Comprehensive Game Reviews

4 followers

9 articles/week

From AAA titles to indie games, we cover it all. Our comprehensive reviews provide detailed insights to help you find your next favorite game.

Resident Evil Requiem ReviewLike the result of an experiment conducted in an underground Umbrella Corporation lab, Resident Evil Requiem successfully splices two separate strains of survival horror together into the one highly infectious new mutation.

IGN PC ReviewsFeb 25

Resident Evil Requiem Review - Two-Headed MutantThe Resident Evil series has a long history of struggling to find the right balance of horror and action, sometimes becoming massively successful and influential in either genre, and sometimes completely faceplanting after leaning too far one way. Resident Evil Requiem , the ninth mainline game in the series, sees Capcom dialing in the combination of those elements better than ever, though in a somewhat inelegant way. Rather than try to blend different elements of two different genres into a single experience, it just staples together two distinct experiences that each capture the best parts of Resident Evil--to the point where it is almost two separate games running in parallel. One game is a slow, frightening, gory haunted house story following an everyday person as its protagonist, hewing close to the horror-first approach of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard . The other is a fast-paced, panic-inducing experience starring an action-hero badass that draws directly from Resident Evil 4 . Requiem even lets you set different points of view for the separate protagonists, recommending RE7's first-person approach for horror and RE4's third-person camera for action, though you can use either for both. Disparate as they may be, though, both halves are extremely compelling. Requiem feels like Resident Evil's developers, for the most part, recognizing what they do well and leaning in all the way. The result is a game that's unwilling to leave the track set by its predecessors, but one that still provides an intense, often exciting ride. Continue Reading at GameSpot

GameSpot - Game ReviewsFeb 25

Review: Resident Evil Requiem Delivers Consistent Fun Despite its title, Resident Evil Requiem feels like a celebration of the series with its myriad mechanics from past titles. It beautifully blends different play styles in one coherent title, but what could have been the best Resident Evil game in the series is marred by its strange story. Grace Ashcroft is an FBI analyst and nervous mess. She's looking into a string of bizarre deaths, with all victims survivors of the Raccoon City Incident. After a new body’s discovered, her boss sends her to the Wrenwood Hotel, which happens to be the place her mother Alyssa (a playable character from Outbreak ) was killed. The investigation goes south, and the mysterious, creepy Victor Gideon kidnaps Grace. She has to use her wits and limited resources to escape. At the same time, Leon S. Kennedy is looking into the same deaths. His own probing leads him to meeting Grace and kickstarts his side of the tale. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXVy4mALHLY As playable characters, Grace and Leon don't feel like they're in the same game. Capcom maximized the potential of Resident Evil 6 when it introduced the notion of different campaigns playing like different games. From things like the health meter and inventory UI to overall play style, there's barely anything in common between the two. Leon is faster and more agile. Grace’s segments feel a return to traditional survival horror while mixing in elements from the 2 and 3 remakes and Ethan Winters games. Leon’s segments feel straight out of Resident Evil 4 (remake specifically), 5 , or 6 . His new points-based customization system encourages you to kill enemies to rack up credits, which you can then spend on new guns or tune-ups. Grace feels unique for a mainline protagonist in that she only ever gets a handgun, forcing you to employ stealth and resource management. She relies more on crafting than Leon, as she can make powerful insta-kill items with Infected Blood. This is a new mechanic that involves collecting blood from specific locations or felled enemies and combining it with other items. Grace has a preset amount of resources available. You can kill everything. However, you might get stuck with no way around an opponent. Do you want to use your limited resources on this enemy now or sneak past it and hope it doesn’t bother you later? These questions are constant, making her levels exhilarating in a different way than Leon’s adrenaline-filled fights. Grace levels are also really spooky, especially during the first playthrough. If she's not navigating tight hallways full of enemies that might chase you into the path of more if they spot you, she's shuffling in the darkness while the game's invulnerable stalker stomps about. Capcom limiting her resources and firepower, forcing us to maintain a stealthier approach, is a smart way to stop the game from turning into action-horror. It kept me on my toes even on subsequent playthroughs. Screenshot by Siliconera Now, let's talk about the story. Well, the plot of Resident Evil Requiem is something . There's a lot I'd like to say! To sum it up, it's weird, and not in a fun way. There's a pervasive feeling of wrongness. Leon is a playable character, yet this doesn't feel like a Leon game. It's not because of Grace, either. Many of the events have more to do with the other core characters of the series than with him. There are also plenty of references that would confuse newer fans who got in after remakes, and some scenes may bewilder older fans. I do want to shout out Angela Sant'Albano 's incredible performance as Grace. She sounded like the voice director was actually forcing her to experience the horrors. Despite that, Resident Evil Requiem gameplay's really enjoyable. I feel it's the most consistently fun entry. Whereas previous games featured annoying sections that I despise replaying ( RE2R 's Sewers, RE5 4-2, and RE6 Jake Chapter 2), almost all the segments here were fun in their own ways. Though some are stronger than others, nothing is significantly better or worse. The game balance, both the difficulty and pacing, is immaculate, making it a comfortable game to replay. Performance-wise, the Switch 2 version is not fantastic. The frame rate consistently poops itself in the clinic’s Bar & Lounge. It sometimes drops during fights as Leon. That's annoying, but thankfully never fatal. As you might see from my screenshots, the game can look pretty chopped on the Switch 2. Screenshots by Siliconera Other graphical issues include Leon looking terrible with a gun strapped onto him. Instead of the strap of a gun going around him, it stretches out from behind like it’s T-posing. The game also bugged out so badly on me that I had to quit, as I couldn't even open up the main menu anymore. This was especially annoying, since the last auto-save had been before one of the more difficult segments as Grace, forcing me to have to replay it. Resident Evil Requiem feels like if Capcom took parts from 2R , 4R , 6 , 7 , and 8 , then sanded them all down to fit together. As a game, it might be the most fun installment I've played in a very long time. It combines both classic survival horror and fast-paced action-horror without feeling completely incongruent or like it's compromising something. Its strong level design is a promising step in the new direction the series is taking, yet it's dragged down only by a weak and forgettable story. Resident Evil Requiem will come out on February 27, 2026 for the PS5, Switch 2, Xbox Series X, and Windows PC. The post Review: Resident Evil Requiem Delivers Consistent Fun appeared first on Siliconera .

Reviews Articles and News - SiliconeraFeb 25

God of War Sons of Sparta Review - Fighting In The Shade Of Greater Games Reviewed on: PlayStation 5 Platform: PlayStation 5 Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment Developer: Mega Cat Studios, Santa Monica Studio Rating: Teen I’ve been following the exploits of Kratos and his terrible, no good, very bad life since 2005. The God of War franchise has maintained an impressive level of action game quality for over 20 years while delivering an engaging, often emotional story. Sons of Sparta doesn’t fill in any important narrative gaps. It does offer a worthwhile look at a point in Kratos’ life before the gods decided to put him through hell (often literally), but the gameplay is frustrating and competing in a genre where it is simply not up to the task.   Sons of Sparta is framed during a time of relative peace in Kratos’ life. His first family is still alive, and he decides to tell his daughter, Calliope, a story from his childhood. An adventure he took with his brother Deimos. Greek-era Kratos is back, with his original voice actor, and for a longtime God of War fan, Calliope and Deimos are characters I have always wanted to spend more time with. Seeing a young Kratos, wholly devoted to the idea of being a good Spartan soldier when his anger and resentment were only simmering and had not yet reached full boil, is a treat. The narrative and characterizations are where Sons of Sparta shines. Catching little glimpses of the character Kratos will become is charming (he doesn’t think music serves any purpose beyond helping soldiers stay in step, for example). The stakes of the plot are low compared to other God of War games, but I was moved by the ending and learning how Kratos’ Spartan upbringing made him the god he eventually becomes. However, playing the game to get to those story moments is far less compelling. Sons of Sparta is a Metroidvania – an accurate definition even if you don’t like the term. It’s a genre I love, but also one with incredibly stiff competition. Kratos builds out a map of the world neighboring his home while collecting upgrades as he and Deimos try to track down a lost young Spartan cohort against the wishes of his superiors. Every element of the genre in the game is achieved at a base level or lower. Movement is a little stiff, making platforming feel mediocre. Combat is underwhelming and rarely moves beyond the strategy of getting behind an enemy and hitting them in the back. Alternate weapon upgrades are just fine, but don’t reward experimentation beyond using your standard spear. Fast travel is unwieldy, and though you do get a better option eventually, it is way too late in a game that is simply too long. It does not maintain a consistent pace across its approximate 35 hours (more if you’re going for 100 percent). When I finally got the improved fast travel, I was annoyed that it took so long and did not feel rewarded. Perhaps my biggest annoyance, though, is the general layout and placement of enemies on platforms. When trying to simply climb up a ledge, enemies would often stand at its corner, making it difficult to even get in place to fight them. I spent so much time yelling, “Back up so I can get up there and fight you!” that it made me truly understand why Kratos is such an angry character on a personal level This adventure also feels cheap in ways that thankfully don’t make gameplay worse, but this is a series known for its impressive production value and attention to detail. I love the pixelated visuals, impressive backgrounds, and seeing familiar God of War elements in a new style, but when Kratos falls into water and simply blinks back into existence or gets stuck in a corner in a looping animation because of bad enemy placement, it just isn’t up to the God of War standard. For the God of War completionist, there is a story incentive to play through Sons of Sparta. It builds on Kratos’ character well, shows a part of his life we have not had the chance to experience, and there is at least one small detail related to modern Kratos and his son that I am glad I learned. But it underwhelms on nearly every aspect of Metroid-inspired design without outright failing. Controlling Kratos, fighting, and exploring just isn’t particularly fun on a basic level. A just below perfunctory genre experience alongside characters and in a setting I admit I like spending time with. Score: 6.5 About Game Informer's review system

Game Informer ReviewsFeb 25

Resident Evil Requiem Review – A Sublime Sepulchre Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, PC Publisher: Capcom Developer: Capcom Rating: Mature Resident Evil Requiem is about two people whose lives are forever altered by the worst day of work ever. Those same people then risk it all to save someone. This act is unfeigned, full of the corny sincerity that is a staple of this series, and it is the heartbeat the hordes of undead they will maim are missing. Resident Evil Requiem is also a game about roundhouse-kicking zombies, physics-defying motorcycle chases, and a story that requires years of crisscrossed history to fully understand what transpires. It is fantastic, a revelatory mix of terrifying survival-horror and action that stops just short of being too over the top to dip back into the sentimental humanity of these seemingly everlasting characters. It is goofy, schlocky, and excessive, but it is also a masterclass in refinement, a tour de force of gameplay that arrives only after 30 years of lessons learned. Requiem is Resident Evil at its finest. Watch Our Resident Evil Requiem Review:   Grace Ashcroft is the daughter of a woman murdered for mysterious but significant reasons. When she is called to yet another murder on a case she’s tracking for the FBI, she returns to the hotel where she watched her mom die. Thus begins a dreadful day in which the comfort of her office computer is a far cry from her journey to the heart of Raccoon City to fight both true evil and rotting corpses whose innocent slumber has been invaded by a virus. Leon S. Kennedy, who might view Grace’s adventure as just another day at work, is ill, racing against the clock to find a cure for something he doesn’t understand. Fatefully, their paths cross, and together, they must save themselves, a girl, and the world – they don’t know who’s pulling what strings, not really, but that only encourages them to keep fighting. That hotel, the Rhodes Hill Care Center, sterile-white labs, Raccoon City itself, and the dormant secrets they hold are the labyrinthian playgrounds for what is the new pinnacle of survival-horror. Absurd puzzles involving sparkling gems, search-action gauntlets, and a scavenger hunt for detonator parts, and more color the pages of Capcom’s playbook in Requiem. It is familiar, sometimes to a fault, but it is always exhilarating. The shakiness of Grace’s hands in first-person matches the hushed breaths I try to contain on my couch, as if the undead hulking chef, with his machete-sized kitchen knife, will hear me if I’m too loud. The copious one-liners that Leon can’t help saying are the capstones to my laughter after watching a pustulating, walking blister explode into a fountain of blood after I plunge a hatchet into its skull in third-person. Whether my walk has slowed to a crawl as I inch closer to a zombie I have to sneak around, or I’m sprinting forward into the horde because I am finally in control of a chainsaw that has haunted me for years, I am in heaven (or maybe hell). Just barely surviving the hallways of the aforementioned care center as Grace, desperate to save a girl who could have been her in a different universe, provides the scares and tension I crave from Resident Evil. I don’t care that zombies explode into reborn festering amalgamations of blood and thickened muscle before my eyes. I don’t care that a gigantic woman whose eyes verge on popping like the world’s most disgusting boba relentlessly searches for me. Well, that’s not true, actually. I do care, and Grace does too, of course, but for the sake of this girl, and both her survival and mine, we cannot care – these are our circumstances, and there is no other choice. Instead of ramping up Grace’s adventures to a comical level of silliness and heroism – an issue I have with the series’ past – her time on screen remains a dreadful march of atrocity, agony, and heart. And just as it starts to feel overindulgent, in steps Leon, just the man for extravagant set pieces with mortar-firing zombies, motorcycle chases, and monstrous boss fights. It’s nothing new for him, after all. Capcom masterfully weaves Leon and Grace’s stories together to ensure her horrors never persist for too long and that Leon’s ditzy drive never overextends its enjoyment. I would have welcomed another dozen hours of this back-and-forth with joy, and I am looking forward to optimizing my route through this nightmare to achieve a cleaner, faster completion time. That myriad post-game rewards and unlockables remain after the first playthrough demonstrates Capcom's confidence: it knows I will be playing it again, and again. There is such a simple change in the ever-present virus of Requiem, which has plagued Raccoon City and its surrounding mountains for nearly three decades: those who succumb to it retain their memories. Gone are the shambling, decomposed bodies that just want to taste the next living thing their eyes spot. No, these zombies are the soldiers who died with a machine gun in hand but still have a mission to accomplish, the doctors performing surgery who will use their scalpel prowess on you, and the lone police chief still looking for a donut, I assume. This viral change breathes new life into zombies we’ve killed countless times before, as there is a semblance of life within, and every bullet fired is the chance for mercy, finally. It also means some custodial zombies aren’t interested in killing you but rather are desperate to turn off the light you just switched on, and I’m thankful for that, too. There is little room to breathe in Requiem. Grace cannot stop – she is not Leon and her survival depends on her ability to march forward toward an eventual but unknown escape, even when every cell in her body is screaming for her to turn the other way. Leon will not stop – he has a mission after all, and nothing will prevent him from completing it, not even the threat of returning foes he has long thought dead. Those returning foes, and even the return of Raccoon City itself decades after its nuclear fallout, might come across as fan service, and to an extent, they are, by the very nature of their existence. But a delicate hand elevates these encounters and characters to be more. They are reminders of where someone like Leon has been and where he is today; they are callbacks that tease, through history, where Grace’s story can go; they are prompts to inspect internally what Resident Evil means to you. Is it the horror? Is it the action? Is it the characters? Is it the ridiculous lore? Is it Leon’s sculpted jaw and always perfect hair? It is all of these things, and Requiem is in commanding conversation with that mixture throughout its runtime. Just as I mix various resources in the crafting menu to see what I get, so too does Requiem combine its various gameplay types, from claustrophobic horror to bombastic action and everything in between. Sometimes the result is familiar – mixing three green herbs still gives you an item that fully recovers your health – but sometimes the outcome is a new thrill of adrenaline and terror Capcom somehow hadn’t yet delivered. Requiem is a repose for characters, corpses, and the chronicles of Raccoon City. Requiem is also the name of the laughably large pistol I used to kill yet another mutated nemesis, itself a deformed manifestation of man’s hubris. That duality of the word “Requiem” here speaks to Capcom’s success and the ways in which Resident Evil is finally harmonizing the disparate parts of its past to create a perfectly refined melody. And now, with its secrets exposed to me and its mazes awaiting my mastery of them, Requiem is also the name of my favorite Resident Evil. Score: 9.75 About Game Informer's review system

Game Informer ReviewsFeb 25

Styx: Blades of Greed ReviewThis sequel mostly delivers the same stealth gameplay as its predecessors, with all the good and the bad you might expect.

IGN PC ReviewsFeb 20

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

Review: Reanimal Revives the Little Nightmares Style Experience When the Little Nightmares series lost Tarsier Studios as a developer, following its Embracer acquisition, the developer’s absence ended up immediately felt . However, that sort of experience isn’t lost to us. The company’s latest horror adventure Reanimal is a similar sort of beast, though one that’s more gruesome than its past games. A boy is in a boat. He’s alone, heading toward an island. As he drives through the dark, he eventually stops and pulls in a young girl from the water, who immediately tries to attack him. They separate, ending the altercation, and move onward. The two are alone, searching for missing friends. What happened to them? Why were they separated? Where are all these hostile beings coming from? Reanimal might not give you all the answers, but maybe you’ll draw your own conclusions by playing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsuEUAqptzQ Like the Little Nightmare series, Reanimal focuses on the horror that comes from being very small children with very limited ways to respond to the hazards around them attempting to traverse foreboding areas. There’s more freedom in how to tackle things this time, as there’s nonlinear progression as you go to different areas to search for missing friends. However, when you are in spaces they are incredibly atmospheric, with occasional puzzles that involve observing surroundings or working with your CPU/human-controlled sibling. There can be traps. You’ll need to use your brain to figure out the right actions to move forward. There will also be major encounters with the sorts of large-scale opponents like we’d seen in Little Nightmares , forcing us to run or figure out a way to successfully deal with what might appear to be an unstoppable force. Now, in some of those situations I did notice some bugs. The biggest ended up being some frame rate issues in Quality Mode. I did notice that seemed to be addressed in a patch that was released just around Valentine’s Day, however. Performance Mode, which prioritizes frame rate, always seemed to work well. Especially in handheld mode. I will say that I do wish some elements of Reanimal had been handled a bit differently. The non-linear nature I think takes away from the narrative a bit. While in Little Nightmares 1 and 2, we had a very defined since of things and story being told, the obscure tendencies and vagueness of Reanimal took away some of the punch of some set pieces. It’s also a far darker game with lots of blood, corpses, and unsettling imagery, with lots of references to suicide. Given it’s a horror game, that’s not necessarily bad, but pairing that with the story structure meant I found myself looking for meaning in some of it that didn’t seem to be there. Images via Tarsier On the plus side, the art direction is very good. The locations and perspective used is quite cinematic. This applies to every situation. General exploration, escaping or fighting enemies, and even quieter moments all end up seeing otherworldly and haunting. The enemy design is also quite well-handled, with some truly frightful entities roaming about. Another thing I liked about Reanimal is that if you are taking your time or good at handling the dangerous situations, you can come across a number of collectibles. The big one involves finding the five coffins in the world, but it’s also possible to get posters to unlock concept art, masks to change how the brother and sister look, and light candles at statues. It offers a little replay incentive, especially if you want to see a short epilogue or want an excuse to go through the adventure again with someone else. Images via Tarsier Speaking of which, the multiplayer in Reanimal works well, but there are some GameShare issues. Only one full copy of the game is needed, with the person owning it as the host. I did notice lag that hampered some of the more treacherous encounters when playing it over the internet with another person. So I think local multiplayer would be the way to go on the Switch 2. If you don’t have someone to play with, the CPU intelligence is quite competent in single-player, and I’d recommend going it alone if you can’t have someone sit in locally to join you on this console. Reanimal is an ominous, tense adventure that puts you in unsettling situations and leaves you to draw your own conclusions about what’s going on. So much so that it almost feels like the end is only the beginning of analyzing what’s happened here. While short, there are some interesting puzzles and encounters, the pacing is good, the NPC intelligence in single-player is competent, and there’s some great character and environmental design elements at play. A few bugs that will likely be patched out in a few weeks aside, it’s a great horror game. Reanimal is available on the Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC . The post Review: Reanimal Revives the Little Nightmares Style Experience appeared first on Siliconera .

Reviews Articles and News - SiliconeraFeb 19

Fur Squadron Phoenix Review - An Out-Of-This-World Homage Reviewed on: Switch Platform: Switch, PC Publisher: Raptor Claw Developer: Raptor Claw Rating: Everyone One thing that seems certain in video games is that if a legendary developer neglects a beloved franchise, an indie studio will pick up the ball and run with it through a spiritual successor. We've seen it in spades with Metroid and Castlevania, and with how long its been since we've received a Star Fox game, it was just a matter of time before something like Fur Squadron Phoenix came along. A prequel to 2023's Fur Squadron, Fur Squadron Phoenix brings more modern visuals and missions than its predecessor, and in the process, delivers the Star Fox 64 successor I've wanted for nearly three decades. Fur Squadron Phoenix places you in the cockpit of a Starfighter as part of Fur Squadron, an elite group of fighter pilots who serve the Federation. The on-rails gameplay immediately calls back to the best sequences in the Star Fox franchise. You fly through a diverse collection of planet-bound and space environments, blasting away at the many enemies who dare take you on. As you play, you encounter standard enemies flying in formation, shielded ships that require charge shots or special weapons to take out, mechanical worms that emerge from hiding spots to fly straight at you, and, of course, end-of-level bosses that task you with dodging their attacks and blasting their weak points. Thanks to its colorful neon glow, superb soundtrack, and masterful pacing, Fur Squadron Phoenix presents consistently exhilarating dogfights that are absolute treats for the senses. The waves of enemies that fly towards you often presented unique challenges that kept me on my toes, and truly made me feel the progression of not only my skills, but also my characters. Meanwhile, the boss battles are largely inventive, providing an exciting culmination of each stage; I just wish I could say the same about the final boss, which is an arduous, bullet-spongy practice in patience that did little to put an exclamation point at the end of the otherwise fun campaign. And despite how much I loved my time with Fur Squadron Phoenix, I was also left wishing there was more to it, as eight stages – even if they're lengthy – fly by quickly. Despite how short the campaign is, you'll still have thousands of enemies to blast. Thankfully, you have an ever-improving arsenal that is unlocked through roguelite-inspired mechanics. Rather than unlocking upgrades through in-level items, you instead earn upgrade points every time you play a level – win or lose. This makes it so even my bitter losses at the end of a long stage didn't feel like a complete waste of time. The majority of the game takes place within a training simulation, but bafflingly, you don't earn any skill points in the real in-universe missions; these stages should feel more impactful and memorable, but instead, because of this arbitrary system, I always opted to replay the simulation missions. Upgrades available include damage boosts (including a permanent double laser), improved shields, and increased mobility. Obviously, improving health and damage is always great, but I especially loved pumping points into the four distinct special weapons. The standard Star Fox-style bombs are your default, but I quickly gravitated to a power beam that increases in damage as you use it, or the extremely useful multi-missile special weapon. Then, there's the nuke, which is also extremely useful in situations with a ton of enemies. These specials, when fully upgraded, can decimate the opposing forces. And when combined with your Overdrive ultimate ability, which slows time and increases your damage, you have more ways than ever to satisfyingly take down incoming adversaries. Through most of the game, you play as Robin, a bird who was previously a part of Phoenix Squadron. When Robin's crew is decimated during a mission, he's rescued by Fur Squadron, which consists of a ferret named Blaze, a fruit bat named Kiro, and an Axolotl named Axel. Each of these characters fits into the archetypes established by Star Fox: Blaze is the brave and fearless leader, Kiro flies like he has something to prove, and Axel is a tech genius. As you play through levels, each teammate will give you side objectives to complete, such as saving them from enemies on their tails, clearing a path of all debris, or flying through rings. By completing these, you level up the character who issued the challenge, which improves your Overdrive.   By the end of my playthrough, in addition to slowing down time, my Overdrive fully refilled my health and special weapon energy, plus gave my lasers a 260-percent damage buff. Additionally, each time you level your relationship with a specific character, you get a touching post-mission scene between Robin and that character. These scenes go a long way towards establishing personalities, connections, and narrative subplots, which is all extremely helpful since your squad mates' voices play as gibberish rather than real voice acting. This isn't a dealbreaker by any means, but when Star Fox 64 was able to have fully voiced characters in 1997, it's disappointing to have to take my eyes off the action to read what they're saying while in a mission. Though Fur Squadron Phoenix draws heavy inspiration from Star Fox, it leaves out smaller pieces of the formula. First, this a single-player title with no multiplayer, so if, like me, you have fond memories of competing in four-player dogfights, you won't find that within this package. Additionally, the levels are completely on rails, meaning that even in encounters that might make sense for it, there is no All-Range Mode to allow for free flight. Thankfully, for boss encounters that feel like they'd play better in something akin to All-Range Mode, Raptor Claw found creative ways for it to feel dynamic in a similar way. Despite those deviations from the series that inspired Raptor Claw to develop this game, Fur Squadron Phoenix is an excellent spiritual successor for those who remember that Fox and Falco exist outside of the Super Smash Bros. games. Nintendo may not know what to do with the Star Fox franchise, but Fur Squadron Phoenix makes a great case that the genre can still flourish in 2026. Score: 8.5 About Game Informer's review system

Game Informer ReviewsFeb 19

MSI MPG 272QRF X36 Gaming Monitor Review

IGN PC ReviewsFeb 18