Jonathan Harrington
Ultimately, Mighty No. 9 is just not worth the price. It has a satisfying set of mechanics, but that is all it has going for it. The visuals are atrocious, the music unmemorable, the story painful, and the level design mediocre.
All in all, A Beggar’s Ride is a short, simple, and ultimately quite enjoyable puzzle platformer. If you’ve got six bucks to spare, then the charming visuals, impressively developed mixture of atmosphere and story, and solid puzzles will make the game worth a purchase.
I want more games like this from Nintendo. The visuals, music, story, and characters are all relatively bare-bones, but the gameplay is so fun and creative, I just don’t care. This is an experience that shows what amazing stuff Nintendo can do when they really try something new and crazy with unique hardware.
Bravely Second: End Layer is everything I want out of a JRPG.
All in all, Replay: VHS Is Not Dead is a brilliant game. It may not have particularly compelling visuals, music, or stories, but the gameplay is just superb. If you’ve got puzzle-platformer on the brain, Replay: VHS Is Not Dead is for you.
Alphadia is a game that is faithful in its homage to JRPGs of yore, yet cannot quite match them in its execution. Environments are all the same, the story inches along, the characters are barely characters, and the combat lacks the depth it should have. And yet I still had a lot of fun playing Alphadia. It’s… simple. It’s pure. Its problems do not keep it from being obscenely charming. Alphadia is not a great game; but it is a good one. For those that desire the experience of a classic JRPG, and do not mind that this one does nothing new and has loads of problems: Alphadia may actually give you a better time than it has any right to.
But again: many people will enjoy this type of gameplay, and if the simple joy of running around as a LEGO Avenger sounds appealing to you (and you can't play the console version for whatever reason), pick up the 3DS version of Lego Marvel's Avengers. Just don't expect it to blow you away.
Mutant Mudds Super Challenge is, for better or worse, more of the same – just a bit harder. If you enjoyed the original Mutant Mudds and don’t mind heavy difficulty right out of the gate (and some frustrating boss battles), Super Challenge is for you. If you didn’t enjoy Mutant Mudds, this won’t change your mind. And if you haven’t played the original, you definitely want to start there instead – seriously, this game is hard. In the end, Super Challenge is a brilliant title that, despite its lack of new additions and frustrating bosses, continues the series’ reputation as a shining example of pitch-perfect platforming mechanics and design. If you feel like dying and loving every minute of it, Mutant Mudds Super Challenge is for you.
All in all, Outside the Realm is not great. At just fifty cents at launch, it may be worth a playthrough if you want something mindless to play for thirty minutes. Yet it lacks any depth and challenge; it's reasonably good by Wii U budget title standards, but unfortunately it never steps into its own potential to become truly worthwhile.
All in all, Level 22 is a very worthwhile purchase if you are in the market for a top down stealth game. It is loaded with charm and has some well designed gameplay. It's not perfect – what game is? – but many will find a lot to enjoy from Level 22. You might be one of them. Just don't stay up too late playing, or your boss could get mad.