Leonardo Faria's Reviews
The PlayStation 5 version of Control Ultimate Edition is one of the best, if not the best game available for the system so far. The game is finally available on a system with enough horsepower to handle its visuals, physics, and wacky gameplay. That, coupled with the near nonexistent loading times, multiple graphical presets, and small, but still welcome implementations of the DualSense’s features, makes this version the best and mandatory way to play Remedy’s masterpiece.
Adol’s awkward goth phase may have started on his 34th birthday, but thankfully, it ended up being the good kind of goth. The one that listens to Nightwish and reads 19th century literature, not the phoney one that hangs out at Hot Topic and thinks that Keanu Reeves’ role in 1992’s Dracula was competent.
It’s a completely unique kind of game, mixing deep character development, intergalactic sailing (literally), mystery solving, and even ancient civilization linguistics. To top it off, it looks gorgeous, sounds decent enough, and runs surprisingly well on the Switch.
Despite the unfair difficulty curve and uninteresting presentation, Disjunction is a very well-designed take on the Hotline Miami formula, albeit with its own stealth-focused twist. It offers enough gadgets and gameplay tropes to let players tackle each level the way they want to, either by being stealthy and classy or by being ultraviolent and unsubtle.
Silver Chains is actually decent, but it would have been a much more enjoyable horror title if it wasn’t for its short run time and overabundance of irritating jump scares. All the ingredients are here: its graphics are surprisingly good, its framerate is rock-solid, its story is engaging (but predictable), and some of its puzzles are quite interesting. There are much worse horror titles out there, though.
Cyber Shadow is not the best retro-infused indie platformer starring a ninja I’ve played in recent memory, but it’s still well worth your time. It’s occasionally unfair and frustrating, but once you reach a boss battle or a better designed level, you’ll be greeted with a surprisingly rewarding action experience with great visuals and soundtrack.
Don’t think Atelier Ryza 2 is a bad game. There are lots of good things in it, in fact. The problem is that I was expecting more from a game with a full-fledged Playstation 5 build. With the exception of the fast loading times, the game doesn’t take advantage of the system’s hardware, resulting in a game that looks dated and runs as well as what I would expect from its Switch port.
In short, some of the games included in here might suffer from some graphical and gameplay issues brought over from the 90’s, but this collection really impressed me nonetheless. Turrican Flashback is one of the more robust retro collections released in recent memory.
As expected, Hed the Pig is terrible, absolutely abysmal, with terrible visuals, controls, and one of the most boring gameplay loops in recent memory. It’s the game that makes me wonder how easy it must be to get one of these Switch devkits. Why was this conceived, and most importantly, approved for commercial release, will remain as one of the biggest mysteries of the universe.
All in all, it’s a shame that Writhe is severely lacking in content, but that’s not its main issue. It’s not fun to play, and it’s ugly to look at. Its gameplay is clunky and borderline unfair at times. Not to mention the noticeable technical issues that hinder its performance. This might possibly be the first exclusive FPS to the Switch, but I don’t see the reason to pick it up in its current state.
Skater XL is a game full of good intentions, but not only is it completely devoid of content, but it’s also devoid of a community that was supposed to come up with new levels and assets for other players to enjoy. Sadly, I see no reason for people to give this game a shot nowadays.
All in all, Shot in the Dark is a very simple and straightforward game, but it succeeds at what it wanted to do: provide a genuinely creepy experience with the simplest graphics and controls one could imagine. This game made me feel more unsettled than many modern horror games out there.
The PlayStation 5 version of MXGP 2020 feels exactly like most early titles released right after a console’s initial launch period. It’s midway between the last generation and what the next generation of gaming will actually look and feel like, and a game that utilizes some of its new hardware’s capabilities. But at the end of the day, it feels just like a slightly prettier last-gen title.
Hell Pages is a very mediocre take on the ultra-saturated shoot ’em up genre, with little going on besides its edgelord themes and art style. If you’re a massive fan of classic Doom and pretty much any piece of media that tries to emulate its visuals and soundtrack, then I’d say you could give this game a try and have a few minutes of fun with it.
I enjoyed Blacksmith of the Sand Kingdom almost as much as I enjoyed Marenian Tavern Story. KEMCO and Rideon’s take on the JRPG-business simulator hybrid is still very fun, just like it was a few years ago.
Sometimes, aiming for a wider audience isn’t the right solution. Override 2 isn’t better than its predecessor at all. Its gameplay is much simpler and less appealing, its visuals are far from impressive for a PS5 title, and it’s still very underwhelming if you decide to play it on your own.
El Hijo is a fine stealth game. It does what it intended to offer, but besides its nice visuals and excellent Morricone-esque soundtrack, it does little to stand out over the dozens, maybe hundreds of much better stealth titles out there. If its nonviolent approach isn’t exactly something so important to you, then I’d recommend looking at its polar opposite in terms of color, violence. and vibe, A Plague Tale: Innocence, instead.
Just like other Double Dragon games released over the years, Double Dragon Neon isn’t exactly bad, but it’s so downright mediocre it’s hard to find anything worth praising in it besides the excellent synthwave soundtrack.
Empire of Sin is in a better state now than how it was at launch, with several fixes to its UI and performance, but this is still too much for the Switch to handle. I’m not talking solely about its still-underwhelming performance, but also the fact that it tries to be an excessive amount of games at once, without ever exploring all of its features to a reasonable degree.
It is beyond simplistic in terms of gameplay, but it’s challenging enough to keep it interesting. It features some interesting level editing mechanics and it does let your imagination run wild if you’re skilled enough when it comes to drawing characters with a mouse.