Drew Hurley's Reviews
This is clearly a true labour of love, with CyberConnect2 clearly caring and being invested in Toriyama's legendary tale.
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX is a mixed bag. While it's great to see the series return, the fresh coat of paint isn't enough to hide the myriad fundamental flaws with it that have since been addressed in later entries. It is fun in short bursts, the new style looks lovely, and Poké-fans will be happy just to step back into the world. Best of all, this may point towards the other entries receiving Switch upscales, and perhaps even a whole new entry.
Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE has been judged quite harshly in the past, with the original release not doing particularly well in Japan or in the West, and for reasons completely outside of the quality of the game. Not enough Fire Emblem, not enough SMT, too much Idol content, cut out fanservice in the West... but, ignoring what could have been, judging this on its own merits, there is a hell of a gem here.
The first Dragon Quest Builders was an amazing surprise, taking all the things its progenitor did and improving on them by adding its own flair and style, now Dragon Quest Builders 2 feels bigger in every way, but only better in some.
The Switch's catalogue of Metroidvania titles was already impressive - though ironically it's still lacking an actual Metroid - and now its ranks have been bolstered by one of the best in recent memory. Ori and the Blind Forest is an absolute masterpiece, a beautiful story polished to perfection in both its artistic design and core gameplay mechanics. The utterly beautiful presentation and soundtrack crafts a charming and memorable world and there are more stories in that world to come as Ori and the Will of the Wisps landing on Xbox One in a few months. Hopefully, the Switch version comes shortly after.
It's hard to stick with Legend of the Skyfish. Even clocking in at only around 2-3 hours for the 45 stages, it's easy to get bored with the game around the halfway point when it becomes clear that it has already shown all it has to offer and just repeats the same types of puzzles and gameplay.
A new hope is here, as Star Wars video games finally get the long-awaited return to form they deserve. The creators clearly care about the source material, and have produced a story and a setting that will hopefully continue being explored. There are some teething issues here, but there is much more promise. Respawn has created the first step on what could be a very bright future.
Nostalgia and an 8-bit classic simply aren't worth the price of admission
Code Vein is going to be divisive. Out of the box, it's not a very good game. The balance in difficulty is a mess, with certain classes and abilities feeling hugely overpowered; the partners making even the most challenging encounter easy, until the difficulty spikes massively towards the conclusion. It's in that conclusion that Code Vein shines at its best. For the players willing to invest the time to get there, and good enough to learn how to master the considerably complex system, there is a superb experience waiting. It's just a shame it takes so long to get there.
This is kind of fun, but there are many other games already that do what it tries to do so much better.
Borderlands 3 has been crafted from the ground up with fans of the series in mind.
For the new generation who never even held a Game Boy (or picked it up in Virtual Console), this is a chance to experience this gaming masterpiece in its best form to date.
Oninaki is a welcomed trip down memory lane to the glory days of Chrono Trigger, fully capturing the nostalgia of the time. However, like Tokyo RPG Factory's previous creations, while there's a lot to enjoy here, the flaws cannot be ignored.
For a long time now, it's been great to be a Marvel fan, and now Ultimate Alliance 3 is another reason why.
Developer Brace Yourself Games has knocked this one out of the park, making something that feels like a perfect follow up to their wonderful Crypt of the Necromancer, but also manages to perfectly capture the magic innate to a full, first-party The Legend of Zelda title.
The gameplay is massively fun, and there is a positively absurd amount of things to do. For Yakuza fans this is a must buy. For those new to the franchise, this is the perfect opportunity to jump in.
New Cinema Labyrinth is wonderful for series fans. For Persona fans waiting on Persona 5 the Royale, this is a great way to fill the gap and is worth the price of admission just to watch the characters from these different games interact together. With so many inside jokes that fans will truly appreciate. Admittedly, the level design could be much better, with the labyrinths themselves a pale comparison to the Etrian Odyssey mazes it mimics. Thankfully, the addictive mapping, Persona-inspired combat, wealth of side-quests and the solid story combine to more than make up for its flaws.
Giga Wrecker Alt. is a bit of a mixed bag, and it's hard to see just who would get the most out of it. There are some great elements in here. Some really great ideas. The sad truth is, it's a pretty poor execution of so many promising elements. The flawed controls, combined with the major issues on establishing how and where to progress makes ultimately for a pretty frustrating experience. Not the good type of frustrating, where a roar and a smile inspires a confidence to overcome. The sort of frustration to lead to just wanting to dump the game.
Moero Chronicle Hyper definitely has an audience, though it's a very niche one. This sort of dungeon crawler can be massively addictive, and it's always good to see someone have the balls to bring a game like this over from Japan uncensored. That being said, there are lots of things wrong with this. Characters designs are lacking; the levelling and skill unlocking systems are flawed; and the story is utterly bland. Many flawed elements, but for the centre of the Venn diagram where "Pervs," "JRPG fans," Etrian Odyssey dungeon crawling fans, all overlap, there are going to be some absolutely overjoyed gamers.
A must buy. Case closed. There are so many reasons to pick this up. For those who haven't tried the series out, this debut on other consoles add up to a wonderful incentive. It's amazing that even 20 years on, these still hold up. The only thing that lets this collection down is that there is little extra to elevate this remaster, other than just a graphical overhaul. Regardless of this small bump, these remain some of the very best Visual Novels out there and with no end in sight for the series, this glimpse of them arriving on new platforms is very promising.