces is a fever dream of fan-fiction that is awkward to play but still manages to be trashy fun. Set in a grim future where Sonic has been defeated by Doctor Robotnik and his mysterious new henchman Infinite, Sonic Forces follows the series’ cast of heroic animals as they fight a dire war to…

By Heather Alexandra Published November 8, 2017

ReviewsHardwareGame Systems

Xbox One X: The Kotaku Review

The Xbox One X is a box filled with powerful components that’s designed to do the same thing as a box with less powerful components, only a little bit better. That’s a weird place for the “world’s most powerful console” to be. In an simpler time, the Xbox One X might have been Microsoft’s next-generation…

By Mike Fahey Published November 8, 2017

ReviewsMultiplatform

Call of Duty: WWII: The Kotaku Review

Call of Duty has recently gotten lost in a future of jetpack boosting, robots, and wacky laser guns, leaving the franchise feeling almost unrecognizable. Sledgehammer Games’ latest entry in the long-running war shooter series, Call of Duty: WWII, sends the game back to basic training in more ways than just a simple rewinding of time.…

By S.E. Doster Published November 7, 2017

ReviewsPS4

Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds: The Kotaku Review

Horizon Zero Dawn was a terrific game. Guess what? Its new expansion, The Frozen Wilds, is also good. For more on the many things that made Horizon Zero Dawn a good game, go read my colleague Patricia Hernandez’s review from February. Developed by Killzone studio Guerrilla Games, it was an open-world action game about a…

By Kirk Hamilton Published November 6, 2017

ReviewsMultiplatform

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus: The Kotaku Review

The warm sun beats down on a main street in Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, just in time for the Victory Day parade. Uniformed SS march down swastika-filled streets to thunderous applause. By the old diner, two members of the Ku Klux Klan practice their German. Everyone is white and happy. And it is so…

By Heather Alexandra Published October 30, 2017

ReviewsSwitch

Super Mario Odyssey: The Kotaku Review

For Mario, 3D used to mean freedom. In 1996, Super Mario 64 broke Nintendo’s mascot from the shackles of having to run in a straight line, letting the player choose their own path. But for quite some time now—no matter how 3D the graphics may have been—Mario’s adventures have reverted back to running on a…

By Chris Kohler Published October 26, 2017

ReviewsMultiplatform

Assassin’s Creed Origins: The Kotaku Review

For all its extraordinary visual splendor, Assassin’s Creed Origins is ultimately an ordinary video game. That’s not such a bad thing, particularly if you like looking at pretty vistas and watching numbers go up. Origins is the 10th main entry in Ubisoft’s series of historical murder games. It is also the latest in the current…

By Kirk Hamilton Published October 26, 2017

ReviewsMultiplatform

Fire Emblem Warriors: The Kotaku Review

Playing Fire Emblem Warriors feels a bit like herding a pack of ravenous lions. Countless enemies clash against heroes in glorious combat that mixes strategy and absurdity. It’s occasionally overwhelming but if you can tame the mayhem, the result is beautiful. The new game, which is out on the Switch and New 3DS, is part…

By Heather Alexandra Published October 23, 2017

ReviewsMultiplatform

The Evil Within 2: The Kotaku Review

When we meet Sebastian Castellanos at the beginning of The Evil Within 2, he’s a broken man. The mind-bending events of the previous installment fractured his psyche. He blames himself for not being able to save his daughter Lily from a house fire, and his wife left him. He’s been booted from the police force…

By Stacie Ponder Published October 20, 2017

ReviewsBoard Games

Star Wars Rebellion: Rise Of The Empire: The Kotaku Review

Star Wars Rebellion is an excellent board game that manages to capture the feel of the entire classic trilogy inside a single tabletop experience. Rise of the Empire is a new expansion for the game that does the same thing, only for Rogue One If you’re new to Rebellion, here’s a quick intro: it’s a…

By Luke Plunkett Published October 19, 2017

ReviewsMultiplatform

South Park: The Fractured But Whole: The Kotaku Review

Early in South Park: The Fractured But Whole, you go up against an enemy kid who cheats. He complains that your last attack shouldn’t count, which heals him to full strength. Then, whining that you didn’t listen when he called “time out,” he steals your turn. It’s an enjoyable reminder of the game’s stakes. Despite…

By Jason Schreier Published October 18, 2017