Connor Nichols's Reviews
Ping Pong Trick Shot Evolution felt more like a level pack than a sequel. While there’s still puzzle fun to be found in this game, I found everything to be too samey for my tastes, and while both Ping Pong titles are fun puzzlers to enjoy, I felt this one could have been made a lot better if the framerate improvements found in the multiplayer mode applied to the rest of the game, along with some more new level gimmicks to play with instead of sticking with the older ones.
Revenge of the Bird King is an interesting spin-off of the Gunworld series with some ideas in mind, but it’s not really that fun. Tight controls and the sense of speed you can get with this game are one thing, but if the level design and the overall structure isn’t good to compliment it, then you aren’t likely to even get anywhere without a guide or dumb luck. It’s an annoying experience for sure, and unfortunately one I cannot really recommend compared to its predecessor.
Awesome Pea is a generic mess. Clunky level design, repeated setpieces, inconsistent level lengths, this platformer honestly feels like something thrown out the door in a few months with little care. As a Game Boy throwback it fails, and as a quick platformer it fails, so considering how this game asks $6 for two hours of unsatisfying content, I just cannot recommend this game in the slightest, not with many other better options available on the eShop.
Arcade Classics is a really fun package with a ton of addictive score chasers with only one of them being not as fun to play (Haunted Castle) unless you’re a really dedicated player. The overabundance of shooters may seem a bit off at first, since Konami had other fun games that weren’t shooters, (Roc N Rope, Track N Field and Shaolin’s Road to name a few favorites) but all of these shooter picks are quality choices.
Fun Fun Animal Park is yet another example as to why Motion Controls are a terrible idea. A lot of waggling, turning and shaking is involved here, but it never amounts to anything fun. The game can become a real drag and even with a friend the shallow length of this title dries up quickly.
Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid is a shockingly great fighter, with well-balanced mechanics and a lot of fun combat to be had. The mechanics and flow of this fighter work great and it could very well have the potential to be among the higher-tier Power Rangers games out there. The big problem with this game is that it’s very lacking on actual content, especially of the offline variety, and while there are more characters planned, it’s disappointing to see stuff like extra costumes locked behind the preorder DLC rather than being something you could unlock through single player play.
Aggelos was a big surprise. Having played a bunch of Metroidvanias in the past year, most of them ended up being well-made but lacked some sort of hook to keep me playing, and the few that did ended up being something that went above and beyond. Yet in this case, the game benefits from going back to the roots and being a throwback done right, going for both authenticity and accessibility that made the six hour adventure well worth every single minute, even during the frustrating bits.
While it works perfectly fine and I think this will be a game I’ll revisit like I do with the many Arcade Archives titles to improve my score, I do think the randomized names, the lack of saving custom palettes and lack of online leaderboards do hold this back a bit from being as great as it could have been.
It doesn’t do much to shake things up or even offer a unique take on the formula, but Woblyware managed to provide what’s easily one of their best experiences to date, and it was one that I feel is worth a look if you liked any of their other titles or just want a new metroidvania to play.
Block-a-Pix is a simple, yet surprisingly fun puzzle game. I ended up playing a good amount more than I usually would for a review, and ended up having so much fun I cleared the entire first page without hints despite the fact that I had little reason to play more than a few puzzles from varying sizes, yet like with Picross S, I just couldn’t help myself, and I may even add this to my gaming backlog as a result.
Mercenaries Saga Chronicles is a collection of games I just couldn’t get into. Within a few missions in each game, I’d find the game’s awful pacing and clunky controls to be a big frustration, and each time I would move onto the next game, hoping they would be better and improve on the prior installment with some handy quality of life features, I would be disappointed and bored to death. Repeat once more, and that’s my experience with Mercenary Saga Chronicles.
OlliOlli Switch Stance is easily one of the best values you can get on the Switch eShop. The first OlliOlli came to the 3DS/Wii U, and I played it on the former system many years ago, but this is the first time the sequel has even appeared on an Nintendo system. Bundled with the first game, you can easily see which elements have evolved and which elements are new, but both titles are worth playing through at least on the normal levels, due to the fun score-chaser nature and how there’s a bunch of fun, challenging stuff to do if you want to go for 100%.
Being that these games came out as a novelty for the sole purpose of draining quarters, these are beyond brutal, almost to a ridiculous degree in the case of the two Dragon’s Lair titles. Thankfully, the QOL features are a fantastic way of making sure that any newcomer will see the endings to all three of these games if they keep throwing themselves at the game, and more diehard fans have the option of playing these in the original fashion if need be.
Unfortunately, that aspect combined with a very slow paced game just leaves this as an RPG you’re better off skipping in favor of higher quality RPGs on the same store.
Considering how this version is also double the pricepoint of the original Steam version for some baffling reason, I think you should definitely wait for the patch and maybe even a sale on this one if you’re remotely interested. You can have a decent enough time once you’re able to get past all this, but it’s still not an excuse for how the port came out this way, especially since this game has a lot of great ideas buried within.
I feel like if some more clever gimmicks were implemented, and if the levels were a bit less samey feeling (differing backgrounds rather than solid colors would be nice) then this game would be easier to recommend to more people, but as it stands right now there’s little that makes this stand out compared to the many similar platformers on the eShop, save for this being one of the few video games to be developed from Bangladesh. Still, if you’re looking for a new one to add to your lineup, Almost There won’t hurt!
Odallus is yet another fun platformer for the Switch’s eShop. While it doesn’t offer too much that’s new, it is an incredibly well made and fun NES throwback worth checking out. However, the baffling quirks of the CRT filter and weird control scheme, along with the lack of the achievements from the Steam version make this particular port pretty rough around the edges.
For puzzle maniacs looking for more Picross fun, this is worth a look at the very least, and a great addition to the eShop’s puzzle library.
The fact that this version still didn’t give the Story Mode the much-requested dub it deserves, along with failing to fix some of the other minor gripes people had with Central Fiction, such as the grindy nature of gaining in game currency offline, or the lack of a sound test, this version just feels more or less like a barebones complete edition rather than an enhanced port that goes above and beyond to improve on gripes people had with the original to make it better than ever.
Double Switch is a very good remaster of a decent FMV game. While I didn’t find it nearly as charming as Night Trap, Double Switch felt more complex and engaging than that title, but it also suffers from a pretty harsh difficulty bump near the middle of the adventure.