It’s been eighty-four years, yet it feels like only yesterday that I was cracking a smile, sending whatshisface’s speeder careening into a pool of acid. This month was a doozy. A good doozy. A needed doozy. One that didn’t take itself too seriously and focused more on the gameplay and fun.
In this small window of time before the biggest release in video game history, here are the titles I frantically added to my “completed” list…
STAR WARS: Galactic Racer
I’ll be honest, I never really had the love of racing games like some people on this site, and even more embarrassed to say Burnout passed me right by. But I have the finger on the pulse enough to understand people’s excitement with these devs, and mixed with my own Star Wars obsession, it was enough to have an absolute blast here. Scrib doon, this game oozes speed, precision, and charm. To find out, on top of everything, it’s built on a roguelite foundation and may just include one of this year’s best new characters? What a gem.
Gears of War: E-Day (Campaign)
For anyone with a graphics card that’s capable of ray tracing, this might be one of the best-looking games this generation. It is a very polished Gears of War experience. Crazy firefights, check. Gorgeous set pieces, check. Bandana worn and wife talked about 3 minutes in, check. It’s really all here. I normally don’t want to get involved in the political debates for stuff like this, but I do want to call out that I think saying this game is excessively woke is nuts. I just don’t see it. While it may not win any storytelling awards, everything here is serviceable and keeps the story moving.
Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse
I had such high hopes for this one. It may be a bit unfair to hold Belmont’s Curse to the standards of Dead Cells just because of the developers, but I found it imprecise and slow throughout. It’s not a bad game per se, just one I couldn’t connect with. I will say, once I got past the lack of grit, I really came to appreciate the beautiful environments.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 (Campaign)
I’ll say right up front: very much like E-Day, the campaign alone doesn’t justify a $70 price tag for this game. However, boy, did I really enjoy it. Like, kinda sorta shocked at how quickly I was drawn in and kept on the edge of my seat through mission after mission. The acting was wonderful, the humor hit just right, and I legitimately enjoyed the open-world mission. I think the ending was abrupt and maybe could’ve been finessed a bit, but for wrapping up this soft reboot, it largely did the job.