Leonardo Faria's Reviews
The remake of Destroy All Humans 2 takes what worked in the previous remake and polishes things up to remove a good chunk, but not all, of the jank that made its predecessor feel a tad bit disappointing at times. It’s still short, and it’s nowhere near as feature-filled as other open world games in the market, but there’s nothing else that looks and feels like this delightfully dumb title out there.
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? feels like your bog standard Wii shovelware title released fifteen years too late. For as much as I enjoy the fact developers are still making games with local multiplayer shenanigans in mind, there is very little in this title that makes me want to consider it over Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune, or other party games in general.
Saints Row is much better than its terrible reveal trailer made it look like, with some great controls, a ton of side content, a ludicrous character creator, and some truly amazing story missions, but its tone suffers from a proper lack of direction. At times, it resembles the ultra-imbecilic Saints Row we all know and love. Other times, it tries desperately to pander to a dab-appreciating, hashtag-tolerant, Twitter-addicted, Buzzfeed-consuming Gen Z generation that would never consider buying a game in this franchise to begin with. It’s a game that feels like it was written by two completely antagonistic committees. If you can ignore its tonal discrepancies, as well as some glitches, you’ll have a great time with yet another strong outing from Volition.
More than just a reskinned version of a very old Atari game, Yars: Recharged is the culmination of what this particular subseries from Atari was intended to be. It’s not a mere HD version of a classic arcade game with one or two new elements, it fully reinvents the formula of the original with a brand new gameplay loop, all while staying true to its roots. Add in an addictive (and very infuriating, may I add) mission mode, and you get what’s possibly the peak of the Recharged series, and most certainly the best title Atari has released in more than a decade.
Tinykin is the kind of the game that completely changes the image and course of the developers and publishers behind it. I was shocked at how amazing this game was. I just couldn’t stop playing it. The mixture between Pikmin, Toy Story 2 and Super Mario 64 resulted in a stupidly creative indie darling with a ton of charm, great controls, and a fantastic presentation.
Thanks to its slick presentation, which is enhanced by either the Switch’s or your TV’s speakers, Please Touch the Artwork is a really enjoyable audiovisual experience that requires your attention and rewards you for it, unlike your average casual mobile outing. This game is clearly not for everyone, and its pretentious atmosphere will put some players off, but I had a good time with it regardless. Way more than I could have ever imagined.
This is the bad kind of Switch port of a mobile game. This is the kind of game you just ask yourself “why would I want to play this anywhere other than a phone?” It features little to no graphics, sound, or anything else that would require the bare minimum of attention needed to play a mobile game for a couple of minutes at a time. With a portable system with a library as vast as the Nintendo Switch’s, Understand does very little to convince you to give it a shot.
This was my first time playing an actual Azure Striker Gunvolt game, and I have to say: damn, I was missing out on some good stuff. Despite its short length and annoying grind sections, I was impressed with its amazing presentation, slick controls, excellent game feel, and the way the developers balanced out its difficulty by adding rankings at the end of each level, essentially making this game appealing for newcomers and veterans alike.
I liked Frogun. Sure, its nostalgic aesthetic was a cheap shot for someone like me, but the game isn’t without its qualities. This is an adorable platformer that set out to look, feel and play like a classic 3D platformer from the Nintendo 64 era, and it succeeded with honors. I hope the game receives a patch or two to fix some of its janky physics and jumping mechanics, but you can still have a great time with it right now.
I love Two Point Campus. It took everything that worked so well in Two Point Hospital, and elevated it to a whole new level thanks to its creative premise, intuitive controls, and Community-esque feel. Even though it has a few issues here and there, and it’s still best enjoyed on a PC, I have to say I am impressed with how much better this game is in comparison to Two Point Studios’ previous outing.
In most cases, a game being “more of the same”, not being THAT different from its predecessor, would be considered a disappointment. In the case of Moss: Book II, however, being more of what made that 2018 game so special isn’t bad at all, since that title left us wanting more upon beating it. I liked it more than its predecessor not only because of the slightly better design, but also due to the improved controls, courtesy of the Quest’s hardware.
This is easily one of the most pleasant VR surprises of the year. Considering its minuscule price tag, I thought Shock Troops was going to be one of those really short, “one and done” VR experiences that come out every other week on the Quest or PSVR. How wrong I was! Thanks to some pretty solid controls, an excellent premise, and a surprisingly lengthy campaign, this is one of the best VR shooters you can find on the Quest 2 right now.
Krut: The Mythic Wings is not a downright awful game. Out of so many games released in 2022, it’s nowhere near as infuriating as crap like Postal 4 and Destroy All Humans! – Clone Carnage. It has some interesting ideas and I like its premise, but this is a textbook example of a game completely devoid of redeeming factors when it comes to its execution. Average-at-best visuals, a weak framerate, no interesting sound capabilities to speak of, and a really poor combat system all result in a very harmless yet underwhelming experience.
This is the kind of game I wish was more common. I got hooked on Lord Winklebottom Investigates for its utterly nonsensical premise, impressive plot, and barrage of chuckle-worthy jokes and puns, the kind of British humor not often seen in today’s gaming scene. Even though it’s your typical “one and done” kind of adventure game, and its gameplay could have received a handful of improvements, I had a great time with it. I got way more involved in a game featuring a giraffe wearing a god damn monocle than I could have ever imagined.
The final question: does Elden Ring hold up after nearly half a year? Yes. Is it still the best game of 2022, after the barrage of titles we’ve seen from March to July? Absolutely. That initial buzz may have died out a bit, but I’d have to be insane not to call it one of the most impressive games I’ve played in years, and most importantly, FromSoftware’s greatest title of all time. It’s as special now as it was back when it dropped onto the world like a nuke.
The Origin: Blind Maid is further proof that having great ideas for a game is just 50% of what makes it a banger. If you can’t deliver on your vision, all you’ll have to offer is a disappoint game that will reek of “what could have been”. The ideas are there, the ambition is laudable, but the execution left much to be desired.
It’s hard to talk a lot about Redout 2. It’s much better than its 2017 predecessor in almost every single aspect, but it’s just serviceable. Decent at best. It’s a good antigrav racing game, but I can’t point out a single thing about it that makes it stand out against other titles like Fast RMX, Pacer, or even the Wipeout remasters for PS4.
Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series is a collection of good, but not outstanding platformer remasters. They are charming as all hell and quite relaxing to play, but they feel dated in terms of its mechanics. Tying the reach of your attacks to the difficulty level of choosing was a totally unnecessary call, and its hit detection could have received some extra tinkering in order to feel less clunky.
Glitchy and low-budgeted as it might be, DC League of Super-Pets: The Adventures of Krypto and Ace has a great foundation for one of the best Star Fox clones released in years. It nails everything it needed in order to offer a younger demographic an entry-level version of a rail shooter, with a great gameplay loop, some educational value, and a fair, but ever-increasing difficulty curve that’s perfectly suited for them.
Even if it’s unfair and beyond cheap at times (it’s a Contra clone, after all), I loved Spidersaurs. It’s not just because of its utterly bonkers premise; its gameplay is tight, its level and enemy designs are superb, and it’s really replayable. One of the best Contra-inspired games I’ve ever played, and one of my favorite WayForward games of all time. It’s just a shame this game had to remain an Apple Arcade exclusive for so many years. I’m just glad it will finally be embraced in a way that does its gameplay justice.