Recent reviews by jjcregis

From the opening mission, Severed Steel sells itself as the ultimate action hero fantasy. Dive through glass, slide under tables, sweep idiots off their feet, snatch their weapons, kick them to death anyways, wall-run down hallways, hear their terror, nail headshots mid-backflip, and do it all again. It’s a creatively satisfying loop to execute in a variety of assassination arenas, and the action is as fun as you choose to make it.

If you love the energy of fighting games and the '90s then go catch some flying power discs. This is a game that is fast-paced and easy to pick up, and I love introducing people to it whenever I can. Even though there aren’t many people playing online there are many solid times to be had on the couch with your buds. It’s flashy and hype and there’s nothing quite like it. It’s Windjammers, baby.

The best entries in the series are here and the first X Legacy Collection is a great way to celebrate them. The package includes a large media gallery filled with music, art, biographies, and more, plus the earlier titles now allow passwords to be saved. A few rough edges are present: remapped controls are still erased after quitting games and not every category in the gallery includes a zoom feature, limiting how much detail you can see on some items like the figurines and collectable cards. The new X Challenge mode adds nearly thirty 2-on-1 boss battles, mixing and matching weapons and bosses from the first six games. The scenarios feel chaotic yet fair (most of the time) and include a few surprises, making them an exciting addition to cap off the classics.

Experimentation, iterative improvement, and sweet moves are what make speedrunning in this game feel cool as hell. Every level is a satisfying optimisation puzzle and new tricks and techniques can be discovered throughout the game, giving new perspectives when revisiting earlier levels. This is a surprisingly social game where bouncing ideas and strategies off of friends is half the fun. It’s an absolute blast getting to claw leaderboard positions back from each other.

The loop of breaking down, practising, and mastering a once insurmountable challenge to produce a perfect run kept me hooked throughout many of the game’s most demanding courses. The fluid and speedrun-focused gameplay is complemented by a soothing soundtrack and a momentum-centric physics model — one that has a learning curve but whose deliberate and punishing nature is perfect for the game’s core loop. Working all the way up through Giga Difficult was an undertaking that I enjoyed every step of the way.

The remarkable world-building of this game brings conspiracy and the paranormal to the mundane, taking the ordinary and showing it to be anything but. It manages to turn collectable-hunting from a chore into something enticing, and the many set pieces, documents, and recordings in the Oldest House bring a fun contrast of levity and self-awareness to the uncanny in a number of memorable moments. Combat can often feel interruptive and repetitive, especially regarding encounter frequency and when having to restart from checkpoints, but the options on-hand provide a great power fantasy that only gets better over time.

Charming, challenging, and evocative of the mornings where all you needed were a game, a beanbag chair, and your Player's Guide. There is so much in here to unravel and the novel use of the manual made the process a delight. I didn't know when the surprises would end and I was engaged from start to finish.

The PC has long had a "good official Tetris"-shaped hole and this beautiful game has finally filled that void. Whether you're looking to improve your game in the various Effect modes or if you just want to enjoy the ride in Journey mode, this is a solid entry that's great to check-in with.

The universe continues to impress in this expansion that endlessly surprises. The new destination makes excellent use of the time-loop mechanic and delivers the same great feelings of discovery that the base game is known for. Several times I found myself thinking that I had figured everything out only to realise that I was just getting started.

My main criticism is aimed at two divisive sections where I didn't feel like I was provided enough information to complete without some element of luck. Fortunately, I found that the Reduced Frights option helped with the tedium these sequences brought to an otherwise incredible experience.

I enjoy poetry and heeding disclaimers for normal video games.