Justin Nation's Reviews
Bloody Zombies will represent a few hours of moderate fun for people who enjoy the classic beat-em-up style. Certainly playing with some friends would likely help to enhance the experience but if you’re up for a challenge you can go it alone as well. Just be warned that its controls don’t quite feel as if they’re ready for prime time and once you adapt to how things work you should be able to have some fun with it.
What it will all boil down to with Pic-a-Pix Deluxe is whether you’re a big fan of this style of puzzle game or not. If you’ve consistently enjoyed the Picross series, or games like it, there’s seemingly nothing here to hold you back. If nothing else the variety of having both traditional black and white puzzles mixed with multi-color puzzles really changes up the challenge and makes for some great variety. If you love a good puzzle game the planned continued support for the this on top of the already-substantial base of 300 puzzles to start should make it a good investment.
For its few hours of playtime Guns, Gore and Cannoli delivers precisely what its title suggests, though not much more. It’s a bit more of a challenge taking it all on by yourself, and certainly with some friends the carnage can be more fun as a group experience. While its memory probably won’t linger with you for a long time it’s still a fun diversion if you’re looking for some arcade-style shooting action… and ZOMBIES!
Overall, Stikbold is an engaging multiplayer game that has some wild action and distinguishes itself with a great idea in the form of the Wheel of Rumpus mode. While the Story Mode isn’t terribly long it is quite a lot of fun and it’s great that you have the option to either tackle it alone or with a friend. Results will vary depending on your group but if you like chaotic and raucous fun to get people laughing it sets the table for a good time.
As a whole Blossom Tales really shines on the Nintendo Switch and easily inspires nostalgia for Nintendo’s classic franchise. Carefully doing just enough to be different but not deviating too far from the games that inspired it somehow manages to carefully walk the tightrope effectively. Ultimately I see both it and Ittle Dew 2+ being two equal sides of the same reverent coin, offering their own takes on Link to the Past. I’d consider both to be worth your time, in the case of Blossom Tales it is just far more direct a copy of the formula rather than merely being inspired by it, but the quality of the execution makes it stand on its own regardless.
All in all if you’re a casual gaming fan Sparkle Unleashed is an affordable title that is well-executed and offers quite a lot of content for the price of admission. While it is a variant on games already out there on other platforms as always 10 Tons has managed to ensure they put their own stamp on it and it and it is one of the few casual games of this kind on the Switch. If you’re looking for something to help you unwind with on the couch it is an excellent choice.
Despite a reasonably strong sense of style in the art and audio departments The Coma: Recut simply doesn’t do enough over its few hours of play time to clearly make it worth your time. There will, no doubt, be people who find that it delivers that little dose of adrenaline they need, and that the characters and story are just interesting enough to redeem the generally mundane exploration, but for me it mostly it bordered on being tedious. If you can become invested quickly in the characters and limited story it may keep your attention but otherwise Recut simply fails to inspire.
Overall while Heart & Slash has some issues, the most concerning being that it is currently a bit crash-prone, it does a fairly good job of applying roguelike concepts to a brawler. While permadeath is obviously a guarantee the fact that you can carry over upgrades between games is a great benefit and since you’re consistently rewarded with new gear unlocks you’re heavily encouraged to continue to take on fights that are tough. If you love a stiff challenge and are willing to be patient with it Heart & Slash does pay off with some hard-won fun.
Overall I found that Max’s mix of play styles and moderate level of challenge made for an enjoyable romp. Puzzle-solving generally is of the kind that makes you feel pretty smart when you work out what you need to do and there generally seems to be a little room for variation on how you may approach things at times. Overall if you’re looking for a solid adventure with a blend of things to do it is easy to recommend.
In the end The Deer God plays out as an odd collection of concepts that just aren’t working together in harmony. Blend this with a spiritual theme that generally seems to be discarded quickly aside from things like when you die with bad karma you can come back as something like a porcupine and it is hard to really put a finger on what the design goals and final messages for the game are. Perhaps it is meant to be profound and leave you to ponder the question yourself further? For me I just decided to move onto something else.
As a whole The Next Penelope looks like a racer but plays out in a way that blends in elements of adventure and relies on strategy in a variety of ways. If you’re struggling in a particular level the issue will usually revolve around over-use of your powers and running too low on energy so judicious use of both should always be on your mind. While it may not be an experience for everyone if you’ve been looking for something different to throw several hours of unexpected challenges at you The Next Penelope delivers.
In the end Troopers offers a fair amount of content that will likely have its fans, it’s just that those people are probably not the same ones who enjoy the more intense examples of the genre already on the Switch. There’s fun to be had here and across the multiple campaigns in the game you’ll be asked to survive a fair variety of mission types even if most are just asking you to shoot things ultimately. If you’re down for a slower-paced and enjoy getting a chance to blow some stuff up, and don’t mind doing a bit of grinding along the way, Tiny Troopers Joint Ops XL may be a good fit for you.
Mom Hid My Game isn’t meant to be taken seriously and in many ways it is less a game than it is a series of bizarre skits. With that in mind it is more difficult to score than usual. Approaching it in terms of gameplay there’s not much to speak of so it would struggle. However, keeping in mind its apparent goals I’d say it has executed them extremely well and if you’re looking for a very “out of left field” piece of entertainment for a few hours I’ll happily recommend it.
I appreciate what it is trying to do, and some aspects of the design were unexpected. Unfortunately as a whole there are also elements that feel unrefined and not necessarily complete. With a patch or two I think it could still have room for improvement but as it is I'd say it is likely an acquired taste, even for roguelike fans.
While on paper the license mixed with the various modes sounds like a lot of fun, the execution of not just the graphics but the overall gameplay makes it feel more like a game from a previous generation and I'm not only talking about the previous one. It's really hard not to believe that this has been slapped together and is being sent out to market to simply ride on the assumption that Monster Truck fans, and more likely their parents, will buy it on sight. That's a shame and especially when you throw the $40 asking price onto the package Crush It is a disappointment.
Crawl is an absolutely brilliantly-designed mutliplayer game without question. While you can’t completely stop a player with runaway skills from always winning the game tries very hard to keep everyone in a balance, at least when it comes to opportunity. If you’re stuck as a spirit for most of the game you’ll absolutely have the most lethal monsters, so hopefully with even a little skill that will then open the door to becoming the hero. Once someone is able to crack Level 10 the tension amps up and just getting to the Portal room becomes its own challenge, but then once you face the final boss know that your friends are going to work together to try to bring you down. At some point someone will finally get the gear it may take to finally win but the likelihood is that multiple people could have gotten a crack at the final fight by that time. I love the design of the game, and would absolutely recommend it to anyone who is able to play consistently with some friends of roughly equal skill. For those who would only be able to play it alone it can still be a challenging roguelike of sorts, just understand you’re losing the soul of what makes the game extraordinary in the process.
Starting with the core gameplay it’s clearly inspired by Smash from a concept and controls standpoint but there’s no doubt it targeted a more competitive play experience than a casual one...
In the virtual pinball wars on Switch where it concerns the engine as a whole I’d say Pinball Arcade, at this time, comes up a but short. Thankfully, for true pinball fans everything is more likely to come down to individual tables they enjoy and in that respect the Stern Pinball Arcade collection is well-chosen and represents a number of distinct styles from over the decades. If you’re looking to satisfy your itch to play on tables from over the years it represents them well, though you may want to explore buying them individually or in their bundled packs rather than retail depending on what you’re most interested in.
With all of this in mind, I'm pleased to say that Letter Quest Remastered does a pretty fine job of carving out a place for itself in the lineup of Switch gamers looking for something more casual. If you like to get out your thesaurus and flex your vocabulary while having to contend with the obstacles your enemies love to throw in your path, it does a fine job. What helps distinguish it is the level of strategy you'll be able to employ while doing so.
With Yooka-Laylee I think there are two distinct audiences that need to be spoken to for the summary. For major fans of the classic Rare look and feel there are a lot of joyful notes that Yooka-Laylee hits and as long as you don’t set your expectations too high you should enjoy it. For people who are less familiar or enamored with classic collect-a-thons it’s a bit harder to recommend, especially now that the long shadow of Mario Odyssey is hard to ignore. Even if it may not be everything I was hoping for Yooka-Laylee is an earnest title that shows a lot of love and reverence for the classic Rare titles that have obviously inspired it, I just wish it had done more to additionally forge out its own path.