This is how big-budget games should be. They should feel like they’ve had time, effort and money thrown behind them, but they should never feel like the “business” side of things is more important than the “creative” side of things. So many modern triple-A games get that completely wrong, and Final Fantasy XVI puts those titles to shame. It’s an absolutely magnificent video game, and one I hope is looked back on as a major milestone in the series.
This release is a slap in the face to Sonic enthusiasts, game collectors in general and those concerned with video game preservation, and I sincerely hope that Sega — and the gaming community — learns from this.
This minor issue aside, I feel pretty confident in saying that Pretty Girls 2048 Strike is one of the strongest entries in the Pretty Girls series to date. 2048/Threes is a solid base for a puzzle game, and Pretty Girls 2048 Strike goes the extra mile in implementing some additional mechanics atop that base to create something that has its own distinctive feel. Like the other Pretty Girls games, the production values are solid and the game plays well — so it’s a great addition to your lineup of casual games.
There are plenty of interesting and unexpected twists and turns along the way — and plenty of references and homages to established detective fiction (including Sherlock Holmes, the Pinkerton Detective Agency and Cordelia Gray) from a variety of authors. This all makes for a thoroughly compelling game that any fans of mystery stories will have a great time with — so as long as you’re on board with the visual novel-centric nature of how the narrative is delivered, this is definitely a game worth adding to your collection.
So if you’re in the mood for something that looks and feels a bit like an RPG but isn’t really, and which you can easily beat in the space of a few days at most, The Longest 5 Minutes is an eminently worthwhile use of your limited time on this Earth. Just don’t expect to come out of the experience with dry eyes; the latter moments in particular go pretty hard on the emotions!
Ginga Force really is an excellent game. With well-designed stages, an enjoyable plot with decent voice acting, fantastic music by Yousuke Yasui and plenty of gameplay variety and longevity throughout, it’s one of the best value shoot ’em ups out there, and a great complement to the other excellent titles by Qute. Highly recommended.
On the whole, then, World Tour is a very good way to enjoy Street Fighter 6, particularly if you’re someone who typically plays solo. There are aspects which could be better — the non-Metro City locations you visit as part of your “tour” feel rather underbaked, for one, since most of them are just a very small “room” you can visit rather than a full open-world environment like Metro City — but in the grand scheme of things, World Tour is a brilliant example of how to build a compelling single-player mode into a fighting game.
Ridge Racer’s drift-heavy, arcade-style handling is as wonderful as ever, bearing little to no resemblance to actual driving but being all the more enjoyable as a result. And it’s an absolute delight to be able to return to this wonderful game on the big screen without having to faff around with the dodgy image quality from the PSP’s AV cables.
Humanity is an absolutely brilliant game that any fans of Mizuguchi or Nakamura’s work should jump right on. It’s the perfect antidote to the bombast of triple-A, a wonderfully contemplative experience if you allow it to be — and simply a well-designed puzzle game with some really interesting mechanics to engage with.
Taken on those terms, Resident Evil Revelations fits right in, making it a highly enjoyable installment in the series — and one that shouldn’t be missed out on.
TrackMania is a superb game with potentially limitless longevity, and its release on console — along with the fact that the console versions support both cross-play and importing of your progress from the PC version — means that a whole new audience will be able to enjoy this fantastic racing experience.
On the whole, Otoko Cross: Pretty Boys BreakUp! is a solid addition to the Otoko Cross series, particularly if you enjoy block-breakers. It is a shame that it doesn’t do more to distinguish itself from Pretty Girls Breakers Plus, on which it is very obviously based, but taken entirely on its own merits, it’s a good game that is an eminently worthwhile addition to your casual game collection.
I may sound like I’m being quite critical of Resident Evil 4 here, but I’m doing so simply because the whole experience was brand new to me, and I was thus feeling particularly conscious of everything that was happening, especially because of how well-loved the original is. On the whole, I had an absolutely great time with Resident Evil 4 remake, and I fully intend to return to it to investigate the various bonus weapons and unlockable options once I’ve blasted through the rest of the series.
So if you find yourself a little underwhelmed with Resident Evil 3’s remake after a single runthrough, don’t stop there. Unlock some of those bonus extras. Play through again, see if you can beat your time. Engage with all the additional elements included to provide the game with extra longevity. And you might just find there’s a lot more long-term appeal here than you initially thought.
The experience doubtless won’t be for everyone — but if you’re the sort of person who enjoys more chilled-out experiences in gaming, Ayre and the Crystal Comet is worth a look, so long as you’re running it on one of the more modern systems.
Regardless of how the development process actually went, the two games are eminently worth playing — and I was pleased to rediscover that Waifu Discovered 2: Medieval Fantasy doesn’t completely replace Waifu Uncovered, either. Waifu Uncovered presents a more straightforward, arcade-style experience that you just sit down and play, while Waifu Discovered 2: Medieval Fantasy’s added depth provides a little more meat on the bones as well as some additional polish to the experience as a whole.
Regardless of how the development process actually went, the two games are eminently worth playing — and I was pleased to rediscover that Waifu Discovered 2: Medieval Fantasy doesn’t completely replace Waifu Uncovered, either. Waifu Uncovered presents a more straightforward, arcade-style experience that you just sit down and play, while Waifu Discovered 2: Medieval Fantasy’s added depth provides a little more meat on the bones as well as some additional polish to the experience as a whole.
Whether you’re in the mood for fast-action twin-stick shooting in Riddled Corpses, precise platforming in Xenon Valkyrie or more deliberately paced exploration in Demon’s Tier, there is something for everyone to enjoy throughout the Diabolical Mind trilogy. Here’s hoping that this excellent developer graces us with some more wonderful games in the near future — but if not, these three titles are certainly a legacy to be very proud of indeed.
All in all, Frogun is an absolute delight. For some, its slow pace might be a bit of an acquired taste — but for those who are up for what it’s offering, it’s a highly recommended addition to your platformer collection.
Megadimension Neptunia VII remains one of the strongest installments in the series to this day, and is a title that most fans would recommend without caveats. It’s best experienced in context as part of the whole series — but if you only play one Neptunia game, perhaps to just see whether or not you gel with the game’s distinctively energetic sense of satirical humour, then this is the one you should play.