Corey Clausen

Free-to-play live service-type transactions in a $70 game. An unfinished and buggy experience that feels like it hasn't seen a full day of playtesting over a month after release. An alarming lack of content in the follow-up to a game with more overall content than any other title in the franchise's history. Any one of these things would make MK1 a bad game in my eyes. The fact that it's done all of them makes this one of the worst AAA releases of the year. Wish I could give 0 stars. The fighting itself, when it works, is decent. The roster is alright, if a little small for my liking. But bad quality control and worse monetization are too odious for me to even want to play it. Happy I borrowed from a friend instead of buying it myself - popular as I know the Mortal Kombat brand is, I would encourage anyone who wants value for their money to avoid this one completely.

It's easy to compare The Outer Worlds to past games like Fallout: New Vegas or Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, but while it does take elements from both this game is very much its own creation. An underrated gem if I've ever seen one.

Pros: Graphics, sound design, accessibility controls Average: Action, voice acting (save for the two main playable characters) Cons: Story, characters, extremely divided and toxic community

Despite minimal history with the series, (i used to main Ike in Smash, that's literally it) I bought this game on a whim. And I couldn't put it down once I started. Literally everything I did, from moving a unit during battle to spending time gardening on my days off, felt significant. There are a lot of characters, most of whom actually have a lot of depth. My only complaint is that in my playthrough, I never once heard the traditional Fire Emblem series theme. Literally the only way this could have been better for me. Loved, loved, LOVED this game - can't wait to play the other routes.

Is it perfect? No. Is it the best game in the series? No. Did I still have fun with it? Yes. I wouldn't get it for more than $30, but for less than that it's a good enough deal - especially if you liked Far Cry 5.

"Ultimate" is possibly the most appropriate subtitle I've ever seen for a video game. If you already have a Switch, you need to get it. If not, this game is honestly good enough by itself to justify picking one up.