The battles hooked me right from the start, and only improved as I gained the ability to upgrade my Guardian.
Even with those two bits absent from this entry, it's tough to knock Picross 3D Round 2 without getting nitpicky. This game doesn't really do anything wrong. Sure, it could be a bit more difficult, but the hours I spent with it were filled with fun and interesting puzzles in a stress-free setting that was just what I needed to take the edge off after a long day at work. This game is comfort food, and it's a dish I won't mind having every single day.
MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death isn't a bad game, it's half-assed. There are a couple of interesting ideas here that, applied to a competent dungeon crawler, could have made for something great. Instead, it's just passable. But I still had fun.
As the last game Two Tribes will ever make, the few remaining employees there can hold their heads high with what they created. It's not the best game in its catalog, and the difficulty will be a turn-off for many, but Rive leaves its mark as one of the more challenging games of this generation. Gluttons for punishment will have no trouble eating it up, but others should satiate their appetite elsewhere.
It's a shame I almost missed out on Gotta Protectors because I absolutely fell in love with it. I love its simplicity, I love its music, and I love how well it accomplishes what it set out to do. This feels like a long-lost early NES title, right down to having to blow into a cartridge to start it up. With the map editor, I hope this becomes the type of game fans continue to support for years to come.
But that's it. That's the extent of my issues with this game, and for me, the positives far, far outweigh the negatives. If you didn't like Paper Mario: Sticker Star because it wasn't like the first two games in the series, I don't think you'll be satisfied here. For everyone else willing to give it a chance, Paper Mario: Color Splash is a charming journey that will delight your senses, your funny bone, and the part of your brain that houses your nostalgic feelings towards Nintendo.
I still get chills thinking about my time with Yomawari: Night Alone. Whether it's a particularly scary moment that pops into my head or one of the many weird visuals that I just can't get out of my mind, this is a game that's going to stick with me for a while. I just wish there was more of it for me to remember.
There really isn't anything positive I can say about this game, outside of a few choice spots of interesting art direction. The level design is dull, the platforming is simplistic, the graphics look a few generations old, the RPG elements are basic, the music is forgettable, the enemies are pushovers, the difficulty is turned all the way to easy – I'm honestly at a loss for words. I would like to think I have this amazing vocabulary to intelligently convey just how abominable Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity is, but the best I can come up with is just calling it bad. This is a bad, bad game.
From beginning to end I was completely entranced by these kids' quest to escape the horrors of Heavenly Host. Corpse Party has a timeless story built around solid characters and a genuinely creepy setting that is able to buoy its sometimes outdated gameplay.
Valkyrie Drive: Bhikkhuni reminds me a lot of Senran Kagura Burst in that it feels like a rough draft of greater things to come. The combat is there, and the game looks amazing, but with an overabundance of uninteresting plot and a lack of original or compelling personalities, I found myself skipping over more of the game than I should have in order to keep myself entertained.
Disney Magical World 2 feels like an intro class into video gaming. There's a little bit of everything here, all of it aimed at younger, inexperienced gamers. For an old crust like me, it's easy to point out its flaws with the frame rate, inventory management, excess of load screens, and simplicity, but I don't think that will matter to younger players. And after helping plan a most wonderful party for the residents of the Hundred Acre Wood, it really didn't matter to me either.
The building blocks for something wonderful are there. I think the combination of Minecraft and farming is a winner, but more attention needs to be paid to the activities outside of planting and pulling crops if Harvest Moon ever wants to compete with the superior farm sims out there.
The big adventure of Demetrios isn’t all that cynical, but it certainly is forgettable. I can’t say the game is bad, because it’s not, but also I certainly wouldn’t tell you it’s good. Instead, it’s nothing more than a name added to a list of titles I’ve beaten, and it will never be anything more than that.
Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World is as fun on the 3DS as the original is on the Wii U. The levels are just as crafty as before, the visual take a slight hit but are still colorful and creative, and the soundtrack is so gosh darn charming. It's the best Yoshi game on the 3DS, and if you don't already own it on the Wii U, I would suggest picking it up.
If you own a Vita and a PS4, and you absolutely must buy this game, get it on the more powerful console. The portable version doesn’t cut it, and even without the janky presentation, the game itself is bare bones as a strategy RPG. I have no doubt the Dynasty Warriors franchise would make a splendid SRPG, but this ain't it.
There is a very specific person I would recommend play Tank Troopers. If you have a 3DS, and you have five friends nearby who also have a 3DS, and you’re all interested in playing Tank Troopers, go ahead and buy it because you are the only type of gamer who will get the maximum enjoyment out it. For everyone else, it’s an easy pass.
Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns doesn’t reinvent the tractor wheel, but it does change it out for a more durable model. This game is built to last many, many seasons, and if you can get behind its quiet pace and an overabundance of content, you’ll find one of the most complete farm sims to ever hit a handheld device.
Legend of the Skyfish is an inoffensive, cute, and simple puzzle game. Perhaps too simple as it honestly feels like this shouldn't be on Steam but on one of the Leapfrog gaming devices. I can appreciate any developer that finds inspiration in The Legend of Zelda, but inspiration can only take you so far. You need a little perspiration too, and I just didn't see enough sweat in this game.
There is no other way to put this: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is brilliant. It is magnificent. It is marvelous, amazing, fantastic, and every other synonym for the word wonderful that can be found in the thesaurus. If The Legend of Zelda was the flint that ignited the passion I have for video gaming, Breath of the Wild is the 500lb bag of charcoal that will keep that fire burning for decades to come.
Mario Sports Superstars is like a coworker everybody hates because they do just enough work to not get fired. It’s not a good game, not by a long shot, but it does just enough right that I can’t in good conscience call it outright bad. What I can call it is a lazy experience, one developed solely for the purpose of selling what are basically Mario-branded Topps cards. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to pour myself another drink.