It is the small, seemingly insignificant details of The Lion's Song that will make you smile the most as you explore the four episodic chapters of the game. It's purely story-driven stuff, but with wonderful characters, all dealing with very real (and easily relateable) creative challenges, this is a game that provides players with a real look into the human psyche, and where the world's great ideas and art come from.
Masquerada is a rare gem of a game in which everything about it comes together just perfectly to give plays a consistent and cohesive experience.
I really like CastleStorm, and I'm so pleased with what Zen Studios has done to make the VR version of it a meaningful upgrade. We're well overdue for a proper sequel though. There's so much more that Zen Studios can do with the base formula, and I really think this has the potential to grow into a very substantial franchise.
It's a little limited for what I ultimately want VR to deliver, but it's worthwhile nonetheless.
Not much has changed in the years since Planet Minigolf, but the not much needed to. This is still an excellent little game, and it's a good fit for the Switch's portable functions.
It's a pointless time waster, but it's a fun way to relax the mind with something mindless in short burst.
Match-3 games are dime a dozen, so it's hard for any of them to really stand out. Boost Beast is another example of that. It's adorable and cute, but with well over 200 levels, the grind becomes real and tiring with three quarters of the game still to go.
It's nice to know that I have a package like this on the console for when I'm feeling nostalgic. And the inclusion of Pac-Man Vs. is an absolute masterstroke of brilliance. That is a rare retro game, and finally having it readily available on a modern console is something that anyone who enjoys local multiplayer should get excited about.
I hope the developers are able to take the experience from this game and build on it, because the industry needs more people like this than it does indies churning out yet more pixel shooters and aspiring eSports games, but The Girl and the Robot is a lost cause, I'm afraid.
It has been a real joy playing Aven Colony.
Nintendo has taken one of the few genuine highlights that it enjoyed with the Wii U and successfully brought it to the Switch and, one suspects, a new audience to do with the old.
I always wondered if I had a threshold when it comes to games about pretty anime girls. I guess this is it. I hope Bandai Namco wasn't using Cinderella Girls as a gauge for interest in Idolm@ster in the west.
Fallen Legion shows all the potential in the world to become a great IP. The core ideas are strong, and the attempt to tell an interesting, deep story is admirable. Unfortunately this one doesn't execute on its ideas as well as it should, and, critically, this lets down the game's themes, but it is on the cusp of being something special.
Levels+ is a completely forgettable game. It's got some gorgeous aesthetics, and functionally it's a refined, balanced, and perfectly competent Threes clone, but there is no longevity to the game whatsoever, and the lack of an online leaderboard for a game like this is downright amateur.
Transport Giant takes itself seriously. It's enjoyable and rewarding, but as a serious simulation, rather than something fun to unwind with on the weekend after a long week's work. It's not a game for everyone by any means because of that, but it is the kind of game that will continue to reward you the more you put into it.
What this all amounts to is an expansion that doesn't push Final Fantasy XIV in bold new directions because, quite frankly, it doesn't need to. Stormblood takes everything that makes the game good and doubles down on it, expanding the world of Hydaelyn and filling it with more to see, do, and experience. Minor issues with its story and storytelling notwithstanding, this is everything I could want from a Final Fantasy XIV expansion.
Yonder is a game that matches is aesthetics, design, and vision in a way that very few games could even hope to achieve; even those games that end up with astronomical Metacritic scores and GOTY awards from every corner. It's a beautiful, clearly heartfelt masterpiece, and if more games were to follow this one's lead, I would have a great deal more faith in the emergence of video games as an art form.
Flip Wars' problem is that it has no depth whatsoever. That silly, simple, chaotic, and utterly pointless button masher that you had a quick laugh at when you play it for the first time really is all that's on offer.
While it's not to the standard of its rhythm games, Rayark did well with its first RPG. Implosion looks gorgeous and is a very slick production.
Final Fantasy XII's willingness to be different and innovative has left it feeling every bit as modern and poignant now as any new JRPG on the market, and it remains my favourite game within a series that I hold very precious to me.