Evan Norris's Reviews
Delivers that crunchy, stylized arcade action that helped make the Genesis generation so memorable.
A modern RPG classic; a game that would have made a splash on SNES, even surrounded by all-time greats like Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger.
River City Girls 2 is a fairly good beat-'em-up title. It's certainly an improvement over River City Girls, although it carries with it some of the original's flaws, including tedious backtracking and repetitive enemy encounters.
By combining bullet hell shoot-'em-up gameplay, Metroidvania-style exploration, and tactical deck building, developer Super Awesome Hyper Dimensional Mega Team has crafted something original and unique.
This is an extraordinary effort to preserve and cherish Atari's legacy and the history of early electronic game development in general. Despite some clunkers and a few omissions, this collection is required playing for any serious student of video games, or anyone ever moved by the magic of Atari.
It doesn't thoroughly unpack its good ideas, and relies too heavily on repetitive combat scenarios and fetch quests. Still, the game's focus on character swapping and backtracking exploration delivers decent results and the quirky characters of the RWBY franchise go a long way. Ultimately, Arrowfell is neither a good licensed game nor a bad one; it sits squarely in the middle of the pack.
On a technical level, it represents one of the better 1v1 fighters on the market, due to its approachable controls, tactical action, and balanced system of offensive and defensive maneuvers. Regrettably, the single player content and character roster that surround that strong mechanical core are lacking.
It suffers from clichéd situations, recycled environments, and overly-guided gameplay. That said, it's a fairly good DLC that wraps up some loose ends, provides closure, and introduces some interesting mechanics and monsters.
Shovel Knight Dig isn't the best game in the ever-expanding indie series, but it's a solid addition nonetheless. It delivers a remarkable rogue-lite experience with tight controls, enjoyable bite-sized stages, enticing risk-versus-reward gameplay, and lovely graphics and sound. Only a short running time and an unsatisfactory sense of progression hold it back.
Some unforced errors and a lack of polish keep it from reaching its full potential, but top-down Zelda fans will find a lot to like, especially if they can move past the shaky early hours.
Not every game is worth playing, and the online component requires a serious overhaul, but for Turtles aficionados focused on solo and couch co-op play, this collection is like a pepperoni pie from Antonio's, the turtles' favorite pizza joint — a must-have.
Its mixture of fast-paced rogue-like action and deliberate cult management works wonders, delivering crunchy, high-stakes combat and rewarding, open-ended simulation gameplay.
Blossom Tales II: The Minotaur Prince is bigger and bolder than the first installment and even approaches the greatness of the better top-down Zelda titles.
While this collection has more individual experiences and many more customization options, the line-up is arguably inferior to Turrican Flashback. As a result, last year's collection would be easier to recommend to general players, while this first volume would be better suited for collectors and Turrican super fans.
Altogether, Vol. II falls into the same category as Vol. I: a collection of deep cuts better suited to completionists and Turrican loyalists than the everyday player.
Spidersaurs doesn't have the staying power of the great run-and-gun games, but it's decent fun while it lasts.
With 30+ games, an embarrassment of customization options, and plenty of opportunities to play casually with local friends or seriously for online high scores, it's a rock solid collection both for arcade enthusiasts and old-school players.
It takes what was already one of the industry’s best run-and-gun games and makes it even better, thanks to reliable controls and mechanics carried over from the base campaign, plus a new playable character, a handful of uniquely challenging bosses, gorgeous visuals, and delightful music.
Unfortunately, due to overlong dungeons, difficulty spikes, and long loading times, the overall experience doesn't quite live up to the game's production values. That said, developer Retro Forge has turned in an expansive action-RPG with an interesting premise, engaging combat, and a huge, diverse world waiting to be explored.
With ten games, online lobbies, multiple achievements, and many opportunities to master your fighting technique, there should be plenty here to keep you busy while you wait for some enterprising Capcom executive to green light Red Earth 2.