Nick Herber's Reviews
While it is a short game, Lost Words: Beyond the Page deserves a lot of credit for making the most of narrative during that relatively brief runtime. So many games are forgotten almost as soon as I put down the controller – but that is not going to be the case here. While the platforming / puzzling gameplay itself is fairly shallow, the rest of the package is undeniably charming and an experience I enjoyed far more often than not.
Spacebase Startopia is a fairly standard strategy/simulation game at its core, with the balancing of resources, happiness and a bit of light RTS combat mixed in. Some technical concerns around the camera, balky control scheme and less-than-stellar AI diminish the overall experience, however. There is plenty of micromanaging fun to be had here for fans of the genre, but Spacebase Startopia is not among the best in the genre either.
Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection Vol 1 is a fantastic selection of games, even if it does tilt a little heavy towards the fighting side of things. Given that the title has ‘Vol 1’ in there, I wonder if we’ll see one or two more of these collections (the Pocket Color had 31 games released for it). Assuming you haven’t already picked up all of the previously released fighting games, this is a very worthwhile collection for old school gaming enthusiasts.
Black Legend’s combat is solid if unspectacular, and the setting is unique and atmospheric. The character progression is more interesting than the characters themselves, and the story fails to match the intrigue created by the overall visual style due to average writing. Across the board, Black Legend is a decent game with some good ideas but technical issues hold it back.
Monster Truck Championship is pretty easy to pick up, despite its vehicles being quite different from most traditional racing games. The events and options are fun enough, and I thoroughly enjoyed the career mode as it provided me an opportunity to unlock more content. That being said, the production values are simply good, not great and the pacing of the larger trucks and slower events may not appeal to all fans of racing games, as some people simply want to go as fast as possible and not worry about things like tricks or damage bonuses. Monster Truck Championship is not going to be for every racing gamer out there, but I came away having enjoyed my time with it.
Mortal Shell: Enhanced Edition was put together by a relatively small studio, and that makes what they were able to do here even more impressive. It sprinkles in enough unique mechanics to make it more than a simple Souls clone, but should still scratch that itch for fans of the genre. There are some rough edges here and there, with a few design choices that I was not in love with, but the overall presentation and gameplay are satisfyingly well done.
Natsuki Chronicles is a smooth, polished shooter that has some great, modern RPG-lite features that make it accessible despite the shoot-‘em-up genre being one traditionally known for being brutally challenging. A bit more effort in localizing the audio would have gone a ways for making the in-stage narrative easier to soak in, but that is a pretty minor complaint about an otherwise very entertaining game.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV: Diplomacy & Strategy Pack is a worthy addition to an already excellent strategy game. It was enough to get me to sink in dozens more hours into a title that I had not played in several months, reminding me how much I enjoyed the fourteenth installment of the franchise. That being said, if you played the core game in the past and found it not to your liking, I doubt that the additional depth or even the addition of Chronicles mode will convince you to give it another go – the core content and pacing had not changed all that dramatically. If like me however, you enjoyed what the base game had to offer, the additional depth and options hold plenty of appeal.
There is a lot of potential in Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood, I just wish more of it had been fully realized. There are moments of excitement to be had, especially in the game’s earlier hours as you take on your werewolf form and lay waste to your opponents. However, the combat and many of the environments become repetitive relatively quick. Given the game’s tie-in to the well-established RPG property of Werewolf: The Apocalypse, I do wish there had been more depth in both character development and the story itself. There is a ton of potential lore to draw from here, but it misses some of those opportunities. The end result? A decent enough weekend action-RPG binge, but not much else.
Having enjoying the racing game Redout, I was looking forward to seeing the developer’s take on the space shooting genre. They got some things right, especially the on-rails sections and creating a nice sense of speed, but there’s enough rough edges coupled with a lack of depth that relegates Redout: Space Assault to simply being an average, budget entry into the genre.
Sword of the Necromancer is a solid Rogue-Lite action RPG title that has a clever resurrection mechanic, but otherwise doesn’t do much new and different. That said, what Sword of the Necromancer does, it does pretty well and makes it one of the more enjoyable enters into the genre.
Swords of Gargantua is one of those games that feels like a missed opportunity. There is some solid potential to have an interesting story, but the narrative bits never really develop. I am a pretty easy sell on the idea of a VR melee combat game, and to its credit Swords of Gargantua handles pretty well the majority of the time, but there just is not much reason to continue playing after awhile. Progression is shallow and the gameplay really never develops in a meaningful way. Swords of Gargantua is a perfectly adequate game without a lot of incentive to keep coming back for more. It's a perfectly average VR experience, but I had hoped for a bit more.
Space Invaders Forever is a cool collection of games based on the classic alien blasting classic. They all serve a slightly different function from single player, to multiplayer to an almost puzzle-y mashup with Arkanoid. None of these titles has a ton of depth to them, but at the same time they all manage to scratch that addictive arcade shooter itch that Space Invaders is so well known for.
Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia is an excellent strategy / RPG hybrid that recalls some of my favorite old school games of the genre, but benefits from some modern updates and solid storytelling. The presentation didn’t wow me, but the progression is rewarding and the combat meaty enough that I stayed engaged for dozens of hours. This was the perfect holiday gift for me (if not my spare time, which Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia soaked up a lot of).
Spirit of the North: Enhanced Edition is a relaxing, atmospheric adventure title that benefits from a gorgeous visual style and musical score. In terms of content and gameplay, it doesn’t offer up a lot of depth, but what is here provides a worthwhile distraction for those looking for a slightly slower paced adventure game.
The gameplay loop here is going to be hit or miss, based on your fondness of the roguelike genre. I enjoyed the combat enough that I kept coming back to Star Renegades over and over again, but the repetition might not be for everyone. Unlocking new characters and improving my team incrementally was just enough of a dangling carrot that I never felt crushed by watching my dimension lose time and time again. It helps that the RPG/Strategy hybrid genre is one of my favorites, and Star Renegades is a fine addition to it.
Chronos: Before the Ashes will draw comparisons to the Souls series, but its unique aging concept Is one area where it stands out. Unfortunately there are other areas such as combat, where the comparison is less favorable. It doesn’t quite measure up to its successor, Remnant: Before the Ashes – but the connected plot points were certainly welcome.
Bubble Bobble 4 Friends: The Baron is Back is a great addition to a classic arcade style game that challenges your thinking and your reflexes at the same time. It has that bite-sized, addictive “one more stage” quality with a sizeable amount of content to boot. It certainly works better as a multiplayer game than a single and can provide lots of chaotic good times with the right group playing it. The core concept is relatively simple, but it is a challenge to master.
Observer: System Redux is a welcome update. At first I questioned why we were getting it so soon after the initial game’s release only a few years ago, but those concerns abated rather quickly. Small quality of life improvements to the gameplay make the experience less frustrating this time around, the additional missions are well-done and welcome additions and enough cannot be said about how much better the visuals look this time around. As someone who enjoyed the game when it first released, I did not regret my second time with it here. If you missed Observer three years ago and dig cyberpunk themes, you really do need to check this title out.
New Review: NBA 2K21 – PS5 Review https://chalgyr.com/2020/11/review-ps5-nba2k21.html November 20, 2020 NBA 2K21 is generally a great way to usher in the new generation of consoles. The visuals and The City are a big step in the right direction. Some lessons were learned from the earlier release of NBA 2K21 on the last-gen consoles, and that made this a much smoother release experience. That being said, I still can’t shake the feeling I got during my initial review of this title on Xbox One a couple of months ago, that the development team was spread thin between prepping this title for two platforms and the release issues that I’ve encountered only reinforce that issue. Basketball fans will find lots to like here, even though there are some rough patches to be worked out. ---- Original Review: NBA 2K21 – XB1 Review https://chalgyr.com/2020/09/review-xb1-nba-2k21.html September 11, 2020 In all, NBA 2k21 is still the best sports experience on the market. That being said, this feels like a strange year for the series, given the pandemic, altered real life NBA season and split attention between two generations of console. There were few significant changes made, but almost all of those updates were for the better – except arguably the most important one. To change such a core mechanic as shooting so fundamentally is going to be polarizing and while I have been growing used to how it works, I think more tweaks need to be made to finetune the experience. It’s been a strange year and NBA 2k21 reflects that in a lot of ways. All things considered however, NBA 2K20 was easily my most played video game over the last year and I suspect that will be the case for my upcoming year and NBA 2K21.