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!
In the end this is a very low-budget title that very much earns what little it asks for...
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Cutting through to the quick once you get the hang of things and adjust the camera angle to your liking (I found that difficult at first, I wasn’t quite happy with the default) things are at least manageable...
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With a mix of brutal boss battles and challenging run and gun sections Cuphead is notorious for being a tough game...
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Katana Zero was absolutely one of the best games of 2019 and I’d be shocked it if didn’t end up in my Top 10 (and those of many others as well) for the year...
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All things considered, Hell is Other Demons is a very good platforming shooter that plays smart, is challenging, and ultimately will support a wide variety of styles through its varied weapons and upgrades...
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The thing is, some new chefs and recipes really wouldn’t be enough to set the pack apart, so the bit change this time around is the addition of backpacks...
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You’ll play as the title character, who is at once solemn and a bit silly, weary but also witty...
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If you’re looking for something with a bit more quirk, some initial mystery, and a load of enjoyable characters Trüberbrook has the goods...
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My Life at Portia aspires to reach the heights of renown some other titles in this space have garnered, and on the surface it has pretty well all of the elements that it needs to do so...
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In terms of gameplay the controls are easy to understand but the execution can be oddly tricky...
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To the game’s credit there’s a ton of content to explore and digest and the fan service paid as a whole is commendable, the game likely could have found great success even without so much obvious effort at play...
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On a variety of levels Silence manages to stand out from the majority of its classic adventure brethren on the Switch...
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While I wouldn’t recommend the game to everyone due to its overall difficulty and what ends up being a fair amount of repetition, ultimately for brawler fans seeking out a challenge it delivers something both tough and fresh...
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You’ll start out in the game entering a towering mechanical construct, not quite sure what’s going on...
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You’ll play the game as a creature named Subob, whose job is to try to keep the sleepwalking Bob alive in various surreal dreamscapes, with the end goal always getting him back to his bed...
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All in all if you’ve been a fan of food prep games of this type, or have been watching them from a distance, there’s quite a lot to love about CSD2...
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Overall, Switch ‘N’ Shoot appears to have had a very focused vision for its design that was well-implemented...
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While not everyone enjoys the card battle system concept Monster Slayers does a pretty excellent job of making it interesting and rewarding if you take the time to get acquainted with it...
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You’ll play the game as one of 4 different character types that are purely cosmetic, running around, trying to shoot roaming zombies, pick up money or supplies as they drop, and survive...
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