Leonardo Faria's Reviews
The borderline perfect usage of the AIM controller resulted in one of my favorite VR experiences so far, and weirdly enough, my favorite Sniper Elite game so far, even if it has very little to do with its mainline counterparts.
The reduced framerate on the Switch version of Boomerang X might be a bit of a downer, since the game feels perfect on a handheld, but I still had a great time with it. It’s fast-paced, arcadey, stylish as all hell and allows you to experiment a lot with its combat mechanics. Regardless of its technical shortcomings, it’s yet another banger from Devolver, a fun little title from the single best indie curator in the market.
I can sum up my experience with Crash Drive 3 in one word: “why”. Why was this released on next-gen consoles when this game is basically a port of a mobile game (which can be acquired for free, mind you)? Why did it not take advantage of improved hardware to boost its visuals or framerate? It’s not terrible, but it’s oh so boring and uninspired.
It just isn’t as fun as any of its turn-based counterparts. In a sea of multiplayer shooters with way more content out there, some of them not requiring an upfront payment in order to access them, this game just doesn’t have what it takes in order to stand out.
As it stands, Curved Space is a pretty good arcade shooter that manages to stand out even though it suffers from an annoying amount of feature creep.
I don’t think anyone was expecting for Space Jam: A New Legacy – The Game to be amazing. Let’s face it, it’s a marketing ploy. It’s here to raise awareness for the brand new movie by giving you a few minutes of fun and some easy achievements. With that being said, I expected a lot worse from it. It’s decent for what it is. I still think that there is no reason for a beat ’em up based on Space Jam to exist, but all in all, there are worse ways to spend half an hour of your time.
Wave Break is, at best, an average Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater clone that just so happened to be launched at the worst time possible, right alongside the debut of its main source of inspiration on the Switch. Sure, it’s cheaper than its main competitor and I suppose ultra-die-hard Weezer fans will want to grab it just because of the inclusion of one of their songs in its soundtrack, but it’s inferior in every conceivable way.
Aluna: Sentinel of the Shards should have been a hit. I would have been able to ignore its dated visuals and uninteresting characters if its gameplay wasn’t so shallow and boring. I really love the fact it’s set around the rich and detailed world of Incan mythology, a setting barely explored by developers for the past twenty years, but even though it feels quite unique at times, I cannot exactly recommend a game so repetitive and menial.
If anything else, Lego Builder’s Journey proves that you don’t need to tie the Lego brand to a third-party license in order to craft a successful game. It shows that there are no limits to what you can create with the simple concept of building structures with bricks, just like how there are no limits to what we can build with these pieces of plastic in real life.
MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries focuses too much of its efforts in pointless filler, such as a milquetoast story and an annoying progression system. Its insane multiplayer is where it shines the brightest, but then again, I feel like this is best experienced on PC, with a mouse and keyboard setup.
You can have a tiny bit of fun with Sun Wukong vs. Robot. It’s not inherently terrible. It’s just one of the most generic and forgettable metroidvanias I’ve played in a while. It offers nothing new to the genre, its visuals are lackluster, and its overall design is just beyond bland.
It’s colorful, adorable, not entirely hard to play, and most importantly, it’s one hell of a nostalgia bomb for those who grew up with it back in the day. I’m beyond delighted that Jankenteam and Merge Games took their time to bring this 80’s hero back to the spotlight and I hope they come with even more Alex Kidd games in the near future.
Red Solstice 2: Survivors can be a bit too simplistic for a tactical game at times. You might feel like the game is basically playing itself and you’re just there watching things unfold, but this is actually a pretty accessible action-strategy hybrid that offers you a ton of tools to play the game according to your level of expertise with the genre.
Not having a single licensed team or roster just makes it really hard for me to get invested in it. Sure, it has an editor, but that means we will have to wait a bit until a community becomes large enough to start releasing roster updates for the public.
Chicory: A Colorful Tale is a wonderful game and I had a great time playing it on the PS5. It actually takes advantage of the DualSense in ways very few games do, be them AAA or not. It’s colorful, charming, and above anything else, stupidly creative.
I like the overall concept, as hunting down dinosaurs while trying not to get killed by your so-called “prey” is fun and unique. I even liked the Nintendo 64-era sound effects, which brought an odd sense of nostalgia. On the other hand, I was bummed with unbelievably dated graphics and lethargic progression system.
You’re getting two of the best action games of all time, as well as Razor’s Edge, with great controls and that borderline satanic level of difficulty that makes Dark Souls look like Elmo’s Fun With Numbers. I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I love this collection even though I’m more than sure I will eventually break a Joy-Con or two out of anger during some of its harder sections.
The Last Kids on Earth and the Staff of Doom is flawed beyond belief when it comes to its presentation, but I definitely wasn’t expecting for its gameplay and controls to be so solid. Nor was I expecting for it to feature some engaging bouts of vehicular combat and 4-player local co-op.
If you put it next to pretty much any other open world superhero game released over the past decade, sure, it will stand out like a sore thumb. When you put its target demographic into perspective, however, you’ll realize this is a competent title that will appease to fans of the show and younger kids/preteens, especially preteen girls. It has charm, a ton of content, and beyond its layers of jank and simplicity, it’s quite fun at times.
This could, nay, SHOULD have been a killer action game had the developers had more time to fix its literal dozens of glaring issues and huge emphasis on (bland) storytelling. This game just wasn’t ready for release. Hell, it was barely ready to be considered a beta build of a AA title. I also don’t think patches can fix all of its problems. As it stands, this one just failed miserably in its delivery.