Connor Nichols's Reviews
You’ll still have a lot of fun with the shooting action here, even if I feel reboot mode goes into overdrive with the flashy effects, and cotton fans should absolutely pick this up, while scorechasing fans will find the mechanics in Time Attack mode to be an amazing dream come true. Still, considering how the import version got neutered for this translation, I can’t help but feel a bit disappointed with the quality of this localization effort, and how it absolutely wasn’t worth the five month wait for this level of text quality. Super great scorechaser, subpar localization effort.
From short stages, speedrun-friendly level designs, simple one-handed controls, and great pacing that rewards high skill, it easily is a game I see myself going back to fully complete, whereas the Wii U original was enough to leave me content after beating it normally.
At the end of the day, the game is still immensely fun, and a great action RPG, though it’s still best played on the PS5 (and PC, depending on how that port turns out), of course. Still, for a downgraded version, this is one of the better weaker Switch ports I have seen lately, even if a lot more work should be done for improving the exterior areas (which seems to have been already done, thankfully!), and I say for those who enjoyed the VIII port on Switch, you’ll enjoy this port just as much, if not a bit more.
Mom Hid my Game 2 is a level pack in all but name. That isn’t exactly bad, since the first game worked perfectly fine as a funny experience, and more of what isn’t broken is not a bad thing, but this is really just another set of 50 puzzles to solve with a tiny smidge of replay value in the form of the gallery. If you liked the first and want more, then you’ll probably already have this. If not, then start with the first, and then get this, as both are equally worth your time for a fun afternoon.
Disgaea 6 was easily my favorite Disgaea game in a lot of aspects: amazing quality of life features, a great 3D style change, good music, engaging story, lots of content, and funny characters. But in some aspects, it feels like a regression from the rest of the series, with the lack of boss battle variety, lackluster maps, and slim character classes being the biggest gripes I had.
With a super adorable art style, plenty of fun puzzles to solve, and quick pick up and play pacing, Piczle Cells ends up being another solid and entertaining game for the Switch eShop, easily worth it if you’re a fan of either the Piczle or Quell series, or just like buying every last multi-stage puzzler you can get your hands on.
Puzzle Tale is a puzzler that you’ve no doubt seen before, and you’ll no doubt see again. While it is fun to replay stages to get coins and unlock the extra levels, it is pretty irritating how a lot of the main story levels are just so tight on moves, to the point that it feels like there’s little room for a-ha moments of your own. While I do enjoy the extra replay value the coins and bonus levels offer, I can’t help but feel the main game just suffers from being a basic brainteaser that has been seen many times before, and the progression gating based off diamonds feels more like padding rather than incentive for replay design.
In conclusion, I can sum up this game as “the title I bought a $300 headset for that doesn’t even work with it anymore”, and that’s a big shame, as the core RPG here is pretty decent at best, but even that feels weirder compared to prior Neptunia RPGs, with some changes to the usual formula that don’t really feel that great.
Pixeljunk Eden 2 is a very strange game for me, since it was originally one I bounced off of hard, due to the simplicity of the controls and basic help menu not really giving me much of a direction to go off of at first, with me flying around aimlessly for several attempts before I finally cleared a garden. Yet once I got the gameplay loop of absorb, flick, absorb to hook on me, I was enthralled with the nature of this game, and honestly just had a bunch of fun exploring each of the gardens and watching new pathways and areas grow, even mindlessly exploring and collecting pollen long after I needed to.
Even if you bounced off the original for whatever reason, I do feel that Asha in Monster World is a much more approachable way to experience this wonderful adventure, and for those who are fans of the original and worried this would drain the charm out of it, there’s no need to fear on that front, either, as there’s plenty of charm here to go around! Definitely one of the biggest surprises of the year for me, and one that makes me honestly hope Monster World III gets a similar treatment!
Infinite was an OK game, one that’s really boring and uninteresting to play solo, but a lot more fun and engaging in co-op, with simple controls, pick up and play stage design, and interesting stage gimmicks that keep you interested. While it definitely took a long while for me to try the local co-op due to you know what, I am very glad I did, as Infinite makes for a surprisingly fun and enjoyable co-op adventure, even if the main game is still a basic platformer that’s not too engaging solo.
R-TYPE FINAL 2 is a great shump and a worthy series revival, but definitively feels like a WIP in some points with balancing that still needs to be done. It’s incredibly accessible though with the multiple difficulties, and it offers tight controls and fun levels to play through, along with a bunch of ships to unlock and mess with, even if the irritating material grinding makes it nowhere near as impressive as the original Final in that regard.
With how accessible this entry is, the amount of fun scorechasing modes to enjoy, and online leaderboards and stage selects to mess with, Raiden IV X Mikado Remix is absolutely a shmup worth picking up for $30, and is a must-own for that price. Even if you own Overkill on another platform, I argue that this is still a must-buy for the vertical mode support alone, since it helps make the game so much better here on Switch.
Gravifire surprised me with how addictive it was. I have reviewed game after game of sokoban inspired titles, and most of them don’t really do much to engage after a couple of levels. But Gravifire’s pick up and play levels and fun gravity mechanics really grabbed me, and the solid controls led to this being a super fun romp to play through!
Steamworld Quest is yet another fun entry in the franchise, and while it sadly doesn’t reach the same exciting heights as Dig 2, it’s still a super solid entry in its own right, with a lot of fun combat, amusing dialogue, great characters and very addictive deckbuilding. It may seem a bit convoluted at first, or so far removed from the other steamworld games that it may feel completely alien at first glance, but once you give it a shot and stick by this tale, you’ll really be thankful you started the path to be the king of games!
Even the Ocean is a game I can commend for the sheer amount of accessibility options and being able to configure the game to pretty much any playstyle you like: whether you’re a reader, a player, a puzzler, a speedrunner, this game has the options to help make things a breeze, which is something I honestly wish more games in general would do.
Along with a good amount of in-game achievements for replay value, HLD is just a fun, replayable action game that all fans of Zelda should at least give a try, even if it may not click right away. With a physical version now available, there’s no better time to give this a go if you haven’t already, or even if you played this on other consoles, since this still has quite a lot of exclusive content only available here.
Shantae is an excellent port, starting off a promising new line of GBC ports to Switch. While there were minor gripes with the inability to remap controls or borders, and the saving issues I had are pretty concerning, the port is otherwise outstanding, and makes me absolutely hungry to see other GBC classics launch in this emulator: especially if the pixel scaling continues to be just as outstanding!
All in all, whether you like this game or not will mainly depend on if you vibe with the game’s OST and don’t mind the inactive online mode. For me personally, the track list was just OK, but the solid gameplay still made it worth checking out and I absolutely wouldn’t mind seeing future entries in this series with more songs and more active online modes, though you’ll definitely get your money’s worth of content with this entry nevertheless.
Habroxia 2 was a decent little shooter with an interesting control scheme. The powerups were fun to mess around with, the boss fights were enjoyable, and the levels are just generally OK, but overall I never felt any sort of hook to this shooter: not even in the scorechasing aspect, despite the game encouraging you to improve your accuracy and build up combos, I just never felt any sort of incentive or addictive rush to do so, and in general the game felt more like a fun ride rather than a super engrossing, must-play shooter, especially with the irritating difficulty spikes and credit grinding.