Justin Nation's Reviews
Strangely enough this isn't my first rodeo, back in the day I wrote for the N64HQ as well as a few other outlets on freelance gigs but then when the HQ closed I decided to step it up and started The 64 Source. As the first word of a follow-up system to the N64 began to swirl I then decided to venture out into completely new territory and started OperatioN2000, where I had very little regular reputable news to share. With no other options I decided create my own content focused on profiling key developers and their current relationship with Nintendo or "dream games" where I saw opportunities for Nintendo to dust off classics or recently-made games and do something new with them on improved hardware.
This was all going pretty well until my wife and I decided to have our first child and I then decided that it was time to hang it up and focus on my family. As I closed down both sites I did decide to partner with Billy Berghammer, another former N64HQ writer, who had created his own site, PlanetN2000. We agreed to move over the relevant content from the older sites to his and on top of that I had taken a grad school class in programming in ColdFusion and decided to offer to code the front-end and back-end for a new version of his site. Through these efforts the newer and more complete Planet GameCube was born! While I would occasionally contribute to that site, helping do things like working out Louie the Cat doing rumors and other odd things, I eventually decided to stop as my family obligations grew.
While I had continued to follow Nintendo through both the Wii and Wii U eras my TV time was limited enough that I began playing more PC games again. It is in the PC space that I began to play a number of independent games and they started to be the games I enjoyed the most. Between their lower price, their often less traditional gameplay and approach, and their great variety I was hooked!
With the launch of the Nintendo Switch I was already excited by the possibilities. The portability factor alone meant that I would have far more options and places I could play away from the TV, and games like Breath of the Wild looked impressive. With my oldest daughter poised to start her senior year in high school and my youngest finishing out junior high I started to see an opportunity to get back into amateur games journalism once again with what is now Nintendo World Report as well but I'd initially just thought about writing some editorials periodically. Then, right before the launch of the system, Nintendo had their Nindie-focused presentation and I saw my two most beloved gaming worlds colliding. The games I had been playing on my PC could now be played in a portable way and on Nintendo hardware! Being the type who tends to work against the normal current the concept behind Nindie Spotlight was born!
Somewhat blending the feel of an old arcade-style gun game with some elements that are a bit more like an FPS Dixie Dash is an odd bird...
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Sometimes it's the games that, on paper, seem the simplest that turn out to be pretty damned challenging as you dig into them...
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I'm going to put one of my heavy biases out there right in front to better explain how I feel about Sunless Sea and games like it...
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Put simply, there are a load of puzzlers of all shapes, sizes, and even budgets on the Switch...
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Indie games, with their smaller budgets and lower price tags, have the luxury of being able to do things that are unexpected, combining styles of play and elements that don’t necessarily make sense on paper...
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When looking at an eShop full of puzzlers and story-based experiences it can be difficult to separate the merely average from the exceptional...
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Ah, games with a cat theme... as an entire segment of the Switch audience perks up at the mere suggestion...
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Visual novels and games of this sort, I'll admit, aren't my bag in general, so while I try to be fair when checking them out I can't ignore things I see as weaknesses...
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One of my absolute favorite arcade titles back in the day, and one that continues to be a sort of bar to measure arcade-style twin-stick shooters against was Smash TV...
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Getting right down to business the Switch has a ton of puzzle games, and while many of them fall into well-established categories there are also occasional black sheep that do something differently...
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Having been a huge fan of the Picross series as well as a number of its competitors I've come to be pretty excited by titles in the space offering up a new take of some kind...
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As the game's name implies this is an experience with a sort of philosophical bent...
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As a big fan of shooters of all flavors the Switch has indeed been very good to me...
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I apologize in advance for being a bit jaded with local multiplayer games on the system, partially because of their abundance but really more due to the lacking level of fun and quality many exhibit...
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If you're into anime and visual novels that have a bit more going on under the surface than you'd first assume The Fox Awaits Me may be your jam...
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When it comes to indie strategy games on the Switch there aren't too many to choose from, and for the most part they tend to be in the tactical turn-based combat direction in some way...
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When it comes to strategy games there are crowds with pretty different tastes out there...
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The good news is that once you get rolling this isn't a bad twin-stick shooting game on a budget, and can offer up some challenge to a degree...
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Puzzle platformers are generally pretty common on the Switch, so it can take some effort to stand apart from the pack in some way...
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This is one of those somewhat aggravating titles where you can see some potential, and for the right crowd it can be a positive experience, but there are just enough obstacles to enjoyment that it's tougher to recommend...
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