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High On Life 2 Review - Skate 'N GunWho knew that adding a skateboard to a first-person shooter would make for a better game? It's an unconventional approach, for sure, but developer Squanch Games isn't exactly known for following conventions. If 2022's High On Life was Metroid Prime by way of Rick and Morty, then High On Life 2 looks to Ratchet & Clank , Sunset Overdrive , and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater for new ingredients to add to its eclectic mixture. The end result is an improved sequel--absolutely bursting with creativity and out-of-the-box ideas--that nonetheless suffers from a few familiar shortcomings. Like the first game, High On Life 2 plops you into the space boots of a silent and nameless protagonist, complete with an arsenal of talking alien weapons. The story setup is much the same, too, except instead of hunting down an extraterrestrial drug cartel that wants to turn humans into a narcotic, you're killing off the celebrity propagandists, financiers, and scientists behind an extraterrestrial pharmaceutical company that wants to turn humans into a narcotic (one with much better branding than the drug from the first game). You're also on the wrong side of the law this time around, swapping your role as a bounty hunter for that of a rogue assassin, illegally murdering your way across the galaxy. The nearly identical setup is an odd choice, but your wanted status makes for some interesting deviations, and the pivot to Big Pharma as an antagonist sharpens the anticapitalist satire. Continue Reading at GameSpot

GameSpot - Game ReviewsFeb 19

MSI MPG 272QRF X36 Gaming Monitor Review

IGN PC ReviewsFeb 18

Crisol: Theater of Idols Review - Drained DryThe best thing Crisol: Theater of Idols has going for it is the world it is set in. The game clearly takes many cues from the likes of Resident Evil and BioShock in terms of cultivating a sense of mystique and atmosphere in its opening hour, with tension-building sound design, closed-off environments, and unnerving enemies that are visually human-like but move in an unnatural manner. Unlike those games, however, Crisol begins to lose its edge when the enemies become too numerous and easy to defeat, undermining the sense of danger that first built up its setting and undercutting the game's best mechanic. The first-person shooter gameplay grows increasingly dull as the layouts of different arenas become repetitive, keeping combat from evolving in exciting ways. And while the narrative framework of Crisol is interesting and immediately draws you in, the actual story is held back by another drag: its protagonist. In Crisol: Theater of Idols, you play as Gabriel, a soldier of the god of the sun who has infiltrated the perpetually stormy island settlement of Tormentosa, a locale that is part of Hispania, a nightmarish version of Spain. Gabriel is waging war against the sea god for his master and receives his mission instructions through visions that the sun god sends him. He must make his way across the island, working alongside the remnants of a human resistance that is struggling to survive against statues that have been given some form of sentience and now move with murderous purpose. Throughout it all, he is dragged further and further into the history and politics of the ongoing war between the two deities. The best part of Crisol is its blood-for-bullets mechanic. There is no ammo in Crisol--instead, you refill each firearm by injecting Gabriel's blood into them. This, obviously, hurts. As a result, Gabriel's health and firearm ammo both pull from the same resource bar. This is not too much of an issue on the easiest difficulty, but on the harder ones, this blood-for-bullets mechanic makes for an interesting risk-versus-reward gameplay loop. You have to carefully manage how much you reload your firearms. Continue Reading at GameSpot

GameSpot - Game ReviewsFeb 18

Reanimal ReviewThe creator of Little Nightmares returns with more of the dark puzzle platforming it has honed over the last decade.

IGN PC ReviewsFeb 14

High On Life 2 ReviewLike a joke you've heard before, this sequel just doesn’t land quite as well as the original.

IGN PC ReviewsFeb 12

Highguard ReviewCompelling gunplay and a unique raid mode help this FPS stand out.

IGN PC ReviewsFeb 11

Reanimal Review - Doomed, But Not AloneWe're running through an abandoned room with a wheel we need to attach to a cart outside in order to escape. My co-op partner and I scream in unison as hollow, slimy ex-human skins slither quickly after us. One snap at our ankles and we'll be dead, forced to restart the encounter. It's almost needlessly tense--the respawn points are very forgiving, and there's nothing at risk here--but somehow these eerie undead creatures have my heart racing and palms sweating. I don't want to be caught by them, whatever they are, and however they came to exist. Where Tarsier Studios faced criticism for muting the distorted and disturbing imagery of the original Little Nightmares game in its 2021 sequel, the developer has returned to its most outlandish in Reanimal. The gut-wrenching feeling of discovering a giant, mutated beast of an animal is strangely comforting in a nostalgic way, meaning that not only does Reanimal live up to the legacy of Little Nightmares, it surpasses it. Despite its haunting and unsettling atmosphere, Reanimal is thoroughly enjoyable. I find great delight in dragging my co-op partner toward what appears to be a dead end, only to find a narrow crack in the brickwork that we can squeeze through to uncover collectibles or other secrets. I'm not usually one to seek Trophies or Achievements, but Reanimal makes me want to uncover every corner of its sordid environment just to absorb more of its world. Reanimal places you in the shoes of orphaned siblings trying to rescue some missing friends. As the game is the brainchild of former Little Nightmares creators, I already know to expect fragmented storytelling, uncovering lore as we go through the haunting experience--each secret adding more layers to the siblings' narrative. This leads to plenty of theorizing between my companion and I as we progress through the game, most of which turns out to be hilariously incorrect. Continue Reading at GameSpot

GameSpot - Game ReviewsFeb 11

Romeo Is a Dead Man ReviewThis sure is a Suda51 joint, all right.

IGN PC ReviewsFeb 10

Mario Tennis Fever Review - Bringing The HeatThough Bowser seems to be in the midst of a kidnapping or world domination on a regular basis, the Mario sports franchises show that the Mushroom Kingdom is a pretty friendly place. Even the villains are invited to compete in a pick-up game of basketball, or to hit the links in golf. At the same time, Mario's sports franchises across the Switch lifespan have been notably lackluster, offering slick presentation but very straightforward mechanics. Mario Tennis Fever, the first sports game as part of the Switch 2 generation, suggests that Nintendo has learned its lesson, offering a great new hook that is flexible enough to make for a wild party game atmosphere while also rewarding skilled players with another layer of substance. The core mechanics of Mario Tennis have remained unchanged across several games--different buttons are assigned to shots like topspins and flats, while quick two-button combos exist for some of the more specialized shots like drops and lobs. You can press a button slightly early to start charging your next shot, or double-tap for a power-shot. Choosing which shot to use and where to aim it, along with where you position yourself on the court to be prepared for the return, creates the essential rock-paper-scissors loop that makes these games a lightly skill-based experience. It's approachable, but with a higher skill ceiling than you may expect. But for the last several iterations, Mario Tennis has also been experimenting with new gimmicks and special powers, inching ever closer to making Mario Tennis more like Mario Kart--a game with effects so big and impactful that you really shouldn't take the competitive part too seriously. This time, the major new component is Fever rackets, a wide selection of special rackets with their own wild, game-altering effects. While you can play with standard rackets for a purer tennis experience, the Fever rackets help to elevate this into an arcade sports experience while still demanding skilled play. It's just a different kind of skill, as you're required to juggle your own special effects and avoid your opponent's while also planning your next shots. Continue Reading at GameSpot

GameSpot - Game ReviewsFeb 10

Romeo Is a Dead Man Review - Keep Sleeping, Dead ManRomeo Is a Dead Man is a strange game. That shouldn't shock anyone who has played and enjoyed previous works from executive director Suda 51 and developer Grasshopper Manufacture--The Silver Case, Killer7, Lollipop Chainsaw, and the No More Heroes series all contain wild tone shifts, interesting visual choices, and twisty, sometimes esoteric narratives. Romeo Is a Dead Man is strange in many of the same ways those games were, but something important's missing from it: a sense of purpose. In the game's opening moments, Romeo Stargazer, a sheriff's deputy with a taste for conspiracy theories, is brutally attacked by a monster in the middle of his hometown of Deadford, Pennsylvania. Thankfully, he's saved from death by his own time-traveling grandfather, who turns him into a cyborg with the Dead Gear Life Support System. Some years earlier, after the world is shattered by a mysterious singularity event, and Romeo--now known as Dead Man--is swiftly inducted into the FBI's Space-Time Police unit, where he's forced to hunt alternate-timeline versions of his amnesiac girlfriend, Juliet (yes, as in Romeo and Juliet), and a handful of other deviants who have holed up in the past. If the plot sounds like nonsense, it's worth noting that the game clearly knows this too. Sometimes its tongue-in-cheek humor lands--it's funny to get carted off for your "training" when you're already several levels into the game, for instance, and the way the game keeps flashing back to "previously on" segments depicting events that happened before the game started is amusing. The first boss is inexplicably called "Everyday Is Like Monday," and there's a good ongoing bit where characters keep correcting themselves after referring to the protagonist as "Romeo" instead of "Dead Man." Continue Reading at GameSpot

GameSpot - Game ReviewsFeb 10