“The Deadsuit. Quiet for many years… On this day, something stirs within. Something new…” And with these ominous words, the adventure that is Ghost Song begins. A sci-fi, third-person, side-scrolling shooter for Xbox Series X / S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC, and Switch, Ghost Song is a modern version of a classic kind of game that manages to be as unique as it is familiar, and as flawed as it is fun.
One of the hallmarks of the Call Of Duty series is that these first-person shooter games’ annual installments usually only makes incremental changes, not big ones. Not since 2007’s Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, anyway. And while that’s certainly true of Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare II (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X / S, Xbox One, PC), some of the changes they have made in this installment make things rather interesting.
As an old fool, I often like it when people kick it old school. Especially when those people are game designers making a first-person sci-fi shooter. But I also love modern conveniences. Which is why I was excited to try out Prodeus (Xbox Series X / S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Switch, PC), which the good people at Bounding Box Software have described as being an old school shooter with modern touches.
The rhythmic first-person shooter / hack & slash action game Metal: Hellsinger (Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, PC) has been billed as a cross between Doom and Guitar Hero, in that you shoot demons to the beat of heavy metal music. But having played the game — and, more importantly, experimented with different ways to play it — trust me when I say that while metalheads with a sense of rhythm will enjoy this the most, so will people who aren’t into heavy music or who have two left feet. Disliking Doom however…
As one of the only working video game critics old enough to have gone rollerskating in the ’80s, I feel it is my duty to inform you that the violent third-person rollerskating shooter Rollerdrome (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC) is in no way reflective of what real rollerskating was like back in the day. But what would’ve been horrific in the Livingston Roller Rink is great fun in virtual form…well, once you’ve adjusted your skates, that is.
As anyone who’s ever owned a cat will tell you, you can’t get them to do anything. You can’t get them to play “catch,” you can’t get them to come when you call them, you can’t get them to pick up a pizza on their way home from work even though it’s on their way… Heck, I’ve never owned a cat and even I know getting them to do stuff is like herding cats. Well, you need not be a former, current, or wannabe cat owner to appreciate the third-person action / adventure game Stray (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC), and not just because you get to tell a cat what to do and the cat has to do it. It’s just too bad that’s not all you do.
Unlike sequels, the expectations for add-ons are usually low. We expect there to be new missions, new locations, new enemies, and new weapons, but we don’t expect much in the way of new mechanics. And that’s okay. Take Worldslayers, a new add-on for the sci-fi third-person action / adventure shooter Outriders. While it does add something (which I’ll detail in a moment), that something doesn’t add much at all. Which is fine because while Outriders: Worldslayer — which is available both separately and as a part of a new, more complete version of the game (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC) — may not be an improvement on the core game, it more importantly doesn’t ruin it.
At a time when tired anti-Semitic conspiracy theories are being updated and mainstreamed — I’m looking at you, “Jewish space laser” lady — it’s nice to be able to vent my frustrations by shooting virtual Nazis in video games. And few games make this as satisfying as Sniper Elite 5 (Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC), a third-person, open world, stealth action World War II shooter that’s as deep and compelling as the best WWII gun games.
With similar settings, influences, and mechanics — but a very different perspective — it’s easy to think the samurai movie-inspired side-scrolling hack & slash action game Trek To Yomi (Xbox Series X / S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC) is just a 2D version of the samurai movie-inspired hack & slash action game Ghost Of Tsushima. But while the similarities are undeniable (and, I suspect, more coincidental than intentional), the biggest one they share is how both games are bloody good fun.