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Amount of vitriol and resentment I have towards this game is immeasurable. I didn’t play this game – this game played me: luring me in with pretty graphics and cars, while toxic FOMO mechanics and brain-dead game design stole my precious time.

If you are a casual gamer that just wants to chill and play this game for a bit without a care in the world - you might still extract some fun from this title. It is a nice floor carpet of pretty patterns and quality fabric, alright. However, if you wish to see under it – to play the game in more dedicated way – you are bound to see one of the most disgusting pile of issues that lampshade towards developer’s total lack of care for good game design with zero for respect for players’ time and intelligence.

Describing every problem in detail would make this review longer than a intelligence agency report on country-wide incident, so I will only list them briefly to show how messed up everything is.

Starting from game design: Finishing events give you barely any cash, making them feel unrewarding. Progression is tied to a casino themed WheelSpins, which provide you with random rewards every pull - praying on people’s gambling instincts and throwing a tempo of player’s wealth generation off the rails. You can get supercars extremely early, turning more rare and exciting cars IRL into forgettable afterthoughts.

You could try to finish normal races (of which types are not-numerous and boring), but you are constantly bombarded by Forzathon challenges. Those are week-only task, you need to do repeatedly if you want to get rare cars, which are unavailable anywhere else. That means, you need to log into the game every week to do the same repetitive task over and over and over again without stop. Map might be filled with stuff to do, but you will be forced to do those other time-sensitive tasks every time you boot the game - unless you want to try fight that prevalent fear of missing out. This whole procedure is soul-renting and I was stuck in it for a very long while, while my time in the game was an absolute misery of boring races on boring tracks. I ultimately managed to stop caring about getting all those one-of-the-kind cars, but it was too late for game’s hour count, which ended up considerably high. Even after ignoring Forzathons, this game’s campaign is nothing more than filling in check-boxes on endless to-do lists without rhyme or reason.

Whenever game doesn’t steal your precious time on slop content, it cannot stop itself providing some of the most intelligence insulting voice-over and story. You are constantly being glazed by the the cast as if you were a person that contained the Black Mesa Incident. Writing is infantile and cringeworthy, making every character an unlikeable prick. Horizon Stories mode provide even more idiocy with baffling storylines about characters I simply couldn’t care less about.

For a company that prides itself on respecting different world cultures, Microsoft made an absolute disservice to Mexicans. They took only few token gestures towards their culture - making it otherwise as unappealing as possible. It breaks my heart to see such rich and colorful Mexico culture turned into such dreadful world map (that doesn’t do country any justice), annoying stories that are told irresponsibly bad and terrible music choices. Latter are piled on top of the setlist that, even not considering Mexican contributions, is full of absolute pop trash that drives me to apathy. I always turn the radio off at first possible opportunity.

On top of all that, I feel I’ve got scammed with the Ultimate Edition. Not only DLCs are subpar at best and absolutely dreadful at worst, but there is nothing “ultimate” about additional car packs that were added later and require additional purchase on top of owning the best edition of the game. It was the first time I decided to go with more expensive edition of the game and it will be the last time. I’ve learned this lesson.

There are even more baffling problems that I could really dig into really deep, like tons of useless or mismanaged modes, systems, auction house, customization, terrible color selections and more. I think you got the point already. If you are somebody who cares about game’s design integrity and wants to be taken with respect, DO NOT BUY THIS GAME. It will only incentivize this company to produce the same slop again, with all the wrong lessons learned from it. If you are reading this review, played Forza Horizon 5 and agree with my outlook – I suggest to you to also write a negative review. I know it’s just a drop in the ocean, but that’s the only influence we do afford.

We deserve far better racing title than this sorry excuse of game design.

Wonderful, tight package of twist and turns, wrapped In simple yet appropriate gameplay.

If you do like other mystery games like Danganronpa or Ace Attorney, you can stop reading this review right now. Ghost Trick is right there - at the top of great detective stories that are sure to satisfy your needs. I was amazed how good the writing was. Shu Takumi’s other games from Ace Attorney series are also very engaging, but they can meander and bore at multiple points of their long run-time. Ghost Trick cuts down on the fat to manageable 12 hours while still going for a healthy dose of intrigue, fun characters and stunningly high concentrations of unpredictable plot revelations that will keep you at the edge of your seat.

Gameplay is not overly complicated, but it does provide enough player engagement to keep your neurons firing. Puzzles based on figuring out right item interactions are undeniably an exercise in trial-and-error, but you don’t ever feel bored or cheated. System is very generous by giving you time resets when you screw up and characters do often give you a helpful, non-insulting hints to push your thinking in a right direction. Story-wise - you being a ghostly presence, manipulating objects in background, fits the whole theme like a glove and that fact also enhances the experience considerably..

Additionally, I have barely any complaints about the presentation as well. Graphics are clean, artful, stylish and beautifully animated. Music also delivers on the moody yet fun compositions and doesn’t shy on delivering more stress-inducing tunes when events call on that.

Overall, it is extremely hard to find any major negatives for Ghost Trick. I’m shocked this is still considered a hidden gem. This should be a required reading for anybody who prides themselves as aficionado of video game stories. You really owe yourself a trip to the plane of death to save a Red-Headed Target and uncover this tangled puzzle of a story on your own. Just buy this already.

I’m shocked to see this game still aLIVE!

I presumed it dead after news of deteriorating service years back. I did play the original, browser-based Quake LIVE release a lot, but various issues made me jump from the bandwagon.

This game cut its Free To Play monetization ties, settling on a single-purchase, functional client that maybe is missing some bells and whistles, but it certainly does every well designed client should do. Clean option menus, carrier statistics and achievement system integration work flawlessly and reduce friction in finding a fun multiplayer match immensly!

I was also surprised to see a decent amount of servers being semi-regularly populated by dedicated players. Of course, skill level of people playing is extremely hostile to new people, so I cannot in good faith recommend this classic to everybody…

…BUT, Quake III’s gameplay aged like a fine wine. If you wish to revisit to simpler times of no progression mechanics, no hero abilities and pure skilled play bliss – this is an excellent trip worth buying into.

Best new Sonic game in years... Taped to a lacking and baffling re-release nobody asked for.

Latter part of the last sentence might sound harsh, but Shadow's portion of this product delivers preem goods – carrying nearly the whole price tag on black hedgehog's own back.

Not only excellent level design in style of Sonic Generations returns in full force, it is now delivered with the best controls boost-style gameplay ever saw. Shadow is far more maneuverable within larger spectrum of speeds than Sonic ever was since Unleashed. Boost is far more controllable. Double jump might feel off at start, but it is ultimately serviceable. Slew of new Shadow-exclusive moves round up his kit to be more diverse and fresh. Coming back to playing Sonic in re-release portion of the game, after playing all through the new content, feels like having permanent glue applied to your shoes.

Shadow’s part also sports brand new hub world, which is surprisingly fun to explore, pack of additional challenges which are generally well designed and decently sized story with okay writing and excellent cutscene animations, which are very pleasant to see Shadow kick major ass. Boss fights are excellent as well!

Shadow Generations leaves little to be desired – those are one of the franchise’s best 3D outing period and I was super happy to experience it.

Which brings us to the Sonic portion of the game, which I refuse to call anything more than a re-release. It is not a remake. It is not a remaster. It’s a cynical attempt at artificially inflating game’s content and price tag, while providing no meaningful changes – or worse – providing detrimental ones.

Modern Sonic doesn’t need drop dash and it missing from togglable skills list is a foul play. Adding hidden Chao to each level only added unnecessary and unfun padding for completionists. Story is re-written for some reason, adding lip-sync issues and baffling script changes. There is little to none graphical improvements, other than that you do have an actual options menu now. Sonic’s portion of the game (and only Sonic’s) also have a issue where frame pacing is not smooth when your monitor’s refresh rate is over 60Hz (you need to fix this on your hardware’s driver settings).

Ultimately, Sonic Generations is still an excellent game. Those issues do sour the mood considerably, but they aren’t dealbreaking. If you never played Sonic Generations, grab this pack right away – it is well worth the price. If you are Sonic and Shadow superfan, you probably already got this game and there is need no to convince you. If you are a middle-of-the-road fan and played Sonic Generations already, then wait for slight sale.

From this point and can only hope SEGA will keep a good streak and Shadow Generations is a sign of greater things to come.

The Invincible just barely scrapes by with my positive recommendation. It’s less polished, more clumsy Firewatch, with a saving grace in form of excellent artstyle and soundtrack which help in forging a strong player fantasy of exploring an alien planet.

Unfortunately, there is a lot that goes against you enjoying this game fully. Graphically, there is noticeable object pop-in in places. Some 3D models could be seen through while in first person view (ie. arms, while hanging from the rope). Additionally, at one scene, planet’s soil turned into a checkered pattern which looked like a shader error.

Game softlocked me in level geometry multiple times with a lot of consistency. Cutscenes can break in some spots and some objects can be stuck in a “picking up” animations. Dialogue’s interactibility often falls flat - not reacting correctly to player’s actions, with awkward cuts and resumes.

Story might be a real treat for people who didn’t read the book - with mystery of the planet being really novel and engaging hard sci-fi bliss. While technically The Invincible: The Game is a side story to The Invincible: The Book, both ultimately share similar narrative beats. This is not a bad idea in a vacuum, but it can be a disadvantage of a kind: It may invite some unfavorable comparisons. Book is leagues better in writing quality, having no baffling contrivances for plot progression and no characters that can be unnecessarily annoying to listen.

Game was really working hard against my goal of fully immersing myself into it. What I mentioned above are some serious flaws, which slowly but surely were eroding my good will towards the game. Despite all of that, I ultimately decided to go for the positive judgement. Why?

If you have a soft spot towards unique artstyles, retrofuturism and highly atmospheric and ambient soundtracks you will love how this game can look and sound. Not only this game is an wallpaper generator with stunning alien vistas to gasp at, but it can reach its immersive goals when bugs don’t interfere. While this game has none of the gameplay depth of Outer Wilds (being a Walking Sim of course), it does scratch that exploratory, adventurous itch of its contemporary at multiple times. This is the aformentioned saving grace of the game that moves needle into more favorable direction for me.

I do recommend this game for sci-fi aficionados, but please wait for sale. With none of the graphical bugs and other issues I could recommend it at full price, but alas, we are on the wrong planet for that unfortunately.

- Mom! Mom! Can we have F.E.A.R.?
- Sweetheart... We can have F.E.A.R. at home.
<You come back home and Mom starts cooking>
<It isn't exactly F.E.A.R., but wow! It is so good, it makes you love your Mom even more>

There is nothing else on the market that fills that Monolith shaped hole in my heart better than this.

Selaco gets it. Maybe it doesn't exactly nail each and every little detail of the F.E.A.R. identity, but it definitely gets a lot of things right. It presents you with an experience that is noticeably less horror focused but with plenty of style and first person shooting action that you and me yearned for years.

Gunfights are pure poetry. Things explode. Things get nailed to walls. Things get turned into a pink cloud of alien goo. Things get dangerous and engaging. You cannot ask for more from this powerful and balanced roster of weapons - where everything feels impactful and useful for the whole game. You cannot ask for an army of more fearsome enemies, that are as formidable as unrelenting. Game is excellent in providing those “it’s you or them” gameplay bits where every bullet counts and you are greatly rewarded for resourcefulness and outsmarting your clever adversaries in awesome combat.

Selaco looks great and worldbuilding work put into it is also stellar. There is barely any dialogue. You don't have any friendly NPCs to interact. Civilian populace seem to be utterly decimated or evacuated. Despite all of that, it does feel like a real place. Every single office cubicle and box of pizza lying on the ground seems to have a hidden story behind it. Player gets enough environmental storytelling and written breadcrumbs to not only figure things on their own but also really care about this place and protecting it from alien harm.

While I could gush about Selaco for even longer, this is still an Early Access title, so I feel that it's important to point out all issues, that, in my eyes, should be addressed during game's development.

I wish some levels get some additional attention to how people navigate through them, and sadly, get lost in them. There is a common issue of important progression switches looking exactly like decorations, lack of consistency in slideable passages or important corridors being barely distinguishable from side areas. While most locations are laid out very realistically and have amazing lived-in feeling, level design suffers from it quite a bit.

There is also an issue of stealth not working well and lack of variety when it comes to initiating an engagement with the Invaders. Not only I would like to see more scenarios where either side has some kind of advantage, but also stealth should be a somewhat viable option. Game tells you about it, but it seems to simply not working. Most times you end up with zero early kills, due to enemies spotting you from kilometer away in a very unfun way.

Also balancing needs a small check. On Commander difficulty it feel like I was overreliant on low-health regeneration mechanic. Enemies dealt so much damage, that collecting health pickups felt unreliable and less fun than ideal - why collecting stuff when you will lose all of it in first shots of the fight?

While it seems there is some work that needs to be done, I feel like nearly all of it could be fairly easily realized, making Selaco an awesome beast. Mechanics, game feel and shooting feels so amazing at this very moment, that you couldn't wish for a better foundation to build upon and polish what is already presented here.

Amazing job! Wholeheartly recommending this, right now, for every FPS enthusiast. Give SMG it's own ammo pool you cowards!

Momodora series visits us once again and it brings back it’s cozy blanket of on-brand aesthetics, good combat feel and compact-sized world that is fun to explore.

Not much changed since the last installment - Reverie Under the Moonlight - but there is a good argument that it is A Good Thing™. This series oozes with an unique charm that fills you up with positive feelings, not unlike your favorite comfort food from your nearby bakery.

While artstyle is being kept intact, there is a noticeable improvement in cleanliness of the pixel art. Game also got a widescreen makeover (making you more zoomed-out than in RuTM) and there is much less of a depressing theming this time around. Game world is much more colorful but still very stylish. Soundtrack also got a production values buff. Familiar nostalgia, gentleness and regality is being kept, while effort put into music pieces did noticeably increase, especially for boss encounters.

Gameplay for the most part does keep up the pace with quality of the presentation, but not without some hiccups. Controls feel terribly sluggish at the very start of the game. I did get used to them over time and stopped noticing the issue after an hour or so, but first impression was very bad.

Game world is slightly bigger than in RUtM, but it doesn’t feel terribly so, so complaints about game feeling short are not without basis.

There is also a weird issue where it comes to difficulty balancing. Some bossfights feel too easy or too hard at random. I think the issue lies in the function of you gaining tons of power via upgrades, enemies hitting you like a truck (usually 2-3 hits to KO), but also you having tons of impromptu healing at your disposal. Some of the tells and enemy attacks do seem to be a little off with visual and sound feedback. Unfortunately, this can sometimes result in fights being attritional slap-matches.

That being said, there are still many banger fights that delivered the goods both on audiovisual and gameplay fronts (shoutouts to a certain black cat!). And, all in all, Momodora V is still a pretty cute experience. It won’t blow your mind, but it will make you feel very warm inside and that’s really all I expected from new game from this series.

My favorite part was when Momo said to ring that bell to be notified of new videos and don’t forget to like and subscribe to Koho Village momotube channel…

Gravity Circuit's controls and movement are out of this world, but I wish the game had a little bit more of an unique identity.

The moment you take your controller and move your main character, you will get hypnotized. Surely a Megaman clone cannot feel that good to control? Capcom mastered this decades ago. There wasn’t really any room for improvements, right?

Well… I stand corrected! Jump feels better than ever, punching stuff explodes enemies and players minds. There is a ”Sprint” button also known as ”Buttery Smooth Zoomies” button. There is also a grappling hook and wall jump that are adjusted just right for your maximum platforming pleasure. Running and brawling through levels feels absolutely amazing and that one thing alone is what makes Gravity Circuit worth experiencing.

That doesn’t mean it is only thing that this game does really well. I also need to commend the level design. I do like to dabble a bit in making 2D Megaman levels and amount of “blunders” when it comes to misplaced enemies, overtuned obstacles or sloppy flow I could count on one hand of a sawmill worker. This is in stark contrast to games like Shovel Knight where I have always plenty of material to complain about whenever I play a level. Good job Gravity Circuit devs!

Unfortunately, while I will do ultimately recommend grabbing this game, it really breaks my heart that there is a lot of untapped potential that would otherwise make this game truly special.

What do I mean by that? While there is a small attempt at some worldbuilding, game’s story doesn’t go far from your stock standard “robot attack” formula. Main character took the worst lessons from Megaman Zero games and has so little personality, that seemingly most of his lines are literally three expressionless dots. Bosses have titles and given names that are hard to memorize. Their designs, while good, are not especially striking.

I cannot remember a single song from the game’s soundtrack, outside of the boss theme. Level design is nearly flawless, but variety of cool, never-seen level gimmicks is very lacking. There is nothing you haven’t seen in other 2D platformers. You get tons of special moves, but not enough of the game to truly test them out (very good inclusion of New Game+ helps a bit with that, while Circuit Mode seems a little tacked on).

That’s not that there weren’t attempts at adding crucial details that enrich the experience (I did notice how stage intro song is slightly different depending on the boss chosen), but there isn’t enough of good to elevate the whole package from great to something spectacular.

All in all, I will still recommend the game. Controls are a sight to behold and worth price of admission alone. Other aspects, despite lack of spicy seasoning, are still a good enough eating for any platforming fan that wants quality productions! Looking forward to how this dev team improves in the future!

One of the hardest, official Touhou games has such a good rating? Isn’t it kinda weird? I don’t get it…
<SEVERAL HOURS OF LASERS, WEIRD CATS AND GAMMA RADIATION POISONING LATER>
Okay, now I get it.

Do not touch this if this is your first Touhou game. Do not touch this as your first shmup game. This game takes no prisoners. You will be moped around, shot, humiliated, tricked, hauled under the hell’s traffic accident and gain an unexplainable fear of black cats (DAMN YOU ORIN AND YOUR STUPID NON-SPELLS).

That being said, this is one of the most fair experiences you can get from an extremely difficult game. Yes, some parts are not polished as much as they could be, but for the most part, Subterranean Animism likes to toy with you in a fair and square manner. No matter how insane those patterns look and how difficult they are to parse at first – you never feel cheated out of a Live or a Bomb. It is a genuine mark of achievement for ZUN, to go for such uncompromising design, while keeping players sane and ready for more.

You will sometimes feel hopeless, but never frustrated. If you feel down a bit – don’t worry. I was there two. Parsee gave me issues, Yuugi was unforgiving, Satori is an endurance competition, ♥♥♥♥ Orin and Okuu did vaporize me more than I can remember, but it is achievable… You can do this!

I hope for your survival and that you will find new friends while visiting Former Hell.

In simplest terms: It’s just Tetris, but with illegal amounts of pretty. Especially in VR.

While above statement can sound reductive, if you look at it at specific angle, it should be considered in the most positive way possible. People point out (not without merit) that mechanics are king and everything else is just a window dressing. Outlook like that can sometimes make us miss something. Thoughtful and graceful graphical effects with excellent sound design can sometimes actually touch something in you, in a similar way how a emotional story can speak to your sensibilities.

All that pretentious talk is here just to say, that playing Tetris Effect felt magical. I was moved several times while playing it’s campaign. I thought that those aren’t just random shapes or beats, but a carefully designed, roller-coaster-feeling journey through the world, that felt meaningful and worth experiencing while I cleared those unrelenting, falling blocks.

When it comes to technicalities, you cannot really see the dent in the feature-set. All possible options, submodes and multiplayer offerings you would expect are here and you shouldn’t complain about anything missing. It is always fun to go hotseat local battle or find an online match. Bonus modes are fun too – those were nice to jump in once in a while.

Overall, if you are a sucker for audio-visual spectacles or you just want a pretty damn good Tetris iteration, you seriously cannot go wrong with this.