Justin Nation's Reviews
As a party game your job will be to coordinate as you’re trying to get your aliens through a gauntlet of differently-colored monsters/gates that correspond to the colors of your team...
In the game you play as Bismo and Plom, two lab experiments who’re trying to work their way through a gauntlet of challenges by helping one another out...
While it may be a port of an older title I can't say that I've played any other game that has nailed making stealthy play as fun for me as this one...
Billed as an action roguelike the top-down graphics and generally uninspired and clunky combat get it off to a rocky start...
Without revealing too much, since the entire experience is woven around the bizarre narrative, you’ll follow Hamomoru as she explores the small village of Daiusu sometime in the 1920s...
For the most part if you’re familiar with the essence of a typical roguelike you’ll understand the deal here...
One great holdover from their first title is the visual aesthetic that borrows a bit from the likes of TRON, giving the game a somewhat futuristic look...
Pretty much everything in the game is easy to understand...
The major difference is the theming, this time working with anime characters from Kemono Friends...
Who knew that having played a number of horror-esque games on the Switch that the one that would be the most consistent and compelling to play would really be a casual title...
Starting with the building and management aspect of the game the biggest issue is that this isn’t any sort of sandbox situation, what you’re ultimately doing is just filling in some blanks as you progress with little room for flair or meaningful decisions beyond a minor focus in your stat modifiers...
While I wish there was a greater variety of Yokai, at least their attack patterns and behaviors differs a bit so they aren't merely cosmetic variations slapped on the same base. Save points tend to be fair in their spacing and the choices you make for upgrading your characters open the door to some variety depending on the skills you choose, further encouraging replayability. If you've been looking for something a bit different on the Switch, for a variety of reasons Haunted Dungeons: Hyakki Castle sets itself apart as unique, even if its style and pacing may not be for everyone.
If you're a big fan of crazy shooters, and especially if you appreciate anime art and funky humor to boot, Azure Reflections may not be the best out there but it very much stands out as unique without question. Rather than go the path of merely imitating one of the other popular series it brings a few ideas of its own to the table and that's always refreshing. Just be ready to get visually assaulted along the way, it's one of the most colorful shooters I've ever seen.
For a very budget-friendly racer, Boxy Racers delivered a far higher level of quality and polish than I expected, even if not necessarily the challenge. The racing itself reminds me most of the classic RC Pro-AM back on the NES, though this control style is far superior. While experienced racers won't likely struggle to get through all three circuits, if you're able to play against a friend, or online play picks up, I could see where it would make for great competitive racing or simply goofing off in one of the four diverse Battle Modes. There's a fair amount of quality racing in this low-cost title, and I'd love to see more of it… hopefully with a bit higher degree of difficulty.
If you’re a shooting fan who is up to some crazy battles where you’ll need to use your brains as much as your reflexes Rise & Shine is a pretty good match. It won’t coddle you hardly at all, which will be either a positive or a negative depending on the type of gamer you are. I don’t recall ever having played a shooter that has had puzzle elements to it like this, so that does help it stand out from the crowd. Just keep in mind the caveats that come along for the ride when you decide whether to check it out.
As exciting the title itself may sound, Dungeon Rushers lacks a fast pace or even a great deal of excitement. It’s a pretty safe experience with a fair art style, a decent sense of humor, and satisfying though generic combat. Probably best for playing lazily while doing something else it may have an audience but there are simply better options on the platform than this.
While Oh My Godheads is generally well-implemented, and the presentation is reasonably good, I also can’t say it made a very deep impression on myself or my family as we played through the modes and put it through its paces. While it had no glaring faults it also failed to generate much excitement or enthusiasm, though like any game it has its moments particularly early on when there were still some things we hadn’t seen yet. Once repetition set in it began to dull a bit. Just a very lukewarm takeaway in the end, it isn’t bad but it also didn’t thrill.
On the whole This is the Police II puts obvious effort into being a better and more interesting game than its predecessor. While the development team obviously set their sights pretty high the results are likely heavily open to interpretation. People who thoroughly enjoy the challenge of managing their resources and struggling to keep it all together may thoroughly enjoy the experience, aggravations and all. However, if you’re just looking for something to start up and begin enjoying this sequel is a bit of a step back from even the original, becoming more cumbersome with the weight of its ambitions that don’t all work out.
To some degree there’s an almost tranquil quality to these sorts of games as they require next to no thinking or even skill. While I can’t imagine banging in the same spot on your touchscreen would have been a great idea the lack of support for using touch controls, combined with the pretty small buttons on the joycon, make playing in handheld mode a bit impractical. Even with a Pro Controller after a while I started to have some small concerns about wearing out the button from playing this excessively. The unfortunate thing is that the rewards are so slow in coming when you mix that with the general lack of skill or structure here it really falls apart as a compelling experience. While there aren’t technical flaws per se with Chicken Assassin: Reloaded I can’t say it makes a lot of sense on this platform and the general novelty of the genre it represents I think has passed its prime as well.
To help raise the stakes and challenge a bit the game does include a Rogue mode, which will challenge you to beat the game without dying. Especially in single-player that comes off as a bit too extreme, just the alternative is the Pussycat mode, which moves things as far away as possible in the opposite direction, essentially giving you unlimited revives at periodic checkpoints. Playing with some friends certainly helps things feel a bit more balanced and can take on a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles kind of multiplayer feel to a degree, but going it solo makes the gap between your two options pretty massive, feeling like with both you lose something. Rounding it all out there’s also an Arena mode where you’ll take on waves of enemies, but the mechanics and ultimate lack of variety are consistently what holds the game back. There’s some fun to be had here, especially if you’re a genre fan who has some friends to play with, but it simply doesn’t compare very well to multiple titles already on the Switch.