Comprehensive Game Reviews

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

Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection ReviewThe best way to play as the most underrated version of the Blue Bomber.

IGN PC ReviewsMar 25

Screamer Review - Too Many Layers Reviewed on: PlayStation 5 Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC Publisher: Milestone S.r.l. Developer: Milestone S.r.l. Rating: Mature Arcade racers can be a ton of fun, but they’re rarely especially deep or complex. Screamer is one of the exceptions. Unabashed in its embrace of many classic arcade sensibilities, it also gleefully throws new mechanics, concepts, characters, storytelling tropes, and customization options at the player, keeping the action fast and furious while layering in all sorts of twisty complexity. At first, this depth feels rewarding, but as more and more pieces drop into place, it all starts to feel overwrought and fiddly, distracting from the core fun of a fast, intense race. I appreciate the desire to try new things in a frequently stale genre, but the many mechanical pieces just don’t gel together enough for me to offer a full-throated endorsement. Screamer’s Tournament mode is both the central campaign and introduction to the game’s many characters and systems. Playing out through both dialogue-heavy character conversations and several impressively crafted anime cutscenes, Screamer tells the tale of a near-future sci-fi racing tournament and a cast of emotionally damaged drivers who hope to win. Strong voice acting notwithstanding, the pacing and tenor of the storytelling are always cranked to 11. All the characters are angry, despicable, or both, with little room for subtlety, unloading soap-opera levels of melodrama that starts to wear thin after the first few hours. I felt like I had no one to root for. The frenetic beat-heavy soundtrack is equally high-energy, but eventually exhausting in its noisy fervor; it’s the rare game music I was eventually forced to mute. The racing is tight and pretty, featuring fictional supercars blazing down an impressive variety of challenging courses. Everything is vibrant, and the sense of speed is satisfying and intoxicating. Likewise, I’m a tremendous fan of Milestone’s innovative approach to steering and drifting, which uses both sticks in tandem to offer precise control of front and back wheels; it takes time to master, but it feels slick once you grasp what it’s going for. As the tournament progresses, it’s the seemingly endless parade of additional mechanical systems that lead to a breakdown. Boost, sync, entropy, strike, shield, hype, overdrive, character skills – each new bit layers onto the last, and eventually becomes so much that it distracts from the fun of the furious race tempo. Semi-automatic shifting gifts boost, but its visual cues are at the edges of the screen, distracting you from the upcoming turn. Boosting builds strike capability, but in so doing, it forces you to consider firing it off at inopportune moments just to build up the chance to attack. Skills differ from one character to the next, some of which have extremely detrimental effects if you don’t use them in the perfect situation, such as detonating your own car. These problems are exacerbated by several frustrating objectives, like one race that demanded I knock out opponents from behind (forcing me to stay in the back of the pack) while also winning the race – not impossible, but fundamentally unintuitive and illogical. Difficulty is also frequently wildly uneven, with sometimes annoying rubberbanding from the computer opponents and individual races that bounce between way too easy and infuriatingly hard to pass, which can subsequently block story progress. By the time I hit credits on the Tournament, I was happy to be moving on. Thankfully, the arcade mode offers plenty of flexibility to race as you please; even if I was still not in love with all the interlocking mechanics, at least I felt free to focus solely on the race. Several fun challenge modes provide additional paths to engagement, like checkpoint races or explosive overdrive runs where you careen headlong at boosted speeds for as long as you can before blowing up. Car customization is simple yet enjoyable, letting you tweak the visual aesthetics of each of the many playable leads and their vehicles. I also appreciate the wide range of multiplayer options. Four-player splitscreen play was once a staple of the genre, but many other racers have since abandoned it. Screamer significantly boosts replayability through its inclusion, which worked well each time I tried it. Players can also dive into several different online races in larger groups of up to 16 players, where the competition is fierce. I love that Milestone is experimenting with new ideas within the arcade racing formula, and while the story didn’t land for me, I applaud the effort at narrative in a genre that frequently doesn’t even try to add meaningful context to its races. Even so, difficulty spikes and arbitrary objectives combine with overly convoluted mechanics to rob Screamer of some of its fun. It’s worth experiencing to see a developer try something new, but this race track might just have too many turns to be a winner. Score: 7 About Game Informer's review system

Game Informer ReviewsMar 25

Review: Super Mario Bros Wonder – Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park Back when Super Mario Bros Wonder showed up on the Switch, it felt like a fresh take on the platformer that ensured players of all skill levels could enjoy it . Just under three years later, it’s back. Except this time, the focus feels like it’s on the multiplayer experience. Yes, there’s new single-player stuff in Super Mario Bros Wonder - Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park , but this is primarily about facing off against others. The storyline in Super Mario Bros Wonder remains unchanged. Mario and company showed up for the Flower Kingdom Ceremony to see Wonder Flowers. Bowser stole it and ended up powered up as a result. We explore alongside Prince Florian to set things right. The difference is that after getting into the story, we learned that Captain Toad and his Toad Brigade found the Bellabel Park ruins. Shortly after, the Koopalings stole the flowers from it, then went to hide out in various stages on the map to act as new boss fights with Wonder Effects. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVB3hZoOF0A In the case of the Toad Brigade Training Camp stages and Koopaling stages, both feel like an attempt to add a little more challenge to Super Mario Bros Wonder - Switch 2 Edition for those who are used to the existing game. The Koopaling stages act as remixed Wonder Effect stages, as there will be new enemy elements as you head toward the confrontation to recover the Bellabel flowers. For example, the Wendy stage involves her rings teleporting Cheep Cheeps that head right toward you, before facing her at the end. Then when those fights do happen, they end up being a bit more extended than just “hitting the boss three times” to end it. Meanwhile, the Toad Brigade Training Camp sort of feel like they’re attempting to bridge the game between beginner players and more advanced ones. This is because you’ll be placed in a situation and tasked with completing an objective. There are over 70 of these, and they feel designed to get you comfortable with attacking enemies, using certain power-ups, or handling situations. (This can be done in local multiplayer or alone.) Images via Nintendo It’s a stage in which the new Flower Transformation feels especially helpful. That’s added for the Switch 2 release, and it turns the character into a flower that can spawn more flowers. You can unleash one with the action button, which immediately floats up toward the top of the screen and damages enemies along the way, or press the should trigger to send one out of each hand on both sides. If you hold the jump button, you also flutter a bit, then get a slight height boost. Honestly, I found it feels very situational. It’s a big help in the aforementioned Wendy Koopaling stage, for example. The floaty jump can be handy too. But I didn’t find it as revolutionary as the Elephant power-up. While the extra challenge from the Toad Brigade and Koopaling courses feels like they’re added for more experienced folks, there are other elements that seem geared toward newcomers again. For example, if you’re playing locally, then Luma could be selected as a co-star. That feels like a roll a parent, guardian, or more experienced player would take to protect the person who selected another playable character to allow them to focus on platforming through the stage safely and not worry about collecting coins or attacking enemies. Likewise, being able to select two badges at once is an option and someone could select the Assist Mode when starting to ensure every character ends up feeling like Nabbit and the Yoshis and doesn’t take damage or die if they fall into a pit. Images via Nintendo But as I said earlier, the Meetup in Bellabel Park part of Super Mario Bros Wonder multiplayer segment feels like the biggest addition in the Switch 2 release, and if you can’t take advantage of that it might not feel as exciting. Because sure, now we can see the “ghosts” of up to 12 other players online in a main campaign stage, with them leaving standees to assist o share power-ups, but it isn’t the same sort of true online multiplayer experience. The Local Multiplayer Plaza portion is the most diverse option in Super Mario Bros Wonder - Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park. This is due to a number of elements. First is that there are both competitive and cooperative stages there. The former can involve elements like races to get through stages with obstacles or maze-like elements first, hide-and-seek paired with tag elements, coin-collecting frenzies, or trying to feed baby Yoshis more fruit than anyone else. The latter might add features like using Mouse Mode with a Joy-Con 2 to draw block paths to help someone with a more traditional playstyle get through a stage or trying to all safely take turns carrying a bomb to the goal. On the online side, we have a number of stages that are competitive and tend to rely on racing through courses with certain power-ups or conditions at play. Both have a Tour Plaza option that involves everyone going through three or five random stages from different categories to see who gets the most points on the leaderboard for their performances. I still feel Super Mario Bros Wonder - Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park is a 9 out of 10 game, but the upgrade is really geared toward the multiplayer experience. Especially if you have folks who can play with you locally for the new Luma co-star, Toad Brigade Training Camp, or Bellabel Park stages that highlight co-op and versus elements. If you don’t have that kind of community around you, then I think the base version of the game would meet your needs. Super Mario Bros Wonder - Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park will come to the Switch 2 on March 26, 2026 , and the original game is on the Switch worldwide. The post Review: Super Mario Bros Wonder – Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park appeared first on Siliconera .

Reviews Articles and News - SiliconeraMar 25

Super Mario Bros. Wonder + Meetup In Bellabel Park Review - Bring Your FriendsNintendo has consistently leaned on Switch 2 upgrades to fill gaps in its release calendar, enticing fans to return to their favorite games from the Switch 1. Those upgrades usually enhance graphical fidelity or add some new bells and whistles, like the Zelda Notes feature added to Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. The upgrade for Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Meetup at Bellabel Park, is pricier than some other Switch 2 upgrades, but its novelty comes from transforming Mario Wonder into an almost completely different game. And that new game is a well-made party experience, even if it may not be exactly what Mario Wonder fans are looking for. Bellabel Park is almost entirely focused on its multiplayer component, which is admittedly a strange turn for a game and series so known for its single-player platforming prowess. That isn't to say that there's no regular single-player content whatsoever, though. The story of Bellabel Park, such as it is, involves a new area of the map: the eponymous park that houses special Bellabel flowers. The Koopalings show up to steal the flowers, so Captain Toad and the Poplins agree to scour the world map for them. You'll find a new brigade tent belonging to a Poplin scout in each world, which leads you to one of the Koopalings. If you're making your way through Mario Wonder for the first time, this will be a neat little throughline that you encounter occasionally, but if you've already finished the game, you can easily just jump into the series of boss-fight stages. This time the Koopalings are enhanced by the Wonder Flower, so each one reimagines the Koopa kids with some fantastical effect. Wendy turns into a bulbous Cheep-Cheep-like fish, while Morton becomes a massive marionette puppet. You have to traverse a stage being terrorized by their special effects before confronting them as bosses, and it's fun how these classic baddies--who, let's be honest, haven't gotten much to do lately--are recontextualized with wild, stage-changing effects. Continue Reading at GameSpot

GameSpot - Game ReviewsMar 25

Super Mario Bros. Wonder Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park Review - A Wonderful Addition Reviewed on: Switch 2 Platform: Switch 2 Publisher: Nintendo Developer: Nintendo Rating: Everyone When Super Mario Bros. Wonder arrived in 2023, I called it the "most creative 2D entry in nearly 30 years." Even now, two and a half years later, I still relish the creativity at play, as well as the thoughtfulness the developers clearly put into the game when designing not only the stages and boss fights, but the game-defining Wonder Effects. To this day, it's my favorite 2D Mario game since Super Mario World in 1991. That said, I had my reservations coming into Wonder's Nintendo Switch 2 Edition's bonus content, Meetup in Bellabel Park. Thankfully, after playing through everything on offer, I am confident in calling it a worthwhile addition, even if the emphasis is on the wrong parts of the package. Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park upgrades the package to Nintendo Switch 2 resolution, hitting up to 4K at 60 FPS when playing in TV mode, but the main attraction is the new content it brings. The additions initially present itself in Bellabel Park, an all-new area unlocked with the purchase of this upgrade. Here, you learn the Koopalings are back and have stolen the treasure of Bellabel Park: the Bellabel Flowers. The adventure expands out to the other worlds of Super Mario Bros. Wonder, giving you reason to revisit these areas even if, like me, you achieved 100-percent completion when the game first arrived (your save automatically loads from the Switch 1 version). And with the new Flower Transformation power-up that lets you toss flowers upward or flutter jump, you can approach even the existing stages in new ways. After making off with the Bellabel Flowers, the Koopalings scatter throughout the Flower Kingdom, with new boss stages in tow. Each of the new boss stages features a Koopaling, who has gotten hold of a Wonder Seed. If you were a fan of the chaos that comes with the Wonder Effects in the main game, these boss stages will likely be the most compelling piece of the package for you. Each Koopaling features a distinct transformation with a gimmick that permeates the entire stage, resulting in absurd obstacle courses that you must platform through before you finally take on an over-the-top boss battle.   On multiple occasions, once the gimmick was revealed for the stage, I dreaded the presumed implementation of that mechanic in a boss setting. However, Nintendo's creativity shines through, providing some of the best boss fights in the entire Super Mario Bros. Wonder package. I can't (nor do I want to) spoil too much, but Nintendo has found more ways to surprise and delight players using the infrastructure of Super Mario Bros. Wonder in ways that expand on the ideas at play throughout Wonder's campaign. Outside of these boss courses, my favorite thing to do was take on the new Toad Brigade Training Camp, which nominally sounds tedious and boring, but in actuality, would be a shame to skip. While it almost makes it sound like a tutorial, Toad Brigade Training actually provides fun, specialized challenge-based levels with special conditions to amp up the fun, the difficulty, or, as is most often the case, both. In these courses, you run through familiar stages, but with special completion conditions, such as collecting a certain number of coins or defeating the enemies, before the time expires. Those are straightforward, but eventually grow to present real challenges, as time limits shrink and the placement becomes more insidious. As a Mario player since the NES days, I relished ramping up the difficulty to challenge my core abilities. My favorite style involves staying invincible by collecting Starpoint power-ups that sometimes move as you run through the course. With a set time and specific paths dictated by the Starpoints' movement, you need to not only speedrun these stages efficiently, but also think on the fly as they sometimes deviate from the most logical path. And since you're invincible during the stage, the entire category capitalizes on that empowered feeling a well-placed Super Star delivers, even as you're sprinting for your life and playing the later stages on repeat. If you want an even stiffer challenge, courses that require you to avoid all enemies or coins had me eagerly restarting as I rewired my three-and-a-half decades of Mario gameplay in real-time. One of the biggest complaints about Super Mario Bros. Wonder when it launched was that it was too easy; some of the later Toad Brigade Training Camp challenges feel like a direct response to that from the development team. The third and final main pillar of this update is the multiplayer suite. You would be forgiven for thinking this is the most prominent piece of content in the Nintendo Switch 2 version of Super Mario Bros. Wonder; after all, most of the marketing has focused on it. And for that reason, I carried very little excitement towards the upgrade before getting my hands on it – I didn't think I needed Mario Party-style games in my mainline platformer. Thankfully, these feel like fun multiplayer bonuses to an already strong package. Local Multiplayer Plaza carries forward the already-strong local multiplayer options available in the base game with 17 versus and co-op modes, ranging from a hot-potato-inspired game involving a Bob-omb to a coin-collection frenzy. One of my biggest problems with the base game of Wonder was in its online multiplayer offerings, and Game Room Plaza helps assuage that, but not to the extent I would have liked. Here, you can play online with up to 12 friends across 6 game modes, including frenzied platforming-based races and tense games of tag. I enjoyed my time playing through these multiplayer modes, but I don't see them being destinations for me going forward. Using water you earn as rewards for both the multiplayer and Toad Bridge Training, you can water plants around the Bellabel Park overworld map, granting you bonuses like flowers to trade for cosmetic upgrades to the park, online greeting emotes, and new Dual Badges that allow you to equip the abilities of two Badges at once. While some Dual Badges – like one that combines the Spring Feet and Invisibility Badges – only serve to increase the difficulty, most are genuinely helpful and make for fun theory-crafting. The Dual Badge that combines the Wall-Climb Jump and Grappling Vine makes me feel like Spider-Man, while my go-to combines the Auto Super Mushroom and Coin Reward Badges to ensure I'm always powered up when entering a stage, and always rewarded for defeating enemies. You can also use this system to allow a less experienced player to feel more confident in their jumps; for example, with Dual Badges such as the one that brings together the abilities of Parachute Cap and Boosting Spin Jump, you have much more say in where you land after leaving the ground. Speaking of less experienced players, the final components of this package cater to them. Ahead of her costarring role in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie , Rosalina joins the playable roster of characters. She plays exactly like the main roster of characters, including the ability to use Badges and power-ups, but Co-Star Luma also joins the roster with the explicit purpose of approachability. Co-Star Luma can only be used in co-op play, allowing players to fly around to collect coins and defeat enemies without the fear of taking damage. You can also use mouse controls, allowing for multiple ways for new players to join the action. This new version of Mario Wonder also adds Assist Mode, which basically grants invincibility from enemies and pits across the entire game, regardless of which character you play as. Assist Mode isn't the kind of experience I personally want, but for parents with small kids or anyone new to platformers, it's a great addition. If you played Super Mario Bros. Wonder back in 2023, Meetup in Bellabel Park provides ample reason to return. However, if you haven't yet played through Mario's latest 2D adventure, this package is the best way to experience my favorite 2D Mario game in many years. It does what every effective expansion should: improve the base game while adding new content that addresses any shortcomings of the base game. Super Mario Bros. Wonder's biggest missteps involved difficulty and multiplayer, and Meetup in Bellabel Park adds new content to effectively address both of those. Super Mario Bros. Wonder was a joy to play through in 2023, and now, a few years later, it's even better. Score: 9.25 About Game Informer's review system Purchase

Game Informer ReviewsMar 25

Marathon Review - Actions Have Consequences Reviewed on: PC Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC Publisher: Bungie Developer: Bungie Rating: Teen I didn’t expect Marathon to leave as large of an impact on me as it has. While I’ve loved Bungie games in the past, including hundreds of hours spent in Destiny 2, from the outside looking in I didn’t anticipate it would nail the extraction-shooter loop as well as it has – nor how well it would mesh with Bungie's existing expertise. For anyone not familiar with the genre, Marathon is much like its peers wherein death means losing whatever equipment and items you choose to spawn into a map with, while successfully extracting means relishing in your new spoils. On a basic level, Marathon’s core gameplay is best-in-class. Bungie has always excelled at gunplay, and that rings true here, as well. The same can be said for the game’s Runner shells; Marathon’s “hero-shooter” take on how a player opts to take-on the mysteries of Tau Ceti IV. Marathon is a systems-heavy game that rewards players who can make the most out of everything it has to offer, and Runner's kits are no different. Thief’s kit feels like the perfect example of this; I liked using their drone to be a real nuisance to players, as pestering players with it makes them drop their highest value loot, which you can then snag up. Maybe you mess with a group of enemy Runners by opening up a door to guide them into an ambush. If you’re feeling adventurous, wait at an exfiltration site and poke at a group right as they’re about to leave the match, helping yourself to their pilfered spoils. Bungie's audio design can't be praised enough for how well it conveys the information players need to make informed decisions during play. Sound travels far, so picking fights with NPC enemies can be a risk. All across the map, players make their presence known. Even more succinctly than its peers, Marathon gives you all the tools you need to monitor other players' actions on the map. Even something as simple as knowing what distinct sounds each weapon helps inform your plan of action. The other part of the equation is the maps themselves. Marathon is a strikingly beautiful game, but it's the synthesis of how gorgeous these areas look and the escalating complexity of their layouts that give them the sense of weight that I craved. Visually, the game is a treat, but it's not long until you start considering the environment in a different light – how, and where, players might be hiding is obvious, of course. Yet the extra wrinkle that elevates the game's maps past its peers are their individual gimmicks that force a constantly evolving state of play. Lockdown events in Dire Marsh can randomly derail a run, assuming you don't bring consumables to allow access to the cordoned area. Searching for colored key cards in Outpost – or looting them off of player bodies – inevitably leads to a battle over control of Pinwheel, the map's central location with all the best loot, alongside alerting the whole map that its security has been breached.   Map knowledge and how your particular Runner can take advantage of it are stressed more and more with each successive run, and never is this more evident than with Cryo Archive. Cryo Archive doubles down on level complexity while also flooding you with enemies across its labyrinthine halls. Slotting in elements of Destiny's puzzle-like raid design – seeking out security clearance in order to access more and more passages through the map, or batteries to power doors to vaults filled with the game's best loot – works to ratchet the existing tension of other players to a pinnacle. Like any good extraction shooter, Marathon is a game about the choice and consequences inherent within a run. Yet, it's more than just that. Bungie's excellent audio design and gunplay, paired with increasingly complicated level design borrowing from over a decade of expertise designing Destiny raids coalesce into something special. Marathon is proof Bungie is still at the top of its game. Score: 9.25 About Game Informer's review system

Game Informer ReviewsMar 24

World of Warcraft: Midnight ReviewEnthralling zones and a satisfying endgame loop.

IGN PC ReviewsMar 23

MLB The Show 26 Review - Sacrifice Fly Reviewed on: PlayStation 5 Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch Publisher: PlayStation Studios, MLB Developer: Sony Interactive Entertainment San Diego Studio Most sports teams ebb and flow from season to season; a championship one year is often followed by a sharp downturn a few years later. However, some teams always seem to have a higher baseline of performance than others. For much of my life, my Orioles have floundered in mediocrity, with just a few standout years throughout the last few decades. Conversely, my least favorite team, the Yankees, haven’t had a losing season since the Super NES was the hottest console on the market. Similarly, fans of MLB The Show typically know that, even on a down year, they can expect a good game, which is exactly the case with MLB The Show 26. As is usual, my best moments with MLB The Show 26 happened on the field. New batting and pitching options allow you to approach every at-bat how you want to from both the batter’s box and the mound; few feelings in gaming are matched by coming through for your team with a game-winning homerun or a clutch strikeout to get out of a jam. And the fluid fielding and baserunning controls have moved forward from MLB The Show 25. This is perhaps the best-playing sports game available today. Baseball is such a multifaceted sport, and I love how if something doesn’t feel right or you’re not a fan of playing certain aspects of a given game, you can easily tweak the feel or automation of those elements. The excellent gameplay of MLB The Show 26 hits that baseline of quality; regardless of any changes made for better or worse, a mode can be buoyed by how good it feels to simply play through a game of baseball. Whether you want to enjoy a one-off exhibition game with live rosters or chart your own destiny with a more long-term mode, MLB The Show 26 offers a compelling suite of options. I’ve always been drawn to the long-form modes since their proliferation in sports games. By expanding beyond just playing a single game, modern sports games allow you to forge your own emergent storylines and provide your own context amid the broader backdrop of history. MLB The Show has traditionally provided the best contextualization through its March to October mode, which plugged you into high-impact situations not only to determine how your team’s momentum would swing, but also help sow narrative seeds for the season. Sadly, March to October is no more in this year’s game, leaving Franchise feeling a bit more lifeless. Instead, Franchise now offers highly customizable options for when you want to drop into a simulation. I love having full control over which scenarios I want to play through, and how early or late in the game it needs to be before it stops the simulation. However, the new interface is clunkier than that of March to October, and the whole mode feels much more sterile than its predecessor, even with the new trading hub. I enjoyed tracking league rumors before wheeling and dealing to try and bring my team the relief pitcher it desperately needed, but when that was over, I still missed the old format. Road to the Show emerged as my favorite MLB The Show mode long ago, and that doesn’t change with this entry. The thrill of starting with a high school player and bringing them up through the minors and into the big leagues in an RPG-inspired mode never ceases to instill in me that “just one more game” feeling well into the night hours. And because you can level up your player by boosting their attributes, leveling up their situational perks, or using special equipment, you have a ton of ways to improve your player’s performance. Much like last year, I was excited for the integration of the college path should you choose to wait longer to go pro, and also much like last year, I was disappointed. Though the college path is more robust than last year’s paltry offerings, I’m frustrated that you still skip years of your college career. I understand the desire to rush into the pro side of things, but if I choose to go to college, I want it to feel like a meaningful decision. Outside of those multi-season modes, Diamond Dynasty is the other long-form offering, providing one of the better card-collection modes in any sports game. At a time when opening real packs of cards is as big a social-media phenomenon as ever, opening digital ones capitalizes on that excitement. Thanks to an impressive offering of sub-modes and an easy-to-use marketplace, I was able to build up my team to a satisfactory level without much frustration. However, there is frustration in how much great content is locked behind this microtransaction-driven mode. If you want to play World Baseball Classic content, that is inexplicably housed in Diamond Dynasty. If you want to build a team of classic players, you can also primarily do that in Diamond Dynasty. NBA 2K allows you to play Franchise mode in entirely different eras, making the fact that other sports series lock classic players and teams behind card-collection modes unacceptable. And the fact that we just came off one of the most exciting and talked-about World Baseball Classic tournaments of all time, and you can’t just choose to play as those national teams – particularly when the WBC is so heavily featured in the marketing – is a monumental misstep.   The awesome Storylines mode rounds out the main offerings of MLB The Show 26, returning for its fourth season to highlight the underserved history of the Negro Leagues. Though this year’s players aren’t as iconic as the previous years, I somehow like that even more, as I was already familiar with the stories of players like Satchel Paige and Jackie Robinson, but far less so with Mule Suttles or Peanut Johnson. Learning about these players through short, objective-based gameplay chunks and informational videos is something I look forward to year after year. The mode is so well done that I hope it continues to expand, offering these kinds of mini documentaries for other corners of baseball history. I’d love to hear a baseball historian talk about someone like Roberto Clemente as you play the greatest moments of his abbreviated career, or even themed Storylines like the homerun chase of ’98 or the historic Red Sox ALCS comeback of 2004. You can experience some historical content through the Moments mode, but it remains rigid and lacking in true context, creating a less memorable mode than Storylines. Much like a consistently winning sports team, MLB The Show 26 didn’t change things too dramatically, but this entry almost feels like a soft-rebuilding year; so while many of these changes may elevate the overall package in future games, they aren’t quite there yet. But much like those perennial contenders, even when it’s not the best the franchise has looked, MLB The Show 26 is once again lined up for another winning season. Score: 7.75 About Game Informer's review system

Game Informer ReviewsMar 23

Screamer ReviewTedious characters and difficulty spikes notwithstanding, Screamer is a unique and confidently assembled racer that feels like the result of locking Blur in a room for 12 months with nothing but a Crunchyroll subscription.

IGN PC ReviewsMar 22

Review: Court of Darkness: Temptation’s Kiss Preserves Another Voltage Otome While we see quite a few Voltage otome games appearing on other platforms, primarily the Switch, the company started with mobile titles. These tended to roll out in chapter-based releases, with new characters gradually added. Court of Darkness: Temptation’s Kiss is one of those otome titles that started out as a Love 365 app release, and it’s one that’s gradually grown with additional “books” and love interests like Rio Voleri. Now that it’s on the Switch, it’s a great move for preservation purposes, but is an incomplete port that doesn’t go past Book 2 or offer all the prince or valet romance options. Court of Darkness: Temptation’s Kiss begins with a young woman who’s living alone with her pet cat, Robin. Her parents passed away years ago, so she’s accustomed to getting by on her own. However, one night when she looks outside, she happens to see an unusual blood moon in the sky. When she does, she falls into a deep sleep and wakes up magical alternate world called Saligia. But she’s not alone. Five princes named Fenn, Guy, Lynt, Roy, and Toa are all around her. After inadvertently touching some of them, they discover doing so amplifies their magic powers. It’s then that the headmaster of the academy where she apparently awoke tells them to get back and places her under the school’s protection. What follows means getting used to these unusual individuals, finding out why she has this ability, and perhaps discovering a way forward that could lead her home again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh8SvlI_gmg Since Court of Darkness: Temptation’s Kiss is a port of one of the Voltage mobile otome games, that means the Switch version UI does follow that aesthetic. When you start, you’ll be able to pick the common prologue to find out what’s going on and how your avatar ended up at the academy in Saligia, surrounded by princes, on the night of a blood moon. You can then also select which of the five love interests’ routes you want to see and read through the Book 1-2 stories and Book 1 Consort Paths. This does mean the flow is a bit different, if you’re more accustomed to Voltage’s other Switch games like Neon Clash or The Red Bell’s Lament or titles from Aksys and Idea Factory International. It isn’t necessarily bad and I can attest that you’ll get used to it, but it does feel very different and some might find it breaks up the flow and pacing. Once you do get into a Court of Darkness: Temptation’s Kiss Book, it does feel like a traditional otome visual novel. You’ll be doing a lot of reading while looking at character portraits and CGs of different characters. Again, since this was originally a mobile otome game, it might not feature the same sort of character designs and artistic directions as others. However, I do appreciate that there are different portraits for major characters to change their perspective or pose, and the designs do have a pleasant sort of 1990s and 2000s aesthetic to it. Screenshots by Siliconera Likewise, the story takes that sort of approach as well. There’s the whole magical academy element, adding some school life themes to it. However, the fact that the main heroine can boost the power of the royal romance options adds a twist, and finding out why does add a hint of mystery. Speaking of twists, there aren’t too many present here due to this only going up through Book 2. However, the character development is still rather solid. Likewise, the localization ended up being better than I expected, or rather stronger than I remembered, which is another plus. Like I mentioned earlier, the main downside to Court of Darkness: Temptation’s Kiss is that the Switch version isn’t as up-to-date as the mobile ones. We don’t get characters like Rio, Jasper Lane, Lance Ira, or Tino Maes. While that’s understandable and easier to deal with, the lack of additional books ends up feeling more disappointing. From what I recall, the app’s gotten into Book 6 for some characters’ and the Fenn, Guy, Lynt, Roy, and Toa stories only go up to Book 2 here. It means we’re left off on a cliffhanger. While I really do enjoy this story, not getting the full experience and needing to then head into Love 365 if we really enjoyed it and want to see what’s next is a shame. Screenshots by Siliconera I applaud the fact that Voltage does preserve its mobile otome games with Switch ports like Court of Darkness: Temptation’s Kiss, but wish there was more to this one. It’s a really fun story involving magic and school life, and the heroine actually has a personality and speaks up so she isn’t a total blank slate. The love interests included are interesting too. Unfortunate, we aren’t even halfway into each of the routes for the characters who are present, and people need to head to another source and potentially spend more money to find out what happens next. Court of Darkness: Temptation’s Kiss is available on the Switch, and the ongoing otome game is part of the Love 365 mobile app . The post Review: Court of Darkness: Temptation’s Kiss Preserves Another Voltage Otome appeared first on Siliconera .

Reviews Articles and News - SiliconeraMar 21