It has a dull first half and a tedious ending, but that third quarter is excellent. It's a shame to see a Final Fantasy entry I love have such an unnecessary sequel, but it was nice to see some of the characters again. The first half of the game has you spend a long time playing the same period from different character's perspectives. In theory, this is fine, except when there are nine to get through before you start progressing the story meaningfully. I always find it weird that a King must pay to use the Inn inside his castle.

To have a good time, you have to settle in and sing to its rhythm. It has a slow start, and the main story is highly repetitive, but if you are willing to get sucked into its lore, you generally won't mind. The shipbuilding is one of those systems for those who love that sort of thing. For those who don't, getting a new ship to do what you want can be pretty frustrating. It would be great if there were an auto-build feature based on your available parts. The game's gunplay is probably one of Bethesda's best, but still at an average quality compared to other FPS titles. There are plenty of dialogue options, but I found a lot of inconsistencies with NPC responses not matching up to previous relationship decisions. The skill tree is comprehensive, letting you build based on your playstyle, but with certain content being locked behind your ship's capabilities, you discover too late that you have to invest in specific skills to progress.

Peter Parker and Miles Morales are excellent and play differently enough that it's not like the same person with a different costume. The game has improved on the formula since its last two iterations, becoming the best of the three. The story is fantastic, with twists and turns of differing predictability and a bit of variety to break up the pace. It can sometimes feel disjointed between the two Spider-Men, almost like you are playing two different storylines simultaneously. It all comes together nicely, though, so that feeling doesn't last long. There are a lot of side objectives as before, but they are fun to do and addicting if you are into that sort of thing.

It certainly has the vibes and resource management of a survival horror. Despite never feeling scared during my playthrough, I did feel attached to the characters and story, always wondering what would happen to them next. Combat and enemies were recycled throughout the game, with encounters always being the same routine of shining your torch, shooting them, shining your torch, shooting, etc. The live-action segments were seamlessly integrated, along with the extra little episodes of the world's TV show based on The Twilight Zone.

The creators of this were smoking and eating something, probably simultaneously. The gameplay is non-existent, with trivial platforming and constantly moving right, holding down the dedicated Shred button. What you are treated to, though, is an absolute deluge of sights and sounds. There are regular sections in the game where you must follow button prompts, but luckily, these don't require rhythmic timing. You never know what to expect or how everything will react to your sci-fi riffs from the space opera of your soul.

Most of the game takes place in Sotonbori, somewhere many series fans will know and love. With the events occurring within the same timeframe as Like a Dragon 7, it feels more like a proper ending for Kiryu than Yakuza 6. The game itself delivers the same over-the-top fights, side stories and mini-games galore. The side stories don't hit the same highs as previous instalments, though, and rather than encountering them throughout the city, they are dispensed by a central agent. At the end of the day, the games play fantastic, look fantastic and know how to give you an emotional gut punch that felt like it was delivered by Kiryu personally.

Initially released in 1996, it's gotten a new lick of paint this year. It's excellent, albeit quite basic, but that's not surprising considering when it was first made. It's one of those situations where developers have built on this game's foundation. It's the same affair as the original, with Triple Attacks and Super Enemies added to spice things up. The Triple Attack is an Ultimate Attack unleashed once you've filled a meter, whose effect depends on your party composition. The Super Enemies are stronger enemy versions that sometimes appear in random encounters. This is an excellent way to break up the monotony. The game is definitely easy, but that's sometimes a good thing. It's a little strange having such cheerful battle music, though.

After playing the first game only a month prior, I was sceptical about all the accolades it received. At first, this didn't shift until a certain point in the game, when I experienced something that blew me away. There are two protagonists in the story, and after a moment, you can swap between them in safe areas with minimal impact on the story and each other. This is because they are in different locations, different planes of existence. Each character and their side of the story plays slightly differently, one more investigative and the other more puzzle-solving. Both were satisfying to play in their own way. The music and sound are top-tier, with killer music and music that sounds like something will kill you. While there are minor jump scares, it doesn't rely on them like most games in the genre. Instead, it makes you feel an overarching sense of dread as you navigate the dark areas armed with a gun and a flashlight.

Unless you like your monster-catching games full of grind and devoid of heart and soul, I'd avoid Dragon Quest's attempt at Pokémon. However, they did manage to emulate Pokémon's recent frame rate drops and added their own awful voice acting and excessive loading screens. As for the creatures you'll be adding to your four-person squad, you'll change your members so regularly that it'll be hard to get attached to any of them. This is because monsters are separated into in-game tiers, with higher tiers eclipsing the lower ones in viability. This also has the horrible side effect that even if you find a creature you are fond of, you won't be able to keep it in your party for long. You know it's poorly planned when the default names of some monsters are longer than the character limit for names, causing them to cut off.

It has shades of the recent God of War games but is average in all aspects. The environments and enemies look amazing, but the overall graphical quality gives the impression that it's a few years older than it is. The combat is very satisfying, but the encounters continuously feel like an unfair assortment of vampiric creatures are thrown at you. Luckily, you are given a wide range of overpowered tools, fuelled with lightning and gunpowder, to dispatch them. Even if some of them take a few attempts to get through. Redfall wishes it was this good.

Probably the best iteration in this long-standing series. Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio never disappoints in delivering the perfect blend of seriousness and zaniness while showcasing some of the best visuals. Changing the location from Japan to Hawaii is a breath of fresh air, which goes a long way. The combat is much improved from the previous game, which raised the bar for turn-based RPGs. It's a shame they kept the mechanic of getting a game over if the main character is knocked out. The only downside is that I wasn't personally a fan of the main side activity. Still, none of that detracts from its overall quality. No one makes me smile as much as Ichiban Kasuga.

Every fibre of my being wanted to love this, and in many ways, I do. However, I often felt weary of some aspects of the game. Some of the zones you travel to are very cumbersome, making it a pain to complete the numerous and dull side activities. That being said, the best parts were the linear parts that follow the main story, which hit unbelievably hard. The worst part of the whole thing is that it feels like no minigame idea was turned down. Some of which are mandatory, and some have weapons behind them. If you are a completionist like me, you'll have a rough time seeing everything the game offers.