This game is devoid of charm. You could probably have guessed this with it being set in an apocalypse and being largely about revenge, but even with that in mind, it's just a bummer of a game. I'm not implying that everything has to be happy little sunshine and rainbows all the time but at least in the first game, there were moments of respite where it let the characters breathe and Ellie got to read some puns and stuff. The Left behind DLC (which I felt was superior to the main game) felt like it was showing a genuine relationship between two girls goofing off in an abandoned mall. It feels like in the sequel, even the flashbacks to happier days all have to end with someone being brutally murdered or something awful happening to a loved one.
The tech here is pretty astonishing. They really greased their engine up good in order to fully display human anguish. There was some uncomfortable uncanny valley stuff if anyone smiled but I'll tell ya, the screams of pain, the flushed faces of loss and betrayal, and the cover art's murderous anger all come through in astonishing clarity. There are parts where the camera is locked on a character's face while they're crying on the floor begging not to be murdered that really make you question what the point of it all is. Of course, in these moments if you, the player want to question what you're doing and maybe have a little chin wag with your helpless victim you'll have to play a different game because I let it sit for ten or so minutes in once scene where you're supposed to smash someone up and I had no intention of doing so. There's a story already laid out and they're gonna make you press the button and then call you a sicko for taking the only option they allow.
There aren't really characters here so much as there are a couple of apocalypse archetypes and a whole lot of emotionally manipulative fodder. Any time hope or optimism is expressed, it's shot down immediately. Even the LGBTQ+ positive characters seem to have been inserted as a kind of performative allyism, to get assholes online to call it SJW bullshit so Naughty Dog can appear to be on the right side of history. But again, they're in the story only to provide another tragic loss and over-the-top bad luck.
I haven't given a shit about the Walking Dead since season 1, but I think an awful lot of people heard about that one guy getting his head bashed in a couple seasons ago. That's what this game feels like. They do a whole bunch of shocking shit to get you to go "Man, that's messed up." But there's no story reason to have to go that far just to get the "Revenge bad." Point across.
Anyway, the stealth is fine and the combat kind of sucks. Abby is a way better character than Ellie, and by the end of the game, I had no sympathy left for any of the original's characters.
I don't like this game.

If you'd told me that one of my favorite games of 2020 would be a Baseball game, I would have told you that was very unlikely. Apparently I'd played one of these before, because I saw some achievements on my Xbox profile from four or five years ago when I guess it was free or something.
Anyway, I wouldn't have even given this a second glance if I hadn't watched Dan Ryckert play it a bunch over the summer. It looked fun so I ended up buying it on Steam to play with a friend online. Unfortunately he wasn't as on board as I'd hoped so I really wasted my cash and should have gotten it on console to play locally. But even playing it on the PC by myself, there's a lot of fun to be had. All the customization options, the little animations, and the baseball itself is fun and relaxing in a way that few games have been this year. I think I just needed a little break from all the dour violence of some of 2020's big AAA games. Play it with a friend. I'm living proof that even if you don't give a damn about sports, you can have a blast with this game.

This is an incredible piece of software. It's really unbelievable how many options and possibilities this "game" lays before you. With LittleBigPlatet's creation tools, Media Molecule presented the idea that anyone could create whatever they could imagine with just some time and effort. Dreams is the next evolution of this idea. I've spent hours pouring through the creations that other Dreams users have posted, and finding a nearly infinite number of traditional games, interactive experiences, comedic videos, and purely artistic visions. I can't overstate how remarkable it is that all of this is possible on a Playstation console. The creation suite allows anyone with a vision to code the gameplay, physics, and animations of things they build in Dreams itself, and if they lack the artistic ability, they can freely use any other user's creations that have been offered up.
With all of that said, it's really too daunting for me to ever consider making something on my own here. I could spend the considerable amount of time it would take to learn the intricacies of the language. But at that point, I may as well just learn a more open engine like Unreal or Unity. It honestly feels just as complicated as a full blown engine but then your creations are locked within a single ecosystem. I'm so glad all of this is here and it's so cool, but it's kind of sad that all of these creations are only going to be seen by Playstation owners who are logged into Dreams. If I were a gifted creator, even if I wasn't looking for monetary compensation for all my effort, I would still want as many people to see it as possible.
Still it's amazing and wonderful and if I had all the time I had in 2007 when I made a bunch of cool things in Halo 3's forge mode, I'd surely be amazed by everything Dreams has to offer.

2016 was one of the best years for first person shooters. From the experimental mind bending SUPERHOT, to the expertly crafted and incredible Titanfall 2, and even Overwatch too if you're into that I guess. But in my eyes, the one that took it all home at the end of the year was DOOM. DOOM 2016 is one of the most incredibly hectic and exhilirating first person shooters I’ve ever played. It combined the aesthetics of a satanic album cover, a new crazy type of techno metal soundtrack, and of course all the insanely great ripping and tearing action that elevated the series to heights not reached since the first DOOM game. But what I only really realized subconsciously was how good the story was presented. From the moment the sarcophagus containing the Doomguy is opened, a sense that he's the ultimate badass motherfucker permeates the atmosphere. He silently clenches his fists and punches anything that he doesn’t like. Sure there’s some satanic energy plot with Mars juice going on but we don’t have to care about that. We’re there to simply murder the fuck out of every demon.
I was so hyped up on DOOM that maybe Eternal could never have lived up to my expectations. I was all but convinced that this was going to be my 2019 Game of the Year and then when it was delayed, I was still confident that whatever 2020 threw at me, this would easily top it. But even in what I consider to be a pretty mediocre year in terms of games, DOOM Eternal just didn’t quite do it for me.
My uncertainty about the game came almost immediately, before I had even been put in a 3D environment, I was greeted by a generic hero shooter-looking main menu. While DOOM 2016 had a multiplayer component, it certainly wasn’t the main focus. But right away, Eternal seems to want you to look at all the shitty cosmetics they made for their (acceptable) 2V1 multiplayer mode. It doesn’t set you up for going to hell and blasting demons apart, it looks like you stole your mom’s credit card and bought some weird new Fortnite skin.
But that’s just the main menu, and has very little bearing on the game itself. It would be easy to forgive such a small detail. But then, not five minutes into the actual game, I encountered a second stumbling block. Instead of the seething rage oozing from Dooomguy’s (your) fists, you cut one demon’s head off mid sentence, and then you’re treated to a third person perspective of the guy standing around and waiting for another demon to finish his boring, long-winded speech. And throughout the game, there are several different iterations of this. Doomguy politely stands around while demons monologue about his backstory. Instead of the awesome freight train pacing with subtle story you could pick up on if you wanted to of 2016, the writers seem to want to shove every bit of their lackluster story into the spotlight. I’m all for lore in games, but after the perfect tone and style of 2016, this is a major letdown. And unfortunately this weenier version of the slayer is the dominant version throughout the game. In the cutscenes, he comes off as more of a Duke-Nukem, with big gnarly guitars adorning his spaceship and Ren and Stimpy-esque sight humor like Doomguy loading himself into a cannon. This sounds great on paper but in practice just felt a little too much like your dorky little brother trying to one up your great observational goof. It’s like they were too in on the joke and ended up making memes rather than an actual character.
Fortunately, the game’s saving grace is that it’s still largely a blast to play. While many have said that it’s significantly harder than its predecessor, I think that once you get into the flow of things, you truly become an unstoppable wrecking ball. I cranked up the difficulty after playing through the first mission on the default difficulty and it made the experience more intense, but way more fun too. There’s a rhythm to the way resources work that naturally injects variety into each encounter and keeps you constantly on the move. This is one way that this game slightly outshines its predecessor, in which you simply had to perform a glory kill to regain health. In Eternal, you have to balance ammo, health, and armor equally and in the dozen or so moments where the combat really fires on all engines, it was the most giddy, frantic, power fantasy I’ve possibly ever experienced. For a good two thirds of the game I was ready to overlook all my other gripes and just immerse myself in the incredible mechanics and embrace the chaotic great time I was having. But then they had to throw in the Marauder, an enemy type that requires a one-on-one face-off with a precise timing window, and it threw off the rhythm yet again. These guys suck so much ass and facing them when there are other enemies around is just an exercise in frustration.
I still had a great time with DOOM Eternal and I’d say that overall I liked it. But I wanted to love it. I was cool with the weird direction they went with pickups being early 2000s looking spinny icons. I didn’t mind how they decided to do 3rd person cutscenes and tried include more story. And when they previewed the one, singular scene that elicited DOOM 2016 (Grabbing they guy by the keycard strap and dragging him over to the door), I was absolutely certain that they would maintain what I loved about the previous entry. But somewhere along the line they fucked it up. It just feels a little too Tenacious D internet humor for me. It may be the most fun I’ve had with a game that I ultimately find supremely disappointing.

Mixing Gears' squads of big dumb soldiers who love to stop n' pop with XCOM's gameplay loop of directing big dumb soldiers to stop and then pop seems like a no-brainer. You don't even have to change the animations.
If you've played XCOM, you pretty much know all you need to know. You, with your disembodied overhead view of the battlefield, have to tactically order your buff men and women around and tell them what to shoot their guns at. Along the way you get guys who are good at shooting fast guns, guys who are good at shooting big guns, guys who are good at shooting rocket guns, and an assortment other specialties and perks. Also the grenades in this thing are entirely too powerful, it's great.
The difficulty is definitely more forgiving than XCOM, but as someone who's been burned by 95% hit chances a few too many times, that's completely ok with me. It's fun to just throw soldiers at a problem and see what happens. I like seeing just how much "Gears" stuff is in here and they've fit it into the tactical template remarkably well.
In a year where almost every highly anticipated release has bummed me out in one way or another, Gears Tactics stands out as a fully enjoyable time from start to finish. I may even play it again when it comes to consoles.

As a pretty big mark for nearly all things Nintendo puts out, it might be pretty surprising to find out that I had never touched an Animal crossing before the year 2020. I knew the basic gist of it, being a villager, walking around meeting quirky little animal friends, and making your mark on a little happy village, but I'd either never taken the time to track down a copy of a previous installment, or it just never fully appealed to me.
Well, when people started to hype this game up, I finally decided to see what all the fuss was about. I was skeptical but I decided to give it a shot and bought it immediately on release day. The colorful graphics and generally chill atmosphere seemed like a perfect contrast to the pandemic ridden real world. The first couple of days were enjoyable. Then over the next couple of days, I found myself doing the same things. And then a few days later, more of the same. The loop of chopping down trees, fishing, talking to townsfolk, and other small daily tasks got super old super quick. I saw the appeal of a few short bursts but it wasn't something I could really stick to. And I wasn't really experiencing the things my friends had always told me about the series over the years.
A week after release, like five people had bought and started playing the game. I visited an island or two and everyone seemed to be finding so much joy in this thing. But I just wasn't feeling it.
A bit later, I decided to see if I felt the same way about the original game and if it was just a nostalgia thing or what. But honestly, as someone who had never touched it before, I think I like the GameCube Animal crossing way more than this one. That one just feels like it has something going on, and it has gyros and unlockable NES games too.
I don't know. I really want to like New Horizons. But I just find it dull. It just feels like doing house chores with a colorful sponge and a singing vacuum. I guess it's better than doing chores without those things, but I'd still rather be doing something actually fun.

Arcsys makes great fighting games. That's not very had to see given their track record. So when this popped up on my radar, I was immediately intrigued. Cool anime folks hitting each other with swords? Sounds like a good time to me.
While I have no idea what the Granblue license entails outside of this game, the characters are all anime quirky and look pretty rad. From the main sword boy Gran, to the turbo frat boy Lowain, to tiny anime princess Charlotta, everyone is unique and offers interesting gameplay styles. I was a little unsure of how to feel about Ladiva, a female identifying pro wrestler character. This coming from Japan, I really expected this character to be a transphobic stereotype, but from what I've seen and read, she's actually handled very well. I'm very happy about this because she has one of the best finishers in a game full of awesome finishing animations.
Gameplay-wise, it's a four button fighter in the typical Arksys template. Interestingly in this one though, are the dodges and dashes that can mix up your opponent. The combo system is pretty simple, and doesn't have as much potential for heavily technical big chains, but this makes it easier for people to just pick up and have fun without having to memorize long button strings.
In addition, there is a pretty in-depth tutorial system in place that teaches you most of the major mechanics. There's also a simple rpg mode for when you're bored with the competitive side. I didn't spend much time with it but I appreciate any fighting game that offers extra content and single-player side stuff.
I like this game a lot. Despite the fact that I wish more of my friends would play it with me, it's fun to just hop online for a few matches or practice against the AI.
The sound of swords clashing is really good too.

I'm not really a big fan of isometric dungeon crawlers. I've played a bunch of Diablo and of course it feels nice to see green numbers when you find a new thing and compare it to your old thing. But I find it satisfying in the same way winning a dollar on a scratch lottery ticket is satisfying, it's good for like a minute and then I just feel like I've wasted my time and money.
That's about how I felt when I played this game. Sure it was cool for the afternoon I spent with it, co-oping through the story and getting cool new swords and stuff. I didn't really care for the big stupid "Blizzard"-looking armor, but it was forgivable. The controls were a little clunky but worked well enough. There was nothing game breaking or terrible about it. But after closing the window and looking back at my time with it, I couldn't help but feel a bit let down. Maybe this just isn't the genre for me.

From the very first trailer, this game always looked gorgeous. And in the opening hours, you're treated to so much vibrant beauty in every detail of this game's historical open world. From the rippling leaves around every tree, to the grasses blowing in the wind, to the rainbow of flowers adorning every mountainside, the game is visually quite stunning.
Another big draw for the game is that almost every side quest is fairly unique and provides not just a throwaway couple of lines of dialogue but full, well written stories with detailed characters. There are a few thrown in for comedic effect and some that don't really lead to satisfactory conclusions. But for the most part, the side quests are where most of my memories of this game will lie.
The main storyline is a little less memorable though. It's not really bad or told poorly, but it's just entirely too predictable. Throughout the game, your character is faced with many choices of morality and forced to decide whether to honor tradition (fighting Mongolians in broad daylight), or sink to the depths of cowardace (cutting throats in the dark.) It seems pretty good as a mechanic, I thought, "If I want the good ending, I have to do a lot of fights where I'm outnumbered and announce my arrival so I can ensure that it's gonna be as hard as possible?" But that's not actually how it works. You could approach every encounter in a semi truck with machine guns blazing but the cutscenes will still scold you for choosing a dark path. There are some weather effects if you go around slicing too many throats but there's really no effect on the plot.
Another kind of disappointing thing is the difficulty. The combat starts out slightly challenging but after the first couple of upgrades, it gets to be trivial and monotonous. Every enemy has a specific weakness and there isn't really any challenge in switching to the proper stance. It's like playing rock parer scissors but you can see what they're gonna throw in advance. The stealth is more fun but the AI loses sight of you too easily and chalks up almost everything to "the wind". You can murder a dude like 10 feet from another dude, step behind a stick for five seconds while he investigates, and be back to full stealth without any sort of penalty. It's better than being overly punishing but it never got me very engaged.
The rest of the game is just early Assassin's Creed with a fresh coat of paint. The open world template is followed to a fault. If you're looking for a time sink, there's plenty of random side stuff strewn all throughout the giant map, and it tells you what it's gonna give you in advance which is nice.
It's pretty and it's good. It's pretty good. I'm glad I played it.