Justin Nation Avatar Image

Justin Nation

Windsor, PA
The Nindersect
Nindersect

Favorite Games:
  • Rocket League
  • Neon Abyss
  • Wreckfest

4491 games reviewed
70.8 average score
71 median score
43.6% 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!
6.4 / 10.0 - The Last Cube
Mar 10, 2022

With the abundance of puzzle games out there in the eShop I would imagine it's a true challenge to do anything that feels fresh and different...

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6.3 / 10.0 - Ashwalkers
Mar 10, 2022

Ashwalkers is an odd one, first and foremost deserving some credit for being distinctive with its narrative-driven approach to survival rather than being action-oriented...

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6.1 / 10.0 - Frightence
Mar 10, 2022

Games that are designed to give people a scare remain quite popular as a whole, but more often than not (at least on the Switch) it feels like developers exploit that audience rather than reward them, with Frightence being a somewhat sad example of this joining many others...

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Mar 10, 2022

As a fan of Lienzo's earlier title Mulaka, which may have had its faults but compensated with a distinctive sense of style and flavor, walking in I had high hopes for Aztech...

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8.8 / 10.0 - Will You Snail?
Mar 9, 2022

A worthy discussion that has come up in recent years has to do with accessibility and whether games that are inherently hard should have a way to play them at a more approachable degree of difficulty...

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5.6 / 10.0 - Splash Cars
Mar 9, 2022

Even when they may not be racing titles I'm always down to check out a game involving cars, especially since in general they're under-represented on the Switch eShop...

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7.5 / 10.0 - LIT: Bend the Light
Mar 5, 2022

One thing I do appreciate about quite a number of indie titles is that even if they aren't groundbreaking in their conception, it is clear they had a specific design and set of objectives for play in mind and then executed them all admirably...

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Mar 4, 2022

More budget-friendly titles are almost always a challenge to know how to score against their more full-priced brethren...

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Mar 4, 2022

This is a case where you have a game with a very cool sense of style, a compelling set of main characters who have some great interactions, and a sometimes pitch-black sense of humor… mixed with puzzle platforming that ranges from inspired to merely ordinary...

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Mar 4, 2022

While I've seen quite a variety of takes on the classic adventure formula that has enjoyed a rejuvenation in this last generation with indie developers I've not seen something quite like Buck Bradley...

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6.7 / 10.0 - Quest for Infamy
Mar 4, 2022

I definitely think this is one of those titles that will have pretty heavy-duty pendulum swings in the range of opinion from the people who play it...

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9 / 10.0 - A Musical Story
Mar 3, 2022

I’ve truly enjoyed the diverse set of indie titles that have come to the Switch under the category of rhythm and music...

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At this point in some regards it is tough to make a meaningful splash running with a humorous classic adventure title simply because there's a ton of competition out there on the Switch to compare with...

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Mar 3, 2022

Have you ever been kept up at night pondering what it would be like to do incredible things in places filled with wonder and excitement?

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Mar 2, 2022

While I’ll open by admitting that, in general, any game with the word Pinball in the title gets my attention, in the case of Zombie Rollerz there’s so much greatness here it had no need to tap into my silverball nostalgia to make me happy...

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6.1 / 10.0 - Primordia
Mar 2, 2022

Breaking from the trend towards more strange and silly point-and-click styled adventures on the Switch, Primordia instead strikes a more serious tone with both its more brooding art and sci-fi environs...

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5.8 / 10.0 - 35MM
Mar 2, 2022

There has always been something intriguing with exploring a post-Apocalyptic wasteland, whether it being the sense of isolation, how it can make you reflect on your own current life, or any number of other reasons...

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8.5 / 10.0 - FAR: Changing Tides
Mar 1, 2022

Picking up roughly where the original FAR left off, and generally offering up a very similar (though longer and refined) experience, Changing Tides doesn’t reinvent the post-Apocalyptic wheel but it also didn’t need to...

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8 / 10.0 - Conan Chop Chop
Mar 1, 2022

Having always been a fan of beat-em-ups, despite their tendency to get bogged down to some degree with repetition, I’ve been thrilled to see new ideas brought to the table...

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I’ll just open with the fact that I truly despise pretty well all forms of alcohol, so in theory I’m a tough sell for a game heavily concerned with the intricacies of making wine since I have no built-in love for it...

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