Gris was a game that was not on my radar. Due to my past negative experiences with games cut from a similar cloth such as Journey, I wasn’t planning on picking up Gris. However, the game received some strong buzz close to home. Kris and Rachel from Double Jump loved it, with Rachel going so far as naming it her game of the year. As a nod to my friends while also taking the opportunity to expand my horizons, I found myself falling into the world of Gris.
Seemingly out of nowhere, the makers of the Titanfall series surprised the world with Apex Legends. No, this is not the next real entry in the Titanfall series. Instead, this is a standalone battle royale game in the vein of Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.
My initial reaction before playing the game was to groan at the notion of Respawn Entertainment putting the Titanfall series on hold to chase the trends. While this statement may be true, it doesn’t mean that Apex Legends can’t be a quality title in its own right. Based on my limited time with the game thus far, it may be too soon to brush this off as money grab.
Best known for making meaty single-player RPGs with a heavy emphasis on storytelling, BioWare is trying something different with Anthem. They don’t completely leave the RPG genre behind, but this is an action game to the core. So much so, that it’s heavily recommended you play the experience online with friends or strangers through matchmaking. Does BioWare have the chops to create a game this far out of their comfort zone? And for fans of their previous works, does Anthem provide enough reasons for you to join them on this journey? The full game isn’t out yet, but I tried out the demo to get a taste of what’s to come.
The villain never wins in a Disney film, but one of them will finally get to achieve their dastardly goal in the Villainous board game. With each player taking control of a Disney villain within their respective realms, the race is on to see who can complete their vile objective first. Are you a bad enough evildoer to defeat the heroes that stand in your way while also overcoming the interference from other villains trying to finish their schemes?
Years after the Toys-to-Life bubble burst, Ubisoft took the bold step into the deserted space with Starlink: Battle for Atlas. Unlike Skylanders or Amiibo figures, Starlink takes a modular approach with its toys. As such, you can customize your loadouts by strapping a unique pilot, ship, and weapons to your controller before entering warp speed. It doesn’t hurt that the Nintendo Switch version gets access to console-exclusive Star Fox content, including a sweet-looking Arwing toy. Is the game worth the trouble of slapping all of this extra plastic onto your Joy-Con controllers?
On the third day he rose again…to fight? Jesus stars in Fight of Gods, where he and other religious figures partake in immortal combat for reasons that are never fully explained. The core concept behind the game was intriguing enough for me to give it a try. Does Fight of Gods provide an otherworldly fighting game experience?
Jackbox Games caught lightning in a bottle with the Party Pack concept. Bundling a set of party games that are played with smartphones has livened up countless get-togethers the world over, including a few parties I’ve attended or hosted. The latest edition of the series marks the return of its flagship game You Don’t Know Jack, as well as four new titles to enjoy. Is this a worthy addition to the series or your next party?
Modern Tomb Raider has been one of my favourite franchises of the past few years, but there are aspects of its first two games that prevented them from being universally celebrated. The first was a commercial hit and a game I enjoyed a lot, but it also leaned a bit too heavily on the Uncharted playbook. I felt that the sequel took the right steps towards bringing the game back towards its roots, but it was still a bit too heavy on the gun play and the game was largely overlooked due to it being a timed Xbox One exclusive. Third time’s a charm? Shadow of the Tomb Raider closes out this era of Lara Croft with an adventure that is as high stakes as it gets.
Always at the forefront of music and rhythm games, Harmonix teams up with Hasbro for DropMix. This innovative card game aims to give you unprecedented control over music, allowing you to mix-and-match bits of different songs in order to create intricate mashups and mixes without any prerequisite skill in music. Beyond its free-form mixing mode, DropMix comes equipped with multiple game modes that provide structure to the experience.
Does its music-mixing tech work as advertised? Do its modes of play add value to the experience? And should you take the plunge for DropMix and its expansions?
It’s been a lifelong goal of mine to own a Street Fighter II arcade machine. Despite owning multiple copies of the game across almost every platform I own, there’s nothing quite like playing this classic in its original form. Placing a quarter at the top of the control panel before rubbing shoulders against your opponent in the heat of battle is the experience that millions the world over had with this classic.
Trying to buy and maintain a vintage Street Fighter II cabinet from the 90s is a nightmare in modern times, but Arcade1Up aims to bring the arcade experience home in a way that’s the closest we’ve ever come to owning the real thing. With its Street Fighter II cabinet, you can play head-to-head against your friends or the AI in three legendary titles in one machine. Is this my dream come true?
In Third Person 