Steven McGehee

“For me, it falls somewhere in the middle of the pack in terms of Souls games that I have played; I liked the old, and new, Lords of the Fallen better, and Lies of P — but Enotria is significantly better above Mortal Shell and Thymesia. Ultimately, I’m happy to recommend it.”

“Even if ROTT does not stand the test of time as well as other classics of its day, I’m still happy that Nightdive and New Blood released the Ludicrous Edition. While not without its shortcomings, and honestly these are the same shortcomings its always had, the game remains pretty unique, challenging, and fun more often than not. I love that all three original Campaigns are included, as well as a big brand new one, and that several nice options are included as well that give players a more customized and slightly modernized experience. All of this for a very reasonable MSRP of $20 make ROTT: Ludicrous Edition an easy recommend for anyone that enjoyed it some thirty years ago or those that want to take on an old school, hyper-violent, and challenging FPS.”

“Six new tracks by Daniel Deluxe, new Trophies and collectibles, and a refreshed progression system round out the major differences between Hel and its base game. For the most part then, Project_Hel is quite a lot like Ghostrunner, which makes sense. Ghostrunner is pretty unique though, so if you didn’t like it, you probably won’t like Project_Hel, either. However, those who did enjoy it should find enough differences, and similarities, with Project_Hel to make the most of it, and enjoy the additional context to the base story along the way. In conclusion, Project_Hel is a must have for fans of the base game, but safe to skip if you aren’t already a fan.”

“In sum, for anyone looking for a good sniping experience in VR, this is an easy one to recommend.”

“Overall, Lacuna is an interesting adaptation on the traditional point-and-click gameplay design. Though my interest in the characters and story plateaued around the halfway point of the game, they are both pretty well thought out and your mileage/interest in them may fair better than mine. At $20, it’s worth a look for fans of sci-fi noir adventure games.”

“I’d like to give a tip of the hat to publisher Playstack and Cold Symmetry for making the Enhanced Edition a free update to owners of the PS4 version, and, for newcomers, making the MSRP of the game only $30, less than half of the going rate for some other next-gen games. Certainly at that price point you can’t hardly find a PS5 tailored experience that’s as good as Mortal Shell. In sum, if you’re like me and like the Souls games for their lore and gameplay, but don’t want to spend hours in frustration with asinine difficulty, give Mortal Shell a sincere chance. Like any game in this genre, it can take several hours to get really comfortable with and in the groove, but when you do, it will hold on tight and you won’t want to put it down.”

“Overall, a ticket to Plant Coaster: Console Edition is a great buy if you’re at all into theme park management. Frontier did a superb job bringing their excellent 2016 PC game to next-gen with console-friendly UI, controls, and everything you could need to get a big jump on your theme park building and management gameplay.”

“So there’s any awful lot going on in Bright Memory in a very short period. I can say that I had fun and I am looking forward to the complete game, but with some caution: I do hope and anticipate that FYQD will do a lot more to tighten up the experience on console as the cursor-driven menus are no fun, and this feels like a rushed port from its original platform (PC). Gameplay has got get more focused as well; I’m all for such an unusual mixture of enemies and cross-genre gameplay blends and inspirations, but it’s got to tie together somehow to make some sense and matter to the player. I don’t need a grand story, but I am hoping that the full game makes a lot more sense than this current offering which seems like someone brainstorming out loud, so to speak. All that to say, for $8, and with very limited new game+ options, you could do worse — but it might be just as well to wait until Bright Memory: Infinite launches in full next year.”

“Tesla Force is one of the few rogue-lite games I have ever played, and I also rarely play twin stick shooters. I found the experience a little chaffing at times, in how I had to restart a chapter of random stages after dying, but there is a lot of satisfaction derived from unlocking better and better weapons, abilities, and perks and laying waste to the monsters. Best played with a friend or three, Tesla Force is pretty cool and reasonably priced for the experience it offers overall.”

“I have had some friends lament some frustration over how monetized MK11 is, and I absolutely see where they’re coming from. It’s not a business practice I like to see because we’re used to games having a final, all inclusive edition released and we just don’t have that with MK11. Maybe we’ll see a Komplete Edition like there was with MK9. Regardless, you can’t really go wrong with MK11U if you’re looking for a superb fighting game on current or next-gen.”

“At $20, Fatesworn offers a strong enough great to bland ratio for me to recommend. I thought the DLC felt a little formulaic, with a lot of boxes checked and not a lot of fresh creativity and inspiration, but, I adore Kingdoms of Amalur and was happy to dive into a new area with new content. Fatesworn will provide a solid ten hours, if not more, depending on the difficulty you’re playing on, your skill, and just how thorough you want to be. Given that you have to have completed the original (long) game to access this new content, Fatesworn is clearly for fans who enjoyed the original gameplay loop and want more of the same. If that’s you, like it was me, Fatesworn was worth the wait. Here’s hoping THQ Nordic keeps Amalur in their future plans.”

“Bottomline, all things considered, if you’re looking for a fun, fast, short-lived, throwback FPS game, Hellbound is definitely worth considering. Just don’t expect too much out of it and you’ll find your time and money well spent.”

“Quote Typically, remasters are also synonymous with the ‘ultimate’ version of a game, and I thought Crysis Remastered was going to be just that — the most complete, best-looking, modernized-as-needed version of the thirteen year old gem. Instead, what is available currently is a half-baked remaster based on the 2011 console version, with no multiplayer, no Warhead expansion, and is an overall mixed-leaning-rough package that should give players pause if they have the option to get the game on PCnot yet available”

“In sum, it’s clear to see that Nightdive Studios poured their hearts into this effort and the result is another outstanding product. The original game by Lobotomy and Playmates was a real gem that deserved a lot more recognition than it ever got. Thankfully, with the power of the KEX engine and the passionate crew at Nightdive, PowerSlave gets its time in the spotlight that it well deserves, and priced at just $20, too. PowerSlave Exhumed is well worth adding to your library.”

“I really enjoyed playing through Strangeland, and having left a few puzzles unturned and wanting to hear the rest of the commentary, I might circle back one more time. And while I can’t put this game in the upper echelon of adventure games I have had the pleasure to play through over the years, it nevertheless is great, and I’m happy to recommend it.”

“In sum, The Cult of the Holy Detonation is a nice bookend to a massive game. The extra story content is really interesting, but I am on the fence about the objective-based missions (mainly because they’re tough and I’m just not very good at this game!). This DLC further showcases inXile is in their prime when it comes to compelling, turn-based, action-and-story driven RPGs. At just $7, it’s pretty easy to recommend this content if you at all enjoyed the base game or the first DLC.”

“CrossFireX gets little to nothing right, and I don’t take pleasure in saying that. On a technical level, yeah the graphics and framerate and such aren’t bad, but you won’t get to enjoy them because I think you’ll be too distracted with all of the other problems in the game. Voice-acting, the script, the AI, controls, story-telling, the intensely lazy and generic feel of it all, the push for microtransactions — the game is asking players to overlook or otherwise deal with too much. Now, I am an optimistic and forgiving person by nature, but what SmileGate, Remedy, and Microsoft have done here is absolutely regrettable. This game has issues that even patching cannot fix, and I’m typically the first one to point out that games can often be much improved by patching. CrossFireX, though, has problems that run too deep and too broad — and I can’t recommend this game to anyone.”

“Be prepared to be impressed but also frustrated with the difficulty spikes.”

“MathLand isn’t going to blow you away in any one aspect, but the sum of the parts makes for a quality educational game that deserves a nod of recognition if you’re in the market for this.”

“As far as what makes Origins special, well, there’s not much.”