Attack of the Fanboy

Disc Room is not for the faint of heart, as the overall frustration level may make your blood boil at times. However, the gameplay is solid and can get addicting very quickly. While the game can be rather short and the power-ups are pretty disappointing overall, Disc Room is definitely at least worth a look for those wanting a real challenge.

Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is a gleefully successful experiment for Nintendo and Velan Studios. The AR tech on display here is breathtaking and delivers on the promise of what this game could be, though some minor elements hold it back from exceeding expectations. Instead what we end up with is a fantastic toy in all the right ways.

Amnesia: Rebirth won’t dramatically shift the modern horror landscape like its predecessor did ten years ago, yet it’s an excellent addition to the genre nonetheless. It’s a fantastic marriage of SOMA’s narrative sensibilities with The Dark Descent’s more terrifying pacing, capable of standing out in the now crowded market. It won’t replace SOMA as my all-time favorite horror game, but it’s up there.

I don’t believe Aquanox will break out of its already limited niche, and Kickstarter backers may be miffed by the lack of promised features, but Aquanox: Deep Descent works well enough to justify its existence. Performance is fine, gameplay is fine, story is fine, length and price are fine – Aquanox is just fine. It won’t wow a lot of people, but the people it does impress will be enamored by it.

Noita is a true standout title in the roguelike genre, featuring endlessly deep gameplay that plays off of its engaging pixel art style. It takes some time to reveal itself and will turn away those not willing to put the effort in, but for those that do the rewards are great. If you’ve become exhausted by the glut of AAA titles that look great on the surface but feature little depth underneath then Noita should interest you.

Despite all these good qualities Torchlight II remains a deeper, meatier ARPG than Torchlight III, and it’s a good $10 cheaper. Despite feeling much the same, there are many things Torchlight III does better, and it has enough new features to warrant playing it over its predecessor. But if you are a diehard ARPG nerd you likely own Torchlight II already, and there’s not enough different in III for me to recommend the transition.

Genshin Impact suffers from a split identity: is it a proper, meaty AAA experience built by over 400 people, or yet another mobile cash grab that’ll fade into obscurity? Hopefully miHoYo relaxes the stamina system and gacha rates soon, because Teyvat is a world absolutely worth revisting. They’re just making it difficult for anyone but gacha fans to find the motivation to hold on.

So Super Mario Bros. 35 is a flawed game in some ways while offering something new and unique and a whole lot of fun in others. The initial moments with the game will be rough for everyone as they come in with expectations that likely don’t match the actual experience.

As the title infers, Mafia: Definitive Edition is indeed the definitive version of the classic game, this time with completely redone visuals and updated gameplay that makes the game feel like it could have released today as a brand new game and few would have known the difference.

Spellbreak is a good battle-royale with great combat. It’s graphics and world-design won’t “wow” anyone, but the ability to dish out devastating magical destruction in chaotic duals is unlike anything else currently on the market. As a free-to-play title, Spellbreak is absolutely worth a look, just brace yourself for some possibly barren lobbies.

Crash Bandicoot may have had a rough patch for a number of years before his triumphant return in the N. Sane Trilogy, but Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time proves that he is still one of the titans of the platformer genre with his most content rich and well designed adventure to date.

All in all, The Walking Dead: Onslaught is an immensely dull power fantasy. The environments are bland and repetitive, the level design is linear and uninspired, and the story isn’t all that engaging. Still, there’s an inherent joy to slaughtering hordes of walkers without having to worry too much about weapon degradation or ammo, but the excitement wears thin after an hour or two.

Kirby Fighters 2 is very much Super Smash Bros. for kids and/or hardcore Kirby fans. It’s a similar experience just made worse by the simplistic and slow fighting and the limited variety of overall gameplay content. There’s tons to unlock and enjoy if the game does gel for you, and there are no major technical faults, even with online play (so far).

It’s such a shame, all of it. There are moments where you can steal the slimmest glimpse of greatness in Serious Sam 4. When combat is firing on all cylinders, and the Legion System isn’t crashing your PC, Serious Sam 4 is a decent slice of old-school shooter goodness. Yet, in sticking to its guns, Serious Sam 4 ends up being an aggressively mediocre experience.

Super Mario 3D All-Stars isn’t a perfect collection. It doesn’t go far enough in enhancing the three games it brings to the Switch and excludes one that many feel is the best in the series. Two of those games also might not impress new, modern players due to various issues with their age, controls, and visuals.

Hades is an excellent roguelike that appeals to both fans of the genre and newcomers alike. Roguelike veterans will appreciate the combat’s breakneck pace and the replayability offered by the randomized boons and items, while newcomers will have several charming characters and an interesting story to keep them going between runs.

Overall, Kingdoms of Amalur is still a solid game even to this day. It’s just too bad its remastered version is quite frankly disappointing. The remaster had so much potential, too, as it could’ve improved on the elements holding the original game back, such as the outdated UI and the tedious inventory management system, which is still very much an issue.

While looking perhaps a bit too ambitious on the surface with two distinctly different gameplay elements, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is a captivating sci-fi adventure with great characters set across multiple periods of time. There is no question that the game will have people very confused during the first few hours, but the split story really starts to come together and is well worth playing through to unravel the ongoing mysteries found throughout.

Spelunky 2 enhances and expands on what worked in the first game without “fixing” anything that wasn’t broken. In that way it’s the perfect sequel for fans who have been playing this game for over a decade. Newcomers might be scared away by the difficulty and seemingly impenetrable secrets, but the effort to get through this is well rewarded.

Somehow, despite all the bugs and despite all the problems, I’m having a blast with Marvel’s Avengers. It’s not necessarily a great game, but it’s a good one. As long as I can live the day to day of an Avenger, walking around the Helicarrier and running missions for SHIELD, then I’m happy, and I imagine a lot of Marvel fans will be too.

The Outer Worlds: Peril On Gorgon is story DLC done right. It builds and expands on the existing world while providing a fun, meaty new narrative for fans to dig into. It doesn’t address all of the issues players had with The Outer Worlds at launch, but that doesn’t stop Peril On Gorgon from being a worthy addition to Obsidian’s spacefaring RPG.

It will be interesting to see where 2k goes with shooting and if the latest update will be enough to get casual players interested in the game. It’s hard to imagine someone that isn’t a 2k fan actually enjoying the grind or frustrating shooting mechanics. For 2K fans, it’s more about adjusting and adapting as the changes come down the line.

After falling off the board entirely with Tony Hawk’s previous outing, Activision has successfully gone back to the beginning and proven again what once made the series so iconic with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2.

Crusader Kings III is perhaps Paradox’s most accessible game to date. It’s not any less complicated than previous entries, but it does a fantastic job explaining itself to new players, making it the best jumping on point for those who’ve always been interested in grand strategy games, but were turned off by their complexity and overwhelming depth. I’ve never been the biggest fan of grand strategy games, yet I can’t put it down.

With the free upgrade to the next generation version and the promise of treating Franchise like a live service as the season goes on, Madden 21 is likely still going to be well worth the purchase in the long run, even if you may be left a little dissatisfied at this point.