Leonardo Faria's Reviews
Final Space VR: The Rescue is not a bad VR shooter, it’s just a game that’s hindered by its unfortunate low budget and small scope. It has good shooting mechanics and a lot of charm taken directly from the show, but it suffers from repetitive combat sections and bland environments. With that being said, it can actually be a bit fun if you manage to find a few friends willing to have a crack at it via online co-op.
Lost Recipes showcases one of the biggest strengths offered by virtual reality. Were this a console game, I would have probably hated it. It was the added novelty of doing my own dishes with decent motion controls, all while learning a bit about ancient history, that made this game way more entertaining than I could have ever imagined. Sadly, it’s ridiculously short. I would have loved to spend more time cooking more dishes from other ancient cultures.
Hello There Games have successfully converted one of the more entertaining rhythm games released over the past years into a VR feast for the eyes and ears. The additional music packs, the Quest’s portability, and the obvious novelty of being able to play this game in VR make this port of AVICII Invector: Encore Edition the best version of what was already an excellent rhythm game, as well as a fantastic tribute to the late DJ/producer.
Anshar 2: Hyperdrive is a flawed space combat simulator, but I still had my fair share of fun with it. By no means it is the best example of what VR can do with the genre, as Star Wars: Squadrons is alive and well, but it does have a few tricks up its sleeve. It’s much cheaper, it’s arcadey in nature, and most importantly, it’s available on the Quest. Squadrons isn’t. A fun, fast-paced space combat simulator available on what’s essentially a portable VR headset? I don’t know about you, but that sounds good enough to me.
We’re getting there. Rugby 22 is still a flawed game, but it’s better than its predecessor, which was already a massive improvement over the disastrous Rugby 18.
You will buy it because it looks, feels and plays like Symphony of the Night, but you’ll keep glued to it because it features enough qualities to make it stand out not only from its main source of inspiration, but from most metroidvanias in the market. It may suffer from a few performance issues, but all in all, this is one of the most entertaining exploratory action platformers I’ve played in a while, and it’s well worth your time.
It doesn’t try to hide the fact it’s basically a Space Harrier clone with kawaii enemies and a waifu for a protagonist. It is short but replayable. It is a sight for sore eyes. It’s not as challenging (or dare I say, unfair) as its sources of inspiration, since Idea Factory isn’t here to get your quarters, but it will test your skills on harder difficulties. What really matters is that it is a really fun little title, one I surely wasn’t expecting to like as much as I did.
Windjammers 2 is, at its core, a Neo Geo sports title for the year 2022. Take this as the best kind of compliment possible.
Even though I didn’t expect for Pupperazzi to wow me, it had enough features in its premise to make me, at the very least, look forward to it. What we ended up getting is a beyond mediocre photography game that might be the entertaining for the first ten minutes or so, until it becomes a tremendously uninteresting title devoid of challenge or charm to make you want to play it for much longer.
This game deserves the cult classic status it has held for the past two decades, and it’s a must for RPG enthusiasts and fans of both companies.
I like Summertime Madness in theory. I like its premise, its world, I even like the fact it’s a walking simulator with a stupidly fast running button. On the other hand, this is a puzzle-solving adventure where the act of solving puzzles feels cryptic and arbitrary, almost as if it was intentionally made for you to fail your first run. With some slightly better puzzle design, this could have been a cult hit among puzzle enthusiasts. As it stands, I respect its premise, but I can’t exactly recommend it.
It amazes me how the inclusion of a single feature can completely revamp a tried and true puzzle formula. Picross S7 is still more of the same, which isn’t exactly a bad thing for us nonogram addicts, but the long-awaited implementation of touch-based controls improves this particular sequel so much to the point of rendering its predecessors obsolete in comparison.
Dungeon Munchies has one really clever idea, which, sadly, doesn’t make up for how mundane the rest of its gameplay and presentation are. The novelty of cooking parts of your fallen enemies and acquiring their powers wears off quickly once you realize the rest of the game is still an ugly platformer with really simplistic combat.
The first Hollow was so bad that there was just no way a sequel could be worse. I will say that, somehow, Hollow 2 surpassed my expectations, but only because they were pretty low to begin with. Granted, it is not entirely bad, and can be enjoyed by space horror aficcionados, those craving for a Dead Space-esque experience on-the-go. Just bear in mind that this game is still severely flawed, suffering from a bad framerate and janky combat sections.
More than just a fantastic killer app for the Oculus Quest 2, Resident Evil 4 VR is a killer app for virtual reality in general. Unlike Half-Life Alyx, this is a phenomenal shooter available on the cheapest, most readily available, and most comfortable VR system in the market. It features everything you have always loved from Resident Evil 4, but in a brand new perspective that turns what was already fun and immersive into something even more intense and memorable.
Scarf is a good game, but not one that left an impression. I played it, enjoyed it while it lasted, but once I was done with it, all I could think about is that I would have enjoyed it a lot more three years ago, back when it was first announced, and back when 3D indie plaftormers were still a niche, a breath of fresh air in the market.
Sadly, as expected, this PS5 version of Serious Sam was a disappointment. There is a really fun shooter buried underneath this pile of glitches, framerate issues and boring story-driven sections, but it’s nigh impossible to overlook all of those setbacks.
The Rush Duel format is a welcome change of pace after having to deal with all that Synchro / Pendulum / XYZ nonsense, but it turns the overall Yu-Gi-Oh metagame into something way more simplistic than the fun strategic madness it once was. Think about that before considering buying Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel: Dawn of the Battle Royale, as this format will not please everyone.
It’s yet another bite-sized Recharged version of an Atari classic, but one that actually looks good enough, has an okay soundtrack, and feels like the perfect balance between retro and modern, all thanks to its mixture of vector graphics and a ton of neon particle effects.
Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain is some of the most fun you can have with plain edutainment, as it cleverly hides its educational aspects under a layer of competitiveness and a cute but friendly presentation. It’s a bit expensive, and I think its amount of minigames is a bit subpar, but it’s a very enjoyable experience if you tackle it for around 10 minutes a day.