Azario Lopez
- Final Fantasy VII
Waking will have you eager to wake up within the first few hours. Its compelling self-reflective narrative is overshadowed by some of the worse adventure mechanics and systems that I have played in quite some time. Perhaps the game should go through some self-reflecting of its own and figure out exactly what it wants to be because this is a complete mess.
Something went terribly wrong with the development of Tamarin. Nothing works and everything comes off like it was slapped together causing this entire adventure to feel like a random and confusing mess. Still, if you’re trying to experience one of the most bonkers 3D platformers ever developed, you found it, but I urge you not to put your money into this game.
Unbound: Worlds Apart has the appearance of a familiar indie platformer. However, there’s an exceptionally charming and memorable narrative here that guides the adventure through its many challenging areas. As beautiful as this game is, a high amount of skill is needed to progress, so thankfully, there are enough checkpoints to push yourself until you get it right.
Forward To The Sky on Nintendo Switch is not worth the price of admission. It’s almost comically bad and requires a lot more refinement than the Switch release provided. Everything is just dull, from the story to the platforming and combat; I don’t think I was ever really having fun. The moments of challenge in the platforming piqued my competitive nature, but it was only due to the game’s unresponsive controls and unpredictable camera angles.
Bright Memory shouldn’t be played; it’s just not ready. The one-person developed action is a decent concept, but it should have been released as a demo in anticipation for Bright Memory: Infinite. The Xbox Series X version adds nothing to the experience, but if you’re eager to spend an hour mindlessly shooting enemies and rolling your eyes, then, by all means, pick this up.
What Happened gives you very little reason to even care about answering that question. The narrative is consistently flimsy as you dive into the mind of an unlikeable protagonist. There are very few moments of redemption with some well-detailed environments and clever transitions, but that is not nearly enough to keep you invested. If the motion sickness doesn’t get you to turn the game off, then the self-deprecating storyline and in-your-face symbolism will cause you to roll your eyes to sleep in no time.
Like a stated before, if you enjoy mindlessly killing zombies and half-naked anime girls than you might find a great deal of fun in School Girl/Zombie Hunter, but if you're looking for a decent playing experience, I feel like you'd be let down. I hope to see Tamsoft continue to develop new IPs, but hopefully next time they'll give the game a good amount of QA before pushing it to release.
No one asked for Gargoyles Remastered, and I can see why. While the 16-bit gothic graphics are gorgeous, the gameplay does not hold up regardless of what style you’re playing in. The combat is dull, the platforming sections are frustratingly difficult due to bad controls, the bosses are laughable, and the experience is over before you know it. Although the added modes and rewind feature are cool, I’d say this is a Remastered release for the die-hards only and not a reason to play a game that you think you missed out on.
Gleamlight may have been great in concept, but it does not work in execution. There’s nothing here that players can attach themselves to as a reason to continue playing outside of some great visual and sound design. The battle system is basic, the upgrades are the bare minimum, and the level design is a copy and pasted maze. The UI-less experience has worked in other games, but it comes off as lazy game development here when the team didn’t try to provide a reasonable explanation of its systems or narrative.
Tokyo Tattoo Girls is as niche as it's going to get and if that sounds like something you're into than you might find this title to be just what you want. I hope to see Sushi Typhoon Games evolve as a developer and take what's good about this game to create something more because this game has more in common with a random smartphone title than a proper strategy RPG.
Drive Girls is for those Vita fans out there that are dying to play an action game from Tamsoft and can't wait for some of their other games to come West.
My experience with Remothered: Broken Porcelain was brought to a halt several times after I had to restart my game and figure out a way to progress without soft locking it. On the surface, this is a beautiful, moody horror game, but once you look deeper, you’ll see that the real horror is the game’s mechanics, pacing, and plot. I had such high hopes for this game, but after a few hours, I was looking to check out of the Ashmann Inn early.
Skater XL has some great trick animations that prove the developer understands the sport and brought that experience to the video game medium. Sadly, nothing else holds up as the environments and playability fall apart the moment you realize there’s nothing to do. The game excels for those who enjoy creating their own fun, but for the price point, I cannot recommend a game that still feels like it’s in Early Access after game crashes and numerous bugs. Anyway, at least the soundtrack is dope.
Danmachi Infinite Combate is sadly not a good experience for fans or newcomers. It fails on both its visual novel and gameplay offerings with strange design choices and uninspired execution. Post-game offerings aren’t enough to warrant getting through this mobile-like game brought to console. Still, that may not stop the most diehard Hestia fans from enjoying some aspects of it.
Super Bomberman R 2 doesn’t do much to differentiate itself from its predecessor or the series. There’s just nothing really here to justify a purchase with a campaign consisting of only three unimaginative levels, very limited power-ups, and a strange implication of online modes. The charm is still present when playing classic modes, but nothing that has been added moves the series in any significant direction.
To enjoy Sword of the Necromancer requires you to be invested in the narrative, but to do that, you’ll have to get through gameplay that lacks many refinements that a roguelike needs. The system of bringing monsters back alive to fight for you is limited because you have to manage only four slots of items, which often shadows the game’s most unique systems. As charming as this game looks, it doesn’t ever become a challenging adventure or an interesting experience.
Tears of Avia attempted to present a larger-than-life indie SRPG but bit off way more than it could chew. Creating a world that players don’t care about and a battle system that is broken after the first hour is a huge misstep for any title in this genre. There are some great ideas here, though. Character designs, animations, and writing make for some of the best moments, but all at the cost of an unmemorable adventure. Score:
This is the Zodiac Speaking is a decent psychological thriller significantly hurt by the Switch’s underpowered hardware. The narrative is there, but everything else falls short in terms of visuals, graphical glitches, and sound. There are some nice features here, but I urge you to play the PC version if you can.
Kandagawa Jet Girls is not a good racing game, and its not even a good fanservice game. Nothing from the developer's previous works can be found here, and we are left with a dull and uninteresting experience. The quality animations and unlockable content can't save this game, which makes me wonder why it was localized at all.
Forgotten Trace: Thanatos in Nostalgia has a great first chapter that may be overly wordy, but sets up a gripping mystery. However, it almost immediately turns into a mess due to poor pacing and character building. The timeline feature works to a point but fails to really capitalize on the system, which ends up doing nothing for the narrative. Hopefully, the sequel delivers a more promising structure for these characters to grow in.