Danreb Victorio's Reviews
I enjoyed my time with Big Walk, but I don’t ever want to play this kind of game ever again. It’s an easy recommendation if you have more than one friend down to play with for the more than 15 hours it takes to beat it, but to many people, those are few and far between.
Beast of Reincarnation just has too many problems to recommend it right now. Beyond the game’s stellar graphics and combat, its exploration leaves much to be desired, and it suffers even more from a weak story and a weaker cast of characters.
If you’re the type of person who doesn’t mind randomly playing a video game with a friend, family member, or loved one present, they probably already know that you’re someone into the medium and will likely not bother you for the rest of the session. Every once in a while, though, there’s a game that’ll get the attention of such people, likely to a point where they’ll want to join you or at least ask, “What are you playing?” That’s one of the best feelings in the world, and it’s a feat that I think Rhythm Heaven Groove accomplishes whenever it’s played around people. It’s a big part of what makes the series great.
So if a Zelda-like game from Team Asano interests you, I'd absolutely recommend The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales. I'd also advise that going the extra mile and sweating out the repetition for that true final ending is absolutely worth your time, and I think you're doing a disservice to yourself if you stop at any of the initial two endings.
As a Filipino-American, one of my biggest issues with Afterimages was that it didn’t feel Filipino. Aside from actually mentioning the Philippines and using Tagalog words (and having the UI immediately translate them), I just felt like the game’s setting was generic, and while I can understand making a game that’ll appeal to more people, Until Then isn’t that kind of game.
I’d recommend and Roger to anybody looking for a captivating story about relationships with loved ones and empathizing with issues both physical and mental. The way the game moves the story forward with such simple gameplay mechanics should be considered a triumph, and I’d love to see the people I love play through the experience as well.
It’s a good thing that we hadn’t reviewed the game so quickly, too, because we just learned that new missions are on the way in the form of DLC, and I can’t wait to get back into Bond’s shoes. If you’re even remotely a fan of James Bond or secret agent flicks, you owe it to yourself to play 007 First Light. This game made me a fan, and now I’m considering exploring all of the 007 media to see if there’s anything I can predict, now that this game has set a new standard for future Bond experiences.
NBA The Run does its best to make up for what it lacks with a high attention to detail that makes it easy to see the love for streetball culture.
The retelling of the story is great, the production value (even from a Switch 2 standpoint) is phenomenal, and you can tell a lot of love went into the game's development. It is undoubtedly filled to the brim with content for you to enjoy, but at the same time, it's hard to ignore the fact that it doesn't feel like the game actually cares about all the hours you poured into it. These newer versions of the game sort of scratch the surface of addressing that problem by offering Streamlined Progression and the ability to unlock unlimited MP and HP modifiers to make things less challenging, and that's all well and great if you wanna get through the game quickly, as we wait for news on the game's conclusion.
When I rolled credits on Mixtape, I whispered to myself, "Dang, I'm never gonna play anything like this again." If I do, it'll be compared to Mixtape, both fairly and unfairly. And again, the things this game does from a gameplay perspective aren't unique. It's the careful sum of its parts that makes Mixtape a modern classic, and at $20, it's an easy recommendation whether you binge or slow burn the six-hour title.
"This seven-to-eight-hour experience definitely was not a waste of time. This is a cozy game, through and through, that I really enjoyed from beginning to end. I wish there were at least some fail points or at least a little bit of struggle, but if you take the game for what it is, you’ll have something that’s definitely heartwarming."
Ys Memoire: Revelations in Celceta is as solid on Switch as it ever was, and if you’ve never played the game and you’re coming off Ys X: Nordics, Celceta is a great way to check out not only the story immediately after Ys X, but to experience one of the games that laid the groundwork for systems seen on other Ys games. Still, $60 is a little steep for this game when you can get the same experience for at least half the price on PS4 or PC.
While Dosa Divas has a lot of cool things going for it, namely in its story, especially as someone who truly appreciates the role food has in the lives of people in the ANHPI community, as well as a funky soundtrack and colorful visuals, there just wasn’t enough here to completely envelop me into the experience.
Enjoyable chaos is exactly what PRAGMATA is. Everything about this version of the world is terrifying, but I just loved being there, especially when it came to taking a breather at the shelter with Diana. I couldn’t stop thinking about how fun most aspects of this game were, so much so that I immediately jumped back in after rolling credits.
I really liked People of Note, and I hope Iridium Studios can get a bigger budget for their next game because if they decide to stick with this kind of JRPG-inspired game in the future, it could be a real banger. This is a solid first try, but I think the difficulty of the puzzles and overly drawn-out boss battles will make people quit, even if you can skip almost anything remotely difficult. If I didn't have to review this game, I would've abandoned it because I felt like the game didn't respect my time.
Fishbowl was a real pleasure to experience, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. While a low number of people will be eager to think back to the lockdowns and the pandemic, the simple gameplay and personal narrative within the game really opened my eyes to how the human mood works.
Scott Pilgrim EX is a great game, and I like that it takes some chances to bring its foundations up a notch with the intention of making it even better than great, but it falls short of that because it also feels like the game rests on its own laurels as a great multiplayer beat-em-up. I hope the next Scott Pilgrim game doesn't settle for just being great because the potential to go beyond that is definitely there.
I don’t think it’s a controversial take to believe that Bomberman is one of the most underrated and under-appreciated mascots and characters in all of gaming. You rarely hear about him when people talk about the best franchises in the medium, even when talking about the classics, but Super Bomberman Collection really puts some respect on the franchise’s name.
It has some real issues as a whole, but I really enjoyed my time with God of War: Sons of Sparta. Mega Cat Studios did an admirable job translating the God of War experience into a Metroidvania. It’s nowhere near as fast-paced as any of its AAA entries, but I thought the story they told and the game’s end was a nice mix of what we’ve seen from the series in the past and the present day. That said, slow pacing and fluff really prevent this from being a wholehearted recommendation, especially with it’s $30 asking price when far superior titles can be had for much less.
Every time I got to a base on the mountain where I could walk a little and set up camp, I'd take a look back at the distance and remember what it took to get up there. The fact that a video game can make me think all that really makes it special.