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I wish I was more engaged in the story, because the potential of bouncing between 17 worlds and criss-crossing replayed stories sounds cool. It just doesn't coalesce into something all that fun. Maybe the SaGa series is something best left to ports and remakes.
In a world where the Switch is filthy with TMNT arcade games across the Cowabunga Collection and Shredder's Revenge, Wrath of the Mutants is a distant third place. It's fine in the sense that if you get three buddies to play through it with you, you'll probably have a good time. But beyond that camaraderie, this is a middling port of an okay game.
Panic Barn wears their beliefs on their sleeve, and that perspective informs the story in a way that makes it impossible to divorce their worldview from how they've envisioned our lives. With that caveat, if you give it a chance, Not Tonight 2 is an expansion of the original into a much more multilayered game with depth that makes for a more fulfilling experience. Coupling that with a tried-and-true queue management core and a cross country road trip makes for a game that is a big step above its predecessor.
Were I not reviewing the game I would have put it aside after a few hours and never thought about it again. Eiyuden Chronicle comes after scores and scores of excellent and successful turn-based RPGs from which it could draw inspiration. Instead, it neglects so many of the lessons learned throughout the years in favor of outdated, tedious gameplay.
Overall, while there were some flaws to my time in Terra Memoria, I'm glad I was able to experience this captivating world which was full of great ideas, beautiful art, and an entertaining combat system. Some aspects felt not fully realized, but hopefully this means the developer is just getting started.
While it wears the inspiration on their sleeve, Freedom Planet 2 struck out to build something grander in scale with a panache I have respect for. Even if the ambitions to make a play-your-way experience ends up flattening the experience a bit, it's a minor quibble to my overall positive impression of the experience. Freedom Planet 2 accomplishes the most important test – it is FUN, and the extensive character and environmental diversity makes this adventure a worthy one.
If you're into unique and creative takes on platforming, Pepper Grinder is well worth jumping (or rather, drilling) into. I'm not the biggest fan of the boss fights (especially the one that currently glitches out), but overall, this is a good grind from start to finish. I'd love to see more takes on drill-based platforming along these lines, though the tight package developer Ahr Ech has put together is a concentrated blast of fun.
The addition of the Famicom version yields very little in terms of noticeable gameplay differences, so its inclusion is a bit of a mystery. I know the answer, but why couldn't these two games have just been added to NSO instead? What's more, the overall challenge will be markedly light for anyone with platforming experience, and there's no shortage of extra lives to earn and power-ups to keep you from danger and propel you through the largely pedestrian level design. If this 2024 collection had a few more interesting extras thrown in, it may be worth a pick up, but as it stands, this is just another black cat you don't want crossing your path.
Even some of CarX technologies other releases such as CarX street give more driving depth. With so many other racing games on offer within the Nintendo Switch Library, it is difficult to stand out. CarX highway attempts to give us something a little different than the market standard in racing games and for 10 bucks, it's not a bad buy but I would be looking at a few better polished titles first.
How they have maintained the rights and how Dark Forces somehow escaped to Nightdive instead (thank the maker) I'll never know. It is time to put more care into re-releasing these games. These games are iconic, oftentimes genre shifting, and they deserve better than this.
Optimally it's best played in handheld, but no matter how you play it, the gameplay is rock solid. Additionally, the way it treats baseball history with the Storylines mode is incredible. Now if only the video wasn't so compressed and I didn't have to worry about the game or server crashing at any point.
The Legend of Legacy HD Remastered is a solid port of an interesting but flawed game. If you want to explore some dungeon-like areas, rock some SaGa-like combat, and listen to some beautiful music, then it's worth journeying through Avalon. Otherwise, this remains a game I think is neat but wouldn't necessarily emphatically recommend to most aside from the specific group I just described.
It's not quite like any other narrative adventure game I've ever played. Combat and menu design can be a little clunky, but ultimately every encounter serves as a deliberate and well crafted puzzle. This is a very fresh take on a post apocalyptic story that oozes with satire, dark humor, and some oddly cozy end of the world vibes.
One final note: At the time of writing I also experienced a de-sync of audio and video in the interviews. I was informed by a representative of Digital Eclipse that this is a bug in the Switch version and will be fixed in a patch soon after launch.
I'd suggest Splatoon fans play through the mode with each weapon once then bounce off. It's a great game to play while listening to a podcast or something, but the lack of variety makes the mode get repetitive by the end especially if you're trying to unlock everything. Hopefully this mode makes it into the inevitable next Splatoon with much more variety than what's currently offered here.
What it lacks in visual attractiveness, it does make up for with a solid run-and-gun experience that is comparable to the best Contra games of the past. The additional characters, four-player Arcade Mode, and tricky Challenge Mode extend the replay value, but some of the more fun, Easter egg-type perks that you can unlock require far too much grinding. While it may fall a bit short of being a sure-fire hit, Operation Galuga provides a fair amount of entertainment and some good ways of adjusting the difficulty of what has been a notoriously tough video game series.
That said hardcore racers should still find plenty to like here with its upgrade system and fuel/tire management scheme during the career mode. New Star GP is not a replacement for a Formula 1 game and it's not exactly a Sega arcade hardware racer, but it is a damn fine tribute. Is that your quarter?.
I expect that I'll need another 10-20 hours to see the main story through to completion, and even more to discover all of the secrets hidden around the world map. Once those tasks are complete, I'll be updating this review with a final score. Until then, I feel confident in saying we're looking at another candidate that's sure to take home some end-of-the-year accolades.
I discovered a whole world of stories I will now be reading to my young child. So long Frog and Toad! In a world where the Bluey game was a disappointment, I think this may be my child's first video game that we play together, if only for more of the Moominkin world to explore. I came for the cozy game, but left with new parental gaming goals.
Berserk Boy offers a fast-paced diversion that will appeal to those who like the speed of Sonic and the transformations of Mega Man. It's aesthetically pleasing from start to finish, and the gameplay shines through most of its runtime. A handful of issues keep it from putting both feet solidly in must-play territory, but all told it's a good time and scratches that run, jump, and shoot itch.