Megaquarium is a fintastic game to relax and unwind with at the end of a long day. I like to couple that with some of my favorite sushi rolls, but to each their own. Here I am, nine levels later and still having a lot of fun trying to make the best aquarium ever. Sure, nothing I design will ever rival the Georgia Aquarium, the world's largest aquarium and one I have been to a few times, but that doesn't mean I'll stop trying. There's only one more level for me to tackle, and my fingers are crossed that I can finally get some dolphins to do elaborate hoop routines while whistling the US national anthem for me.
Why spend time in a lackluster world when I have a stack of other wonderful games waiting for me?
Is Borderlands 3 a perfect game? No, at least not at launch. But it damn sure is so much fun that I wish I were playing right now and not writing this review. I've got Vaults to loot and trinkets to buy. Don't forget to tip Moxxi!
No question, ONINAKI has reignited my long extinguished JRPG spark. I've actually been looking forward to booting up my PS4 every day to follow Kagachi and Linne's journey. It's not a slam dunk game; there is a lot of predictability in the storyline, but even then, I'm compelled to see this through to the very end. There are Daemons I absolutely do not enjoy having in my party but will eventually grind out simply to view all of their lore and max out skill trees. All in pursuit of that feeling of accomplishment for hitting the one hundred percent completion mark, or perhaps in this case, my next Platinum trophy.
It’s amazing how games can speak right to you and dig out memories you don’t expect them to
There's a lot going on in The Blackout Club, and while I haven't seen what the endgame is yet, I am looking forward to playing more of this with my friends. I'm not sold on sacrificing my character to a Voice and starting over just to see my name on the Leaderboards, though. I think I'll stick to offering small tributes when I find myself in possession of them. If you're an avid of Dead by Daylight or Friday the 13th player looking for a new challenge, you might want to spend the $30 and take this game for a spin yourself.
Now let's get down to the nitty gritty. Is Songbird Symphony worth adding to your collection? If you're a fan of these genres and enjoy niche little games, my answer is yes. The story is cute yet predictable, the puzzle solving fun, and the rhythm challenging. You can finish the game, discover all of the secrets, and claim that platinum trophy in under six hours if you're purely looking to add to your trophy count. Either way, for a game under $20, that's really not a bad deal.
BonusXP has taken the hit Netflix series and crafted a fun, yet at times frustrating, pixelated adventure game. Some of the boss battles can really try your patience, and limits on recovery items (medkits and Coke) certainly don’t help matters as you push toward the final episode. On the flip side, there are all kinds of hidden areas to return to and explore further; even if I haven’t seen a percentage log, there’s just something about knowing you’ve 100% cleared a game.
If you love these small, niche JRPGs and can snag a copy of Dragon Star Varnir at a discount, I'd say pick it up. The $60 price point for recycled assets and a game that has more reading than voice over just seems a little too steep for me. But hey, that's just one girl's opinion.
After the hours spent with Lulua, her bestest gal pal Eva, and the other members of her menagerie, I must admit that I am hooked on Arland. Knowing that the Arland Atelier Trilogy Plus collection was released on the PS4 not too long ago, I foresee new additions to my digital backlog in my immediate future. But for right now, it's back to deciphering all of these remaining Alchemyriddle pages!
All in all, Fade to Silence has been an enjoyable experience for me. It's got the resource management and camp building that I seem to be drawn to and challenging but not Soulsbourne level enemies to tackle. The glitches are easily fixed with patches (knock on wood that they are in the pipeline), and there's a decently sized map to explore with hidden passages and caverns to loot.
After an entire calendar year in Portia, there's still so much more for me to do. There are new areas to unlock and explore, buildings to reopen, and I still haven't convinced Gust that we should be married and become a powerhouse architect firm. I may not reconstruct every single lost relic that lays beneath Portia in the ruins, but I'll be damned if I don't get Gust to wear my ring.
So how would I grade The Princess Guide? It gets high marks for engaging, yet somewhat predictable, story threads and having a variety of waifus, but clearly misses the mark in a few areas. For the full grade, see the report card below.
In a week where I had two puzzle-platformers land in my lap, Degrees of Separations comes out on the bottom. The entire time I was playing it, all I wanted to do was switch back to The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince. Especially once I hit the third world in Degrees of Separation, where puzzle solving was no longer a fun challenge, but a grueling test of my patience. I wanted to love it; the art, the soundtrack, and the story were what had my heart set on enjoying while playing this one. I hate to say it, but I'm not sure if I'll ever attempt to put all the stars back in the sky.
Holy Potatoes! We're in Space?! sticks to its strengths, keeping true to their time management roots and nailing those parodies. That tutorial battle took me a little longer than I thought it would, but eventually I got the hang of it. There was some trial and error during the first mission as I had to switch my brain from thinking this was A Weapon Shop?!. But once I put on my Mal Reynolds suspenders, it was smooth sailing. Now I'm the best damn pilot in the galaxy, zipping all over the place blasting baddies out of the sky. I even have a furry sidekick. This could be your life, too, since Holy Potatoes! We're in Space?! is out now on the PlayStation 4.
If you're looking for an indie RPG that tugs at your heartstrings, Smoke and Sacrifice is that game. Sachi fights her way through the unknown, scavenging for tools and food. She pushes past the obstacles in her way driven to bring her lost child home. A mother's perseverance and strength give me those Kleenex commercial feels. It'll take about twenty hours to complete the story and side quests, which is a good length for an indie game of this scope. And those of us who get emotionally invested in games like these might want to have something comforting at hand. My go-to: a giant bag of M&Ms and some good Japanese whisky, neat.
I'll keep my fingers crossed that the next patch fixes this particularly nasty bug. Don't you worry. I reported pretty much every single one of these. My pain will hopefully be your gain.
One of my favorite things about Asterix & Obelix XXL 2 is that it's not shy about its appropriation of other video game franchises. There are Romans disguised in costumes giving nods to franchises like Super Mario, Pac-Man, and Rayman. Take a few minutes to look around when you reach new areas and see what Easter eggs you can spot. The game has also made sure to match the humor of the comic series. The awful puns, roast boar for health, Obelix's complaints about being forbidden from drinking the magic potion. All of those nostalgic feelings came flooding back within minutes of starting the game. Like I'm ten again, sitting in my favorite chair with a stack of Asterix books from the library. It's most definitely a game built for the Asterix & Obelix fandom.
With so many choices left unexplored and far too many hidden items I have yet to discover, 11-11: Memories Retold is a replayable title with new experiences for me to discover. What if I don't send that picture to Julia and send this one instead? And where is that last card game I seem to have missed? It only took about four and a half hours for me to complete the game once. Surely I can spare another afternoon or two to bolster my trophy count and make some tough choices.
If you love hosting board game night, why not pick this up and gather around the TV for a night. You won't be disappointed.