Connor Nichols's Reviews
Lapis X Labyrinth is an incredibly average hack and slash with not much going for it. You enter a dungeon, beat up enemies, gain new weapons, loot and skills, and then repeat ad nauseam with little incentive to keep going or play this for long bursts at a time. On Switch, at least you do have pick up and play possibilities, but I found even when playing this game in those sessions, it just wasn’t that engaging.
Reason is a Sokoban game… That does the absolute bare minimum. The puzzles are fine, the game controls OK, but at the end of the day, that’s all that Reason provides. There’s no charm, no clever twist, no good looking visuals or assets, no good music, nothing of interest beside block pushing with a cute robot for fifty levels, in a format that you’ve probably done before. If you like these kinds of games, it works OK for more content of this type, but considering how there have been other Sokoban-likes on the eShop already, I just suggest you buy a prettier one like Box Land Demake instead, even though this is easily one of the more affordable takes on the genre, being only a dollar.
While Foxyland 2 is still a pretty basic platformer, it’s clear that the devs took the feedback from the first game and greatly expanded upon it: No longer needing to force gem collecting, hiding some clever secret coins around each stage, introducing secret exits, better level design, and more interesting boss fights all contribute to a fun experience all around, and with co-op this game can actually be a pretty engaging experience!
In conclusion, Foxyland was a very mediocre platformer, with only a good art style to note as any positive. The gameplay is boring, the gem requirement is stupid, and the levels aren’t that fun to play. Oddly enough, the halloween levels were more engaging than the main game, but the fact they don’t even record the stars you get and seemingly don’t save your progress for completing them makes that level pack feel utterly pointless. This is a done to death, mobile quality experience that if you’re familiar with, you probably don’t even need to give this a glance. It’s basic platforming bogged down by frustrating mechanics.
For a very, very short RPG, Archlion Saga was surprisingly enjoyable. The pacing was pretty good for the length of the game, the combat was simple enough to be entertaining while not too mindless, and there’s still some strategy to be had during the course of the five chapter adventure. I can’t help but find that Hit-Point still nailed their gameplay and presentation despite the shortness of the game, and the fact the whole experience was enjoyable and fun from start to finish is worth noting too. If you have funds to spend, Archlion Saga isn’t a bad way to spend an afternoon.
Arc of Alchemist is a catastrophic disaster on Switch. The game dips and climbs in framerate constantly, the visuals are so downgraded that it can be difficult to even make out key aspects, and the experience is overall miserable. There is a decent enough action RPG buried under all of this, but the abysmal performance should have never been accepted for release, and I’m outright ashamed they thought this port was in a good state to release, and haven’t fixed it since.
Chronus Arc is indeed a more dated RPG from Hit-Point. Yet, a lot of the tropes and common things that you have seen in a bunch of other Kemco RPGs are here, with crafting, quests, and material gathering, along with building your skills up and learning magic. The gameplay loop of Chronus Arc is well-balanced enough that the battles are fun, but the block puzzles can get a bit tiresome after a while, and the fact you’ll have to enter and exit certain dungeons to grind for materials at times can be pretty boring, so it’s not really that engrossing compared to Hit-Point’s newer titles, though I did notice that Chronus was quite a bit tougher than most of the other Kemco RPGs I played, which may be a plus for those who tend to find these games too easy.
Land Wars is a fun spinoff in the Super Destronaut series, offering some scorechasing entertainment and a perfect entry point for FPS newcomers! The easier difficulties can be a bit repetitive, and the challenges can sometimes feel as if they take way, way too long, but otherwise you have yet another solid, enjoyable scorechaser from the minds at Petite Games, and while I think DX gets the nudge over this one for better pick up and play purposes, this is still a solid choice for scorechaser fans. I just wish there were online leaderboards here, as that would have greatly increased this game’s worth.
Summer with the Shiba Inu is a pretty unimpressive Visual Novel, with an uninteresting story, poor presentation, and an unsatisfying payoff with little in terms of drastic choices that made me feel as if I wasted my hour with the original route I took. When a visual novel feels like it’s filled with filler and uninteresting events without much of a hook, and doesn’t properly explain some things, it just falls apart like paper at the end of the day, and unfortunately, that’s how Summer felt for me.
Slayin 2 was a great time, both solo, and in co-op! Whichever way you play, the story mode offers plenty of fun unlockables and secrets, adding lots of replay value to the mix. The arcade mode also serves as a decent means of scorechasing, but without a local or online leaderboard, it feels a lot more shallow than such a mode deserves to be, though at least each character can have their own highscore.
Singled Out is a very simplistic score chaser, and while the core loop is fun and enjoyable, there’s not much else to the game besides thirty levels of identifying people and a boss. While there are in-game achievements to unlock, they’re pretty straightforward and not that interesting, and this game actually makes me wish for some sort of competitive local multiplayer mode, where you and a friend could rush to identify the culprit first for a bit more variety, since as it stands right now there’s little to do once that magic wears off.
In conclusion, Vitamin Connection was a game with tons of charm, using the joycons to their maximum potential for a unique co-op experience. While the main game is very playable solo, it doesn’t feel nearly as fun or as polished as a co-op title. It may use some gimmicks I’m not fond of such as motion controls, but I can’t deny that it led to a unique shooting experience overall. It was harder to play this game in co-op than I had anticipated, since I had to put it on hold for a long while due to the current health crisis, but now that I was able to give it several lengthy afternoons in co-op, it felt natural, and I’m confident in saying that Vitamin Connection is a quirky, charming co-op experience that’s a must-own. As a solo experience however, the game is pretty dull, and while it’s very handy to use normal controls for some of the trickier things like shooting enemies or using the claw, it just feels way more fluid with the co-op method of controls, which is something I never thought I’d say due to my general distain for motion gimmicks.
Ghost Grab 3000 is a pretty damn fun scorechaser, from the mind behind the excellent Switch n Shoot. While I prefer that game a tad more over this, Ghost Grab is still a super engaging game with fun score mechanics and a bit more replay value thanks to an upgrade shop, online leaderboards, and in-game achievements. You may very well see everything this game has to offer in around an hour if the game gels with you and you get good at it, but the payoff for big chains is just oh so satisfying, and this easily scratches the arcade itch way more than a bunch of the other games I’ve covered lately that tried doing the same sort of tribute. Two for two in terms of good retro arcade throwbacks isn’t bad, and hopefully this encourages Matt to keep up the great work, as I’m definitely excited to see what other ideas he has up his sleeve.
For three dollars, Get 10 Quest should have been a great portable addition to the Switch’s catalogue, but while the core concept is decent, it doesn’t do too much besides the bare minimum. The puzzle mode is a decent addition for a tiny bit of replay value, but the lack of anything else besides it and the endless mode, especially one without leaderboards, makes Get 10 Quest a dull puzzler you’re not likely to boot up to fill an addictive craving.
Hoggy 2 is a puzzler that’s generic in every sense of the word. Generic presentation, generic assets, generic levels, generic feel, and a generic concept that has been done many times before in many other flash and mobile games. I can’t really say much else about this, since it seems silly to have such a game cost $5 to begin with, especially with oddities like a pointless level editor. It’s weird to think that I hoped this would end up being a fun, brief puzzler, but when it’s so boring and something that makes me question what I’m doing with my free time, that’s a big problem.
Super Box Land Demake is a fun sokoban title, offering a really enjoyable block pushing experience that’s best played with a friend. The levels are short and to the point, the difficulty curve is fine, and the co-op leads to more solutions and thus more ways to play through the game. My only real gripes with Demake come from how there’s no true retry button, and how incredibly slow the rewind functionality is. That, along with this game easily becoming repetitive when played in a long session like what you’d do on a console, makes this game a fun time if you have a friend over, but if you’re a solo puzzler, maybe pick this up for a handheld system so it fits the pick up and play nature more. Either way, playing in co-op is a very enjoyable experience that pleasantly surprised me.
Reverie was a fun little Zelda-like. It took me a bit longer than I expected to get around to investing in it, but I’m glad I did. While it’s basic and the gameplay itself isn’t all that great, the presentation here is very nice, and it’s an excellent port, with in-game achievements, lots of collectibles, and a smooth experience all around.
Reed 2 feels like more of the same, and while that’s not always a bad thing to see in a sequel, I can’t help but feel that Reed 2 tries too much to make things harder than the first for no reason, and outside of an objective change in each of the stages, the whole experience feels almost as if I’m playing bonus levels of Reed Remastered that are terrible. Sure, the controls and other aspects are still solid, but when the level design is a step backwards instead of forwards, I can’t call Reed 2 a good sequel at all, and even using the term “Sequel” feels too generous here.
Reed is a fun, fast-paced platformer with enjoyable level design, but the content just isn’t there. While Gravity Duck sports more levels, it’s far more boring and dull, not benefitting from the good level design found here. On the other hand, even the hidden secrets in Reed aren’t enough to make this a replayable experience, so while it’s a fun romp that controls very well, it’s more of a one-and-done you’re probably better off enjoying on sale.
Gravity Duck isn’t a broken game, nor is it a badly made game. The biggest problem with it comes from the shallow nature and utter boredom factor you’ll experience. While League of Evil offered more collectibles, more content, and more fun, this game is just a linear romp from Point A to Point B, one that’ll get absolutely insufferable as you make it to the end of the second world with little in the way of anything impressive. The game works, and the concept is simple, but sometimes simplicity can be overdone, and that’s exactly what happened here.