ZTGD

Alone in the Dark was a fun adventure that scratched an itch I always have. It is a solid survival horror game that sometimes suffers under the weight of its own technical shortcomings. This is a game anyone who grew up with the likes of the original Alone in the Dark or Resident Evil games will enjoy, just not sure it is worth the asking price. I might wait for a sale on this one, but don’t sleep on it entirely. It definitely has its moments, and I enjoyed the story as a whole.

The presentation remains the same from previous Gold Master games, but it works. There is a gamification of working through the entire timeline and hearing that chime when one is completed. The game museum is a little wonkier than this one, but I got used to it. Controlling the games is simple and digging through the entire collection is a breeze. It does suck that the audio is still out of sync on Xbox as game mode will cause that, but it isn’t awful.

Skull & Bones isn’t a horrible game at all, but its not the game that we wanted. I mean all they had to do was just remove the assassin’s vs templar story from what they had with Black Flag and let us be pirates. I don’t know, I am just a black guy with a laptop and a big mouth; I am certain that game development is more difficult than all that. Skull & Bones offers some fun and often times thrilling combat, but the downtime and story in-between all that is just not interesting. This game is going to end up being another victim of chasing that ole dragon which is live service game success. Its not for every game, and hopefully, prayerfully developers will stop trying to attain this high and just set this fad out to sea.

There is so much more I want to say, but I do not want to ruin any part of this experience. Being such a huge fan of the original game, I could not be happier with how this sequel turned out. After being lukewarm on the first entry, this one squashes all my concerns and doubts about this remake. I do wish it wasn’t going to take over a decade to see it all, but this sequel gives me confidence in the finale. I cannot recommend it enough, but mute all keywords on Twitter, experience this for yourself, and enjoy what is easily an early contender for the best game of 2024.

Despite its tumultuous development cycle, Granblue Fantasy: Relink is a grand achievement that impressed from beginning to end with its fantastic presentation and thrilling set pieces- brought together as a total package with a cast of unique playable characters and satisfying combat that I can see myself continue to “Zeta Dive” back into for many more hours to come.

With a full explorable River City, a story with multiple endings and the surprise Double Dragon fighting game; there is a lot on offer in Rivals Showdown. Unfortunately, it’s held back by an overly repetitive soundtrack which will start to grate on one’s nerves, and some very uneven combat until the late game. These games are usually good for some fun beat-em up action but it takes so long for this entry to hit its stride with the combat that by the end I was just running on auto pilot. I think there is a lot here for fans to discover but this isn’t going to bring in any new fans, especially when the last two entries in the River City Saga were much better.

I really wanted to love Rogue Trader, especially with how much I love the universe but more so because I had just come down from the high that is Baldur’s Gate 3. And perhaps this is unfair but the majority of my playtime was me grumbling because what is 1 step in BG3 was 5 or 6 in Rogue Trader. I do realize that both games are built on different rule sets but I just didn’t have fun playing with the one in Rogue Trader despite how much I love the universe. All of the bugs and issues I ran into didn’t help anything either, if you are interested in this one, I would suggest waiting for a few patches before really digging in.

Tekken 8 is an outstanding entry into the series with a ton of content for both online and offline players. This is how you pack a game with enough content to keep players invested. The plethora of modes, customization, and superb game play create a package that any fan of the genre should not miss. I was disappointed with the two big fighting game efforts from last year, but if Tekken 8 is any indication of how the genre will perform in 2024, we are in a great place.

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy is a compilation title that succeeds thanks to the quality and quantity of content on offer more so than the effort it has been given to remaster each individual game. Having said that, it’s a great way for veterans of the series to revisit these classics as well as a nice way for those who have been following up on these re-releases to finally catch up to all the mainline entries released thus far. Surely, this means we’ll get a new Ace Attorney game in the near future, right? RIGHT?! CAPCOM!?

Last of Us II Remastered could have been a cash grab with the success of the TV show, but instead feels like a solid upgrade with a reasonable path for owners of the original. The added content is more than worth the asking price, and the game remains one of the most impressive technical feats of all time.