Leonardo Faria's Reviews
Ikki Unite is not very polished or well-balanced, but once you get into a good run, with a character that’s actually fun to play as, it’s hard to put the controller down. As a blatant clone of Vampire Survivors, it does manage to copy some of that game’s most appealing features. Sadly, there’s not a lot of creativity in display. It’s just that: yet another Vampire Survivors, but inferior.
It’s not that Quantum: Recharged is bad, far from it. The thing is: it’s beyond basic. It feels like the Recharged games released a handful of years ago, back when they were basically vector-based remakes of old arcade games with little else to offer besides new visuals and an EDM soundtrack. This is still a somewhat entertaining game for a handful of minutes at a time, but after playing more interesting games by Atari in recent times, I’ve started to expect more from their outings. The best thing I can say about it is that it’s… fine.
It is quite punitive with its harsh sanity setbacks, tough enemies and slow-paced gameplay. Nevertheless, it covers a particular niche, and after waiting for it for what felt like an eternity, I’m pleased to see that the folks at Covenant.dev have successfully managed to come up with one of the most interesting strategy games in recent memory, even if it’s not one of the more entertaining ones.
This is possibly the best remastering effort by Nightdive I have ever seen. This isn’t just “a means to play Quake II on modern platforms”. Just like how a remaster should be, it is the ultimate way to play Quake II, the one version to rule above any other, the port that makes every single previously released iteration feel like unplayable garbage as a comparison.
Gravity Circuit is one of the best Mega Man-esque retro platformers released in recent memory, even if we aren’t so desperate for new games stemming from Capcom or lookalikes as we were back in 2016. This is everything Mighty No. 9 wanted to be, but failed to deliver: it looks the part, it sounds great, controls like a dream, it’s brutally challenging, and most importantly, it still manages to stand out on its own, all thanks to some excellent art direction and a handful of unique elements.
There’s little else that needs to be said, or can be said, given how simplistic Astro Flame: Starfighter is. Just like its predecessor, it’s a simple, somewhat generic, but surprisingly fun bullet hell shooter. Even if it’s not particularly interesting to look at, much less innovative (if anything, it only slightly manages to stand out from I, AI), it got the job done with its level of polish, great controls, and addictive upgrade system.
Watching demons’ guts fly through the air is fun at first, but the repetitive encounters, poor presentation, bad framerate and minuscule scope all make Demonic Supremacy feel underwhelming. It’s the poster child of the saturation of the retro-styled first person shooter genre, being lackluster in terms of vision, presentation, polish, and gameplay.
I get that Flutter Away was made with the best of intentions, but I can’t, for the life of me, even begin to question who is this for. This feels less like a game and more like a competent student project, lasting for about an hour, meant to showcase some mechanics and some cute visuals. As a game, however, I just don’t see its appeal. There is no catharsis, no semblance of a challenge, no rewarding for complete its mundane objectives.
I liked the concept behind Ninja or Die, and even though I just ended up feeling lukewarm towards it, some of its biggest issues can be mitigated with some patches and some extra content. As of now, dealing with glitchy controls and unfair level design makes this game a hard sell, but there is potential in this idea. It’s a really innovative roguelike, one that looks decent and makes you feel really cool once everything clicks.
Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara is, sadly, just another bog standard 3D platformer that does very little to stand out from the deluge of platformers available on the Switch. Not featuring the same gameplay loop as its predecessor makes it a hard sell for fans of Summer in Mara, and being so canonically tied to a farming simulator also makes it a hard sell for platformer enthusiasts looking for another hidden gem on the Nintendo Switch. Add in average-at-best visuals, music and level design, and what you get as a result is just a very middle-of-the-road game that fails to appeal to anyone.
Would I have preferred a brand new iteration of Advance Wars or a collection that didn’t cost sixty bucks? Of course. I have my qualms regarding the pricing and the visuals, but one thing’s for certain: this is still Advance Wars, and it’s still addictive. The return of the map creator and online matches ensure this collection’s lasting appeal goes beyond the duration of its two already entertaining campaigns.
Candle Knight‘s premise and presentation are what carry it. As a platformer itself, it’s decent enough, with some great level designs and one neat little gimmick, but it’s also hindered by poor controls and physics. The outstanding graphics, interesting environments and Elfman-inspired music will mostly make you forget about these setbacks and let you dive into this bizarre, but oddly charming world. All in all, it’s a decent little game, and worth checking out if you can put up with some technical hindrances.
When it comes to their work in this Rise of the Triad remaster, I have nothing but the utmost respect. The problem is that Rise of the Triad is very underwhelming, even for shooters of its time. Boring level design, nearly nonexistent geometry, excessively fast-paced gameplay, an emphasis on platforming when there isn’t even a dedicated means to jump, average-at-best weaponry… this is a game that wouldn’t have impressed me that much in 1995, let alone today.
This is one mess of a game, isn’t it? Greyhill Incident could have been considered a hilarious, “so-bad-it’s-good” experience due to its dumb premise and Wiseau-esque levels of voice acting, but it’s way too boring to be considered worthy of an ironic playthrough. Poor stealth mechanics, samey environments, and an emphasis on being an Amazon delivery boy for a bunch of tinfoil hat lunatics cozily sitting in front of your house make this slog of a game feel less like an unintentional gaming version of Plan 9 From Outer Space and more like an exercise in how long you can stomach it before turning your PS5 off.
Mr. Run and Jump stands out from the barrage of challenging precision-based platforms infesting today’s indie scene by having some well-crafted (albeit utterly infuriating) level designs, but most importantly, some commendable accessibility options for newcomers to the genre. It wants you to get angry at its gauntlets, but it doesn’t want you to ragequit. It will always give you an extra push to help you beat a section just a few runs before you lose your patience.
Operation Wolf Returns: First Mission had one goal: prove that you can, indeed, revive a classic light gun arcade franchise with the power of virtual reality, especially with the added benefit of the Quest 2’s portability. Even if it has a handful of issues (it’s really short, the occasional framerate stutter, visuals that aren’t particularly amazing), it wasn’t trying to be an immersive, complex experience. It’s pure arcade fun, and it gets the job done with honors.
Bloodhound isn’t a bad first-person shooter, but it’s a wasted opportunity. It could have been much better if the developers hadn’t focused so much of their efforts in ensuring the game would be as edgy, grotesque, and (non) erotic as possible. The foundations for a good DOOM-esque shooter are here, but the terrible enemy placement system and lackluster sound effects brought the combat mechanics down several notches.
I guess ACL Pro Cornhole does a good job at recreating all the sheer excitement of cornhole to a virtual environment, but here’s the very obvious issue: this is too boring, and not particularly exciting to be played as a video game. Cornhole can be fun on a county fair, or when you’re a freshman in college, but as a game being sold for thirty outrageous bucks? Yeah, there’s just not enough substance and content to justify its existence outside of a minigame included in another, much larger title.
Ed-0: Zombie Uprising is the poster child of crappy, nearly irredeemable, but oddly endearing Japanese jank.
The Invector series may have started as a tribute to a specific artist who had actually been part of its development, but I cannot deny that Invector: Rhythm Galaxy is the perfect follow-up for these games (as controversial as the idea for an Avicii-less sequel may sound), as well as the obvious next step for the franchise. It’s easily one of the best rhythm games released in recent memory, combining a fun and intuitive gameplay loop with an expertly curated setlist.