Gammalad's Reviews
The Alliance Alive succeeded in everything The Legend of Legacy failed in. From rich environments and a somber atmosphere, to more balanced combat, and to an overall much better story, you truly have a JRPG that channels the roots of a lot of classic games. While the game may have a few technical issues, it is a rather enjoyable time through and through.
Little Dragons Cafe is honestly a return to form for Yasuhiro Wada. He has managed to create a game that manages to recreate the magic he did when working on the Story of Seasons series. This game may not be for everyone, but if you are interested in a game that will truly warm your heart and help you unwind after a busy day, Little Dragons Cafe is the game for you. All it really boils down to is your preference when it comes to performance.
Fist of the North Star Lost Paradise is seriously a good game, and is honestly one of the best anime based video games I have ever played. The game does an amazing job of putting you in the shoes of Kenshiro, and allows you to lay waste to hordes of baddies in an over the top and gruesome manner. The mix between this series and Yakuza honestly seems like a match made in heaven, and at times it truly is.
MegaTagmension Blanc+Neptune Vs. Zombies is a very solid first attempt from Compile Heart at a multiplayer Neptunia game. While I cannot recommend this game to people who are not already fans of the series this game is a fun addition to the Neptunia series and fans will get a good laugh out of the charm and wit of the story while beating up hordes of zombies as their favorite characters.
Hey! Pikmin feels more like a side entry to the main Pikmin series than some simple spin off. I really enjoyed everything this game tried to do, and I honestly feel like with a bit of reworking Hey! Pikmin could have been a game to be held up there with the original trilogy.
Overall, Birthday’s the Beginnings is an interesting new IP from Wada-san. While it fails to capture the same magic as the “Story of Seasons” series has managed to, he was still able to create a game that could be seen as (almost) as relaxing. Despite some control issues and fighting with the game’s own mechanics, I found myself really enjoying this game.
What you have with Dark Rose Valkyrie feels like two different things. On one hand, the story is very well done and comes across as almost like a visual novel, mixed with a JRPG that misses the mark and a lot of potential. That said, Dark Rose Valkyrie is definitely a good game if you are looking for something to beef up your JRPG collection with.
The Caligula Effect Overdose has some of the most inventive combat I have ever played in a turnbased JRPG. If you can get beyond the grind a lot of the dungeons feel like and the poorly implemented social systems, you will be treated to amazing combat, great music, wonderful character interactions and a story that will really make you think.
"Mario Sports Superstars" is a very competent sports collection for the Nintendo 3DS. It is great for quick pick-up-and-play; whether in single player or multiplayer, each of the five games are run in their own right. The only issue I can truly find with this game is that each of the games could have been fleshed out more, or offered better rewards for grinding through the single player content. Nevertheless, I can recommend this game for anyone looking for a good sports collection to play on the 3DS. But, if you are only a fan of one of these sports, your best bet is to just find the Mario game that is dedicated to them.
Detective Pikachu is an interesting spin off to say the least, while it doesn’t really add anything to the puzzle or visual novel genre, it is still a charming adventure.
Overall “Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice” is not a bad game. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s a good game, either. The game really excels as a quick pick up and play game for you to play in your downtime, but the 3DS has so many of those (and much better ones, I may add,) that I find it extremely hard to recommend this game to people who aren’t already fans of the Sonic Boom TV show. While it is surely a step in the right direction from Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal, the series still has a long way to go to be held in the same rank as other platformers on the 3DS.
At the end of the day, Super Mario Maker 3DS excels at the level editing the Wii U game was known for. Sadly, that was only a fraction of the full Wii U package. While the game does boast to have a hundred built in levels, I feel like that they should have just taken those and repacked the game as New Super Mario Bros 3, as the sheer lack of online functionalities makes this game very hard to recommend. If you can still find a Wii U, or already have one and are debating on whether or not you should pick up this game, I would say just get it on Wii U.
At the end of the day, Miitopia really is a letdown. It tries to bridge Tomodachi Life and the JRPG genre, but without adding anything that would make the gameplay endearing. I could only recommend this game to someone who is looking for a quick pick up and play game for short play sessions but doesn’t want to get invested in a extremely in-depth JRPG.
At the end of the day, Harvest Moon Light of Hope isn’t a completely bad game, but it doesn't play like a good one by any stretch either. It just feels like a lazily stitched together copy and paste.
The game strays away from everything that makes an Animal Crossing game Animal Crossing, and it fails as an interesting party game. As a person who grew up with Animal Crossing, this game was nothing but heartbreak seeing what one of my most favorite video game franchises of all time has become.