3 Up, 3 Down – November 2018 Edition
With releases like Red Dead Redemption 2 and Spider-Man at our backs—two of the only eight games to ever earn a perfect score from COG—November has a lot to follow. While there were many good releases this month, sadly, some of the greats fell far in this chilly precursor to December (or, as I call it, the month before the Overwatch holiday event). With that in mind, let’s take us a gander at the three best and worst games of the month.
The Best
Tetris Effect
***Click here for our full review***
It’s the oldest game in the book—almost literally. This is both a blessing and a curse: everyone knows it, but why should we go out of our way to buy it, right? Wrong. Tetris Effect proves that an old dog can be taught new tricks, and this new and fun version of the classic is worth picking up for the great visuals and challenging gameplay. All in all, we said in our review that “Tetris Effect is, at times, unrecognizable – a project unfazed by its own history,” and “Tetris Effect acts as a launching platform for newcomers by coaxing them in with the simplicity of it all.”
Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales
***Click here for our full review***
Spinoffs have a tendency to be bad, but Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales breaks the mold just as The Witcher did before it. Based on the game Gwent, originally a card mini-game you can play inside The Witcher 3, Thronebreaker takes this opportunity to launch into its own strategy game that utilizes and explores the world of a battlefield. With Meve the warrior queen to push the story forward and a host of genuinely difficult and well-written choices to be made, Gwent has never felt more fun. In fact, we said in our review that, “the intricately layered story and carefully crafted characters and writing are some of the best I’ve seen this year, and the card play is more rewarding than it’s ever been before. Whether or not you are a fan of the Witcher series, or even card games in general, Thronebreaker deserves your attention.”
428: Shibuya Scramble
***Click here for our full review***
Originally released in 2008, 428: Shibuya Scramble was released this year for the PS4 and PC, and we, along with many people, rediscovered a unique and creative visual novel. Shibuya Scramble uses live actors in short scenes with still image backgrounds to tell its harrowing story about a kidnapped girl named Maria whose freedom is as stake while Kano, a detective, hunts down the culprits. With four other quirky and compelling protagonists whose lives are linked so much that making one bad decision as a first character could lead to the death of the second. One of the greatest visual novels out there, we said in our review that “428: Shibuya Scramble is definitely a must-play for visual novel lovers and those newer to the genre. It is not only unique with well-developed protagonists, but the sophisticated story involving every character in the game creates a masterpiece that is hard to forget.”
Check out Page 2 for the games that didn’t fare so well in November 2018…