Leonardo Faria's Reviews
I still don’t understand the reasoning behind remastering and re-releasing a game that had already been remastered and re-released in the past, but thankfully, Tumblebugs is so much fun that I quickly forgot about this behind-the-scenes nonsense. I usually prefer to play these “pick up and play” games on a portable, but Tumblebugs runs, looks, plays and loads so well on a PC, that it ended up becoming one of my favorite casual computer games to play for a few minutes at a time.
Taito Milestones is a reminder that Taito has released more than just Space Invaders and Breakout clones. Sadly, it is also a reminder as to why none of the games included in this collection are fondly remembered.
A few annoying issues here and there may tarnish its overall quality a little bit, but boy, did Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga deliver. I was expecting for it to be great, but wasn’t expecting for it to basically rival Super Mario Odyssey in terms of charm and amount of collectibles.
It’s silly, and it’s pretty janky, but the overall campy nature of the franchise made me overlook some of the issues present in The House of the Dead: Remake. As of now, its performance needs some tinkering, and the developers really need to fix the responsiveness of the gyro aiming functionality. Still, I had a lot of fun with it.
Slipstream is a fantastic game if you’re looking for a retro-style arcade racer to satiate your nostalgic needs. It knows its audience, and wants to please that specific niche of gamers. It’s a game that proves that solo developer, ansdor, could (and should) be hired by Sega in order to handle a brand new entry in the OutRun series. If you’re not into retro racers, be it by being more fond of the improvements seen in modern racing games or the fact you have never liked these simpler, more limited experiences in the first place, Slipstream isn’t going to change your mind.
Kombinera isn’t a puzzle game that will please most fans of the genre. It is really minimalistic, and its difficulty curve is all over the place. Still, it is oddly charming. There is something about its really creative premise, as well as the fact Atari is backing it, that makes it amusing. At times, it does feel like I’m playing a hidden gem from the 80s, a game Atari could have released back in its heyday.
The worst kind of bad game isn’t the one that is a total and complete train wreck. In Nightmare is the worst kind of bad game. It’s just absolutely uninteresting. Not good enough to be worth tackling, not bad enough to be enjoyed as a “so bad it’s good experience”, but also flawed enough not to be considered just downright mediocre. It’s boring and poorly designed.
Nightmare Reaper has the foundations of a pretty fun shooter, namely thanks to its strong combat and visceral nature. Sadly, I do not think its looter and roguelite elements improved its overall gameplay in any way. On the contrary, to be honest: the overall map randomization made some early levels insanely frustrating to deal with, while later stages felt like a cakewalk. It’s not a bad game, far from it, but you cannot beat the creativity and imagination of an actual human level designer.
I love games like this. Agent Intercept is the kind of fun arcade game we rarely see nowadays. It knows what it’s supposed to do, and achieves that with honors. It’s Spy Hunter for a new generation; a game full of insane set pieces, simple controls, a lovely sense of style, and replayable missions.
Tentacular is not exactly a groundbreaking achievement in physics-based puzzlers or VR gameplay, but it was still a pretty fun time, all things considered. It’s cute, it controls well, it’s funny when it needs to be, and it features enough comfort settings to please all kinds of VR users. It might have a few annoying issues here and there, namely its camera controls and lack of replayability (outside of its average-at-best sandbox, that is), but I’m beyond pleased with Devolver’s latest foray into VR gaming.
Monster Energy Supercross 5 is still a good racing game, just like its predecessor. I welcome the addition of a few new assists and difficulty settings that make the game slightly more appealing and accessible towards newcomers. With that being said, all of those additions could have been added in its predecessor, via a patch. I just sincerely don’t think this franchise needs to have a yearly release, as there is very little that differentiates this title from 2021’s iteration.
There’s a lot to like in Phantom Breaker: Omnia, namely its “easy-to-learn, not-so-hard-to-master” combat system and the sheer amount of fully voiced campaigns for players to enjoy on-the-go. It even controls surprisingly well on Nintendo’s archaic Joy-Cons, all things considered. The problem lies on its uninteresting character design, resulting in half of the roster looking like clones of each other, and the fact I legitimately cannot see its online community lasting for long, especially with Persona 4 Arena Ultimax right around the corner.
Gripes aside, I loved Persona 4 Arena Ultimax. I commend Atlus for releasing a fighting game as the sequel to what I consider to be its best Persona game ever, with tight controls, neat visuals, and most importantly, a fantastic story that will please each and every single Persona fan out there, be them fighting game fans or others. Even if the main game isn’t available on the Switch (and at this point, I don’t even know if it ever will), having this fighting banger on-the-go is worth the investment.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin might be as dumb as Limp Bizkit’s lyrics, but damn if it isn’t as fun as Wes Borland’s riffs.
It is more of a tool than a game, but I had a great time with Virtuoso. I’m a sucker for musical production, and I can’t help but laud the devs at Really Interactive for coming up with a ridiculously easy way for a person like me to compose, perform and download brand new creations of my own. I just hope they continue supporting it down the line.
Gran Turismo 7 was a mixed experience. I love its car loving philosophy, giving us gearheads a playground to mess around with some of the most beautiful and powerful machines ever created. Sadly, for every aspect Polyphony has knocked out of the park, such as the quality of the models and the Music Rally mode, there was something else that made the overall package feel like a glorified PS3 racing game covered with a next-gen, ray-traced coat of paint.
It can entertain you for a few minutes because, as I’ve previously mentioned, VR can make anything amusing for a while, but you’ll quickly realise there’s not a lot to do in here. The immersion will also quickly fade away due to the poor visuals and subpar physics.
UNBINARY is not a groundbreaking VR puzzler, and for every excellent idea, such as its visuals or its movement system, it is crippled by its short length, glitches or its terrible camera system… but it’s still a fine game. It brings nothing new to the table (well, aside from its excellent graphics), but if you’re a fan of VR puzzlers, or pretty much anything that would even remotely remind you of Portal in any way, shape or form, you could do a lot worse. It’s pretty short as well, so you can knock it out in a lazy afternoon.
Considering it was originally conceived as a joke, the fact that Conan Chop Chop might actually be the best Conan game of all time goes to show the sheer amount of dedication put into it by Mighty Kingdom and Funcom. Sure, it has issues, but its absolutely dumb art style coupled with a borderline arcadey “pick up and play” gameplay loop resulted in a nearly addictive roguelike experience that fits like a glove on a portable like the Switch.
It’s sad to see such a promising idea for a game fall flat like this one. Music Racer: Ultimate could have been a somewhat worthy successor to Audiosurf if only the act of looking for a custom song to play in it wasn’t such a nightmare, all thanks to a terrible UI and search functionality. The seizure-inducing visuals and tracks that rarely match the beat of the song didn’t help either.