With a good deal of extra care, Mario Tennis Aces could have easily been the best entry in the franchise’s history. Unfortunately, it is considerably held back by the fact many of its offline modes suffer from issues that are so primary one has to wonder how it was possible for a company as big… View Article

Balanced against so much outstanding quality, though, it is easy to see how minimal – not to say completely negligible – those problems are. Hollow Knight blasts by them, and it constructs an adventure of all-time greatness. By giving its starring knight a set of skills that is absolutely common and presenting a progression that… View Article

And, in a way, that statement nicely sums up playing Super Mario Kart from a modern perspective. It is clear the franchise has greatly and naturally advanced since its first installment: graphics have become better, songs and scenery have become more varied, races have included more competitors, tracks have grown to outstandingly insane levels of… View Article

Yet, even when carrying such thin content, F-Zero is still greatly enjoyable. It is obvious that, thanks to 3-D gaming as well as consoles with increased power, the franchise has – since its inception – grown far beyond the completely flat tracks and fifteen-car races that its Super Nintendo version provides. Nonetheless, the title is… View Article

Little Nightmares, then, manages to be, simultaneously, absolutely engaging and infuriating. If, on one hand, it succeeds, like few games have, in constructing a grotesque world that is as irresistible as it is repulsive; on the other, it tends to fill it up with gameplay that is either merely decent or downright frustrating. The Maw… View Article

As a good representation of the South Park franchise, The Fractured But Whole does nothing to please an audience that is disgusted or unmoved by the show’s humor, as it obviously prefers to make use of its precious time to either ignore those folks or keep on making them sick. To everyone else, though, The… View Article

Jungle Beat is, in the end, a forgotten gem of Nintendo’s rich lore. The fact it was created for a system that was not a widespread success and the general difficulty of playing it in its best state, which requires the acquisition of a pair of bongos that does not have any use outside a… View Article

Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader is, consequently, not just an exquisite technical translation of Star Wars’ most heart-pumping action segments; it is also a strong package that entertains, challenges, and thrills. Surely, the technological advances that have taken place since its release have allowed for more visually faithful recreations of the Star Wars… View Article

Ultimately, though, what the issues of Donkey Kong Country Returns reveal is that the aspects in which the game falters are only perceived as weaknesses because they are inevitably compared to the best of what was offered during the classic trilogy that inspired it. Individually, none of its building blocks stand as the best to… View Article

Madeline’s choice to answer her inexplicable urge to climb Celeste Mountain, then, amounts to a massive and unexpected classic of the platformer genre. Her journey is one that matches simple yet effectively charming pixel art visuals with a spectacular soundtrack, and that pulses life into them by creating challenging levels with the precision of a… View Article

Axiom Verge, therefore, could have certainly benefited from additional, and more specialized, help in some of its supporting elements. Nonetheless, when judged in terms of gameplay, by far the most important component of the medium it belongs to, it amounts to a title that is downright stunning, especially when one considers it was entirely built… View Article

Therefore, Yooka-Laylee has the scent of an uprising because it is a takeback. This is the people who saw their work, in the hands of others, be transfigured beyond belief and ignored for nearly two decades regaining possession over a property that, from a creative standpoint, is theirs. And while the legal system stops them… View Article

It is glorious, it is huge, it is sometimes overwhelming, and it is bound to make many players spend more than one hundred hours in Alrest uncovering all the world’s secrets. Whether one has played the original game or not, anyone willing to ignore a few flaws and to devote their brains and energy to… View Article

Revelations is ridiculously easy to recommend. Even though almost half of its core campaign is wasted on not-so-compelling shooting sections, the survival segments are a showcase of the series at its very peak. At times, the storyline might get a little bit too convoluted due to the web of happenings surrounding it, but the plot… View Article

Disney fans might get some moments of rush either by seeing their favorite characters interacting with each other in the development of a nice story, or by sinking their teeth into the Disney collectibles available, which include old Silly Symphonies or Mickey Mouse cartoons that become available to be watched. However, those who have a… View Article

Muramasa: The Demon Blade is a good title, and it is mostly fun for the twenty hours or so that it lasts. However, Vanillaware’s interesting attempt to merge the simplicity of a hack and slash affair with the scope of an adventure title and the value of an RPG game ends up being negatively affected… View Article

Still, Rhythm Heaven Fever is an absolute blast to play, look at and listen to: it is a feast for the senses. Games who embrace a simple approach to gameplay often rely on being addictive as a mean to achieve success, and an extremely addictive title is precisely the final result that comes out of… View Article

Thanks to the impressive quantity of items to acquire in each kingdom (the dozens of moons and regional coins), Super Mario Odyssey often feels like a collectathon, but one that merges the exploration aspect that reigned over Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine with the linear goodness found in the most recent 3-D outings… View Article

The conclusion is that a lot could have been done to make Ever Oasis a more solid experience. The two gameplay elements that make it up could have been integrated more firmly by more thoughtful design; and, individually, those parts could have turned out far more engaging if simple steps had been taken to avoid… View Article

Despite some annoyances and eventual dullness, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia succeeds in keeping the ball rolling after the giants that were Awakening and Fates. Like those, it embraces both casual gamers and a more hardcore Fire Emblem audience by providing an easier mode, where downed units come back; and a harder traditional setup,… View Article