Manuel Piçarra's Reviews
Ittle Dew 2+ is a close follower to the original title, too close to be groundbreaking on its own but not without its charms. Thanks to well-designed puzzles and to an open world that can be explored in a non-linear way, Ittle Dew 2+ can bring a pleasant experience despite its occasional feelings of repetitiveness and overall simplicity.
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Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime does not feature the most common plot and the result is grand, as this is a marvelous piece of gaming that boasts fun and well-crafted gameplay that will quickly find its place in the heart of all players who pick it up. Remarkably, this game's single player experience does not lose out to the multiplayer experience, which only adds to its qualities and makes it even easier to recommend to everyone.
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Slime-san is not only a fitting tribute to platform games of previous eras but is also a fun, well designed and well structured platformer that stands on its two legs, thanks to its overall layout, audiovisual component and to a varied content boosted by its very welcome lifespan.
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Farming Simulator 18 brings to the 3DS a series of welcome aspects on strategy and simulation on a farm, which thanks to a simple control system and a well designed complexity level strike a good balance as far as entertaining the players is concerned. The game could certainly do better when it comes to guiding the player but it's a good effort and one worthy of attention.
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Miitopia is an interesting and fun adventure game that gives the player a margin to shape the events. The control over the characters is a very welcome point and its long lifespan will ensure a lot of fun and involvement, even though it's impossible not to feel that the player's role remains too passive throughout the experience.
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Thumper is a fun and intuitive game based on rhythm that will demand close attention to the sound effects if the players are to make advances in the game's levels. Overall, Thumper needs its players to time their moves just right in order to fulfill with what it expects and those who won't appreciate its audiovisual and gameplay components will not be seduced by this game.
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From the successful mixing and blending of several styles comes ARMS, a creative and original action game that turns out to be one of the most welcome titles so far to land upon the Nintendo Switch. Ditching the most orthodox labels assigned to most games, ARMS proposes a never-ending flurry of action and content across several different modes, with a wide variation in the control systems and in the use of multiplayer to deliver what is one of the essential games on the library of Nintendo's newest system.
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Bringing New Frontier Days to the Nintendo Switch opens the doors to a new genre on this system and while some elements of this conversion, such as its long lifespan and controls, are very welcome, others will fall short of expectations. The game doesn't grab the players' interest into captivating them to spend more time with New Frontier Days and the audiovisual side definitely needs some reworking, which adds up to a title that had potential but becomes a tad disappointing.
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7th Dragon III Code: VFD is an exciting and captivating JRPG that joins an involving plot to fun gameplay mechanics and well written characters in a background that will get the players exploring it and asking for more. This will be an instant catch with RPG fans, bringing them rich visuals and a lengthy, accessible combat system as well as plenty of possibilities of customization with plenty of side quests to keep the players entertained. A dragon-fighting gem of the JRPG style in Nintendo's handeld.
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If retro-styled 2D platformers have made a comeback, one of the names most recently associated to this revival is the Shovel Knight series. Now Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove brings a compilation of the previous chapters in the series that rightfully belongs in the Nintendo Switch of every 2D platformers' fan, from its memorable soundtrack, long-lasting lifespan, engaging challenges and quality level design, no sidescroller enthusiast should go without Shovel Knight.
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While simplicity and a long lasting lifespan are always welcome, Unlucky Mage relies too much on these too attributes to stand on its own. The final result is a game that feels like it doesn't go far enough and is unable to keep the player interested, mostly due to its simplicity and which leads up to a shallow effort, which could have been avoided if its audiovisual environment was more enticing and its dialogue and plot more involving.
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A steampunk aesthetic with pirate robots in space who engage in an RPG/strategy game and require careful aiming from the player is exactly what SteamWorld Heist excels at and the marvelous audiovisual environment in which all this takes place only makes it better. This truly is a remarkable game that puts the players in the middle of the funniest steampunk space pirates adventure ever made.
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Armikrog is a point & click game that features remarkable stop motion animation in a world made of clay and with a consistent level design. Despite these points in its favour, Armikrog could make a more extensive use of its characters and rely less on memorizing its puzzles by heart, something which the players will find themselves doing too often thanks to the lack of leads or hints in the game.
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Pirate Pop Plus is a fun bubble-popping game with a fun gameplay that manages to stand out from its similar counterparts and with a fitting visual and sound environment. Its lifespan might be put to test, as the game relies on customization to keep its long-term appeal but Pirate Pop Plus should easily find a spot with nearly any player.
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Severed is a simple and quick-to-learn game that puts the players at the centre of a rather harsh story that is further advanced by its visuals and navigation. While there certainly is room for improvement in the way the story is presented and on the level of interaction with the Wii U's potential, fans of dungeon-crawler types will find plenty of assets in Sasha's adventure to be reunited with her family.
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It features well designed levels, an interesting narrative and the interaction between the GamePad's functionalities and the game shows the careful planning that went into its making. Being a game divided in three chapters, what follows remains to be seen but as a first chapter, this is a good entry which could only benefit from a longer lifespan, despite its tripartite nature.
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Dragon Quest VII is a compelling, detailed and enriching work that is going to envelop players in its adventures and lure them to its passionate narrative. Throughout its worlds, Dragon Quest VII puts the player at the center of a beautifully-crafted story that stands out among other games of its time...and of all times as well. A truly unmissable opus which will only marvel anyone who puts their hands on it.
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Adventure Labyrinth Story is a competent dungeon crawler with a simple combat system and a healthy variety of enemies. However its overtly simple narrative, linear goals and overall subpar visual environments make this a game that doesn't stand out among its peers, even if it's competent enough when putting the player in randomly generated mazes.
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