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PlayStation 5 Reviews Video Games

“Indiana Jones And The Great Circle” (PlayStation 5 Edition) Review

 

In 2006, when the TV show 24 was in its fifth season, one of my fellow game journalists told me he’d gotten an opportunity to play the video game 24: The Game weeks before it came out. When I asked him how it was, he said something along the lines of, “Yeah, it’s good.”

But then he asked if I was a fan of the show, and when I said I was, he got very excited. “Oh, then it’s really good,” he exclaimed, “It totally feels like an episode of the show.”

This is the same reaction I’d give anyone who asks me about Indiana Jones And The Great Circle, which is now available on PlayStation 5 after first coming to Xbox Series X|S and PC. While it may not be what you want from a game starring the eminent Dr. Jones, it’s a great recreation of everything we love about his movies.

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PC PlayStation 5 Reviews Video Games Xbox Series S Xbox Series X

“Blue Prince” Review

 

At a time when some people worry they may never be able to afford a home, it seems cruel to make a video game in which a kid gets a free mansion.

But you won’t feel that way after you see what he has to do to get it. In the video game Blue Prince (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC) a fourteen year old kid has to search his grand uncle’s massive estate for the secret 46th room in a 45 room mansion. But to do so, he has to get through what I can only describe as a cross between a board game, an escape room, and a sadistic puzzle game.

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PC PlayStation 4 PlayStation 5 Reviews Video Games Xbox One Xbox Series S Xbox Series X

“Atomfall” Review

 

When we play such post-apocalyptic games as S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, Metro Exodus, or The Division 2, we expect them to be set in dark, moody places.

But in Atomfall (Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC), an open world, first-person post-apocalyptic survival action game from Rebellion Developments, the decimated world has a sunny disposition, and is all the more interesting for it. If only other aspects were as engaging as the setting.

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PC PlayStation 5 Video Games Xbox Series S Xbox Series X

“DOOM: The Dark Ages” Hands-On Preview

 

At a recent event held at Los Angeles’ City Market Social House, the good people from iD Software and Bethesda Softworks gave game journalists (myself included) an opportunity to play the upcoming sci-fi / fantasy first-person shooter Doom: The Dark Ages, which is slated to be released for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on May 15, 2025.

What follows are my impressions of the game.

(Note: All screenshots were provided by iD Software and Bethesda Softworks.)

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PC PlayStation 5 Video Games Xbox Series S Xbox Series X

“Post Trauma” Hands-On Preview

 

When Capcom and Konami released their respective remakes of their classic survival horror games Resident Evil 2 and Silent Hill 2, they not only updated the graphics, but the movement and camera controls as well, replacing the fixed position cameras and tank controls for a third-person, player-controlled approach. Which seemed to work out, given how some people — myself included — really appreciated these updated versions.

So it was rather surprising when, last week, I got the opportunity to play the upcoming survival horror game Post Trauma, and was told by producer Paul Wilson that it has controls and cameras similar to the original Resident Evil and Silent Hill games, not the remakes. And that it was done intentionally.

What follows are my impressions of my time with this game… and its controls.

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PC PlayStation 4 PlayStation 5 Reviews Video Games Xbox One Xbox Series S Xbox Series X

“Sniper Elite: Resistance” Review

 

Violence is never the answer, even when you inflict it on someone terrible. Y’know, like Nazis.

But virtual violence? Like in, say, a video game? That’s okay. And, if done well, can be as cathartic as it is fun.

It’s why I’d never punch a Nazi in real life, but absolutely love playing the Sniper Elite games, a series of fun third-person stealth action shooters set during World War II in which you undermine the German military by, well, shooting, stabbing, and blowing up Nazis. And German soldiers. And their stuff.

I enjoy them so much, in fact, that I don’t even mind that the newest installment, Sniper Elite: Resistance (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC), is basically just the previous one, 2022’s Sniper Elite 5, but with new locations and one new mode.

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PC PlayStation 5 Video Games Xbox Series S Xbox Series X

The Worst Video Games Of 2024

 

While 2024 wasn’t as good a year for video games as 2023, it also wasn’t as bad a year as 2023. Hence why my “Worst Games Of 2023” list had 8 games, and this list just has 3.

Though this may say more about me than the year in question.

Here’s my “list” (so to speak) of the worst games I played this year.

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PC PlayStation 4 PlayStation 5 Switch Video Games Xbox One Xbox Series S Xbox Series X

The Best Video Games Of 2024

 

Just as 2022 wasn’t as good a year for video games as 2023, so too was 2024 not as good a year for them as 2023.

Which isn’t to say there wasn’t anything worth playing this year.

Here, in the order I played them, are my favorite games of 2024.

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PC PlayStation 4 PlayStation 5 Reviews Switch Video Games Xbox Series S Xbox Series X

“Williams Pinball Volume 8” for “Pinball FX” Review

 

When the good people at Zen Studios make their original pinball tables for Pinball FX (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Switch, PC), they always pair realistic physics with unrealistic mechanics by, say, having the ball move like it would in real life, but on a table that has Mechagodzilla firing laser beam warning shots or K.I.T.T. from Knight Rider doing donuts.

But when it comes to their versions of classic pinball tables originally made by the iconic pinball company Williams, they have typically been faithful to the originals, both mechanically and aesthetically.

The operative word there being “typically.” That’s because for the three tables Zen have remade for Williams Pinball Volume 8Banzai Run, Black Knight 2000, and Earthshaker! — they’ve added some unrealistic (but optional) mechanics to these classics…and not everyone will be happy with the results.