Aaron Giddings
If you long for the classic adventure games of the past, with an art style that’s a cross between a Don Bluth cartoon and Sam & Max Hit the Road, The Little Acre will leave you with a smile on your face and hoping for a quick sequel.
For Dark Souls fans looking for an alternative dungeon runner that is ever so slightly less difficult, Necropolis is a treat.
Despite its flaws, Diluvion delivers a good story and a solid set of core mechanics. There aren’t a lot of submarine games that take an RPG approach to narrative and interaction.
Everspace offers a lot for both rogue-like and space combat genre aficionados.
Auto Age: Standoff does an excellent job of fusing retro art and music with a modern take on the vehicle brawler game. While a lacking single-player element limits its appeal, the inclusion of bots and local split-screen help ensure that the game has legs beyond the risk of empty online servers.
Players preferring heavier realism in their simulated helicopters may want to give this game a pass, and stick to combat helicopter offerings in the DCS family instead.
What FTSOC offers, principally, is perhaps the best video game look at the China-Burma-India theatre ever done. That’s a low bar to clear, admittedly, but one that should be appreciated by fans of aviation games with access to either an Xbox One or a decent gaming PC.
As a Free-To-Play game, Closers is surprisingly generous to players. Costumes, an elite status buff which confers a daily reward of crafting materials and a fatigue reduction potion, some additional inventory slots, extra crafting materials, and temporary buffs are all purchasable from the store for real money; but are also given away daily from the online store.
Despite the dark visuals of the game, the future looks bright for both Light Fall and Bishop Games.
Gamers who enjoy a good fantasy story and a well-constructed world will find a lot to enjoy in Ash of Gods: Redemption. Likewise, fans of tactical, turn-based squad combat. Whether that’s sufficient motivation to overcome poor documentation and meandering plots is another question.
It may not deliver the most polished racing experience, or the most nuanced driving model, but where else is a player going to experience a race that goes from sports cars to powerboats to off-road rally cars in a single run?
As a franchise reboot, Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don’t Dry isn’t bad, but it feels like a lot of wasted opportunities.
YIIK does something different, taking some of the best memories of classic games, folding it in with brilliant writing, and creating one of the most evocative RPGs I’ve ever played that didn’t have “Final” in the title. For fans of the genre, great writing, or supernatural mystery, this game should be immediately on a lot of 2019 Must Play lists.
There’s nothing horribly wrong with the gameplay or the mechanics. It’s just kind of generic, an overgrown mobile game that can’t distinguish itself from the pack.
It’s hard to judge Warplanes too harshly as a bargain-priced flight game on the Switch. There are at least 5-6 hours of fun to be had with the game, and despite the repetition, the bite-sized missions (which rarely last more than five to ten minutes) make for a pleasant diversion over short play sessions.
The Air Conflicts Collection offers a good value for Switch owners looking for some good World War II dogfight action with a solid story, and who don’t own any kind of gaming PC.
Fans of puzzle games looking for a new challenge may find something to enjoy here. Casual puzzlers will probably be better served to pass on this one or wait for its inevitable inclusion in a future indie bundle.
Mastering the tracks at higher difficulties may become repetitive, and for players not interested in the eWRC challenge, the game may lack enough multiplayer aspects to hold interest for a long haul. However, it’s also incredibly rewarding to finally master a course, and the feeling of racing along narrow lanes at high speed is unmatched.
Sim fans will definitely enjoy this one.
JRPG fans looking for a faithful remaster of a classic game, or just looking for a new tactically competent gridder will find a lot to enjoy here.