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João Duarte

Loulé
The_Atmultima
OPAH!!gaming

Favorite Games:
  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
  • Final Fantasy III
  • Dark Souls

34 games reviewed
65.3 average score
70 median score
41.2% of games recommended

João Duarte's Reviews

I'm just some dude with a dream of entertaining people by talking about videogames. My favorite genre is JRPG, I love Zelda and Dragon Quest, I want to play Breath of the Wild so much and I hate David Cage.
3 / 10 - Avenger Bird
Mar 16, 2019

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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Apr 7, 2018

Minigames and party games need to feature plenty of quality content to stand out and sadly, Scribblenauts Showdown has neither. Other than a rather attractive art style, Scribblenauts Showdown offers nothing but a short and poor set of minigames, some of them designed without much into consideration, which are either dull and repetitive or frustrating. Hardly an experience to recommend to anyone looking for quick and fun moments with their friends.

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Oct 29, 2016

Its gameplay is extremely frustrating and entirely based on trial and error, forcing the players to repeat the sames stages over and over under an extremely tight time limit and making use of very inaccurate and imprecise controls, which will only aggravate the players' overwhelming sense of frustration.

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4 / 10 - Bit Dungeon+
May 13, 2018

Bit Dungeon+ features some nostalgia-inducing visuals and some fun combats in its dungeon crawler meets roguelike approach. It doesn't quite succeed on its other components and turns out to be way too simplistic for its own good. Due to way too frequent glitches, a skills system that doesn't make much sense and a low-quality soundtrack, Bit Dungeon+ turns out to be a low par performer that could have turned out much better.

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5 / 10 - Ayo the Clown
Nov 29, 2021

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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5 / 10 - InkSplosion
Nov 25, 2018

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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Dec 16, 2016

While Kingdom's Item Shop has a concept that on its own, could be enough to stand out, its execution turns it into a dull and extremely repetitive game, where players will find themselves performing the same actions again and again and following unclear instructions, much to their disappointment and frustration. Were it not for this, Kingdom's Item Shop could actually be a fun and original title to get to know.

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5 / 10 - Abzu
Jan 17, 2019

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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5 / 10 - Mighty No. 9
Aug 25, 2016

Mighty No. 9 created very high expectations and could have reached a perfect formula for success but as it is, it failed to capture Mega Man's essence and doesn't build up on what its inspiration did best.

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Feb 25, 2020

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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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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Jun 22, 2018

Breaks are for Losers is a fun racing game with a rather original concept and which allows for an entertaining experience thanks to its simple and direct gameplay. It doesn't go much further than that and quickly enough its limitations become all too obvious, as the game starts losing appeal on the short-term and it will make its players feel less compelled to return to it.

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6 / 10 - I Am The Hero
Feb 25, 2019

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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6 / 10 - Legna Tactica
Apr 17, 2017

Legna Tactica is a tactical/strategy RPG that is competent enough to respect all the hallmarks of the genre, including an enjoyable combat system and a good difficulty curve. Unfortunately it doesn't dare to go beyond that and suffers from a lack of originality that make it nearly impossible for Legna Tactica to stand out on its own and an easily forgettable title that will disappoint many fans of the genre.

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Sep 25, 2023

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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Oct 9, 2022

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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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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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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Jul 17, 2019

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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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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