Crowdfunded through Kickstarter, Antstream Arcade aims to evoke powerful nostalgia by offering a live streaming service focusing primarily on retro video games, complemented by several retro-inspired indie games, such as Flea! (NES), Golden Wing (Amiga), and Rune Master (MSX). Currently available on PC, Mac, Linux, Android, Firestick, and your web browser (beta), Antstream Arcade boasts a games library of 1,470 titles (according to the official website). It's worth noting that the number does include games available across multiple platforms. On Xbox, the game icon advertises "play over 1,300" titles. As with any streaming service, the number represents the total number of games, but not the unique number of games on the service. Licensing plays a crucial role in availability, and not all titles accessible on PC are currently accessible on Xbox. Notably, Namco developed/published Arcade titles such as Pac-Man, Galaga, Dig Dug, Splatterhouse, and more have been removed from the service on Xbox (at the time of this review) due to ongoing licensing complications between Namco and Microsoft, as disclosed by developers on the official Discord.

Besides the aforementioned indie games, Antstream Arcade’s library offers a diverse selection of games spanning the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 00s. The collection heavily features arcade titles, early home consoles, and PCs like the Amiga, Commodore 64, and the ZX Spectrum, along with a smattering of games from other platforms such as the MSX/MSX2, NES, SNES, Atari 2600/7800, Sega Genesis, and more. Personally, I was pleasantly surprised to rediscover DOS based LucasArts Games that I have very fond memories of playing, including classics like The Secret of Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Indiana Jones Fate of Atlantis, and even the three Super Star Wars (SNES) titles. While new games are consistently added on a weekly basis, it's important to note that the focus of Antstream Arcade lies in providing an authentic arcade preservation experience rather than offering entire console libraries. And in this regard, it certainly does not disappoint.

The greatest appeal of Antstream Arcade lies in the seamless and swift transition into gameplay. Within seconds, I found myself immersed in Earthworm Jim (SNES/Genesis), battling an evil army in SNK's Sengoku (Arcade), or defending humanity from robots in Robotron: 2084 (Commodore 64). Moreover, browsing through various genres listed on the main screen adds an element of excitement. However, the absence of dedicated platform or genre pages may require users to master the search function to locate specific games. While clicking the "more" button on the categories listed on the home page results in a mere keyword search page (with the "beat ‘em up" link strangely not functioning), the search feature itself proves to be potent and effectively displays relevant games categorized by publishers, genres, platforms, or year released. One peculiar aspect is the list of players appearing above the game results, which seems unnecessary as players typically search for games rather than other users. For instance, searching for "irem," synonymous with classic shoot ‘em ups, yields game results for Captain Dynamo due to the game's description containing the word "retirement," which includes "irem," while the 16 games listed under Irem as a publisher can be found underneath. Although the search results display all versions of games (if available on multiple platforms), the UI layout occasionally covers the platform ribbon on the game thumbnails with the challenge rocketship icon, signifying the presence of optional challenges. Consequently, confirming the platform requires clicking into each game. If the platform button is not grayed out, it can be clicked to alternate between the various platforms on which the game is accessible.

Game info screens provide a brief synopsis of the game, listing the available platform, genre, developer/publisher, and year of release, along with showcasing high-quality box art and a handful of in-game screenshots. Oddly enough, there is no option to manually cycle through the screenshots, as you must sit on the screen and wait for it to rotate through them. Utilizing unused buttons on the Xbox controller, particularly the shoulder buttons, could greatly enhance the user experience. An additional improvement that should be considered is allowing you to scroll through games and menus by holding the left analog stick instead of clicking through one by one.

The challenge tab, for supported titles, offers different challenges at varying gem requirements. Once a challenge is selected, players can compete for leaderboard positions, challenge friends to beat their scores/times, or engage in community-wide battles like Giant Slayer (my personal favorite). Duels pit players against a single opponent, each betting an equal amount of gems with the winner claiming the entire pool. If you find yourself without in-game friends, 50 recent players are shown, ensuring you always have someone to compete with. Giant Slayer, an exciting feature, lets one player compete against the community by selecting a challenging task and posting a score that others must strive to beat. The community must band together, acting as "slayers," to defeat the giant by repeatedly surpassing the score or time. These mini-challenges only last for a brief period, resulting in a constant stream of new events, fostering a highly engaged community. Score based challenges limit you to a single-life, so things can become a bit nerve wracking, and give you the feeling of one more shot if you fail. The score screen showcases game-specific leaderboards, providing rankings for global, other players you’ve favorited, and Xbox-only categories. At present, I hold the 4th rank on Pac-Man for Xbox, and until the licensing issue is resolved, it seems likely that my ranking will remain unchanged.

Despite being streamed, I have not encountered any noticeable latency issues in the almost 300 different games I've played so far on Antstream Arcade. The service automatically selects the best server location for optimal performance, but users also have the option to manually choose their preferred server location if desired. The connection test is a valuable tool that provides insights into various aspects, including bandwidth, streaming capability, packet loss, input, and connection quality. While the test displayed excellent values for all metrics, it did indicate a minor issue with input lag, represented by a sad face icon. Nevertheless, in my extensive experience with various streaming services, past and present, I can confidently say that Antstream Arcade stands out for its virtually negligible input lag, which has had no significant impact on my overall gaming experience.

With a strong emphasis on authenticity, the platform strives to preserve the original gaming experience of titles like Double Dragon (Arcade), ensuring any slowdowns present in the original game are retained. As a result, users shouldn't expect performance enhancements or modern emulation options. The absence of video settings means you are locked into Antstream's predetermined configurations for each game, though thankfully, stretched pixels haven't been observed. The sole in-game option available allows users to adjust the game's volume, maintaining the original gameplay as closely as possible.

Antstream Arcade offers access to four save slots, allowing users to save progress and continue playing conveniently. However, some have reported issues with the save feature on Xbox, as it doesn't consistently function as intended. Personally, I have also encountered mixed results with the save slots, observing intermittent functionality. The UI can be a tad obtuse; pausing the game allows users to save, but selecting "save" from the pause menu does nothing. Instead, users need to use the plus symbols indicating different save slots. Despite these occasional hiccups, the dedication to maintaining the authenticity of classic gaming experiences is a key selling point of Antstream Arcade.

Upon launching a title on Antstream Arcade, the game controls are thoughtfully highlighted, offering players a clear understanding of the controls they will be using during gameplay. However, it's worth noting that the platform does not provide the option to remap controls or utilize turbo buttons. This limitation might affect the overall gaming experience, particularly in the case of certain three-button arcade games that could benefit from swapping two of the buttons for more intuitive gameplay.

For instance, when playing games from the Genesis/Mega Drive library, the Xbox controller follows a three-button setup using X, A, B, instead of X, Y, B configuration, which would have been my preference. Despite these control limitations, the vast majority of games on Antstream Arcade function smoothly without any noticeable issues. However, as with any gaming platform, player preferences and familiarity with control schemes can vary, leading to occasional differences in how players perceive the overall gameplay experience.

When it comes to the in-game currency Gems, as previously mentioned in terms of challenge rewards, their importance is relatively lower on the Xbox platform compared to other supported platforms. While Gems play a significant role in certain aspects of Antstream Arcade on other devices, their significance is somewhat diminished on Xbox due to the nature of the subscription model.

Antstream Arcade offers two main subscription options to access its vast library of retro games. Users can opt for a yearly subscription priced at $29.99 or a lifetime subscription at a cost of $79.99. Each subscription option provides unlimited access to the platform's extensive collection of games, allowing players to indulge in nostalgic gaming experiences.

However, it's essential to note that the platform does not offer an upgrade path between subscription tiers. In other words, if you initially choose the yearly subscription and later decide to switch to the lifetime subscription for long-term access, you'll be required to pay the full amount for the lifetime sub, without receiving any credit or discount based on your previous subscription payments.

While the subscription options offer great value, it's important for users to carefully consider their gaming preferences and long-term commitment before selecting the most suitable subscription plan.

On PC, Antstream Arcade offers a "free tier" concept, allowing users to earn gems by completing challenges, which can then be used to play games without the need for a subscription. This feature provides an option for players who want to engage with the platform without committing to a subscription.

However, on Xbox, the platform takes a different approach. With an active subscription, users gain unrestricted access to the entire library of games, eliminating the need to use gems for launching games. Gems on Xbox are primarily utilized for entering tournaments and participating in challenges, adding a competitive aspect to the gaming experience and encouraging players to compete against each other. Additionally, the use of gems in tournaments and challenges resembles the nostalgic act of placing a quarter on an arcade cabinet to indicate "you've got next."

The platform also includes a daily login bonus, providing users with additional gems for simply logging in regularly. However, users utilizing the quick resume feature on Series X|S need to be aware that in order to claim the daily gem bonus, they must fully close out the game and re-enter it. This requirement may not be immediately apparent to some users, and it's worth noting to ensure they don't miss out on the daily gem rewards.

Overall, Antstream Arcade's different approach on PC and Xbox offers users varied ways to access and enjoy their extensive collection of retro games, catering to different preferences and gaming styles. Antstream Arcade strives to provide a nearly input lag-free streaming experience, and they have succeeded where others have fallen short. However, achieving this goal does come at a cost, impacting the visual and audio quality of the games. The extent of these effects depends on the type of game being played, the speed of the on-screen action, and the complexity of patterns displayed. Players may encounter screen tearing, blurry, and at times extremely poor image quality in certain situations. For example, such issues are hardly noticeable in games like Bubble Bobble (Arcade), but they become more apparent in fast-paced titles like Mortal Kombat (Arcade), where image noise resulting from compression can be observed around character edges.or in many of the fast-paced shoot ‘em ups.

Moreover, there have been instances where certain games had their music removed due to contractual reasons, such as Spy Hunter (Arcade). Additionally, occasional hiccups were noted with sound effects either playing incorrectly or being completely lost. However, restarting Antstream Arcade typically resolves these audio issues. Despite these challenges, Antstream Arcade remains dedicated to delivering an authentic gaming experience while navigating the complexities of streaming technology.

Though the UI could benefit from some improvements, such as the ability to remap controls for enhanced accessibility, these minor issues do not hamper the overall functionality of the service. One notable quirk is the lack of the option to hold a direction on the d-pad or left analog stick to scroll through games, necessitating clicking through them one by one. Nevertheless, Antstream Arcade remains a highly enjoyable platform that successfully combines gaming nostalgia with modern convenience.

Simply Put

The preservation-first mentality of Antstream Arcade is truly refreshing. The team's dedication to ensuring future generations can easily access some of the greatest games ever created is commendable. With a vast library of over 1,300 games already available on the service, they have exceeded expectations while offering a very reasonable yearly or lifetime subscription cost. As with any live service, there is always the possibility of changes in the future. While games are continually added on a weekly basis, some titles may be removed due to shifting licensing agreements, as evident with the situation involving Namco and Microsoft. Nonetheless, these occurrences do not significantly detract from the overall experience.

Though the UI could benefit from some improvements, such as the ability to remap controls for enhanced accessibility, these minor issues do not hamper the overall functionality of the service. One notable quirk is the lack of the option to hold a direction on the d-pad or left analog stick to scroll through games, necessitating clicking through them one by one. Nevertheless, Antstream Arcade remains a highly enjoyable platform that successfully combines gaming nostalgia with modern convenience.

Only one primary competitive game mode exists (so far), and although that may mean the game feels "lite" on content, especially compared to other offerings, I've yet to grow tired of trying to pull off the perfect heist. It helps that there are a handful of uniquely designed maps, with at least one more coming in an upcoming season, as indicated by the post-launch road map. The training mode, the only other game mode, allows teams to hone their craft against the AI, merely serving as practice, but doesn't offer anything as thrilling as retrieving the chest while fending off another group. If you only want to focus on the game's cooperative aspect and not the competitive nature of playing against other players, this mode does precisely that.

Teams start on the opposite side of the map, far enough that you'll contend with AI guards before encountering an opposing player, but the objectives remain the same; steal the vault key, retrieve the chest, make your escape. Guards clad in armor, clinging to their swords, bows, and other medieval weaponry, patrol the districts, ensuring that you need to stay in the darkness, stealthily making your way through nearby bushes. If you are seen, the guards can raise the alert level, summoning more soldiers to content with and shutting all gates, and locking down the area. Stealth is the key to victory, and thankfully, the maps are covered in flora to mask your approach. The first step, stealing the key dangling from the belt of the slow-moving but massive presence known as; the Sheriff. As you approach, the faint rumbling emanating from your controller grows ever stronger, an effect that works to drive home the monstrous force that is the Sheriff is coming. One false move and he can crush you between his mountainous hands, killing you instantly. You may be thinking, well, I'll just kill him first, but no, this beast is an unrelenting force, and although you may take him down to a knee, buying precious seconds to make your escape, he will always rise up and never stop hunting you. Think medieval Jason Voorhees.

After acquiring the key, you'll need to locate the hidden vault on the map while trying to defend yourself from the AI and other players who wish to acquire the chest for themselves. If you are lucky enough to snag the chest first, you'll notice there are multiple extraction points. These may be closer to your initial spawn point, in the middle of the map, or right next to the enemy's starting location. Depending on the vault's location, you may opt to find the closest place in an attempt to hoist the chest onto the ship as quickly as you can, or strategically opt for a location safely away from prying eyes. Either way, carrying the chest is a chore, as the weight of the shiny gold inside forces the one with it to move at a snail's pace. The brute John moves the fastest with the chest, so it is always good to have him traverse the map with it in hand. This is where coordination and teamwork start to lead teams to victory. Of course, with multiple possible locations, the enemy team can opt for chasing you down or try to guess the spot and sit and wait, ready to ambush.

Once reached, teams must extract the chest, either sacrificing a single person to progress slowly or using two players to speed up the process. Melee classes operate the crank faster than ranged, and without a balanced team, you are unlikely to win. Admittedly, that won't always be the case. I've already encountered groups that favored one class over the other, but for 90% of my matches while playing with random players, classes were evenly balanced between melee and ranged classes. Once extraction has begun, a meter appears for all players. The meter itself has several notches, where progress is saved, and rewards are given to the team that reaches those points. This means that a team can do 90% of the work, earn rewards, and the opposing team can swoop in and finish the final step and still win the match. It makes for some exciting last-minute victories (or losses), precisely what you would want from a heist-based title.

Another component and one that is almost as important as controlling the chest itself involves securing and holding the control points scattered throughout the map. These serve as spawn positions for your team, allowing you to get across the map after you die. Imagine fighting to extract the treasure, but every time a member of your crew departs, you need to run across the map in its entirety. Not only that, but shortcuts can be opened as you make your approach, from unlocking doors or releasing ropes to climb to offer alternate paths. With heightened security during the final moments of each match, the elite guards that spawn can put a damper in your plan to traverse the map safely. At the same time, the AI can work in your favor when the Sheriff makes his presence known, methodically making a bee-line straight for the extraction site. Although, the intelligence of the AI could use a little bit of work. Sometimes, they will walk right past the players working on securing the chest and chase other nearby players. I would think that acquiring the gold would be on top of his priorities, and therefore, anyone seen trying to steal his treasure would be a higher perceived threat.

There are four classes in Hood: Outlaws & Legends, each one based on a character from the fabled story of Robin Hood. The Ranger, Robin, is equipped with a bow, making him a powerful long-range class, capable of one-tapping foes with accurate headshots and firing explosive fire arrows. The Hunter, Marianne, is the best at remaining concealed (literally being able to turn invisible), and her crossbow may not have the range as Robin's bow, but its burst-fire makes it deadly at close range. The Brawler, (Little) John, wields a massive two-handed sledgehammer, making him the most potent melee class available and the king of close-quarters combat. He is also the only class that can temporarily lift the massive gates, letting his teammates make it through the area without finding an alternate path. The Mystic, Tooke (based on Friar Tuck), is the ultimate support class and the only one that is capable of healing not only himself but anyone on your crew within his vicinity.

Their primary weapons for each of the classes are only the tip of the iceberg, and although the game's combat isn't that deep, it still provides plenty of strategy and incredible moments. First and foremost, you're actions are limited by your current stamina. Light attacks are weaker in terms of damage but use less energy when compared to stronger heavy attacks. Blocking consumes stamina, ensuring you can't remaining protected for too long, especially since heavy attacks can leave you stunned, breaking through anyone blocking. Parrying incoming attacks can give you a chance at an unimpeded counter-attack, given you still have enough stamina left. The mystic's poisonous smoke bombs can instantly drain the stamina of anyone caught in the blast, even himself), leaving players on both sides of the battlefield open to attack at range.

As you level up by earning experience points and gold from completing heists, new cosmetics, such as character outfits and weapon skins, become available to purchase, as well as perks. Only three bonuses can be equipped simultaneously. These offer slight advantages against other players, such as increased crouched movement speed or a leeching effect that can make Tooke unbeatable in most one-one melee engagements. When coordinating with a team, these perks can alter your playstyle and even how your abilities operate. Outside of the perks, players are on an even playing ground, with only unlockable cosmetics serving as a driving force to customize the appearance of your characters. With the purchase of the battle pass, you'll earn premium outfits and skins, as well as banners, but the roadmap will provide other free cosmetics and content for all players.

Simply Put

Hood: Outlaws & Legends is the best PvPvE game I've played in quite some time. Sure, it has its issues; the AI can sometimes feel braindead, class balancing needs to be tweaked, and animations can be a bit janky, but the adrenaline rush of the heist makes up for all of that. Not to mention, this is only a $30 game, and the developers have released a fully fleshed-out roadmap for ongoing support. Players can expect new characters, game modes, seasonal events, cosmetics, and more. And did I forget to mention that the game already has cross-play matchmaking at launch? Hopefully, the developers can expand the party system for cross-platform friends.

The Pro Compact wired controller for Xbox is smaller (and lighter) than anything offered by Microsoft (15% smaller, according to Nacon). Still, more importantly, the handles have been redesigned, changing the position of how it rests in your hands. This doesn't mean that anyone with larger than average hands will find it more difficult or uncomfortable to use for long periods, but it does mean you need to make adjustments. The compact shape features shorter handles than Microsoft's Xbox controller, with a matte front and textured grips (although less prominent than the Xbox controller). The deep groove between the handle and the upper half of the controller is designed for you to rest your middle fingers. My pinky fingers barely wrap around the bottom tip of the handle since it needs to be held with a higher grip than usual. After getting used to the Pro Compact, I can say it is pretty comfortable; I prefer it to the Xbox controller in certain situations. The long braided USB A cable is 300 centimeters in length or just under 10 feet. A breakout connection is included at the tail end, providing safety just in case someone or something gets caught in the cable.

As an officially licensed controller, the analog sticks placement remains asymmetrical. There's a bit less space between the four face buttons than the standard controller, not to mention that the buttons are more prominent yet flatter. The menu and view buttons (I will forever unofficially call them start and select) are glossy (compared to the matte finish of all four face buttons) and moved away from the controller's center. The view button sits next to the left analog stick, and the menu button is the next-door neighbor to the Y button. With these new placements, you don't even have to lift your thumbs off of their usual resting spots to use them. When using a headset on a PC or Xbox, you have to purchase a $15 Dolby Atmos license, which I highly recommend because 3D audio is a game-changer. The Pro Compact includes the license, letting you plug in any gaming headset into the 3.5mm headphone jack at the bottom of the controller.

The analog sticks are concave (naturally) but are completely smooth around the edges, featuring a uniquely designed textured finish on the inside. The D-pad features the classic "plus" design, which may intrigue fans compared to the redesigned "rocker" offering of the Xbox controller. It is certainly less "clicky," feeling squishy under your thumb as you move around each of the four main cardinal directions. There is less feedback as you shift your thumb around, and the sensation can be best described as muted. I won't say it's not good, but it certainly may not be ideal depending on the type of game you are playing. Navigating through menus or switching weapon loadouts is fine, but there isn't enough feedback when pulling off special moves or combos in fighting games.

The Nacon App on Windows 10 and Xbox allows you to remap the inputs for specific buttons, adjust the response curves for both analog sticks, and even the sensitivity for each of the triggers. If this is your first foray into adjustable dead zones, you are in for a treat, especially for first-person shooters. Interestingly enough, the app, which is available on PC and Xbox, allows for enabling or disabling vibrations and converting the 8-way D-pad to a 4-way D-pad, perfect for 2D side-scrolling games. An easy-to-follow guide effortlessly shows the best presets for specific genres, such as racing games, first-person shooters, or fighting games. Your customizations can be turned on/off with the switch on the rear of the controller, although you can only have a single custom profile. Any controller updates will come from inside the app; however, one hasn't been released.

Simply Put

The Rig Nacon Pro Compact controller is a smaller, lighter, and cheaper alternative for Xbox and PC (especially since it includes a lifetime Dolby Atmos license). It does take some adjustment to get used to the placement of the controller in your hands, but I found it to be quite comfortable, and I have larger than average hands. I would have preferred less of a gap between the triggers and shoulder buttons or none at all to match the standard Xbox controller. I feel I spend more time adjusting the placement of my pointer fingers since I can't comfortably press the shoulder and the triggers without lifting my fingers like I do with my Xbox controllers. It may not become my permanent Xbox controller due to it being tethered, but it will become my primary PC controller for now.

The old vernacular aside (I'm pretty sure I remember hearing the phrase "good show, old boy!"), the game is a straightforward, fun playthrough. You're Norah Everhart, a seemingly well-to-do and educated woman from Colorado, long-suffering from some mysterious illness that has caused you no end of troubles and seclusion. Your husband, also educated and well-to-do sees himself as the intrepid adventurer and stops at nothing to find a cure for your mysterious illness. He sets off on an expedition sometime before the start of the game, leaving you alone without much indication of what's happened to him. Using what info you have, you set out to find him and whatever cure he's hopefully discovered.

The game looks gorgeous, even without HDR support. It felt very akin to Rare's version of piracy in Sea of Thieves, but I thoroughly enjoyed the island jungle setting's vivid brightness. Somehow it made the game just pop more throughout the experience. Most games that dance around a Cthulhu-esque experience end up being dark, depressing, and set in the dreariness of New England. Call of the Sea eschews all of that and brings players to a bright, tropical experience in the South Pacific. There's still your fair share of darkness that creeps in, but it just felt so much different amidst the game's stylings.

The simplicity of the gameplay itself – interact with A, use the right stick to move things around to find potential clues, use the left stick to change puzzle selections – makes the core focus fall on the puzzles and not on getting around the island. Thankfully, as well, the game offers you a "run" button that speeds up Norah's movement. She's not really running, but it at least makes her a bit more mobile than her slow walk. I only wish I did not have to toggle it by either clicking the right stick or using the right trigger; given how slow she was without, it should immediately have become the default once unlocked.

The puzzles are not generally challenging, but they do offer some definite opportunities to flex your brain. I say that because they at least vary in intensity – some will take some time to solve, others will be more straightforward. I was actually pretty thrilled at the puzzles' variety since some took more creative thoughts while others were a quick "oh, I should have looked at the back first" scenario. That was at least until chapter four, where I was just unable to wrap my head around some of the puzzles after a couple of hours of trial-and-error. But they're fun, they do challenge you, and they expect you to take some time to look around you. That's the critical piece – on top of helping unfold more of what's occurred during your husband's adventure, you build a better sense of the people he was with, the challenges they faced, and ultimately what happened to them. This is also all chronicled in Norah's journal (on top of any clues you find), giving players a chance to read up on her thoughts about everything she's discovering.

Most puzzles are about getting all of the pieces through creative methods; look around, touch all objects, make sure you're putting your notes into your journal. From there, it's just rearranging those pieces into a method that makes sense of the madness around you. In some cases, you won't know you have all of the pieces for a puzzle until after you return to a spot within your current chapter, making it worthwhile to make sure you complete all of your exploration and examination. It reminds me a bit of old puzzle adventure games, like Myst, where the answer isn't always right in front of you but instead hidden around you somewhere.

Simply Put

I think Call of the Sea has something to offer a variety of gamers. The puzzles are fun, challenging, and genuinely make you learn more about the world around you and Norah's personal challenges. On top of that, learning more about Norah herself and what has caused her illness is a huge draw – it's one of those mysteries you want to figure out more and more as things progress. The bright, popping visuals and simplistic gameplay all tie this into a pretty good bow for those who want to give it a shot.

You begin your journey wandering through snow-covered mountains. However, a force drives you towards the red sickness or corruption emanating across the sky without a single line of dialogue. After an incident leaves you limping through icy underground caverns, you'll learn world lore through glowing pictographs, illuminated by the Spirit of the North's energy. An unknown civilization thrived as the spirit fox protecting all life surrounding the mountains until a monolith (I think) sought ruin, causing a volcano to erupt, trapping the guardian in a deep slumber and destroying the surrounding villages. Perhaps society began to worship the glowing red monolith instead, sending the guardian to be forgotten. Without narration or lines of dialogue, it is certainly left open to your interpretation.

Sacrificing themselves to save your life, you are imbued with the powers from The Guardian of the Northern Lights to cleanse the land from corruption. Along the way, you'll come across remnants of the lost civilization, reuniting shaman bodies scattered throughout the chapters with magical staves, releasing their souls and allowing them to rest peacefully. Now, only a floating spirit orb, the former guardian serves as a mentor, guiding you throughout the visually impressive environments. There's no mini-map or anything to follow, but visual cues help guide you along. You'll solve environment puzzles without combat, either by instilling relics with the powers of light or matching symbols carved into stone statues.

Spirit of the North Enhanced Edition can be completed around the five-hour mark, but as your progress, you'll learn new powers requiring the use of spirit energy. The energy can be found throughout the game world from blue flowers, letting you channel it inward or release it into relics that open blocked passageways, or activating an ability such as entering a spirit form and running across flowing water. Besides the powers, you can run, bark, and jump, but the movement feels imprecise. With the amount of platforming required, you'd have thought that jumping would feel better. You'll occasionally slide off edges or be blocked by invisible barriers, but wandering around with the atmospheric orchestrated soundtrack is awe-inspiring.

Simply Put

Spirit of the North Enhanced Edition is a visually impressive narrative experience that foregoes dialogue for atmosphere and world-building. The game is simply beautiful and runs smoothly; however, the gameplay should have been tweaked with the PlayStation 5 release. Occasionally, it is unclear what you need to do, or the imprecise jumping can cause you to backtrack needlessly. It's a solid platforming adventure that successfully tells a tale through pictographs and gameplay.

Optimized for co-op in mind, the game supports up to four players local and online, as players must slaughter the daemons of Chaos, develop their characters and work together to save the Empire. The Slayer Edition brings over a year's worth of improvements, enhancements, and post-launch content, including the Tomb Kings narrative expansion and the newly released Witch Hunter class. Be prepared to purge Chaos from the world.

We've already reviewed the base game (read through for in-depth game mechanics), thanks to Marcus's deep knowledge of everything Warhammer, calling it "an unabashedly fun title." As an isometric action RPG, Chaosbane is filled to the brim with gear, loot, and dozens of foes charging towards you at any given moment. When creating a new character, you have the choice to start playing any of the three included story arcs; the original story starting in Nuln, the paid Tomb Kings expansion, and the free The Forges of Nuln chapter.

For this reason, I recommend sticking with a single class, at least until you finish the tale, as playing through the same quests on every class is tiresome (unless you are looking to unlock trophies). Through randomly generated levels, players can team up with others to journey within challenging expeditions. The time-sensitive boss rush mode tasks players with eliminating the bosses fought through the narrative, which are quite impressive and the highlight of the game. In contrast, relic hunt adds dungeons with numerous difficulty levels to earn powerful heroic gear sets. The inclusion of the Tomb Kings story content takes players to the golden deserts of Nehekhara and away from the infested sewers of Nuln, the ruined streets of Praag (the Cursed City), and the frozen Norscan penisula.

Unlike Marcus, who purged numerous daemons with his dual-ax dwarven slayer, I chose the game's sixth class, The Witch Hunter, to dish out my form of judgment upon the legions of Chaos. With his pistols and rapier, you're capable of trapping and slowing down heretics at range and finishing them up close. The hybrid range/melee approach fits well with my playstyle and effortlessly synergies with all existing classes.

The normal difficulty is a bit of a cakewalk, as long as you don't become overwhelmed by 30+ cultists or daemons attacking you simultaneously, along with elites. You need to spend gold or fragments to revive on the spot or restart from the beginning of the current dungeon if you perish. As you increase the difficulty, the percentage of loot quality, extra gold/fragments, and experience bonus also increase, providing a risk vs. reward factor. Once you unlock the chaos difficulties, that's where the game's cooperative nature truly shines. Fragments drop almost as frequently as gold, and are used to bless items, providing further stat bonuses, depending upon what colors are used. For example, a stack of green fragments can add a plus to your maximum health, while blue fragments add armor bonuses.

Loading times are virtually non-existent, thanks to the power of the PlayStation 5. At most, you'll be waiting three seconds for dungeons to load, but moving between zones within a dungeon is instantaneous. The three narrative activity cards are designed to let you quickly pick off exactly where you left off in the narrative, regardless of what campaign or chapter you are currently playing, loading directly into the game with your previously last used character. Additional ones unlock as you unlock each mode meant for end-game content.

The DualSense controller's adaptive triggers provide an enjoyable sensation for the two skills tied to the left and right trigger. When on cooldown, both triggers provide resistance, making it much harder to squeeze. As soon as the skills can be activated, the resistance is removed, and you can easily use your skills. It's a small touch, and although it's not as satisfying as the haptics from Astro's Playroom, it is appreciated and hasn't gone unnoticed. The game's visuals look incredibly sharp, running at 60 frames per second, even at 4K.

Simply Put

Warhammer Chaosbane Slayer Edition is the definitive action RPG experience on PlayStation 5, with plenty of narrative content, loot grinding, and dungeon crawling. The game looks stunning, especially at 4K resolution, and runs incredibly well on a PS5 with minimal loading. The adaptive triggers are a nice touch but don't take full advantage of the DualSense functionality. Currently, there aren't any upgradable paths for those that previously owned the game to the PS5 Slayer Edition besides spending $60 to repurchase.

Taking place in a child's bedroom, Bubble Bobble 4 Friends: The Baron is Back! takes you across five areas, each with ten stages, with the final stage pitting you against a massive boss with special abilities thanks to Bonner. Each stage typically takes around a minute or less to complete, so you'll breeze through all 50 of the stages on the normal difficulty in less than an hour. Once you've completed the first set of stages, hard mode becomes available, remixing the original stages with always "angry" bullies. The core gameplay of Bubble Bobble is intact. Players must shoot bubbles to trap enemies inside, then burst them either by using your spikes on your back or stomping through. When multiple bubbles are touching, bursting starts a chain reaction, bursting all nearby bubbles and providing a score boost.

Bubbles float thanks to the air currents, which were invisible in the original arcade game; however, this sequel provides visual indicators, ensuring you know precisely where trapped enemies and empty bubbles will end up. For the purists out there, you can turn off all visual assistance or make them more subtle. Considering the stages are built for verticality (every stage only takes up a single screen), you must ride bubbles upwards to reach new platforms. Defeated bullies turn into food in the form of fruit, giving you a set amount of points based on the number of enemies bursting in a single chain. You'll also replenish the uses for your selected skills, which unlock by defeating bosses. As long as you quickly finish stages and chain multiple enemies together, you can raise the amount and type of delicious fruity desserts that appear after completion. There is a tiered ranking for the fruit, with bananas being the lowest and watermelon, grapes, and pineapple being near the top. Get proficient enough, and you'll earn shiny gems instead, but that's only for those that have mastered Bubble Bobble (not for me).

Instead of picking up magical items that randomly appear while playing, you'll unlock them by defeating bosses. These skills can be equipped but have a set amount of uses and must be replenished by defeating bullies. These abilities are based on each boss's powers, such as shooting bubbles further, thunder bubbles that send out a horizontal shockwave, and even an exploding time bomb bubble. Trapped enemies float around the stage based on the wind direction but become free and angry after a short time. Angry enemies are far deadly, with faster movements. The stages are designed using both transparent and solid platforms, with the difference being that the former can be passed through only. You're also able to crouch and squeeze through tight spaces to reach enclosed areas, but you cannot shoot bubbles while crouched. Later levels become less free-flowing and more maze-like, with only a single path to move through. Not only that, but dangerous spikes are added, killing you with a single touch; however, strangely enough, it doesn't pop bubbles.

Scattered throughout the nine platforming stages in each area are the letters E-X-T-E-N-D, although only one letter appears in a stage, unlike the original arcade game. You'll get a bonus life for collecting the letters and completing the word extends (get it?) the number of uses for your skill. As you may expect based on the title, the game supports four-player local multiplayer. However, all players share the same pool of lives and score; instead of instantly dying like in single-player, getting hit traps you inside a bubble. Your partners have a brief moment to burst the bubble, ensuring that a life isn't wasted. Given the linearity of some of the stages, things become quite chaotic as four players are blowing bubbles simultaneously in tight corridors. Improving the accessibility of the game series is the inclusion of an invincibility option once you see the "game over" screen three times.

Simply Put

Bubble Bobble 4 Friends: The Baron is Back! is a fun four-player multiplayer experience, with 200 stages to complete with the cutest arcade characters of all time. There's even the option of playing the original two-player 100 stage arcade release. The new area that features the invincible Baron and no continues replaces the standard arcade machine once you unlock hard difficulty by completing the first fifty stages. Online ranking for every area is tucked away in the options menu, letting you compare high scores across the globe.

Overcooked! All You Can Eat is the definitive way to experience the blessing of cooking together with friends under pressure, except this time, both games can be played via online multiplayer. This yummy package has overhauled both games and added some fresh content right out of the oven. Not only that, but the game includes every tasty morsel of downloadable content previously released and includes way faster loading times, remastered visuals, and everything runs at a buttery smooth 60 frames per second, even at 4K. There is even all-new content added exclusively to this release, three new chefs, seven new levels, and more. Accessibility options have been greatly improved, allowing even more players to join in the fun, like family members and younger audiences. The UI can be scaled (hooray with bigger text sizes); color blindness options and dyslexia-friendly text are viable options. If the frantic, anxiety-driven nature of having to work as fast as possible, assist mode offers options for slowing down round timers, recipe timers, and even skipping levels.

Considering the original Overcooked! didn't have online support; it has been entirely rebuilt using the Overcooked! 2 engine. Both games in the definitive collection are going to support cross-platform online multiplayer in an upcoming patch. All of the characters (there are more than most fighting games) from all of the DLC and updates released over the years can be played across both games, giving players a massive pool to select their favorites. Want to play through the original game as a vampire or even a reindeer? Go right ahead. Arcade mode features two modes, coop and versus, but both can be experienced locally or online (with random player support for online multiplayer). There are dozens of levels for players to vote on, each one with their own unique kitchen environment and recipe requirements, from sushi to thanksgiving turkey. However, the campaigns are limited to playing with friends, as you'll have to invite others if you wish to play online.

Like in the originals, if you attempt to play the game solo, you are simultaneously in charge of two chefs. At any point, you can click the right bumper and swap between either character, a necessity given some kitchen layouts are split in half, limiting the number of things a single chef can accomplish. It's much harder to play through the game this way, and honestly, after a single level, I realized just how much I hated playing the game this way. Thankfully, the game is still the king of couch co-op, and it wasn't long before Joan and I were back to getting three stars in each level in the campaign. Although, someone inevitably slips up, and chaos soon follows, with incorrect orders being made, fires erupt, and everyone runs around panicking as the timer counts down. As orders are received, the list of the required ingredients for the customized order is directly listed. You may be tasked with making three salads in a row; however, one may include tomatoes, another may have cucumbers, but sans tomatoes. Serving food with the proper customizations is vital to maximizing your score, which earns you stars. New levels during the campaign are gated by the number of stars you have, so you may have to replay levels multiple times in the hope of getting a better score.

The kitchen layouts are relatively traditional and straightforward at first. Still, it isn't long before you're cooking on a swaying pirate ship or a kitchen split across a frozen river, requiring you to rush across floating sections of ice. Regardless of the kitchen, and any environmental hazards, including rats that love to steal ingredients, preparation needs to be prioritized. Everything action has a set timer, from being chopped, boiled, or cooked. Do you risk a soup possibly burning to prep the next order's ingredients, or do you drop everything you are doing and rush to plate the item and send it out of the kitchen.

Simply Put

Overcooked! All You Can Eat is the definitive edition of two of the best party games released in the last generation. The next-generation release and the remastered visuals, new enhancements, and added accessibility options ensure that the frantic cooking experience can reach a wider audience. Although the original release has been rebuilt, Overcooked! 2 is still the only one that features throwing. It would have been nice to add the functionality, but it may have also required reworked kitchen layouts, considering how dynamic and crazy the sequel levels become. The new content is appreciated; however, it may be too little for those that have squeezed every ounce out of the games already. Online multiplayer and the promise of cross-play support certainly does sweeten the deal.

In a world where just traversing can seemingly be the most dangerous thing (I saw what looked like a giant, spike-armored whale snake leap out of the water, it's got to be dangerous in there), flying makes the safest sense in terms of getting around. Thankfully, I've been a big fan of flying sims or general "flying games" for most of my life. Sky Oddysey on the PlayStation 2 springs to mind as a prominent one, but that's just me dating myself a bit. The Falconeer puts you on the back of one of these birds, strapping guns and some ammo packs on there for good measure, and sending you off into the wild yonder without a ton of orientation. The tutorial is relatively useful, given you a chance to test yourself and how good (or bad) a pilot you might be.

That's not a bad thing, though; the world is seemingly massive. It takes some time to get around with some of the weaker/earlier birds, given their lower speed, but exploration is genuinely one of the best ways to understand the game. Stopping at different locations gives you a chance to buy items or upgrades or find additional quests to complete mid-stream (stuff you can do post-mission completion as well). You may also get an intriguing monologue from various characters, providing world-building lore, such as the creepy shaman/fortune teller woman about the meaning of the place. There's genuinely a massive world to explore, but once you've seen everything on the map, the excitement from the unknown is gone.

The Falconeer ends up, after a point, feeling very repetitious once you've managed to uncover all of the hidden must-see locations around the map. The gameplay loop is relatively basic; go to point a, kill some enemies, go to point b, ensure your weapons are charged, rinse, and repeat. Unfortunately, the exploration aspect wears out potentially early on unless you manage to hold off and focus only on completing the missions. Granted, the giant gaping hole in the middle of the ocean takes a bit of time to get an explanation, but beyond that, it's a series of small port towns, defensive structures, or old shrines. The story is your main draw, and you'll be sent off to be a mercenary for various groups, building your reputation, skills, and firepower over time. Much like how there's excellent world-building with lore hidden around, the game's story is very political – backstabbing, double-crossing, and a series of ever-escalating political intrigue.

However, most of the story ultimately relies on combat—something which is both fun as hell but challenging and frustrating at times as well. The game revolves around you flying your giant bird around, engaging in aerial dogfights or strafing sea-bound vessels, targeting forward with your lightning cannon. It's all great in theory, and most of the time, it's excellent in reality. However, I found myself consistently facing difficulties maintaining a good bearing on my foes. Sure, yeah, it's a dogfight – barrel rolling and turning usually ends up being the norm. But I often struggled against the camera, and anytime there were more than four or five enemies up against me, I was quickly picked off from all conceivable angles. Encounters would generally devolve into spinning in circles, attempting to find an enemy only to be killed no matter how many swoops or maneuvers I performed. The game offers you the ability to lock onto enemy targets at the cost of losing camera control and any orientation of how you're flying. It can be almost nauseating if you try to do it for too long in the middle of combat, and it's one of the reasons I ended up not using the mechanic and hoping for the best.

Outside of combat, though, the controls felt very intuitive and similar to other flight titles. It was fun to work with the bird, climbing higher and diving back down to recharge my energy meter (part of what you use to speed up or do rolls). I could almost hear Peppy from Star Fox yelling, "Do a barrel roll!" as I effortlessly spun through the air, and just getting that speed up in a sharp dive was thrilling and fun. A bonus – to refill your ammunition, fly through an active thunderstorm and watch the electricity surge towards you. I mention all of this because, even as frustrating as the combat always ended up being for me, the rest of the game felt fluid and fun. Flying around, exploring, and learning about the great mysteries of The Falconeer while helping random passersby at least filled in some of the gaps created by the combat.

Simply Put

There's so much here to The Falconeer that I want to see more. The world feels very fleshed out and realized, the giant birds are freaking cool, and I'm still left wondering what the hell is going on with the woman glowering over my (maybe?) dead body between missions. I would love some tweaks to the gameplay and some chances to freely explore the world, but I feel pressured to complete the missions at hand, and I ultimately missed some things until I was a few hours into the game itself. It's great that the initial tutorial helps you get your wings, but there was a lot more I didn't know until experimenting around during missions. The history lessons I found, shopping opportunities, and side hustles are neatly tucked away, waiting to be unlocked by players that want to spend the time looking. But I worry that once those are dried up, the story (and combat) may not be enough to hold some through to completion.

A mysterious evil demon known as "Godslayer" curses the land, corrupting the four beast spirits that protect the island in an attempt to gain immortality. Players take on the role of "The Hunter," a mysteriously blue-skinned individual who happens to have quite the expertise with a bow. After forging a connection with your eagle companion, you venture forth together across the expansive four open plateau regions that comprise the island without so much as a map. Your spirit vision highlights any corruption in red, providing you with clues on where you should focus next. Littered across the wilderness are floating talismans, which, when hit with an arrow, provides a slight speed boost when you're dashing and fills a portion of your stamina meter. Given the expansive nature of the game world, you'll want to be dashing through the grassy fields and snowy mountains continually; otherwise, it would take a long time to get around. Not only will you run faster, at least until your stamina meter depletes completely, but you can also bounce through the air by chaining talismans and soar gracefully using your majestic eagle companion. Eventually, you'll earn a set number of "flaps" for your eagle, with each one propelling you upwards, given you access to new areas.

There's no manual aiming in The Pathless; you won't be hunting wildlife that runs roams through the land either, instead, you'll automatically target the talismans as they become within range, making traversal an effortless and accessible process. The game's mood is one of darkness reigning over the light, with a rampaging firestorm growing throughout each location. The first time the storm erupted, I found myself in awe at the size of the destruction, knowing there was nothing that I could do to prevent the flames from scorching the world around me. If you are caught within the nightmarish hellfire, which erupts intermittently, you'll need to stealthily reach the eagle that has been ripped from your shoulder. During these sequences, one of the corrupted spirits hunts your location. Ensure not to move when caught within their gaze, indicated by a bright red light emanating from the beast's eye(s). If caught, you'll be attacked and lose crystals you pick up to earn extra flaps of your companion's wings. Upon recovering your eagle, you are sent back and must wipe away all of the darkness on your companion. Seeing the nameless hunter and eagle meaningfully embrace after being reunited is heartwarming.

Scattered across each biome are three towers that must be cleansed by inserting several ancient relics. Once all of the towers are basked in pure light, they reveal the region's corrupted guardian, weakening it enough for you to hunt and dispel the curse. The majority of the environmental puzzles you'll find are entirely optional, as there are more puzzles than the number of relics required, but you'll gain an advantage if you complete them all. You must use your mind to deactivate the curse's shroud protecting the relics by solving puzzles and activating the talismans connected to them. Things start quite simple, stand on a pressure switch to reveal the necessary talisman that needs to be targeted with an arrow. As the narrative progresses, you are aided by your companion to maneuver a weighted object into position on multiple pressure switches, lighting braziers by shooting arrows through a lit one, firing an arrow through a set number of rings, and more. My favorite puzzles involve placing and rotating mirrors to ricochet arrows multiple times before hitting their target.

The boss fights begin with a long-winded chase sequences through the storms engulfed in flames. You'll need to perfect the act of dashing to keep pace with the speedy and massive corrupted spirits. Not only that, but the ground is covered in fire, plus, exploding fireballs are continually launched from the boss. Once you get close enough, you'll need to launch arrows at the talismans that adorn each side of the beasts. Afterward, you confront it directly inside an arena for a multiphase encounter, requiring the use of dodging, both on the ground and through the air. Some of the fights feature unique mechanics that require you to safely approach while avoiding deadly blasts. However, getting hit is only a minor inconvenience, knocking you to the ground or over the edge of the arena as you don't have a health bar. If you are struck multiple times, the game seamlessly repeats the current phase, so some fights feel extended. Strangely enough, I felt a constant sense of dread during the battles, even without fail states, resulting in some of the most thrilling boss fights I've experienced this year.

Simply Put

The Pathless is an open-world exploration title with unique puzzle-solving mechanics and one of the year's best soundtracks. The tense and enjoyable boss encounters were a delightful surprise. The free-form approach to the exploration and plethora of puzzles to solve, even if most are optional, give you the sensation of freedom while traversing. It's simply fun, aimlessly soaring through the air with my eagle, bouncing across rivers and sliding down snow-covered mountaintops shooting at talismans. It's not a long experience, as I clocked my completion time at roughly eight hours, but there are plenty of trophies to unlock by completing all of the puzzles, along with completing various other tasks.

Bright Memory isn't necessarily a complete game; it is more like a prologue or first episode of an episodic adventure that won't ever be completed. Even then, there are so many questions and things left unexplained that anyone not following the game's background may think it is sorely incomplete. Players take on the role of Sheila, an agent of the Science Research Organization (SRO), tasked with preventing the evil mercenary organization known as SAI from taking possession of an ancient relic with the power to raise the dead. After a brief skirmish, everyone is sucked through a portal, sending you through to an undisturbed island floating in the sky above the North Pole, full of the undead and mythical monsters.

You have two primary firearms, a machine gun, a shotgun, and a pistol serving as your backup. The focus of the combat revolves around performing stylish combos. Every combat encounter is graded based on your performance. In a similar fashion to the Devil May Cry series, you'll use your firearms to whittle away at your enemy's health before utilizing your abilities to launch them into the air and help you to perform combos.

All of your skills and abilities are tied to cooldowns. Headshots do wonders at dealing additional damage and can save you in a pinch, but you'll need to manage Sheila's dodge, as you perish in only a handful of hits, even less when you are facing a boss. You'll want to use your EMP blast, which seemingly launches most foes directly in front of you into the air, leaving them in a temporary stasis. When this happens, leap through the air and use your energy blade to slash them to pieces. Your grapple ability pulls you towards a foe, although it also helps you traverse across the environment. The sword has three types of attacks; a rapid basic slash, a light burst, and a blast with explosive energy. The regular slash can be used quite a few times by mashing the right bumper, but the remaining two can only be used once per each activation of the blade. Once you start, the energy of the blade begins to dissipate and needs to be recharged.

Your foes range from ghoulish undead knights, the mercenaries trapped with you, and hellish creatures. Many massive boss encounters can kill you in only a couple of attacks, requiring you to learn attack patterns and time your dodges perfectly. As the fight progresses and you begin to chip away at their health, other foes will appear, requiring you to alter your tactics. You're not able to dodge through enemies, so getting surrounded is a death wish, especially considering you can't dodge forwards, only in a 180 degrees half-circle behind you. Just be careful; things can get disorienting as you try to maintain combos while shooting, dodging, and using your blade against multiple foes in first-person. In my playthrough, it led to a bunch of needless deaths. A couple of environmental puzzles are littered throughout the game, involving platforming and matching symbols using spinning rings.

Numerous games have employed a cursor-based menu system, but generally, they are still designed to work around console restrictions. In Bright Memory, it seems like the game was hastily ported, complete with some windows that still feature an "x" in a top right corner where you'd close it by clicking the mouse. Even the graphics options have been left in the game, letting you tweak things such as SSAO, shadow resolution, and even texture quality (at least the game defaults to "high"). I recommend turning on VSync, as the tearing is quite bad.

In one sequence, Sheila references "the doctor," but your guess is as good as mine on who that is. The default turning speed is beyond slow, but knocking up the sensitivity a few notches helps, but there aren't separate horizontal and vertical sensitivity options. You're meant to play through multiple times, giving you a chance to unlock all abilities by your third run. Once everything becomes unlocked, the combat does provide more options, such as using a time freeze bubble to keep foes frozen momentarily and a lightning attack. Many of the shortcomings can be overlooked, considering a single person developed the game, and it costs less than a combo meal at a fast-food establishment. Even so, there are a bunch of technical shortcomings with the release, for example, resuming the game from rest mode results in the lost of all sounds.

Simply Put

Bright Memory can be completed in just over 30 minutes the first time through, but suffers from technical and control issues. It was designed as the first episode of many but came across as an unfinished product or proof of concept, with pieces that seem ripped from other game series. There are even bonfires that don't seemingly serve any purpose, complete with a "bonfire lit" message when activated. The narrative lacks substance and any reasoning about why the events have transpired, unless you read through the game's description page, which features all the information you'd expect to find in-game.

The most significant upgrade of the newly released remaster is the graphical overhaul, vastly improving the visual fidelity. It looks fantastic playing on an Xbox Series X in 4K. The lighting is outstanding, the environments pop, and some of the game's crazier aspects stand out more. Although it doesn't feel like a new game, the fresh coat of paint helps deliver the dark cyberpunk world in Observer: System Redux.

My only issue with some of these visual enhancements comes from the oversaturation of the neon-colored lights and gridlines around everything, especially during the opening hours. I legitimately thought the game was bugged after getting through the opening sequence. Communicating with the guy behind the front desk in the apartment building made me feel like the Matrix exploded into the game. I ended up deleting the game and reinstalling on my Xbox Series X, but it turns out it is an artistic choice from the developers. It reminds me of the moment in Jurassic Park, where Ian Malcolm (played by Jeff Goldblum) chastises John Hammond and his scientists for not thinking of the consequences of their actions. Every other aspect of this game looks exceptional, but the massive oversaturation of neon colors is just too much. Even further into the game, when my screen isn't completely covered in green, I see what appears to be graphical glitches at times. It's a bit frustrating and completely distracting, but thankfully it only lasts for so long in the beginning portion of the game and isn't nearly as prevalent later.

One of the differences I experienced the most from the PC version to the Xbox Series X was the control differences. The controller felt very intuitive, but the game's interface seemed to have more "drift" than I remember having on PC. In one segment, I had to hunt for radios and manipulate them. The on-screen dot was particularly useless as I had to move my screen just a bit to the right to have a shot at interacting. The same goes for most other things I was trying to examine or manipulate as well – nothing felt entirely on center.

There's expanded narrative content through new side cases for you to complete as you make your way through. There's even a secret tribute to Rutger Hauer tucked away in the game, which I won't spoil. The core gameplay experience stays the same, however, there are plenty of tweaks and improvements that have been made. The enemy AI during the stealth sections have been improved, and the neural interrogations feel much better and have been slightly shortened. The additions still carry the overall creepy tone of the game and are quite fun.

Simply Put

Observer: System Redux remains a solid experience, but with more content and much better visuals. The oversaturation of neon lights is a bit much, but otherwise, the game is still the same great product I played a few years back. I enjoyed the additional content and graphical overhaul, neon lights, and all. This dark sci-fi noir game (still starring the late, great Rutger Hauer) continues to capture the imagination as you trek your way through the mystery of your son's death.

Typically, in traditional shooters, the only thing you need to avoid is the onslaught of projectiles and occasionally funneling through deadly environments. Instead, Galacide puts you right in the middle of a bullet-hell shooter surrounded by a colored tile-matching nightmare. It would be best if you kept an eye on the scraps that slowly make through across the screen from defeated enemies, used to deactivate groups of like-colored tiles. Sure, the bomb pickups can destroy large chunks of the Bitwall, but you are frequently dealing with finding the best path through the maze-like barriers, deciding which color should take precedent. The game's boss battles generally focus on shooting; however, one, in particular, requires you to shoot similarly colored scraps into the boss's belly, exposing their weakness.

There are four ships at your disposal (the standard mining ship, sturdy freighter, speedy phase ship, and mighty military ship), with three of them unlocked after completing specific objectives. Each ship comes equipped with a unique ability and stats across three categories; speed, firepower, and health. For example, the mining ship excels quite well in firepower and speed but is not the toughest. However, the unique power ensures that it is more than capable of getting through the entire game. Using a tractor beam, it can pull necessary scraps towards your ship. The freighter forgoes the tractor beam and, instead, stores scrap in its hull. Not to mention, all of your stored scraps can fire upon enemy ships, boosting the inferior firepower from this ship. My favorite, the military ship, activates auxiliary thrusters to smash through enemies and bits, which comes in handy when you find yourself in some suffocating predicaments.

There are only six main locations in the story; however, the game does track high scores across all three difficulties: normal, hard, and expert. The standard difficulty serves as an introduction to the game, perfect for newcomers, but it is relatively easy to survive once you've mastered the core mechanics. As you progress to the next tier, enemies gain more health, and the scrolling speed is increased, further decreasing the amount of time you have to get through the Bitwall. Expert, which has much more frantic pacing, was designed for multiplayer and shouldn't be attempted until you've completed the story on a lower difficulty.

An endless wave-based mode is unlocked as you progress through the narrative. Going far enough in this mode, reaching threat level six unlocks the phase ship. But, if you want to focus almost entirely on the game's puzzle aspect, the puzzle mode features twenty-five puzzles across five different categories. The basic one starts with simple color matching set across a single screen. Nothing fancy, but you'll need to think at least a couple of moves ahead to plan out the tiles' alignment. The rapid-fire puzzles were my favorite, manipulating the floating scrap placements to quickly fire multiple scraps one after another, ensuring they stack together to knock out various colors of the bitwall before disappearing.

Simply Put

Galacide is an intriguing and unique take on the side-scrolling shooter genre. The addition of match-3 tile puzzle mechanics keeps you engaged and forces you to be mindful of your position onscreen. The expert difficulty proved too much while playing alone, but I had a blast with four of us frantically trying to survive amongst the chaos.

Endzone: A World Apart is a post-apocalyptic world builder's dream. Think Civilization or The Guild meets Fallout. As survivors of the nuclear wastes, you're tasked with bringing your little group together and driving them to survive in the new, harsh landscape.

I readily admit I played the tutorial and still felt very overwhelmed even after a few hours. I'm not saying that's an issue; the vast set of options and opportunities within the game to manage a thriving settlement is fantastic. However: There's just so much shit in this game. That is honestly the best way for me to put this. It was somewhere during the third hour of the tutorial when I realized I had no clue just how deep this game ran in terms of mechanics. You end up creating chains upon chains of buildings and resources that rely on one another, eventually allowing you to produce things like electricity and other wonderful improvements that help manage the happiness of your encampment. But, for example, you need scrap to produce metal to build tools to make your citizens more productive, but to ensure they use those tools optimally, you need schools (or advanced schools and teachers to teach them). It's a balancing act, especially when you start tossing in need for specific housing types to maintain or stagnate population growth on top of keeping a wide variety of foodstuffs for them.

Once again, I'm blown away by how much layering there is within the game. You're a city planner, resource and workforce manager, and always worried about what the next radioactive rain will do to your poor inhabitants and crops. It just takes a bit to get through the learning curve and understand the longer-term impacts of your poor planning on sticking housing in the wrong spot and making your people travel long distances to get water.

Ugh.

But seriously, the game looks great in its current build, and while I am still working my way through understanding it, there are points where I've been able to sit back for a bit and just let it run. The interface is well set up throughout, and after some trial and error, the keyboard + mouse combo works great. Throwing building plots out, assigning workers to tasks, or even just seeing the population's general thoughts is simple and easy. The game is also quick to point out if there's an issue somewhere, like low happiness factors or lack of materials, making it easy for you to jump in and manage accordingly.

Simply Put

Endzone: A World Apart shows a ton of promise, especially for those looking for an in-depth city builder and simulation management game. There's a literal TON of ways to manage your settlement, depending on the map and game at hand. The world, a broken ruin of what was before, is ripe for your taking as you work to keep your settlement alive and growing amidst the debris. Endzone is a fun yet complex game. It reminds me of the old Settlers titles, where the game's complexities grow as you get further and further into the layers of what's contained within. But that is also potentially one of its failure points – the sheer volume of stuff to manage and control can be daunting, much like how it probably would be if we were to find ourselves in a similar scenario within real life.

A challenging experience, Ghostunner's fluid movement system demands quick decision making and precise motions. Your katana easily cuts through most foes in a single strike, slicing bodies and appendages into chunks that can no longer threaten you. However, a single hit from your enemies wielding everything from slow-firing pistols to giant energy shields and automatic weapons results in a critical failure. Checkpoints are generous, and restarts are instantaneous, so frustration only comes from your lack of skill and not from the game being unfair. Although playing on PlayStation 4 with a controller, the lack of accessibility options results in a tougher experience than those playing on PC with a mouse and keyboard. Across all 17 levels, I've lost count of how many times I've been forced to restart, but it is certainly well into the hundreds. Besides alternate control schemes that shift some control from the triggers and shoulder buttons to face buttons, there isn't anything to lower or ease the demanding skill threshold required.

The first ability you acquire, sensory boost, helps with dodging incoming projectiles, whether in mid-air or running across a surface. Time slows down to a crawl, giving you a couple of precious seconds to decide to burst forward or to the side to escape an attack and strike at your opponent. As you progress, new abilities and upgrades are unlocked, including a grappling hook to advance your mobility further and even the ability to shoot an energy wave from your sword, killing anything in your path. Outside of the combat scenarios, you'll be leaping across the environments, wall-running across gaps, sliding through narrow openings, and jumping toward higher platforms. When everything comes together, and you smoothly jump, slide, deflect projectiles, wall-run, and slice through your enemies without hesitation, the game truly gives you the sensation of being a ninja.

Exploration during platforming sections is rewarded with hidden collectibles, world-building lore, and additional cosmetic skins for your katana. These sections are relatively linear, with one perceived path forward, while the combat areas were designed to allow for experimentation, with player skill being a key factor. Do I risk a straight-on approach and dodge to the side at the last second to avoid getting hit? Should I wall-run around the room, taking care of each of the three enemies in a counter-clockwise pattern? These thoughts were continually bouncing around inside my head, and yet, you aren't giving any time to decide. Stand still, and you'll probably be dead. Restart, and enemies are positioned back where they started, taunting you to learn from your failures.

Being played in first-person, it's very easy to overshoot an enemy when boosting towards them or merely missing with your blade. Typically, this resulted in getting shot in the back as I tried to reorient myself. It takes time to understand how far you'll travel when using the sensory boost and how to combine your other skills, and which ones are best used in each situation. With new unlocks and abilities being tied to progression, enemy strength keeps up with your growing gadgetry, ensuring the already taxing experience stays that way from start to finish. The aforementioned pistol-wielding foes are relatively standard but are quickly replaced with those that require specific tactics, such as only being able to be attacked from behind. Although you earn upgrades by playing, the game uses a limited space grid to place your chosen upgrades at any given moment. The better the upgrade, the more space it takes up, requiring you to play with these Tetris-like blocks to optimize their placement and maximize the space.

Simply Put

A demanding skill-based experience, Ghostrunner makes you feel like a cyberpunk ninja. Thanks to the quick restarts, and generous checkpoints, the game never feels overwhelming or unfair. The 17 levels took me close to twelve hours to complete but depending upon your skill level. If you search around for collectibles during the platforming sections, it could be a shorter/longer experience. The enemy variety and ever-changing visual aesthetic for each area of The Tower keeps the game from feeling like a chore. The synthwave cyberpunk soundtrack by Daniel Deluxe fits well with the impressively sharp visuals.

Although you are technically on the same evil side as the devil, the mindless demons roaming the Earth freely target you as if you were a pathetic, stinky human. Throughout the journey lasting six ghoulish levels, Pumpkin Jack is guided by a mysterious owl, which always has some wisdom for you, along with a bit of humor. There are twenty crow skulls to collect throughout, along with a single gramophone in each level. Looking at my recorded completion times, it takes anywhere from 30-45 minutes per level your first time through. When going through a second or third time to snag any of the missing collectibles, you don’t need to finish the level and can freely quit to the main menu. There’s no indication of where the missing items are located, so you’ll need to scour every inch from beginning to end. The skulls are spent in a shop to unlock six additional skins, including an inspector, cowboy, and samurai outfit. As you continue your search for the wizard, you’ll journey through a haunted cemetery, try looking for Jack’s earthly grave, a nefariously cursed swamp, and more decrepit looking locales. On Xbox One X, the game’s visuals look great. The cartoony stylized approach is rich with colors that pop, bringing the entire adventure to life and make each level genuinely unique.

The combat mechanics are reasonably simplistic (not that it is bad), allowing for basic combo attacks, jumping, and dodging. Although you have a health bar, enemies do not, but do perish in only a few hits, but tend to have multiple attack patterns to learn. Basic skeletons will first shoot a homing green orb towards you at range before charging in with a melee weapon. Regrettably, it can easily be mistaken for healing orbs gained from defeated enemies and breaking crates. Your companion crow can be sent out as an additional attack, especially at long-range. You may start with a shovel, but you’ll gain new equipment after each boss defeated, including a powerful shotgun, a long spear to keep your enemies away, and a deadly scythe. Bosses are massive, immune to your basic attacks, requiring you to memorize patterns and use all your tools and precision timing to defeat them.

Environmental puzzles see you detach your pumpkin head from your body to solve these enclosed sections. How does a pumpkin, or jack-o-lantern, in this case, move, you may ask? Well, through the devil’s powers, you have tentacle-like roots growing out of your body, serving as functional appendages. Just like in your full body form, you are capable of a double jump, along with a spin-attack. You’ll be tasked with activating levers, playing a match game with gravestones, and pushing a bomb into a position to open a path forward. Speaking of your double jump, it does take time to get used to the momentum you have while in the air. In Pumpkin Jack, your momentum still carries you in whatever direction you were moving. It’s best used to reach further distances or new heights, and maybe, you’ll get lucky if you need to correct your positioning, but don’t count on it. There is plenty of verticality in the game, requiring precision platforming across narrow or moving ledges. Careful not to ignite lanterns next to crates, as the entire area will be engulfed in flames.

A few different times throughout the game, you are locked into various runner-style mini-games, whether it is a rampaging gargoyle, a phantom horse, or a runaway mine cart. Each comes with their own damages, such as directing the horse away from incoming projectiles or tapping a button repeatedly to keep the gargoyle in the air. However, the mine cart sections were beyond frustrating. At first, it looked like it would be fun, a thrill, with broken rails, precision jumping, and solid music. Everything came to a screeching halt due to the very narrow fail state when leaning too far to one side. On-screen arrow indicators when you need to lean left or right; however, that never seemed to be the issue. At one point, I died five or six times on the same turn, and I still don’t know why. While the indicator does assist with leaning, I think the sparks are coming off both wheels continuously instead of stopping when one side lifts off the rails cause confusion.

Simply Put

Pumpkin Jack isn’t a long experience (roughly four-five hours) but is full of nostalgia for classic 3D platformers. It is a fun romp that hits all the notes that I’d want from a Halloween release. It has colorful and detailed visuals, a fantastic soundtrack, throwback style gameplay, and a few laughs. There are plenty of collectibles to find if you wish to hunt for achievements. Surprisingly, Pumpkin Jack is arguably a more robust release than the recently released remake for MediEvil.

At the base point, you're a detective. I mean, you're not really a detective, but the game puts you into that corner. The vice president of the world's leading tech company dies. Thought to be suicide initially, and it falls to you to find out details surrounding her death, her dealings, and get to the root of what's going on. Your tools, aside from the regular Q&A you're able to do in the real world, is a powerful machine you've built called "The Dreamwalker," allowing you to enter the mindscapes of individuals through their brain scans. Within these environments, you will traverse the people's subjective and objective memories in question, delving into their perceptions and mentality like none before.

The most mind-blowing aspect of the game (to me) that I'm still thrilled to see is the mind's physical appearance. The way things are not fully detailed, yet intricate in how the mind is "perceiving" them is incredible. It reminds me of some studies done in imaging what a person's mind actually sees about images – it's distinct and easily made out what the object might be. Still, it's comprised of several just out of focus pixels. The mindscape honestly feels like one of the best parts of the game as well; traversing it feels like you're moving from one random thought to another, but through a conjoined point that seemingly makes them connect.

Promising no jump scares, it's interesting how well Playmestudio has managed to put together a tense, interactive experience. In the real world and the mindscape, some areas are creepy, concerning, and make you feel something is about to happen. It's a neat way of creating tension in a game that mostly amounts to a walking simulator and puzzle game. The puzzles themselves are usually benign and easy to figure out, given you play with everything in the environment. However, I enjoy "picking up" data fragments and manipulating them to help me figure out where they belong and ultimately help complete a memory.

The other neat aspect of the mind is the ability to jump between memories and then the subjective vs. objective view of them; remember subjective being how we feel regarding what we're experiencing. You'll have to jump between states and memories to find solutions and understand more about your subject's dynamics, death, and past, and how it all relates to the present day. Outside of the machine, the real world has a series of almost QTE events (mostly just picking a dialogue option) that determines how you're interacting with those around you. Your choices play into the eventual outcomes of the game and how the cards eventually fall.

However, I don't understand why I feel so sluggish both in the real world and in the machine. Moving around to me is a pain, and while it's easy to interact with everything, I'll stop pressing WASD and glide a bit further than I wanted, or I'll shift over too much. Not a huge issue overall, but an annoyance that kept popping up in my playthrough.

Simply Put

The Signifier is a relatively solid interactive experience where you dive deeply into the ideas of self, psychology, technology, and the eventually marrying of the two and the potential ramifications. The mindscape, and some of the creepy factors within, are the best parts of the game and something I recommend anyone see at least once, given how it's presented. But, I also wonder if there's enough meat to the average gamer. It's an intriguing enough story with some twists, but there's only so much to do.

The narrative is told across seventeen missions (plus one training level) and fully voiced animated comic sequences before and after missions. With the ongoing release of the G.I. Joe Classified toy line, the developers worked closely with Hasbro, ensuring their vision for the characters stayed inline with their modern look. However, that does not mean they have pushed aside the past, as everything from outfits to the world design takes inspiration across different animated series and toy lines. Duke, field commander for the G.I. Joe's, and Cobra Commander, supreme leader for the terrorist organized Cobra; both have their classic A Real American Hero appearance if you purchase the digital deluxe edition of the game.

The digital deluxe edition also comes with a digital artbook and soundtrack. As a bonus, the soundtrack has many tracks from the A Real American Hero 80's animated series. With all twelve playable characters having at least one alternative look, the developers have utilized the franchise's history properly, adding a mixture of designs from the adaptations throughout the years (such as the Resolute and Renegade cartoons) with their unique take of specific looks. Although there are only twelve playable characters split between the two sides, the game does feature a handful of other Joe's in one form or another throughout the story. You can expect cameos from Shipwreck, Gung-Ho, Mainframe, and more, but plans for Cobra characters had to be cut during development, which included everyone's favorite twins Tomax and Xamot. However, Major Bludd's appearance is used as the multiplayer announcer when playing Cobra.

Cobra Commander, leader of the infamous terrorist organization Cobra, bent on world domination, finally claims victory over the G.I. Joe. After jamming communications, Cobra successfully takes control of the USS Flagg following a surprise attack. With it, the entire G.I. Joe satellite network, knocking out the power for all electronics worldwide, besides those operated by Cobra. Team Joe must reunite, traverse the globe, and put an end to Cobra's nefarious operations. It was undoubtedly the right choice, letting you play both sides of the conflict. The entirety of the campaign in G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout can be played solo or cooperative split-screen with a friend. Sadly, the game's competitive multiplayer components are also limited to local only, with no online support.

For this reason, you are given a choice between two characters the first time through each mission, with all characters unlocked when replaying. Vehicle stages where you must drive either a Cobra H.I.S.S. tank or a G.I. Joe Persuader through dangerous terrain populated by massive turrets, landmines, and even Cobra Rattlers, are much more manageable when playing alone. During co-op, one player manages movement, and the other has full control over the weapon systems.

Stats for every character are broken into four categories: speed, shield, fire rate, and firepower. Both Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow are speedy but lack firepower, whereas Destroy and Roadblock are powerhouses but slow on their feet. The primary weapon and ultimate ability define each character, and each side has a mirrored member, at least based on class and type of firepower. For example, Baroness and Duke are both soldier types, capable of using a combat roll to avoid incoming attacks, an assault rifle for their primary weapon, and a special grenade for their ultimate that explodes multiple times. I'd say that the must-have characters on each side are included in the game, but there are one or two that are lesser-known, giving the developers the freedom to expand upon their background. I barely remember the technology geek Sci-Fi from A Real American Hero, but he plays a prominent role in the narrative. I found his unique playstyle producing a temporary protective barrier with an electronic gadget that can target his foes an excellent alternative to the standard gunplay.

Robots in the series are mostly associated with Cobra and their limitless B.A.T.s (Battle Android Troopers). However, both sides of the struggle have now employed these robots as their primary military forces. It is an easy way to stay true to the cartoon series targeted at children by not killing anyone. No one cares about destroying robots, so it was a smart design choice. Even when you battle against named characters, they simply kneel and retreat after being defeated. Your character has a set amount of shield and health points, which varies based on your chosen hero or villain. Shields recharge over time, but health requires you to find pickups to regenerate. If you are unhappy with a primary weapon, I'm looking at you, Firefly; you can find new secondary ones scattered around, ranging from assault rifles, sniper rifles, handguns, and shotguns.

Across all of the missions, the gameplay never feels quite right due to the way aiming is handled in Operation Blackout. Even during the training mission, I struggled to properly keep my crosshair on enemies for more than a brief period. The game does have an auto-targeting option, but foes barely stand still, avoiding your shots as if this game was a fast-paced arena shooter. Aiming sensitivity can be tweaked, but lowering it means you'll have trouble keeping up to your enemies' quick movements, and increasing the sensitivity does not play well with a controller. Even at the default setting, there feels like there is an acceleration or lagging sensation attached to swinging the right stick around. I found the only working solution was playing on a lower difficulty or abusing the auto-aim and repeatedly taping the left trigger before every shot. The game isn't designed as a run-and-gun shooter, although it seems like it has an identity crisis. There are numerous energy barriers for you to take cover behind for protection. Considering enemies are always on the move, it feels like two very different gameplay systems are operating simultaneously. At lower difficulties, the game feels like you can get away with running around without a care, but you'll need to be cautious on higher settings. Mission objectives tend to repeat, and for the most part, you'll be defending yourself against waves of respawning enemies. Strangely enough, foes spawn directly in front of you, either bursting from drop pods or simply teleporting right before you.

Besides the campaign, G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout includes competitive multiplayer modes for up to four players, limited to local split-screen. There aren't many options, and you are limited to specific game modes depending upon your chosen map. Team Arena, essentially team deathmatch, allows you to select the victory condition based on a set kill or time limit. It's relatively barebones, especially when you look at other shooter games being released. Spawning locations can be tricky on specific maps, resulting in unavoidable spawn camping to rack up easy kills.

Simply Put

G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout serves up nostalgia for G.I. Joe fans, with a narrative that feels right at home for the series. The colorful and stylized cel-shaded visuals are perfect for the franchise, making you feel like you are playing inside a comic book. It's a real shame that the overall gameplay falls flat thanks to poor aiming mechanics. The AI that joins you when playing solo is utterly useless, and enemies can backtrack faster than you can advance towards them. There are optional side objectives to complete, and collectibles to find, which unlock alternative looks for characters, weapon skins, and comic cover art. G.I. Joe has so much history, with characters that ooze personality, it is just a shame that the final product here comes up shorter than Cobra Commander's usual Saturday morning plot to wipe out the Joes. Ultimately there's a decent base to build from. Still, the gameplay needs refining, and the competitive multiplayer needs online support and a bump in the player count to be competitive in today's market.

Dinosaurs have reclaimed their planet 65 million years after the Cretaceous Period ended with an impact that wiped most life from the Earth. Strange mutations have brought them back, hunting humanity until the last few remaining survivors fled off-world safely. Now, to reclaim Earth, you must assemble a three-person team of resistance fighters, complement each other's loadout and once again send the prehistoric beasts back to the extinction list.

In Second Extinction, teams with three drop down onto a massive open-world, completing primary objectives and extracting before hundreds of sharp teeth and claws rip you to shreds. As a recently released Steam Early Access title, with consoles having to wait till 2021, there's an enjoyable experience to be had, even if it is rough around the edges in its current form. First off, the game is designed as a cooperative title, preferably with a full three-person squad. The game doesn't tailor the experience or difficulty for smaller parties. I've attempted to drop to the surface alone, and let's say, I lasted about as long as Dennis Nedry did against the Dilophosaurus in Jurassic Park. Is it possible to accomplish objectives solo? Absolutely. Is that the best way to play the game, in my opinion? Absolutely not.

The frozen tundra campaign has six main missions, spread across rocky mountainous areas, vast valleys and cavern systems, and frosty, icy shorelines. Finishing the starting five missions unlocks the final sixth mission. The mutated dinosaurs in Second Extinction are quite varied (although Velociraptors are clearly the developer's favorites), ensuring you aren't merely facing the dinosaurs you've learned about in the history books. Sure, the most common enemies are packs of standard raptors (need more feathers) are deadly in their own right, but the game shines when it starts throwing various types of mutated species at you and your team.

The larger alpha raptor can boost nearby raptors and call for reinforcements. The electric raptor can camouflage themselves, use electricity to attack, and dodge incoming bullets. Diggers come equipped with armor protecting their head and arms, the ability to burrow into the ground, and launch themselves upwards. Thankfully, raptors aren't the only species in the game, as you'll need to coordinate with your team to take down larger and stronger threats. The armored Ankylosaurus with its wrecking ball-like tail and the rampaging Triceratops require you to alter your tactics. The best approach involves the use of explosives to knock them over, exposing their weak point. The Tyrannosaurus is capable of leaping towards you, using their massive teeth to rip you apart, and stomping their massive feet to disorient you if you happen to be nearby.

Second Extinction features weekly world updates that alter the three-tier levels of threat (low, medium, and high) assigned to each map region. High enough threat level, and you won't be able to drop into that area or even call for an extraction. Heck, you may not even be able to respawn upon death. Without a partner to help you up, you may have a long trip back to the objective. Dinosaurs roam in higher numbers, not to mention that the regions with the most heightened threats are covered in neon glowing bioluminescence. I have yet to experience an emergence event but hear they are challenging. Completing missions and objectives in specific areas, lowers the threat level while failing to reduce the advancing mutated dinosaurs raises the threat. Currently, half of the map is at the highest threat level, and this being the first world campaign during Early Access may lead to an utter failure for humanity. The aim is to provide a risk vs. reward element, where the higher threat levels offer a higher chance of obtaining rare materials for upgrades. Contracts are unlocked upon reaching level five, providing even further rewards. The more objectives you complete, the higher your mission rating.

Each region has various optional objectives that aren't tied to the primary mission goals. You are free to cross into other areas, meaning there are dozens of objectives for you to complete every time you drop to the planet's surface. You may be tasked with blowing up caverns, hunting down a t-rex, activating radar stations, shooting down drones, trapping raptors, extracting supply crates, and more.

There are only seven weapons in the game (currently), each with their own stats based on damage, range, fire rate, etc. As you complete missions and objectives, you'll earn research points and collect resources. The upgrade process is a bit cumbersome; you need to spend research points to create upgrade tokens and to unlock upgrade slots, adding a +1 to impact, stability, handling, etc. You'll need to place the upgrade tokens into the slots to gain across to any connected perks, which also needs to be unlocked. However, the perks forgo using research and instead require you to spend materials collected from dinosaurs.

Each of the four heroes comes with a primary and secondary weapon and three abilities (one passive and two actives). For example, Ortega can replace her sidearm with a primary weapon, giving her access to an assault rifle and shotgun. Her active traits allow her to dash forward, while her unique ability triggers an enhanced combat state. With her massive heavy minigun, Rosy can passively regain health, deploy electrical barriers, and trigger her teammates' health regeneration. One thing to note in my six or seven games with Marcus and Tim, other players were not able to visually see the pylons placed, which makes it harder to lure foes into traps.

Simply Put

Second Extinction shows promise, although I wouldn't want to play without a full three-person party. Through Steam Early Access, the developers plan to expand the game with new types of mutations, emergence events, weapons, updates/fixes, seasonal content, and more. It's fun dropping supply pods onto raptors and watching them get launched through the air. Weapons feel a tad underpowered, but I'll admit none of them are currently fully upgraded. Each of us did experience crashing here and there, but once you boot back into the game, there's an option to rejoin, and it worked every time. I think it is a bit silly that the game doesn't support drop-in/out support once missions have started, and I do hope cross-play will come once the game launches on other platforms.

Monster Truck Championship deeply integrates your career across every aspect of the game. It is even the first thing you must set up before you even reach the main menu. You'll select the career difficulty, whether truck damage affects performance/handling or whether it is strictly cosmetic, and other adjustable settings such as transmission, abs implementation, and more. Unless you reset your career (losing all your progress), you are locked into the initial set difficulty. Any high scores earned through the online leaderboards for each event remains, as well as other game settings. Not sure that I agree with the decision, especially considering the learning curve for controlling these massive forces of destruction with separate front and rear axle controls. Set it too high, and you may feel discouraged after being blown out of events when you first start, but the opposite is true as well. Playing on easy, and you may become bored, quickly lapping other trucks during races.

Without the official Monster Jam license, Teyon has created monster trucks inspired by and resembling all of your favorites. There are ample truck customizations in the garage, although most must be purchased using earnings from career events or from completing sponsor objectives. As you progress, you'll have the option of adding team members that can provide stat bonuses, such as increased torque or throttle, but may take a percentage of your winnings. The garage is broken into six different categories, separating key components; engine, brakes, transmission, tires, and suspension that alter the performance of your monster truck's top speed, acceleration, handling, braking. You are free to modify the appearance, from the chassis down to the rims, exhaust, and top/rear attachments.

There isn't much available at the start of your career, but you can freely paint your truck and all of the various components, such as the driveshaft, chassis, and more. Instead of racing against licensed fan-favorites, such as Grave Digger, you can scrape together equivalent parts to build a "fear on wheels" truck, complete with green/purple/black color scheme (if you so wish), ghoulish looking artwork, and optional pirate flag attached to the rear of the truck. There aren't as many sticker designs as I would have liked, but considering that each truck's section is designed independently, you can mix & match to keep things feeling fresh. I will say that I did see multiple players creating their version of Grave Digger online already on launch day. I mentioned that it was and still is one of the most popular trucks, didn't I?

As the newest driver competing across the national circuit, you'll earn points across three leagues; national, professional, and major. Each one consists of nine days of races, and one final event, where you'll need to place first to advance to the next league tier. Events are multiple stages long, ranging from two to upwards of five during the league finals. You'll race against seven other drivers, become a drag racing champion, and perform stunts and crush cars to earn points in freestyle and destruction competitions. Your journey takes you across the continental United States, from Kilgore, Texas, the capital of the monster truck world, to Foxborough, Massachusetts. Your truck's stats are terrible, at least when you begin, but as you earn start earning first-place finishes, more powerful parts become available in the garage. By the time you are competing in the major league finals, you'll probably be close to having fully maxed out stats.

Tuning options allow you to tailor the feel of your truck across stunt and racing setups for things such as suspension height, stiffness damping, torque, and gear ratio. The provided descriptions help those unaware, ensuring newcomers remain competitive against veterans tuning cars/trucks in games for decades. While the option exists in the garage, you can also tweak the settings before every stage in an event based on your needs.

Monster trucks aren't as nimble or control as elegantly as aerodynamic race cars, so don't expect to become unstoppable without training. The game's tutorial does a great job of introducing the unique nature of throttling an almost 11-foot tall hunk of metal around tracks without flipping on to your side. It feels virtually unnatural initially, as the left analog stick and right analog stick are used in conjunction to manipulate the front and rear axles respectfully. Besides being a requirement to pull off certain maneuvers, lightly tapping the right stick during races helps swing your back end around tight corners. Use too much force and risk a spin-out, proving the deciding factor in a close drag race. I speak from firsthand experience online, losing a drag race by less than a hundredth of a second.

Similarly, you'll always need to be aware of your throttle. Hammering it down can feel exhilarating, but it may not be the best course of action to fly over a ramp during a race, especially if a bend in the track follows. During trick events, and you learn this during the tutorial, you must manage your throttle to pull off various tricks, such as a wheelie, drafting, spinning on your sidewalls, and even balancing on your front wheels. Of course, just like in real life, there are times where you throw caution out the window and hit a ramp without everything you got, only to turn around and hit another, rollover a few times, and go again.

Race tracks are relatively wide, allowing multiple trucks to pass on either side of you at its widest, but the starting grid feels claustrophobic. Since you'll always start a race stage in the eighth slot, you'll need to work your way past seven other trucks that are probably colliding into each other. The tracks consist of mostly dirt and mud but contain sections on pavement and branching paths, helping to thin the herd. By the time you cross the finish line, your truck's tires and body will be caked in thick mud. Well, that is to say, if you have anybody parts left, as optional damage can strip your body and attachments right off.

Single-elimination, three-round tournaments represent drag races during the career mode. You'll start by keeping the brake pedal held, allowing you to rev the throttle to the perfect rpm threshold before perfectly timing the release of your brake. It does take some getting used to, feathering the throttle, which may feel a bit cumbersome depending on the device you are using. I found it worked very well with an Xbox One controller, but when streaming with a Razer Kishi, which doesn't have great triggers, it became almost impossible to time the release and feather the throttle at the same time. The different locations keep drag racing feeling fresh, altering not only the length of each track, but the form it takes, whether it is a single "u-style" bend, or if it includes ramps, cars to crush, or even bridges.

The two stunt events are probably what most people think of when you mention monster trucks. Bring in the car crushing, the high flying ramps, the crowds cheering as the trucks flip over uncontrollably (granted the driver is not hurt). Instead of simultaneous competition, you are provided with other drivers' point totals and must beat them within the set time limit. If you don't, just like every other event, you can retry without penalty. Destructible objects are littered throughout the arenas, from porta potties to caravans perfectly placed for crushed or bulldozed. The key to victory comes from stringing stunts together in close proximity and keeping the multiplier as high as possible.

Besides playing single events outside of your career, the game does feature basic online components. Online multiplayer is limited to two players for drag races and up-to eight players for track racing. It would have been cool to experience simultaneous stunt events for at least two players. There's no local multiplayer included in the game. Maybe a sequel will expand the multiplayer offering.

Simply Put

Monster Truck Championship is the best monster truck game to be released. The lackluster presentation and technical hiccups hold it from being great. The driving and stunt controls are solid, even if they take some practice. Short draw distance causes frequent pop-ups during races. There's no music during races, and the crowd is completely silent most of the time. It doesn't take that long to make your way through all 30 of the career events, and in the process, earn millions of dollars. Some appearance parts can cost a pretty penny, so you'll need to replay events to unlock everything.