James Galizio's Reviews
Taking cues from Hollow Knight and Sekiro, Nine Sols offers a metroidvania that seems perfect for RPG fans when paired with its excellent story and worldbuilding focus.
Idea Factory's latest release stretches the limits of what can be called a playable videogame.
Inconceivably bland.
Our World is Ended feels insecure in its own story, and seems at odds with itself. It's hard to take it seriously when it can't take itself seriously.
Monochrome Mobius is a solid first attempt at a JRPG from Aquaplus, but falters due to a number of plot, pacing and user interface concerns.
Despite all its charm, The Cruel King and the Great Hero is hard to recommend.
Cold Steel IV finally ends the "Phantasmal Blaze Plan" arc for the series after nearly a decade, for better or worse.
Super Bomberman R doesn't reinvent the wheel and might be hard to recommend to most players due to a lack of value. Its greatest strength is in its local multiplayer capabilities, but a combination of finicky controls, a high price tag for the amount of content the game packs, and a mediocre online experience holds back an otherwise fun game.
MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death is in a weird situation where it's neither hard enough for DRPG veterans nor easy enough for newcomers to the genre. Combined with the lack of gameplay depth and a short playtime, it's hard to recommend unless you really must play every DRPG that hits Vita.
Final Fantasy Explorers can be an engaging experience, but with a slow start, a lack of communication options for multiplayer, and a lack of polish, it's hard to recommend.
MercurySteam's latest project holds a lot of promise, but death by a thousand cuts holds it back from true greatness.
While individually Card-en-Ciel's decks offer a fun and engaging time as you learn to play around them, if anything Grand Battle dungeons seem emblematic of the game's own worst flaws. Inti-Creates had a great idea for a gameplay system, and it's charming to see them use their own IPs as fodder for the cards to populate these systems - but at the end of the day, it feels like they simply didn't know how to design a full game around the system they'd envisioned. Card-en-Ciel isn't a bad game by any means, but you can very much feel the limits of what the team could deliver; maybe the gameplay will be enough to make it worth your while, but it's hard to give a strong recommendation when so much of the experience feels disjointed and threadbare.
Regardless - Cryptmaster was a game I had hoped I would enjoy more. In the end, it's a solid proof of concept with a few hints of what it could be in the future. Cryptmaster is a game with a lot to say, but much like with the game's undead protagonists - it feels like its a bit confused on how to say it.
The spirit of Soul Sacrifice remains, but Thirdverse's successor doesn't quite stick the landing.
Gamefreak's latest DLC improves the game in some ways, while not in the ways that would matter the most.
Gamefreak's latest DLC improves the game in some ways, while not in the ways that would matter the most.
Beneath all the jank and technical disaster, there's a Pokemon game that deserved better.
New Pokemon Snap is (almost) just more of the same, but it's those small changes that hold it back from true greatness.
When I heard the news that the series was finally returning to PC, I just had to see how the ports turned out. Which is why it hurts to say that the ports have some rather major issues.
Pokemon Sword and Shield gives us but a glimpse of what a proper home console Pokemon could look like, and not much more.