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!
It's always great to see colorful and pretty family-friendly fare appear on the Switch, and in those regards Stitchy in Tooki Trouble fits the bill pretty well...
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Billed as a tough-as-nails boss rush shooter essentially, that description is absolutely accurate...
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This far into the Switch lifespan the list of outstanding top-notch indie titles that haven’t yet made it to the platform is dwindling...
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OK, so typically when you see games coming over in some form from the mobile space I tend to put on my skeptic hat and play “Did we really need this on a dedicated gaming console?” In the case of Wrong Dimension, though, I’ll skip right to the chase and bluntly tell you: YES!
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The original Knight Squad was a pleasant surprise, delivering pretty easy-to-grasp local multiplayer game that worked well whether people worked in teams or went free-for-all across a variety of modes...
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While there's no doubt that people will be quick to see Cannon Brawl sharing some gameplay similarities with the Worms series I'll go even older school and say that initially it reminded me greatly of the vintage Scorched Earth (though everyone I knew just called it Scorch)...
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Before getting a bit more negative I wanted to be clear I absolutely have respect for developers who dare to tackle the challenge of coming up with something unique...
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It's wild how such oddball and quirky titles continue to come from Eastern developers, and if you're willing to lean into the experience they can be a bit of unexpected fun...
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I'll admit that this is a title that got off to a bit of a rocky start for me, with me essentially wondering what to do at first...
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As a fan of games that subvert expectations and are determined to simply be a bit weird, Luckslinger puts a smile on my face...
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The thing about “weird games” is that they can be very hard to define or describe by typical genre rules or through comparison...
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With so many shooters of all kinds on the Switch it takes some effort to set yourself apart...
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While bludgeoning or blowing away bad guys can always be good fun, everyone should have some time in their lives to slow things down...
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There are absolutely some amazing party games out there on the Switch to enjoy with friends, but if you're on a tight budget perhaps the general need to buy them in bigger, and thus more expensive, packs makes them feel like a risk...
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I like it when games manage to surprise me a little bit, especially when they’re in genres where I feel like I’ve seen just about everything...
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Ah, gotta love those niche specialty titles from overseas that bring a little flavor to the eShop...
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As a fan of literary classics I must say that seeing the names...
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Breathedge is one of those titles where I'm not quite sure how to feel about it...
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The Switch, now that it has been thoroughly established, has really become a sort of window into the state of games from previous generations, having the advantage of being able to play them on the go...
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There's nothing wrong with an old-school shooter, where your goal is simple to run, gun, and make a bloody mess out of your enemies along the way...
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