IGN

From the satisfying trooper battles on the ground to the thrilling dogfights in space, Battlefront 2 has struck back, delivering an unrivaled Force-fueled multiplayer fantasy.

Wattam is a weird and wild fever dream of a game, but it’s the most enjoyable fever dream I’ve ever had. Its loop of using ridiculous, anthropomorphic characters to complete simple tasks in order to gather more ridiculous, anthropomorphic characters succeeds thanks to the silly and fun situations it puts you in, even if it’s not the most complex or challenging loop to begin with. I can’t help but feel like some of the most interesting ideas Wattam uses to shake things up aren’t fully explored, but being a part of this friendly world, however briefly, is a true joy.

There’s some meat on these bones. Boneworks offers a fleshed-out variety of interesting and entertaining physics-powered things to do across its full-length campaign, Arena, and Sandbox modes, and its VR action works best when you get into character and let yourself pantomime each swing, grab, and throw with intention. There’s plenty to be desired in terms of story, level design, and even the physics simulations that it so heavily leans on, but Boneworks is awesomely interactive, engaging, and has tons of replayability potential.

Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince — это не прорыв или новое откровение авторов. Серия вернулась к тому же, с чего и начиналась, местами сбавив темп, но всё ещё оставаясь верной своему канону. Поклонникам первой, а тем более второй части она может показаться пресной. Тем же, кто только начинает знакомство с серией, она вполне может прийтись по душе, но я рекомендую сначала ознакомиться с первыми двумя приключениями.

Shenmue III — это привет из уютного и прекрасного начала 2000-х. Игра страдает геймплейными недоработками, но завораживает чарующей атмосферой и, не побоюсь этого слова, духом аутентичного мира боевых искусств. Рекомендуется всем поклонникам франшизы, но те, кто не знаком с серией, могут разочароваться.

Phoenix Point has a lot of interesting ideas to contribute to the revitalized turn-based tactics genre but many of them are in need refining and balancing. Things like managing faction relationships and disabling individual enemy body parts are great, and it strikes a good balance of complexity with inventory management. At the same time, it’s woefully underdeveloped in certain areas like mission variety and base-building, and a late-game difficulty spike is so severe and unfair-feeling that it crushed the spirit of this XCOM veteran – twice.

MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries checks most of the boxes I would have asked for out of a modern revival of the series. There are tons of mechs that can be kitted out in tons of ways, and they’re all a lot of fun to drive. The campaign is expansive, complex, and reactive, though at times it can also be aggravating and directionless. The mission structure can also feel a little repetitive after a while, but a variety of exciting environments serve to mitigate this. And casually plowing directly through a row of high-rises in an Atlas? Well, that never gets old.

Shovel Knight: King of Cards, like previous entries in the Shovel Knight series, is a blast. This is hands down the most ambitious and largest Shovel Knight game yet, with more levels, more dialogue, branching paths, and a completely new and cleverly used style of play centered around King Knight’s unique abilities. Not all of that ambition pays off, especially when it comes to its intrusive Joustus card game, which slows down the momentum of the game – and while it’s not mandatory, it felt like I would be missing out on a huge chunk of content by not participating in it.

Star Ocean: First Departure R non cerca la rivoluzione, limitandosi a riproporre il primo remake quasi pedissequamente. In un panorama dove i porting fanno di tutto per velocizzare l'esperienza, questo si prende i suoi tempi per riesumare una piccola ma gradita gemma JRPG.

Star Ocean: First Departure R is een vreemde remaster van een sterke remake, die ondanks zijn eigen tekortkomingen het origineel laat sprankelen.