A few weeks before it came out, the executive producer of Afro Samurai 2 Revenge Of Kuma Volume 1 (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC) — one of a bunch people at Redacted Studios who also worked on the original Afro Samurai — confessed that, “No one on the team was really happy with how the first game turned out.” Unfortunately, I doubt anyone is going to be happy with how this new game turned out, either.
Since the explosion of mobile games began, there’s been a bunch that seem like they’d work just as well, if not better, on a game console, and with a controller. But while few mobile games ever make that transition, the 2D, side-scrolling, puzzle-driven platformer Leo’s Fortune is bucking this trend by bringing this iOS, Android, Windows phone, and Amazon Fire game to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, and Mac. And though it took a year to make the trip, it seems that it was time well spent.
With the release of Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain (PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC), mastermind Hideo Kojima says goodbye to a series he’s steered since 1987’s Metal Gear. But while he’s going out on a high note — as you can see from my review of the game — I couldn’t help but think his departure might actually be a good thing. Here’s why.
While Turn 10 Studios have repeatedly shown that they know how to make great racing games with their Forza Motorsport series, they were actually usurped last year when Playground Games absolutely nailed the controls (well, for arcade fans, that is) for the Forza spin-off Forza Horizon 2. But now Turn 10 have stolen the crown back by bringing those great controls, and a whole lot more, to Forza Motorsport 6 (Xbox One), which is not only the best Forza game yet, but one of the strongest games of the year as well.
With a wide open world full of story-driven missions, random encounters, and even plants to collect, the third-person stealth-action game Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain (PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC) plays like a sneaky version of The Witcher III: Wild Hunt if you swapped magic for machine guns. But while that might sound like a big departure to fans on this long-running series, what this really does is adapt the classic Metal Gear Solid formula to a engaging new setting, one that helps make this one of the most compelling games of the year.
Chronicle Books have announced that they will release Tom Clancy’s The Division Survival Guide, a companion book to the upcoming game Tom Clancy’s The Division, on March 8th, the same day as the game.
When the first-person survival horror game ZombiU came out in 2012, it showed how the WiiU’s tablet-like controller could be used for some inventive games. Which makes it all the more ironic that Zombi — a version of ZombiU for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC — is just as good as the original, even though it’s played with a more typical controller.
Ever since Don Bluth made Dragon’s Lair in 1983, people have tried to make video games that were more like interactive movies, with varying degrees of success. But while Until Dawn (PlayStation 4) mostly manages to get the “interactive” part right, it doesn’t do so well in the “movie” department.
Paperback copies of the upcoming Halo novel, Halo Last Light, will include a download code for a free Halo 5 Guardians “REQ Pack.”