Tim Bissinger's Reviews
In Octopath Traveler there is a lot of love and passion, you can tell at first sight. Octopath Traveler is a beautiful, fairytale-like diorama that recalls the classics of the genre time and again, but lacks the essential framework to bring the pieces together into a harmonious whole. The beautiful presentation and the great fighting system are contrasted by eight independent stories whose quality varies greatly - and which hardly suffice as motivation for 80 hours of playing time.
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With Torna - The Golden Country, Monolith Softt have added an extensive chapter to their Xenoblade Chronicles 2, which offers both fans and beginners a lot and presents itself even more playfully than the main game.
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The Voxel Agents have managed to knit a clever game concept around time manipulation with only one key plus analog stick and completely without text, which not only becomes a bit more complex from level to level, but also hardly repeats itself. If you don't mind the short playing time, The Gardens Between is a wonderfully playful and pretty puzzle adventure that's perfect for in between.
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Caramba! Guacamelee! 2 takes everything that was good in the first part and makes it nicer, bigger and louder - as a bonus on-top there is a local co-op mode for four players. A must for all Metroidvania fans with PS4 or PC!
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The Toad and Toadette adventure has made the leap to the Nintendo Switch, but is more suitable for handheld than TV mode. Apart from that, the actual treasure hunt in over 70 levels remains irresistibly cuddly and entertaining - and hopefully forms the basis for a real second part.
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After the terrible Ultra Smash for Wii U, Mario Tennis Aces is a return to form and in many ways the game that the last entry was meant to be. With a flawed but fun singleplayer adventure mode, great gameplay, a variety of courts and a wonderful multiplayer component with the promise of long-time DLC and event support, Aces belongs in every Switch gamer's library.
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Yarny is back for another lovely adventure trip through Swedish landscapes, this time accompanied by a second playable character. This results in some deep puzzles, great challenge rooms, and, bundled with the more precise controls this time around, a better game than the first one, whether you're playing alone or with a friend - but also one that's over just a bit too quickly.
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Detroit: Become Human wants to tell an emotional story about existence and the self-finding of machines as artificial life, but degrates them to projection screens for the players' own human will, making them nothing more than lifeless tools. The visuals, main idea and the new flowchart element are great, but in the end, Detroit is a game about story - and its narrative isn't just flawed, it's fundamentally broken in concept.
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Half-Genie Hero is a solid platformer with great presentation and music, but it also feels a tad generic and lacks variety and genuine creativity in its level design. Compared to other games on Switch like Donkey Kong and Super Mario Odyssey, it's easily the weakest - and you should definitely check out the others before teaming up with Shantae and her friends.
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While it doesn't fully deliver on its exciting premise and while flaws in its gameplay may hinder the fun at times, Forgotton Anne is still an enjoyable journey into a memorable fantasy world full of interesting characters and stories.
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Tropical Freeze is another solid Wii U port from Nintendo and remains a perfectly playable, wonderfully designed platformer masterpiece, but it doesn't offer anything truly new.
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Bayonetta is back once again with a decent first appearance on Nintendo Switch that doesn't do anything new compared to the original versions, but that works fine as an appetizer for the upcoming Bayonetta 3 - and as a second chance for everyone who missed the second game on the Nintendo Wii U.
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Shadow of the Colossus for PlayStation 4 isn't just any remake, it is the glorious return of a beloved classic that left its mark on video game history for decades - and its light still shines bright today, as Bluepoint Games revived the PS2 masterpiece with excellent new graphics and technology, while core and content remain unchanged. Traditionally, it's only the controls and camera which drag it down just a little bit.
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Don't let your first impressions deceive you: If you look behind the curtains, what you'll find here is an excellent JRPG with a great story, fantastic music and a world that's a joy to roam around in and explore. It's just a shame that Xenoblade Chronicles 2 suffers from technical issues, a bad lootbox-like reward system and too much fanservice.
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Sonic Forces is a better game than Sonic Boom. But compared to Sonic Generations and Sonic Colours, it's missing a vision and a general idea of what it is and what it wants to be. Instead, this is yet another inconsistent Sonic game that disappoints with mediocre level design, really short stages and a general lack of focus.
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Just like Hyrule Warriors before it, Fire Emblem Warriors is another decent Musou game that feels worthy of the big Nintendo brand in its name - but with cheesy characters and dialogue and an unwelcome focus on the more recent FE games, Omega Force missed the chance to make it a standout title on Nintendo's new console.
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Bigger, prettier and expanded in almost every regard, Divinity: Original Sin II is a captivating and addicting RPG epic and a worthy successor that's almost unmatched in freedom of choice and character progression, only ever-so-slightly inhibited by a badly balanced last quarter and a lack of boss fights and iconic music.
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Samus Returns is a welcome return of a long-missed friend, but euphoria about the comeback didn't last long once I actually started playing the game: Exploration is unrewarding and leads into dead ends more often than not and the repetitive Metroid boss fights almost feel like grinding. With its modernized combat and controls, some cool and fresh ideads like the counter and 360° aiming, Samus Returns is still a solid Metroidvania game - but it's not quite the return to form that I was hoping for.
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Cuphead is not only a charming love letter to Cartoons from the 30s, but also an exciting boss rush marathon that is sure to get your heart pumping without ever getting into territory of "too hard" or "unfair". Even if there might be a lack of content and variation over time, it was never enough to hinder the sheer amount of fun I had in fighting all these giants dragons, robots, sunflowers and vegetables.
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Rayman Legends is still a fantastic platformer with a gorgeous presentation and on the Nintendo Switch it is a perfect fit for gaming on the go - but lacking the touchscreen controls for the Murphy sections in the main game, it isn't quite worthy of the "Definitive Edition" subtitle.
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