When it comes to roguelite shooters, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better offering than GoNNER 2. While certainly challenging and a bit obtuse at times, once things click you’ll find yourself having a hard time resisting the urge for another run.
Trials of Mana is a great example of how to do a remake, bringing a classic to modern day while sticking closely to its roots. Improved battle mechanics, visuals, and soundtrack are great additions, but at times poor AI and jarring transitions are a bit of a letdown. Overall though, combat and the upgrade system kept me engaged and coming back for more.
Sunless Sea has a really great atmosphere that should be ripe for exploring, but unfortunately it falls flat when it comes to core gameplay elements. Story bits are slow to develop and failed to hook me, while the act of sailing itself is mundane. That’s not to say it’s devoid of good ideas, but it’ll take someone who doesn’t mind a slow burn to fully enjoy.
Character action games rely heavily on combat and style and Devil May Cry 3 manages to deliver just that in spades. While not being able to completely withstand the test of time, the addition of Free Style play to the Switch version gives the title a breath of fresh air, offering veterans of the series a fresh take on the classic while making it even more accessible to newcomers.
With a pretty high encounter rate, this caused more than a few issues. That's not to say Ni no Kuni isn't entertaining; it just feels a bit imperfect. Regardless, exploring the different sights within the stunning world and interacting with its fascinating characters helped to overcome the shortcomings.
Having never played a Grandia game, I came in not knowing much about the series and what makes it great. Walking away, I'm left in awe of not only the battle system, but also how you power up your party. The port is a bit rough when it comes to slow down, particularly in battles, but it's worth dealing with the inconvenience to experience this classic.
Devil May Cry was the pioneer for character action games and despite being released 18 years ago, it still manages to stand tall among more contemporary counterparts. It certainly shows its age, most specifically in the dated platforming and at times jarring camera changes. Yet, when it comes down to pulling off combos and looking cool as hell, it hits the mark, still feeling fresh all these years later.
It's systems are robust and plentiful, but frankly many are downright confusing. The developers decided to do the player no favors, leaving much of the complexities a mystery without searching online. That is enough to scare some away, but if it isn't a dealbreaker, there's more than enough here to keep you busy for hours on end.
Level design and variety are wonderful, continuing to stay fresh throughout. However in contrast, the enemy design was a let down due to a small pool of enemies. Fun boss battles and the cutest protagonist ever do help to mitigate the shortcomings resulting in a brisk and enjoyable experience.
Verlet Swing is one of the most outlandish games I’ve played in a long time.
Featuring two characters for a majority of the adventure adds some interesting puzzle design, but also takes away from the feeling of isolation and dread. Fortunately the frightening and off-putting atmosphere helps to counteract that. While it isn't the best of the classics, Resident Evil Zero still manages to deliver an authentic survival horror experience.
undefined.Loot-driven action RPGs can find themselves in a pattern of being repetitive, relying on the desire for the next shiny piece of armor to keep players engaged. Lapis x Labyrinth certainly falls into that category, but unfortunately despite the huge number of items you earn, many tend to be downgrades. However, the diversity in each character type works to its advantage, promoting mixing and matching party members to help reduce the feeling of grinding in this outrageously stylistic 2D Action RPG.
That said, Hell is Other Demons separates itself not only with stunning visuals, but with its wonderfully designed campaign mode. I prefer how upgrades work within the campaign more than the arcade mode, but the fast-paced arcade action is still a blast to play. My chief complaints have been addressed in a post launch patch, making this a strong experience front to back.
Ultrawings packs a punch in the content department, offering a robust number of challenges spread across four different aircrafts, but unfortunately it encounters some turbulence along the way.
It's not articulated particularly well and can lead to some confusion at first, but once fully understood it proves to be a lot of fun. The pace of the game tends to be a bit slow, especially on early floors which don't present as much of a challenge as later floors. However, branching paths, local co-op, multiple difficulties, and even online leaderboards help round out the overall package.
It runs flawlessly in both handheld and docked modes, the pixel art looks great with interesting character and enemy design, offers co-op play, and the amount of variation between each run keeps it fresh as you slam your head against the wall again and again on the way to the throne. The difficulty is absolutely harsh and is sure to turn some off, but feels completely fair, outside of the rare fake chest which can quickly destroy an otherwise promising run. However, no matter how frustrating a death can be, I constantly found myself right back into it without a second thought.
This easygoing platformer gives the flexibility of selecting any level regardless of order and is forgiving when facing obstacles within each stage. The difficulty doesn't cap out too high, so players looking for a real challenge might be disappointed, but the fun mechanics and combining powers were enough to capture my attention. The entire adventure only lasts a few hours but manages to stay fresh from beginning to end.
Dragon Marked for Death is a frustrating experience because there are some good ideas buried behind some poor decisions.
The humor, dialogue, and characters all add up to a zany adventure that is sure to have you laugh out loud on more than one occasion. The remake stays faithful to the game released nearly a decade ago but gives a facelift to the visuals and music, putting fresh paint on a classic. Bowser Jr's Journey is a nice addition, but might prove to be a bit too passive and at times too uninspired for many to see it the entire way through.
Instead of relying on fast-paced bullet hell antics, it presents a more methodical and thoughtful approach to level and enemy design. This does become frustrating, however, as some stages can have difficulty spikes towards the end, making it a chore to go through the motions just to get back to where you were. Fortunately, this isn't the norm and more often than not I found the clever level design to be a true treat.