Justin Oneil's Reviews
No More Heroes and No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle have made the jump to the Nintendo Switch in wonderful fashion. Both games look and perform the best on the Switch when compared to prior versions and they are still a ton of fun to play over a decade later. Some parts do show their age and I wish that it had the missing content from the PlayStation 3 version. Fans of hack-and-slash action games will want to play these though before Suda51 delivers No More Heroes 3 to us next year.
Supraland takes a whole bunch of ideas from some well-known games and manages to combine them together to create what turned out to be a pretty memorable experience. It constantly surprised me with new puzzles and the exploring this well-designed world was a joy from start to finish. The combat isn’t great and the story is mostly there to give meaning to what you’re doing but those two things alone don’t take away too much. Supraland is one of the bigger surprises of 2020 to me so don’t let it pass you by. Also, while I reviewed this on PlayStation 4 the game is currently on Xbox Game Pass so if you subscribe to that now you really have no reason to not try this.
Onee Chanbara Origin is an over-the-top, cheesy, bloody, action game where you get to mindlessly slay zombies while looking sexy. The gameplay can be fun but the short run time, nonsense story, and the few other issues I had with the game make it hard to recommend for the full price they are asking for. If you were a die-hard fan of this series you may get enough enjoyment out of it but general fans of hack-and-slash games are probably better off waiting until it’s a bit cheaper.
Amnesia: Rebirth is yet another excellent horror title from Frictional Games as it blends a very memorable narrative with some great puzzle design and plenty of scares. Those who have grown tired of the run and hide mechanics likely won’t enjoy it though. Tasi is a character who they wrote so well and seeing her go through everything that she does in this game is something I won’t soon forget.
I have to say that DIRT 5 is a must play for any fan of fun arcade racing games. Those are the types of racing games I enjoy the most as I don’t get near as much fun out of simulation types. DIRT 5 reminds me of games like Motorstorm where you’re just racing through colorful off-road environments, kicking up dirt, and going off jumps. It’s not the prettiest racing game of this generation but with a wide variety of modes to play, plenty of cars to take control of, and a great audio package DIRT 5 has just about everything that a fun-loving racing fan could ask for.
Team17 has become one of my favorite publishers because they always seem to deliver quality games and The Survivalists is no exception. It’s a great little survival game that you can enjoy with friends online or alone with your army of monkeys as I did.
Space Crew is a solid follow up to Bomber Crew that delivers some pretty in-depth management gameplay. The game looks good and building up your ship and crew while completing missions can be quite fun. I would like it even more if there was more mission variety and the controls were better suited to console. Decide if those negatives are that big of a deal for yourself before you join the United Defense Force
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV is a great finale to what has been a memorable four game journey. It’s got so many great moments throughout and many of the characters we’ve grown to love get to shine. It could’ve done with a bit better pacing though as I felt like I was just doing busy work quite a bit of the time. I can’t say much else other than if you’ve been invested in this story so far, you’ll be very happy with the payoff and if you haven’t yet jumped into it yet then you’re missing out on one of the best JRPG franchises out there.
If you played a Doodle God game before and wanted to ability to play it on your big screen then you may enjoy this but I don’t feel like it suits this type of game. This is also available on the Switch and with It looking like a mobile game still and the gameplay being suited to quick play sessions it might be best to purchase it there for the best experience. Doodle God: Evolution hasn’t evolved from the original all these years later and because of that it isn’t suited to be on consoles.
Zoids Wild: Blast Unleashed is an enjoyable 3D arena fighting game but might be a bit simplistic for some. I did find the combat to have a bit of depth to it but probably not enough for more hardcore fighting fans. The lack of online support, full voice-acting, and some rather simple arenas also hold it back a bit. Still, I enjoyed controlling the Zoids that were here and if you’re a fan of the series there is a lot of content here in the Story mode to sink your teeth into.
9 Monkeys of Shaolin isn’t the best beat ‘em up to release this year but it’s a pretty darn solid one. It very much nails the time period it’s set in and it’s got a great combat system with some fun upgrades to earn. It isn’t the prettiest game and some of the voice acting and combat sections are bit hit or miss. If you’re a fan of old Chinese kung fu movies or just want a fun beat ‘em up to play with a friend online or locally then you should give this one a try.
Orangeblood is by no means a must-play JRPG but it does have some redeeming qualities. The look and sound of it are the best parts and while the combat system didn’t impress me it worked well enough for me to see it through. It’s really too bad that the story and dialog weren’t better otherwise I could more highly recommend this one.
Cake Bash is a deliciously great party game that is perfect to sit down and play with some friends either locally or online. Solo players will likely get bored of it faster as the bots aren’t very challenging to play against. The visuals are cute and well done, the soundtrack is pleasing, and it’s got some well designed mini-games that are lots of fun. The biggest thing it has going against it is much like any great desert, there just isn’t enough of it to last.
Fans of management simulation games will likely enjoy their time in Little Big Workshop. It’s got a charming art style and gives you plenty to do as you work to make your shop the market leader. The stability issues that I encountered do need to be patched by Mirage Game Studios though. Outside of that, their first game has set up shop on consoles rather well.
While it is rather simple overall, I think fans of cooperative experiences will want to give Unrailed! a shot. The concept is a lot of fun and it will take some good communication between you and the other players to get your train as far as it can go. With options for both local and online multiplayer there is no reason for you and some friends not to hop on this train.
I enjoyed my short time with Feather but there isn’t enough here really to make me want to go back to it. Flying around, seeing the sights, and listening to the different music was relaxing but that’s all I can really say about it. It’s priced pretty fairly though so if you’re looking to spend a little while just soaring around as a bird this might be for you.
Vampire’s Fall: Origin is a solid little throwback RPG but its mobile roots do show. Those origins are apparent in both the visuals and the repetitive mission design. You do get a lot of content here though especially for a game priced as low as this one is. If you’re looking to spend some as a vampire and explore a vast world then you might want to check this one.
It was said plenty when Ori and the Will of the Wisps launched earlier this year but now that it’s on Switch I’ll say it again: play this game. It takes everything that made the first Ori one of the most memorable experiences this generation and further builds on it with a more expansive and varied world along with expanded combat options
Sinn Studio has been releasing games on PlayStation VR for awhile now but I didn’t find their prior work to be very good. Swordsman VR shows that they are continuing to listen and working to improve with this easily being their best game yet. It’s got quite a lot of content here to play through and the actual sword fighting feels really good.
Crysis Remastered is still a solid first-person shooter in 2020 but more could’ve been done to make it better. The open-ended gameplay still makes running around in the Nanosuit a fun power trip but the problems with enemy AI do sour the experience a bit. If you never played Crysis or were a die-hard fan there is fun to be had here but you may want to wait for a sale or for some tuning to be applied.