Octopath Traveler 0 delivers the series’ most cohesive story yet, backed by its sharpest combat system and a surprisingly addictive town-building feature. By blending a focused narrative with a large, memorable cast and wrapping it all in gorgeous HD-2D visuals, it stands as both the strongest entry in the franchise and one of the best JRPGs in years.
Old School Rally is a great arcade-style racing game that has a pleasing PlayStation 1-era aesthetic and fun, addicting gameplay that's easy to pick up and play. The game pays homage to the sport of rally with several unlicensed cars that strongly resemble their real-life counterparts, so players aren't missing out on car variety. Although it's not innovative, Old School Rally is a joy to play for racing game fans.
If Activision and the numerous studios working on Call of Duty wish to make a game worth buying each year, the answer is innovation. It’s time to be bold and try something new. You have a problem as an annual franchise when players are constantly asking what’s new in this year’s entry. The market is not going anywhere—that much is clear with EA propelling its Battlefield franchise to bigger heights than ever. However, if Call of Duty cannot find a pathway to be creative, I fear the franchise will only continue to stagnate, becoming only a memory of what once was.
Marvel Cosmic Invasion is not perfect, but as a huge fan of the Marvel universe, I was certainly not disappointed by the finished product. The use of fan-service and both obscure and iconic characters in the narrative is so well done, the gameplay mechanics are extremely fun to play around with, and the art style is a treat to look at. While there are problems with the game's difficulty spikes, limited replayability, short runtime, and lacking soundtrack, the strengths of the overall experience far outweigh its weaknesses.
In creating a game that won’t appeal to everyone, Sakurai has created an experience that never fails to be entertaining if you choose to challenge yourself with something beyond your comfort zone. Personally, I loved Kirby Air Riders and immensely respect the courage it took to make a game like this. While I’ll always wish that there was more content, as a completed game, Air Riders stands as a contender for my favorite Nintendo game released this year and my favorite of the major racing games that have launched recently.
Whether it’s beating up yakuza on the streets, managing a cabaret club, or helping Kamurocho and Sotenbori’s citizens out of a bind, Yakuza Kiwami 2 offers so much content that will keep you engaged. On Switch 2, the portability factor simply cannot be understated, now that we’ve gotten to a point where the limitations players faced with the original Switch aren’t as prevalent. If you’re a Nintendo fan wanting to get into the Yakuza series, there’s no better time to do it than now.
Retailing at just $14.99, there is more than enough here to make it worthwhile. Device 6 and Year Walk are easily worth the price of admission alone. Additionally, Simogo has included prototypes of earlier versions of its games, an audio drama, a short story collection, and a ton of concept art to peruse at your leisure. There is more than enough here for those interested in the history of Simogo.
Goodnight Universe is a fantastic take on the "interactive story" genre. It features a beautiful story, a great cast of characters, and a beautiful art style. Even if the gameplay is limited, the few segments that are present only add to the strength of the narrative, as you get to step into the world of a psychically-powered baby and all that entails. At such a small price and with a short runtime, Goodnight Universe is great if you're looking to immerse yourself in a science-fiction look at the wonder of childhood.
Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE is an action-packed character-driven RPG that tells the story of Sung Jinwoo as he evolves into a legendary hunter. There are many improvements across the board, including major gameplay tweaks and additions, a more immersive story mode structure, and the removal of gacha mechanics. Fans who have been waiting for a single-player Solo Leveling game finally got it with Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE, despite some of the quality-related flaws that came with the original ARISE.
I encourage Bandai Namco and the development team to make even more optimizations over time. The Switch 2 version can be even better, even if that 60 FPS target doesn’t get hit in the future. The rollout of Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO DLC is also vital, and I hope Switch and Switch 2 users won’t be far behind the other consoles in terms of content. Everyone benefits from the hype of new DLC releasing at the same time on all platforms, after all.
