Elizabeth Henges's Reviews
As a reviewer, I've played my share of bad video games, but honestly, few had managed to infuriate me in the ways 'Legend of Kay Anniversary' did right from the get-go. There is so much wrong with this package, from the severely outdated gameplay to the poor "remastering" job to the grating voice acting, that I truly wonder why Nordic Games decided to even give this title the time of day in the first place.
Honestly, Best Friend Forever feels like it's having a constant identity crisis. Mechanically and story-wise, everything feels incredibly disjointed.
Sword and Fairy 6 is a poor introduction to the popular Chinese RPG series.
MeiQ is a low quality title whose flaws permeate through every twist and turn of this dungeon crawler.
Dear script writers: If your party's reaction to a terrifying building appearing out of nowhere is for all the ladies to dogpile on the main character for fun, you're doing something wrong.
For a series that only has a niche following in the West, 'Touhou' really needs to put its best foot forward to win over a bigger audience. Unfortunately, this fan-game spinoff of the doujin series is not it. While not particularly terrible,'Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity' is about as middle of the road as you can get with an action RPG, and as such does not leave a good impression as one of the few English representations of the 'Touhou' series.
There's little reason to recommend 'Alphadia Genesis' to anyone. While both the Wii U and Steam are a bit lacking in JRPG content at the moment, 'Alphadia Genesis skews to close towards mediocre and frustrating to safely scratch the JRPG itch. More and more JRPGS are being released on the Steam platform every week, while the Wii U is getting a nice backlog of classic games with the Virtual Console. With so many other, better options available, 'Alphadia Genesis isn't worth your time or your money.
There is an audience out there for 'Killer Is Dead', certainly; but that audience is only going to be the most diehard fans of Suda51's work. The game is wrapped up with a wonderful art style and some good voice work and music, but the stilted, nonsensical storytelling is bound to drive away a lot of the audience that would care to enjoy it. Add in the repetitive nature of battling, which only really shines during certain bosses, and 'Killer is Dead' can be both too monotonous and spontaneous to fully enjoy. Unless you're a huge fan of the likes of Suda51's laster action titles, stay away from 'Killer Is Dead.'
'Omega Quintet' feels like it has a lot of potential. There's an interesting setting with some quirkiness to it, and the game's battle system is pretty fun, if maybe a bit overly complex. However, several flaws really bring the PS4 game down, and eventually bogs down this title to the point where it's difficult to recommend to most. Those that like Compile Heart's typical output will probably find a decent game, but everyone else might want to wait for a possible sequel to iron out some of the design fallacies.
A spin-off title of the niche Atelier series, Nelke may provide some neat cameos for long-time fans, but otherwise isn't a very interesting game to play.
The fourth entry to the Mercenaries series just doesn't do enough to make it stand out from the SRPG crowd.
While Corpse Party attempts to tell an interesting tale, the PC port is clearly inferior to the PSP remake, and the narrative suffers as a result.
If you already like the Neptunia series, this game is for you... as long as your PC is up to snuff. If you aren't a fan, though, there's little new here to justify giving this latest title a chance.
After the strong start with The Mad Ones, I can't help but feel disappointed with Hide and Seek.
'Lost Dimension' really had the chance to be something special. The premise, and story itself are actually quite interesting, and paint an interesting world outside the tower the characters are trapped in. However, when the core of the game is rotten, it's hard to salvage the whole title, and therefore it's very hard to give this Atlus title a recommendation. If you're an RPG fan that really doesn't mind battles that are slow as molasses, you might want to give it a try, though—sitting around fifteen to twenty hours for a playthrough, it's pretty short for an RPG and may be worth a weekend romp.
'Fairy Fencer F', as a series, has potential. While it fails or is merely average on most of its fronts, it also gives a nice look into a world and setting that deserve some more fleshing out. … and thankfully, with the PlayStation 4 sequel recently announced, the series will get a second chance to bring RPG fans a tighter and more enjoyable package.
'Onechanbara Z2: Chaos' isn't a particularly bad game. Taking the good with the bad, it lays decidedly on average, with a bit of quirkiness that's sure to appeal to a specific type of fan. However, it's far from a shining example of the genre, and with better action games having been released for the same system for a lower price, it's difficult to recommend this title to any but diehard action game fans. There's certainly a bit to like about this title, but it's only there for those who look beyond what's skin deep.
'Natural Doctrine' is really a love it or hate it game. There's quite a bit of good in this little title, but at the same time there's also a lot that will drive away a great many gamers. It's complicated, even obtuse at times, but battling and steamrolling over foes when everything goes right can be a great feeling. Then again, watching the same animations over and over again because of a failed attempt or lucky critical can be rage inducing.
The third episode of Life is Strange 2 doesn't really nail its emotional beats but sets up for what's bound to be an exciting next episode.
While the original Code: Realize and its first fandisc were great, Wintertide Miracles just feels long in the tooth.