Rob Lashley
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
- Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
- Final Fantasy VII
Rob Lashley's Reviews
As an arena sword fighter For Honor does an admirable job but it falls short in supporting an epic campaign. Hopefully the eternal war meta game can keep the players satisfied for the long haul. It’s easy to see the novelty wearing off for a lot of players before the end of the first season.
Dragon Quest Heroes II is successful in carrying the torch from where the first entry in the franchise ended. Heres II has enough improvements over previous systems to make it feel more like an RPG and less like a game focused solely on hack ‘n’ slash. Unfortunately, the characters didn’t click for me the same way they did with the first entry. If you are looking for some button mashing fun though you’ll find it aplenty in this game.
Pokken Tournament was a hit on the Wii U and while not an excellent game it is a solid fighter filed with some interesting Pokemon. However for each Pikachu Libre there is a Chandelure. With a roster of almost 1000 Pokemon you’d think they could have come up with a better lineup for the 21 fighters. While games like Mario Kart 8, Splatoon 2, and Arms do magnificent jobs of taking their respective genres and making excellent interpretations of Nintendo games Pokken Tournament DX only does an above average job for the fighting genre.
It doesn't look like the developers had to sacrifice anything in the game to bring it to the Switch. However, it doesn't look like they added much either. That being the case unless you absolutely must play this game on the go I'd recommend sticking to Steam, PS4, or the XBox One where you can get Battle Chasers for under $20 instead of paying $40 for this port.
Tales of Zestria is a solid addition to the "Tales of" series by Bandai Namco. While this is not an excellent game it is far from being one deserving of being tossed onto the scrap heap. If you are looking for a game with a solid combat system that is not the run of the mill turn based or active time based system then this might be the game for you. However if you are looking for a game that provides a solid and consistent narrative experience you may be put off.
Fans of both tactical RPGs and anime will find something to enjoy here. The characters are well drawn, if not overly endowed for school age, and the voice acting is a nice touch. I particularly liked the allegory of being able to summon demons through your mobile device and the dangers of technology. The UI is nicely done and captures the feel of an early smartphone as if it was on your 3DS.
While this game is far from perfect, the thing it does the best is capture the feel of what Shadowrun should be and that is a world I want to play in.
So far Bungie has failed to exert their dominance but the foundation has been laid. In a year, will we still be talking about Destiny, or will we be looking out for what's next? That's the real question at hand.
Mr. Shifty encourages you to replay a stage to run it faster and finish it with fewer deaths with the ultimate goal being a perfect 0. Mr. Shifty will be released on both Steam and the Nintendo Switch with the later of the two being the better platform. With stages set to last between 5 to 20 minutes this style of gameplay lends itself to pick up and go mobile play.
Sword Coast Legends had the table set for it. The huddled masses had shown their willingness to gobble up isometric cRPGs with abandon. The problem is this holiday season in the consumer should probably stick to gobbling up Turkey instead.
If the developers went back to the drawing board and designed a strategy RPG from the ground up and implemented the systems present in PXZ2 they would be off to a great start. However an overly long introduction that becomes boring after a few hours distracts from what is otherwise a decent game. If this game had a tighter story, trimmed up the dialogue, and improved upon its technical performance by reducing slowdown, it would be something special.
Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers does a great job of scratching that nostalgic itch and has a few bonus features but overall the package feels like a misstep. At $15 to $20 I’d have no problem recommending this to everyone out there. However at $40 for physical or digital download it feels like Capcom got a little greedy and put minimal effort into this port but is an attempt to extract a premium price. With classic Neo Geo fighters appearing on the Nintendo eShop for $7.99 this price difference seems even more glaring.
One good thing I can say about the game is that I didn't feel like I was constantly walking around with its hand in my pocket. I was put off by the fact you had to pay in game gold to change the chat font color however. All said I cannot find enough redeemable qualities about the game that would make me want to play it for an extended period of time.
Had this game been given more time to germinate it may have bloomed into something nice. Instead it was uprooted and launched before its time and the flaws show. Only the most ardent of Warhammer 40K fans would find something to like here. For all the rest they should wait until this title hits the bargain bin and has a few updates before they dare jump into these waters.