Symphonia is a great platformer with the short playing time as its only downside. The theme is nice, the animations are beautiful, the music is fantastic and the game plays smoothly. Perfect for the budget bin, but for the full price this game is definitely worth a try.
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Metaphor: ReFantazio is a great game and almost mandatory for fans of Japanese RPGs. With this game Studio Zero shows that they can easily address serious themes and make a game that is right on almost every aspect. It is a game with very small valleys and gigantic heights. Normally I would not quickly name a game of the year. For Metaphor: ReFantazio I make an exception for the first time. As far as I am concerned, this game is the game of the year in a year full of excellent titles.
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Is this really the definitive version of Dragon Quest III? Is this the version with all the content from all the other versions? Nope, not everything from the Gameboy Color version has been added. Is this the best version of the game? In my opinion, yes. Combat could have been balanced a bit better with fewer fights that for no reason suddenly give you a game over screen. The extra vocation, the stories of Ortega, the monster arena and all the other small quality of life additions limit the damage and ensure that this has once again become a fantastic remake.
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Chicken Police: Into the HIVE! (title drop) is just like its predecessor a very successful point & click. The atmosphere, the world and the humor are fantastic and the mystery is captivating enough to keep you glued to the screen for the almost eight hours. I enjoyed myself immensely with the antics of Santino and Martin. If developer The Wild Gentlemen makes a sequel, I will once again be at the front of the line.
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Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven is a classic that has its pros and cons. You can completely customize the game with all the options and gameplay features, but the game is quite lacking in terms of quality. Graphically, the game looks very dated and in terms of user interface it is quite a mess. For fans of many RPG elements who want a lot of content for their money and demand more than enough possibilities, this will be a game to their heart's content. In addition, the game starts very slowly in the first hours, so you really have to bite through the sour until the goodies appear. Due to the mixed feelings, it is difficult to fully assess the game's value, as we previously read in our preview . It is clear that we remain somewhere in between in our judgment and given the pluses and minuses.
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The Plucky Squire might just be the cutest game of the year. Maybe a little too cute, because everything is done to be as accessible as possible. The puzzles never get too difficult and battles remain simple in execution. You can even skip the mini-games completely if they are too difficult for you. Oddly enough, that doesn't make The Plucky Squire any less. It's not brilliant, but above all just very fun and just long enough to end on a high note.
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The game has high highlights in terms of atmosphere. However, that is surrendered in the middle of the game for boring walking around and solving too easy puzzles. That makes the game a bit difficult to recommend. Nevertheless, outside of the middle part I enjoyed Hollowbody a lot. It is a game that gives an interesting look back at how horror games used to be. Including that stiff combat that we have now exchanged for more action-oriented gameplay.
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Kitsune Tails is a fun 2D platformer with a number of levels that will get your blood under your nails. The graphics and soundtrack take you back in time when everything was simpler and, above all, happier. If you don't feel like dealing with all kinds of complex systems or if you want a glimpse into what games used to be like, then this is not a bad game to try.
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Despite the somewhat high difficulty level and a number of frustrating moments when you were shot by someone off-screen, Anger Foot is a wonderful game. Finding your way is quite quick and once you have found it it is a matter of adapting your style. It is an arcade game par excellence and does everything it can to suck you into the action. If you succeed, it doesn't matter if you die a few times in a row. You just get right back up and fly through a door with your foot again to kick a fire extinguisher in someone's face. Senseless and comedic violence can feel good, but please do that while you're playing this game.
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Even though an average thesis by a graduated quantum scientist is easier to understand than the story of Kingdom Hearts, I can do nothing but recommend this collection without any problems. Yes, part one and Chain of Memories feel a bit dated. Yes, Dream Drop Distance will make you swear several times. However, the other parts more than make up for that. This is the ideal way to prepare for part four. Whenever that may come.
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Skeler Boy does interesting things. The atmosphere is great and audiovisually, in terms of style, we really have nothing to complain about. If you really fancy an atmospheric 2D horror game, Skeler Boy is the place for you, but you have to put up with the mediocre translation and dramatic controls.
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May Akira Toriyama rest in peace. In case you are interested in his work besides Sand Land and Dragon Ball. Despite the manga being hopelessly outdated, Dr. Slump a special insight into his style of humor. Something that happened sometimes in the first few arcs of the original Dragon Ball. His self parody, Neko Majin, is also a lot of fun.
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Dragon's Dogma 2 almost passed with honors, but misses the mark with unnecessary and superfluous in-game items for real money. Graphically the game is usually beautiful, but there is still some work to be done here, just like with the sound and some controls? Is it a cult classic or not? I don't dare say that yet, but the game does a lot right, but also a number of things not. Time will tell whether Capcom will address the concerns that have been going back and forth across the web or not. Does the game have a decent replay value? Strangely enough, there is always something to discover and, as with other open world games, new things are discovered by gamers years and sometimes hundreds of hours later.
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Children of the Sun is like a summer Saturday in April. Short, powerful and nice to experience in between. For anyone who likes puzzle games and wants something new, this is an excellent game to at least try.
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Pepper Grinder may be a bit on the short side. However, just like Mega Man Purely to perfect every level. It's a short and powerful platformer with a lot of spice and a focus on quality instead of quantity. In a time where games are getting longer and longer, we can welcome this.
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It is expected that all DLC will be included in the very pleasant price and you can find all the things you can expect from a PC port. The resolution and frame rate can be significantly higher than previous versions and with a much greater draw distance, this is the definitive version of Dragon Quest: Builders that you can purchase. Although this port is a bit late, it is a very good port of a game that is still fun.
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A while ago I wrote that this was one of my most difficult reviews. That's because Rebirth does everything it can to make it as difficult as possible to love this game. Despite the adjustments, the main story is still fantastic, the soundtrack is great and so are the graphics during cutscenes. The open zones are not necessarily bad, but they are overcrowded with meaningless content that only functions as filler and not enough combat. When Rebirth opens everything up and you can dive into the combat or the story, then you can enjoy it. It's a shame that the game does everything it can to pull you out of there and saddle you with boring meaningless padding. Rebirth is at times brilliant, fantastic, beautiful and leaves you as an emotional wreck. It's just that it's interrupted so often that the entire outcome leans more toward "okay" and not what it could have been.
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The developers promised a lot with their Kickstarter campaign and during interviews it seemed like it could be something special. Unfortunately not much was made of that. Farsiders revels in mediocrity and I still struggle to think of why anyone could like this game. So leave it alone.
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Fearmonium is a Metroidvania with a pretty heavy theme. The depressing themes in combination with the gloomy environments are not for everyone. It might even put off those who are interested. On the other hand, it has become a very original game in the genre that I would like to recommend to everyone without too many caveats. Even if you have a phobia of clowns.
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There's something here that could have been brilliant. With just a little more time in the oven to give more variety in missions, a more interesting skill set and more different enemies, this could have been a fun game to play with three friends. Now it is a game that is fun for one mission and then quickly forgotten.
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