TBT

Nickelodeon Extreme Tennis is a fantastic tennis, arcade game, with very surprising depth. The mobile controls are fantastic and after a few minutes, you feel like you are playing on a console with a gamepad. It's responsible, the various shots are very easy to perform, some hard to master. The content is good enough to keep you entertained, with objects to collect, tournaments, versus, story, weekly challenges. The versus, tournaments and challenges are interestingly coded: they are both PvP (you play versus another player online) or PvE (you play against the computer). The matching is done randomly, based on your skills and the pool of human players available. If there is no human player at a given time, it will give you a computer controlled opponent, with skillsets based on yours. It works very well. I very often get computer player or human player closed to my skillset. Game is receiving content updates so far, with new characters and quality of life update. Characters receive unique specials that can be used once an energy gauge is filled. Since launched, I have accumulated 39 hours. Very impressive. You can play for a quick burst or for a longer period of time. Edit: -1 as it has been unfortunately very buggy recently: game freezing during a play, making a loss in tournament and other modes.

Far Cry 6 is bringing a brand new setup in a well known franchise. As someone who always liked the Far Cry formula, Far Cry 6 is the most advanced, polished world ever built in this franchise. The map is massive, the world is gorgeous. While the formula is kept - a FPS / shooter in an open world - there are some nice additions: the heat system is well aligned with the narrative: the Republic of Yara (the map, the game basically) is run by forces that drive constantly. You meet them in different occasion, roaming on the map, but contrary to the other Far Cry, if you keep your weapon in your holster and behave correctly, they will treat you like a random citizen. That's more strategy and stealth added to the Far Cry concept. It's very fun to keep low profile while walking beside a tank patrolling. Knowing that you are going to a position where you are going to join the rebels for an attack. The developers have really created something unique here that we did not have previously. That makes the world lively and full of surprises. Other innovation, there are more diverse opponents, with different skill sets symbolized by icons on top of them. That's in line with the new ammunition management. Some opponents will require stronger or different types of ammunition. The gunplay is as good as any other Far Cry, with a large range of weapons, from guns to shotguns, to snipers, long-rifles to rocket launchers, ... But you get them by finding them in special locations, not anymore dropped by opponents. You also get all the cars, choppers, planes, boats, you can imagine as usual. Even horses now. The art direction is a strength in this game, delivering a very Latino atmosphere, with large landscapes, islands, the biggest urban environments in any Far Cry, and strong music as usual. The rain for example is beautifully integrated in the Caribbean environment, both sounds and visuals. It runs at a perfect 60 frames per second on max details at 1080p on a Ryzen 9 (4th gen) + RTX 2060. The story unfolds nicely with different characters per region, while you - the player - is waiting for the dictator, Castillo, to reveal itself, on a territory, the city of Esperanza, that is the most difficult location on the map, rated 9, on a scale from 1 to 9. I could go on and on describing the 6th game in the serie. It's a beautifully crafted FPS dedicated to solo players. In my book, this is one of the best Ubisoft productions. Also the longest Far Cry. It has become one of my favorite open world, FPS games.

Rage 2 is a massive surprise, following the disappointing reception in the news. I love open world first person shooters and I don't find many of them that can balance depth and replayability, along with the classic intensity and shooting experience that you always seek when you pick a shooting game. Well, the folks behind Rage 2 have achieved a true gem. You can feel the ID's skills behind the production: it's intense, it's fast, it's fun, it's rewarding. The art direction of the cyberpunk setup is wonderful, the map is diverse and cities and characters feel original. It's really nice to drive and stop and investigate what is going on. The shooting is amazing, the sound/music environment is excellent. It's a joy to use and caliber and reload weapons. The graphics are stunningly beautiful. On the weakness side, it's not a perfect open world: too much grind, and it's not a perfect shooter: the ammunition management feels old school. That being said, to summarize Rage 2: you get Doom's action with Cyberpunk 2077's aesthetic in a Far Cry's kind of open world map. Terrific package.

Open world shooter, you can treat it as a large DLC to Far Cry 5. If you like Far Cry 5, you will be happy to find a very nice post apocalyptic setup of a familiar map. With a very colorful aesthetics. The game adds replayable arenas and captured outposts. As a big fan of Far Cry 5, I welcome this one, following the same overall formula: freedom of action in between story telling, with some polishness around crafting and replayability.

Final Fantasy is a Japanese franchise that is trying to innovate and reach out to a more worldwide audience. As a result, this 15th version has morphed into an action RPG in an open world environment, contrary to the previous ones, more traditional J-RPG (Japanese RPG). Although it might sounds good on paper to many, I am disappointed by this massive production. The open world is not open enough, the UI is heavy and the navigation between places is cumbersome. I don't want to spoil the game but the map is not even fully explorable. It's missing cities and life. It feels unfinished. So much potential. The action part of the game is an attempt at making the game more accessible, versus the previous combat systems which were turn based. But the new combat system is very, very technical, very, very difficult to master, resulting in more frustration than fun. From time to time, you score great combos, but very often you scratch your head to make it happen. Most of players seem to fight with basic actions only and gave up or never cared about more advanced combos as it's not easily accessible. FF15 is a difficult game and the easy mode is there to appeal to most of the player (easy mode means you resuscitate right away when you die). On the other hand, the story is nice, the characters are lovely, the art work and direction are pure gold, typical Japanese fashion, with kings, emperors, soldiers, sons, daughters, villains, mega corps, technologies, travel, love, … The graphics and the soundtracks are gorgeous. I would hope Square would have developed more the universe of FF15, would have invested more time. By the way the movie Kingsglaive based on FF15's universe is really worth it. I consider FF15 is good beta game. A game that is 75% complete. Square even gave up on the initial promise of multiple DLCs. If it suits your personality, you might like it for the world, you might like it for the combat system, you might like it for the story and immersion. But you rarely like it for the 3 altogether.

Terrific sci-fi RPG / shooter in a well designed, dense, urban open world. You don't get many games like that every year: the gameplay is a combination of GTA (urban open world, driving), Witcher (RPG), Far Cry (shooting), Deux Ex (stealth). The scenery is gorgeous. This is a very colorful, very futuristic game. A pessimistic setup of a decadent civilization. UI and music join the photograph to offer a really nice immersion. I can't really rate the story, being at the beginning of it, but so far it has been a pleasant mix of big corp, conspiracy theories, secret technology, … You start the game with one of 3 social backgrounds. So I assume the game has some variety when it comes to the stories. With 20 hours of game, I have unlocked 6% of achievements. There are times when I ride the story, there are times when I take my time, no rush, to walk or drive in the city and try to improve my skills and my character by looting and arresting bad people (bounty hunter kind of jobs). The map shows you a bunch of jobs, with diverse levels of difficulties. This is fun and rewarding. From time to time, you encounter a more difficult opponent and you know you need to go back to your previous district and get better. This is a summary to tell you how easy it is to enter the game, the rest is up to you to master it and deep dive into complexity. Technically, games of that generation are reaching a level of movie-like quality. Ray tracing is adding an extra layer of aesthetics and immersion, like the bright light when exiting a dark building or tunnel. Cyberpunk is going to be a benchmark for a few years to come. All in all, this is a unique game, a rare cyberpunk set, a fun mix of open world, shooting and character building. It's the type a game that you start for a quick 30-min play and you end up spending 2 or 3 hours. I tend to believe disappointed people are the ones with too high expectations due to the intense media coverage. Without it, I believe most would have praised the game. If you enjoy the combination of gameplays I mention in my first paragraph and are interested in sci-fi, Night City awaits you.

Far Cry 5 is an open-world FPS (first person shooter). If you are tired of linear FPS with low replayability, Far Cry 5 is a beauty. This is pure fun, with more realistic approach that you might think. Raids need some thinking. Shooting is fun, intense, driving is welcome and easy. You go through a nice mass land representing Montana with nice outposts, houses, roadblocks, … all of that at your own pace. You get various factions, VIP shooters (meaning stronger), choppers, planes on your road. By advancing, you get some perks that allows you to get a stronger character: faster, more spots for weapons, bigger magazine, etc. … Last but not least, for those who cares, the story is nice, the universe is realistic, the soundtrack (that you can hear online on places like Youtube) is pure gold, the scenery is gorgeous. One of the best FPS I have ever played, and again, with a really nice replayability when you just want to relax and drive and shoot.

One of the best tower defense ever designed: very polished gameplay with many different strategies through towers (which secondary powers) and heroes (adding some micromanagement). Updates are bringing new, needed contents, which expend greatly the life of the game. Graphics, music & sounds, and arts are all unique, making the game very immersive. One of the best mobile games available on the AppStore.

City builder with gorgeous graphics, it's the true sequel to the legendary Anno 1404 (2009). It's bigger, more sophisticated and the last DLC Land of Lions is adding tremendous contents for city builder addicts. You can set up several cities on multiples islands and different worlds, giving you a great diversity and complexity. You manage demographics by managing different types of population, which have specific needs and can operate different buildings generating various resources. This is fun, complex, rewarding.

Interesting new entry in the management gaming sphere. I was a day one player of the famous Theme Hospital from the great Bullfrog studios. This Two Point Hospital revisits the hospital management game with some very familiar concepts and aesthetics. And adds a more modern interface with also the possibility to continue running existing hospitals on the map you've built. It's easy to go through the menus, including employee management, general dashboard, various pricing, etc. ... Very accessible design with a direction that does not take itself too seriously. All in all, great, refreshing management game, considering that we don't get a chance to run a hospital very often.

Classic hack'n slash, beautifully crafted. Building a character is still fun with tons of items and special skills. Although some sub-levels repeats itself (especially what's underground) and the difficulty is not that hard in hard mode, this is classic title that defines its category, with great atmosphere packed with non stop actions.

One of the most legendary gaming names in history. An entire generation of players learned to play on Doom. The genre was even called doom-like before it became FPS. I remember using floppy disks to launch Doom 2 in MS Dos. More than 10 years of developments separates Doom 2, Doom 3, and Doom (2016). And what an achievement. Each time, we get a chance to receive the most technically advanced sci-fi shooter in the scariest, post apocalyptic world that even Hollywood people have hard time defining in recent movie productions. Mars has never been so good looking. In a nutshell this is an incredibly satisfying, intense, mature shooter, ... that is hard to master.

The classic real time strategy franchise with incredibly well balanced factions, frenetic action. This is a game that can be played for years, like chess. It has redefined the genre and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. Regarding the creative direction, it's a fine-tune sci-fi world, charming and brutal: beautiful aesthetics, charismatic units (something that's often lacking in the RTA genre), great soundtrack. The player is transported into the future, whether you pick the Terrans, the Zergs or the Protoss.

A new Mario is always an new experience despite a very well known formula. You think you know what you are getting and yet, Nintendo is taking the challenge with maestro. This Mario Odyssey is 100% pure fun and a piece of art. A true successor to the 3D Mario, including especially the first one Mario 64. Every world - called kingdom - is packed with details and gameplay, especially the transformations which replace the power up: Mario can use his cap to take control of various elements or ennemis. It’s technically beautiful, charming, innovative. Nintendo made the formula a little bit different this time: the moons you collect can be easy or difficult depending on how far the player wants to go. There are so many... In other words, the player choose the difficulty. It can be frustrating, but the curious ones won’t have any problem looking around. The game is enough to justify the Switch. It’s one of those industry changing games that you get every decade or so.