Adam Riley's Reviews
Capcom is definitely onto a winner with Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers. Taking a Super Nintendo classic and sprucing it up just a touch retains enough nostalgia-factor so as to appeal to older gamers, yet has enough re-balancing, shiny new paint, and extras to ensure newcomers can enjoy the ride, as well. Hardcore or not, there is something for every level here in The Final Challengers. It may suffer when using Joy-Con, but crack out the Pro Controller and this feels as good as the series did in the past.
Late Shift is a great attempt at reviving FMV-led gaming, avoiding the pitfalls of The Bunker by choosing to opt for a purer movie direction rather than including unnecessary forced interactions, making it almost visual novel-esque with its decision-making route and multiple endings inclusion to encourage repeated play-throughs.
The Secret Monster Society - Chapter 2: Time, Dreams and Underwater Travel picks up where the first chapter left off, improving in almost every way, including funnier quips, smarter (and tougher) puzzles, along with the same gorgeous visual style, superb voice acting, and amazing Banjo-Kazooie-esque soundtrack. It cuts off a bit quicker than expected, but for its low price there is definitely a fantastic ride here to get you through until Chapter 3 rolls around. There are still some quirks that linger from the first chapter, but hopefully they will be fixed ahead of the release of Chapter 3.
Bear with Me: Episode 2 is a definite step in the right direction, with the world opening up more and a great selection of new characters and puzzles being introduced, accompanying the already impressive dark atmosphere. Sometimes it leans towards being slightly too easy, but there is more challenge than before, and it ends on the perfect cliff-hanger, ready for Episode 3. Hopefully the wait between episodes is not quite as long this time.
Despite a soft start through the first half of the adventure, the thoroughly impressive time-switching mechanic used for puzzles, as well as the engrossing story and stellar final run to the end credits, all help to make The Silent Age something very special indeed. Given how impressive the journey develops, it can only be hoped that more is on the way. The time-jumping aspect for puzzle solving is fantastic, but starts to wear thin slightly, at which point the developer, thankfully, eases off to a degree, and brings in more traditional style point-and-click adventuring that spices up matters considerably. The Silent Age has a good start, then has a really strong race to the finish line, and leaves with massive potential for the future.
Duke Grabowski, Mighty Swashbuckler starts off in the shadow of games it has clearly been inspired by, not quite living up to their high standards. However, it quickly shakes this off thanks to the abundance of charm exuding from every pore helping to alleviate the issue, leaving gamers with an excellent -albeit bite-sized - pirate-filled point-and-click romp that fans of the genre will lap up with joy. Roll on episode two…
Seasons After Fall is a wonderful platform adventure that uses the ability to change seasons perfectly, with some cleverly thought-out areas that are small at first, but smartly open up considerably when rotating through Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. With gorgeous visuals, and a wonderful soundtrack, plus powerful voice work, the only thing that holds this back is the aimless wandering that creeps in towards the latter stages, thanks to the lack of a map feature.
Activision and Toys for Bob have once more delivered a highly entertaining adventure, filled with hidden goodies galore, and an amusing script, on top of an extremely solid platforming escapade. Newcomers may grow frustrated at the amount of content locked behind 'pay walls' ('toy' walls?) but the core story has enough meat to keep early Nintendo Switch adopters satiated; as for long-term fans with a large toy collection, this is superb.
Both Maniac Mansion and its sequel, Day of the Tentacle, are highly regarded even after all this time, and with good reason. This remastered edition of the second title is a welcome return for a highly enjoyable - and comical - point-and-click romp that would otherwise be completely overlooked in today's modern gaming world. Even in this form it might well be shunned just because of its genre, but that would be a mistake. It may no longer be King of the Hill, but it is still a mighty fine adventure, filled with smart quips, amusing one-liners, and some crafty puzzles.
It may start off slow, but Shardlight quickly develops into a truly gripping adventure, filled with high levels of intrigue on the story side, complete with some thoroughly inventive puzzles, and the trademark touch of class that WadjetEye Games brings to the genre, making best use of the Adventure Game Studio engine. There can be a bit too much back-tracking early on, but the balance is right, overall, preventing frustration from creeping in, especially thanks to the areas to visit being so close together and the intelligent map system in place, meaning that it is not too tough to revisit places to find things that were initially missed. All-in-all, this is another strong addition to WadjetEye Games' line-up.
Without a doubt, Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam Bros. is just as solid an RPG adventure as its predecessors, avoiding the pit that Partners in Time fell into with its multi-character approach. Paper Mario slots into this new romp perfectly well, although there are times where the 'Paper' world is not exploited as much as fans may have wanted. Nevertheless, the laughs are still there, as are the innovative 'Bros.' moves for battles, more than making up for the incessant mandatory 'Toad Hunt' mini-games included. This may not be Mario & Luigi at its best, but it still rises high above the recent Paper Mario entries and will keep fans of the series entertained until the end of the impressively lengthy adventure.
République Episode 4: God's Acre may not quite hits the highest of highs set in Episode 2: Metamorphosis, but it does attempt to freshen up the core concept, as well as bring in some more puzzle elements, as well as heap on plenty of extra layers for those already engrossed in the story. Ditching the multiple guards approach for one where there is just a solitary big monster with lots of surrounding noise hazards was a risky move, but it has been pulled off very well indeed.
For all its drawbacks in terms of relying on the gamer to actually put in the effort to enjoy the experience, Super Mario Maker is a fresh approach to the old 'RPG Maker' mould, taking the key elements that any 'build-a-game' title requires and then making sure that there are sufficient in-built goodies to give those less inclined to while away the hours making new content a sense of value for money. Additionally, the online element for stage sharing, as well as potential for new extras to be unlocked via DLC, ensure that Nintendo's anniversary project will certainly not be resigned to a fate of 'dust collector' or 'drinks coaster' anytime soon.
Dead Synchronicity tries to stand out from the crowd with its aesthetic style and succeeds in almost every area, despite starting off somewhat slow, confusing, and even a slight bit frustrating. With a stellar voice cast to drive home the weight of the macabre story at hand, a delightfully dark setting, and a slew of impressive puzzles further into the journey, any initial concerns over navigation confusion and a shorter than expected length given the price-tag are overcome, resulting in what is actually a superbly fresh take on the genre that deserves the attention of any traditional point-and-click adventure fan.
Even after such a long wait, and with a hazy memory of the past titles, Dreamfall Chapters Book One: Reborn proves to be a major success, working just as well, in fact, as a standalone product thanks to the Story Recap option filling some blanks for newcomers and the writing being clever enough to not leave fresh faces bewildered. Smooth controls, stunning visuals, and fantastic audio direction all make for a special adventure, albeit one with one or two fetch-quests too many included. Conversation threads may prove too wordy for some, yet others that are eager to get lost in the lore, and learn more about the world they are stepping into, will be exhilarated. This is definitely not for those wanting to rush through to the end; taking the time to savour the overall excellence of the package is ideal - feel the love that has been poured into it, and get ready for Book Two: Rebels.
From the gorgeous settings, to the wonderful narrative development, and the smart implementation of sharp puzzle elements, Nihiliumbra is an absolute joy to play.
Unforeseen Incidents is a complete breath of fresh air in what is fast becoming an over-crowded genre once more, standing head and shoulders above many other point-and-click adventures available. With its perfect mix of macabre and comical scripting, as well as the highly engaging puzzles and entertaining fetch quests it throws the player's way, the hours really do fly by despite this being one of the longer journeys on the market right now.
Beckett is a surreal experience, but a wonderfully unique take on the point-and-click style adventure that makes the delivery of the gripping story far more digestible for a wider audience.
The Adventures of Bertram Fiddle: Episode 1: A Dreadly Business is a breath of fresh air in the point-and-click genre, bringing with it fantastic art work and excellent voice acting, along with tough-but-not-overly-so puzzles, a wonderfully intuitive inventory and control system, as well as bucket-loads of charm and personality. Spiffingly good work, ol' chap!
What a way to end the Little Nightmares saga! Tarsier Studios has taken its original fantastic experience, and split up the core concepts to craft some sublime DLC episodes, and this final one, The Residence, brings with it some real thrills and chills, whilst also delivering on the puzzles front. Admittedly shorter than the previous two, yet more satisfying overall, it leaves gamers thirsty for more, with an eventual sequel hoped for.