David Poole's Reviews
For under ten bucks, you really can’t go wrong with What The Dub?!. The clips offer plenty of opportunity to deliver hilarious and raunchy dialogue while also maintaining the B-movie charm. People at parties will surely have a good time, but streamers will especially have a lot of opportunities with the game. With 300 clips and some imagination, the possibilities are literally endless for this title.
In the end, Bravely Default II is a worthy successor to the franchise. Despite some performance problems and interesting voice direction, this is still a fantastic experience. With a new story, cast of characters, and gameplay elements, it delivers a sense of familiarity as well as a fresh perspective. The story builds up over the course of the game and provides plenty of hours of fun for JRPG fans.
As mentioned before, the Blizzard Arcade Collection is a great way to look at the company history. With three unique games, each with three different versions, behind-the-scenes artwork, videos and more, there’s plenty to enjoy here.
Overall, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury is still a great game. While it does have some flaws, this two-for-one package is still very worthwhile. It’s unfortunate that the online multiplayer limits progress to the host player, but it’s still fun for quick sessions. Even if the length of Bowser’s Fury is somewhat underwhelming, it’s a fun experience that makes for a cool experiment.
Despite the limitations of the hardware, it’s hard not to be impressed with what SNK created here. Even with slight performance issues, this is a fantastic retro fighter, and I’m thankful that Code Mystics managed to bring it over. If you’re even slightly interested in the SNK vs. Capcom crossover series, for $8, this is a worthy pickup for your Switch.
As the game tackles dark subject matter and an intriguing mystery, The Medium offers a solid plot to absorb. It also gives the player an ending that they can interpret in a number of ways, though it might lack satisfaction. It’s not the scariest horror game out there, even by Bloober Team’s standards, but it’s frightening enough to get a few scares, and that’s nothing to be ashamed of. If you have Xbox Game Pass, you should experience this game.
It’s a lot to take in, but Atelier Ryza 2 manages to succeed more than it falters. Even with the fan service, it’s hard to hate this game. With a heartwarming story and an emotionally powerful ending, this is an enjoyable RPG experience from start to finish.
If you’re a fan of the graphic novels or the film, you’ll likely have something to love about the game. Come for the fantastic pixel art style, stay for the Anamanaguchi music. This is still the classic we deserve after half a decade.
To my surprise, I really liked Airborne Kingdom. I wasn’t expecting to beat the game in one sitting, but it was an enjoyable experience from start to finish.
Overall, Fatal Fury First Contact is a good first attempt at a Neo Geo Pocket Color fighting game. It may be simple, but it really just makes me appreciate the effort in SNK Gals’ Fighters even more. This one is severely lacking in the presentation department, making it purely a fighter for fans that want to play it.
While I didn’t have as great a time with Sackboy: A Big Adventure as I did Astro’s Playroom, this was still a fun time. It’s definitely a much longer platformer, and it offers a lot more challenge as well. It doesn’t take as much advantage of the DualSense controller on PlayStation 5, but this is likely due to the game being available on PlayStation 4 as well. Either way, Sackboy is still a strong platformer for friends and families to play together this holiday season. The levels are diverse, the music is catchy, and the charm is excellent.
Overall, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is an excellent successor to the original Hyrule Warriors. When it comes to being a Breath of the Wild prequel, it captures the spirit and essence, but it also somewhat tarnishes the story that game told. Despite that, the gameplay is fun and inventive enough to see this new story through, and it should still be enjoyable for fans. If it means this will fill the void till we get the proper sequel, then so be it.
Ultimately, The Falconeer is an interesting use of a few hours. The gameplay is mostly strong thanks to the engaging combat, albeit a challenging and frustrating experience. It’s just unfortunate that the game is full of repetitive tasks that suck the fun out of the game.
If you’ve only been hearing about Hades, you’re doing yourself a disservice by not playing it. The gameplay is addicting and full of variety, and the Greek mythology theme is incredibly enticing. With great performances, fantastic music and an incredible art style, Hades easily ranks high among the best of 2020.
While Bright Memory isn’t going to win any awards, it’s still a pretty commendable effort from FYQD. The trailer for the remake looks promising, as it seems to already address some of the issues in the original game. Looks can be deceiving, but we’ll still keep an eye on Infinite to see if it can change our minds. As for this entry, it’s not a terrible experience for $8, but it’s not exactly one we recommend.
Again, Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is a pretty great rhythm game, providing solid and challenging gameplay as well as a stellar tracklist. It may be missing a lot of fan favorite elements, but if you overlook it, it’s still an impressive recap of the series. If you’re a casual fan and you want to experience the music, it’s a fun enough time. For those that are the die-hard fans, you’ll mostly be playing this for the new clues at the end.
While the modern era story seems as crazy as ever, I’m honestly looking forward to more Assassin’s Creed again. I’m excited to see where the series goes next, but for now, I’m going to continue to expand my Viking reign and take my time enjoying the gorgeous vistas in this monumental game.
If you’re a die-hard fan of the Yakuza series, then there’s plenty to love here. Even if you’re not, this is a great place to become one, especially given the standalone nature of this title. With that in mind, joining Ichiban’s heroic journey is an easy choice here.
It may only take a handful of hours to complete, but Astro’s Playroom is the perfect pack-in game for the PS5. Players can get a full experience of the DualSense controller’s capabilities and enjoy a fun platformer to boot. This is really something every PlayStation 5 owner should experience before jumping into any other game.
When it comes down to it, No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle improves upon so much of what the first game started. It might not be perfect, and even a tad bit too easy, but it’s still an enjoyable experience. With a campaign just shy of 10 hours, it’s not a long one, but it’s well worth the $20 price. It’s raunchy, absurd, and incredibly crazy, but it’s an exciting rush of adrenaline that will likely excite fans for No More Heroes 3.