Justin Nation Avatar Image

Justin Nation

Windsor, PA
The Nindersect
Nindersect

Favorite Games:
  • Rocket League
  • Neon Abyss
  • Wreckfest

4459 games reviewed
70.7 average score
71 median score
43.5% 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!

Having been introduced to the Shantae series on the Switch and enjoyed the hell out of each entry thus far a throwback title sounded interesting...

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7 / 10.0 - Shoot 1UP DX
Oct 15, 2020

We’ve been blessed with quite a variety of shmups on the Switch, and with such diversity it can sometimes be easy to assume you’ve seen it all...

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6.7 / 10.0 - Terror Squid
Oct 15, 2020

There's nothing wrong with sometimes playing a game that has one core idea in place and just asks you to run with it...

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Oct 15, 2020

While I've generally found first-person exploration adventure-type games like this to be a drag in their pacing I do appreciate that in this case the game has taken on a quasi-historic element of a member of the press chasing down the Zodiac killer to add interest...

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6.1 / 10.0 - Cloudpunk
Oct 15, 2020

With an interesting steampunk / futuristic look with huge skyscrapers and vehicles flying through the clouds people were excited by early looks at Cloudpunk...

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Oct 14, 2020

Following up the previous delectable outing on Switch, CSD3 is back with a new somewhat silly story with your empire having been reduced to rubble and starting over in a food truck...

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Oct 14, 2020

While the Metroidvania genre had at one point been thinly represented on the Switch we're now at the point where there are enough top-tier titles available that making a big splash is getting tougher...

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8 / 10.0 - Foregone
Oct 13, 2020

One glance at Foregone and many video game fans are likely to mistake it for the incredible Dead Cells… and given that the game’s art and animations were created through a very similar process that’s not a coincidence...

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Oct 13, 2020

Having grown up with the Joes through the comic books and the cartoons I'm undoubtedly in the sweet spot for the love of the organization and their eternal fight with Cobra...

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While these are technically two individual games it's appropriate to review them together since they're practically identical in most ways you'd measure...

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Oct 13, 2020

While these are technically two individual games it's appropriate to review them together since they're practically identical in most ways you'd measure...

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Oct 13, 2020

So the original Remothered was a weird ole suspense-filled adventure of sorts with a crazy story and you trying desperately to escape being locked in an old house with a crazed old man...

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8 / 10.0 - The Survivalists
Oct 9, 2020

As I have noted a few times before, in general survival games haven’t tended to be a favorite of mine in the past...

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6.3 / 10.0 - Reflection of Mine
Oct 9, 2020

For me, somewhat fittingly given the mirrored nature of the puzzles in the game, I'm of two minds about Reflection of Mine...

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7.5 / 10.0 - Flipon
Oct 8, 2020

When it comes to action puzzle games the tendency is to think of the big and well-established guns when looking for some quality play...

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7 / 10.0 - Falcon Age
Oct 8, 2020

Novelty in games is always a good thing, new experiences are welcome and you never know what may become a break out hit or revelatory gameplay experience...

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7 / 10.0 - Puddle Knights
Oct 8, 2020

There's nothing wrong with a puzzle game that knows what mechanics its going for and then works them for all they're worth, something Puddle Knights does pretty well...

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6.7 / 10.0 - Adventures of Chris
Oct 8, 2020

I'll give credit where it is due, while action platforming doesn't often change things up too much Adventures of Chris creatively throws some curveballs at you in order to try to keep things a little more fresh...

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6.7 / 10.0 - Green Hell
Oct 8, 2020

My history with survival games has always been hot and cold...

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Oct 8, 2020

Approaching Inside Grass the most important thing to keep in mind is that not all games are meant for all audiences... and that in the case of this adventure the target is likely kids...

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