Ultimately, while I did enjoy my time with Grapple Dog, it doesn't feel like it reached its full potential. There's a lot of room for replayability and improving your skill in traversing the levels, but the game feels quite slow a lot of the time due to long levels and the also long waits that come with trying again. I do think I'll come back to it at some point in short bursts to try to clean up the missing collectables, but it's not something that begs to be finished in any hurry.
Ultimately, while Life is Strange: True Colors may have a weaker story than past entries had, its strongest elements may outshine anything I've played in the prior games. I'm particularly fond of Alex as a character and even more so of the idea of empathy as the core mechanic, since empathy is something we can all utilize in our daily lives. Regardless of whether this is my favorite Life is Strange or not though, True Colors was an absolute blast of an experience to play though, and I would absolutely recommend it.
Despite these qualms, I mostly enjoyed my time with Hextech Mayhem: A League of Legends Story. There are definite issues I have with it as a rhythm platformer, and these make it a bit of a slog to play through in long sessions. However, for short bursts, there's little I can ultimately fault it for. If you're already a League of Legends fan looking for a different sort of experience, it's hard not to recommend Hextech Mayhem, though it may be a slightly tougher sell otherwise.
In spite of these faults, Corpse Party is an excellent horror adventure title that fans of the genre should not miss out on. If you were to do everything correctly the first time, the main story would take 6-7 hours, but realistically it'll be longer as you piece together the correct actions needed in each chapter to progress the plot. The repetition mechanic may seem to be a little gimmicky, but it adds a bit of responsibility to your actions, giving some charm to what would otherwise be an incredibly linear story. I've not played anything quite like Corpse Party before, and as such, it firmly stands near the top of my list of favorite horror games.
As a big fan of Diablo II to begin with, I found in this review that Diablo II: Resurrected hit all my buttons and truly brought me back to my childhood. Gameplay-wise, it's as faithful an experience to the original as you can hope to get, and while the modern graphics are dazzling, I'm here for one reason and one reason only - to kick some demon butt. Newcomers may be a bit put off by some dated mechanics, but for fans of dungeon crawlers or those who just want to relive one of the best PC games of all time, Diablo II: Resurrected won't disappoint.
Overall, whether I'd recommend Cruis'n Blast on Nintendo Switch depends on how you're going to play it. For short bursts, it's a solid entry and you'll likely have a lot of fun with it, though you may want to wait for a sale anyway. The controls work well, and there's a lot of replayability when it comes to finding all the keys. But there's a reason these games are meant for arcades and not for home release. There's simply not enough track variety to play for an extended period without feeling like you've replayed the same courses over and over. The best parts of the game are using the wacky vehicles like a Triceratops to race, but even the novelty of that will likely wear off after a few races. If you're looking for something bigger or more long-term, you'd be better off looking elsewhere.
After reviewing Quake, I feel it's still an incredible game that holds up well even today. You get a ton of content for the price, and on top of that, there's so much replayability between the various difficulties and multiplayer options. While I wish some effort would have been made to modernize some archaic elements, they don't take away too much from the overall experience. If you're a fan of shooters at all, Quake should absolutely have a place in your Switch library.
As it stands, Fuga: Melodies of Steel is pretty good, but it falls a bit short of greatness. It toys with some really interesting ideas but ultimately failed to fully capitalize on them. Even so, I did enjoy my time with it and look forward to giving it another go here in a few months when it's a bit more removed from my memory. If you're looking for a fairly short (about 15 hours) turn-based RPG experience, you can certainly do a lot worse, though I'd recommend waiting for a sale.
Whether you're a newcomer to the franchise or a longtime fan, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles offers something for you on Nintendo Switch. Newcomers will find an excellent entry point into the series, as it does not rely on any prior knowledge. Meanwhile, longtime fans will find yet another quality Ace Attorney adventure, at least on par with the best the series has offered thus far. This collection stands near or at the top of my list of favorite Ace Attorney games and will be one I come back to time and time again.
Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! is nothing short of a masterpiece and highly recommended to anyone who can handle darker content. It navigates the jump from PC to console well overall, with new mechanics developed to handle gameplay situations that would normally be impossible outside of PC. The extra content, especially the Side Stories, is terrific as well, though it may not be enough to justify a $15 price tag given that the original game is still free on PC.
By today's standards, there's nothing revolutionary about Famicom Detective Club, but that doesn't stop both games from being really solid experiences. Despite a bit of predictability in the plots, both stories were incredibly engaging and nothing short of a complete joy to play through. It's easy to see that Mages really took a lot of pride in crafting a quality remake here, since every little detail shines through. If you're at all curious to see what these games are about, you owe it to yourself to give at least one of them a look.
A code for There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension review was provided by the publisher.
Rain on Your Parade is an excellent little game and is well worth anyone's time. It's cute, it's funny, and I've not played anything quite like it before. For me as a speedrunner, I'm always looking for new games to throw in my arsenal, so it says a lot to me about the quality of a game when I find one I seriously want to dedicate countless hours to. But I've certainly found such a game here. I believe just about everyone would be able to get some enjoyment out of Rain on Your Parade, and I might even go so far as to say it's my favorite indie I've played thus far this year.
Overall, Rip Them Off is a pretty unique take on the tower defense genre. While there aren't a ton of maps, there's plenty of room to revisit them to try to improve your scores. Further, the later maps are incredibly difficult, so you'll probably be playing them for a while. Thankfully, the game accounts for these factors and provides an effective way to tinker with your setups. If you want a game that's easy to pick up, yet hard to master, Rip Them Off is well worth your time.
If you're in the mood for a mobile-like puzzle experience, I highly recommend Sokodice on Nintendo Switch. Conceptually, it's easy to pick up, new mechanics are regularly added to increase puzzle variety and difficulty, and it's practically designed to fit perfectly in those little gaps in your day when you only have a few minutes to spare. A hint system would've been a nice addition, though it works well enough without it. One thing's for sure though - I'll definitely be coming back to this one off and on as I try to clean up them missing gold medals.
Overall though, these complaints are pretty minor and didn't do much to detract from the overall experience Chained provided me with. Over my roughly three-and-a-half hours, I had an absolute blast with the game. The core gameplay mechanic seems like such a simple concept, yet Studio Digital Caffeine found a way to make it incredibly engaging. If you're into short puzzle games, Chained is definitely worth a try.
At best, Forward to the Sky is extremely unpolished; at worst, it's unfinished. It's one of the most generic games I've ever played, with almost no redeeming factors to it. Even Bakugan: Champions of Vestroia had a few things I enjoyed, and I would much rather be playing that than spending any more time on Forward to the Sky. It's almost bad enough to make me want to wish I had that time back, and I would strongly advise anyone to give this a wide berth, especially at its current price point.
If you’re looking for a soul-crushingly difficult platformer, look no farther than Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection. It retains a lot of what made the original such a classic, while also updating it with some more modern mechanics. Despite a few areas that felt a little unfair, with patience, you should be able to complete a single run within a few hours, allowing the game to never feel like it overstays its welcome, even after completing it three times over a single weekend. Whether you’re a newcomer to the franchise or a long-time veteran, Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection is one hauntingly good time.
All in all, I think Capcom Arcade Stadium is generally worth picking up, especially if you're a fan of older Capcom titles. For those less familiar with these offerings, I would instead suggest that you look at each pack to see what interests you. If you're only interested in a small subset of the included titles, there's not much of a reason to fork out for the entire collection when you can get a single pack for about a third of the cost. There's certainly potential for a great gathering of games here, but given all of the collection's faults, it falls just short of hitting that high score.
There's not enough here for me to feel comfortable recommending Tohu at full price. If you're really itching to play a point-and-click adventure and can get a great deal on it, it's worth a look. Outside of that, you're not missing anything if you choose to skip it.