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!
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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Never having witnessed the apparent previous disasters having been reported I can't comment in any way how this edition compares...
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While mobile games being converted to console tend to get a bad rap there are sometimes exceptions to the rule...
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Games that come over from the mobile space are always tricky to evaluate on the Switch, especially when they favor touchscreen heavily over traditional controls...
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Having played (and loved) many roguelike twin-stick shooters on the Switch it always piques my attention when a developer brings something new to the table...
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One casualty of doing video capture for every game I play is that titles that are much better suited to touchscreen play take a beating in terms of my opinion early on...
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While I'm a moderate fan of mobile conversions that have a simple look but satisfyingly accessible play when the experience is phoned in I won't hesitate to say so...
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If you were to try to give The Curious Expedition an elevator pitch it would best be described as the love child of classic Civilization and The Oregon Trail in my mind...
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If you're going to want to make a splash in the eShop sometimes you just need to go for it with an off-center idea and maybe a catchy name...
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When it comes to weird games I'm a bit of a connoisseur on the Switch, I've even set aside an entire category for them specifically...
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While I have a deep love for weird and funky games they can be tough to pull off well...
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As a massive fan of the original Bubble Bobble both in the arcades and at home on the NES I was thrilled to hear the series was getting a new lease on life...
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