1. Super Mario Wonder (Switch)
7/10 - Did not love it as much as I thought I would. I did play the entire thing in 4 player co-op with my wife and kids and I think that impacted my enjoyment. I think the game is better appreciated as a single player experience.
2. Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch)
10/10 - It's my favorite Zelda game ever. It instantly made Breath of the Wild irrelevant. I really did not think I would love it as much as I did. I put 100+ hours into it and felt like I barely scratched the surface. Wow, a Zelda game with a story I actually care about. The building was handled in a way that made it not annoying for people that aren't usually into things like that. My only complaint is that I think the control scheme could have been more streamlined.
3. RedFall (XSX)
9/10 - Huge disconnect here with my opinion and the crowd. I just really loved this game. The artstyle was beautiful. The world was so vibrant and detailed. I loved exploring it.
4. Borderlands 3 (XSX)
8/10 - Played through it with my son and despite it's reputation as being worse than 2, it was on par for me. I liked the environments and many of the quality of life features. The heroes weren't as good as 2.
5. The Evil Within 2 (XSX)
8/10 - A good survival horror game that felt like a mix of Silent Hill and Resident Evil.
6. Metroid Dread (Switch)
9/10 - Beautiful graphics, precise gameplay. The EMMI encounters felt cheap. Thankfully, I played this after Rookie Mode was added because it was the perfect difficulty for me. Had I played it on a harder difficulty I don't think I would have liked it.
7. Minit (Switch)
6/10 - Interesting concept but just not my kind of game. I like good graphics and clear direction. I'm just not into obscure indie games.
8. Xenoblade Chronicles: DE (Switch)
8/10 - JRPG's were my favorite genre when I was a kid and I just stopped liking them like 20 years ago. This game came close to capturing the feelings and emotions that made me like the genre. The cast of characters, music and story were top notch. Side missions were garbage filler and some of the gameplay systems were confusing.
9. Immortals of Aveum (XSX)
6/10 - A "Fun, dumb game" that wasn't as fun as I hoped.. Graphics were impressive but the design was bad. They wen't overboard with the color and vibrancy to the point where nothing stands out. The variety in spells and attacks was appreciated but bordered on cumbersome a times.
10. Ape Out (Switch)
8/10 - This indie game was more of my thing (as opposed to Minit). Visuals and music were clean to look at it. The goal was straightforward and it's bite-sized nature made it a very easy to play game.
11. Doom 3 (Switch)
7/10 - A doom game that was more survival horror sounds like it would be right up my alley but I was somewhat disappointed. The levels were too linear and felt very repetitive. The visuals of the environment were impressive from a technical standpoint but the models were dated. The audio logs, emails and environmental storytelling was a strong point.
12. Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes (XSX)
8/10 - If you’re not familiar, these games are cinematic branching horror games (i.e. like Until Dawn or the Tell Tales games). This game is the 3rd in a series that currently has 4 games. I love these types of games even with the understanding that they have their limitations. I love them because they have unique stories, good visuals and are short, not to mention that I love creepy stories. Think Tales of the Crypt or a Stephen King short story collection. That’s my jam.
13. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Switch)
8.5/10 - I loved my time with this game. The visuals were so unique and fun to look at. Despite never playing the original, it gave me this warm nostalgia feeling. It just reminded me of how it felt to play games when I was young. Unfortunately the performance issues and the last bit of the game (I did not enjoy the final two dungeons) dropped it’s standing a bit.
14. Resident Evil 4 Remake (2023) (XSX)
9/10 - RE4 is one of my favorite games of all time but in my opinion this remake was a bit overrated. It is a very nice and well done upgrade but the GOTY nominations were unwarranted. RE2 and RE3 were more impressive remakes in my opinion due to the games feeling like new games while this one felt too familiar. Despite this negativity it is still an amazing game and if you never played the original, this is the best way to play it and I’ve playing it on GC, Wii and on the Quest 2 (VR version).
15. Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter (XSX)
6/10 - If playing solo, this game is a 5 out of a 10. It just hasn’t aged well. The levels have very little variety and there is no map, there is barely a story, you are fighting hordes of annoying enemies with bad AI. You are constantly dying but you get resurrected immediately so there is very little tension. The aiming feels just “ok”. With that said, the game has split screen co-op on the campaign which not many FPS’s have. This saved the game for me as I played it with my son and we were able to have “fun” and laughs and managed to beat it. If I was playing solo, there is no way I would’ve finished it.
16. Assassin’s Creed 3: Remastered (Switch)
9/10 - Screw the haters. I love this game. I spent so many hours in this game and I loved it. The cut scenes and production value are top notch. I did all of the side missions, dlc and most of the collectables. It was one of those games that you almost pinch yourself when you realize this big AAA game that at the time of the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U was a major big budget release is playable on the go.
17. Serious Sam 3: BEF (XSX)
6.5/10 - See my mini-review for Serious Sam HD. Same thing, environments are samey, the enemy AI is improved but not great and are actually more cheap and annoying. I gave it half a point more because the improved graphics and narrative did give it some much needed polish. Again, it’s not worth playing solo but as a Split Screen co-op experience it can be fun but don’t even touch this until you’ve already done the Halo MCC and the Gears games. Those are light years ahead of this as a split screen co op experience.
18. Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered (Switch)
5/10 - I’m kind of cheating on this one because technically I didn’t complete every race in the game so I didn’t really beat it however I put in 10 hours or so and felt “done” with the game and also felt qualified to speak about. Overall, I must say that I do not recommend it. I saw some reports about possible issues unique to this port but the AI, Difficulty and Physics cause the game to feel unfair and too luck dependent. The “open world” is barren and closed off that it is pointless. The visuals are pretty. As a Forza Horizon fan, I felt a regret everytime I played this just thinking about how I would just rather spend those hours in a much more fun and superior game.
19. Hellblade 2: Senua’s Sacrifice (XSX)
8/10 - This was a difficult game to rate. The graphics, animations, cinematics, music and sound design was a 10/10. It is the best looking game I have ever played. The only problem is that there is so little game there. I feel like they went in the opposite direction of where I wanted them to go. It has even less gameplay than the first game. It has less gameplay than even a Quantic Dreams type game. It’s a great interactive experience but it’s not a great or even a good game. Plague tale is interesting comparison because it’s another story driven cinematic game with great visuals but they sacrifice a bit of that to give the gamer more control and interesting gameplay and I think it was definitely worth it. If you have Game Pass and a series X this is a must play imo because it’s short and it’s worth experiencing for the audio-visual spectacle that it is.
