標籤彙整: reviews

Kamurocho is no stranger to violence, but a recent series of murders is unsettling even for the crime-riddled Tokyo neighborhood. In a particularly gruesome calling card, the killer gouges out the eyes of his victims. Thankfully, Takayuki Yagami is on the case. An attorney-turned-detective, he has the credentials and tenacity to bring justice where it’s needed – no matter how far the investigation may take him. His methods might get results, but they’re ultimately overshadowed by the strong story and engaging world-building. 

Developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio is known for its Yakuza series, and Judgment is effectively a new Yakuza game in all but name. It takes place in the same place Kazuma Kiryu and company have called home for more than a decade, but the similarities don’t end there. Animations, side activities, and other elements have been directly transferred over to this new title. The Yakuza franchise is great, but trying to keep track of its characters and plot (which span seven massive games) is a like trying to sip from a fire hose. Judgment is a completely fresh narrative start that doesn’t require – or even reward – previous Yakuza experience. All you need to really need to know is that gangsters run this town, and the officials may be even bigger crooks.

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Judgment’s big bullet-point addition is how it leans into the detective fantasy. Yagami’s agency is small, so he takes on a variety of mundane cases (such as tracking down missing items or an underpants-stealing creep) in addition to the larger, overarching murder investigation. That element is split into several main components, and some are stronger than others. The worst are the tailing missions, where you follow people without letting their suspicion meters fill. They’re tedious and overlong, and they’re also an unfortunately common part of investigations. Conceptually, I liked the parts where you examine crime scenes for hidden details, which you use to put together a hypothesis on what happened. The actual stakes are disappointingly low, however; you’re free to blunder your way through the dialogue options with no penalties, aside from some embarrassed text responses a slight ding to your experience bonus. The real consequences happen in battle, oddly enough.

Yagami might not be a member of a crime family, but that doesn’t mean he’s safe as a civilian. Even before getting involved in the deeper mystery, he’s constantly getting hassled and attacked. Thankfully, he’s a solid brawler, and beating down thugs is dependably fun. He has a couple of fighting styles at his disposal, so you can take out crowds with swooping crane attacks or lash out at individual opponents with his tiger form. Judgment adds a wrinkle to the familiar framework with the introduction of mortal wounds. Tougher enemies can wreak additional havoc on the player by targeting Yagami’s lifebar. If these attacks are successful, your maximum health is sapped until you see a doctor or use a rare item. Both are expensive solutions, and it’s quite possible to have neither one available during the frequent (and lengthy) set-piece encounters. It’s an oddly punitive touch for a game that’s so generous to players otherwise.

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Kamurocho has plenty to offer when you’re not busy tracking down criminals. The biggest side activity is drone racing, which gives Yagami something else to do with his toy beyond spying on people. I went all-in on the mode, completing optional missions to get the best possible parts, though you don’t have to engage with racing if it’s not your thing. I wasn’t as excited about a lame virtual virtual-reality minigame, where you roll dice to maneuver on a weird life-sized playfield and get items for cash. That’s in addition to the array of casino games, arcade games, and other diversions at your fingertips when you’re ready to take a break. 

Even though I wasn’t in love with all of Yagami’s investigatory tools, I had a great time seeing the Yakuza formula from a fresh perspective. Judgment tells a sprawling, action-packed story that veers dangerously close to melodrama without falling apart. It has some genuinely shocking moments, and proves that you don’t need Kiryu or Majima as tour guides to have a great time in Kamurocho.

Score: 8

Summary: This Yakuza spinoff proves that you don’t need Kiryu or Majima as tour guides to have a great time in Kamurocho.

Concept: Use your detective skills to stop a serial murderer in a new game from the studio behind the Yakuza series

Graphics: Kamurocho’s familiar streets look as good as ever, and they’re packed with detail

Sound: You can listen to the story in either English or Japanese, with full dubs in both languages. Either way, the performances are solid

Playability: Combat is engaging and responsive, but some of the detective-oriented tasks are clunky

Entertainment: Judgment is a Yakuza game in all but name, offering the same dizzying array of action, side content, and a lengthy (and convoluted) story

Replay: Moderately high

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Before Super Mario Maker’s release on Wii U in 2015, making Mario levels was a privilege that belonged exclusively to Nintendo designers. Today, perhaps the initial charm of placing your own question mark blocks has worn away, but Super Mario Maker 2 does plenty to expand and improve the experience.

Super Mario Maker 2 looks, plays, and functions similar to its predecessor, which is still one of the most fun creation games ever released. Complicated elements like enemy A.I. and setting start and end points for levels are all taken care of for you, which frees you up to focus on the fun part: laying out the building blocks of the level. The menus are generally the same as the first game, and the core building blocks return. The tools, like seeing Mario’s trail in create mode to identify proper jump distances, are all back, which is a great. The big updates for the sequel are mostly additions as opposed to sweeping changes.

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The 3D World template is the only new visual style at your disposal, and it doesn’t mesh seamlessly with the other templates (Super Mario Bros., 3, World, and NSMBU). You can swap between the old templates in a snap without changing the design of your levels, but changing to or from 3D World resets everything. Not being able to swap templates as easily is disappointing, but the new tools exclusive to 3D World are worth the technical limitation. The Koopa Troopa Car is entirely new to Mario in general, and locks the player into a very fast auto-run. It is used to create high-speed (and incredibly entertaining) platforming challenges.

Other big additions include the long-requested ability to incorporate slopes, which are a lot of fun. You also have tools to create more vertical levels and unique clear conditions, which leads to some of my favorite levels. This means you can craft and play scenarios where players can’t touch the ground, or they must collect 100 coins, adding a fun layer of challenge and puzzle-solving I enjoyed.

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The process of making levels feels familiar, and while I do miss the Wii U’s stylus, both the touchscreen in handheld mode and using the on-screen cursor in docked mode work well. You are unfortunately forced to use the touchscreen when playing handheld mode, which is a confusing and annoying limitation. Radial menus have been integrated for selecting the various tools, and it makes the process move a little faster, which I appreciate. Creating in co-op is a little unwieldy and has its own learning curve for figuring out which player can do what, but working locally with a friend to make levels together is great.

Finding levels to play from other creators is easy, and seeing the Mii of the creator and the clothing they’ve decided to wear adds a lot of personality. You can also use stamps, write, and draw reviews for others’ levels with commenting tools originally seen in the Miiverse. As a fan of the Miiverse who was sad to see it go, I am happy to see it living on in Super Mario Maker 2.

Playing local co-op requires you download the level, which is a bothersome but admittedly small hurdle, and I ran into the same issues as your typical co-op Mario game. Sometimes having others around is a hindrance, but the chaos can also be part of the fun. I ran into lots of levels that weren’t designed with co-op in mind, making them awkward to play, but I like having the option even if it isn’t ideal. Only being able to play online with random players at launch is a bummer, but I had so much fun on my own and with the rest of the game that the limited co-op options didn’t hinder my overall experience.

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The Nintendo-created levels, found in the story mode, are much more substantial this time around. Unlocking new clothes for your Mii and seeing Peach’s castle grow as you complete levels is a nice incentive, and the levels are all fun. The creation tools, like Undodog, are also integrated into the story in goofy ways. The more than 100 levels function as solid Mario levels, good examples of how to use the new tools, and occasionally let you play with mechanics that have never been used in Mario games before, which was a fun surprise.

Super Mario Maker 2 is not a radical reinvention of the original Mario Maker, but it earns the “2” in its title with a story mode full of great Mario levels, worthwhile additions to the creation toolset, and new options for playing and creating cooperatively. The future is bright for Super Mario Maker 2, and I can’t wait to see what the community makes with it. But even at this starting line, I had plenty of Mario to play and enjoy.

Score: 8.75

Summary: Mario Maker 2 is not a radical reinvention of the original, but it earns the “2” in its title with a great story mode, worthwhile additions to the creation toolset, and co-op.

Concept: Make more Mario with expanded tools and templates, and play more Mario with lots of Nintendo-created levels in a full story mode

Graphics: Mario looks great in all his renditions, and the user interface (an important element for games in the creation genre) is clean and easy to read

Sound: The Mario themes from various eras of the plumber’s career all sound great. The sound effects related to building levels are particularly charming

Playability: Mario’s platforming is identical to how it feels in his normal adventures, which is superb. I missed the Wii U’s stylus for creation, but both the touchscreen and cursor-based controls feel smooth

Entertainment: Building your own Mario levels isn’t as exciting as it was in 2015 on Wii U, but the story mode is a lot of fun and the new tools lead to some novel experiences

Replay: High

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Samurai Shodown showcases the highs and lows of the fighting genre as a whole. At its best, it’s a powerful lesson in learning and reacting to another player, as victory doesn’t require you to learn jargon or memorize long combos. But it flounders without that other human player, hindered by a scant single-player offering and a decent-but-basic approach to online play.

Fights in Samurai Shodown are deliberate, relying on a combination of careful offense, intricate defense, and risky gambles. Most attacks don’t flow into each other, and what combos exist are only two or three moves long. Because of this, matches become tense staredowns punctuated by single blows that sink into your opponent with a satisfying display of blood.

On the flip side, damage and risk in Samurai Shodown strike a dynamic balance. Light attacks can get you out of a bad situation, but only tickle your opponent’s health bar. Heavy attacks and certain special moves leave you wide open if you bungle them. Learning defense is incredibly valuable, as a well-guarded player can block, dodge, or deflect attacks from overeager attackers. You can also roll out of the way of knockdowns, which helps reset the situation after someone lands an attack. In fact, it’s often best to wait for your opponent to commit to an unsafe bet and punish them rather than start on offense yourself. But you eventually have to take risks to win, which is where things get interesting.

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You also have access to a rage meter and a handful of super moves, all of which double down on the risk-reward aspect in flashy ways. Your rage meter fills as you take damage, making your attacks stronger and allowing you to pull off powerful weapon-flipping techniques. However, if you need to turn a match around, sacrificing the meter for the rest of the bout sends you into a rage explosion, which lets you pull off an incredibly fast, devastating lightning-blade attack. These moves offer newer players a flashy way to turn the tide, but veterans can just as easily counter them, or use them to seal the deal.

While the fighting itself has lots of offer, the infrastructure surrounding doesn’t always help combat stand out. The online works well for the most part, but has a few weak spots. Casual matches are limited to 10-player lobbies, and you can’t invite a friend into a lobby you’ve joined. However, ranked play lets you rematch multiple times, which is great when you just want to keep butting heads with a specific player. My connections online were decent overall, but unreliable; plenty of matches were perfectly fine, but a few were practically unplayable.

A new Dojo mode records players’ actions and turns them into a “ghost” copy of yourself for others to fight online, but this system doesn’t really work. You can play against the ghosts of random or high-level players, but I was able to plow through all the ghosts I encountered without breaking a sweat. That’s not bragging; the ghosts don’t seem to accurately replicate any kind of fighting style. They just stand in a corner, spam moves repeatedly, jump forward at random, and don’t block much.

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Samurai Shodown’s other single-player offerings are serviceable, but uninspired. Along with Dojo mode you have the standard arcade, survival, and time trial modes. Plus, a gauntlet mode lets you fight all 13 characters in a row. These may get new players to learn the basics, but they feel dated compared to just about every other fighting game series’ attempt to keep lone players invested.

If you’re not keen on learning by jumping into the fray and taking your lumps, Samurai Shodown likely won’t do much for you. But when there’s another player facing you down, Samurai Shodown’s bouts are a fantastic mix of fighting disciplines. It’s accessible, nuanced, and flashy, and the ways it asks you to bet big to win make matches as exciting as they are tense.

Score: 7.75

Summary: Samurai Shodown’s one-on-one fights shine in dyanmic ways, but you’ll need a friend to make the most out of it.

Concept: Bring back the classic sword-fighting series with a new look, characters, and gameplay changes

Graphics: The painterly art style looks great. Character animations are outlandish but fluid, and plenty of attacks have colorful flair

Sound: The classic Japanese instrumentation gives stages a nice historical backdrop, though more modern twists touch up a few tracks

Playability: Once you get the hang of a few special maneuvers and the slow movement speed, the simple, powerful exchanges give every move a strong impact

Entertainment: Samurai Shodown’s varied attacks and techniques have plenty of depth for those who dive into multiplayer, though the modes and options are lacking

Replay: High

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At first, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night feels a bit staid. Though the series is new, it sees longtime Castlevania producer Koji Igarashi returning to the formula he helped define over the years with titles like Symphony of the Night. Because Bloodstained overtly draws from that tradition, the opening hours reproduce many moments fans of 2D Castlevania titles have seen before. However, this spiritual successor slowly and surely earns its keep among greats by cleverly mixing familiar elements of the genre.

The sprawling map is the cornerstone of the experience; the giant castle you explore belongs to a demented “shardbinder” named Gebel (not Dracula), and it’s enormous, winding, and a joy to uncover. As Miriam, a fellow shardbinder who can absorb the power of monsters she slays, your path can occasionally be circuitous; I often had to hoof it from a save room to a teleport room to my base of operations to stock up on supplies, then back to a save room before taking on a boss. But slowly filling out the map is a satisfying slow burn. Most areas stick to the castle’s gothic themes, but later locales introduce some fun surprises that kept me eager to see where I’d head next.

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You acquire new traversal abilities as you go, though this progression starts off a little slow. The double-jump won’t resolve as many loose ends on the map as you think it might, and sometimes your next destination is too vague. However, you eventually get fantastic abilities that are fun to wield and open the way forward, like a reflector beam you can use to sneak through tight spaces, or the ability to run at ridiculous speeds. By the time you’ve been through most of the map, you feel like you have total mastery of your surroundings, though later areas still provide interesting challenges.

Combat also takes a little while to come into its own. The main hook is that Miriam can equip shards that give her the powers of the monsters she kills. These initially manifest as additional attacks that cost mana or passive bonuses, but quickly offer up a number of different ways to approach combat. Do you tackle a tough area or boss by slowly healing yourself over time, or double-down on damage by creating a copy of yourself? 

If you’re familiar with 2D Castlevania games, the tricks you’ve memorized (such as attacking right before you land to get an extra-fast second attack in) still work, and the familiar muscle-memory is a nice touch. But until the additional layers unravel, Bloodstained’s opening sections feel unremarkable, because encounters involve little more than ducking and weaving out of monsters’ attacks to deliver your own. Only when you start amassing interesting shards can you start exploring your options.

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A healthy dose of RPG mechanics keeps combat exciting and give you another reason to scour every inch of the castle. As you defeat explore and level up, you find weapons with different ranges and elemental properties, as well as other equipment and items. As these different options compound on each other, I swapped between multiple shard and gear loadouts, since some weapons and skills work better against certain enemies. And while some bosses simply let you wail on them until they’re dead, others require you to learn their movements or try different builds to survive, which means being flexible and experimental with your skills.

The best equipment is locked behind extensive crafting or side-questing. This aspect can be convoluted and prone to grinding; later quests and recipes require you to farm monsters that have a low chance of dropping a particular component, and I wound up with too much stuff that didn’t seem crucial. However, once I found recipes for the most powerful weapons, I held off on finishing the game to go seek out their ingredients and craft them. The power boost you get from these items is worth the time spent acquiring them.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night’s journey is familiar, but the way it iterates and builds on that familiarity helps distinguish it from its lineage. Its combat, RPG elements, and enticing exploration intertwine seamlessly, and had me obsessively scouring every nook and cranny of a gigantic map for hours, even after I’d defeated the last boss. I enjoyed finally returning to this haunted castle, even if it belongs to a new master.

Score: 8.5

Summary: Koji Igarashi’s return to the Castlevania formula slowly but surely earns its place in a crowded genre.

Concept: Create a new franchise that melds the action, exploration, and RPG elements that made Castlevania: Symphony of the Night successful

Graphics: Characters, monsters, and environments are colorful and distinct, though animations look stiff and clunky up close

Sound: The voice acting can be a bit stilted at times, but the music is appropriately gothic, with the occasional guitar thrown in

Playability: The accessible hack-and-slash repertoire is complemented by a flexible array of magic attacks, and Castlevania fans will find familiar tricks and maneuvers

Entertainment: Ritual of the Night starts off a little too familiar, but quickly ramps up into an impressive exemplar of the genre it’s retreading

Replay: Moderate

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Despite having remasters, spin-offs, and even a pre-sequel to sate their appetite, Borderlands fans have been ravenous for the next mainline entry in Gearbox’s open-world looter-shooter series. Just a few months before Borderlands 3’s release, Gearbox has served up a surprising hors d’oeuvre. Commander Lilith & The Fight for Sanctuary is a new Borderlands 2 expansion that drops players back onto the deadly planet of Pandora, priming them for the adventure to come. While the new DLC faithfully builds on the Borderlands 2 experience, some aspects of the series have aged better than others.

Commander Lilith takes place directly after the events of Borderlands 2, and chronicles the titular siren’s attempt to defend Sanctuary from Colonel Hector, a new villain hell-bent on transforming Pandora’s dusty landscape with a deadly toxin. Like any good leader, Lilith delegates most of the heavy lifting to you and your vault-hunting friends, who must fight plant-infected mutations of familiar enemies and explore a few new areas of the planet. Numerous other returning characters pop up for fun cameos (including a few faces from Tales of the Borderlands), rounding out cutscenes and dispensing quests. Commander Lilith mirrors the length of Borderlands 2’s previous DLC expansions, offering a couple hours’ worth of content for the main questline, and a few more hours of side content. A new level cap, raid, “Effervescent” tier of procedurally generated loot, and a few replayable boss fights offer additional thrills for longtime grinders.

Having not played Borderlands 2 since it first released on Xbox 360, getting back into the swing of things wasn’t easy. Commander Lilith allows players to create a level 30 character and jump straight to the new adventure, but you have to relearn the various systems, acquire better loot, and puzzle together a decent skill-tree build on your own. Even with the upgraded visuals provided by the Handsome Jack Collection, I was struck by how simple and mechanical the world feels. The manic combat has also lost a bit of its punch over the years, overshadowed by smoother, flashier, and more ability-driven shooters.

Commander Lilith’s mission design feels particularly dated, with most of your objectives boiling down to banal fetch quests – get 10 of these, kill 10 of those, etc. The goofy dialogue from fan-favorite characters helps blunt some of the repetition, but it can’t hide how much time you spend running back and forth through the same areas to advance missions. Managing inventory space, sifting through piles of worthless white and green guns, and the sluggish pace of opening and looting containers also hamstring the entertainment. After acquiring some overpowered legendaries and readjusting to the pace of Borderlands’ addictive gameplay loop, I remembered why I fell in love with the series, but some of the passion is gone.

Some of Borderlands’ humor also feels tired seven years on, from the endless bedonk and bro jokes, to the “midget” enemy subclass, whose high-pitched squeals induce more winces than laughter. The series’ crass humor has always been hilarious to some and intolerable to others, and the new DLC is no different; Handsome Jack’s returning “Butt Stallion” is the perfect litmus test for finding out where you land on the spectrum. While I experienced more involuntary eyerolls than I was expecting, I did enjoy catching up with some of the classic characters like Lilith and Brick.

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Commander Lilith is another solid DLC arc that fits right at home with the previous Borderlands 2 expansions, and it’s a great way to prepare yourself for the sequel. As someone for whom Borderlands’ formula has already worn a little thin, however, Commander Lilith left me yearning to see what improvements Borderlands 3 may bring to the table, even as I enjoyed the moment-to-moment action.

Score: 7.5

Summary: Commander Lilith faithfully recreates and adds to the Borderlands 2 experience, for better and worse.

Concept: Offer players a decent-sized DLC adventure to get reacquainted with Borderlands’ systems and characters ahead of the sequel

Graphics: Even with upgraded visuals, the environments still feel mostly empty, and texture pop-in remains a problem

Sound: The guns, explosions, and voice performances deliver exactly what series fans expect

Playability: If you’re still playing Borderlands 2, Commander Lilith offers a seamless transition. Those jumping back in just for the new DLC can expect a hefty readjustment period

Entertainment: Some of Borderlands 2’s gameplay and humor feels understandably dated, but the core loop remains satisfying

Replay: Moderate

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As we wait to see if Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon will return in new games, Activision remains focused on their past. Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled is another successful remaster that melds the classic gameplay from Naughty Dog’s original 1999 release with the latest in modern visuals. The racing excitement hasn’t lost any of its luster over the years, and the added detail applied to the characters, tracks, and their surrounding environments makes this nostalgic trip feel new again.

To be clear, this is not a collection of Crash’s kart-racing trilogy (Crash Team Racing, Crash Nitro Kart, and Crash Tag Team Racing). Instead, developer Beenox does something different; you can play CTR in its classic form, or experience a “nitro-fueled” version which features characters from Nitro Kart along with a new upgrade system allowing the karts to be customized with decals and more. The changes, which also allow the player to switch characters at any time, may not sound like much, but go a long way in making it feel like a more rewarding experience. After each race concludes, you earn new customization items and currency that can be used to purchase new characters, karts, and more. Yes, most of the characters from Nitro Kart are fairly lame, but I got into the kart customization, which includes wheel-less hover ship options.

The Adventure Mode races are as wickedly difficult as they were back in the day, both in terms of pushing the player to race without error, and the A.I. opponents being incredibly aggressive. If you want to coast through the game, you can select the easy difficulty setting prior to entering the campaign (it sadly can’t be changed once it starts), but I recommend getting knocked around on the medium setting – it delivers a high level of intensity, and shows why this game was adored back in the day. Most races are nail-biters.

Crash Team Racing follows the kart racing formula most of us are familiar with to a T. This means you powerslide around corners and hit item blocks that arm you with weapons to use against your opponents, hopefully knocking them out of position for a narrow victory on the final lap. Both of these elements are implemented admirably (especially in how the items you get are based on your positioning), but the one area where the game stands on its own is through how boosting is handled. If you truly get in a groove, you can boost almost all of the way around the track.

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In addition to track-mounted green arrows that reward you with an automatic jolt of speed, the player can obtain a turbo boost by gaining altitude by hitting ramps and performing a jump maneuver at the right time on specific parts of tracks. The best way to rocket ahead of opponents, however, is to boost while powersliding. This action is a harrowing rhythmic minigame, in which you perform timed button presses as a meter fills. You can obtain three consecutive boosts in one slide, which gives you a huge advantage. I can’t stress just how much fun this turbo system is. When you get good at it, you use it everywhere, even on straightaways. However, there’s a real danger of overdoing the boosting and smashing into walls, which makes for a great risk/reward mechanic.

The aggressive A.I. is also keen on boosting, so you have to master it to just hold your own against these opponents on the tracks, which are excellently designed. The tracks are short, yet filled with dangerous animated sections and unique elements that make each one feel somewhat distinct. You even find some tracks reused in interesting ways for the one-on-one boss battles – another fun challenge that changes up the flow of gameplay. Once any track is complete, you can revisit them for fun secondary diversions like CTR Challenge (where you must hunt down the letters C, T, and R and win), and Relic Race a fun, but chaotic race against the clock.

If you take a detour out of the campaign (which only takes a few hours to complete), the Local Arcade mode almost contains another full game’s worth of content. Beenox added 13 of Nitro Kart’s tracks, which can be accessed for single race, battle, time trial, and other enjoyable challenges. No content from Crash Tag Team Racing is in the retail release, but will be added at a later date through post-launch downloadable content. Most of this content can be played via four-player splitscreen. A more streamlined selection of racing options is also available for online play. It’s nice having all of this content on the side, but, well, it’s on the side and doesn’t exactly pull you in, unless you intend to compete against friends.

Crash Team Racing is every bit as good now as it was back in the day. Naughty Dog created something special with the boosting system, and I urge everyone who enjoys arcade racers of this variety to give it a shot. Beenox’s enhancements only make it better.

Score: 8

Summary: This old racer can still rip across the track and is well worth a look.

Concept: A remaster of Naughty Dog’s 1999 kart racer that has been upgraded with modern visuals, online play, and a wealth of customization options

Graphics: The detail in the backgrounds and new colors that emerge from the characters and tracks almost make it look like a different game. It looks great now

Sound: Music and effects are just as goofy and playful as back in the day

Playability: The boosting system is still a lot of fun, and the excellent track designs put it to good use. Fun weapons give players an arsenal of offensive and defensive tools

Entertainment: Beenox did a great job preserving the original content, and found avenues to add to it in meaningful ways

Replay: Moderately High

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As you might guess from its name, Cadence of Hyrule – Crypt of the Necrodancer Featuring the Legend of Zelda is a strange mix. It takes elements from the Zelda series (most notably its revered suite of music) and combines them with the dungeon-crawling roguelike action of Crypt of the Necrodancer. The two series don’t always mesh harmoniously, but as a whole, they get along well enough to make for a gratifying musical adventure.

Cadence of Hyrule is ostensibly a Zelda game, but the twists from Necrodancer put it squarely in spinoff territory. The most drastic change is the need to move along a grid to the rhythm of remixes from the Zelda series; failing to do so prevents you from moving for a beat, leaving you vulnerable. It also has more combat encounters than your average Zelda game, leaning into Necrodancer’s dungeon-crawling ethos.

Combat is fairly simple. It takes time to internalize the variety of enemy patterns and how different weapon types work best against armored or ranged opponents, but once you have the hang of it, hearing your attacks line up with the beat of the music as you mow down enemies is a fun little thrill. You can also play as Link, Zelda, and Cadence (the heroine of Crypt of the Necrodancer), and each of these characters have different abilities that give combat a little more nuance.

The rhythm-based gameplay puts a heavy emphasis on the music itself, and the new renditions of Zelda songs are a highlight. Each area features two remixes – one for combat encounters, and one for when all the enemies are gone (plus a short 8-bit loop when you pause). Most of these songs are great on their own, but the way the music swaps between tracks (especially in dungeons and boss fights) makes exploring and taking on dungeons the best way to experience the music.

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The other major twist Cadence of Hyrule introduces is the addition of roguelike elements, but mixing them with the Zelda formula doesn’t always work smoothly. Your adventure will likely start out littered with deaths; a couple of hits from enemies is all it takes to kill you – which empties out all of your rupees, keys, and consumable items. This can feel punishing early on as you’re learning the mechanics and how to move along with the rhythm.

The scales eventually tip too far the other way as you build up more hearts, weapons, and items. After a few hours, I was brute-forcing most encounters without paying much attention to enemy patterns, since the odds were so heavily in my favor.  Some temporary power-ups, like glass flails and iron boots, lose their appeal as you become a killing machine. Other items, like shovels, become a nuisance to re-acquire after they break. This uneven difficulty curve leads to only a short window in which combat is truly satisfying.

Dungeons aren’t centered on using a particular item or trick, and have no real puzzle-solving. Instead, you work your way through a couple of tougher-than-normal enemy encounters until you find the boss key. Bosses introduce some interesting twists to combat, but the uneven progression hampers these as well, and I didn’t have much issue plowing right through them. Considering dungeons and bosses are often the centerpiece of many Zelda games, that’s disappointing.

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Still, the Zelda-fueled side of progression, like finding heart pieces, new tools to play around with (like the Deku Leaf and Power Glove), and getting permanent weapon upgrades is enticing. I scoured the map for every collectible, even after I was breezing through the encounters. The randomized nature of each run means some items aren’t put to great use while others (like the hover boots) trivialize certain puzzles, but I like how most of the major rewards require some critical thinking to nab.

The mashup of rhythm and adventure works in Cadence of Hyrule, even if not all of the elements from Zelda and Necrodancer intermingle well. The spirit of the Zelda series, including its wonderful sense of exploration, iconic music, and fun combat are alive and well here, enhanced by a killer set of songs that both celebrate and elevate one of gaming’s most enduring soundtracks.

Score: 7.75

Summary: Cadence of Hyrule is a great ode to the Legend of Zelda and its soundtrack, even as some roguelike elements weigh it down.

Concept: Combine Crypt of the Necrodancer’s rhythm/action formula with The Legend of Zelda’s exploration, progression, and dungeons

Graphics: With new takes on Link and Zelda and updated renditions of places like Gerudo Valley and Death Mountain, the pixelated graphics look great

Sound: The multiple remixes of Zelda classics like “The Lost Woods” and “Bolero of Fire” are great, and so are the ways they’re interwoven well into gameplay

Playability: Timing your movements takes some getting used to, but the simple combat keeps you focused on maintaining your rhythm

Entertainment: Cadence of Hyrule is a great ode to the Legend of Zelda and its soundtrack, even as some roguelike elements weigh it down

Replay: Moderate

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Blood & Truth tells the trials of the Marks crime family in London, fending off rivals in a bid for survival. Make no mistake: The milieu quickly leans on your Guy Ritchie-inspired assumptions, employing criminal shorthand for the easiest imaginations. It’s not nuanced, but it’s appropriate for the medium – a VR shoot-‘em-up that mainly parades enemies right in front of your face. Bob’s your uncle, as they say.

Shooting everything in your way is as easy as pulling the triggers on your Move controllers, but the movement system hampers the experience due to artificial constraints. Half the combat has the on-rails feel of an old arcade game, because you don’t have free movement. The other half is going to specific points in the environment by looking in that direction and pressing a button. These preset locations often offer cover, but don’t let you go backward to previous spots for a better vantage point, sometimes leaving your flank exposed. Speaking of cover, enemies don’t always make the best use of it, and combat feels like you’re on a moving walkway flanked by target-practice dummies.

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I like the way Blood & Truth uses VR in a few novel ways, like reloading by touching the bandolier on my chest to get a new magazine, and then bringing my hands together to slide it in. Likewise, the first couple of times rerouting a fuse to open a secure door, climbing a building scaffold, or even commanding a pair of DJ turntables are mildly amusing, but these are relatively minor tasks that don’t sustain interest in VR any more than they would in real life.

Reloading gestures sometimes not registering in the heat of battle, the movement limitations, and bullet/aiming detection not functioning properly at times stress the already simple point-and-shoot gameplay, leaving even less to enjoy.

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The title’s most consistent strength is not its gun gameplay, but its voice-acting. The characters aren’t revelatory, but the performances at least (in most cases) give the game something dependable. This is particularly important since even though Blood & Truth is predominantly a carnival shooter, you spend a decent amount of time watching the story unfold. Still, while there are plenty of swear words and tough-guy attitudes, the plain gunplay does not pair up with the tale of rival gangs to amount to a fully realized world. Instead, it’s like watching a series of cutscenes leading you to the next action setpiece. 

Blood & Truth has some of the elements of the breezy English gangster flicks we’ve effortlessly enjoyed on the silver screen, but it lacks enough style and substance to make the formula work.

Score: 6.5

Summary: This PSVR title has the guns and the English accent, but it’s not enough to make the game more than a basic on-rails shooter.

Concept: Go on a one-man crusade to save your family and its business interests

Graphics: The graphics are slightly muddied, making shooting through the zoom scope not a good option

Sound: The voice acting is well done, even if the Cockney villain is familiar to the point of comedy

Playability: Actions like picking locks and climbing around the environment come off without a hitch, but reloading via both Move controllers can fail at crucial moments

Entertainment: Developer SIE London captures the vibe of the city and its characters, even though the gameplay is standard shooting-gallery fare

Replay: Low

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Outer Wilds’ premise is deliciously devious. As a newly minted astronaut in a fantastical solar system, your first day of space exploration ends on a dire note: The sun explodes, killing everyone. Bummer. Luckily, you’re caught in a time loop; each attempt gives you 20 minutes to explore the galaxy in the hopes of preventing the catastrophe from happening again. With a rich world to match its setup, Outer Wilds is an adventure ripe with memorable moments of discovery, but it is maligned by a bad control scheme and overly obtuse progress-gating puzzles.

The time loop is the foundation on which the entire experience rests. Those 20 minutes are a timer for you and all the locations you explore in the solar system. At the five-minute mark during one loop, you might be exploring the insides of a moon teleporting its way around the system while a planet nearby is bombarded into piecemeal oblivion by asteroids, literally falling to pieces. Learning what events are happening where and when (and how they interact with each other) is a key part of unraveling the mystery. It’s a fascinating design that calls to mind the innards of a pocket watch, with gears moving harmoniously in accordance with the flow of time.

Every location you can visit is essentially a dungeon, requiring you to explore and occasionally solve puzzles with lateral thinking. All of these places are meticulously constructed and unique. My personal favorite are the Ash & EmberTwins, two moons in orbit of one another that circle the sun, feeding sand into each other and transforming the layout of explorable areas on each as the loop timer ticks on. The Dark Bramble, a twisted vine of portals and fog, is also memorably claustrophobic and confusing – Outer Wilds’ own spooky hall of mirrors. All these places house a treasure trove of discoveries: intriguing lore, dusty archeological behemoths, occasional fellow astronauts, and caches of information offering new and dangerous directions for you to pursue. Though you die every 20 minutes (or less), each attempt can provide a new snippet of information that carries over to the next loop and brings you closer to solving the puzzle.

The exploding sun isn’t the only way for you to meet your demise during your travels. Death is a hilarious, educational experience here. I’ve been crushed by shifting walls, flown into crunchy doom by my autopilot, asphyxiated floating in space, and even been eaten by a massive angler fish. The hilarity of these demises does a lot to alleviate the frustrations of being lost in this galaxy – at least, for a time.

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I’ve had a lot of fun taking in beautiful vistas of meteors shooting across the sky or watching the ground shake as a place rises up from the sand. However, these dollops of wonder are easily outnumbered by the frustrations I’ve had at the hands of clunky navigation and half-baked systems. Outer Wilds opts for a semi-realistic control scheme when it comes to flying your ship (think Kerbal Space Program). You must account for weight, gravity, and force all while manipulating multiple thrusters. Even after hours of playing, I was only able to pull off a handful of graceful landings.  A rocky landing doesn’t hurt anything other than your pride most of the time, but particularly bad ones can result in explosive death and a reset of the loop. Moreover, certain puzzles require precise navigation through dangerous spaces, which is a nightmare to pull off because of the convoluted complexity of the controls. Even supposedly helpful systems like autopilot have a habit of veering you into the path of giant space rocks. Though losing five minutes of progress might not seem like a big deal in the grand scheme of things, a continual stacking of such loss thanks to misadventures (which don’t even feel like your fault) wears down your patience, especially since the only way to can track your progress is a confusing chart system that just corrals all the clues you’ve found.

The various puzzles littering interstellar space are also vexing in a way that inspires more exasperation than enjoyable challenge. Some of them might sound nifty on paper, but they’re often laborious in execution. One requires that you be at a certain place at a certain moment during the time loop to gain access to one of those information caches. What this amounts to is you waiting around for a long time until that area is accessible, kicking up space dust or twiddling your thumbs until the window arrives. Other puzzles give way to annoying platforming sequences that require nimble dexterity, and where a single mistake means you have to restart the loop all over again. I rarely felt any sense of accomplishment from overcoming these obstacles, just relief that I had earned a brief reprieve from the worst part of experience.

At the end of it all, I admire a lot about Outer Wilds. The entire world operating on that 20-minute timer is a fascinating theatrical accomplishment of craftsmanship, but I find it more fun to think about than to play. A lot of ideas linger here, some of them beautifully executed, others slipshod and pushing against each other. I love roaming inside the bellies of mysterious planets, but don’t like how the urgency of the timer undercuts my exploration. I have left Outer Wilds’ galaxy feeling as much exhaustion as satisfaction, but also with a list of several enchanting interstellar moments.

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Score: 7.75

Summary: Outer Wilds is an ambitious adventure filled with wondrous sights and annoyances galore.

Concept: Explore a solar system as you try to escape a time loop and prevent a sun from exploding

Graphics: From its landscapes to its oddly shaped characters, the art style is gorgeous and memorable

Sound: The soundtrack balances twangy Americana with full-on orchestra, capturing the wonders of this zany universe

Playability: Even after hours of experimentation, the controls and navigation are frustrating and can even impede progress

Entertainment: Outer Wilds offers an incredible world filled with memorable moments, but the experience is hamstrung by poorly implemented puzzles and wonky systems

Replay: Moderate

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Back in 2014, Atlus introduced a unique crossover featuring its Persona and Etrian Odyssey franchises. Persona Q combined the best elements from both properties to craft a fantastic hybrid role-playing experience. The Etrian Odyssey games cater to the hardcore dungeon-crawling crowd while the Persona series injects the fun and personality long missing from Etrian Odyssey’s stock characters and well-worn story. Persona Q2 continues on the path its predecessor forged, but it brings in the Persona 5 cast for a memorable trip to the movies.

Persona 3, 4, and 5 have greatly grown recognition for the series, and Persona Q2 feels like a tribute to these characters and their stories. While the narrative and perspective are centered on the Persona 5 cast, the Persona 3 and 4 teams also make their way into the story, which focuses on a strange theater – and our heroes must transport themselves into actual movies to find a way out. Here you’ll engage in tactical turn-based battles, dungeon exploration with cinematic themes, and strengthening bonds between the party members.

While the mystery does enough to propel the action forward, the real beating heart of Persona Q2 is the character interactions. Seeing which members from the different casts mesh well is a highlight, as it’s not always who you’d expect – like model Ann and tomboy Chie bonding over their similarities. You also see more predictable pairings, such as the two former student council presidents, Mitsuru and Makoto. Atlus put an extensive amount of detail and care into the character interactions, providing little nods for longtime fans, such as jokes about Chie and Yukiko’s bad cooking. I loved spotting the references to past games and seeing how they were inserted into Persona Q2’s world. You don’t need to play the previous games to understand what’s going on, but the familiarity provides some extra smiles for longtime fans.

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While Atlus does a good job of giving every character screen time, sometimes they all feel shoehorned in. Getting all your party members is also a slow burn; unlike its predecessor, you’re not picking a cast or meeting all your party members early on. I didn’t even encounter all the main casts until well past the 20-hour mark, which is when the Persona 3 crew finally enters the story. The expansive cast also makes constructing your team more complicated. As with any Etrian Odyssey game, you need to find the right balance of unique skills, strengths, and weaknesses to be successful, which gets harder and more time consuming with so many options to weigh. Experimentation is encouraged, with side quests that require specific party members. Certain characters also randomly receive motivation, which increases their chances of critical hits and experience bonuses, making it a no-brainer to put them on your team. Unfortunately, if a character isn’t in your main party, they don’t receive experience. This makes it feel like you’re taking a hit when you stray from your established team because you’re either at a disadvantage by using an under-leveled combatant or must accept that you have to grind to get that member up to speed. 

Each other system in Persona Q2 also has depth to explore. The turn-based battle system requires exploiting enemy weaknesses to get all-out attacks (a powerful team combo) and boosts that make your next skill free. Persona fusion also returns, with trips to the Velvet room to one-up your last creation. Every party member has their main persona with its unique skills to level up, but you can also equip them with a sub-persona, increasing your power and skill options in battle. Creating a superior persona and passing on your favorite techniques feel great. I enjoyed changing up my party members’ skills on the fly with sub-personas, which lends some variety into battles. 

Persona Q2 also melds its social systems with combat. You can do side quests called “special screenings,” which are similar to social links where characters bond. They unlock powerful unison attacks that randomly activate and can unleash criticals or deal devastating damage. This was one of my favorite additions, as it adds what I love about Persona: the social aspect. The missions are cute and give characters a chance to interact on a more intimate level. Doing these special screenings always felt worth my time for the character-focused content, not to mention that they reward you with attacks that come in handy during desperate times in battle.

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Using all the tools at your disposal is essential as you explore huge labyrinths with dead ends, switch puzzles, dangerous mini-bosses, and hidden treasures. As you move from one floor to the next, mapping out your path using the stylus is a necessity until you reach the final boss. In your pursuit to get there, you’re fighting to survive the onslaught of enemies that get progressively more deadly and challenging; the A.I. is smart, casting spells your members are weak to and focusing on characters who are low on health. While the game is more difficult than a core Persona entry, it is more forgiving than the core Etrian Odyssey series, and I never felt like any death I had was unfair. The satisfaction from downing a huge boss or totally annihilating a group of enemies who gave you trouble two floors ago is hard to top. 

But don’t expect to get through this game without having to grind. Some short side quests dissipate this, but for the most part you are going back and forth between areas quite a bit, whether to return to base to clear out your inventory for space or because you need to restore your health. I tolerated this, but it’s not exactly engaging. Instead, it felt like an annoying barrier to my progress and it often took me out of the experience. Many times, I’d be just about to reach a staircase to gain access to a new starting point or about to figure out a switch puzzle but then I’d have to turn around due to those aforementioned situations with inventory and health.

Persona is known for its themed dungeons, and Persona Q2 follows suit, basing each dungeon off a movie theme or genre, ranging from superheroes to sci-fi. These also feature elements straight out of Persona 5, such as avoiding searchlights and sneaking past enemies. My main complaint with the dungeons is their repetition and lack of creativity. I enjoyed the idea of using cinema themes, but every floor looks the same and has similar puzzles and traps. The designs themselves are nothing special, either. Even something that should feel exciting, such as one that is a clear homage to Jurassic Park, is disappointing with bland backdrops and few actual interactions with dinosaurs. Thankfully, the fun of the battle system and Persona casts interacting keep these dungeons from becoming too much of a bore.

If you liked the original Persona Q, Persona Q2 checks the same boxes while adding a few new wrinkles to the formula. As a Persona fan, it feels like the ultimate tribute to the last 13 years of the series, with nostalgic music and callbacks to previous events. When I wasn’t chuckling over a joke between the cast members, I was reveling in fusing new personas and finally besting a long, punishing boss battle. Persona Q2 is a worthy last hurrah for the 3DS, and helps the system go out on a high note. 

Score: 8.5

Summary: Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth is the ultimate tribute to the series’ last 13 years with Etrian Odyssey elements thrown in for good measure.

Concept: Unite beloved Persona casts for a challenging journey through dungeons inspired by cinema

Graphics: The chibi art style gives you a mostly adorable way to view your favorite Persona characters. The dungeons, however, are bland and repetitive

Sound: The music has always been a highlight of the Persona games, and this soundtrack is an enjoyable “greatest hits” from the last three games. The Japanese-only voice acting doesn’t take away from the experience

Playability: Persona Q2 does a great job of easing you into its mechanics. You can expect a challenge, but it’s gratifying to master the intricacies

Entertainment: Whether it’s the adrenaline rush from a hard-fought boss encounter or the thrill of watching the characters bond, this is a delightful journey in and out of battle

Replay: Moderate

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