Assassin’s Creed Mirage is a return to the old Assassin’s Creed games. I loved the old-school stealth. The combat in this game, however, is really bad. I get that the point of this game is not combat, but this is really bad. Basim is a somewhat interesting character, albeit more dull than Kassandra or Ezio. Overall, I would be in favor of more of these smaller Assassin’s Creed games.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: The Siege of Paris was awesome. This felt like an epic. The villain was complex and the setting was powerful. Another great expansion for a great game.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Wrath of the Druids really surprised me. The base game is so long and I did not think I needed any more. However, this expansion has a strong story making it worth a play.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla surprised me. I had low expectations for it since it gets quite a lot of hate from fans. However, while playing it, I had an absolute blast. I loved Eivor as a character and exploring the massive open world was so much fun. It’s definitely a bloated game, but I had no issues with that.
God of War: Ragnarok - Valhalla is a must play for any God of War fan. It continues the story of Kratos in a satisfying way. I just wish it wasn’t a rogue-like. The difficulty spikes take away from an otherwise great experience.
The Crew often feels like a first draft of a racing game. It can’t decide what it wants to be. Does it want to be a racing game with a strong story? Does it want to be a game with festivals similar to Forza Horizon? Does it want to be a racing game with deep levels of car customization? It definitely suffers from an identity crisis. The game has plenty of issues. The AI in the game is way too good. Sometimes, you could be hundreds of levels higher than them and they will still beat you easily. The difficult spikes are inconsistent and a bit uncalled for. Finally, the graphics don’t look great. For a game that is about driving across the United States in its entirety, there sure isn’t much to look at while doing so.
The Walking Dead: Destinies is dead on arrival. This is a bad game. I only played it since I am a super-fan of The Walking Dead. It not only plays bad, looks bad, and runs poorly, The Walking Dead: Destinies is the glitchiest game I have ever played. I have never encountered so many game breaking bugs. Avoid this game at all costs.
Hogwarts Legacy is a blast to play. This is a game where I felt compelled to just do everything. It took me a long time to beat the main story since I was getting so distracted by the side missions. Playing as a wizard is so much fun. My only complaint is on the enemy variety. I felt like there were way too many spider fights but not enough fights against enemy wizards. This game is a dream for any Harry Potter fan.
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy blew me away. I had low expectations going into this game. Why can we only play as Star-Lord and not the other Guardians? I found out that question doesn’t matter if the gameplay is sound and the story is spectacular. I was engrossed the whole time in this surprisingly emotional story. The gameplay is unique, too. Commanding the other Guardians feels great, and Star-Lord plays phenomenal. I would definitely recommend this to any MCU fan.
Marvel’s Avengers is an odd game. On one hand, it has a good, sometimes even great, single-player campaign that tells an interesting story. And then there’s the multiplayer. I could never understand why this game even had an online component to it. The online missions are so boring and the gear/loot system that comes with it is just so strange. Why have a system like this if it doesn’t affect cosmetics? The cosmetics have to be purchased or grinded to get, which makes no sense! In my opinion, the loot you get for a mission should not only boost your stats, but also affect the way each character looks. And this reason sums up a lot of issues with this game; why was this decision made? This game has a lot of those issues. This could have easily been a great game given how popular the Marvel Cinematic Universe currently is. Instead, it’s just a mediocre experience.
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is just like the films it covers: uneven. At times, it achieves greatness with its fun retelling of the story of Star Wars. It also, however, has issues. For example, the game is restricted to only 5 missions per episode. Some episodes don’t have enough content to justify 5 missions, while others struggle to fit all of the content into 5 missions. For example, why can’t I fight the Emperor as Mace Windu in Episode III? After you complete all of the episodes, there is also a lot of side content. These side missions, however, are quite boring and silly. While I loved playing through all of the Skywalker Saga, I had no desire to play more once I had finished episode IX.
Halo Infinite is a great return to Halo after the disappointing Halo 5: Guardians and Halo 4. The campaign is a lot of fun, and the multiplayer is a return to classic Halo. The lack of content, however, is the major drawback here. The campaign is similar to Halo 2 in that it doesn’t really ‘end.’ Instead, it’s more of a stop. There also aren’t a lot of multiplayer maps. Playing on the same maps can get quite repetitive real quick. While I truly love this game, there just needs to be more content.
God of War: Ragnarok manages to maintain the quality of the previous game. While the story is not as strong as the last game, it is still intriguing. The gameplay is not as innovative, but that is fine, since the last game had perfect gameplay as is. So, while this seems like a minor upgrade, the previous game was so good that I didn’t mind playing more of it.
Metroid Dread is the first Metroid game I have ever played. I was shocked at how addicted I became to the gameplay loop of unlocking new abilities that I had to master immediately to continue. This is a must play for Switch owners.
God of War is perfect. The story, the gameplay, the soundtrack; everything is perfect. I have little to say without spoiling it. Do yourself a favor and play this game.
Super Mario Odyssey is breathtaking. I truly had no words while playing it. Everything about it is remarkable. This is peak level design and gameplay. Everything flows in a way that is hard to describe unless it is played. Do yourself a favor and play it.
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a nice introduction to another Spider-Man. Giving Miles his own story after being introduced in the first game feels like a natural next step. Miles controls very similar to Peter, but also has some unique (and quite awesome) skills of his own. A very personal story allows for him to really shine. I only wish the game was a little longer.
Gears Pop! was so much fun. It was very simple in terms of tower defense, with some complexity added in terms of different playable characters and abilities. It was fun in short bursts, and I’m sad that it’s no longer available.
Gears Tactics is so much fun. As a person who has never played a turn based game, I found this game incredibly enjoyable. The only issue is that there is a lot of side missions that have to be completed in order to progress the story. The game is accessible for anyone, and is a must play for fans of the Gears series.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - The Master Trials is not for everyone. There’s no new story content, and a lot of the new content is trivial. A lot of the content just supplements an already perfect game. The Trial of the Sword, arguably the biggest part of the expansion, is a great challenge that anyone looking for a tough new experience should definitely try.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - The Champions’ Ballad is exactly what I wanted: more of this game. Another excellent dungeon, more unique gameplay opportunities, and an expansion of an already fascinating story. A must-play for fans of the base game.
Super Mario Bros. 35 is a lot of fun. It’s the first battle royale I’ve ever played where I actually felt like I had a chance at winning (and I did). It’s simple enough for anyone to pick up, but mastering each level to win is quite the challenge. My only issue is that it was only available until the end of March 2021.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is as close to a perfect game as there is. I have no complaints about this game. I didn’t want to finish it; I was having so much fun. Everything about it is designed perfectly. The praise this game gets is truly earned, as there is truly nothing to rival it.
Gears 5: Hivebusters is an expansion I didn’t know I needed. It’s on the shorter end of story campaigns, but makes every minute worth it. It tells such a cool story with great new characters. The environments are beautiful and the gameplay is crisp and superb. I would definitely recommend picking it up.
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is my favorite game in the series. Everything just clicked for me. Not having Nathan Drake was a little weird at first, but I got used to Chloe real fast. The gameplay is ridiculously fun, and the story has some nice twists. A great spinoff that all fans should experience.
Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection is a great collection of some really fun games. However, some of the games haven’t aged particularly well; mainly the first and third games. The first game, especially, feels quite repetitive and slow compared to modern games in the series. The second game is still a masterpiece, and playing all the games together is a blast. Fans looking for something new won’t find anything new here, but those looking to try a new franchise or just replay some great games will really enjoy themselves.
Halo: Reach Remastered truly shows how amazing this game was 10 years ago. The game holds up splendidly and is so much fun. Replaying this game on my Xbox One made me long for future Halo games to return to this form instead of what they’ve become. Halo: Reach has an awesome campaign with great characters and even greater gameplay. The multiplayer was innovative in 2010 and to this day, it still feels great. It is a must play.
Crash Bandicoot N. Same Trilogy is a great blast from the blast. While it might not be as inventive as a modern platformer, these games are still as good as they used to be. Crash 2: Cortex Strikes Back is the highlight, with the other two games also being quite fun. This is a must play for all Crash fans and anyone looking to play a PlayStation classic.
The Last of Us Part II is truly a spectacle. The gameplay and story are extremely well done. The pacing is perfect. The game looks amazing. Everything about it just works. I could totally feel for the characters every step along the way. Everyone should play this game.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is everything a great Star Wars game should be. It’s so much fun and feels completely authentic to Star Wars in terms of sound, story, and tone. Cal Kestis is a very interesting character, and his journey is compelling throughout the game. This game was made by Star Wars fans for Star Wars fan, and that is a great thing.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey - The Fate of Atlantis - Episode 3: Judgement of Atlantis is a great sendoff to Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. It wraps up the storyline well, and does a good job of connecting to the overall Assassin’s Creed story. My one complaint is that since this is a part of a dlc and not the main game, not every player with see its content, which is unfortunate considering its connection to the future of the series.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey - The Fate of Atlantis - Episode 2: Torment of Hades is a very dark chapter in the Atlantis storyline. The story still isn’t great, but it is definitely stronger than the last episode. The new environment looks pretty cool, but can be hard to see due to constant wind and sand storms. Gameplay was, this expansion adds some interesting mechanics, but nothing too out of the ordinary. The ending sets up an interesting premise for the final episode, and I’m excited to see where it goes.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey: Story Arc 1 - Legacy of the First Blade: Episode 2 seems to be in contrast in tone with the rest of the game. This episode is all about developing a relationship, which doesn’t make sense in the grand scheme of Odyssey. The villain of this expansion is interesting, albeit not nearly as interesting as the first. This does a good job of setting up the final expansion of this story arc, with quite the cliffhanger ending.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey - The Fate of Atlantis - Episode 1: Fields of Elysium was a slow opening to this story arc. It contains really beautiful environments, but doesn’t have a compelling story. The villain doesn’t make a lot of sense with what is going on, which is unfortunate because there was a lot of potential here. The ending is really good though, making for a compelling reason to play the next episode.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey: Story Arc 1 - Legacy of the First Blade: Episode 3 is a great finale to this story in the game. It really ties everything up nicely and connects to other games in the series. The villain is really interesting, and the consequences of choices made are felt deeply in this episode. This is a great send off to the Legacy of the First Blade story arc.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey: Story Arc 1 - Legacy of the First Blade: Episode 1 is a brief but exciting addition to an amazing game. It has a really interesting villain and sets up a really cool direction for the story to go in. It may be short, but I am looking forward to seeing where it goes next.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is breathtaking. I don’t think I have ever been so addicted to a game before. There is so much to do, and I was compelled to do all of it. Kassandra is a great character with a truly intriguing story to follow. Greece is a beautiful place to explore, full of life and many different environments. The game is just so much fun to play! I can’t stop playing it.
Marvel’s Spider-Man is a great game. It was so much fun in that it makes playing as the titular hero such a blast. It was so much fun that I never wanted it to end.
Marvel’s Spider-Man: The Heist is a great first chapter, as it sets up the story really well. It ends on a good cliffhanger, making me eager for what comes next.
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Sliver Lining is a decent conclusion to the trilogy of expansion packs. It wraps up the story nicely, but the side missions are a little tedious.
Middle-Earth: Shadow of War- Blade of Galadriel is more of what the main game was. It continues the story, while also adding some new gameplay mechanics. The new light-based powers can be a lot of fun to use.
Middle-Earth: Shadow of War- Desolation of Mordor is an interesting expansion. It does try a lot of new things, with varying levels of success. It can be, however, quite unforgiving.
Middle-Earth: Shadow of War is an amazing game. The gameplay is so fluid and complex, yet easily accessible. The story is engaging, and has some very unexpected twists. It can be a little bit ****, however.
Assassin’s Creed Origins is my favorite game of the last few years. It has a great story, great characters, great combat; everything is great. I felt compelled to get every achievement because it was so good.
Borderlands: Claptrap’s New Robot Revolution is a great dlc. It plays sort of as a ‘greatest hits’ collection from both the main game and previous dlc. A must play for any fan.
Borderlands: The Secret Armory of General Knoxx is the best dlc for the game. It is a very difficult expansion, but has an insane amount of good loot as a reward.
Borderlands: The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned is a great add-on for an already great game. It is hilarious, and continues the drive for more excellent loot. My only complaint is that it can be so dark that it is tough to see where to go.
