Justin Nation's Reviews
Not having played any of the Fairune games before this collection was a pleasant surprise. The look and feel are wonderfully classic, the pacing is pretty mellow and allows you to simply enjoy the experience, and the puzzles can be quite clever. The lack of real combat can be taken as a plus or a minus, depending on what kind of experience you’re looking for, but as a variation on the norm I didn’t mind it at all. Through the lens of more of a puzzle game it all plays out nicely and will give you a handful of hours of enjoyment for a budget-friendly price.
Overall, even on a system that has a great selection of casual and puzzle games FRAMED Collection absolutely stands out as something special. At all levels from its presentation to its simple and intuitive controls to its consistent creativity it's an experience well worth checking out. Throw in the fact that it is launching with a very reasonable asking price and it is effortless to recommend it as one of the best games of its kind on the system.
If you enjoy a decent sci-fi yarn and exploring concepts around AI, its limitations, and how systems designed to protect humans could conceivably also get in the way The Fall may be worthwhile for you. However, if that isn’t a pull and you don’t have a particularly high threshold for frustration it can be tough to recommend. With a relatively diverse set of adventures already available on the system this feels a bit more awkward than most.
At the end of the day, though its story isn’t anywhere near as inspired as its well-planned and executed world, Yonder is a feast for your eyes and ears. The passive nature of the play and the beauty around almost every corner, mixed with the consistent sense of discovery, make it a very serene and relaxing way to spend quite a number of hours finding all of the game’s secrets. Unlike its peers of Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley it does have a better defined point where you could very much choose to consider yourself “finished” but at the same time nothing is trying to discourage you from continuing to enjoy the experience. If you love the sense of discovery in Breath of the Wild (or other titles) and losing combat isn’t a big deal to you Yonder is absolutely worth checking out!
Even with as many roguelikes as I’ve played Wizard of Legend is a bit of a surprise, but that cuts both ways. On the one hand, if you take the time to collect a sizable number of spells the sheer variety of what’s in the game guarantees that at some point you’ll likely find a combination that suits your style and even personal sense of flair. One the other, given the random nature of what you’re offered, with bad luck it could take quite a while until you find that mix and you’ll be feeling like you’re never quite clicking while in combat. It’s interesting because while mid-run you’ll sometimes have an opportunity to change out or add to your spells, unlike most roguelikes you can really play with your base configuration to try to suit it to your style of play. If you’re up for a pretty substantial challenge, Wizard of Legend provides that in spades and given that its feel is absolutely unique that helps to blunt the fact that it can also be frustrating as you try to put together your ideal build.
Overall, Fe is a feast for the eyes and ears that, for the most part, also delivers a gentle and enjoyable gameplay experience. Interaction with the other forest creatures is always has a bit of a magical feel and in general it is surprising how many secrets are hidden in the space. If you’re down to just enjoy the ride and not rush to the end there’s quite a bit more to like, though more hard core gamers are likely to find it disappointing for its missed opportunities.
Overall, Hyper Sentinel is a real treat for fans of retro gaming as it celebrates so many things, including the look, the absolutely excellent music, and a challenging style of play that will never go out of style. The fact that time was spent to layer in modern graphical touches that look incredible but don’t overshadow the retro look is very much appreciated and the sheer volume of insanity regularly on-screen more than demonstrates this game couldn’t have been possible back in the day. If you’re a retro gaming fanatic, or appreciate a good and challenging arcade-style shooter, Hyper Sentinel is highly recommended.
My apologies for the vagueness around the title but if you have an interest in exploring characters and seeing life through a different lens than your own you’re better off walking in knowing as little as possible. The dialogue in the game is well-crafted, and each family member really feels like a living and breathing person, making the experience all the more compelling. That said, it is really an interactive story of sorts that you’ll only be able to kick around for a few hours before you’ve exhausted it. If you enjoy this sort of experience it is worthwhile but among its competitors in the same space on the Switch I’d say there’s also better available overall.
Probably the best quality of the game on the Switch is that in handheld mode everything is very clear since all of the characters and even the bullets on the screen are quite large and chunky...
As a whole package Immortal Redneck is a bold first step and demonstrates that the FPS genre, too, can definitely benefit from the addition of roguelike elements. As you unlock your skill tree you won’t feel quite as helpless and will hopefully stumble into a starting configuration that helps you kick some ass in earnest. When you’re just in the zone and shooting things up for the most part everything feels good, it’s really only when you have to try to complete some jumping puzzles that things start to unravel. The good thing is that in any given run you may not notice the problem almost at all since everything is generated procedurally, just when you need to do some jumping and have enemies coming at you at the same time that it can feel a bit unfair. I look forward to more attempts on this formula as it shows a great deal of potential for further fun.
As a whole package Garage is a breath of musty, diseased, and drug-riddled fresh air on the Switch as there’s truly nothing else on the console like it. Not meant to be a quick spray and pray shooter, the variety in the challenges you’ll face, the line of sight mechanic, and the plain old weirdness throughout make it worthwhile if you’re up for the challenge. I’d hope if there’s more to come of this kind it will be a bit more refined next time, but as a first attempt it’s a bold step and I couldn’t stop playing until I’d reached the conclusion.
For people who thoroughly enjoy all of the key elements Death Road to Canada offers I have no doubt there’s fun to be had. Even if I wouldn’t necessarily call the game “deep” there’s quite a bit of content, different ways to play with variables to keep the experience fresh, and almost always a surprise or two in any given run. For anyone who isn’t a big fan of the survival and roguelike elements, though, they significantly influence the experience so it’s hard to say it can break out of being a more niche title. However, if you enjoy zombies, pop culture jokes, some exploration, and action you may be able to survive and have a great time on the Death Road to Canada.
There are enough surprises and moments of goofy fun (enemies need to beware of the lawnmower) that Raging Justice manages to both honor and at least marginally improve on the many genre classics that came before it. That said, consider when you’re going in what you’re looking to get out of it. The more of a genre fan you are and looking forward to matching up against your friends on the leaderboards the better a purchase it will be. If you’re just out to “beat it” and move on it may be a bit more iffy, though if you’ve got a friend to lay the smack down with that could also skew more to the positive on that added fun factor alone. Raging Justice very clearly was created with a specific objective in mind, and for the most part it seems to have hit that mark in spades. How wide an audience that makes it ideal for is a fair question.
Overall, assuming you don’t mind the variations on a theme, this is a remarkably deep and well-made package for what amounts to being a budget price per title. Each major mode takes the same base elements and then adds a unique layer of its own, making the challenges feel quite different. There’s an enormous amount of punny humor in the dialogue that prompted some laughs, and it’s pretty incredible how well the mix of platforming, action, and puzzles blend together into one package. If you’ve somehow held off on Shantae until now this Ultimate Edition is an incredibly good place to start.
Oddly up until this year I'd only consistently heard good things about Shantae but I'd never had the chance to indulge for myself...
If you’re up for an old school challenge, and some frustration as well, Cast of the Seven Godsends will generally deliver all of the above. Sharing elements with some classic arcade titles for both better and worse it delivers some fun of its own with its various power armors, but understand that they can show up with frustrating inconsistency for the most part. When it clicks and gets rolling it can be a lot of fun, just don’t be surprised by some frequent aggravation when it doesn’t.
While Goetia puts a fair amount of effort into its detailed environments and sound design to make them lush and engaging unfortunately the gameplay experience felt lacking by comparison. The method of discovery, checking everything you see in the hopes of getting scraps of story in pieces, really made more challenging than it should be to establish a baseline of caring for the character. Especially since Abigail lacks a physical form to latch onto, and since there’s nothing initial to establish why I should care about her, for me the experience stumbles to even get out of the starting gate. Throw in a more aggravating overall experience with puzzles and lack of direction than is typical from the genre and I find it hard to recommend outside of people who’re really hoping it being creepy and odd will redeem it.
What it comes down to is that Save The Ninja Clan is a budget version of those bigger and more refined games you’ll tend to hear about. It’s not as polished, the characters aren’t as cute or cool, and the controls aren’t as spot-on tight. That said it is likely less than half the price of almost anything else in the category so it may not be a bad deal. If you like a challenge and have a few bucks to blow it’s at least entertaining in bursts.
While there’s nothing particularly wrong with Skee-Ball and how its implemented on Switch, it would probably benefit from some tweaking. Right now starting up the game fresh feels like quite a climb to really get into a groove and have more fun. The alternative modes and playfield layouts really add some flavor to things but the initial grinding to get any of it is discouraging. If the tickets required to unlock things were perhaps more progressive, with the price going up for each new unlock rather than all of them beginning with the same static value, it could take the same effort to unlock everything but allow for rewards to people earlier on. Once it is patched with motion controls if they’re implemented fairly well I think the overall experience could also benefit greatly. For now it is more of a novelty that shows promise, but feels a bit pricey and could benefit from some tweaking to meet its potential.
Overall Zotrix: Solar Division is a decent, though somewhat uninspiring tower defense game that is probably better suited to newcomers of the genre. While it doesn’t do anything particularly wrong, it’s very vanilla overall and its controls aren’t as friendly as they could be. If you’re really starved for tower defense on the Switch it’s just about all there is for the moment though so until something better comes along it may be able to help hold you over since what it does offer is a load of missions (and play variations) to work through, which is worth being happy about.