When you want to be able to read our thorough breakdown on a game because you just can’t stand our voices, this is the place to go! Rich (and sometimes the other guys) get into the meat of a game and give you a recommendation on whether or not it’s worth purchasing.
Astro Bot is a strange character. Many are still unfamiliar with the little guy, but for myself and others who fell in love with Astro’s last title, Rescue Mission for PSVR, he’s the adorable mascot Playstation needs. Astro’s Playroom isn’t quite as large scale as Rescue Mission, but it makes for a delightful pack-in game and does a fantastic job of showcasing all the tech in the PS5’s Dualsense controller.
Cyberpunk 2077 is an undeniably ambitious game. What you might not expect from it is a feeling of nostalgia. Spending my Christmas playing Cyberpunk 2077 took me back to playing Deus Ex invisible War as a kid on Christmas day back in 2003. I fell in love with a genre that was new to me, the FPS RPG. A genre that allowed deep layers of role-playing and level customization and narrative choices, all while keeping the fast-paced action of a first-person shooter. It was then I developed a soft spot for the janky RPG shooter. Deus Ex felt small and somewhat linear at the time. You would just jump from environment to environment. It didn’t feel like a connected world, so it's cool to play something like Cyberpunk that feels like everything I enjoyed about those games blown out into a massive ambitious open-world.
Relationships are tricky. If you and a potential partner are to stand the test of time, compromise is vital. You can’t only take your feelings and perspective into account in anything you do, not if you’re looking to build a life with someone else truly. 3D puzzle game, A Fold Apart tackles the trickiest of relationship pitfalls. The often ill-advised long-distance relationship. To traverse this problematic relationship, you need to fold some paper and push some blocks. A generic story is driven further by unique gameplay and vibrant art style.
I'll just come out and say it: I love loot games. Sure the genre might be a bit over-saturated these days. The onslaught of mobile loot games and gotcha games specifically designed to exploit the human mind’s most addictive tendencies don't help either. I also know that addictive pleasantries aside the gameplay is the most important factor in a successful loot game for me. I don't mind drooling over brightly colored loot if the actual gameplay accompanying that addiction is good. Godfall may not light the world on fire, but it's a flashy way to break in your shiny new PS5, and the gameplay feels pretty damn good.
As a series, Yakuza has been about telling drama-filled stories in the world of Japanese organized crime while pivoting to wacky, offbeat shenanigans on a dime. Along the way, long-time protagonist Kazuma Kiryu would smack some local mobsters over the head with a nearby bicycle in proper action RPG fashion. The fast-paced beat-em-up combat was as much part of the series’ DNA as anything else. That’s why it came as a shock to most when they announced the seventh mainline entry in the series Yakuza: Like a Dragon would switch things up to a more traditional JRPG turn-based combat system. It’s a gamble that mostly pays off. Save for some late-game grinding that felt out of place in a modern game, every moment of Like a Dragon was a pure delight, and it felt good to be back in the underworld of the Tojo clan.
