Welcome to Hell. On Mars. In the world of Doom, it’s just another day at the office. As a reboot to the seminal shooter of the same name, Doom tries its hardest to make its original formula work in modern times. Somehow, Id and Bethesda pulled it off with flying colours.
Reviews
Escape Room: The Game Impressions
For the past few years, escape rooms as a social activity have really taken off. Personally, I’ve gone a few times myself, though I’ve only escaped in time once. While the experience of puzzle solving with friends is great, it’s also quite expensive when you account for the admission costs of everyone involved.
Escape Room: The Game aims to capture the thrills of that experience as a cheaper tabletop board game. Do you have what it takes to escape these scenarios in time?
ARMS Review
Nintendo is no stranger to putting their stamp on genres outside of their wheelhouse. Their take on racing gave birth to the legendary Mario Kart franchise. Their foray into the world of real-time strategy gave us the brilliant Pikmin series. Most recently, Nintendo entered the crowded shooter market with their breakout hit Splatoon.
They don’t always hit with their forays into new territory, but their track record of making something great within unfamiliar territory is ridiculous. This time, they’ve struck gold with Arms, a 3D arena fighter with motion controls.
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia Review
Over the course of seven games released outside of Japan, only one Fire Emblem title has failed to impress me. That dud is Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon. Starring Marth, arguably better known now for his appearance in the Smash Bros. series, it was a remake of the first game in the series. Despite featuring updated graphics, its antiquated story and gameplay remained, leaving a lot to be desired for players who jumped on the bandwagon through more refined entries in the franchise.
My concern all along for Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia was that it would suffer the same fate as Shadow Dragon. As a remake of Fire Emblem Gaiden, the second game in the series that was initially released in 1992, its fair to assume at the outset that this also would have aged poorly. Does this remake suffer the same fate as its predecessor? Continue reading
Batman: The Telltale Series Review
After the runaway success of Telltale’s The Walking Dead, the company continued their string of adventure games with Borderlands, Minecraft and Game of Thrones. This time, they head over to Gotham to tell a new story about the Caped Crusader. For years, we’ve played action games starring Batman. How does he fare in this story-driven format?
Mass Effect: Andromeda Review
(NOTE: I didn’t finish the game. I stopped after Kadara. You’ll see why in a minute)
In Mass Effect: Andromeda, you’re certainly not in Kansas anymore. As part of a group of pioneers that left the Milky Way in search of new worlds, you end up in the Andromeda galaxy, where creating a settlement has turned out to be more difficult than originally planned. Do you have what it takes to help the species from the Milky Way establish themselves in this new world?
Ultra Street Fighter II Review
Street Fighter II is back! Again! For the last time! Yeah, probably not the last time, but whatever.
After a countless number of iterations over the last few decades (!), Capcom rolls out the latest version of its signature fighting game franchise with Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers on the Nintendo Switch. Is this a worthwhile addition to the franchise and to your collection?
Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment Review
Following the success of Shovel Knight, Yacht Club Games released Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows. It was a free downloadable campaign that allowed you to play through the existing levels as Plague Knight. While I appreciate the level of effort that went into making the Plague Knight experience differ, it came at the cost of Plague Knight not being as fun of a character to play as.
Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment seems to have learned from the mistakes of the past. This time, you play as a new character that moves with a fluidity that Plague Knight sorely lacked. You also get to use this new character in heavily revised levels that are tuned to match their play style. One could even argue that the end result might be better than the original game.
NBA Playgrounds Review (Nintendo Switch)
[NOTE: This reviews the current version of the game that does not have online play. It was not available at this point in time and based on recent comments from the developer, it’s not coming in a timely manner. As such, I’ve chosen to publish the review without online play.]
Coming out just as my beloved Toronto Raptors get bounced from the playoffs yet again, NBA Playgrounds arrives just in time to ease the pain of another failed attempt at the championship. Unlike the simulation-based NBA 2K series, NBA Playgrounds is a throwback to the arcade insanity of NBA Jam. Is this new take on a classic play stile a somersault slam dunk?
Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows Review
Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows is the first piece of downloadable content for Shovel Knight. This time, you take on the Enchantress and the Order of No Quarter as Plague Knight, one of the bosses from the original game. While it uses the same levels, the experience of playing as Plague Knight gives the game a different, more challenging, and arguably not as fun game.
In Third Person 