João Duarte's Reviews
Tormented Souls draws heavily from the first Resident Evil games to create a horror experience whose atmosphere, presentation and level design are spot on. At the same time, several of its puzzles seem nonsensical, the performance is rather irregular, and the game has a dearth of new and original ideas, while its lighting mechanic is far from a good implementation. While Tormented Souls is overall a good game, it falls short of expectations for those who hoped for something more.
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The third chapter in the Azure Striker Gunvolt series takes few risks with its formula and mostly uses familiar elements that most players will recognize. This does not mean there aren't any new features, and the way the two main characters are used shows just that. When it comes to most of its experience though, it's very reminiscent of its preceding chapters, and that can only be good when it comes to frantic gameplay and an exquisite game world. Pity for the difficulty level though, as Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 really is as simple and accessible as it can be.
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Move or Die: Unleashed does what its title says: if players don't move, they'll die. Simple to learn, simple to look at, but frantic to play, Move or Die: Unleashed consists of several action minigames and while it can be played solo, it's on multiplayer, both local and online, that Move or Die: Unleashed really turns out at its best. It's not a technical achievement but everyone looking for a simple package that can provide hours of crazy fun will find every minute spent with Move or Die: Unleashed to be worth down to each second.
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Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX 2 does not represent any major departures compared to its predecessor, and if that may sound negative it's also not necessarily harmful - after all, the gameplay mechanics remain fun and well executed, the boss fights are very challenging, and the game's presentation is a marvel to look at. The plot is without a doubt the game's biggest flaw, and even though action-platformers are usually given a pass when it comes to the plot, it would be good in this case if the story could feature less often. With all that said, Luminous Avenger iX 2 is great fun and fans of both the original and the Mega Man X series will find plenty to enjoy here.
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Simple and straightforward, as expected from games aimed at young audiences, Ayo features an attractive environment and competent level design. Unfortunately the experience turns out to be far less enjoyable, mostly due to a rather poor execution of the game's controls. It's fundamental for a platformer to have well implemented controls, but Ayo is far from successful at translating the player's inputs into acts and establishing a link between the player and lead character.
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Under Night In-Birth: EXE Lat [cl-r] doesn't roll off easily but it doesn't mean this is not a wonderful fighting game. Thanks to its array of characters, a fine-tuned combo system (which admittedly can get frustrating at moments) and an eye-popping audiovisual world, this is an experience that easily amounts to the definitive version of this game and which will quickly become a favourite within the competitive fighting game communities.
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Immortal Planet is the kind of game that raises expectations before a proper exploration but this work turns out to be a disappointing piece of gaming. Despite a good approach to combat mechanics, the game ends up harmed by its unappealing exploration, inconsistent level of challenge and its drab, dull and off-putting audiovisual environment, topped off by a mediocre performance which harms the overall flow of the game's experience.
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Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX is what comes next in the Azure Striker Gunvolt series and it should be said, it's a very good work at keeping the banner high. With a frantic, high-paced yet simple and accessible gameplay, Luminous Avenger iX brings the best of the series to the Nintendo Switch and will charm the fans of the Gunvolt franchise and its retro inspirations, despite a rather unpolished soundtrack and inconsistent boss fights.
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Warlock's Tower is a simple-looking but challenge-packed puzzle game that will easily attract players with its level design and fine tuned difficulty. The game will quickly welcome players into its mechanics and even if it's not the most original puzzle game ever made, there's enough here to keep the player with the eyes locked on the Nintendo Switch.
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Link's Awakening returns, this time under the guise of a marvelous-looking game for the Nintendo Switch with plenty of new content, a very improved item system that brings its gameplay to our days, and a higher difficulty level that does wonders for its level of challenge. The new Chamber Dungeon component ends up delivering less than it promised but the overall experience is not affected and this new version of Link's Awakening instantly becomes a new classic and the ultimate incarnation of one of Zelda's most beloved games.
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Cybarian: The Time Travelling Warrior presents a very enjoyable audiovisual environment and with its completely absurd plot and fun boss battles, there certainly are good points in its favour. At the same time, there are issues which also raise concern, such as its frustrating combo system, the scarcity of checkpoints through the levels and poorly placed life machines. Overall, ther is definitely something good to draw from this experience, but there are also elements that need improvement.
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Strikey Sisters delivers a known formula which has been entertaining players for over forty years now and it simply doesn't get old. A competent, fun and challenging game is what Strike Sisters players will find, despite its unnecessary plot and dialogues. But who needs to pay attention to those when they can enjoy such a well executed gameplay experience, whether solo or multiplayer?
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Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker Special Episode is a marvelous, if unexpected, surprise that extends the original game by nearly one third of its length and which brings an additional set of high quality challenges that make the game even more enjoyable. This Special Episode is a timely reminder of why Nintendo should invest more in DLC for its games.
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Avenger Bird follows the footsteps of 2D platforming revivalism of the 16-bit era but unfortunately, it's not nearly as memorable or as enjoyable as any of the names it tries to pay homage to. Its controls, a key aspect in any action game, are too loose and unreliable, the level design gives the player no motivation to explore and the overall gameplay is simply too frustrating to go on. Avenger Bird ends up being a completely missed shot in all the dimensions it's aiming for.
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I Am the Hero evokes memories of the sidescrolling beat'em ups that made so much success in the late 1980s/early 1990s, aided by its very representative art style and overall amount of combos and attacks. Where I Am the Hero does not do its job well is on the overall gameplay experience, which feels repetitive, not to mention the flaws in its control system, which feel clunky difficult to use. Alas, it looks like this game falls short of the threshold that sidescrolling beat'em up fans hold.
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ABZÛ fits into the type of games that want to offer an unorthodox experience. It's possible to do wonders within that realm but unfortunately, ABZÛ falls behind expectations. Not that its audiovisual environment does not try, if the game's visual world looks stunning, ABZÛ's soundtrack is simply out of this world, but the almost entire lack of a compelling and motivating gameplay experience seriously impairs ABZÛ's ability to deliver something memorable.
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Rogue Legacy may not be the typical roguelike game but that doesn't mean there no advantages to that. In fact, this game goes beyond some of the genre's usual formulas and in a good way, allowing for some liberties with the progression that bring an additional level of motivation, even though some of the roguelikes' typical problems can still be found here.
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InkSplosion doesn't manage to stand out amidst the shoot'em ups available for the Nintendo Switch. While its visual environment is worthy of praise and its controls are responsive and well implemented, the game itself suffers from a lack of variety which turns it into a dull and repetitive effort, without any reason to attract any players to this work.
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Dark Souls: Remastered has the ambition of bringing one of the most influential games of the previous generation to a contemporary audience and it gets part of the job right on its Nintendo Switch incarnation. All the main elements are there and the bonus of playing Dark Souls on the go is very appealing, which is certainly a relief from its poor audio performance and an obvious visual downgrading when compared to the other versions of the same remaster. Nevertheless and despite its flaws, this is still a major piece of gaming that Nintendo players finally get to enjoy.
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Dead Cells is a unique work that combines metroidvania and roguelike elements, and while that may sound paradoxical at first, Dead Cells found a way to make it work, even if it's not perfect. Thanks to its gameplay cycles, it will be possible to build up a sizeable arsenal while repeating procedurally generated levels with plenty of enjoyment and the game's fluid and fun combat system make this an involving and very entertaining experience.
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