Drew Hurley's Reviews
Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms is potentially the best otomate game made thus far and is in its finest possible form here. The extra bachelors give fans a new perspective on a now old story. With the Vita on the way out and a new Sony handheld seemingly unlikely, visual novel fans should rejoice in these stories while they have a chance. That being said, the format of the game makes little sense, splitting the story in half like this and punishing fans. Forcing loyal fans to purchase two games when they could have delivered a complete edition is not ideal… The new bachelors make up for it somewhat, at least.
Level-5 has made something truly special, managing to capture the whimsical and heartfelt charm of a Ghibli story even more so than when it worked with Ghibli itself! This is an absolutely wonderful tale; a fantastic fable that makes up for every little flaw by giving the player a monumental amount of things to do and play with. Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom is a must play for Ghibli fans, fans of the first Ni No Kuni, fans of JRPGs, Suikoden fans, and just about anyone who appreciates a good adventure in general.
It's always good to try something new but, conversely, it doesn't always work. Here, it really doesn't work. Scribblenauts' charm was always in challenging the players to use their imagination and their diction to come up with fun and original solutions over the obvious or the mundane. While there's still some of that in Scribblenaut Showdown's Sandbox mode, it's too little to truly enjoy and too much focus has been placed on the mediocre party games instead. Even for the low cost, this is a considerably disappointing entry into the series.
The gameplay is explosive and dynamic, the ODMG is an absolute joy, and there's enough content to keep playing for a very long time. A.O.T. 2 is a must-buy for anime fans and one of the best spin-off musou titles out there.
Okami is a truly beautiful game and it's in its best possible form with this absolutely stunning 4K remaster. Okami HD is something truly special; the sort of game that is still remembered fondly years later by those who play it, and wonderful in every aspect. While remasters often get a bad rap, classics like this deserve the chance to get more sales - especially if it increases the chance of a sequel - not to mention more players get to experience an amazing and memorable adventure. Combine this quality with the low asking price here and this is a no-brainer. Buy this game. Love this game.
The PlayStation VR deserves to be thought of as a whole separate platform, and thus far that platform has been lacking in the killer games to sell it. This is the first must-have release to arrive; something truly special. Moss is an absolutely phenomenal experience; completely captivating, utterly endearing, and absolutely magical. Ghibli fans will find this closer to the works of the legendary studio than the Ni No Kuni games. Best of all, it finishes on a promise of more adventures to come and, like a bibliophile desperate for that next book, players will be left desperately wanting the next chapter in this story.
There are many games that Past Cure draws from and it's a pale imitation of them all. Less Heavy Rain and more Light Drizzle. Less Evil Within and more Crap Within. The developers were ambitious, but overambitious, and they have delivered an absolute turkey. Completely unenjoyable and comes with very few redeeming features. It's an awful, awful game.
The Longest Five Minutes is an interesting take on a nostalgia trip, but by splitting the game into the individual memories it does a huge disservice to its RPG nature. If only these memories had been fleshed out, giving the main characters a little depth, some side quests, some hidden quests… anything to make it feel like the games it is monkeying, instead of being such simple little, objective-based stages. There are moments that shine, but they are marred by the numerous issues and make this Nintendo Switch release somewhat of a disappointment.
Apex Construct is a perfect example of just how far VR games have come and shows that VR gaming isn't just a gimmick. It's clearly going to be the next step for gaming. However, it also shows some of the glaring issues still being faced with the technology. The controls are still difficult, with the system of teleporting rather immersion-breaking and the wand-style controllers still not quite fitting the bill. Regardless of its flaws, this is one of the best VR experiences currently available and a must experience.
Ultimately, while Typoman: Revised has a solid system to base a game around, it ends up feeling like a missed opportunity thanks to its short length, clunky platforming moments, and unintuitive puzzles, but at least has some great achievements and an engaging antonym mini-game.
This is an adventure game the likes of which is rarely seen anymore and is completely unlike anything else on Switch.
Koei Tecmo and Omega Force can neither be faulted for their resolve, nor their aspirations. The franchise has always had its cult audience but the Musou style has rarely broken into the mainstream outside of the big licenced spin-offs, like Hyrule Warriors[i]. [i]Dynasty Warriors 9 feels like an attempt to remedy that. Open World games are this generation's go-to genre and transforming the Story of Three Kingdoms has actually worked in many regards, but this feels like an early and flawed attempt at that bigger picture. Where it works best is in its classic elements, but the open world needs a lot of work. Perhaps by the time Dynasty Warriors 10 they will have learned from their mistakes.
For the low cost of £7.99, this is a decent little addition to any Nintendo Switch owner's indie library, and perfect for a quick bash here and there. It captures the same simplistic addictiveness as Flappy Bird, but has the same flaws. It's repetitive and gets boring very quickly, so it's a real shame this new Nintendo Switch version of Star Ghost couldn't offer up new features.
Teslagrad is a fun puzzling experience from Rain Games and one that seems perfect for on-the-go play thanks to the numerous puzzles and the regular auto-saving checkpoints, meaning it's perfect for pick up and put down style play. The graphical style has transitioned fantastically to Switch, too, looking absolutely stunning in portable mode. This is definitely a pleasing addition to the Switch's extensive port library.
Unepic is deliciously old-school and thoroughly addictive, but it feels like a snapshot of an earlier time and, as such, those who have never experienced the games that this is a love-letter to may find it hard to get on with. The writing is very hit and miss - mostly miss - but it tells a decent enough story, until its final act and the horrible endings… Ultimately, a fun but flawed experience.
The blurb for The Deer God promises to "Challenge your religion and your platforming skills," but it does neither. The platforming moments are ridiculously easy, and the combat is easily abused. The worst of the game, though, is the "story," which constantly stresses a morality that makes no sense at all, all culminating in an absolutely moronic ending. There are many fantastic indie titles that have made the jump to Nindies. This is not one of them.
A World to the West is actually superior to its predecessor. The puzzles are wonderful and offer up some real head-scratching challenges, and the mechanics are engaging and fun. Parallels are evident between this and A Link to the Past and considering the quality of that game, in the comparison, it shows the quality of this one. A real surprise here, it is definitely one of the best Nindies to hit Nintendo Switch yet, and considering some of the titles hitting the console recently, that's really saying something.
This review is of the PlayStation 4 version of Romancing SaGa 2, and this is something of a negative in the grand scheme. This new remaster is hitting almost every possible platform and this may not be the best option. While the upgraded graphics look a great deal better, they really don't require an HD TV and it feels like this would fit better on Nintendo Switch or Vita. Despite that, there is a great and original experience here, one that hardcore old school RPG fans may have completely missed out on. It may not be for everyone but this is a perfect opportunity to try a classic and unique Japanese experience.
The interest in learning Japanese has always been large for fans of gaming and geek culture, and tangential learning is a fantastic gateway into understanding the language. However, Hiragana Pixel Party works only in a tangential sense to memorise the easiest part of the language. With just a few tweaks, and some greater focus on learning more of the language, this could have been fantastic as either an actual teaching tool or learning aide. Sadly, though, instead it's about as useful as a deck of flash cards.
Initially stepping into Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon, it feels even worse than the first outing. It's retreading the same ground with the story, but doing it with an inferior overall plot and some cringe-worthy writing for the dialogue. The gameplay is highly repetitive, both on exploring the world and on the generic mash-y gameplay, but, despite all the negatives, there's actually some fun to be had here. The large amount of side-quests and the varied mixture of support characters make revisiting areas to find all the little secrets enjoyable.