Justin Nation Avatar Image

Justin Nation

Windsor, PA
The Nindersect
Nindersect

Favorite Games:
  • Rocket League
  • Neon Abyss
  • Wreckfest

5079 games reviewed
70.5 average score
71 median score
43.8% of games recommended

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!
Aug 11, 2026

While I’m happy to see this sexier and high-octane take on the gameplay style that Vampire Survivors really defined, the Switch 2 port has some unfortunate problems that can hopefully be patched

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5.8 / 10.0 - Angel Engine
Aug 10, 2026

While there can be some appeal to the game’s mix of some horror, tension, and what amounts to relatively simple mini games, it ends up feeling like it’s lacking in depth pretty quickly

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Aug 10, 2026

While sharing its claustrophobic sensibilities with the likes of Iron Lung, its narrative side is a bit less robust, but in general its execution and playability at least feel more accessible

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7.8 / 10.0 - Pit Panic
Aug 7, 2026

Takes elements of earlier titles like Boulderdash and combines them with more modern challenging elements like you’d see in games like Spelunky

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7.9 / 10.0 - Montabi
Aug 7, 2026

A melding of concepts and styles from monster trainers, deckbuilders, and tactical strategy titles packed into a new package that works well overall

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7 / 10.0 - Mate'Morphosis
Aug 6, 2026

A novel idea, mixing together chess pieces and movement with a piece-switching puzzle mechanic, but it runs out of steam

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7.2 / 10.0 - Neko Odyssey
Aug 6, 2026

While this very casual photography adventure with plenty of cats to capture has charm, it’s also a bit thin on substance

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Aug 5, 2026

There’s a straightforward quality to how the game has the player use deduction that could make it great for beginners, but veteran mystery fans will likely find it too stripped down and simplified

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7.7 / 10.0 - Talespinner
Aug 5, 2026

While I was hoping that the game would do more to leverage actual narrative of some kind to add interest, its different heroes and the wildly different rules of their decks and cards helps make it interesting

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8.2 / 10.0 - Big Walk
Aug 5, 2026

While there have been some great action-oriented co-op games in the last generation, Big Walk takes a big swing at throwing you and your friends into a space full of varied puzzles with little direction, expecting that you’ll work things out

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Aug 4, 2026

One of those cases where I suppose the concept the developers had in mind is implemented reasonably well, but that it’s so lacking in overall ambition and depth that it’s hard to consider much of a game

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7.5 / 10.0 - Instant Sports 2
Aug 4, 2026

While not all of its events are of equal quality, and without friends or family to play with it loses some appeal, it’s a decent and varied sports party game package

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8.4 / 10.0 - Moonlight Peaks
Aug 4, 2026

In an eShop swimming with pretty weak tea Stardew Valley clones, Moonlight Peaks manages to be much more than merely a goth version of a farm sim

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2 / 10.0 - Cubic Riders
Aug 3, 2026

A pretty well utterly pointless experience with poor controls, and seemingly absolutely zero point of playing at all

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4.4 / 10.0 - EBOLA VILLAGE
Aug 3, 2026

While it has some survival horror appeal, pretty frequent long pauses, and an overall pervasive jankiness in most areas make it tough to want to stick with

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6.7 / 10.0 - Assoluto Racing
Jul 31, 2026

Given the lack of more purist racing sims in the eShop, this does manage to reasonably help fill the void, but that isn’t without some big caveats

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7.8 / 10.0 - Turnip Mountain
Jul 31, 2026

While visually it may have a pretty simple look, once you get into the swing of things this provides a surprising but accessible challenge

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7.6 / 10.0 - Wake Up, Lia!
Jul 30, 2026

A pretty brutally challenging budget platformer that has a decent side order of some storytelling

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Jul 30, 2026

A pretty unique roguelike strategy title that brings some creativity and challenges to bear, but the console interface and controls are unfortunately an extra hurdle to contend with

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Jul 29, 2026

While there have been quite a number of titles looking to repeat on the success of Hotline Miami by copying its style, few have gotten as close as Kusan: City of Wolves

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