ZTGD

From a purely visual standpoint Soulstice feels as uneven as the game play at times. Some of the enemy designs are absolutely stellar. I love the look of some of the larger ones and the main character is cool. However, there are just as many bland designs sprinkled along the way. Environments are also a tale of two worlds. Sometimes it has some great architecture that stand out, gorgeous fire effects, and all of it devoid of any color and lacking at times. It feels all over the place. Thankfully the voice acting is solid even if a bit campy and the music sets the tone.

The on-court gameplay is blast, and the tweaks to the AI have made playing against the computer more challenging and fun, the Jordan Challenge and the addition of the retro players and modes is a blast and I hope these features make the cut for next year.

Circus Electrique is still a fun time. The RPG blend of character maintenance, challenging battles, and circus management has a lot here and it can sometimes be overwhelming, but if players take their time and keep up the performers’ devotion, they can explore the mean streets of London by the skin of their teeth. It’s not an easy game, but much like Darkest Dungeon, it can be rather rewarding.

Soul Hackers 2 is a game that compares unfavorably to the recently released SMT V which I consider one of the series best. However, even when viewed on its own merits and nothing else, it falls far short of excellence due to its poor pacing, simplistic combat and endlessly dull dungeon crawling.

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is no doubt a great fighting game. It offers a decent story mode and a few extra bells and whistles. On top of that, a top notch netcode and this is a solid fighting game experience.

Disney’s Dreamlight Village is not going to be for everyone, in fact a lot of people who may not realize that the game is a F2P experience may be upset upon paying for the founder’s pack.

I must admit I had a really good time with this game. Even with the lack of an English dub and the easier combat SD Gundam: Battle Alliance may not win over any new fans to the series but for those fans who have been yearning for a new Gundam game this is one that is made for you.

Pac-Man World Re-Pac is a solid game that just doesn’t wow on any level. The concept feels from a different time and anyone who has nostalgia will likely enjoy the game for what it is. Still not entirely sure why this game was chosen for a remake as opposed to perhaps something like Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures from the 360 era. Those were much more competent platform games. Still it is a decent package with some frustrating older design.

As it stands, this game comes off just feeling like its clinging to the tone and design choices from the 360; even the graphics in this reboot from 2022 feel dated and frankly Johnny Gat deserves better.

Steelrising has some of the trademark ‘jank’ that is in all Spider games, it is that very thing that makes this developer so special. All their games have something that just feels off (but in a good way), but all of their games I loved more than the next and true to form Steelrising is their best game to date.