On the field, EA Sports has offered an even deeper and more immersive experience with FIFA 23. HyperMotion2 doubles down on what was introduced last year with more animations that can be seen and experienced during play. The machine learning AI continues to grow as this remains the best AI in a sports game. The reaction, the flow and the strategy from the AI is excellent. Pulling off new shots, dribbles...

Read the full review at HardcoreGamer

Blind Fate: Edo no Yami is a good game that’s held back by a lack of polish. It has a diverse array of kinds of platforming action with a blend of swordplay, platforming and sense-based puzzle-solving, but it needs work when it comes to the visuals as they’re inconsistent. Some parts look fantastic, like the animation and overall movement, while parts of the environment suffer from still images being...

Read the full review at HardcoreGamer

Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden doesn’t stray far from what made its predecessors successful. The addition of capturing monsters to use in battle brings a fresh element to the gameplay. but otherwise plays just like the previous Voice of Cards titles. How many more times this formula can be successfully replicated is up for debate, but The Beasts of Burden is possibly the best Voice of Cards games...

Read the full review at HardcoreGamer

Soulstice makes no secret of what influenced it, both in aesthetics and in gameplay mechanics. The different influences come together nicely to create a unique action game. The unique mechanic of using the different abilities of the two sisters helps Soulstice stand out from the action games that inspired it. While there are good ideas in combat like the Lute’s counterattack system and Briar’s arsenal...

Read the full review at HardcoreGamer

Metal: Hellsinger is the first-person shooter/rhythm game mashup I had no idea I wanted. Being a fan of metal helps as metalheads are clearly the target demographic, but the devs didn’t use metal as a gimmick to sell a unremarkable game. The gameplay in Metal is fast paced and unforgiving where the player constantly has to fight for their own survival. This a great first-person shooter regardless of...

Read the full review at HardcoreGamer

NBA 2K23 is the game the community has been wanting, but that hardcore community is far more advanced than any casual player looking to just play a basketball game. It’s the little things that help to make NBA 2K23 the best sports representation to date, and the legacy content now puts the series far ahead of any other sports series out there. It’s not without its fault, beginning with the difficulty...

Read the full review at HardcoreGamer

Splatoon 3 is basically exactly what it set out to be: a third entry in the Splatoon series. While it has a lot of small improvements, it also doesn’t feel like it does enough to differentiate it from its predecessors. Some of the minor issues like Sheldon were blatantly ignored, and other ones like levels feel like they need to be tweaked. The biggest improvement is making Salmon Run playable at all...

Read the full review at HardcoreGamer

Ooblets as a whole is one of the finer life simulation games ever made. There’s a greater variety of content to do and what’s here is also more fun than most games offering up similar concepts in theory. The ultra-bright world and dance battle system help keep things engaging beyond the core life simulation activities. Those are largely standard in terms of the kind of offerings, but done with a greater...

Read the full review at HardcoreGamer

Pac-Man World: Re-Pac takes an already-great game on PS1 and makes it even better. This is low-key one of the most diverse and enjoyable 3D platformers on the market and should be enjoyed by everyone who missed out on it in its time. It plays better now than it did before thanks to smart improvements in play control and has some of the most fun classic Pac-Man-style mazes on the market. There’s a lot...

Read the full review at HardcoreGamer

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection is a Turtle treasure trove, including every TMNT game released for arcade and console between 1989 and 1993. Having access to all these games in their original format is great for classic Turtles fans and the quality-of-life improvements are there for people who aren’t holding themselves to a purist mentality. The amount of bonus content is impressive...

Read the full review at HardcoreGamer

Like many of the B-movies that inspired it, Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed isn’t something that will be considered great by a general consensus, but does have a certain appeal to the right audience. The game makes many attempts at subtle and not-so-subtle innuendos and while the intention is humor, many of them fall flat. Not because they’re offensive, they just mostly go for the low hanging fruit...

Read the full review at HardcoreGamer

Pacing issues aside, Cursed to Golf is a unique and terrific blend of different genres that makes for a highly enjoyable and fresh spin on the classic sport. Be it through golfing skills, puzzle-solving skills, luck or a mix of all three, each hole presents a multitude of options to try out and paths to take, with each perfect shot providing a sort of golfing high as you soar through a passageway filled...

Read the full review at HardcoreGamer

Technical issues notwithstanding, Saints Row is not without its shortcomings, but it succeeds more often than it doesn’t. Even with the release date pushed back it still doesn’t feel finalized. The tech issues can hopefully be ironed out in a patch or two, but the characters could have also benefitted from further development and being more fleshed out. Santa Ileso is a great open sandbox to explore,...

Read the full review at HardcoreGamer

Early on in one’s adventure it’s clear the tone here is one of a passive, laid back approach to challenge and accomplishment, but that direction in no way diminishes what ends up being one of the most delightful and well-curated IPs in this genre for some years. Largely in part due to Splashteam’s attention to detail in the broader scope of level design, but whose strengths are reliant too on how slick...

Read the full review at HardcoreGamer

There have been a good amount of small Kirby spin-offs throughout the 3DS and Switch lifetimes in particular, but Kirby’s Dream Buffet is one of the better entries by far. Although it does lack a solid story motivator, it doesn’t matter in the end as the short and sweet play session loop is addictive and fun. Whether winning or losing it doesn’t matter because everyone’s a winner when it comes to seeing...

Read the full review at HardcoreGamer