Undertale, Thumper, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Evil Within 2 (PS4 Quick Reviews)

Just some quick takes on a few games I played this year.

HORIZON: ZERO DAWN

I actually enjoyed this game more than Breath of the Wild. It's some of the best combat in an open world game to date. There are so many different points that the presentation leaves you in awe. Some of the typical blasé open world tropes are present, but it leaves such strong impressions on how it plays and how it looks that you have a hard time caring. If you haven't played it (which you probably have) then you definitely need to. Easy contender for 2017 game of the year.

Grade: A

UNDERTALE

Undertale is unique. The music is great. It's quirky and fun and full of cool little surprises. Who couldn't love Undertale? It's the game of 2017 that made me smile the most. There's plenty of unforgettable characters. But it's not perfect. You live moment to moment for these highlights. It has hits and it has misses. The characters are what make Undertale. It relies heavily on them. Maybe it relies on them a bit too much. But overall, it's worth seeing.

Grade: B

EVIL WITHIN 2

Biggest disappointment of 2017. It starts off fairly strong and then blows out into this open world design that personally didn't appeal to me at all. There's an occasional scare but the game never felt like a survival horror game. Ammo was plentiful and the enemies never seemed to be something hunting you, rather something you chose to avoid or engage. Certain stealth mechanics also completely gut the suspense. It pained me to dislike it as much as I did. It's an alright game but not at all what I wanted.

Grade: C

THUMPER



Thumper is amazing. If it were released in 2017 it would've been in my top 5. The bulk of my time with it was spent in VR. It's so good. My god. I can't gush enough over Thumper. The soundtrack is amazing, the gameplay is simple but fierce, and every session left me realizing I was gripping the controller so tight it left my hands aching. Throughout my playthrough I was left mentally exhausted from it. It's phenomenal. If you have a VR headset, you have to get it. I can't recommend Thumper enough.

Grade: A