Nazih Fares's Reviews
Gear.Club Unlimited is a worthy racing game pick for the Nintendo Switch, and a great comeback of veteran studio Eden Games. While you should expect a title as demanding visually as Forza, the game is a perfect balance of both arcade and racing simulations, with a wealth of content that will keep you busy for a long time.
Cat Quest is a little game inspired by the Legend of Zelda, full of furry adorable creatures and witty humor. For its little price, I would jump in and not judge the book by its cover, as this Action-RPG has more quality content than some of the biggest AAA releases nowadays.
Need For Speed Payback is a game lost trying to do everything at once, ultimately giving you an uninspired arcade racing title. It's almost as the franchise forgot the simplest beauty of what it was: a racing game full of speed and its thrills.
If you need a simple and fun game, playable with friends whether at home or online and offering an original formula, Rocket League is a perfect pick on Nintendo Switch as long as you are not nitpicky about graphics. This weird and crazy merge between two easy theme - football and driving game - is a wonderful demonstration that simple ideas, when well treated, can yield excellent games. The games will flow, with good laughs, and award all hardcore gamers who will invest time to move forward and do good deeds. It lacks a bit of content and variety in the game modes, as well as a noticeable graphical difference between all four platforms, but I do believe the developers Psyonix will fix this easily.
Monopoly for Nintendo Switch will satisfy those who want to play the iconic board game with friends on the screen or with a digital portable experience. It lacks the serious singleplayer experience with a dumb AI and performance issues when playing online, but overall is still a fun and kind of overpriced title for the Nintendo console.
Sonic Forces is not a terrible game, but it ain't a good one. Full of cheesy dialogues, a storyline that doesn't make any sense, and weird additional gameplay mechanics, I feel that the Sonic Team's urge to create something fresh and new to the franchise is actually pushing them to overdo it. If only they would listen to their fans and stick to a traditional side scrolling platformer like this year's release of Sonic Mania.
Lacking a clear narrative and suffering from outdated gameplay mechanics, Nights of Azure 2 : Bride of the New Moon will probably only appeal to fans of the series. The sequel doesn't bring anything new to the table, and is mostly crude in terms of execution which is a pity from a studio known for their great work on the Atelier series.
Call of Duty WWII manages to bring the series back to its roots and inject classic Call of Duty gameplay with slick new visuals and intense, atmospheric set pieces. Its new war mode gives the action a much more powerful feeling, and the campaign creates some truly memorable moments. Fans of the classic will be proud.
While the classics can never be topped, DOOM gives us a solid ultraviolent shooter for the modern age. The PC and Xbox One version was already great, and the Nintendo Switch port now brings the Japanese console closer to a mature audience.
Now out on the Nintendo Switch, Ubisoft's UNO does not reinvent the wheel in this reissue. Nevertheless its use of the Switch multiplayer function as well as adding 3 themed decks might be a good pick for families that never played the game on previous platforms.
A title completely created by one guy, Yono and the Celestial Elephants is kid-friendly adventure, which hides a rich symbolic lore underneath its cartoonish appearance. I wouldn't recommend playing the game for its gameplay, but for the experience and discovering quite a deep story about the harmony of all things.
For the first title of this young Belarus studio, WeAppy's This is the Police managed a feat by combining narration and sim-management and is a must for fans of both genre.
Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth is a typical continuation of the series, focusing on what it does best, from dungeons to exploration and of course the combat. The very rich mapping system and the secrets that fill the dungeons make the whole thing quite addictive, urging you to explore and find every nook and cranny. With its very complete class system, the game offers a wide panel in terms of customization and evolution, and will appeal to turn-based RPGs fans. However, I'm rather shocked that a clear storyline isn't present and that the execution of the game is just too simplistic with no drastic changes since the previous opus, but this doesn't prevent Etrian Odyssey V from being a solid adventure and great Dungeon-Crawler.
With The Mummy Demastered, WayForward offers a compelling and enjoyable Metroidvania that is full of secrets and incentive for exploration. If some mechanics of the gameplay deserved to be modernized like the aiming, The Mummy Demastered is a clear home of the 16-bit era Metroidvanias, and a great pick for your Nintendo Switch (or other platforms).
Like every year, Just Dance 2018 is inspired by its predecessors, while adding extra modes to make the Nintendo Switch stand out in comparison to other platforms. While the Switch version puts the fun at first at the expense of precision and requirement, it's a great title to bring along for a game night, especially since you can play with up to 6 person at the same thanks to the mobile app.
Like its predecessor, WWE 2K18 clearly shows the desire to do the best wrestling game there is, but the end result starts to show the limitations of an annual franchise in terms of technicality and innovation.
Assassin’s Creed is back in fantastic form, and Origins it’s a title that any fan of open-world adventure titles shouldn’t miss. Assassin’s Creed: Origins brings a lot of new ideas to a tried and tested formula, and while it downplays classic elements like stealth, it refines most of the core gameplay with expertise, creating a memorable experience.
Wulverblade is a fun side scrolling beat'em-up which might feel out of time, but remains a passionate creation from a team that clearly was influenced by the 1990s classics. A great start from Fully Illustrated, and we can't wait to see more of their upcoming work in the future.
Middle-earth: Shadow of War is great sequel even if it still carries the fault the original game. At least, the Nemesis system now truly feels alive and makes it one of the greatest game mechanics applied in a game. All the strengths of the previous game are reinforced, unfortunately some problems persist and I regret mostly the rough technical side of a game that could look much better for a 2017 release.
Oxenfree is heavily narrative oriented gaming experience that would be a shame to skip on any platform. While it’s not a revolutionary concept, the Night School Studio game is original with its creative and soundtrack direction, as well as touching some fun topics, and a story full of suspense. Whether you have a Nintendo Switch or not, you should definitely try this game, which happens to be out on almost all gaming platforms.