Post Arcade (National Post)

I’ve been a die-hard Star Wars guy for decades, so I’m always happy to get a new movie, book, or game. I just wish this one turned out a tad better.

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 is an emotionally gruelling game, an unrelenting assault on the senses filled with brutal depictions of psychological and physical suffering. It makes for gripping storytelling, but it also left me drained.

It’s a bit too short and easy to be truly satisfying for experienced gamers. That said, I defy any parent still in possession of an ounce of childhood joy and wonder to have a bad time taking turns playing alongside their kids.

Thanks to this brisk pace of play, a constant stream of skill points used to unlock new abilities, and a steady deluge of new equipment and armour that you can use, sell, or disassemble for crafting resources, the sense of progression is both real and satisfying. Once I was on the train, I didn’t want to get off. Still, it does feel like a game with unrealized potential. Players have been spoiled for choice over the last year when it comes to visually breathtaking, narratively rich games with huge and interesting open worlds. Rise of the Ronin is on the outskirts of that conversation rather than in the middle of it. Worth considering, especially for fans of historical epics and solid action, but the competition is stiff.

This web of interconnected systems is, in truth, a tad bewildering. But everything just seemed to keep developing and refining itself regardless of whether I knew how or why, so I never felt overwhelmed. I was just sort of along for the ride sometimes, and I didn’t really mind. Because, in the end, I just wanted to spend time with some familiar faces, listen to a new generation of artists cover some of my favourite game music, and see how a world I haven’t visited in decades had changed while I was away. I’m happy to say I had a great time catching up. And I got to stay at some lovely little B&Bs along the way.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong is a fun game skillfully made. But families on a budget (just about all of us these days) would be better served spending their gaming dollars on something a little more substantial.

Thing is, it injects so much dopamine into my little monkey brain that any intellectual qualms I may have are effectively quashed as long as a controller is in my hands. Put more plainly, Nintendo really knows how to make a fabulously fun run-to-the-right game.

Granted, sometimes it feels like Insomniac, in its push to give us more than we could have imagined, almost goes a bit too far. Like the addition of a wingsuit so that Spider-Man can glide through Manhattan’s glass and steel canyons a little more quickly. It’s an innovation likely born from the sheer size of the city, which can take long minutes to traverse by web-slinging alone. It can be useful, but it doesn’t feel very Spidey-ish. I generally preferred swooping up and down, even if it took a little longer. But if that’s the worst complaint one can level at Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Insomniac must be doing something right. And it does nothing to diminish the game’s absolutely lovely energy. Every play session left me feeling upbeat and like all was right with the world. Or at least the world within the game.

Turn 10’s 8th kick at the Forza Motorsport can should have plenty of appeal to gearheads looking for a photorealistic, physically accurate simulation of high speed racing. And since it’s included with Xbox Game Pass, there’s no reason for subscribers not to take it for a test spin.

I suspect the next time we see a $90 Assassin’s Creed it will be something significantly larger in breadth of world and play. Until then, Assassin’s Creed Mirage serves as an excellent stopgap, a historical adventure that proves entertaining and edifying in equal measure while leaving time to enjoy some of the other great games releasing this fall.