Comprehensive Game Reviews
Comprehensive Game Reviews
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16 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.
Review: Everdeep Aurora Is Pleasant, but Lacks QOL Features
Review: Everdeep Aurora Is Pleasant, but Lacks QOL FeaturesI love the concept behind Everdeep Aurora, as the design direction is flawless, but it can also be quite a cumbersome game.
Reviews Articles and News - SiliconeraJul 19
Review: No Sleep for Kaname Date Feels Like an AI: The Somnium Files Filler Episode
Review: No Sleep for Kaname Date Feels Like an AI: The Somnium Files Filler EpisodeFolks who enjoy AI: The Somnium Files and are waiting for the next Uchikoshi project might like No Sleep for Kaname Date.
Reviews Articles and News - SiliconeraJul 18
Review: Shadow Labyrinth Is a Different Take on Pac-Man Nostalgia
Review: Shadow Labyrinth Is a Different Take on Pac-Man NostalgiaNostalgia for a character like Pac-Man can only do so much, and the uneven nature of Shadow Labyrinth does it no favors.
Reviews Articles and News - SiliconeraJul 17
Shadow Labyrinth Review in Progress
Shadow Labyrinth Review in ProgressA gritty, metroidvania reboot of Pac-Man.
IGN PC ReviewsJul 17
RoboCop: Rogue City - Unfinished Business Review
RoboCop: Rogue City - Unfinished Business ReviewRoboCop: Rogue City - Unfinished Business offers another serving of ultra violence to indulge in but doesn’t do much by way of new spins on the original’s action. It’s a form of mindless fun that’s as familiar as it is ferocious.
IGN PC ReviewsJul 17
Persona5: The Phantom X Review
Persona5: The Phantom X ReviewA carefully constructed imitation that fails to steal your heart.
IGN PC ReviewsJul 16
The Sims 4: Enchanted By Nature Review - A Green New World
The Sims 4: Enchanted By Nature Review - A Green New WorldWhat's the measure of a new Sims 4 expansion pack at this point? After 11 years and dozens of free and paid DLC releases, it's easy to imagine that we've seen it all, that we may be past the point where a new release can dramatically alter the fundamentals of the Sims 4 experience. But the latest pack, Enchanted by Nature, proves that expectation is faulty thanks to its mix of compelling fairy gameplay, a uniquely verdant new world to live in, and the ability to live self-sufficiently in the woods. Yeah, this pack is different. Since most of the worlds in The Sims 4 are familiar-looking city environments, it's always at least a little bit exciting when we get something more distinctive, like Chestnut Ridge in Horse Ranch or Mt. Komorebi in Snowy Escape. Innisgreen, a lush world based on Ireland, is another location that definitely fits that bill, as it's more like a large region than a singular town or city, thanks to its unique layout. Innisgreen has three distinctive neighborhoods: the Coast of Adhmor is the local town, Sprucederry Grove is a sort of wooded suburb, and Everdew is a colorful magical forest with a buildable lot that sits on top of a giant tree. That variation from neighborhood to neighborhood is itself a unique aspect of Innisgreen--none of the previous Sims 4 worlds have this type of variety within themselves. Continue Reading at GameSpot
GameSpot - Game ReviewsJul 16
EA Sports College Football 26 Review - Sophomore Success
EA Sports College Football 26 Review - Sophomore SuccessThe people yearn for college football. After an 11-year hiatus, EA's collegiate football series returned last year and quickly set US records as the best-selling sports game of all time. That's no mean feat, but EA Orlando isn't resting on its laurels with EA Sports College Football 26 . The latest game in the series has its flaws, but ultimately improves upon its predecessor in a multitude of ways, with modes like Dynasty, Road to Glory, and the game's renewed emphasis on rivalries honing in on what makes the college football experience unique when compared to Madden and other professional sports games. All of this starts with the presentation. Whether it's 100,000 fans belting out Mr. Brightside inside The Big House or Virginia Tech's players emerging from the tunnel to the pounding drums and iconic riffs of Enter Sandman, there's an impressive attention to detail that ensures almost all of the 136 schools in the game feel both authentic and singular to their specific college traditions, pageantry, and stadium atmosphere. There are significantly more pre-game runouts than before, with many of the smaller teams now stepping onto the field with their own individual rituals included. Some of the larger teams' runouts have also been updated since last year, adding to the game's pomp and circumstance by featuring traditions like Oklahoma's Sooner Schooner and South Carolina's Cockaboose. There are dozens of new mascots, too, as well as new pre-game marching band formations to go along with an incredible soundscape of snare drums, trombones, and French horns that enhances each stadium's kinetic atmosphere. A few teams also have specific touchdown and turnover celebrations, rewarding each takeaway with a short cutscene, such as Arizona piercing footballs with their turnover sword or a Georgia player donning their savage pads. Continue Reading at GameSpot
GameSpot - Game ReviewsJul 16
Donkey Kong Bananza review – One of Nintendo’s best games EVER
Donkey Kong Bananza review – One of Nintendo’s best games EVER Donkey Kong Bananza is the newest entry in the Donkey Kong 3D platformer series and the first in nearly two decades. While it does tick all the right boxes and leaves you with an abundance of things to find, collect, and do, it's hard not to see its minor shortcomings in an otherwise massive sandbox masterpiece. Bananza is a great showcase of what the Switch 2 is capable of due to its various destructible environments and beautiful graphics. But it's only when you start to peel back the layers and begin to put the game to its limits that you finally realize what an amazing experience you are about to dive into. He's finally here (and about time too) Image via Nintendo You play as Donkey Kong, who, for the most part, was minding his own business, collecting and eating bananas, until he is swept away in a storm that forces him underground. Through exploration, you come across the group known as VoidCo, a gang of villainous apes that want to steal the bananas to reach the planet's core. And as a lover of bananas, you won't let that happen. While venturing, you come across a young singer by the name of Pauline who wants to go home, so you endeavor to help her by going further underground to the planet's core, where it's said that anyone who reaches it will have their greatest wish granted. Nintendo has gone all out with the story, and the budding relationship between DK and Pauline plays out naturally. There are unique interactions between the duo, too. When you stop to rest and sleep to regain your health, Pauline will talk about something that happened recently and share her worries and hopes with you as the player, spurring your drive to keep her safe and get her back home. Image via Nintendo It's been a long time since DK was last in a massive open-world adventure, and the team over at Nintendo has not disappointed this time around. A huge game in scale and scope, filled to the brim with different destructible worlds, all hiding hundreds of secrets, it feels like the team took the idea of previous open-world games like Super Mario Odyssey and expanded it. And while the world is not the only thing that feels alive and expressive. DK's remodel lets the ape be as expressive and zany in ways we have never really seen before. It creates hilarious cutscenes and interactions with the various characters in-game, coupled with the vast moveset for exploration and fighting that gives you a sense of freedom and excitement that other platformer games and characters can only hope to imitate. You can destroy nearly everything around you, and while you can go through the game in a linear sense, you are rewarded for going off the beaten path and discovering (or creating) your own route to the various objectives. Whether that is climbing, destroying, or even using the terrain to create new platforms, there is a wealth of gameplay options at your disposal. Image via Nintendo To help DK explore these vast worlds, you have access to new forms known as Bananza that turn DK into other animals like a Zebra, which allows you to run fast and on brittle paths, or an Ostrich, which lets you glide to reach obstacles unreachable. You can turn into these forms at any time, but only for under a minute before you need to get the various metres up by collecting gold. You'll find yourself using and shifting between all these new forms not only to access new areas, but also returning to previous levels you have visited to use your new unlockable forms to reach collectibles and areas you couldn't reach before having them. Banana Slammer Image via Nintendo Bananadium Gems (Bananas) are the main collectibles and are a crucial part of your quest. Collecting them makes you stronger with new skills and power-ups (such as increased health, new abilities for your different forms, etc). It's a far cry from Super Mario Odyssey , where collecting Moons was fun but served little purpose other than unlocking the next level. Here, you are rewarded for slowing down and collecting things rather than speedrunning through the game. And trust us, it's important you do so. The first few hours feel quite simple and easy, and you'll easily take down the first handful of bosses with ease. But the difficulty spikes rapidly the further in you go. We found ourselves backtracking to increase DK's power, getting more health, and more unique skills that made traversing easier down the line. It's by no means easy to find these Bananas, with some placements feeling completely random at times. We found ourselves smashing through terrain randomly as we tried to extend our search. While there are missions you can complete to unlock Bananas, a lot of them are simply stuck in rocks or out-of-reach places, which was one of our biggest pet peeves. With Odyssey , you were rewarded with Moons for completing quests or tasks that all felt unique, whereas here it feels like you're constantly just smashing things in hopes of finding either a Banana or one of the other collectibles in-game. While there are mini challenge worlds and recurring tasks like quizzes, a lot of the collectible placements left a lot to be desired. Thankfully, you can buy maps (or find them in chests): They point to the direction of these collectibles, which makes finding them a little more bearable. Image via Nintendo It's easy to get lost if you start slamming your way into the Earth's depths, and you can easily become disoriented. I'd have liked more options to have visible pins on the map so I can see where I'm heading underground, but you are instead forced to open up your map countless times just to make sure you're going in the right direction. This is where DK's Sonar ability comes into play, as it highlights nearby hidden items for a split second. It's a crucial tool and one we used a lot more than we care to admit. It was the one ability we maxed out, as it was useful to have the extra distance when exploring. Hidden chests hold maps that'll lead you to a collectible that you missed, but they are quite rare finds most of the time. There are ways to increase specific stats with various clothing items you can unlock from stores in-game. While most of these are only for show, some give you boosts, like making it more likely to find the aforementioned treasure chests, increasing certain power-ups, or the time you can perform an action or skill. A Switch 2 BANANZAAAAAAAA Image via Nintendo Donkey Kong Banaza has everything I wanted from it. A gripping story, a wealth of different worlds, lots to explore, fun and unique bosses—a Bananza of a good time. Admittedly, it can be overwhelming at times, especially at the beginning, and it did take me a couple of hours to get into it. But once I got a grip of the mechanics and slowly descended towards the planet's core to unlock new things, there was no turning back. Nintendo hit it out of the park with this one, and I believe that any Switch 2 owner should get this game. You won't regret it, I assure you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have one more Banana to find to increase my strength and hours of gameplay to enjoy. BANANAZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! The post Donkey Kong Bananza review – One of Nintendo’s best games EVER appeared first on Destructoid .
Reviews Archive – DestructoidJul 16
Review: Donkey Kong Bananza Is Superb
Review: Donkey Kong Bananza Is SuperbDonkey Kong Bananza is a constant series of pleasant surprises and shows exactly what the Switch 2 can do.
Reviews Articles and News - SiliconeraJul 16