Jason Bolla's Reviews
For players looking to enjoy a Christmas themed Metroidvania, Ebenezer and the Invisible World is tailor made for them. Aside from some evil spirits plaguing the experience and making me put the game down here and there, it was never enough to say bah humbug and not come back to it again. I’d be interested to see the team give this treatment to other stories from the past.
If you're looking to relax for a couple hours and are into the Cottagecore vibe, you could definitely do worse than Mail Time. However, you may want to wait for a patch to fix the more mundane mechanics that ensure a smooth experience for all players.
Fans of rhythm games can rejoice in knowing there's not only a competent game being added to the genre, but one that adds competition to keep players coming back. Headbangers isn't going to topple Fortnite as the biggest battle royale, but it's not trying to - this speaks to a completely different audience with a thirst to get that rhythm right.
As a bite sized, Saturday morning cartoon experience, it’s hard to beat. It’s cute, simple, and accessible to pretty much anyone.
Bang-On Balls: Chronicles is silly, immature, and willing to laugh at itself for the sake of fun. It's a nice introduction to open world games for someone that's never played one, offering several unique settings and an accessible battle system. Despite its offerings though, it fails to live up to other contenders in the genre, especially when it comes to keeping the player hooked for long periods of time. Chances are if you beat it, you'll quickly roll along to the next thing instead of sticking around.
Marble It Up! Ultra is an absolute joy to play for anyone that has enjoyed the physics based marble rolling games of past decades. If you've never partaken in 3D marble platforming, there's no better entry point than this. Just don't expect the multiplayer lobbies to be fully populated without bringing your own group of friends.
If you love multiplayer madness, especially the kind that Team17 tends to publish, Moving Out 2 will no doubt delight you. As a single player game, it’s a fairly enjoyable (albeit frustrating at times) physics based puzzler. As a palette cleanser, it provides plenty of content to come back to between games. Regardless of what purpose the game serves for you, it’s one worth playing.
Dr. Fetus’ Mean Meat Machine is one of the strongest (and easily most difficult) puzzle games I’ve ever played.
There are a lot of cool ideas in this, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired.
Death or Treat is a pretty barebones entry to the growing pantheon of rogue-lite hack and slash games. It looks nice and plays well enough, but it isn’t sticky.
I’d venture to say that this kept my attention more than Battle for Bikini Bottom. If you like current day SpongeBob and platformers, this will probably scratch a specific itch for a few hours.
If you’ve never played Shatter, you owe it to yourself to pick it up. If you enjoyed it previously, it’s worth picking up again. This is still the masterclass of the genre.
There’s a lot of cool ideas in LEGO® Bricktales, and builders of the amateur and master levels can find enjoyment in this. The biggest flaw is the UI when it comes to building in the Z-axis. However, if you can power through this, or you’re on PC, this will be a breath of fresh air for brick lovers.
This is a game that’s meant to be played as a family.
I really love the relationship between the King and the Hero. From the very beginning, you understand how much he loves the little girl. As you take Yuu out into the dangerous world, the dragon can be seen in the background watching over her. He even helps in battle, unbeknownst to Yuu. As a father, this really hit home with a four year old. Wanting your kid to go out on their own, but also watching from the shadows and doing what you can to help, whether they know it or not resonated deeply with me. There are twists and turns to the relationship, and it’s really something worth checking out if you’re a parent.
If you enjoy the cyberpunk subgenre, open worlds, and open ended gameplay sequences, you can lose yourself to Night City for many hours. Just don’t expect a game that’s bug free.
This is a game that will provide you something you can keep coming back to for relaxation. This is a comfort food JRPG. This is a game you can put on and just grind away to build your party, with the enemies growing alongside you to ensure there’s enough challenge.
I hope the team attempts another game in line with this, as I have no doubt they learned a ton during the development cycle. There’s so much promise here, but it’s ultimately held back by the team’s resources.
While the game isn’t as grand as I initially thought from the first act, the story is one that’s well worth seeing through. The characters you meet are interesting, the world is gorgeous, and the ideas are certainly relevant to the world we live in.
If you’re familiar with SWERY games and enjoy them, definitely check this out. If you’re not, and you can’t stomach games that aren’t polished, maybe watch a play through online instead.