The cuteness and novelties of Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity wear off quickly after about 30 minutes, and the shallow, mind-numbing gameplay takes hold. The playability and controls just were not well thought out for a game like this, but anyone who is willing to slog through may still manage to experience an interesting, yet ultimately failed experiment. As far as Touhou games go, Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity is a fair looker, but limited animation accentuates the low budget. Hopefully Touhou projects will continue to get westward localization, and just maybe someone will attempt another project like Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity but will learn from its mistakes.
Surgeon Simulator: Experience Reality is improved over its vanilla version. Clearly, playing with the DualShock 4 controller is just not the best way to play this game, and the PSVR and PS Move controllers were a step in the right direction. Sadly, the lack of polish keeps it from being a worthwhile purchase yet again. It is slightly more playable than it was before, but the new problems of faux feedback and bugginess stop this "sim" from being more than just an ironic joke on the customer.
Final Fantasy XV is the result of the designers being out of touch and being unable to make any sort of connection with the players. It has a really rough start and is a game with high highs and extremely low lows. It is both a technical achievement and a game design disaster. It is capable of really clever storytelling and character development, while also failing at the basics of telling a simple story. Final Fantasy XV offers a huge amount of land to explore that feels ultimately small due to how few points of interest it actually has. More often than not, this hardly feels like an RPG at times, and yet because of how strange this game is, it might be worth a look. In the end, maybe Final Fantasy XV needed another 10 years of development considering how unfinished it feels.
Hatsune Miku: VR Future Live is an impressive albeit pricey VR experience. It is not a terribly exciting rhythm game at all, since it is just relying on such a basic shaking gesture. Only those who are interested in a VR experience or are Hatsune Miku fans should apply here, since that is what its strengths are: a passive musical spectacle.
Hatsune Miku: VR Future Live's second stage is great for those who want to go to a concert without the effort of getting up or leaving home. It is certainly cheaper than the price of actually going to a Miku concert and has more songs to choose from while the show is on. If there is one thing Hatsune Miku: VR Future Live does do well it is simulating the concert-going experience.
The Hatsune Miku phenomena will likely continue in spite of Hatsune Miku: VR Future Live. Barely there gameplay won't make barely there skirts compelling enough. This still manages to be a fine, if pricey, VR experience, since the effect is quite marvellous. Shaking a controller is just not really a long-term plan to make an engaging or precise rhythm game.
If Lethal VR has any real faults, it is in its absurd price. With around only 30 missions, which can all be beaten in about an hour, there is just not enough content to warrant the asking price. However, what Lethal VR does, it does well. The game shoots straight and doesn't falter... It just doesn't have many rounds in the barrel.
Flying Bunny is a humble game with a modest price. Depending on if anyone wants a Flappy-style game, they likely won't do better than this. It manages to hit all the marks to excel in its genre, and even has a robust amount of content. Really, the only thing holding it back is the flat, cold and cheap looking Flash-style graphics. This is a fun mobile game, but it is stuck on a PlayStation 4.
Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin is a noble effort by Double Fine to give Psychonauts fans something to whet their appetite until the actual sequel comes out. Their attempt was misguided. Most of the game is hopping from host to host with a little puzzle here or there, of which none are ever challenging. With PSVR having a small install base and the steep pricing model for the game, it's not likely anyone will be getting sucked into Rhombus of Ruin. Just wait for the sequel.
Berserk and the Band of the Hawk is a guilty pleasure that is best digested in small doses. It's really entertaining to savagely murder dozens of enemies with such a large weapon in a single swing, but with such simplistic combat and generally unaggressive enemy forces, the novelty wears thin after a while. On one hand, it can be a great entry point for those who have been curious about the original manga and anime, but at the same time, this is also a fairly dumbed down telling of these stories and characters. Long-time berserk fans will be excited to hear that the story does go further than the "Golden Age" arc (an overly represented arc) and actually has extensive story that goes into the "Falcon of the Millennium Empire" arcs. Any Musou fan already knows if they are interested in Berserk and the Band of the Hawk, but this is not the grand Berserk game Guts deserved.
Dying: Reborn VR is a waste that does manage to have some okay visuals and a couple of interesting puzzles that are completely undermined by a lack of smooth turning that ruins the experience. It may be fine for those who don't mind turning at set degrees, but everyone who likes smooth turning should not buy this game at all. It doesn't help that the PSVR version is $9.99, which is, at its core, a feature that should have been in the standard game. Lasting at about two hours, Dying: Reborn VR is just not a worthy purchase for any PSVR customer.
Blaster Master Zero is a brief and faithful successor to Blaster Master. This may not be as hard as the NES game; it has modern conveniences like checkpoints and save files as it slavishly pays lip service to the classic. It does Sunsoft justice and perfectly captures that distinctive Sunsoft sound that they were known for in the NES generation.
2Dark is mostly a triumph for Gloomywood. It is impressive and refreshing that a skilled user could play a survival horror stealth game that can be completed without killing anyone. Sure, sometimes accidents happen and a kid dies a horrible bloody death, which can lead to both horrific shock and bemused laughter... at the same time no less, but that is the weird and wonderful tone of 2Dark. Inane inventory system and difficulty spike aside, this is a very interesting and free-form survival horror that dares to be a little different. A humble little game that really tries its best to get people to invest in saving children and be heroic with no shred of irony.
A wasted opportunity. Some decent graphics and a couple of engaging puzzles aren't enough to save Dying: Reborn. The overreliance on safes, keypads and combinations highlight the developer's lack of imagination. This feels like a step backwards from the older low-fi titles from Konami and Capcom, who figured out how to make interesting and fun puzzles in horror games. While this version of Dying: Reborn is a better buy than the PSVR edition, it is not better by much.
In spite of all the odds against Yoko Taro's career, he has finally created a true masterpiece that delivers on all fronts that includes gameplay. Environmental detail aesthetics lacking aside, Nier: Automata is an unbelievable game and one that just might make even the most stone cold-hearted gamers well up into a weepy emotional mess. This is a landmark in storytelling in games that is one that embraces the fact it is a video game and does not try to imitate film in the way most story driven games do. Nier: Automata is bold and weird without being pretentious, but most importantly it knows how to be a fun video game thanks to masterclass action game design.
The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ is the most updated console version and features two-player co-op. With both Joy-Con, there is a lot of game here to play with someone friendly. With over 10 endings and a seemingly endless amount of unlockable content/features, expect to get far beyond 100 hours logged in. For its price, The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ pretty much has it all and more thanks to the Switch hardware. For some it may become a grind, and others may never be able to get past Edmund McMillen's wonderful sense of humour. Those who get beyond those quibbles will have one of the most addictive and creative indie games in their pockets and on their TV.
The Nonary Games is a collection of two examples of some of the best visual novels available. Expect a riveting mystery full of interesting and layered characters, and even some diabolical puzzles. Whilst Nine Persons, Nine Hours, Nine Doors is clearly the game that got the most attention for this compilation, it doesn't mean that Virtue's Last Reward is the lesser of the two... 999 just needed it more and it pays off beautifully.
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is Capcom's little survival horror that could. With so much contention about this entry being in first-person and the complete lack of returning protagonists, many felt wrongfully disgruntled about this truly innovative and expertly crafted survival horror that plays the way classic Resident Evil would play in the current generation. The developers finally figured out what made Resident Evil tick, and they did it by taking a long and introspective look at the most beloved entries in the series and putting a new spin on them. PSVR and Resident Evil 7: Biohazard together is by far one of the most successful experiments since Resident Evil 4.
Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight is a fine example of the Metroidvania sub-genre. Depth-wise, it does not quite reach the heights of Guacamelee or Strider, but it far surpasses the likes of Xeodrifter. Momodora's strengths lie in the action and its charm. This is a fairly bite-sized affair when compared to the competition, but it is a bite worth trying. With all the basics set in place for such a polished and well-crafted entry, hopefully Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight will get a successor that expands on such a strong foundation.
Kamiko costs about $4.99 and can be beaten in under an hour. Visually, it is nothing impressive or interesting... There are far better looking pixel art games out there on the Switch, such as Blaster Master Zero. The core mechanics aren't broken or anything, it is completely serviceable, but it just lacks anything of interest to make Kamiko worth any time at all.