Dragon Quest VIII is a massive world with well over 50 hours of gameplay. It stands out thanks to stellar voice acting and a huge, quirky set of monsters to battle. While there’s plenty to do, both the plot and the majority of the characters are flat and uninteresting. The quicksave feature and the ability to increase battle speed are significant quality of life improvements over the original, making this a solid title sure to entertain JRPG fans, but the dated and grind-heavy mechanics can make it a bit of a slog.
Golf Story is held back by a number of mechanics, some of which are not very fleshed out or enjoyable, the occasional glitch, and lots of quests which require skill and control of the game's often shaky mechanics. The story is entertaining enough, but the real charm of this game is the hilarity of its characters characters and dialogue. This really is a must have for any fan of golf games, but as an RPG fan, I thought this indie title only came in at par.
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux is as long and as the title, and can be challenging to get into, due to dated UI and lots and lots of text to read. The story is interesting, if not slow, offers multiple endings, and more than 300 demons for you to collect, fuse, and fight alongside. A solid, if not slightly clunky title built for the retrogamer crowd.
The Caligula Effect offers a fascinating story inside of a huge virtual world. Filled with heavy concepts, writer Tadashi Satomi weaves a complex story about human suffering, artificial happiness, and the lengths people will go to find inner peace. While not nearly as developed or immersive as Persona 5, the game's flashy graphics, star-studded soundtrack and solid story help to make up for what the game lacks in a depressingly shallow and unfulfilling social system, unclear objectives within dungeons and a rather tedious battle system.
The unexpected combination of the racing and wave defense genre, Radiant Crusade is a colorful, high speed VR shooter. While not suitable for anyone susceptible to motion sickness, be it from VR or riding in cars, this title is enjoyable enough in short bursts. A lack of both minimap and contrast between the game's glowing fauna and enemies makes it challenging to master, despite its easy and intuitive controls.
Medusa's Labyrinth has made an art out of building tension, using a brilliant combination of setting, sounds and truly grotesque monsters to create several heart-pounding, white-knuckle, hold-your-breath and drop-your-torch moments. While this game perfectly sets the stage, this setting is tragically undermined by unclear controls which have not been well adapted to VR, nausea-inducing simulated motion, and the tedious chore of physically wandering blindly through an unmarked labyrinth.
Exorder is a very pretty little game which feels like a puzzle game masquerading as a turn-based strategy title. Controls are simple to a fault, and moving around the map left me frustrated every single battle. While the game has a great style, the bright colors and fun designs are made just a little more dull by the bland voice acting you'll be listening to before and after each battle.
The Men of Yoshiwara: Ohgiya is a pretty little romance game which does everything adequately, but not exceptionally. It's a little light on content, some of the bachelor's stories aren't terribly interesting or engaging, and it would really benefit from some additional background and character art, but benefits from beautiful splash art and a stronger female protagonist than the last Yoshiwara title.
Little Town Hero boasts a unique, strategic battle system that draws heavily on card game mechanics. Despite the fact that the story and art design seems to be aimed at a younger audience, combat is far too slow, strategic, and challenging to keep the attention of most kids. It's an interesting combination of traditional RPG storytelling with Heartstone-like mechanics and difficulty that's sure to captivate some, but will likely miss the mark for most.
Homebound is a virtual reality experience best saved for the daredevils and veterans of VR. Its controls are clunky, it has a habit of leaving you spinning in the most gut-wrenching of ways with little to no warning, and its story mode instructions can be frustratingly obtuse. That said, it gives you the opportunity to experience life on a space station, and gazing out the viewport can be a shockingly powerful experience. It's difficult to resolve these dichotomies, but at the end of the day, I felt that the experience it offered was more than worth its $8.99 price tag.