Giant Bomb

Zero Parades: For Dead Spies is weird, beautiful, and dense with characters that I wanted to understand. It plays with its choices and narrative threads with confidence, allowing foundational elements to rot and die in service of the paths the player is willing to take.

Despite the fun I often have with Mina, questionable design decisions like that keep me from falling in love with it the same way I did with Shovel Knight. Even saying that, I feel bad for the comparisons that Mina invites. Shovel Knight, Zelda, Dark Souls… Those are lofty heights. But, well, how can I not compare Mina to those games? I suppose that’s the danger of wearing your inspirations so nakedly.

I’m coming away from Bubsy 4D feeling like this is an excellent way to revive a character like this. The ironic love for Bubsy is one of those things that always felt like it could tip over into an earnest appreciation, and this game stands ready to catch that affection. It excels and even fails in the right places. Fabraz prioritized making it fun to move Bubsy over filling the world with interesting visuals, and I’m happy to take that deal. And Bubsy should as well because he’s never had it so good. And despite my desire to shed the undeserved reputation that I am “the Bubsy guy,” I would love to see more games in this style. What could pawsibly go wrong?

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book comes with a tremendous amount of ideas and a distinct personality, which is more than welcome in a series that has at best evoked vague memories of a game that’s over 30 years old. It’s bound to be a fun time for kids, and it has enough surprises and callbacks to Yoshi’s history to bring plenty of smiles to older fans like me. Other Nintendo platformers settled into their own identities and time-tested formats decades ago. Yoshi’s road has been a little more unpredictable, but with this entry it’s found an approach that feels all its own.

In a lot of ways, this is my ideal video game. Becoming one with the controller and the vehicle in a drop-dead-gorgeous setting that essentially never runs out of content? It’s almost perfect, and I think it’s fair to use that word for the craft that is on display in Forza Horizon 6.

Saros is still a good game. I will never dislike a game that looks this good and plays this well. But the lessons that Housemarque learned from Returnal resulted in a game that is less than the sum of its parts.

Invincible VS is clearly a game by the FGC for the FGC, which results in a double-edged sword. It serves as an incredibly fun and satisfying tool for competition, featuring just enough of that modern fighting game sanding of edges to welcome in new players, while also offering plenty of depth through playing chicken with the combo meter and a combo breaker-esque system of Heroic Strikes, Counter Tags, and Assist Breakers. Disappointingly, this focus on creating a game for tournament players seems to be what has caused the single-player offerings to suffer. The presentation is brilliantly flashy the whole way through, but after playing through a mediocre “episode” of the show and reaching disappointing arcade mode endings, the casual audience is left with little to do in the game other than rematching the CPU in standard matches over and over.

t may fall short if you’re looking for a deep city builder or life sim, but as a piece of absurdist Dada comedy I absolutely love Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream. Every day I look forward to booting it up, making a Mii or two, seeing what unlikely friendships are forming, and watching ludicrous vignettes play out. I’ll boot up Stardew Valley or Pokopia if I’m looking for something mechanically deeper, but I know I can count on a good laugh whenever I check in on Kayfabe Island.

Mouse: P.I. For Hire shows a deep love for animation of the era, but the gameplay and script lack the same level of care. A Gouda attempt, but nothing bleu me away. Cheesy in all the wrong ways.

It’s rare we get a new IP from a big publisher like Capcom these days, especially one with production values like this. It’s a risk when you could just keep pumping out Resident Evil remakes and sequels while making guaranteed money. Well, this risk pays off. Pragmata is exhilarating, emotional, and … some other word that starts with “e.” Engaging? Engaging!