HIGH Exceptional multiplayer. 

LOW Lackluster campaign. Some slow progression.

WTF Staying up late during work nights to try and end on a win.

Within the storied history of multiplayer shooters, few contenders can carry the weight of something like DICE’s Battlefield. This long-running military series has been a major staple in the online space, offering large-scale battles across different settings ranging from World War I to the far-flung future. 

Over the last decade or so, players have experienced some highs (Battlefield 1) and lows (Battlefield 2042), but nothing has truly brought the series back to its peak. The best installments, Battlefield 3 and 4, seem like distant memories now, but over the last couple of weeks with Battlefield 6, I’ve walked away telling myself something I never thought I’d say — Holy shit, Battlefield is back. 

Developed by the newly-formed Battlefield Studios (comprised of developers DICE, Criterion Games, Motive Studios, and Ripple Effect Studios), Battlefield 6 is a first-person shooter comprised of two main game modes — a story-driven, single-player campaign and an online multiplayer suite. The latter is the obvious star of the show, with multiplayer being the bread and butter of any great Battlefield experience, but the campaign deserves mention. 

Being the first Battlefield campaign since 2018’s V (and the first non-episodic entry since 2013’s 4) I was surprised at its inclusion at all, given the series’ history as a multiplayer-first experience. Taking place between the years 2027-2028, players control a series of US Marines who are fighting a private army known as Pax Armata. Set across locales like Brooklyn, Cairo, and Tajikistan, gameplay in the single-player is largely linear. 

Most levels have players shooting enemies, running from one point to another, and ending each chapter on a major setpiece. Certain levels feature elements that shake things up, like giving light commands to AI squadmates — telling them to scout enemies ahead or to fire on a large group of hostiles. 

Overall, Battlefield 6’s campaign felt like a ‘best of’ collection comprised of various military shooter bits. There are dedicated sniper missions where players sneak around the perimeter of an area and take enemies out from afar, there are plenty of vehicle sections where players either drive large trucks or man turrets, and there are even some sections that play out in a neat night-vision mode focused entirely on stealth. Those who have fond memories of playing things like Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007) might get some enjoyment out of the campaign’s short length and ease of play. 

While the narrative itself is not the most interesting, the main reason to play is that it essentially serves as an extended tutorial to the mechanics. Things like squad commands, different weapon types, vehicles, and even the destructibility of certain levels all come into play when players take to the online modes. The offline adventure is a good way to ease into it, even if it’s not a dramatic extravaganza. 

The campaign is gorgeous in terms of presentation though, with Michael Bay-esque set pieces and Hollywood-level sound design coming together to create something cool. Playing with some decent headphones elevated this experience and added to the immersion. However, with all that said, the real meat of BF6 is the multiplayer. If the campaign was less than impressive, the chaos that comes from any given multiplayer match more than makes up for it.

Spread across several different modes, the main offerings in rotation are Conquest, Breakthrough, and Rush. All three revolve around a mix of defending and attacking certain objectives or sectors on the map. Up to 64 players across both teams can play in these modes, with each team being separated into groups of four called squads. 

From the jump, the gameplay loop is exceptional thanks to these large-scale battles, ensuring that no two matches are ever the same. The tension that comes from dealing with enemy snipers, constantly trying to revive fallen teammates, or using a sledgehammer to tear down walls and create new perches was all exciting. Most matches last between 30-40 minutes, and the hours flew by as that “one more game” feeling kept hitting.

While the gameplay structure of each mode is largely unchanged from prior BF titles, there are some smart tweaks to the formula and refinements that I can appreciate. The overly large, sprawling maps from 2042 are gone, replaced with smaller (yet still huge for an online shooter) arenas that feel more dense. Navigating these zones no longer feels like a drag, and the annoying weather events from the last installment are also gone. The experience has been refined down to its purest elements.

Also returning from prior BF games is the class system, with each offering different advantages and weapon specialties. I mostly ran with the assault class, which primarily uses assault rifles and has faster health regeneration thanks to an adrenaline shot. BF6 clearly labels which guns work best for each class, and leveling up is a straightforward affair. Killing with specific guns levels them up and unlocks slots for attachments, while raising the overall level of the player unlocks more weapons. There are also class-specific assignments that unlock gadgets and secondary items ranging from simple feats like getting kills with a shotgun, or something more specific like getting kills while on adrenaline. 

I like the progression here, as everything is telegraphed clearly, and I’m always working towards something — even bad matches that end in a loss feel like they get me closer to my overall goals. I do wish that leveling up were a bit faster, though — it does feel like a slight grind when it comes to reaching the next level, but it didn’t impact my enjoyment of multiplayer. 

At launch, there’s a lot to love, and I was especially surprised by how smooth the experience has been. I had no major connection issues to impede progress, and I was unaffected by long server queue wait times. Connectivity has been stable, and being able to squad up with friends via crossplay is nice.

Playing Battlefield 6, I was transported back to a time when I enjoyed online multiplayer. I hopped off the competitive shooter train a while ago, trading my regular Call of Duty sessions in for sports and racing titles. However, in the last couple of weeks, I’ve spent all my free time here, and as dangerous as this might be to a full-time student with a demanding full-time job, the quality of that time spent rests heavily on the fact that I’m going to stick with it after my review is complete. While the campaign might be little more than a glorified tutorial, this remains a war worth fighting.

Rating: 8.5  out of 10

Buy Battlefield 6 – PC – PS – XB 

Disclosures: This game is published by EA and developed by Battlefield Studios. It is available on PC, XBX/S, and PS5. This copy was obtained via publisher and was reviewed on PS5. Approximately 30 hours were spent across the single-player and multiplayer.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated M for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, and Strong Language. According to the site: Battlefield 6 is rated M for Mature 17+ by the ESRB with Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, and Strong Language. Also includes Users Interact and In-Game Purchases. This is a first-person shooter in which players command a NATO squad against a private military faction during a war. Players engage in military missions, firefights, and battle mode with enemy soldiers/other players. Players use pistols, machine guns, sniper rifles, and explosives to kill enemies in frenetic combat. Battles are highlighted by blood-splatter effects, realistic gunfire, cries of pain, and large explosions. Players can perform stealth attacks on enemies, using knives to stab them from behind. One cutscene depicts a character getting his thumb cut off close-up. The word “f**k” appears in the game.

Colorblind Modes: Colorblind modes are present in the options menu.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Gamers: There are plenty of visual cues during gameplay, in the form of markers and map icons. All of these can be adjusted in the menu. Subtitles are present and can be resized. As no audio cues are needed for gameplay, I’d say this is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: The controls can be remapped.

The post Battlefield 6 Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Excellent handling and a lot of customization. 

LOW Lack of modes and unbalanced items.

WTF Sega needs to renew an agreement with Ferrari so we can get a new OutRun game.

Despite running faster than any car, Sonic the Hedgehog has quite a background in racing games. From his humble origins in the Sonic Drift titles to the much-beloved Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, Sega’s Blue Blur knows his way around a set of wheels. Now, six years after his last racing experience (Team Sonic Racing) Sonic returns to the starting grid with Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds. 

As an arcade racing lover and Sonic superfan, the idea of playing a brand new Sonic racer had me excited. What also piqued my interest was the fact that it was being developed by the internal Team Sonic studio (English studio Sumo Digital developed past racers) and would that it would receive contributions from developers of Sega’s Initial D arcade cabinets. 

The presentation grabbed me right away. Par for the course for any great Sonic title, players are presented with an awesome opening cutscene set to some bombastic pop-rock. The bright aesthetic permeates throughout the menus and gameplay, with characters modeled exceptionally well, and even fully-voiced. I loved how talkative everyone is, with bits of dialogue in the character select screen and the beginning and end of each race. There’s also a jukebox full of great songs, including tracks from Sonic Riders and Sonic Frontiers. 

In motion, CrossWorlds is a visual marvel, and the main gimmick comes from its titular mechanic. Basically, on the second lap of a race, the character in first place sees two portals in front of them and they choose the path they want, transporting them to a new track for that lap, and returning to the main track in time for the third and final lap. This results in a random new world appearing in every race. 

No matter what’s chosen, each course has something awesome to look at, whether it’s a herd of dinosaurs running, a mysterious pirate ship shrouded in darkness, or wide-open fields of green grass in the distance. Sure, it’s almost expected that Sonic games feature a vibrant aesthetic and kickass music, but I’m happy to see Sonic Team didn’t slack off with this racing spinoff. 

However, aesthetics aside, the driving is what’s key in in racing titles.  

Played from a third-person perspective, Sonic Racing: Crossworlds is a kart-style racer that sees players control one of 18 characters taken from across the larger Sonic series before competing in a variety of events and courses. Right off the bat the driving is exceptional, with a great sense of speed and weight in all the vehicles. 

Cars and drivers are separated by different types: Speed, Acceleration, Handling, Power, and Boost. Each offers various strengths and weaknesses and the variety in both default and unlockable of cars is solid. There are also plenty of options to customize vehicles with different parts.  

Rather than feeling bouncy or floaty like most kart racers, I’d say this falls in line with something like a pure arcade experience, like Cruis’n Blast (owing to the devs’ arcade roots) thanks to the cars feeling heavier than I would have expected. Drifting is responsive, with a meter building up if players can hold their drifts as long as possible. Tricks can also be done while jumping in the air, resulting in a boost when landing. 

While I enjoyed the driving overall and trying to outmaneuver my opponents on the track, one thing I couldn’t enjoy was its use of items. Like Mario Kart or other mascot kart racers, different items can be collected and used offensively or defensively. They’re mostly standard stuff like speed boots or items that can be thrown at players. 

Sadly, most of these feel horribly balanced and seem to break the flow of most races. I get that rubberbanding is the name of arcade titles like this, but I played through some ridiculous instances of the AI catching up at the very last second thanks to a poorly-timed item hitting me. 

A major surprise of CrossWorlds has been the overwhelming amount of options players have, even before setting foot on a track. Things like the customizable car parts and various combinations of items for use in a race (like offensive weapons or speed boosting gadgets) strategy to what could have been a standard kart racer. For example, my main racer was Tails, who falls under the “acceleration” subclass. I centered my build around improved speed, boosting, and drifting.

Another cool thing is the inclusion of rivals. Throughout each of the grand prix modes, a random character will be made the players’ rival. At the start of the cup, there’s a cool bit of dialogue between the two, which makes for some humorous interactions for fans of the series. Things like hearing Dr. Eggman complain about being forced to settle for battling Tails instead of Sonic is a nice treat. 

Speaking of fans, I think absolute best part of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds has to be the sheer amount of love for Sonic and Sega as a whole. Courses like Radical Highway are ripped straight from Sonic Adventure 2, complete with the music from the original, and I could have sworn one track is one ginat reference to After Burner. The ‘stage complete’ music from the mainline Sonic series plays after every race, and the guest characters from other related franchises are cool, with faces appearing from Yakuza, Persona, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Pac-Man coming soon via DLC.

With all of that said, at this point in the review I have to say that I do wish there were more to CrossWorlds than just racing. The main grand prix is enjoyable and the Race Park adds a lot of variety by offering things like events that reward bumping into others for a speed boost or trying to collect the most rings. However, a few more events or some supporting content like minigames or perhaps things taken from Sonic’s long history would go a good way towards making the experience feel richer.

Don’t get me wrong, though — while Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds might not dethrone Mario’s racing adventures, it’s a solid racing title in its own right thanks to great handling and an overwhelming amount of options. I would have liked to see a little more supporting the package as a whole, but what’s here must surely rank among the finest arcade-style racers from the last few years. 

For those who absolutely gotta go fast, this one is an easy recommendation.  

Rating: 8.5  out of 10

Buy Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds – PC – PS – XB – SW

Disclosures: This game is published by Sega and developed by Sonic Team. It is available on PC, XBO, XBX/S, Switch/2, PS4/5. This copy was obtained via the publisher and was reviewed on PS5. Approximately 10 hours were spent in single-player, and the game was not completed. No time was spent in multiplayer.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E for Mild Fantasy Violence. According to the site: Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is rated E for Everyone by the ESRB with Mild Fantasy Violence. Also includes In-Game Purchases. This is a kart-racing game in which players compete in whimsical racing events with characters from the Sonic universe. As players race against other drivers, they can use cartoony power-ups (e.g., spike balls, boxing-glove missiles, saw blades) to slow opponents’ progress and knock them off balance. Being hit by a power-up causes characters’ karts to blink red and slow down. Characters emit small cries when hitting or being hit by an obstacle (e.g., t-rexes, trucks).

Colorblind Modes: Colorblind modes are not present in the options menu.

Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Gamers: There are plenty of visual cues during races. All of these can be adjusted in the menu. Subtitles are present and can be resized. As no audio cues are needed for gameplay, I’d say this is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: The controls cannot be remapped and there is no diagram. On PS5, X is used to accelerate, R2 is used to drift, L1 is used to activate items, and Square is used to look behind.

The post Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH An exceptional narrative. 

LOW Technical issues.

WTF Learning new curse words in Italian!

It’s impossible to deny that Hangar 13’s Mafia series has strong, cinematic aspirations. While many narrative-focused titles pull from popular films, there’s a distinct feeling that in the case of Mafia, the clichéd sentiment of “it feels like I’m playing through a movie” really makes sense. 

The strength of each iteration in this long-running franchise (spanning two decades and four console generations) has always been the writing, presentation, and immersive worlds. As a fan of crime films, I’ve enjoyed playing through each successive release, pointing out obvious parallels between the games and movies that inspired them. From the clear callbacks to Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas in Mafia II to the ’60s/’70s motifs in Mafia III, the series is a pastiche of the best mob movie tropes wrapped around some of the best writing videogames has to offer. 

The latest entry, Mafia: The Old Country, continues the pedigree by taking players back to the origins of the Sicilian Mafia. Set in the early 1900s, this third-person action-adventure has players controlling Enzo Favara on his rise from indentured sulfur mine worker to a bona fide member of Don Bernardo Torrisi’s crime family. His journey is one marred by bloodshed and the pursuit of vengeance, with loyalty to both the family and his closest friends tested throughout the roughly 12-hour campaign. 

Narratively, it’s almost unsurprising how well-written The Old Country is. It’s a gripping and mature tale that echoes the best mob films, especially the opening to The Godfather Part II. It hits all the major points that most crime films seem to hit, but it’s acted and told so well that I was engaged the whole time. 

Enzo himself is a fascinating character, echoing the likes of Robert De Niro’s character in Once Upon a Time in America or other notable tragic figures like Michael Corleone. There’s complexity in his journey, and the performance is strong. Other characters like Don Torrisi or his underboss, Luca, add to an already-rich story. 

This narrative is helped by excellent presentation throughout, ranging from exceptional character models to cutscene cinematography that furthers the idea that this is interactive crime drama. Cutscenes are presented with black bars above and below the screen to give a more cinematic feel. 

Those who have played earlier Mafia titles will feel right at home with the gameplay loop of the Old Country. Seen from a third-person perspective, The Old Country is a mostly linear and script-driven experience. Rather than focusing on a large, interactive open world that can be explored, the story is confined to a mission-based structure, which works. The change in structure allows for a more focused experience, with little filler slowing it down. 

The world itself is gorgeously rendered, with an amazing-looking Italian countryside. While focused on scripted sequences, there are some free-roaming areas that players can drive between or ride through on horseback. The world feels lived-in and real, and despite no gameplay incentives to explore aside from a few collectibles and bits of lore.

The snappy and responsive third-person shooting returns, with every shot feeling heavy and impactful. Snapping to cover and popping my head out to land a few hits on enemies was satisfying, and each gun has the expected pros and cons, like shotguns packing a bigger punch but being effective only at short range, while distance rifles feel unwieldy up close.

The biggest change to combat, however, is Enzo’s knife. Many missions require Enzo to use stealth, with players given the option to choke enemies out or quickly stab them to avoid detection. Knives can lose sharpness after use after silencing enemies or opening locked doors, so I appreciated this light resource management forcing me to choose when a knife was necessary.

Missions offer much variety, with some focusing on stealth and some that go loud and culminating in car chases throughout Sicily. One early highlight had me go on a collection run, picking up money that tenants across the map owed. One of the interactions tasked me with holding an unloaded gun on someone to force them to pay up, while another offered a firefight against bandits who were stealing from a farmer who’d already paid his protection money. There are plenty of great situations throughout the campaign, many mirroring iconic moments in mob films. 

My one major caveat about this otherwise-excellent experience is the presence of glitches. There was nothing game-breaking, but I noticed weird inconsistencies like enemies sliding through environments, audio cutting out abruptly in cutscenes, and NPCs clipping through objects. It’s a little immersion-breaking, but it didn’t ruin the experience.

Like the best crime films, Mafia: The Old Country succeeds thanks to a complex and dark tale of revenge and familial ties. It’s a short, yet satisfying ride, and Enzo’s tale is easily one of the best of the year. While some may lament the lack of an open world, the narrative and solid gameplay delivered by the developers makes this an offer no one should refuse. 

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Buy Mafia: The Old Country — PC — PS — XB 

Disclosures: This game is published by 2K and developed by Hangar 13. It is available on PC, XBX/S, and PS5. This copy was obtained via publisher and was reviewed on PS5. Approximately 12 hours were spent in single-player, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated M for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes and Use of Alcohol . According to the site: This is an action-adventure game in which players follow the story of Enzo Favara’s ascension through a Mafia family in 1905 Sicily. Players engage in various criminal activities (e.g., extortion, theft, murder) at the behest of the Mafia. Some missions can involve using knives, pistols, rifles, shotguns, and explosives to kill enemy rivals and bandits. Combat is accompanied by realistic gunfire and cries of pain. Blood-splatter effects occur as enemies are killed; blood pools are depicted under bodies. Players can also employ stealth takedowns (e.g., throat slitting, stabbing from behind) to kill enemies discreetly. A handful of story sequences require players to execute characters at close range in order to progress. Cutscenes also depict intense acts of violence and/or gore: characters shot in the head; a man’s throat slit at close range; a bound man in a chair beaten to death; a character’s finger sliced off. The game contains some suggestive material: women escorting men inside a brothel; a man tied to a bed by two women inside the brothel; dialogue such as “I found them still in the whorehouse an hour ago” and “Give me…more vino and all the lovely boobies.” During the course of the game, players’ character can consume alcohol and drive while under the influence. The word “f**k” is heard in the game.

Colorblind Modes: Colorblind modes are not present in the options menu.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Gamers: There are plenty of visual cues during gameplay, like indicators to let players know where enemies are around them, as well as when they are shooting. HUD elements can be adjusted in the menu. Subtitles are present and can be resized. As no audio cues are needed for gameplay, I’d say this is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: The controls cannot be remapped, but there is a diagram.

The post Mafia: The Old Country Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Smart tweaks to singleplayer and more options than before. 

LOW A lack of onboarding for new players… Again.

WTF Weird tie-ins to the upcoming F1 movie. 

Last year, I reviewed EA Sports F1 24. In that write-up, I mentioned my journey into becoming a fan of the titular motorsport, involving a lot of outside research (thank you, Netflix) and diving into EA and Codemasters’ annual series for the first time. 

In the year since I first played F1 24, I’ve been glued to my TV every Sunday to catch all the races, cheering on McLaren and wondering what ancient entity has put a curse on Ferrari. This appreciation for the sport became full-blown excitement for the next installment, F1 25.

After months of buildup, advertising new features, and some uncertainty regarding developer Codemasters’ future, I was curious to see what the latest in the series had to offer. Annual sports titles are known to iterate rather than truly innovate, but I still had confidence that the famed racing studio would deliver something special. 

F1 25 is a driving simulator set across the 2025 Formula One season. Players choose from a variety of modes with different goals, yet the objective remains the same — drive. Played from either a third or first-person perspective, the main single-player modes are Career and Braking Point. 

The career mode returns from last year’s installment, with some smart improvements. MyTeam (dubbed MyTeam 2.0) tasks the player to create a new F1 organization to compete in the world championship. Rather than playing as a combination racer/manager, players create their manager and team, selecting various options to align their preferences. 

Feeling like a lighter version of F1 Manager, I appreciated the options to fine-tune the experience, such as selecting an archetype for the kind of manager I want to be. My choices were between a driver-friendly one, a manager with engineering experience, or someone drowning in cash and wanting to run everything like a business. I picked the engineering background, as the boosts to R&D and team morale seemed worth it. 

Being a manager means taking care of a lot of little things like PR opportunities, balancing a budget, dealing with staff concerns, and so forth. Every week before a race, players are presented with these issues, and it’s their job to determine what’s worth tackling. I love the smaller, mundane choices, such as scheduling a driver’s time on a simulator before a new race or deciding which facility gets an upgrade. These have a real impact come race day, and being able to see how the proverbial sausage is made right before hitting the track is both cool and stressful.

As the manager, it’s also important to make sure the drivers are happy, whether that means granting them better upgrades and parts for their cars or simply leading them correctly to victory. There’s also the option to sign other drivers, meaning that the player can poach someone else’s best driver, though others can do the same to the player’s team!

With the manager being a custom-created character, players choose their two drivers from a pool of real-life Formula 2 drivers, each with their stats. The driving is even better than it was last year, thanks to the technical prowess that developer Codemasters possesses. Specifically, handling has improved, resulting in cars that feel much heavier and closer to the ground, making tight corners feel more satisfying to maneuver. 

While there’s no true tutorial system (again!), there are plenty of excellent assist options that can make driving easy for newcomers, and it can be tweaked as much as possible. 

The Driver career is largely unchanged from last year, but still allows for meaningful choices to be made. Here, players can choose between real drivers from the current F1 roster, F2 drivers, legends such as the late, great Ayrton Senna, and even Brad Pitt from the upcoming F1 movie (weird). 

The other major single-player option is Braking Point. This full-blown story mode continues a narrative from F1 ’21 and ‘23. Here, players follow the fictional Konnersport racing team as they try to compete with the best teams in Formula One. Presented with some excellent cutscenes and mixing faux-documentary segments to add greater context and heighten the drama, makes it an entertaining watch. Gameplay involves a lot of racing and slight management gameplay. 

On the track, players usually have to complete an objective, like beating a certain lap time or moving ahead in the positions against a certain driver. The light management sections usually involve solving some intrapersonal issues in Konnersport, like staff disputes or PR controversies. I like the idea of a racing title being linear for the sake of the story, and the off-track drama adds so much excitement to the driving. It’s great, and I’m happy it’s separate from the dedicated career modes. 

While some of the changes aren’t drastic, the minor things do make it a definite upgrade over the last entry, especially regarding the options in single-player. Other changes include presentation choices, like adding more detail in the tracks to make them as close to their real-world counterparts. Being a Miamian, I appreciated how nice the Miami Grand Prix track looked, with added detail like foliage and very lifelike lighting. Being able to race these courses in new reverse variants adds a lot of variety here as well.

F1 25 is an exceptional driving game and one that further cements developer Codemasters’ place as one of the finest racing developers currently working. It was a pleasure to go through the excellent story mode, and I spent many hours obsessing over the expansive MyTeam mode. While it may not feel like an evolutionary change from F1 24, there’s more than enough here to keep racing fans happy for the season.

Rating: 8.5  out of 10

Buy F1 25 — PC — PS — XB 

Disclosures: This game is published by EA Sports and developed by Codemasters. It is available on PC, XBX/S and PS5. This copy was obtained via publisher and was reviewed on PS5. Approximately 20 hours were spent in singleplayer and the game was not completed. Approximately 1 hour was spent in the multiplayer mode. 

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E for Mild Langauge. According to the site: This is a racing game in which players can drive Formula One cars on real-world tracks. Players compete in a variety of game modes that include Career, Time Trial, Racing League, and Grand Prix. Some language in the game is partially censored by audible bleeps (e.g., “Let’s [bleep] go boys”; “I [bleep] it all up again”; What the [bleep]?).

Colorblind Modes: Colorblind modes are present in the options menu.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Gamers: There are plenty of visual cues during races and the menu-based gameplay segments. All of these can be adjusted in the menu. Subtitles are present but cannot be resized. As no audio cues are needed for gameplay, I’d say this is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: The controls can be remapped.

The post F1 25 Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Cool concept and highly customizable gameplay. 

LOW The main horde mode can get stale.

WTF Looking up Spider-Man 2 action figures on eBay.

Growing up, I had plenty of action figures ranging from the then-new Power Rangers Wild Force line to some pretty sick hand-me-downs I got from my older cousins. I have distinct memories of crafting wild storylines involving the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man, Rey Mysterio, Beast from X-Men, and a velociraptor from Jurassic Park working together to save the world from destruction, all while driving a red Tonka truck. I outgrew those toys and moved onto videogames, seeking handcrafted experiences that can rival the scenarios I created in my head.

Hypercharge: Unboxed, a shooter from Digital Cybercherries, allows players to relive their own childhood memories of staging great battles between their action figures. Played from either a third- or first-person perspective, players control a customizable action figure tasked with protecting a central MacGuffin known as a Hypercore. In a fairly expansive and somewhat bizarre story, this Hypercore keeps the memories of action figures alive for the kids who play with them. 

Presentation is a strong suit here, reminding me of Saturday morning cartoons like G.I. Joe or even the hilarious Action League Now! Its approximation of real-life toys, like the aforementioned G.I. Joe, He-Man, and even Beyblades, was cool to see, and I appreciated the comic book-style presentation the cutscenes employed. They’re fully voiced, too, adding context to why players are defending a Hypercore and why they have to shoot enemies.

The story mode introduces all of the core concepts while players control their chosen action figure in gargantuan recreations of children’s bedrooms, toy stores, and even a bathroom. Similar to how 2023’s Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged used scale to highlight the feeling of controlling a toy in real-world settings, seeing the shelves of a toy store warehouse look as tall as buildings or a simple garden feel like a battlefield is a cool design choice.

In these levels, players are tasked with protecting three Hypercores in a wave-based horde mode. Before each wave starts, there’s a brief build period in which defenses can be built. These range from LEGO-like blocks that surround the Hypercore to anti-air turrets that scan the skies for flying enemies. This downtime also allowed me to explore the maps. While not huge or completely open-ended, there are a cool secrets to find, like collectibles that can be used to unlock customizable items and money used to build structures or buy weapons between rounds. 

Once a round starts, combat is the priority. The shooting feels satisfying, though enemies are fairly bullet-spongey, though nothing too egregious. Enemy types range from mindless drones that will walk towards any of the objectives to smarter opponents that can fire guns at the player. The variety in enemy types is solid, showcasing things like green army men that parachute to the battlefield and even Madball-ish slime monsters that explode before dying. 

The gameplay loop of defending and shooting is agreeable, and the variety of each level means I was always seeing something new. Players have the choice to go through the entire campaign solo or with other players. I liked the difficulty options and how smart NPC teammates acted, meaning I didn’t feel too bad about playing by myself when I couldn’t squad up. While not the deepest single-player shooter around, it still provided a lot of entertainment, and I was happy to go back and replay levels to explore parts of the maps I may have missed.

Players who are exhausted of horde modes might be more interested in the suite of competitive modes that Hypercharge offers. Like the single-player, these are highly customizable and can either be played online, split-screen, or against AI bots. Modes include deathmatches and even objective-based types, all set within the maps of the main adventure. Being able to play against bots and customize what weapons spawn on the map is a great throwback to the days of playing old console arena shooters, and I spent a decent amount of time running through multiplayer levels with ultra-skilled bots.  

If I had to nitpick anything about HYPERCHARGE‘s gameplay loop, it’s that the main mode lacks depth. While the levels are fairly big and lend themselves to extra objectives and exploration, offering only horde modes in the campaign becomes too repetitive. I would have loved to see a traditional single-player campaign focused on changing things up with some linear shooting levels or even large-scale arena firefights. I got a lot of enjoyment from what’s offered, but this feels like an excellent jumping-off point for a much better sequel. 

Overall, Hypercharge: Unboxed is a delightfully enjoyable old-school shooter that harkens back to games of the past and action figure-obsessed childhoods. Being able to fine-tune many aspects of the experience with various options on top of the solid action and exploration makes this one of the most enjoyable shooters I’ve played. If the devs can use the groundwork laid here to deliver an expanded experience in a potential follow-up, I have no doubt it’ll be even better. For now, though, anyone with an appreciation for action and action figures will want to keep an eye on this.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Buy Hypercharge Unboxed: PS5— Xbox — PC — Switch

Disclosures: This game is published and developed by Digital Cybercherries. It is available on PC, PS4/5, XBO/S/X and Switch. This copy was obtained via publisher and was reviewed on PS5. Approximately 10 hours were spent in single-player and the game was not completed. 5 hours were spent in the multiplayer modes

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E10+ for Fantasy Violence. The game is a first/third person shooter, with violence happening to plastic toys. There’s no blood and gore, and the violence is over-the-top and cartoony. Parents should be fine with their kids playing this one.

Colorblind Modes: Colorblind modes are present in the options menu.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Gamers: There are subtitles in both the cutscenes and gameplay, and there are also visual cues alerting players of enemies around the map. These can all be adjusted and resized, and as such I’d say it’s fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: Controls can be remapped.

The post HYPERCHARGE Unboxed Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH A unique collection of classic sports games. 

LOW A lack of bonus content and some dated mechanics.

WTF EA should find a way to drop remastered versions of their old arcade sports titles.

As a sports fan, I love playing realistic simulation titles that replicate the feeling of shooting a three-point shot in the Miami Heat’s Kaseya Center or hitting a home run in the New York Mets’ Citi Field. There’s nothing quite like living out that athletic fantasy, though it’s also enjoyable to go back in time and enjoy something a little more old-school. That’s where Accolade Sports Collection comes in, collecting five ’90s sports titles from Accolade — Summer Challenge, Winter Challenge, Hardball, Hardball II, and Hoops: Shut Up and Jam. 

This collection features three main sports and events — baseball, basketball, and the Olympics, both summer and winter. The one I spent most of my time in was Hardball II, a 16-bit baseball game that combines snappy play with some simulation-based elements. Here, players select a baseball team and play through an exhibition using fictional teams based in real cities, like New York or Baltimore. It’s a great hybrid of arcade and simulation baseball gameplay. 

Hardball II took some getting used to, as swinging the bat took a bit longer thanks to some weird animations, especially compared to much simpler baseball sims from the era. Before playing Hardball, I was getting acquainted with the likes of R.B.I. Baseball or even the Nintendo Entertainment System version of Baseball and enjoyed the more arcadey approach to the sport. Hardball II feels like a 16-bit simulator, and while I wasn’t immediately a pro, I grew to enjoy my time through nine innings. Having to strategize who starts while also deciding whether it was worth bunting or trying my hand at a home run was an enjoyable challenge, and one that made the baseball season even more enjoyable.

On the other side of things, Hoops: Shut Up and Jam is a straightforward arcade basketball title, in the style of NBA Jam. Players select a team of two players for 2-on-2 streetball. Originally released as Barkley Shut Up and Jam! (complete with full endorsements from NBA legend Charles Barkley) this isn’t the best arcade basketball experience, thanks to some slow movement and controls that don’t feel intuitive.

Players have access to all titles from the start, as well as modern features and accessibility elements, such as a rewind function. They can also select different filters and screen size options, allowing anyone to relive the days of playing these games on their old-school consoles. 

The package is a decent blast from the past, and as someone who laments the fact that licensing prevents most old releases from ever being remastered or rereleased, the Accolade Sports Collection is such a cool concept. Unfortunately, being limited to five games is kind of a bummer, as it would have been great to see the original Test Drive or even the Jack Nicklaus golf series included. There also isn’t much in the way of collectibles or any cool historical aspects included. Seeing that Hardball II was designed by Don Mattrick, who famously (or infamously) became a major face for Xbox, was something I found out during my outside research. I would have loved to see videos or behind-the-scenes pictures of what it took to make these games.

Overall, Accolade Sports Collection is an exciting, if understuffed, curiosity. As a fan of both retro games and sports, I’m always excited to play something from yesteryear, but I’ve been spoiled by other compilations, and this feels barebones. Regardless, those who have fond memories of playing these games on the original hardware might rejoice in the chance to play them on newer consoles — just don’t expect much in the way of extra content.

Rating: 6 out of 10

Buy Accolade Sports Collection — PC — PS — XB — Switch

Disclosures: This game is published by QuByte Interactive and developed by Accolade. It is available on PC, PS4/5, XBO/X/S and Switch. This copy was obtained via the publisher and was reviewed on PS5. Approximately four hours were spent in single-player and the game was not completed. There are multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E for Mild Fantasy Violence. This is a collection of retro sports games with no objectionable content. At most, some players may roughly bump each other but other than that, it’s perfectly okay for younger children. 

Colorblind Modes: Colorblind modes are not present in the options menu.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Gamers: There are subtitles and visual cues such as different indicators for when a ball is thrown or small textboxes explaining certain aspects. Text cannot be resized or adjusted. This game is fully accessible.  

Remappable Controls: The controls can be remapped. 

The post Accolade Sports Collection Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Discovering an old 3D platformer I hadn’t played yet. 

LOW Dated controls.

WTF That Croc remake cannot come soon enough.

I love discovering cult classic platformers. Whether it’s playing an old series through a compilation or revisiting an old favorite through a remaster, I cannot get enough of this genre. 

Glover is an unexpected entry in the “new to me” category, as it’s one I’ve only ever heard of through various retro gaming YouTubers. Released in 1998 for the Nintendo 64 and PC (with a PlayStation port coming a year later) Glover was a 3D platformer in which players control a magical glove named Glover, on his journey to retrieve lost crystals. An absolutely bizarre premise, it was a minor success and has attained a somewhat dedicated following. Now, decades later, Piko Interactive and QuByte Interactive have re-released it for modern consoles.

Played from a third-person perspective, Glover is a pretty standard platformer from the era. Players run and jump through various levels, collect some macguffins and occasionally fight enemies. This is a pretty straightforward port and not a full-blown remaster, meaning it’s as close to playing the original release as one can on a modern console. Released at a time when 3D platformers were in their infancy, it took me a while to get acquainted with the camera and movement controls. 

Players control Glover in one of two ways — with or without a rubber ball. With the ball, he’s either bouncing it like a basketball, rolling it around the levels, slapping it across the terrain, throwing it or even walking on it to cross bodies of water. When he doesn’t have the ball, he can run, jump, perform a cartwheel and even smash enemies by forming a fist. The main objective of each level is to get the ball toward the end of each stage. If a player knocks the ball out of the bounds, gets it destroyed or if it gets hit too many times by an enemy, Glover loses a life and must start at the last checkpoint. 

Overall, the mechanics of rolling and throwing the ball are pretty cool, though they take a lot of time to get used to thanks to the awkward camera — it’s is inverted and there’s no option to change it, which is a shame.

Glover is also a little awkward to control at times, as it seems like every slight tap of the control stick causes them to overreact and move in some bizarre fashion. The lack of any tweakable options with the camera and gameplay make it hard to navigate at times (which I am willing to admit could be my own inexperience with games of this era) but I struggled with it.

The presentation is one of Glover’s strongest suits, as the graphics and art direction are amazing. Obviously, it looks and sounds like an N64 game, with blocky character models and some less-than-stellar textures, but the bright colors and charming character design are a real treat. The music is also pretty good, matching the cheerful energy of play. There are a few visual options like adding scanlines or changing the screen size to either 16:9 or 4:3. Unfortunately, playing in 4:3 (where the game looks its best) forces players to have a distracting Glover-themed border surrounding the screen. 

Overall, I can respect the publisher for releasing a straightforward and no-nonsense port of Glover, as fans and purists will probably enjoy having the original experience preserved on modern consoles. Personally, I would have preferred some slight concessions be made to the gameplay in order to be more accessible. Regardless, I’m sure fans of the original and of obscure retro titles will enjoy seeing this four-fingered hero back in the limelight. 

Rating: 5 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is published by QuByte Interactive and developed by Piko Interactve. It is available on PC, PS4/5, XBO/S/X and Switch. This copy was obtained via publisher and was reviewed on PS5. Approximately 4 hours were spent in single-player and the game was not completed. There is no multiplayer.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E for Mild Fantasy Violence. The site reads This is an adventure game in which players control a wizard’s magical glove as it searches for crystals to restore peace to a kingdom. Players traverse platform environments while collecting items, solving puzzles, and dispatching enemies. The players’ glove can pounce on enemies, throw objects at them, or trigger mechanisms for cartoony attacks (e.g., a giant boxing glove; oversized bombs). Characters typically react to damage by falling back or turning into a puff of stars.

Colorblind Modes: Colorblind modes are not present in the options menu.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Gamers: There are speech bubbles for each character whenever they speak as well as visual cues, such as a ping to show where Glover’s ball is located. None of these can be adjusted or resized. As audio cues are not needed for gameplay, I’d say it’s fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: The controls can be remapped. 

The post Glover Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH A wonderful aesthetic and gameplay loop. 

LOW Weird holdovers from its mobile origins.

WTF Why the hell did this game open with a plane crash?

Hello Kitty Island Adventure was originally released in 2023 for Apple Arcade, the exclusive subscription service offering games for iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV — it’s the tech giant’s own version of Microsoft’s GamePass. Based on Sanrio’s most popular character, Hello Kitty, the title combined elements of life simulators such as the ever-popular Animal Crossing and standard adventure-platforming games. After little over a year of mobile exclusivity, HKIA finally has a console release with the Nintendo Switch. 

Players start by creating their avatar, choosing between a limited selection of face, clothing, and color options, with more to be unlocked later. I created a brown dog in a green shirt, and then the story began.

The player’s avatar starts on an airplane with Hello Kitty and her friends, all of whom are on their way to a mysterious island where they intend to open up shops or find spots to relax. All is good until the plane is about to crash and everyone on board is forced to jump out, only to land on their destination.

The game is played from an isometric point of view and the island can be fully explored. Players are tasked with completing quests given to them by an array of characters, with an interesting and surprisingly addictive gameplay loop. 

Quests are varied and involve different tasks, such as exploring the island, finding new tools, and trying to reach higher friendship levels with the population. For example, an early mission tasked me with looking for folks who were scattered across a section of the island after the crash. It was there I met with a few familiar faces — My Melody (a pink and white rabbit who opened up a furniture store) and Badtz-Maru, a penguin who has a comic book shop on the docks. 

Talking to them introduces players to the concept of leveling up their friendship, which is achieved by completing quests with specific characters or giving them gifts. The latter part of that process is one of the most prevalent aspects of play, as players can give NPCs items from their inventories. Everyone on the island has interests such as sweets or items for crafting. For example, Hello Kitty loves and will accept pineapples from the player. 

The gift-giving option is an easy way to raise friendships but comes at a cost, as players can only gift things three times per day. I suspect this was a holdover from its roots as a mobile game and to prevent players from jumping a bunch of levels by simply unloading multiple gifts at once. Thankfully, there are other ways to level up friendships (such as completing quests) so this method being nerfed isn’t an issue. Reaching certain friendship levels nets rewards such as customization items, new items, and even brand-new quests. 

Completing tasks on the island is enjoyable, and I liked how each one led to some discoveries or new thing to try. For example, one quest had me exploring the island for yellow gear that opened a gate. One piece was across a huge body of water, so I had to complete a quick favor for My Melody, whose expertise in her furniture store allowed her to fix a bridge which then enabled me to cross the water.

There is an abundance of things to do, and as someone who isn’t big into life simulator games because of their lack of direction and goals, I appreciate Island Adventure’s more focused approach to progression. Completing quests nets the player tons of rewards, like customization options, crafting recipes for new items, and even furniture for the player’s home, and these were a great motivator. 

Another aspect I loved is the focus on platforming and adventure gameplay. There’s a jump button that makes moving around the island easier, and some areas require light platforming and a few simple puzzles to solve, similar to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s shrines. There’s nothing deep about the platforming elements and it won’t dethrone Mario, but it does add variety to Hello Kitty‘s open-ended island to explore and the seemingly inexhaustible supply of things to unlock.

Presentation-wise, HKIA is a winner with a bright and colorful aesthetic throughout. The island is full of charm, and the biomes looking great. I also appreciated that the character models are expressive, with the dialogue matching their personalities. My only knock is against the few moments of slowdown that happen when walking around the island, though long loading times can be an issue as well. None of it is anything major to disrupt my enjoyment, but the issues are still a little annoying nonetheless. 

I’m a huge fan of licensed games and I was definitely in need of a calm experience. Hello Kitty Island Adventure fit the bill and ended up being a good time, as it kept me engaged with a satisfying gameplay loop and cute looks. As the weather outside remains frightful, taking a trip to this tropical paradise and meeting a few new friends is a great choice. 

Rating: 8 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is published and developed by Sunblink. It is available on PC, PS4/5, iOS and Switch. This copy was obtained via publisher and was reviewed on Switch. Approximately 10 hours were spent in single-player and the game was not completed. There is multiplayer.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E. According to the site: This is an adventure game in which players help Hello Kitty and friends restore a mysterious island. Players explore the island, interact with friends, complete quests, and engage in various activities (e.g., cooking, fishing, gardening).

Colorblind Modes: Colorblind modes are not present in the options menu.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Gamers: There are subtitles and visual cues such as button prompts and a minimap. These elements cannot be resized but the game is fully accessible without sound. 

Remappable Controls: The controls cannot be remapped. There is no control diagram. B is to jump, X is to use an item, A is to speak or interact with NPCs and Y is to give gifts. The bumpers and triggers are used to navigate menus and open up quest lists.

The post Hello Kitty Island Adventure Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH An exceptional narrative and combat system that builds upon years of experience.

LOW Some slowdown and visual quirks.

WTF I urge all readers to watch Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai before playing this game

For almost two decades, gamers have been well-acquainted with Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed series. 

The first nine mainline releases saw players inhabit virtual recreations of historical settings in small-scale, open-ended environments that focused on stealth-based gameplay and stories that involve Dan Brown-esque shadow societies and conspiracies.

In 2017, Ubisoft changed directions and the series has since shifted into an open-world, action role-playing style, rivaling modern juggernauts such as The Witcher III and Red Dead Redemption II. As a longtime fan of the series, the current iteration is one I’ve grown fond of, with my own review of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla praising its deeper focus on exploration and strong combat suite. However, even after putting over 100 hours into Valhalla, I still felt that it (and the series as a whole) needed a little more to push itself into greatness and Shadows is that attempt.

Played from a third-person perspective, Shadows is an action-RPG set in feudal Japan. During this time (the end of the Sengoku period), conflicts have broken out while major advancements in wartime technology (like the introduction of guns) have turned the tide of battle. Players are introduced to the two protagonists, Naoe and Yasuke. The former is a ninja who’s been training her whole life among her people in the Iga Province. The latter, based on the real historical figure of the same name, is an African who was granted the title of Samurai. Without revealing too many narrative details, both characters meet in dire circumstances and form an allyship to liberate Japan from a wave of oppressors. 

The storytelling in Shadows is one of its strongest suits, providing a much darker and deeper narrative the series has seen in years. This era in Japan was known for death and destruction, and the story covers that with a gravity I wasn’t expecting. Themes center around the aftermath of war, the tolls that vengeance takes on people and how race and class affect worldview are all prevalent and handled well. It also helps that the two main characters are charming and fleshed out — Naoe’s brash attitude clashes with Yasuke’s more thoughtful personality, making their dynamic work.  

The grand scope and wonderful character of this piece recalls the likes of Akira Kurosawa’s oeuvre of samurai films (Throne of Blood, Seven Samurai, etc.) while the over-the-top violence reminded me of Kenji Misumi’s classic Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance or Takashi Miike’s excellent remake of 13 Assassins. Those cinematic allusions also play a huge part in the story’s presentation, as every cutscene is well-directed and featuring solid cinematography and the inclusion of black bars above and below the screen to add some flair, giving that “widescreen” look.

With the story being the best the series has seen in ages, I’m also happy to report that the gameplay is exceptional, with innovations and changes made to combat and stealth.

Players control both Naoe and Yasuke in their journey through Japan and are able to switch between them freely after an extended period with Naoe at the beginning. Rather than each character being a simple aesthetic choice, each provides a different style, different skill trees and different approaches to combat, allowing players to build Naoe and Yasuke how they want. 

For example, I decided that Naoe should be an excellent assassin and focused on those skills in her tree. She was able to perform a double assassination with a hidden blade, had an arsenal of tools like kunai (a small blade) that could be thrown to dispose of enemies quickly and quietly, and a smoke bomb to get out of dangerous situations. At one point, I even found armor that allowed me to inflict more damage at night, adding to my plan of sticking to the shadows. Naoe can also go prone and crawl on the floor, sneaking through bushes and under structures to catch enemies off guard.

If I did have to get loud using Naoe, I made sure she was an adept fighter and upgraded her katana skills. Combat as a shinobi is a fast dance of careful dodges, parries and quick sword attacks. The stamina meter from Valhalla is gone, allowing players to attack without the cumbersome feeling of managing a meter. 

Yasuke isn’t so graceful, but he brings a more brutal style of play. A trained samurai, Yasuke mostly uses weapons like katanas or kanabō (spiked clubs) in fights to delivers slower, yet more powerful attacks. His abilities include a kick that can send opponents flying or knocking them down after running into them. Despite not being able to sneak as easily as Naoe, I enjoyed walking into an enemy outpost and taking on a large group of enemies. This boldness pairs excellently with gnarly finisher moves, with plenty of heads and limbs being chopped off. 

Other major upgrades to combat include the importance of lights and sounds, as players are able to extinguish candles to conceal themselves in the dark and being careful when sneaking around to avoid creaky floorboards. After the last few entries in the AC series deemphasizing stealth in exchange for action, being able to play Shadows as a full-blown stealth title is a treat. Supporting this is that quests are dynamic, with many ways to complete them. For example, Naoe had to assassinate someone in a house. I managed to successfully sneak past the guards, find a suitable vantage point and threw a knife from a safe distance before anyone had seen me. I completed the quest and faced no alarms or opposition. 

As mentioned, Shadows does an excellent job in storytelling and presentation to make the experience feel cinematic, and it also helps that the visuals are gorgeous, with character models and facial animations looking good. However, the real star of the show is Japan itself.

Riding through winding hills on horseback is a treat, as mountains on the horizon paint a gorgeous picture. The same goes for standing in a dense forest full of bamboo. Shadows’ Japan is smaller than Valhalla’s England, which in turn makes it more dense with detail. The overall presentation is amazing and during my time, I only encountered minor moments of slowdown and a few weird clipping instances.  

Assassin’s Creed Shadows feels like the culmination of years of reworking the series into a full-fledged RPG. With smart changes to the overall flow of combat and a narrative that rivals some of the best triple-AAA experiences available today, Shadows is not only the best AC in well over a decade, but arguably one of the finest action-RPGs of the decade so far.

Fans and doubters alike owe it to themselves to take this trip to Japan.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10 

Buy Assassin’s Creed Shadows: PS5 – Xbox – PC

Disclosures: This game is published and developed by Ubisoft. It is available on PC, PS5, and XBX/S. This copy was obtained via publisher and was reviewed on PS5. Approximately 30 hours were spent in single-player and the game was not completed (still playing). There is no multiplayer.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated M for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language. The site reads: This is an action-adventure game in which players follow the stories of a shinobi assassin (Naoe) and a samurai (Yasuke) as they navigate turbulent clan wars during Sengoku-era Japan. Players explore open-world environments while performing missions (e.g., searching for items, infiltrating enemy compounds) and using stealth to kill human targets. Players use swords, throwing/concealed blades, and occasional guns to kill various enemies (e.g., ninja, guards, soldiers, samurai) in melee-style combat. Battles are highlighted by screams of pain and frequent blood-splatter effects. Some finishing moves allow players to decapitate or dismember enemies, with brief slow-motion effects. Cutscenes depict further instances of violence: captives beheaded; characters shot at close range. The words “sh*t” and “a*shole” appear in the game.

Colorblind Modes: Colorblind modes are present in the options menu.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Gamers: There are subtitles and visual options available in the game, all of which can be adjusted. This game is fully accessible. More on the accessibility can be read here.

Remappable Controls: The controls can be remapped.

The post Assassin’s Creed Shadows Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

The subject of this installment: Tokyo Xtreme Racer available on PC in early access, developed and published by Genki.

Tokyo Xtreme Racer is an arcade series all about burning through the streets of Tokyo, drawing heavily from real-life underground street racing and popular racing manga. Dozens of titles were released throughout the ’90s and ’00s under different names and in various regions, with the last one seeing release in Japan under the title Wangan Midnight in 2007. 

Now, 18 years later, original developers Genki are back with a new installment titled Tokyo Xtreme Racer. As an arcade racing fan myself (especially games centered around illegal street racing) I was eager to see what the hype was all about, especially since it’s rare to see a older driving franchises come back these days. 

(Author’s note: Tokyo Xtreme Racer is currently only on PC due to its status as an early-access title. I rarely play on PC thanks to a weak laptop, so my experiences here were based on the lowest possible graphics settings needed to maintain a stable framerate.) 

The time spent in the early portions of TXR was enjoyable. Gameplay is an exciting loop consisting of driving around a semi-open fictionalized Tokyo where the highways are full of NPCs driving. Players are tasked with challenging these NPCs to races, done by flashing headlights when behind them. Races are then a simple straightforward sprint, but the way to win is different than most other racers. 

Rather than simply getting ahead of opponents, players must contend with a gauge full of SP, or “Spirit Points.” Every opponent’s gauge depletes the further they fall behind, rewarding players for not only going fast but also outmaneuvering the open world’s ambient traffic. 

Driving is smooth and arcade-like, meaning turns and drifts are easy to achieve. Cars are a little lighter than most racers, but they control well. I also appreciated the wide variety of vehicles from real manufacturers — especially cool to see Toyota represented well, as they rarely appear in street racing titles.

Even with the graphics set at their lowest, I loved the look of the car models and the environments. There is a strong visual style here, and the night sky of Tokyo is stunning. Racing aside, simply driving around on the highway is enjoyable thanks to the sights, sounds and smooth handling.  

Seeing a series like Tokyo Xtreme Racer come back is awesome and I enjoyed my time with this Early Access version. Despite my preference for console gaming, cruising through Tokyo in a sporty Toyota Supra and soaking in the retro-style vibes was outstanding. Those who love ’90s rides and highway racing might want to give this Early Access title a test drive.

The post This Is Not A Review: Tokyo Xtreme Racer (EA) appeared first on Gamecritics.com.