Justin Nation's Reviews
From top to bottom Chess Ultra is a complete package and perfect for anyone who either loves or would like to develop a greater appreciation for chess. Not merely giving you an excellent presentation for playing matches, but also providing for a multitude of ways to play by yourself or others, it really checks probably all possible boxes for you getting a good game rolling. When you then pile on the excellent tutorials and challenges that will help you improve and refine your overall game there really isn’t much more that you could ask for if you have an interest in this classic board game.
Overall, I really have enjoyed the time I’ve had with Super Beat Sports and would easily recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good rhythm game. There’s a reasonable variety of playstyles, a load of levels to complete (including Pro levels that amp up the challenge substantially), some entertaining unlockable costumes and implements to hit the balls with, and some simple but catchy music that helps you feel the beat. Specifically, though it requires the least sense of rhythm of the bunch I found BuddyBall to be a real highlight and a competitive game my friends and I will likely continue to return to for its variety and creativity. Harmonix has really hit it out of the park with this relatively simple but well-executed collection of mini games!
Wheels of Aurelia plays out as a hodge podge of ideas put together in a package that is hard to define a target audience for...
For the budget price of admission King Oddball actually provides quite a lot of content that would take you several hours to likely be able to work through. Once you add on the levels in the additional modes and the challenge of some of the more unusual achievements you could likely double that time. The question will be whether you’ll want to stick out the ride long enough to enjoy it all. That will ultimately come down to tastes, what you’re looking for, and how you’re planning to play the game. Using it to fill gaps in your day 15 minutes at a time would probably be great, playing for hours at a time probably not so much.
The shame with Violett is there’s something interesting about the experience as a whole that I’d love to enjoy. The artwork is terrific and some of the puzzles, while odd, are refreshingly different. That said, the number of puzzles where progression isn’t guided so much by thought and intuition and instead by a sort of aimless string of trial and error shots in the dark make it a bit aggravating and diminish the feeling of accomplishment in making progress. If you can overlook issues like these and want something different give it a look, just be aware of the substantial number of caveats concerning it.
This Is the Police ends up being a pretty fascinating character study of a man with good intentions who’ll need to make a lot of bad decisions. You can try to maintain your integrity but the game seems to be written in the direction of not letting you do so for long, or at least not without paying such a steep price that you see the wisdom in picking and choosing when you’ll need to go dirty with good intentions… or at least you’ll tell yourself that. Games like these ask you to put yourself in a different position and then force you to play out events in a world where the deck is stacked against you and you don’t have the luxury of surviving without doing some unsavory things and pairing with terrible people. While it isn’t a perfect game in execution and it can be frustrating, often on purpose, it does make for a fascinating ride.
Splasher is simply a whole lot of challenging platforming fun, requiring you to be on top of your game both mentally and physically. Once you get into the flow of things it is pretty amazing how fluidly you’ll be able to move through the levels, aiming and shooting mid-air while you dodge between traps and enemies. What sometimes starts out seeming to be a formidable challenge will fall with some repetition and tuning and the sense of accomplishment when you complete some of the levels is substantial. If you’re up to the challenge you’re in for a lot of fun!
All said Moon Hunters is an ambitious and well-executed exercise in storytelling as much as it is in implementing the game’s action. I found the change of pace to be refreshing, and the presentation and imagery helped establish lore without it just being a bunch of gibberish written to the screen as some games have done. There’s a care and attention to detail to it all that I hope people will give a chance and discover, but I can see where people may give it a rough playthrough or two and decide to move on as well. If you’ve been looking for something that sets itself apart from most of the games of its kind out there, even if it may not meet all of its goals, Moon Hunters is a worthy attempt worth giving a try.
I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with Poi and would easily recommend it to anyone looking for a classic 3D platforming fix with some well-implemented touches. I also acknowledge that this is a review being written shortly before the goal posts are likely to be forever adjusted by Mario Odyssey. That does make it a bit challenging to not be unfair, crippling Poi in advance for the unknown, while at the same time not being naive. In the end I’d say that regardless of the direction 3D platforming may be moving in, and the expectations that will come with it, Poi is a terrific taste of nostalgic beats that fans of the genre should enjoy.
The folks at 10 Tons have really done a phenomenal job with releasing 3 games that would, at a high level, be considered to be in the same genre but that are so incredibly different in how they play. Time Recoil is what I’d consider the biggest gamble of the bunch, tapping into a very different skill set, opening up a very different kind of challenge, and yet still delivering some thrilling gameplay. If you enjoy the almost puzzle-like nature the game evolves into once the main story missions have been completed, and trying to play through the same levels to eke out efficiency, there’s a lot to be challenged by and enjoy here. If, however, that sort of action is fun for a little while but not appealing to you for the longer haul it is a tougher call.
If something quick, challenging, and fun for a budget price is what you’re looking for Knight Terrors delivers a pretty solid value. It isn’t going to set the world on fire but that also isn’t its goal, it just wants to give people something good to play in bursts. While you can certainly play it in docked mode this game screams handheld mode and gaming on the go for a variety of reasons. If you enjoy endless runners and are looking for a small but solid challenge on the go Knight Terrors is a great match.
If you're wanting to play with someone less experienced things can still work out but you'll both have to be patient as they come up to speed and work out their coordination. Solo play is possible but once you get in several levels it becomes quite aggravating trying to coordinate your various button-presses for both characters by yourself. While it isn't perfect, Putty Pals is an excellent cooperative-play-focused platformer, and that's not something you'll likely see often.
I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with Poi and would easily recommend it to anyone looking for a classic 3D platforming fix with some well-implemented touches...
Overall there’s quite a lot of diverse fun to be had with Party Pack 4 and it may actually be the strongest one yet in terms of the average strength of all games included. Monster Seeking Monster is definitely the outlier, not because it is a bad idea but because it is so heavily dependent on the group playing it. While my tendency would still be to gravitate towards one of the Party Packs (2 or 3) that includes Quiplash, still my overall favorite Jackbox mini game, Survive the Internet is extremely strong, Civic Doodle may now be my favorite Jackbox drawing game, and the inclusion of Fibbage is always a plus. In the end you’ll need to read over the various games and choose which Pack works best for you but if the question were which 2 Packs were the best to buy I’d automatically make Party Pack 4 my second without question.
Ultimately this is a game that lives or dies on the willingness of the people who are playing to give in to the simplicity and embrace all of the crazy modes that it offers. If you’ve got a rowdy group of people who are on board there are some great laughs to be had with Party Golf, probably even for people who don’t consider themselves very skilled at games since so many of the modes have a certain element of chaos inherent in them. If, on the other hand, our crew isn’t buying the base experience it won’t matter how many modes you bring to the table, it just isn’t going to happen. If you think you can play with the right people there’s a lot of diverse fun to be had in this package though!
In the end Putty Pals is a refreshingly-clever platforming game that is best played with a friend. Ideally you’ll both have at least some moderate gaming chops, and if you do there’s a wonderful variety of content within that you’ll be able to overcome and enjoy together. If you’re wanting to play with someone less experienced things can still work out but you’ll both have to be patient as they come up to speed and work out their coordination. Solo play is possible but once you get in several levels it would get to be quite aggravating trying to coordinate your various button-presses for both characters by yourself. While it isn’t perfect, Putty Pals is an excellent cooperative-play-focused platformer, and that’s not something you’ll likely see often.
Overall I’d say I was very pleasantly surprised with Super Ping Pong Trick Shot but it helps that I walked into the experience with no expectations whatsoever. For games of this type I’ll say that it is in the upper echelon for effort expended on a simple idea and that obviously a good deal of care was put into making the most of the niche genre this would represent. While I wouldn’t heartily recommend the game to probably anyone if you’re looking for something a bit different that is inexpensive to occupy a little bit of your time, and it sounds interesting to you, I’d say that there are worse ways to spend your money.
At the end of the day The Count Lucanor is a bit of an unexpected gem if you’re in the right mindset and are looking for something different and creepy to play at this time of year. If you want action and excitement you can just keep on looking, the game will frustrate you within the first few minutes. If, however, you like your stories weird, your imagery to include a sense of the macabre, and to have equal moments of “OMG!” and “WTF?” sprinkled into the experience you could have some fun for a little while.
If you’re a big fan of twin-stick shooters and don’t mind being pushed out of your natural style of play and comfort zone JYDGE is an excellent bit of mayhem to enjoy on the Switch. While it shares much in common with Neon Chrome those similarities are generally only on the surface. Both are ultimately all about the visceral thrill of mowing down the bad guys but the level of nuance you’ll need to use on some of JYDGE’s missions makes for great moments and it could be argued that the shortened objective-based format makes it a better match for pick up and play fun on the go as well. All in all for shooter fans it’s fair to say that JYDGE does a great job of execution… on all levels.
The control issues are very difficult to get around and they rob you of the opportunity to really enjoy the gameplay. There are a number of modes to choose from that do vary up the details but at the end of the day there's no escaping the fact that the core experience is pretty flawed. This all makes it very hard to recommend when there are so many other better multiplayer titles available.