Madden NFL 21 Review – Playing It Safe

Publisher: EA Sports

Developer: EA Tiburon

Rating: Everyone

Reviewed on: Xbox One

Also on: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 4, Stadia, PC

Each year, every team must take a look at what it currently has and compare that with what it needs in order to achieve its goals. This year, EA Tiburon used its offseason to fine-tune gameplay, add a new arcade-style experience, and upgrade its career mode. But much like a middling football team, Madden NFL 21 isn’t quite ready to make a run at postseason glory.

Stepping onto the field with your teammates, calling plays, and working together to come out on top remain exciting. The on-field action, which was largely solid last year, has only been improved upon. I love the new Skill Stick for pass rushing, allowing you to be more fluid with your attempts to blow past the offensive linemen. While it’s not as revolutionary for ball carriers, the Skill Stick gives you more control over the moves you pull off when you’re evading would-be tacklers. Defenders are more aware and precise in getting you to the ground in this iteration, and my offensive players were more likely to outstretch their arms to reach a close first down, adding realism and alleviating some frustration from previous years. These improvements are small, but they go a long way to making play across all modes more enjoyable.

The cinematic career mode, Face of the Franchise, returns with an expanded pre-NFL experience, but the longer high school and college preamble just delays you reaching the main event of making the NFL. The story and presentation are woefully unaware of what’s going on; it was laughable that even when I was blowing out every team by 50 or more points there was still a battle for the starting job. On the narrative side, the story is full of unlikeable characters, ranging from your snippy friend and rival to your terrible-at-pep-talks college coach, and the faces in the cutscenes are definitely meant to be covered by football helmets.

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Once you make it into the NFL, the mode thankfully picks up. Rather than playing every game, Face of the Franchise puts you in three or four pivotal games per season that play a significant role in determining your legacy. These important moments are presented through narrative story arcs. I loved navigating these arcs, which range from leading a stacked team of star players to the Super Bowl to dealing with a performance-hindering injury, but I was often annoyed by how little my performance actually contributed to my team’s season. These arcs present you with fun scenarios off the field, such as trash-talking your rival to get a stat boost (but also firing up a key defender), or answering a question in a press conference about a teammate to affect their morale. However, even in the NFL, the narrative struggles to acknowledge what happens on the field; my all-time great run with the Ravens ended abruptly when the team decided to replace me with an awful backup.

While Face of the Franchise received myriad changes, the series’ standard franchise mode has been largely neglected. Taking command of a team in hopes of creating the next great dynasty remains thrilling, but I’m disappointed by the lack of upgrades. This is often my go-to mode in Madden, but it feels nearly identical to the offerings last year.

You can create an online league to take franchise mode into the multiplayer realm or immerse yourself in the card-based Ultimate Team mode with options like seasons and MUT Squads, but Madden NFL 21’s online suite remains largely focused on quick one-off competitions. From standard head-to-head multiplayer to the rapid-fire, 5-minute Superstar K.O. mode, you can certainly still step into the online suite with the mindset of getting your fix and moving on without any long-term commitment.

Madden NFL 21 also introduces The Yard, a mode inspired by backyard football, where it’s 6v6, modified rules, and all players play both sides of the ball. I enjoy the callbacks to the style of football I played with family and friends as a kid. Since there’s no offensive line, the quarterback can’t scramble unless a defender blitzes, with the defense operating on a “One-Mississippi” rule for crossing the line of scrimmage. Toss other elements not found in the NFL, like trick plays with multiple passes, directly snapping the ball to any player on your team, and stylish behind-the-back throws and between-the-legs catches, and The Yard aptly differentiates itself from the action on the NFL gridiron. While the mode delivers unique offline challenges to complete and fun head-to-head online play, the customizable nature of the players’ outfits often makes it difficult to differentiate the two teams.

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Each time you jump into a game, you select a prototype, which essentially acts as a loadout for your player in that game. These prototypes are modeled after some of the NFL’s biggest stars like Lamar Jackson and Odell Beckham Jr., and level up as you use them. I loved adding additional skills to my favorite prototypes, but the drip-feed of unlocks and the ambiguity of what I was actually earning – both with prototypes and the mode’s cosmetics – made it less rewarding.

Sadly, several immersion-breaking visual glitches occur across all modes, including invisible players on sidelines, players teleporting before your very eyes to snap into a touchdown celebration, and players constantly walking into and clipping through each other post-play. These hiccups aren’t confined to the field, however, as even the cutscenes and menus feature flickering text, repeated dialogue, and my Face of the Franchise player having the wrong college listed on his profile despite the lengthy college-focused portion of that mode.

Those looking for a huge step forward in the EA Sports’ football franchise won’t find it with Madden NFL 21. However, despite its lack of major upgrades, Madden NFL 21 is still a mechanically sound and fun football game.

Score: 7.75

Summary: Though the lack of meaningful new content is disappointing, Madden NFL 21 still brings a solid experience once you step onto the field.

Concept: Send essentially the same team as last year (with a few minor upgrades) back on the field for another season

Graphics: Madden NFL 21 looks good on the field, but visual glitches on the sidelines and in the endzone celebrations rip you right out of the experience

Sound: The commentary is mostly solid, but has a tendency to meander and completely ignore context

Playability: The new Skill Stick gives you more control than ever before, and the small-but-noticeable gameplay upgrades across the board improve the experience

Entertainment: Despite meager upgrades this year, Madden NFL 21 still delivers solid on-the-field action for football fans

Replay: Moderately high

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Wasteland 3 Review — A Cold Day In Hell

Publisher: Deep Silver

Developer: inXile Entertainment

Release: 2020

Rating: Mature

Reviewed on: PC

Also on: PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Wasteland is a series about survival. As one of the Rangers, your journey takes you to frigid Colorado, where the Patriarch needs your help reuniting his incredibly messed up family in the city of Colorado Springs. Do you help the highly questionable despot for the good of the people? Maybe you recruit some of his kids and crush dad's legacy. Hell, maybe you just kill everyone and take over the city yourself, Ranger creed be damned. Wasteland 3 is about constant, meaningful choices. The story is set in a dystopian, post-apocalyptic world, and over the course of a playthrough, I both loved and hated my decisions, which rippled from character to character and faction to faction.

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Combat is clean, smooth, and easy to understand in terms of movement and actions – an improvement over Wasteland 2. Everything comes down to action points. Firing a rocket launcher costs you more exertion than shooting a pistol, for instance. Executing a special move costs more than moving a tile. Cover is critical to defending yourself from the endless hail of bullets and beams, so choosing where to end your turn becomes an important tactic. Your effective range is nicely highlighted in the UI, so you know exactly where to move and still have the resources to attack with a stellar 88 percent chance to hit. You may cry when you miss and the enemy chops you in two with a giant machete, but hey, that's what save files are for.

You can create four playable characters to use and also recruit two NPCs, who you can also customize – but they have their own morals and allegiances. If you push them too hard, they may bail on your crew. You have a solid pool out there to recruit from, but if you’re like me, you will get attached and balance your behavior to facilitate their needs.

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Determining how to approach every situation matters, both in and out of combat. I had a varied crew of experts ready for all kinds of situations. My character Duck is a master of the mallet, can walk over mines, and launches rockets with the best of them. Another one of my allies is an expert sniper who can target specific body parts and talk amazing trash – scaring enemies into submission and ending fights before they even begin. And that’s just the start of the choices in front of you. 

Eventually, I created a master ace with pistols who could fry the circuits of any robots I encountered with expert CPU shots, turning them against their masters. Skills that don't involve combat can save your life, allowing you to deftly handle everything from tripwires to drunk bar patrons. From lockpicking, sweet-talking, sneaking around, and even repairing toasters, every point you allocate is significant, and it’s a ton of fun agonizing about every skill point you place.

The world is mostly open, and you’re free to roam around in your Kodiak vehicle to find random encounters, oodles of side-quests and locations of interest, and other random shops and map popups. You can even use your vehicle in combat where situations allow and find a ton of upgrades for it, both functional and cosmetic. If you’re a brazen explorer, you can push the boundaries hard and probably end up being buried in the snow a few times, but that’s also how you find cool and powerful upgrades. Random encounters are mostly annoying, but you can eliminate them through the use of the survival skill.

Upgrading your Ranger Headquarters is one of the most satisfying aspects of the adventure. Unlocked almost immediately, your base is a run-down trash heap that you turn into an amazing bastion, full of functional and important services like a medbay and armory while housing tons of characters. Your interactions with the people there have significant and subtle effects on how things play out in your eventual ending.

Wasteland 3 makes you feel the weight of your actions in an unforgiving world. No good deed goes unpunished, and sometimes no choice is the right one. The post-apocalyptic world is broken, and so are most of the people in it. Sometimes, you won’t feel the repercussions of your actions for many, many hours, when a questionable decision can come back and change everything. Characters you befriend in the early hours could become enemies as your journey nears its end, and emptying a souped-up plasma cannon into one of your once-trusted pals is more chilling than the endless snow covering the ground outside.

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Wasteland 3 is a bit rough around the edges at times. I had various characters bug out and refuse to interact with me without a game restart, sound skipping and looping, and massive slowdowns in combat that also required a reboot. Given the scope of all you can do, these issues are mostly forgivable, and they don’t cause irreversible damage to the experience. 

Wasteland 3 is a solid CRPG, tasking you with decisions both minute and massive as you carve your legacy into Colorado. Will you serve the Patriarch for the greater good? Will you join forces with his psychotic son? His rebellious daughter? Or will you just roll around in the snow looking to pick fights with Scorpitrons? They’re all worth doing, so suit up and roll out for some wild times in the wastelands.

Score: 8.5

Summary: Wasteland 3 serves up a satisfying and highly customizable RPG experience.

Concept: Restore Colorado to a semblance of society, or burn the whole system down

Graphics: The isometric environments can feel washed out and drab, but details do pop out and make looking at your armor, weapons, and gadgets fun

Sound: From gun reloads, cool tunes, battle shrieks, and fully-voiced encounters, the sound contributes to the immersion

Playability: The systems are complex, but traditional CRPG fare. An easier difficulty setting is provided for those looking to experience the story without too much punishment

Entertainment: The world is yours to shape and form however you choose. While a bit rough around the edges, the exploration and discovery entertainment is top-notch.

Replay: High

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Tell Me Why Review – Too Much Left Unanswered

Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios

Developer: Dontnod Entertainment

Rating: Mature

Reviewed on: Xbox One

Also on: PC

Developer Dontnod doesn’t shy away from difficult topics, even if it means some missteps along the way. On one hand, this is admirable; the studio has helped push the medium forward in the stories it can tell, exploring challenging subjects like mental health and racism. On the other hand, this is new territory, and there’s still plenty to learn. Tell Me Why showcases this quandary; Tyler breaks new ground as a transgender protagonist, but Dontnod also delves into topics such as grief, panic disorder, and the importance of therapy. For all these steps forward, this game still stumbles with some portrayals and plot holes.

Tell Me Why centers on twins Tyler and Alyson, who are brought back together after being separated for a decade. While happy to be reunited, the occasion hits a somber note since they must prepare to sell their deceased mother’s house – which also means confronting the tragic event that caused her demise and separated them all those years ago. Tyler and Alyson’s bond is powerful and sincere, and I enjoyed every scene between the two of them, whether it was just banter or facing their difficult past. Dontnod does a great job at surfacing memories that showcase how special their relationship is, since they only had each other growing up.

While Tyler and Alyson’s exchanges are what make the experience, the same can’t be said for the overall story. It has a good amount of suspense and tension as you try to figure out what really happened with their mother, but Tell Me Why’s three-part arc moves at an over-accelerated pace. Relationships feel rushed, especially when it comes to romance and forgiveness. 

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None of this is more apparent than when trying to uncover what type of person the twins’ mother really was. She ends up feeling more like a plot device than person due to unexplained details, and even in the end, you never really get any satisfying answers. I won’t spoil anything, but her story is full of plot holes, especially in terms of her mental well-being, and it’s a shame Dontnod didn’t handle this aspect better considering its sensitive nature. That being said, the writers do a much better job with Tyler; the story touches on him being transgender, but it’s not the focus. The tale strikes a good balance between acknowledging this part of him but not letting it overshadow or define the journey of confronting his mother’s death. 

The road to acceptance has you exploring Tyler and Alyson’s small hometown in Alaska and making choices as they recall memories from their past. Dontnod takes the twins’ intense connection one step further by giving them a special ability to hear each other’s thoughts and view their recollections from the past together. In many ways, you are chasing their memories as they surface, which sometimes leads to finding a necessary item or new clue. I liked this aspect because it showcases how two people can remember the same event differently, and it fits well with the overall theme of reflecting on how the past shaped you as a person.

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However, there’s one part of Alyson and Tyler’s special ability that didn’t work for me. At certain moments in the story, the twins remember events a bit differently, such as if a character seemed angry or sad during a heated exchange. You then pick whose memory you want to believe. It feels like you’re being forced to invalidate how the other character feels, or just choosing the version you want to believe over finding the truth. This isn’t about coming to terms with the events, and I found the mechanic more frustrating than worthwhile, like it was unnecessarily pitting the characters against each other. 

The choices in Tell Me Why feel more subtle and less impactful compared to Dontnod’s past work, and I felt like I didn’t have as much agency over the story or events. Your decisions factor into Alyson and Tyler’s relationship and how they choose to move on with their lives, but the differences are minor. 

When you’re not making dialogue choices, you encounter minor puzzles and minigames, which are also very hit or miss. I loved ice fishing and solving the riddles, but examining graves to find a person or searching archives by remembering file names are more tedious than fun. One cleverly implemented mechanic is helping Alyson get on track during a panic attack by looking at an app that you tap to regulate her breathing. 

Tell Me Why doesn’t exactly answer the question it poses in its title, and maybe that’s the point. Even so, I came away with mixed feelings by the end. I really enjoyed getting to know Tyler and Alyson, and I felt the suspense and intrigue of figuring out this larger mystery, but it also disappointed me. This was only further illustrated in the ending choice, which is just absolutely awful in terms of how it’s presented and how the characters rationalize it in the scenes that follow. It doesn’t end on a strong note, and what’s in between is full of highs and lows. The highs make it worth playing, but just expect to be shaking your head when those low points hit. 

Score: 7.75

Summary: The powerful bond between twins Tyler and Alyson shines, but the overall story stumbles.

Concept: Reunite twins after a decade to clear out their deceased mother’s house and stir up painful memories in the process

Graphics: Alaska provides a beautiful and serene backdrop for the twins’ journey, even if the graphics aren’t that impressive. The facial animations and dialogue syncing could use some work

Sound: Dontnod has a flair for finding great music to support its characters’ emotional plights. Outside of a few awkwardly delivered lines, the voice acting is natural and well done

Playability: Straightforward controls make exploration and conversations easy to maneuver, but selecting items when they’re close together using a controller can be frustrating

Entertainment: Tell Me Why shines brightest when it’s focusing on the powerful bond between twins Tyler and Alyson, but the overall story and memory mechanics don’t ever reach the same high bar

Replay: Moderate

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PGA Tour 2K21 Review – A Sweet Swing

Publisher: 2K Sports

Developer: HB Studios

Rating: Everyone

Reviewed on: Xbox One

Also on: PlayStation 4, Switch, Stadia, PC

PGA Tour 2K21 is a sure shot, hitting the green with the precision and finesse of a pro. Whether you are swinging away with heavy lumber from the tee to win a championship or are chipping out of a bunker to save par, the stroke play is beautifully crafted. It is also fully malleable, allowing players to achieve a realistic game where they are battling hooks and slices, or an arcade experience where every approach is within a whisper of the pin.

PGA Tour 2K21 may be a new video game series under the 2K Sports banner, but the nuts and bolts behind it are well worn, being tested and refined for years within The Golf Club series. The same development team behind those successful games is making PGA Tour 2K21, and they’ve further elevated their craft in this new release without sacrificing much. That series’ wonderful links play and course creator are back and better than ever. The rebranding may not have been necessary, but the PGA tie-in plays out in a big way, especially in term of content, such as being able to play on 15 championship courses against a number of PGA pros who eventually become your rivals.

The entire experience is backed by an excellently crafted analog swing that demands timing and fluidity. You see how your motion plays out in real time through a handy meter. You may feel you hit the ball perfectly, but the meter knows better, and you see just how off you were. The meter gets in your head, and you may second-guess what motion you need to use. When you factor in wind and difficult-to-read terrain, making a perfect shot can be challenging. I struggled for a few rounds, and hooked the ball more than I care to admit until I found a rhythm and a way to hold the controller to reduce the curve. You can get better clubs, but success and failure fall directly onto how well you swing and putt, which is how it should be; you won’t see any game-changing stat boosts here. Every shot counts and demands precision.

The pro courses (and a few that HB Studios created) put up good fights and are true to their real-life counterparts. I haven’t golfed on any of the real courses, but just knowing that this is an accurate recreation is a cool thing to experience, and you take part in the same challenges the pros face. A lot of the courses are built with risk and reward in mind, such as sand traps surrounding a nice stretch of fairway 300 yards out.

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Should you go for the big shot and miss your mark, hitting the ball into the rough can lead to a bit of frustration. Getting out of the tall grass delivers mixed results, such as some shots coming up well short of where they should, even on perfect swings. It becomes a bit of a guessing game that can led to an extra shot on an approach, which never fares well in close tournaments.

If you struggle in any aspect of your game, HB Studios has loaded up on variable options, including six difficulty levels for the swing – the lowest giving each shot a perfect trajectory (although the wind will still push it). Easing the swing mechanic can lead to much quicker matches, delivering an arcade-like experience similar to the Hot Shots or Mario Golf games. You can use these settings for the entire PGA Tour career, but cannot compete with them online, an area where pro-level skills are required.

The career mode takes you on a tour of some of PGA Tour’s big events (including the FedEx Cup), just without much pageantry. The presentation, celebrations, post-tournament analysis, statistical depth, and commentary (which is highly repetitive) all come up short. I do like the cutaways that show you the big shots made by other players, but they take too much time to load, and can take your mind out of a shot you were preparing for.

Victories in any avenue of play lead to currency that can be used to purchase new clothing and clubs. The clothing options aren’t varied enough, and a lot of what’s there looks, well, a bit junky. The character creator also doesn’t offer up much depth, especially in hair types.

I wasn’t able to create myself accurately in the game, but I did have an awesome time making my own courses. The creation tools work well, and give you a surprising amount of flexibility. One of my holes brought about a new golfing challenge: a dozen alligators on a green. On the next hole, the airspace above the pin was blocked by a giant, hovering airplane. I basically made a PGA minigolf course. You can also auto-generate courses that can then be tweaked or played in full, so there’s a lot of depth here.

If you want to play with friends, you can dive into great social community options, allowing you to search and join existing spaces, or build your own where you can invite your friends to partake in tours and tournaments. Some societies require virtual currency donations to join, but thankfully, you can also choose from plenty of free ones.

PGA Tour 2K21 certainly has areas that could be improved, but the golfing – the heart and soul of the experience – is exceptional, and can make you feel like a pro when you make perfect shots. HB Studios’ expertise in this sport shines and helps this new series get off to a hell of a start.

Score: 8

Summary: HB Studios continues to play a mean 18 holes, but the visuals and unlockables come up a little short.

Concept: The Golf Club series has a new identity, but hasn’t changed its pro swagger on the links

Graphics: You can read the course easily, but no details stand out as beautiful. Animations are rough, and crowds rarely react correctly to what is happening

Sound: The commentary is repeated often, and some of their calls happen before the ball completes its path

Playability: The analog swing is excellently crafted and the courses play well. Nicely designed options also allow you to move away from realistic to arcade play

Entertainment: While excelling with the clubs, the character-specific unlocks aren’t great, and you’re mostly just playing for score

Replay: Moderately High

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Necrobarista Review – Tasty Coffee And Heartfelt Life Lessons

Publisher: Route 59 Games

Developer: Route 59 Games

Release: August 8, 2019

Reviewed on: PC

Death is a complicated subject to tackle. The unknown is uncomfortable, and people tend to avoid it. Necrobarista made me want to do the opposite; it explores the topic using a unique premise, quippy humor, and fantastic writing to deliver heartfelt moments. Route 59 provides a hopeful and poignant message about how we spend our time and honor our relationships, and the charming characters and their lightheartedness prevents the narrative from getting too heavy or unbearable.

Necrobarista is purely a visual novel, so you click through the story without any agency to influence it. That format works well here; Necrobarista is full of memorable moments and striking characters, and a lot of it comes down to how well Route 59 builds out the world and its people. The story centers on a unique coffee shop where the dead can spend one last night with the living before they have to move to the afterlife.  You have Maddy, the quick-witted coffee shop owner, a pun-loving laidback soul named Chay, an overzealous engineering genius called Ashley, and the recently deceased Kishan who’s trying to accept his demise. While Maddy functions as the main protagonist, it’s truly an ensemble experience; the relationships between the characters, especially Maddy and Chay’s, which goes to an unexpected but beautiful place, are at the core.

The introduction is a little rocky, as you’re just thrown into this world and forced to make sense of it. Things are explained very briefly or not at all, only giving you little clues and small conversations to decipher. At times, it felt like it was trying too hard to be cryptic and lean into its offbeat nature with banter and, instead of just revealing interesting facets of the coffee shop. I almost put the game down, but I’m glad stuck around, because once I saw more character interactions and discovered how supernatural elements tied into the story, I was absorbed. I won’t spoil anything, but it touches on themes of life, loss, moving on, and acceptance, but without feeling preachy or predictable. The finale is satisfying and powerful, and it left me thinking. 

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While Necrobarista deals with serious subjects and asks interesting questions about life, its biggest strength is in its humor. The dialogue is interspersed with jokes that not only make you think, but also makes you smile. Having a poignant line followed by a quip is its forte, like calling Axl Rose “a cautionary tale about those who would rather fade out than burn away.” Part of the humor’s success comes from the characters all playing off each other wonderfully. Ashley goes on a crazy crusade to build the perfect robot and orders the bewildered Kishan to help her. Maddy tries to outwit Chay, who would never give her the satisfaction. I loved every main character, though some side characters show up and leave much too soon without having time to develop into anything other than time-wasters.

Between chapters, you can explore the coffee shop in first person and read vignettes about the main characters and other patrons. Vignettes are unlocked by selecting a series of words from a list related to each chapter at its end. A keyword relates to a topic from the previous chapter such as “Maddy” or “Magic,” and you are required to have certain ones to unlock specific vignettes. You don’t know which topic they represent until after you’ve selected them. I unlocked quite a few in my playthrough and found them very hit or miss. This is a minor gripe as it’s not a big part of the game, but it’s one area where you feel like you have some control, and I hate that it came down to such a random guessing game. 

Necrobarista tells a meaningful story about relationships and the memories we create with the people around us. It’s heartwarming, poignant, and pulls at the heart strings in all the right ways. It has some minor issues, but they aren’t what stuck with me. Instead, I’m still thinking about the wisdom this game imparts. 

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Score: 8

Summary: Necrobarista explores death using a unique premise, quippy humor, and fantastic writing to deliver heartfelt moments.

Concept: Meet the eclectic people who run a coffee shop where the dead can visit for one day before moving on to the afterlife

Graphics: The stylish art style and 3D presentation pops, with every character having their own flavor

Sound: A great soundtrack matches the tone well, adding personality to the coffee shop and its unique characters

Playability: As a visual novel, Necrobarista is easy to pick and up play, even if the performance isn’t always smooth

Entertainment: Necrobarista has an intriguing world that surfaces the uncomfortable truths that come with death. It sometimes stumbles, but the payoff is more than worth the trip

Replay: Moderate

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Battletoads Review – A Shallow Swamp

Publisher: Xbox Game Studios

Developer: DLALA Studios, Rare

Release: 2019

Reviewed on: Xbox One

Also on: PC

The Battletoads were products of a strange era, sitting at the intersection ‘90s ‘tude, gross-out cartoons, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles phenomenon. That’s a peculiar cocktail for a side-scrolling brawler, and a challenging one to reimagine for a modern audience. Does this reboot strike a successful balance between old and new? That’s a fair question, but it’s so far down the list of problems that it’s also irrelevant. The biggest and most pervasive issue is much simpler: Battletoads just isn’t fun.

The classic Battletoads games are traditionally remembered as brawlers, but they also experimented with other gameplay styles, like the infamous turbo bike tunnel. This reboot embraces the same philosophy, bouncing players between different activities for brief minigames or entire levels. But that variety doesn’t translate into entertainment; whether you are beating up aliens, shooting spaceships, or hacking door locks, Battletoads is profoundly uninteresting. Instead of establishing mechanics and building on them, the game sends you through a series of shallow detours.

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For example, the third act (of four acts total) has you alternating between two kinds of stages: One is a top-down space shooter, and the other is a 2D platformer. Both types are sterile, bare-bones representations of their respective genres; you blast oncoming ships and then push boxes around in simple puzzles. They are straightforward and boring, and they go on far longer than their simplistic designs can support. Most of the gameplay variations feel this way, from riding on turbo bikes to outrunning an advancing wave of acid. You understand what these sections are immediately, but they wear out their welcome as they get more difficult without offering any interesting twists.

The brawling stages are what Battletoads does best, though that isn’t much of a compliment. Each toad has a slightly different playstyle with unique moves, but varying how fast or strong your character is doesn’t elevate the average combat. The action is familiar but functional; you punch and kick through bad guys, and sometimes your toad’s body morphs into weird objects. A handful of boss fights punctuate the action, but they do more to expose the weaknesses in the mechanics (like trying to hit specific targets with your tongue-flick) than take advantage of them.

Some enemies have complementary attacks and work together, but it usually feels like a free-for-all. The screen fills up with bad guys, projectiles, and other hazards, which can make the action hard to parse. That’s where teamwork comes in handy, since three players can play in local co-op (online is not available). While the extra help is useful during big brawls, playing co-op can be a liability during other stages. For instance, a partner’s dumb mistake while dodging oncoming obstacles on turbo bikes limits the number of chances you have to successfully complete the gauntlet.

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Though some elements of the gameplay may test your skills, the story certainly isn’t aimed at seasoned gamers. I didn’t expect a grand narrative from Battletoads, but I was not prepared for how hopelessly lame it could be. The toads’ adventure is packed with scenes that feel sparse or incomplete, full of annoying characters and dumb jokes. This isn’t a “some gags just don’t land” situation; the attempts at humor are so aggressively unfunny that I was cringing during every cutscene. As the art style would suggest, maybe it’s intended for the Saturday-morning-cartoon crowd … but kids probably aren’t the best audience for a challenging reboot of a 25-year-old series. In this confusion about who the game is actually targeted at, it ends up being for no one.

The kindest thing I can say about Battletoads is this: It works. The controls are fine, I encountered no major technical issues, and an optional invincibility feature allows you to easily clear sections that are giving you too much trouble. Simply being playable from beginning to end is a tragically low bar to clear, but it’s the main thing Battletoads has going for it. Otherwise, this baffling experience digs through decades of gaming history to unearth the Battletoads name only to drag it through the mud.

Score: 5

Summary: This unfortunate reboot unearths the Battletoads name only to drag it through the mud.

Concept: Bring the Battletoads back in a parade of disappointing minigames and lackluster combat

Graphics: The visuals have a generic cartoon look that gets the job done, even if it doesn’t have much personality

Sound: Grating characters, lame dialogue, and generic background music almost make this game better on mute

Playability: Some of the hit detection feels inconsistent, but the controls are generally functional and easy to use

Entertainment: Even though it’s technically a game, Battletoads is not a good time

Replay: Moderately Low

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Hyper Scape Review – Faintly Pushing The Borders Of The Battle Royale

Publisher: Ubisoft

Developer: Ubisoft

Rating: Teen

Reviewed on: PC

Also on: PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Hyper Scape is Ubisoft’s foray into the well-established, free-to-play, game-as-service, battle-passed-up battle-royale landscape. It’s undeniably late to the party, which is not an insurmountable problem, but Hyper Scape plays it too safe to shake things up in meaningful ways. Despite its solid shooting, smart upgrade systems, and embrace of verticality, Hyper Scape struggles to keep the “one more try” battle-royale sensation pumping through players’ veins.

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Hyper Scape is more entertaining if you’re a Twitch streamer. Hyper Scape features a tailor-made custom extension on the streaming service that lets you engage with the game in more ways if you’re part of the stream scene. As a viewer, you can earn battle-pass credit just for watching games, cheer on your streamer via special effects in-game, and even alter the reality of the battle via voting. During each match, viewers can vote in low gravity, unlimited ammo, spawning health packs, lethal melee, and more. Your favorite streamer can pull you into their squad with the push of a button. These additions are appealing foibles layered on to the battle-royale standard, but Hyper Scape doesn’t lean in hard enough to pull the experience up to greatness. Twitch integration of this nature is baby steps into bold territory, and I can see the experiment here paying off in the future.

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Hyper Scape currently supports two different modes, solo and squad. Squad is far more interesting, adding new elements to the genre that make the cycle of combat far more compelling. Solo is the same one-life-to-live free-for-all you know and possibly love, but if you have a couple friends, the three-player squad steals the show. Dead players can continue to walk around the environment, relaying valuable information like enemy locations and movements to their still-living allies. Kill an opposing player? A respawn spot pops up, which you can use to revive your dead friend. This is probably the most significant element that props Hyper Scape up in terms of keeping gameplay engrossing, and can lead to some really fun team scenarios. Note that you should have two friends (or trusted viewers) in this kind of situation so you can relay all the valuable intel over voice comms in the moment.

All the guns do an adequate job of facilitating fast-paced gunplay, allowing you to play with the usual smattering of sniper rifles, Gatling guns, or potent pistols. In Hyper Scape, rather than just chasing the best gear, you can pick up multiple copies of the same weapon or item to improve it with benefits like more damage, lowered cooldown, and larger magazine size. It encourages packrat play as you move through the map grabbing everything you can find that suits your playstyle. Hyper Scape veers hard in an anti-camping direction, focused much more on the action of the battle royale than some of its survival-based competitors. Dropping to a hot spot could net you some big rewards, but you’ll probably be fighting several other players right away. You’ve seen all this before, and amidst the good-looking but nondescript buildings of the endless city, it all just kind of all feels like a rehashed mishmash.

Some unusual abilities enhance the experience, such as the big bouncy ball, which is exactly how it sounds. You get to roll up inside a big, bouncing, shielded ball and bounce around, which you can use to initiate battle, get away, or just tear across the map. Despite a decent selection of weapons and abilities like the ball to draw from, none of it feels special, and you find yourself struggling to find reasons to dive into Neo-Arcadia once more.

Hyper Scape is inoffensive and might be the right battle-royale choice for you, depending on your stream engagement. However, it doesn’t push hard enough on any one of its differentiators, and it ends up struggling to find a sense of itself in a genre with oodles of established choices. Toes dipped into shallow water may pay off for a deep water swim in the future, but Hyper Scape holds itself back from really trying to shake things up.

Score: 7.25

Summary: A few new elements gently nudge the established framework.

Concept: Go solo or squad up to be the last remaining survivors of a fast-paced first-person shooter

Graphics: Clean and crisp, but the sprawling metropolis lacks identity

Sound: Audio cues convey essential information, but none of the voice work or music stands out

Playability: Easy to jump in and start shooting, with plenty of room to grow as you learn various tactics

Entertainment: Hyper Scape is the epitome of an average submission to the battle-royale genre – a lukewarm outing that’s likely to be forgotten fast

Replay: High

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Spiritfarer Review – The Long Way Home

Publisher: Thunder Lotus Games

Developer: Thunder Lotus Games

Release: 2020

Rating: Teen

Reviewed on: PC

Also on: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, Stadia

Most simulation games are designed to go on forever. Even after you have passed all major milestones and achieved every meaningful upgrade, you can continue gathering resources and accruing wealth. The machinery of the world still runs, even if it has no clear goal. Spiritfarer is different. It’s an engaging story-driven management sim with a clear beginning, middle, and end. However, its bittersweet narrative also highlights the theme of recognizing when it’s time to move on.

You play as Stella, a recently appointed Spiritfarer who ferries the souls of the dead to their next phase of existence. As you sail across a colorful 2D world, you bring these aboard your boat, then fulfill their various requests until they are ready to leave. They may want to visit specific locations, eat their favorite foods, or see new amenities on the ship. The premise is simple, but giving the spirits what they need involves a gradual escalation of refining resources and building new structures. This is Spiritfarer’s central gameplay loop, and even though it’s satisfying, the process is filled with an unfortunate amount of busywork that wastes your time instead of enhancing it.

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At the beginning, your boat is sparsely equipped, and creating what you need is easy. When you need linen thread, you build a garden, grow some flax, harvest the fiber, and then complete a quick minigame at your loom to weave the thread. You have a wide array of items to craft, so managing multiple lines of production and optimizing your ship layout is a lot of fun in Spiritfarer’s early hours. However, as the requirements get more complicated, those “quick minigames” pile up; performing simple button presses to work bellows, hammer glass, and crush seeds is boring, especially considering how often you need to repeat these tasks to create the resources you need. A second player can control Daffodil in local co-op to split these tasks up, which eases the burden but still doesn’t make the chores fun to complete.

While the crafting itself gets old, seeing the results of your effort remains rewarding. Your small ship grows into a sprawling naval village, complete with orchards, farm animals, and places for your spirit companions to live. I had fun arranging and rearranging the different buildings, unlocking new blueprints, and sailing to every corner of the world to find useful items. Your destinations are usually small side-scrolling islands with light platforming challenges, and because time passes in a day-night cycle, I fell into a happy routine of setting my course, then running around my ship to perform upkeep in transit. Until the credits rolled after nearly 30 hours, I always had an interesting upgrade or task to pursue.

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Most of your passengers take anthropomorphic animal forms, like a bird or lion, and they wander around and make the boat feel like a community (and ask you for food constantly, which gets annoying). Each one has a distinct personality and story that unfolds through dialogue and quests, and advancing these tales is how you progress through Spiritfarer’s different acts. I appreciate how this gives the journey a structure beyond the usual “build stuff and get rich” motivation, but most spirits feel like embodiments of general concepts rather than fully realized characters. For example, you meet a philandering lion and an old hedgehog with a failing memory, but your interactions with them are more about what they represent than their personal stories, which can make it difficult to get invested in them as individuals.

The spirits’ broad characterization is not always a bad thing. Spiritfarer is ultimately about the process of saying goodbye, and because the cast embodies different elements of the human experience, their arcs have a universal and relatable quality. This is especially apparent during the spirits’ farewell scenes, in which Stella rows them to the door that leads to whatever happens next. With the benefit of full retrospect (and Stella’s assistance), they are able to confront their lives in sad and poignant exchanges full of optimism, regret, and patience. These scenes are excellent payoffs to the time you spend with the spirits, and I looked forward to each one.

You encounter a limited number of spirits in your travels, and seeing their stories is your primary incentive to continue. Once that task is done, it’s time for you to say your own goodbye to Spiritfarer. Even though you can technically keep sailing around after the credits, that feels unnecessary. The journey is complete, and I was satisfied by that sense of closure. Despite occasional rough waters in the pacing and characters, Spiritfarer is a voyage I will remember fondly.

Score: 8

Summary: Spiritfarer's crafting can be tedious, but the unique story and rewarding progression make it a journey worth taking.

Concept: Ferry spirits to the great beyond while refining resources, exploring the world, and upgrading your boat’s ever-expanding capabilities

Graphics: Vibrant settings and expressive animations lend cinematic flair to the world and characters

Sound: A solid score sells the otherworldly and playful atmosphere, and the voicework is limited to brief exclamations rather than full dialogue

Playability: Simple controls makes basic navigation easy, but the various minigames get tedious quickly

Entertainment: Spiritfarer taps into the fun of farming/lifestyle simulations, but adds a unique story layer that sets it apart

Replay: Moderate

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